SISTAHoods First International Excursion, Hat Yai, Songkhla, Thailand (1): Round Up of Itineraries and Sights.

For the first time in years, the SISTAHood has reassembled in full and go for an international group trip which is a weekend escape to our immediate northern neighbour of Thailand to the southern city of Hat Yai, famous for shoppers of cheap goods and foods especially for Malaysian and Singaporean. This post consists of round up on itineraries and sights about my virgin international travel experience, made more both interesting and challenging by land border crossing. For complete sets of pictures and commentaries, go visit these albums on my Facebook profile.

Let's start from the very beginning: the border crossing at Bukit Kayu Hitam/Dannok (and the unexpected adventure we had).

There are numerous tour companies offering cross-border van trip connecting Penang to Hat Yai and naturally, SISTAHood Penang Chapter went with that option while the KL-ian went by air. It seems to be a common practice for anyone to stop at commercial rest stop cum duty free cum food court more often than not operated by tour companies themselves near Changloon which is the closest Malaysian town to Thai border to settle some border formalities (filling up departure and arrival card) quickly for a small token fee of RM1 (with hundreds or even thousands of crossing everyday, you can imagine how much they can earn just from helping you printing info on your departure/arrival card) as well as exchanging Ringgit to Baht (is the ringgit gone weaker or Thai baht gone stronger? RM300 = 2880 baht. Depicted on the inverse side of Thai notes are previous kings and current king HM King Bhumibol and selected historical scenes). As for the unexpected adventures: Ah Ham realized Kedah limited border pass has expired (Kedahan can apply for limited border pass for Thailand. It's just a piece of paper it turns out) and she left her passport at home. Me, Chan Pao and Ah Ham decided to stay back at the rest stop waiting for Ah Ham's friend to deliver her passport while the rest moved on to the border. A few hours of waiting including uncertainties whether we can get our own transport to cross the border or not (the car over Thailand side were stuck at free trade zone because long line of vehicle coming into Malaysia), we finally made our move, first to Bukit Kayu Hitam FTZ and then changed car to the taxi in waiting and continue to Hat Yai.

Border crossing: Bukit Kayu Hitam on Malaysian side and Dannok on Thailand's side. While Bukit Kayu Hitam has nothing interesting of note aside from Duty Free, army camp and a golf course of all things, Dannok is actually a bustling township located immediately right behind the border checkpoint complete with all amenities cross-border traveler would need. Conversely, going through Bukit Kayu Hitam is a breeze (it helps being in a car and being Malaysian passing through Malaysian checkppoint. Oh it's also a fact that I learn from this tour that in order to drive your own vehicle into Thailand, you have to possess the grant to prove that you really owned the vehicle you drive, perhaps in an effort to come smuggling of cars) while over Dannok, you have to come down from the vehicle and go through the checkpoint in person while getting your picture taken with a computer camera on counter. Oddly enough, our driver instructed us to slip RM1 note into our passport before handing it to the immigration and everybody else seems to do so. Is it a service charge that I didn't aware about or it's actually...a bribe?

Talking about smuggling and illicit activities, here's a warning by the government of Malaysia at Bukit Kayu Hitam Checkpoint against smuggling of petrol from Malaysia to Thailand because Malaysian subsidized petrol in Malaysia is cheaper than Thailand.

...which made me wonder that whether this makeshift petrol stand that looks more like a food stand that we made a stop before heading to Hat Yai is actually legal or not?

After a rather sweltering ride including kilometres long traffic jam because of one side of road totally closed down from traffic as well as a detour for the driver that brought us to the tour company he affiliated to trying to sell us tours (which was unnecessary and we are dead tired by that point and at least an hour behind the rest of the group. Even the KL gang has arrived), we finally reached Hat Yai.

Hat Yai is the largest city in southern Thailand serving as a major commercial and transport hub benefiting of course from all the cross border trade. The layout of the city center is fairly straightforward into straight roads and blocks with occasional tower right in the center...

....and the focal point of Hat Yai city center of course is Lee Garden Plaza which is a trendy medium size city center mall that has the usual fast food outlets, cafes, restaurant, a cinema and gaming arcade. Located right across it is Central Department Store which I think is equivalent to Parkson in Malaysia and a Tops Supermarket at the top floor (no pun intended) which I think equivalent to Cold Storage standard.

Ubiquitous around Lee Garden Plaza and any hotels and tourist sights in Hat Yai for that matter is of course the Tuk-tuk, for Hat Yai's case it's brightly coloured, city-registered but otherwise owned by driver themselves mini truck with seating area behind. A general rule of thumb with regards to fare is it's a flat 20 baht for city travel and one advantage of travelling in large group is that one can bargain group travel fares and additional request easier which is what we did by asking tuk-tuk to drop us at hotel first before heading off to our next destination for 200 baht. (one way trip would have costed 180 baht per trip).

...and our next destination is ASEAN Trade Market or to give its local name, Talad Poet Tai (Weds to Fri, 1700-2200), basically a large compound of small shoplots selling clothes, fashion items and other tourist related merchandizes. Sandwiched right in the middle and around the side are food stalls selling myriads of food from the usual Thai to Japanese mini sushi and takoyaki stand. The one stall (or maybe, all other stalls around this area) we settled our dinner seems to be well-catered by tourists judging from the attendants immediately stating their offering in smattering HOKKIEN and English after knowing that we're from Malaysia as well as listing out their price clearly in which everything is 40 baht for food and 10 baht for drinks. So for 40 bahts, most of us got pork leg rice (te kar pui). One more thing I noticed for food stalls is that they left plenty of fresh leafy vegetables and beansprout on table besides condiments like fish sauce and chilli powder to all patron to put into their dishes as they fancy it. After we had dinner, there are a little bit more room for snacks...which I filled with deep fried bugs which I spotted as I walked along the row of food stalls. For 20 baht for each scoop, I get myself grasshopper and bread worm (I think). Verdict: grasshopper is like very dry shrimp (watch out for prickly leg) while bread worm has a teensy bit juice but otherwise it's largely seasoning.

Let's proceed to Day 2 (Sunday 23 June) which is our full 24 hours here in Hat Yai.

Breakfast starts at Chok Dee Tae Tiam, an obviously Thai-Chinese owned establishment serving DIM SUMS and Bak Kut Teh for the throng of Malaysian and Singaporean or Thai tourist alike. Their dimsum is pretty cheap and follow a flat price of 16 baht per tray so of course we didn't hesitate to grab as much as we want. To top it off, we also ordered large claypot of bak kut teh for all of us to share and most importantly of all, you can refill the soup base for FREE inclusive of vegetables and golden needle mushroom! I forgot what's the total in the end but each person tallied up to right about 100 baht per person. *burp*

Next stop: Hat Yai Municipal Market for bulk shopping of snacks and dried foods as well as clothes and such. Apparently cashew nuts is much cheaper in Thailand than in Malaysia. 

Late lunch at Oishi Shabu-Shabu and Sushi Buffet over Lee Garden Plaza on Ah Ham's suggestion. 345 baht person which is roughly about the same price we get for similar steamboat buffet back in Malaysia but with time limit of an hour. Doesn't matter though as we still made as much of our money's worth as possible!

Sometime later in the evening, we went to Khlong Hae Floating Market. Compared to the floating market of Bangkok, Khlong Hae Floating Market is more like conventional market compound with a floating addition and it is just row of individual boats + stalls moored at the platform side facing the river while tourist buy foods from them. As we are still pretty much full from the buffet, we didn't spent too much of time over there.

Not without buying some snacks though. Quail egg sunnyside up on the left and coconut juice served in clay mug on the right, each 20 baht. Oh about that clay mug: you can actually keep it! Definitely added much value to 20 baht!

As we're heading back to hotel for rest, we asked our driver for a detour to Big C Supercenter  (in a way like Giant of Malaysia)along the way back for one last round of cheap grocery shopping. I am still astounded on how cheap their grocery is compared to offering of similar quality in Malaysia but maybe it's because of the advantageous exchange rate. More on that on thought.

After bath and settling down and such, we went back to Lee Garden Plaza area again for its rows of massage saloon (200 baht on bone-breaking Thai massage) as well as dinner/supper at the road side stall. Apparently the stall owner knows how to speak Chinese too so not much of hassle. 50 baht per order so I settled for duck noodle (down left) while others settled for crab dumpling noodle (top right) and etc. Last but not least, ordered large mango and glutinous rice (60 baht I think) to be shared among all.

Day 3: Our Last Morning in Hat Yai and Aftermath.

A visit to Thailand doesn't feel complete without visit to actual Thai Buddhist Temple and since my research reveals that there's a temple right at the corner from our hotel, I went over to have a quick look during my yet another early morning wake up walk. Wat Mongkol Theparam it's called and it has a giant golden stupa standing up above the still incomplete pavillion. Standing in the middle is the main prayer pavillion with the usual intricate adornment and finishing as well as statues of buddhas surrounding it. Among the buddhas however, a deity common to Chinese traditional worship stood out incongruously at the corner. Is that...Tua Pek Kong or Tu Di Gong?

The KL Sistahood left for airport around 10.00am in the morning to catch 12:45 noon flight...

...while the rest of us went back with van again reaching Penang sometime at 5pm Malaysian time.

At the end of the day, I still have 321 baht out of 2880 or RM300 baht exchanged in the beginning of the trip which is a relief considering I originally planned to bring RM250 but good judgment implore me to top it to RM300 right before leaving for the trip while the rest have to exchange for extra cash while over Hat Yai after overspending. Good thing that I didn't spent too much on shopping too as I only concentrated buying for my own sake...

...which is loads of snacks (Lays Potato Chips Dried Squid and Lobsters flavour, Lays Stax of Nori Seaweed and Spicy Lobster flavour, Pepero, two cans of Koh Kae beans Tomyam and Wasabi flavour and nori flavour dried seaweed) which I finished within four days and MINCED PORK FLAVOURED instant noodle (10 pack for 50 baht only!). You can't get these in Malaysia alright!

and of course, my very first international immigration stamp! I wonder which nation's will be the next to grace on my 48 page passport for the next two years.

-That's all for usual touristy itineraries, next post will be miscellany bits, thoughts and observations that piqued my interest-