Hat Yai Trip - Day 2

We started our day with a good breakfast to fuel us up. I had roti pisang (35 Baht) while he had nasi lemak (45 Baht) at Salma. Roti pisang was a bit salty to my taste, perhaps it was the type of banana they used, but the gravy was nice. Surprisingly, their sambal was not up to our expectation ... pelik jugak eh, pasal tom yum sedap nape lak tak reti buat sambal ...

kawaii neh ... star shaped nasi lemak

roti pisang. gulai tu kosong ja tapi dap

Next, we went to Kim Yong market. This is where you can buy kilos of cheap cashew nuts, dried mangoes, tamarind and other dried fruits. There are also batik sarong, cotton pyjamas, blouses and facial creams here. Opens everyday from 8:00am to 5:00 pm.

roasted chestnuts - my favourite! manis rasanya. 500g at 70 Baht

All the shops above are either open air shops or inside buildings with no airconditioner. Most of the shops inside the building were closed when we went there. Don't forget to bargain if you buy stuff from the market because they all start with the highest price.

Then we found this shop. We expect to find keychains and what not, tapi lain pulak yang kitaorg jupe.

Kedai ni takleh bargain, but fret not because the cashier will give further price reduction upon payment. Some of the things are sold secara pukal tapi ada jugak yang jual secara individu. Reminds me of kedai-kedai kat petaling street.

Below is one of the shopping malls in Hat Yai - Odean, or O.D. as it is fondly called by the locals. We thought OD pun ada jualan lambak pasal banjir tapi rupanya tak. memang kebetulan dia tengah ada sale. The building itself was locked but buyers boleh cuci mata di sekitar kaki-kaki lima.

haaa....rebut kak long, rebut ....

Dah tiba masa nak isi perut untuk tengah ari pulak .... this time around, we walked a bit further to find a particular halal restaurant that was recommended by a netizen. Katanya, ni kedai biasa-biasa aje tapi sedap sangat ... so tak salah kan, kalau nak mencuba?

Yatta!! dah jumpe! It's called Rocky Restaurant Muslim Food. Jauh sket dari happening places dan sunyi sket. Across it ada another muslim restaurant called al-rahman. ingat nak cuba lenkali pulak aa.

muka hepi dapat tomyam putih + sambal belacan yang best

nasi paprik ayam. sedap!!!!!

Next, we checked out from Mayflower and checked in pulak kat Diamond Plaza Hotel. Hotel ni je yang available, other hotels suma dah full, even yang budget hotels macam sakol pun full. Dari Mayflower ke Diamond Plaza, takyah la ngengada nak naik tuk-tuk. korang tarik je bag korang, kejap je dah sampai. dekat je sebenarnya kesemua tempat ni. walking distance lah kirenya. tapi kalau nak merasa naik tuk-tuk, takpe aaa...

The lobby is very spacious. Ada banyak sofa untuk lepak-lepak kunyah kacang gajus. Rate is 790 Baht per night.

The pros of this hotel is that :

- it is nearer to Kim Yong market
- room is bigger compared to Mayflower
- tv has more channels that include tv3, espn, afc, star world, star movies, vision four, ape tah lagi. kalau kat mayflower, no english speaking channels and all programs are talking shows pok pek pok pek (dah la tak phm pape pun kan...)

The cons are :

- no free wi-fi
- facilities are old
- jamban dia keruh
- macam ada bau lama ... mungkinkah air cond dia?
- tingkap berabuk (ok, by now i do sound like a pengawas kebersihan di dorm)

Petang tu, kitaorang hire a car untuk pergi ke Khlong Hae Floating Market. Tatau bukak ke tak tapi pwincess dah puas berdoa agar ujan tak turun aritu .... so kitaorg gamble je la pergi jugak. seb baik dapat nego dengan agent tu untuk dpt diskaun kalau Floating Market tutup. Below are some of the pictures yang kita snapped masa on the way to Khlong Hae. Dapat tengok keadaan kampung-kampung situ ..

ni barulah kucing siam ori hehe

budak-budak baru balik dari sekolah

simpang nak masuk khlong hae

more signages of Khlong Hae

Some of the sellers on boats

Too bad not many sellers yang menjual-jual kat Khlong Hae pulak aritu. adeh. so kitaorang pun detour ke Santisuk market. nothing much except you can find a whole wide variety of DVDs, movies, dramas, porn CDs , speakers and some electronic gadgets here. malam tu kitaorg pekena lagi tomyum putih and nasi goreng pattaya pastu kitaorg jenjalan kat area night market to see nightlife kat situ camane.

inside santisuk market

penjual somtam , sedap!

deep fried udang galah. yang bebesor tu 3 ekor utk 500 Baht

Hat Yai Trip - Day 1

Sawatdee kaa ~

We just came back from Hat Yai 2 days ago ... actually we didn't really plan for this trip, so that made it more adventurous as we did not know what to expect when we set our foot there. And just a week prior to the trip, we were informed that Hat Yai has experienced the worst flood in years. And one of the most affected area is the commercial and business center in the town area. We had qualms about the trip, but since Air Asia did not make any flight cancellations, so with doa + positive minds, we just proceed.

waiting to board

The journey to Hat Yai via airplane took about 75 minutes and the local time is 1 hour behind Malaysia. When we arrived, the sun was bright but we could see black clouds were forming as a sign of an impending heavy downpour.

