HATYAI, THAILAND - SAMILA BEACH & KLONGHAE FLOATING MARKET

Our next destination was to Samila Beach or Laem Samila , where it is famous for the Golden Mermaid Statue which has been the symbol of Songkhla. It's believed that touching the statue will bring good fortune for relationship. This beach is renowned for its powdery sandy beach and shady pine groves.It is easily accessible via Hat Yai-Songkhla buses. From the city, visitors can take a minibus directly to the beach.

The Golden Mermaid Statue was surrounded with lots of tourist and thus we did not take a step closer to have a look! Instead, we just walked around the beach and snapped few photos.

The symbol of Samila Beach

the signboard at the beach

tourist spot filled up with hawkers selling food and souvenir


beautiful beach

After enjoying the fresh air at the beach, our tour guide made a stop at Klonghae Floating Market located in Tambon Klonghae which is 3 miles away from Hatyai City . The floating market is open from Friday to Sunday (3pm to 9pm). This floating market here is different as compared the one in Bangkok cos' the boat will not move and stay at the same point till business is over. Every stall sells their food at 200 TB/RM2 only.

You can also find various type of souvenirs, costume jewellery, tee shirts and etc in the open air section.

Since it was 6pm (5pm in Thailand), my friend and I brought 6 types of food for our dinner. The food was damn cheap and delicious . I couldn't snap the food photos cos my ' stupid'camera ran out of battery again~ ...phew..)

look at the huge crowd of people queuing up to buy food

drinks stall.... a clay container is yours when you order a drink



exotic food....fried worms, cockroaches etc



stalls inside the market



stall selling red and glutinous rice



Later in the night, all of us went to the night market in Central for more shopping on food, clothing and gadgets.



On our last day, we stopped at Ipoh for lunch and have a 8 course sumptuous dinner in a restaurant in Tanjung Malim which is included in the tour package.


Overall, this trip is worth every cents. It's a handsome package complete with nice transport, delicious food, clean accommodation, beautiful sight seeing and not forgetting fond & happy memories to bring back home!

HATYAI, THAILAND - CRYSTAL ISLAND, LOTUS FLOWER LAKE & DINNER

After having a good lunch, we visited the beautiful Crystal Island and Lotus Flower Lake in Phatthalung in which you can view the wonders of diamond in the island and the caves as well. To reach the island, we took a long tail boat for 30 TB per person.

on the way to the island

upon arrival, you'll see beautiful Buddha statue...

Smiling Buddha near the boat jetty



our long tail boat..clean and fast




refreshing and crystal clear water!!!

entrance to the caves

diamond caves??? i don't see one

wishing tree!!!

inside the cave....gorgeous goddess of mercy

another beautiful statue!

stone encrypted with word of wisdom

lucky tree..hug it and you'll strike number?

a land mark ...in case lost

a scenic spot to relax & enjoy fresh air!!!

entrance to the 12 Chinese zodiac animals kingdom...

*put a coin into the 12 boxes made of stone and you'll be blessed*

OUR DINNER

succulent braised pork trotter

aromatic otak-otak

fresh stir fried mixed vegetables

flavorful deep fried sweet & sour garoupa


We also ordered omelette's oyster, deep fried garlic pork and seafood tom yam (unable to take photos cos' camera out of battery). Total bill was 880 TB/RM88 only including rice and drink for 10 of us. It was indeed a very cheap dinner with fantastic seafood.

HATYAI, THAILAND - PADANG BESAR & LUNCH

Over the last weekend, my friend and I joined a tour group to Hatyai which we had booked few months ahead as it was very cheap. It's only RM198 which includes transportation in a clean and comfortable coach of 44 seaters, 2 night stay in a hotel, 1 breakfast, 1 lunch & 1 dinner and a lottery ticket before bidding goodbye from the organiser.

We left Kuala Lumpur at 11 pm and arrived Padang Besar (border of Malaysia/Thailand) at about 6 am on the next day. Our tour guide took three hours to settle our passport procedure at the Immigration Counter.

There were tons of tours buses and beeline of peoples in the toilet cleaning up themselves, eating and drinking at the food stalls and changing currency with the money changer.

a beeline of people queing up at the Immigration Counter


waiting to get their passport endorsed at the Immigration Counter



tour buses lining up in the hot and humid weather

a peddlar selling cut fruits, roasted peanut, boiled farm chicken egg & quail egg

feeling hungry...we ate sticks of fried fish balls, sausages etc - 50 TB each

hot and spicy sauces for dipping!!!

our lunch in a coffee shop selling famous chicken rice !!!

yummy... roasted pork ...i luv it

a set of chicken rice complete with a bowl of soup

our dessert ... very sweet pineapple @ 250 TB (RM2.50) only


sweet and savoury crispy pancake - @ 50 TB

assorted snacks - 3 pack for 100 TB only

MERRY CHRISTMAS

WISHING EVERYONE

'MERRY X'MAS 2009'

AND

A HAPPY HOLIDAY

THE COFFEE BEAN - CITIBANK CARD HOLDER

I passed by The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf outlet and saw a Citibank poster displayed at the cashier counter. Eager to know further information depicted on the poster and being a Citibank credit card holder , I walked closer to the poster and was glad to know that I can use my points to redeem food and beverage from the outlet. Any surplus will be charged to your Citibank credit card.

Since it was still morning, I browsed through the menu and opted for 1 set of Break O Day with a free cup of coffee/tea and a piece of Tiramisu Classics which looks tempting.

Break O Day

two pieces of hot toast bread, superb scramble egg, tasty chicken sausages, fresh salad, strawberry jam, salt & pepper

A big cup of hot coffee!



Tiramisu Classics cake...awesome

It was truly a perfect and delightful breakfast on a Sunday. I was charged RM5 only (after minus my reward points) for this breakfast!!!^_ ^

OYSTER KING

After reading bloggers article on Oyster King, I decided to try out the food in a stall which is located right in front of Din Tai Fung, The Gardens in Midvalley Megamall.

I am a fan of oyster especially fried oyster or fondly known as 'Oh Chien' in Penang. Upon arriving there, I flipped at the menu and opted for value set meal comprises of 1 glass Chrysanthemum/green tea, 1 plate of pumpkin cake and 1 plate of fried oyster at RM9.80 nett only.

While waiting for the food to arrive, you can see your food being cooked through the transparent con sealed kitchen.

Chrysanthemum tea...no flower smell

the oysters are fresh but sadly the batter tasted like pancake

pumpkin cake.... overall texture are soft but not flavorful enough