Hat Yai : 3rd Day

Well, did nothing much again. It was a tiring night, woke up late and started packing. We did our final shopping once again in the Central shopping center. But yes, we decided to have some lunch before we drove back, as we would expect a long queue over the Thai border at Sadao. We had Samurai Pork burger in Mcdonalds. Over here, the McDonalds serving are quite different. Their small size refers to our medium size, while the medium size here in Thailand, refers to Malaysia's large size. And you could imagine large size being Super American size, with a large cup of coke and fries. Now thats really scary for the average Asian. But yeah, before I left the hotel, I took some nice reflecting mirros (which was an illusion to the eye) and practically the lobby in the hotel with the nice ambience.

Well, our hunches was correct, it took us almost 1 hour to cross the border. It took about 5 hours to drive. It was pouring badly the whole journey. A few mishaps along the road too, when a couple of car crashes happened after Taiping. Well I'd admit I had a close call when I tried to overtake this E90 BMW 320i with a blinding brake foglight. I just lost my patience and yeah, thank god for what I learnt in Mercedes Driving Experience, I managed to put that in good use. I managed to swerve the obstacle and I managed to stop in time when the traffic ahead decided to stop suddenly.

So we had dinner around Kuala Kangsar area, at a place called Sauk. This place is known for millionaire rubber tappers who lives in a small community. The food there was nice and it was reasonable. The family friend, who is a developer brought us there. The fishballs were nice and tangy. It's some place you want to go for a nice Chinese meal (for those who wants to drive especially). Here's the sign board of the shop (Sorry, I did not take any pictures, as I was too hungry to think).

Hat Yai : 2nd Night

Well, we had to switch taxis half way because the cab driver was lost himself. So after circling around town heading nowhere, we were finally on our way to a nice restaurant. This restaurant is called Sa Wei. Its a good Thai restaurant and the price was downright reasonable. 9 dishes of food, with 2 fishes and prawns and crabs at 2000 bahts (roughly RM200 or USD 65). Thats really a good deal, for a table of 9 people. Best of all the rice was fragrant and nice to eat. Not to mention, the seafood is fresh. This was definitely fair pricing.

After eating, I decided to head out with a walk with my family friend's daughters. We headed out to this Gift Fair in Lea Gardens Plaza, right opposite of the Central Hotel. They were selling souvenirs and gifs (things you would usually buy for your boyfriends or girlfriends). They even hired a local band to perform, so it definitely gave a very welcoming mood. I spotted a pooch, enjoying himself in the ground, with the cold air blowing from the vent, listening to rock music. I'd say this pooch definitely has a taste in life.

Hat Yai : 2nd Day

Well, I didn't get to do much nor snap much picture. The second day was rather cold and rainy. All I did was did a bit of exercise in the gym, the usual cardio and weight-lifting to start my day. We had a nice breakfast buffet, part and partial of the hotel bookings we made. They had good food, from oriental to western breakfast. Obviously, they have their coconut rice too, which we label "nasi lemak". Food was good and was definitely halal. It was good for my relatives who are Muslims.

So yeah, we just ended shopping mostly in the Central Department Store down below. Well, it may sound gloomy, but the Levi's jeans were on sale. Usually, Levi's will never have any sale. Go to the local shopping center in Ipoh, for example, Kinta City, you could tell those stocks are old and they don't even offer discounts to customers! So, my usual visit in Thailand usually comes back with some Levi's harvest.

In the evening, we took a tuk-tuk (Thailand taxi) around the Hat Yai town, just going lost around town, since the taxi driver didn't understand where did we wanted to go. My family friend decided to call up the friend to help him speak in Thai and relate wherever we were going next. But it was fun to circle around the town :)

Hat Yai : 1st Night

We had our dinner in the Sushi buffet and headed out for a short walk. Well, I guess the proper word would be "keeping ourselves from indigestion". Anwways, the streets were crowded. Its usually this crowded at the end of the year. You would see nice parade of the decorations from the local lights festival. I took a few pictures of my mother, which she looks pretty in the nice background and setting.

We walked about and I naturally became my mother's GPS. I pin-pointed shopping location within the city and yeah we did buy a couple of stuffs for ourselves. Clothes were nice and cheap there, not the usual quality you would find in a Pasar Malam (night market). But yeah, to those who consider food and shopping, this place is the place to be.

Hat Yai : 1st Day

This blog has been long overdue. I had so many bad stuffs that happened to me, I didn't had any mood or motivation to post. But now that I find my motivation again, I'm here to talk about my happy moments in Thailand.

We headed to Thailand on 27th of December, which is on a Saturday morning. Driving took about 5 hours in total, including to the checkpoint we passed in Bukit Kayu Hitam. We arrived and checked in the hotel at around 3 P.M. We were in a 4 car convoy, including my relatives, Terry and his parents (in seperate cars)

We didn't do much on the first day. We stayed at the Central Hotel during our trip. We were probably just tired from driving. But yes, we did feed ourselves to some awesome food. Though it was not Thai food, Japanese sushi buffet at 450 bahts (about RM45 or USD12) was really a good deal. The sushi was fresh and it was delicious. Though I enjoyed the International buffet held during the weekdays (during our last visit in September), this one was good too :)

If you consider a nice place, 4 star hotel, the Central Hotel is a great place to stay. No questions asked on why this becomes our regular visiting place every year. Great food and everything.

Flashback to the mishaps

Here are some bad things that happened few days before New Year's day. A tree decided to break and flew towards my house, crashing into the house and taking a few things damaged along the way. You can look at how terrible the damage that was caused by a flying tree. Fortunately, no one was hurt and my dad was lucky to have escaped unhurt, as he was outside in the garden witnessing the whole thing. No thanks to the developer next door, Bukit Kampar, our lives have been miserable. There was a protest done in July and nothing has been done by the local government. You can look up to the previous post made in July. Anyways, we've off for a bad start this year.

Happy New Year to all blog readers

Happy new year to everyone. My Happy New Year wasn't much of a happy new year. I was down with a flu and fever. All I can do is have these as part of a diet. Nevertheless, I wish everyone a happy 2009. I hope my 2009 will be better, as the eve of 2009 New Year wasn't all promising with lots of loss and misfortune. I hope for a better 2009 now. Heres a toast of Milo and a few pictures of Kampar's Happy New Year celebration taken from my mom's Merc. I accidentally hit a pothole and damaged one of the rims, urghh.