As we scouted for drivers to take us to the city centre, a malaysian uncle approached us and invited us to share a cab with him and his friend from India. Fyi, the fare is 300-350 Baht per car.

Uncle tu baik sangat, he even recommended us Mayflower hotel. Katanya, hotel tu bagus, dia dah banyak kali stay sana, so he is a regular there. regular in hat yai?!! ha ha. cuba baca between the lines. tapi tak baik bersangka buruk okeh so pwincess tarik balik kata-kata itu.

Masa sampai di Mayflower, we were informed that all the rooms were fully booked. and by the way, in Thailand, it is recommended that tourists book their hotel rooms through agents rather than walk-in. in other words, walk-in rates are much more expensive compared to agents' rates. These are some of the agents that you can ask for quotations, nak beli tiket bas pun boleh, nak tukar duit kat sini boleh, nak book transport for songkhla tour/koh samui/phuket suma pun boleh diuruskan di sini.

This is our hotel but we managed to book for one night only as it was fully booked. Otel-otel lain kebanyakannya ditutup lagi untuk keje-keje pembersihan.

Rate here per night is 900 Baht and I personally love the hotel. The room is clean, the facilities are new, free-wifi, strategic location (halal eateries, shopping complexes, hair salons and massage parlours are nearby)

After we checked-in, perut dah tak tahan sangat lapar ... seb baik restauran halal yang hangat diperkatakan itu adalah di seberang jalan saje.

Staff kat salma halal restaurant ni boleh bercakap melayu. they even bagi salam pada kita bile kita nak masuk kedai dia. sejuk ati dengar.


prince ordered nasi goreng daging merah. sedap sangat tapi sikit. dahla perut tgh growling with hunger.

pwincess ordered koay teow tom yum. I wanted to taste authentic thai cooking while in thailand and yes! tom yum dia sangat sedap! kalau makan, memang berpeluh-peluh, and by the time you finished it, your lips would be swollen....terasa macam angelina jolie sekejap....pergh~

seafood koay teow tom yum as in the picture is about 70 Baht and the asam buoy drink is 35 Baht (spelling ikut menu dia). Oh ya, kalau kat salma, masakan goreng-goreng dia sedap, tapi kalau lauk pauk khabarnya tak tasty so simpanlah duit anda.

This is another halal restaurant yang famous di kalangan malaysians. unfortunately, the restaurant is still closed, tak dapek kitaorg nak rasa kesedapan makan kat situ.

Lepas makan, kitaorang jalan-jalan just to explore the city. The town in in the midst of recovery, damaged goods were gathered in one place while goods that can still be used but a bit spoilt due to the flood dijual secara lambak atau lelong di tepi kaki lima.

jualan lelong

the ubiquitous tuk-tuk - 20Baht/person

Pulut mangga depan Lee Garden Plaza - serious sedap gile sehingga menjilat plastik

oh oh ... true enough, heavy downpour on that evening! so we returned to our hotels, had our massage in the room for 2 hours. don't forget to ask for not-so-pretty masseurs for your massage, apart from safety measure (if u travel with your husband), apparently these ladies massage better compared to the ones with pretty faces. the massage was good, we even add-on aromateraphy massage and habis angin-angin dalam badan semua dipecahkan oleh tukang urut ni.

wanna hear a funny story? the Indian friend of the kind Uncle also had massage in his room, and the lady asked him whether he wanted 'extra services' ... tapi pasal tatau nak sebut dalam english, so she showed some gestures and said, 'ping pong'? paham-paham la kan....amende. tapi this mister pulak lurus bendul, he answered, "well ... sure. but where's the bat, table and ball to play ping pong?" lawak betul la....hehe.

One of the days....

yeah. just one of the days.

i seldom show my anger to people

but once i show, you'll wish i had not in the first place

i wish i could show it at times, especially to these people;

bossy people
bitchy people
people who mooch
people who talk big big BIG
bitches that take advantage of others
people who think they are great, greater than the universe
people who are too frugal that they menyusahkan orang lain
people who think anything, everything that they do is the best and above of the others
people who show off (when in the first place, they have nothing much to show off, pun..)
people that don't believe what i say
people that mengungkit

the list is endless.

i just hope that the world is filled with more well-behaved, sincere, tactful people

so that it will be a happier place to live in

yeah, i know it's a wishful thinking

The Loaf, Empire Shopping Gallery

Arini nak update pasal ........ The Loaf.

