After a tiring day (we did wake up at 5am in order to get onto the bus for our Hatyai trip), it seemed that everyone would be tired, right?
And this was after an afternoon of wandering about the pseudo floating market in Hatyai.
But the Uncle who was our tour guide decided that we should take in another form of entertainment before we adjourned for dinner near our Lee Gardens Plaza hotel. It was still early and we surely needed something exciting to tell our families about.
He thought we would like the Ice Dome which was really about going into a hall full of ice sculptures. Personally, I don’t like the cold (look, I couldn’t even stand the spring weather of 15C in Hong Kong, ok, what more minus zero!) and secondly, I don’t like wearing jackets which the whole Hatyai town has been wearing.
You see, to bear the cold, you had to wear a loaned jacket from the Ice Dome people.
A few of us declined going into the ice sculpture exhibition and Uncle tour guide thought we were too stingy with our baht.
Pfft! I’d rather spend it on a good foot massage in town that night so Cecilia, me and a few others just sat around the public park when the whole group went into the freezing dome. Give me a museum and I’d be more than happy but an ice dome full of cold sculptures? No way.
Luckily that little detour at the ice dome lasted less than 2 hours and in no time, we were on our way back to town and dinner! I was ravenous and kept thinking about the little shopping adventure I’d have once dinner was done.
We took up 2 tables at this Chinese restaurant just a few steps away from our hotel. My travel companions took this as a chance to really eat and let their hair down. With Thai beers and some suckling pig (of course with other dishes as well), the ladies literally toasted the town. The 2 male tour guides (one was our Malaysian Uncle and the other was Thai-Chinese tour guide, his counterpart) probably thought we were the best group ever. We didn’t need to be guided. The ladies as I mentioned are old hands in finding their way in Hatyai. They knew this town like the back of their hand!
Hatyai town is full of cheap, kitschy stuff – the kind we all like once in a while. I’m horrible at bargaining because I always think, “Never mind lah, let the vendor earn a little more.” That’s why I am such a supermarket shopper. Even when I am not shopping at the supermarket!
Anyway, after dinner, everyone dispersed to do their own thing which was really one thing – SHOPPING! The streets were bursting with people and smells of food and honking tuk-tuks and cars. I decided to go off on my own to check out the night bazaar. We agreed to meet up again for foot reflexology in a few hours’ time.
I’m not crazy about shopping in the regular way so I was just browsing and looking around. If an item caught my eye, I’d look at it closer but here’s the problem with shopping in Hatyai (especially the night bazaars), you cannot try the outfit! You go for a hit or a miss so you better know your size. If you shop in the shopping malls, it’s OK – you can go to the fitting room.
Thai clothes vendors on the street are smart. When you sigh about not being able to try the blouse/skirt, they whip out their measuring tape and measure you and pick out the size for you. If it does not fit, they say in Thai-accented English, bring it back the next day (they KNOW you are visiting Hatyai for the weekend). With such low prices, you hem and haw a bit but you know even if it doesn’t fit, it’s OK, you won’t be losing much. It’s just a piece you buy for the heck of it!
My travel companions shared a tip – when you come to Hatyai, come with an empty bag. You don’t need a change of clothes because you can buy your clothes and wear them immediately. Your bag is going to be full of your shopping items later so save yourself the trouble of bringing clothes! Isn’t it cool or what?
It was almost 11pm when I got back to our hotel room. After a lovely cool shower, I heard a knock on my door. The ladies invited me to go out to get a foot massage. Two of them were already in their PJs but we thought, heck, it’s still early. Getting a Thai foot massage was definitely on my list. In fact I had wanted to engage a masseur to come to my room and give me a body massage.
So 8 of us women literally swamped a tiny reflexology shop (which doubled as a hair salon – don’t ask me why but Thais are damn enterprising) for an hour’s worth of reflexology. After a day of shopping and walking and eating, this was my personal piece of heaven. I’m a veteran at this – wherever I go, I must sample the local massage. It turned out rather good or maybe I was buoyed by my happiness at having bought a beautiful white cotton blouse.
It was almost 1am when we got back to our hotel rooms. Sleeping after a good foot workout was simply divine!
More shopping to come!