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Hatyai Day2 Update: Floating market, Songkhla Mermaid & Eating insects

This is the summary post of what we did on the 2nd day in Hatyai.. which was.. 2 days ago. Detailed post with more photos and videos will be up soon.
I posted summary of day 1 previously. Click here to view my Hatyai Day 1 update.

Thanks to Air Asia again for flying us there. Air Asia now flies to Hatyai! No more long hours drive on boring highways! Flight only takes about 1hr. Save time!

So we woke up early in the morning at about 830am for breakfast. Our stay included buffet breakfast for 2 days. Then we hired a guy to drive us around and to bring us to Songkhla. Songkhla is a province in Thailand and Hatyai is just one of the districts in it.

First location was up the hill! They had this Buddha statue on the top overlooking the whole Hatyai. The statue you see at the bottom right is actually statue of the Kuan Yin. This is a must visit spot if you like taking photos of scenery.

We spent like an hour here and took 1000 photos. LOL.. a group shot before leaving for the next destination.

The guide brought us to the sea… I actually didnt know anything about this place.. I later found out that it’s called the Samila Beach and there’s a very famous mermaid statue there. Of course we went and camho with the mermaid. Hahahah

The next destination where we went for lunch… was one of the best/most relaxing one I’ve visited during this whole trip. The car had to go on a ferry ride to make a journey across the Songkhla lake to this place called Yo Island(that’s what it says on Google maps).

It’s a fishing village and we had seafood by the sea next to some mangrove swamp.. which looked good in photos.. hehe (Click here or the photo above to enlarge)

We ordered green curry chicken, sea bass prepared in 2 styles; steam and fried in sweet & sour sauce and a fried kangkung dish. Superb. We also had coconut juice each.. and we only paid about 220Baht each.. which is about RM22. Very cheap.

Oh we also went to the Underwater world in Songkhla.. entry was 300Baht each.(RM30).. looks exactly the same as other underwater worlds like the one in Langkawi, Aquaria KLCC and Sentosa in SG.

My most looked forward destination on the 2nd day was Khlong Hair, aka The Floating Market. At the pathway to the river, they had stalls selling all kinds of food… including fried insects and worms… we braved ourselves and bought some and each of us tried different ones. I tried the cricket. Tasted ok.. ahhaa I had videos of us trying them… will try to post them up soon.

I love this floating market. Although its not as grand as the one in Bangkok… but it was satisfying enough for the floating market virgin me. Hahahah

Our day 2 in Hatyai ended at the night market where we bought food and other stuff.

MORE PHOTOS AND VIDEOS SOON! STAY TUNED!
Hat Yai Day 3 + Memorable moments blog post will be up next!

Visit Airasia website now to book your flights to Hatyai!

22.08.2010 Food, Travel 14 Comments

Get tickets to Step Up 3D screening by Advertlets!

Advertlets is screening Step Up 3D this wednesday! Woot! It’s gonna be the best in the Step Up series cos its gonna be in 3D.. fuiyoh…

I’ve seen the first 2 Step Up and I must say… if you havent seen any of the them… you are missing a lot… so dont miss this one!

Movie Screening Details
DATE : 25th August 2010 (Wednesday)
TIME : 8pm
VENUE : Tropicana City Mall – Hall 3 (150 seats)

Check out the trailer to find out how awesome this movie is.

To get yourself tickets:

1. Post a photo of your dance post in your blog in a very creative way as you can and tell us why you want to watch the movie. (Win 1 Pair)
2. Post a minimum of a 20-30sec video of you or with your friends dancing either: breakdancing/salsa/tango/rumba/chacha/clubbing and tell us why you want to watch the movie. (Win 2 pairs of tickets)

NOTE :
-Your entry must link to this blog post and have this image

- Send your post url to jason.ong@advertlets.com
- Advertlets will notify you through e-mail to confirm you are entitled for the movie passes or not.

Quick! Not much time left!

22.08.2010 advertorial 2 Comments

Hatyai Update 1: Tuktuk, Leaning Buddha & Food Hunting

OK As you may know, I am currently in Hat yai and here are some photos of what happened yesterday.
This is a summary post. Details and more photos/videos will be up in soon.

So Air Asia just launched their flight from KL to Hatyai and they have invited a few bloggers to experience the inaugural KUL-Hatyai flight there. In this photo you see me from Malaysia, Adrian from Singapore, Niza and Qasturi both AirAsia crew, Jian from Malaysia and Iska from Indonesia.

Now everyone can fly.. to HATYAI! No need to drive on super long highways from one country to another… save lots of time.. cos the flight takes only 1 hour! Thanks to Air Asia.

