Songkran Festival @ Hatyai Thailand 2013 (Final Part)

  Hello everyone once again, and it's also the last part of my Hatyai visit too. Part 1 and 2 went well I hope, and now straight to the point. Next on my travels of afar, the tuk-tuk got my mind fixated on a flea market at Dee Garden, in Hatyai City Center. As mentioned, it a market like no other, except this market here has almost everything in the world it has to offer!

These clothes are somehow a hit in Thailand!

Goods from all around

  Cramming through the narrow, hot and unseemingly pleasant vesseled-paths of the lively market, one could really attain goods of all kinds at bargain prices. A note to take is that the prices here highly reasonable if you were to strike a perfect bargain. And, do not expect a halved-priced bargains to be too good to be true, as some prices could go lower that you could ever imagine. That said, it's time to show your social skills now, and please don't get easily bamboolzelled by the shop owners there. Indeed they have many tricks up their sleeves then.

Get clothes here at bargain prices

  One would really go there to get some clothing though, and also some famous Thai-produced foodstuffs. Still, an advice is to plan out a way to get the products back to your countries though, as the customs will prove a barrier too hard to face. Get the products in small amounts, and try to find certified ones, just in case though.

Wet market

Spices!

  Behind this olden building corroded by unforgiving time, the wet markets stood out the tradition as all markets should have. And once again, as in Part 2, people regardless of religions are there all together, selling their products for all they care. It really is an amazing sight, not seen anywhere in Semenanjung Malaysia, and certainly worth throwing a salute to.

You have to try the mangoes here, yummy!

  Oh yeah, before I forget, some shop owners here have an attitude needing immediate fixing. Watch out for those who despise people touching their goods if you were of no intention in buying them. There was this guy who scolded my little bro for touching his goods,and blaming him for something my little bro did not do.

Oh boy, if he was in Malaysia, I'll  !#*&@^!(*%#&^#........

Ok, moving on... :)

Khlong Hae Foating Market, if I'm not wrong XD

A majestic view

Floating wonder

A major tourist attraction!

All kinds of foods for sale

All you can eat!

  Last but not least, and certainly the icing on the cake I thought, was a visit to the Khlong Hae Floating Market. Yes, the only thing else that could get mii this excited except gorgeous girls ~~~~~ FOOD!!! Thai delicacies from all about, all found in this amazing floating sparkle of a wonder. The foods sold here are cheap (ranging from 10baht to 50baht), and most importantly, tantalizing least said. Pictures will tell you the best foods sold there then.

My favourite, satay tandoori chicken!!!!

Fried seafood!

Cute bamboo-made drink containers!

Mine!

Unique way of purchasing

Fishcake in Thai sauce

A wide variety to choose from

Otak-otak

Mini Sushi

1 for 5 baht

  Besides just those amazing foodstuff, there are also souvenirs sold at bazaars behind the market. Once again, fish out your bargaining skills and start pushing prices to their lowest! And that summarizes my trip to Hatyai. The Songkran Festival was supposed to reach it's peak-most by tonight, but I had to leave early as I've got a flight to catch back to Kuala Lumpur the next early morning. Reluctant certainly, but nevertheless, this is one trip I'm looking forward to again in time to come! That's all, see ya!!!

Fried hotdog in bread, nice to look, but not so on taste

Chicken and fish samosa

Another type of otak-otak, even nicer!

Thailand flour-made candy

Egg toufu, yummy!

Bazaars all around

Do check out the other parts here!


Part 1:
http://nickel-low.blogspot.com/2013/04/songkran-festival-hatyai-thailand-part-1.html




Part 2:
http://nickel-low.blogspot.com/2013/04/songkran-festival-hatyai-thailand-2013.html







Signing off:


Nickel Low CJ

Songkran Festival @ Hatyai Thailand 2013 (Part 2)

  To my dear readers, I'm sorry for the sudden cut-off in my updates of my Hatyai visit of Part 1. Well, seems accidents could be so unpredictable, and I had to take some time off, physically and mentally, nursing my injury back to full health. But I'm back now, so let's continue where we left off shall we? :)

A view from above!

  The next morning saw us bag-packing, and from our hotel, we walked through the nooks and crannies of the bustling Hatyai morning. The sun was out early, glaring it's warmth and sharing it's golden touches on each and everyone of us. A 5 minute walk saw us through and we stood there lining up for breakfast at a famous shop in the heart of Hatyai (Sorry in advance but the foods mentioned here are non-halal).

