2D1N Hatyai (Pre-Xmas) Trip
Since the Vietnam trip posts are so overdue, might as well make it freaking overdue. LOL
Went to Hatyai last weekend with a bunch of aunty-level friends, five of us, three married and happily away from home for a weekend getaway.
It's actually a trip planned out of 'vengeance', because of some misunderstanding and crooked feelings. AH how I love this group of friends.
We car-pooled to the border at 10am after breakfast, there was a long queue at the immigration counter.
Please be kindly noted that they have this 'unwritten law' at the counter, subjecting to Malaysians ONLY, that they would ask RM1 from you when you hand over your passport/border pass to be stamped, UNLESS they don't ask for it then you don't have to pay. It is a very common thing, ask around.
We parked the car at a parking place near the bank, and walked to the van/bus station to Hatyai, 50Baht aka RM5 per person. We had to squeeze ourselves at the back of the van because the driver asked a group of foreigners with big bags to sit at the front row (which has the widest legroom space). Biased :(
It took about 2 hours to arrive Hatyai from PadangBezar border, and the trip was even more excruciating as the driver took the narrow kampung route instead of the wide road. He dropped us in front of our hotel.
Hatyai Rama Hotel - the hotel that we stayed in. It is located at the 'outskirts' of the town centre (Lee Garden is marked as town center here), so money spent on tuk-tuk ride to-fro hotel and town center was quite significant.
After checked in and dumped all our stuff in the hotel, off we went for our lunch at Saban Nga restaurant. You can just tell the tuk-tuk driver the name of the restaurant and they'll know immediately! Note that every tuk-tuk ride within 2km radius is charged 20Baht per head.
The restaurant is situated by the road side and it's easy to spot as they are the only one with elegant entrance along the road.
The interior and ambience of the restaurant is very detailed and exquisite too, I made sure I sat and talk politely just to match up with the environment.
Purple steamed rice in cute little ceramic bowl is their signature. Pork leg is, as if, one of the must-order dishes. I must admit everything to do with meat is enough to make my tummy happy, so the pork leg had satisfied my starvation.
The tomyam kung was a little too spicy for my liking though. I dislike food that makes me 'suffer'. There's few other dishes that we ordered too, but I couldn't recall. We ended our meal with ice cream.
With a full tummy, we walked to Tesco Lotus which is about 1km away from the restaurant (approximately), good for digestion. Some of the daily stuffs like body care products, especially sanitary pads (Laurier is their favourite) are cheaper compare to Malaysia, so you can expect 'big bags small bags' from here.
After Tesco shopping, we went to Diana departmental store, as Xiang said they sell wide range of women apparels (equal to shopping paradise!). I didn't get anything here though.
There is this shop opposite Diana that I would like to recommend to the ladies who like one piece girly dresses. The shop sells ONLY dresses, prices range between 399Baht to 699Baht, the quality and design are impressive. One drawback is no testing! -_- That made me chicken out from purchase although they look o'-so nice! The taukeniu kept on saying 'Oh of course you can fit in all the dresses!' to persuade me to buy one, but, 'Of course I know I can fit in 99% of the dresses in your shop, but I want to know whether or not I look good in the dress!' Didn't dare to take pictures of the dresses in the shop as the taukeniu didn't seem friendly enough.
In the night, we went to Lee Garden for the steamboat buffet. It's my second visit, and they have renovated exactly how it has been after the bombing. You know me, few plates of meat is all it takes to 回本, and the rest of what you pick/eat is literally free :p
...AND, the thing is, this restaurant serves sushi, tempura and etcetra food too, so 'people' tend to take too many of this food, which I don't really want to eat, especially tempura, because it's too stuffy! BUT, 'people' don't tend to listen to you talking, so there you go, cheat your way to hide the food.
Anyway, lucky struck. Three of us went in to sit first as another two were shopping, and in the end three of us went to pay as another two went out earlier shopping. SO, for some reason, the cashier charged for three person instead of five. My friend is right, "when they charge more than it should be, customer will yell; when they charge lesser than it should be, some will pretend nothing happen," Yikes! Guilty as charged.
Next morning, we went to eat bak kut teh at I-forgot-the-name. They serve dim sum too, but not really as tasty to my liking. The BKT is ok. I was not in the best mood as I was sleepy with a mild headache.
Then, we went to the 'shopping paradise', don't really know the exact name but if you tell the tuk-tuk driver 'market', they will know. Friends went in to shop for their family and themselves, and I got myself sandal and bag.
We had a coconut drink and mango pulut at the outside of the market while waiting the shopping ladies. That picture above is the BBQ-ed version, and mine happened to have meat very easily 'detached' from the skin, and everything was so yummeh!!
After done shopping (you have to finish it when you don't have enough hands to carry your stuff), we went to Odeon, another shopping complex nearby Lee Garden. The clothes and stuff were somewhat affordable here, bought two 3/4 pants for 199Baht each which is quite a bargain. Too bad I didn't have the 'mood' to shop for CNY clothes yet... There was this huge bear at the Kids' department, Xiang and I took turn to take pictures with it, and by the time we're done, the saleswoman came to us and scolded us as it charges 100Baht for photography. We didn't know about that since it's written in Thai, and since we were done there, we just took our ass off the complex.