The welcoming ceremony when we landed in Hatyai was AWESOME. They had people forming lines on both sides welcoming us with flowers, souvenirs etc etc… and another section with people holding these “Welcome to Songkhla” boards…. local media was snapping photos and videos of us coming down from the plane. Thanks Airasia for flying us here.

The hotel we are staying in now is called J.B Hotel. Not the best one I’d say… probably a 2-3 stars hotel.. AirAsia.. you’ve got to do better than this. hehe.

First thing we did was to look for food. The locals there kept telling us that this wooden roadside stall sells very nice fried kuey teow so we went to give it a try. Not bad.. we had more things there.. some deserts and Thai version of Otak-otak.. but i’ll show those photos next time.

We then took the Tuk-tuk van to our first Hatyai attraction: The leaning buddha aka “Hat Yai Nai”. Tuk-tuk rides in Hatyai are by default 20 Baht. If you are paying more than 20, you are paying too much.

They famous Hat Yai Nai is actually located nearby the town… so its easy to get to. More shots from this spot soon.

When you go to Hatyai, you have to try their Bird’s nest desert, it’s damn cheap there.. ahaha this one I had was just 200 Baht… which is about RM20. Of course, they are categorised into quality… the lowest quality one.. which is this one you see in the photo.. is the cheapest. Better ones are priced at 300 Bhat, 500 Baht & up.

In the evening we went food hunting at the streets… hehe we managed to find some stalls selling some unique desserts, fried stuff and other types of food. Videos of us trying them will be uploaded soon.

We ended our Day 1 in Hatyai by going to this famous restaurant called “Kam Eng” that serves cheap Thai food. It’s a must to try out the Tom Yam when we are in Thailand, rite?

Hatyai Day 2 summary will be up tomorrow!
I’ll be back in KL tomorrow btw (21 Aug).

Visit Airasia website now to book your flights to Hatyai!

21.08.2010 Food, Travel 17 Comments

Hat Yai Filler: Hot Air Balloon Jump

This is a filler post just in case I cannot find Internet in Hatyai, Yes i’m there now and will be back on 21st Aug.

View more jumps at smashpOp Jumpilation

20.08.2010 Fillers, smashpOp Jump 3 Comments

Off to Hatyai for AirAsia’s KUL-Hatyai Inaugural Flight

Yes I’m flying today morning and will be arriving in Hatyai around noon.

Photo taken from LeoLaksi.

I’ll be getting Internet access there so I will update photos from Hatyai LIVE!
Also, remember to follow me on Twitter for updates!

18.08.2010 Travel 4 Comments

Mango Sago Guys & Girls

OK last post from Funky Villa. After dinner we went upstairs to chill and to try some of their desserts.

This one was nice but not cold enough.

Sipping with Yvonne

Seriously.. it’s perfect for 10 ppl lol cos 6 of us couldnt finish this.

We were caught camhoring LOL

By these 2 ladies hehe

Ok a proper one of our muskels.

Photo taken from Alexander Voo’s flickr.

18.08.2010 Food 3 Comments

Funky people funky food

OK now that we have seen the faces at the dinner at Funky Villa.. its time to checkout the food!

I like their funky wall design.. hehe ok ok here comes the food.

We tried 3 of their famous drinks, Iced Roselle, Iced Tamarind and Iced Lemongress. The one I like most is the Roselle. At first sip, I thought I was drinking some sweetened flower petals, then only I found out it was made of rose and its good for health.

We ordered a few appetisers. My favourite was this, Half Boiled Eggs Wrapped in FishCakes. It’s superb I tell you! It’s not the ordinary thai fish cake that you tried before. This one is specially made fish cakes wrapping half boiled eggs with some of their own gravy.. heavenlike. Yumz!

Another one I enjoyed was this.
Imagine… fish floss with peanut.. mixed it with mango slices = wow. Lol I rate this 9/10. My mouth is watering as Im typing this lol.

This is new to me as I’ve never tried before elsewhere. Prawn Wrapped In Vermicelli. This one is like prawns wrapped in springroll skin + crunchy vermicelli. Rangup dan lazat as some might say.. ahhaha. Ok enough about the starters. Here comes the main dishes!

This one is called Basil Leaf Beef. I’m a beef lover and therefore I love this. Ahaha. It has a little bit of spiciness and a little bit of sweet which carries very well with the tender beed and basil leaves. I would’ve finished the whole thing if I could. I rate this one 9.5/10.

I can still remember the taste of this very well. The sweet and sour gravy with tangy cuttlefish is to die for. If you want to fully enjoy yourself, you have to order this Steam Squid. Just by looking at the colourful chopped garlic, lime and chilli will get you hungry straight away.