Hunt this shop down

A crowd in the early morning!

Thai famous delicacy

  The name of the shop was 'Qing Jie 清姐 ' Pork Trotter and Salted Veggi Soup Shop. Being a typical roadside olden-style-thingy shop, seats are limited and one would have to really line up for a taste of this famous Thai delicacy. Well, 30 minutes was worth the wait though and you've really go to drop by here whenever you are in the Hatyai City center. Ask any tourist guide there and they'll point you the way.

A must-try!

Famous all around!

  Here, I would really recommend the grilled pork meat, tender and juicy, it's perfect awesomeness. And soup was very tasty as well, but for those who despise the organ contents, please do bring along a friend who does. Because if not, you're really gonna waste the whole bowl of it. I also managed to stop-by a sweet-corn stall. And my advice is, if you really wanna a faster way to get diabetes, just try one of them. Two large scoops of sugar in each cup, not really what I was expecting. Hence, do cross out Thailand sweet corn from your food list!

Spice and everything's nice!

Chrysanthemum tea

Diabetic food, reduce the sugar to be recommended!

  Right after, we once again hired a tuk-tuk to transport us all around to other famous hot-spots in Hatyai. Skimming through the unforgiving streets, and being once in a while attack by ground-fighters with water guns (really helpless on the tuk-tuk seriously), we soon came to Nora Plaza to do some shopping. From crocodile leather to stingray skins, you can find many many exquisite hand-made products here. The prices were ok, but do just have a glance through the souvenirs as they could be attained at a much more cheaper price later.

Nora Plaza

Sales of all kinds

Exquisite!

Creative! 300 baht each

  Just outside, one could get a taste of some exquisite foods sold there, like shark's fin soup, bird's nest soup and many others. The prices are quite killing, but it's worth a try though, all 100% real products, at least that was what I was told then.

Authentic foods for sale!

Get a taste of them here

  Then, we soon found ourselves rocketing up the mountains as our next stop came to be a famous 3-way-temple in Hatyai. The 3 main temples are The Great Brahman Shrine, Phra Buddha Mongkol Maharaja and the more Chinese-based Guanyin Temple. What makes this a major attraction was at each temple, 3 giant sculptures stood proud, symbolizing the main religious belief in Thailand. A 3-head elephant at The Great Brahman Shrine, the famous Thailand Buddha at Phra Buddha Mongkol Maharaja and of course, Guanyin Buddha at the Guanyin Temple.

Wonderful!

Offering prayers

Elephants of gold

Thai Buddha

Built in occasion of the King's birthday!

Enter the dragon!

  Not only that, these 3 temples are located a distance from one another. So besides the interconnecting roads, they were also linked to one another by a cable-car service which was launched just recently. What makes this a very harmonious sanctuary was the people there.

Cable Car service

Connection

High above in Thailand!

Stroke for luck

Guan Gong sculpture

Sanctuary

GuanYin Sculpture

  Being a Buddhist for so long, not that I have seen a scene such as this, where Hindus and Buddhist emerge to offer their prayers, while non-Buddhists such as Muslims and Christians are just within temple grounds, selling praying items and birds in cages to be set free by visiting tourists. It was the respect they had for each other, where they tolerated and lived in such peace. Not only in these sacred grounds, but also at night markets and food stalls, where they tend to sell and eat together, no discrimination, no disrespect, no outraging dispute. Hence, a quick glance back at my country Malaysia, yes there is improvement over these years, but to achieve such peaceful and equal living amongst society, well we are still way behind.

Golden Phoenix

Chinese temple grounds

Almighty gaze from above

   After all that, you could take a breather at a cafe located at the Cable Car station. The cappucino there is magnificant and I couldn't believe I bought 2 cups of that in one shot!

Mind Coffee

Lovely!

A view to remember while you enjoy your coffee! Ignore that unknown guy down there  :)

  And that's that for Part 2. Part 3 will be out shortly. It really has opened up my mind during this trip to Hatyai, of the cultures, of the people and their way of living. Standards in Malaysia are of course way higher, but the art of socializing is one we should look up to at times. Till then, see ya!



Do check out Part 1 here:
http://nickel-low.blogspot.com/2013/04/songkran-festival-hatyai-thailand-part-1.html


Part 3:
http://nickel-low.blogspot.com/2013/04/songkran-festival-hatyai-thailand-2013_25.html




Signing off:


Nickel Low CJ