Seb baik la The Loaf da dibuka kat Empire Shopping Gallery, Subang Jaya. Kalau tak, jarang aa datang mood rajin nak menapak ke area pavillion sana tu semata-mata nak makan roti dan minum kopi.

Dari nama The Loaf pun kita da tau kedai ni mesti jual roti atau apa2 sewaktu dengannya. Ada macam-macam jenis roti dijualnya ... ada sweet bun, ada savoury bun, healthy loaf suma pun ada. Not limited to that, they also have heavier meals if you feel like eating buns are not enough.

When we went there recently, we had their lasagne and a few buns; black beauty and mixed nut. black beauty is a newly introduced bun, it's a bun with crushed oreo on top of the bun. i think dalam dough bun itu sendiri pun ada mixed together with oreo crumbs. as for the mixed nut thingy, ohh itu sangat sedap! segala macam nuts ada i.e. pistachio, almond, walnut and ape tah lagi ... crunchy betul .... reminds me of biskut cornflake madu yang pwincess buat tetiap tahun.

Lasagne dia pun not bad gak la. tapi kecik ja. so kalau sape lapa gile, sila order lebih-lebih. satu konfem tak cukup.

The drink, cube 60 is cute too. The glass is filled with cream and what not, while the coffee is actually frozen cubes (imagine ice cubes) and plopped into the glass. the coffee cubes will then melt and tadaa .... dapat ler iced coffee yang mmm...mmmm.... ~

A Taste of Norway

yeay! mr hubs aka prince suda balik ... oh oh ohhh besnye.

and ape lagi yang bes tau ... malam pwincess fetch prince from the airport tu, we went to Norwegian Seafood Gala Dinner 2010 ... macam celebration gitu ... ahaks~

haa .... kat mana dinner tu?

mestilah kat norway.

tak caya?

haa ... tu basket picnic kitaorang. tapi bukan kat norway, tapi kat mandarin oriental. this spectacular event is held every year and as the name implies, the gala dinner promises a scrumptious spread of all types of seafood. walla...

when we arrived at the grand ballroom, mat salleh punye laa ramai. terasa pulak mcm bukan kat mesia, tu yang pwincess kata gala dinner kat norway tu, hehe. our invitation card says the event starts at 7.oo pm tapi janji norwegian sama je dengan janji malaysian, dinner actually started at 8.00 pm.

the dishes were stunningly served and the decor was magnificent ... haruslah extravagant pasal kat otel kan, but lets just check these out :

all these are real & fresh from the deep sea, man

i poked and put my fingers on its teeth, tajam gilos siyes tak tipu


a close shot of the monkfish

aww, not to forget the vikings' ship

once everyone was seated, the lights were dimmed and we were enthralled by the 'opening show' by mr MC. seems like the norwegians are proud of their vikings and seafood and thus, we were enlightened about the history of vikings, difference between the vikings from Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland.

oh ya, the vvips that were invited on that night's event were Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen and the Norwegian ambassador. we were also introduced to the event's chef, Chef Frank Naesheim. Chef Frank explained that the buffet was the result of collaboration between chefs from Norway and Malaysia, blendng skills and traditions from the two countries.

The list of food is too long, by the way. there were cold dishes, hot dishes, dishes cooked according to Malaysian style, Japanese style, Western and of course, Norwegian style. Desserts pun toksah kata la .... the chefs were being transparent with the ingredients used for the dishes, yang ada wine wine tu, bleh awal-awal kita slash out from our list to eat kan ... ha jimat masa dan tenaga

*the following pictures were taken from cumi dan ciki because pwincess and prince were both kelaparan, dah tak dan nak snappy-snappy gambaq

orang2 dah start keliaran nak melantak makanan


fuh ... hot and sexy legs~

pilihan sushi malam tu...

wasabi mana leh tinggal beb

fresh kan? adoi yai

caviar ... memang terbaikkk!

malam tu memang salmon banyak giler ahhhhh, kalau tak puas2 gak tatau nak ckp pe

more and more salmons

live station - the gravlav carving station

emmph~

halus mulus susunan shrimps

did i mention that our entertainers for that night were the Alleycats?

ha ha.

okeh sori. pwincess bukan nak gelakkan alleycats tapi nak gelak bila teringat minah-minah salleh ni sume gelak terguling-guling once alleycats ni bukak mulut and nyanyi.

we were overloaded with seafood on that night .... we had unlimited servings of lobster, crayfish, king crab, mackerel, atlantic halibut, caviar, salmon etc etc etc. i tasted monkfish for the first time as well .... manis and best giler isi dia, despite its ugliness ...huhuhu. so don't judge the book by its cover yah kawan-kawan .... or in this context, don't judge the fish by its look wakekekeke~

so malam tu perut sangatlah kenyang .... nak bagi food tu turun, kitaorang pun lepak-lepak la jap. sambil minum coke, we were entertained by Mr and Mrs Foeling .... we were shown picture slides of Norway ... menarik but laidback sket ahh ...

okaylah .... ending of story ialah .... the pwincess lives happily ever after ....