Locations: KL – Ipoh – Hat Yai – Alor Setar – KL
1st September
After a good sleep yesterday, waking up for the hotel buffet breakfast spread – and it was HORRIBLE. So don’t bother if your breakfast is complimentary from this hotel. To my honest opinion, I will rather eat street food. Which I should!!! We then hopped back into our car and heading towards the nearest beach: Songkhla - Samila Beach
Waze is so reliable, so don’t worry of getting lost along the way. There are ample of parking spaces and we parked nearest to the seafood restaurants and walked towards the beach. Few pictures taken while we strolled to the beach
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| Sun screen splatted on her every where! |
Elders went for foot massage (available at cheap price along the beach) while me and #rascaltoddler brave ourselves under the sun for some beach time.
Too hot, but I splat enormous amount of sun screen for #rascaltoddler and being a human umbrella for her, she was save from the burn. Me on the other hand, got toasted and burnt!
Luckily we managed to get a few good pictures at the Little Mermaid statue on Songkhla beach before we turned into toasted pumpkin
Very difficult to get a still shot of #rascaltoddler looking at the camera!
I didn’t see the public toilet around the beach that we can use, but worry not, each restaurant provides bathroom where you can clean up after your fun at the beach. Bad side, you need to dine there.
So we were stopped by this restaurant vendor who can speak fluent hokkien and mandarin claiming she is Malaysian but got married to a Thai local. Hence, the restaurant was her business. It was a seafood restaurant, and we are at the beach. Seafood + beach = perfect lunch. Both #rascaltoodler and me took our quick bath and waiting for the rest for lunch.
Fortunately and unfortunately, by the time we ordered our food, the restaurant was full with tourist from the bus tour. Our food got served super slow and the elders were not impressed. We paid for what was served and the rest of the orders we cancelled and made a small scene at the cashier. The price for a plate of fried calamari, white rice, drinks and a plate of vegetable (if I remember correctly, there was no meat) whipped up the bill to MYR 120++ (includes exchange rate loss). That is like cutting throat price. Not happy, half-empties stomach, we stormed off and left. Unfortunately for not able to eat seafood lunch but fortunately we left if not, we end up breaking our bank for mediocre seafood menu.
So, we decided to cross the bridge to go over to Ko Yo, a small island of where one of many famous reclining buddha in southern Thailand: Wat Phranon Laem Pho
We didn't walk around much because as you can see from the picture, it was clear blue sky on a hot day. We were not full from our half ate lunch, lucky to us, there were some street food available - nothing heavy, just snacks/fruits/beverages. The coconut ice cream was worth a try though.
As we are not able to shop much from yesterday night market, we head back Hatyai town into Lee Garden mall. Supposedly to go Central Mall Hatyai, but we didn't manage to do so. Spent the rest of the day shopping and eating and gossiping. It was fun!
2nd September
Since we missed getting fresh dried nuts and produce, we headed back to Kim Market before checking out. Had our local Thai breakfast (since Hotel one was super lousy). If you are looking for dried longan / assorted nuts, this is the place you should come. Price is reasonable and fresh!
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| She loves her tuk-tuk ride |
We rushed back to freshen ourselves before checking out from hotel. Rush to Customs because we were so afraid of the queue we were in previously. Still, look at the crowd:-
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| Seriously? |
Disclaimer ahead
I do not encourage bribes nor I am advertising this illegal transaction, but I was left with a choice of waiting for my turn or express exit. So what I did was opting for express exit of Hatyai. The cost was charged per passport and expect people coming up to you in a very public manner inquiring if you want to skip the queue. I leave the rest of the details out as this act is illegal and I don't want to get into trouble :)
We bid good bye and heading to Alor Setar for the last day of our road trip. I best on best rating in the hotel booking app and reserve a room for 4 adults at a very reasonable price. It turn our to be Tabung Haji Hotel. So, respect the hotel rules. It is "halal" hotel, so you are not allow to consume alcohol nor pork within the compound of this hotel. Aside of these, it was a very good hotel. We were starving when we checked in, and I was too lazy to head out for food hunting so I settled with room service.
The rest of the day we headed to meet my mom's uncle and had a family dinner. Head back to hotel with a heavy heart that my adventurous trip is ending in 24 hours.
I spent 10 hours on the road heading home KL. Yes 10 hours! Not my longest ride on the road but it was really exhausting....
That's the end of the trip. Hope we can challenge further and more exciting itinerary!
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