We went back to hotel, packed, and checked out. For lunch, we went to another restaurant that you can simply tell the tuk-tuk driver the name and they'll know right away called 'Gam Eong'. We ordered crab but they never came (no stock)!! And the waitress didn't even bother to mention that to us. Other than that, the food was great.
After lunch, we took the van back to PadangBezar. Same driver as the previous day, and we had to squeezed at the back of the van again because the front seat was full. I had quite a miserable ride since the headache was miserable and my friends were talking a little too loud =.=
Overall, we spent 1500Baht aka RM150 each person for everything shared, eg. hotel, tuk-tuk rides, food etc. The expenses were 刚刚好, grateful to the 700Baht++ that we 赚到 saved from the Sabushi buffet, or else we need to top up.
Personal expenses is 1600Baht aka RM160.
Went to Hatyai last weekend with a bunch of aunty-level friends, five of us, three married and happily away from home for a weekend getaway.
It's actually a trip planned out of 'vengeance', because of some misunderstanding and crooked feelings. AH how I love this group of friends.
We car-pooled to the border at 10am after breakfast, there was a long queue at the immigration counter.
Please be kindly noted that they have this 'unwritten law' at the counter, subjecting to Malaysians ONLY, that they would ask RM1 from you when you hand over your passport/border pass to be stamped, UNLESS they don't ask for it then you don't have to pay. It is a very common thing, ask around.
We parked the car at a parking place near the bank, and walked to the van/bus station to Hatyai, 50Baht aka RM5 per person. We had to squeeze ourselves at the back of the van because the driver asked a group of foreigners with big bags to sit at the front row (which has the widest legroom space). Biased :(
It took about 2 hours to arrive Hatyai from PadangBezar border, and the trip was even more excruciating as the driver took the narrow kampung route instead of the wide road. He dropped us in front of our hotel.
Hatyai Rama Hotel - the hotel that we stayed in. It is located at the 'outskirts' of the town centre (Lee Garden is marked as town center here), so money spent on tuk-tuk ride to-fro hotel and town center was quite significant.
After checked in and dumped all our stuff in the hotel, off we went for our lunch at Saban Nga restaurant. You can just tell the tuk-tuk driver the name of the restaurant and they'll know immediately! Note that every tuk-tuk ride within 2km radius is charged 20Baht per head.
The restaurant is situated by the road side and it's easy to spot as they are the only one with elegant entrance along the road.
 |
| Very beautiful shade of reds at the entrance |
With a full tummy, we walked to Tesco Lotus which is about 1km away from the restaurant (approximately), good for digestion. Some of the daily stuffs like body care products, especially sanitary pads (Laurier is their favourite) are cheaper compare to Malaysia, so you can expect 'big bags small bags' from here.
After Tesco shopping, we went to Diana departmental store, as Xiang said they sell wide range of women apparels (equal to shopping paradise!). I didn't get anything here though.
 |
| Xmas deco everywhere! |
In the night, we went to Lee Garden for the steamboat buffet. It's my second visit, and they have renovated exactly how it has been after the bombing. You know me, few plates of meat is all it takes to 回本, and the rest of what you pick/eat is literally free :p
...AND, the thing is, this restaurant serves sushi, tempura and etcetra food too, so 'people' tend to take too many of this food, which I don't really want to eat, especially tempura, because it's too stuffy! BUT, 'people' don't tend to listen to you talking, so there you go, cheat your way to hide the food.
Anyway, lucky struck. Three of us went in to sit first as another two were shopping, and in the end three of us went to pay as another two went out earlier shopping. SO, for some reason, the cashier charged for three person instead of five. My friend is right, "when they charge more than it should be, customer will yell; when they charge lesser than it should be, some will pretend nothing happen," Yikes! Guilty as charged.
Next morning, we went to eat bak kut teh at I-forgot-the-name. They serve dim sum too, but not really as tasty to my liking. The BKT is ok. I was not in the best mood as I was sleepy with a mild headache.
Then, we went to the 'shopping paradise', don't really know the exact name but if you tell the tuk-tuk driver 'market', they will know. Friends went in to shop for their family and themselves, and I got myself sandal and bag.
After done shopping (you have to finish it when you don't have enough hands to carry your stuff), we went to Odeon, another shopping complex nearby Lee Garden. The clothes and stuff were somewhat affordable here, bought two 3/4 pants for 199Baht each which is quite a bargain. Too bad I didn't have the 'mood' to shop for CNY clothes yet... There was this huge bear at the Kids' department, Xiang and I took turn to take pictures with it, and by the time we're done, the saleswoman came to us and scolded us as it charges 100Baht for photography. We didn't know about that since it's written in Thai, and since we were done there, we just took our ass off the complex.
 |
| If you wanna charge, write in English please... |
After lunch, we took the van back to PadangBezar. Same driver as the previous day, and we had to squeezed at the back of the van again because the front seat was full. I had quite a miserable ride since the headache was miserable and my friends were talking a little too loud =.=
 |
| personal expenses part |
Personal expenses is 1600Baht aka RM160.
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