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Monday 27 December 2010

Xmas 2010 @ Hat Yai Day 4

This is our final day in Hat Yai. Catching the KBES's Super Snoozer back to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow at 10:30AM.

Woke up pretty early again, and as usual Cat and Brendan took their time getting ready. I went down to get some early morning shots.

Apart from the street signs, this may look like any town in Malaysia

The tuk tuk however is a dead giveaway

Abundance of food outlets

Street view of Novotel Centara facing west

Street view of Grand Plaza Hotel facing south

Street view from the corner of Lee Gardens facing east

Up the elevator to our hotel room, obviously on the 6th floor

Since it was our last day, we had breakfast at McDonald's again so that Brendan could have his fill of his beloved cheezy fries.

Cat still a bit groggy fom sleep

Its McDonalds, so Brendan's up and about

Enjoying his hash browns

And his cheezy fries

While I had a piping hot cup of McD's own cafe mocha

Why don't they have something similar in Malaysia?

Hopped on the tuk tuk and made our way to the Plaza market for some final shopping. I shot plenty of photos during the tuk tuk ride.

Cat's finally awake

Brendan taking in the sights

Thinking of what to buy at the Plaza market

Is the tuk tuk a little too fast my dear?

A couple of weary but happy travellers
My happy boy

So young but so adept at self-portrait picture taking

The shop was ravaged by the floods but recovered

What's Zebra Thailand?

Got to the Plaza market and walked around looking for a good deal on t-shirts.

A lot of haggling was invovled

Managed to haggle down to 80Bt per t-shirt

The trick is in coming early to make sure you're the first customer

We then proceeded to Robinson (entailing another tuk tuk ride, much to Brendan's delight) and took more photos on the way there.

Aah, Brendan finally tired of tuk tuks

Down a narrow road

Brendan's still engrossed with his book

Casualties of the recent floods

An unfamiliar part of town

Not sure if this part of the Plaza market

We will need to explore this part of town next year

He looks weary

The train station

Got to Robinson and Cat shopped for some shoes.

Is mom done yet?

Brendan looking very bored indeed

I got a cheap pair of flip flops myself

We had lunch at Lee Gardens Plaza's food court at the top floor. You'll need to first purchase token tickets in order for you to pay for your meals later. Brendan was astonished to find a can of soda sold at only 10Bt!

Brendan had the chicken rice

Cat's tom yam with rice was delicious

I had the more sensible seafood fried rice

Lunch cost us only 180Bt. Brendan wanted to spend some time at the video arcade so I allocated him a budget of 50Bt (its 10Bt per game).

Playing a crash and burn game

The game had him totally captivated

Hope its not how he'll be driving in years to come

Game over!

Later we spent our tea time at where else? You got it, Chester's Grille..

Will miss this tremendously when I go back

My little slice of heaven

More soda, Brendan?

For our last night, we had dinner at the tom yam shop we first discovered two years ago.

All that fresh seafood

She remembers us well

And her prices remain reasonable

Its located behind the Regency hotel, if you're interested

Rice all around, a large bowl of mixed seafood (with huge prawns!) tomyam, a very large omelette (3 eggs) and a large bottle of Beer-Sing (Singha beer) did not cost us more than 250bt.

Later, we found a group of college kids busking in front of Lee Gardens Plaza raising funds for their school. Brendan, ever the philanthropist was eager to chip in.

Warms my heart to see my son so generous with his pocket money

The were doing a very cute jitter bug styled dance

We popped by Artsmaker Tattoo to bid farewell to my good friend Mhen. I had some additions to my body art but I'll cover that in another post later.

My good friend Mhen

Brendan will be his next customer in a few short years

We then walked across the street for some final shopping at Central Dept Store. We found a very appealing ensemble of shirt and vest for Brendan that we couldn't resist.

Doesn't he look adorable?

Dashing young man

Being our last night in Hat Yai, all of us went for a final foot massage at our favourite massage salon (KJ) which is right across from Lee Gardens Plaza.

Despite the signage, they've reduced their price to 250bt per hour

Getting ready

Hard at work with my feet (on the left)

Cat's feet was easier

Feeling a little ticklish

Thoroughly enjoyable

A good back rub

And its all smiles

After an absolutely lovely foot massage, we walked around the Lee Gardens Plaza one final time.  Tried out the local variety of the teh tarik.

Had a distinctly pandan flavour

Merry Xmas!

We bade a fond farewell to Hat Yai, vowing to return for Xmas next Year!