Sawadika Thailand!

May 16, 2008

I was in Hat Yai, Thailand over the weekend for a holiday. Hat Yai is situated at the South of Thailand in the province of Songkla.

Can't really see but the sign board says Welcome to Hat Yai

They love their King very much. You wouldn't believe their loyalty. They have orange wristbands saying Long Live the King for his 80th b'day last year and almost EVERYONE I met wore it.

Had our lunch in a restaurant - the girls' Seafood Tom Yam.

We stayed at Diamond Hotel, super cool creature at the entrance..there were 2 of em!

This is a man selling peanuts from Chiang Mai (another part of Thailand). He carries it on his shoulder and walks around selling them. He even has an oven in the basket and roasts the peanuts there. We bought some of it back..it tasted nicer there though!

After lunch we walked to Lee Garden Plaza; a mall. First thing I saw there was ..SWENSEN'S!!!

It was so cheap there!! and since we didn't have dessert earlier on...behold my yummylicious Gold Rush:

It was caramel chocolate (faints!) and coffee something - my mum at the coffee bit.. she loved it =)

They are mad about SHOES:

3/4 of the entire floor was a shoe shop..I was going nuts seeing them!
At night we went to the massage/hair salon/manny/paddy parlour..man there are so many of those there! I had my hair trimmed and nails done while mum had a massage and our friends had their nails done too.

He owns the joint.

Massage boy. It was hilarious cuz most of the people working there cannot speak any other language save Thai there! it was like a duck speaking to a chicken..ended up using signs hahah..no no i didn't flip the bird =P

Mother's massage was so long that most of the shops were CLOSED! (yes I am surprised too - i always thought Thailand had great night life) most shops closed around 9pm. and it was raining..ended up calling room service for dinner.

HUGE portion..both of us couldn't finish it. It was delicious.

The next morning we went walking at the market.. packed with fresh fruits and flowers!

Chilling on the road!

We went on a 'tour' to the temples.. first one we went was to the Sleeping/Reclining Buddha. It's the third largest in the world!

it's 35mtrs long ok?!

This guy was making patterns from cow hide. It's the same thing as Wayang Kulit.

Then we went to the 4-faced Buddha (I only heard of 2-faced ppl, but this one is good!) the four directions represents 4 different meanings..the first face is for family followed by business, something(maybe love?) and lastly education..sorry wasn't paying attention =p

The wish tree..the hopefuls tie their wishes unto the tree..the tree is gorgeous..pinkish leaves.

Next was a temple still in construction..

Super tall shiny Buddha!

Oreja said it looked like he was holding the Sun.. yes it was a very hot day

Tried taking the sun...hehehe

he's so tall!

They have motivational quotes all over..loved it..the procrastination one made me guilty..

Wind chimes with wishes on them..

View from the top

Next was another temple..they are so creative:

Cool Entrance, eh?

With all the zodiac signs..the piggy is so cute!

Then we went to Robinson's (another supermarket) and had lunch there. I got a wee bit adventurous and tried their green noodle..

Beef noodles

The people here are really polite and friendly. They always greet you and try their best to help..look, even Ronald McDonald is courteous: