Hatyai With Dancing Ladies, Almost Final

After such a wonderful foot massage the night before, I woke up with more energy than the day before! While today would be the day we would leave Hatyai, we had planned for more shopping.

Everyone knows this Hatyai market!
Everyone knows this Hatyai market!

But first, we needed to fill our tummies. The hotel provided free breakfast but the breakfast spread at Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel was nothing to blog about. It was just food to keep one’s tummy from growling. The spread wasn’t extensive and it was hard getting a spoon or even a fork! The guests of the hotel swamped the breakfast area so it was like a free-for-all.
Beautiful Thai crockery
Beautiful Thai crockery

We’d planned to go to the Sunday market to buy edibles. Hatyai is famous for many edibles – fish maw, cashew nuts, dried scallops, dried oysters, Koh Kae brand of flavoured peanuts, seaweed snacks and more. Even the not-so-edible stuff is famous such as Zebra brand stainless steel pots, steamers and such. And then there are the leather and non-leather bags, purses, pouches in addition to clothes and shoes.
Fruits too are aplenty but my Thai aunt told me to be wary of such fruits. Thais, whether knowingly or not, use additives and preservatives to ensure their fruits last longer and look better. At one time, no one bought longans from Thailand because the longan farmers oversprayed their fruit with chemicals! I don’t know if it is ignorance but it is better to be safe.
One of those common sweet snacks you can find is the dodol or durian sweets. They’re chewy and sweet. Great as gifts but really, how many can you eat in one sitting? I’d rather have the real thing!
Pandan flavour and natural flavour durian dodol
Pandan flavour and natural flavour durian dodol

Anyway, Cecilia had popped into a crockery shop to check the price of a steamer she wanted to buy. Saw this cute little pug! I wonder if he is for sale!
Saw this cute pug in a shop selling stainless steelware
Saw this cute pug in a shop selling stainless steelware

The market is the must-go place in Hatyai. It’s typically like our markets in Malaysia except that this one has both food, clothes, bags and shoes. It’s the kind of place you want to go and poke about just because it is so damn interesting. Thai markets are treasure troves. Like I said, most stuff are cheap and kitschy and full of bling. Quality-wise you’d be better off buying elsewhere BUT if you are eyeing food, they do have good things on offer. Why is it that Thais produce better foodstuffs than us? Food like glutionous rice, agar agar powder, even fresh mee and kueh tiaw! I mean you don’t have to look far to know that Thai rice is absolutely fragrant and delicious, even on its own.
This is dried fish maw
This is dried fish maw

Dried seafood is apparently THE thing to buy in this market and its surrounding shops (which do such brisk business that even if you run out of Thai currency, they’d happily take your Malaysian Ringgit). One particular shop directly opposite the market looks like a jewellery store, all painted in yellow with bright yellow lights. But it sells dried seafood like fish maw, scallops and oysters. And it is BUSY!
Everything seems bigger here - look at these dried mushrooms!
Everything seems bigger here - look at these dried mushrooms!

So yes, Hatyai is a tempting little town with lots to buy. For Penangites, it’s a weekend escape for the whole family. Food is perceived to be cheaper and far more delicious, especially Thai tom yam and those “muu” or pork dishes. Hatyai doesn’t make a dent in your pocket and it’s not so far away that you cannot feel at home. Plus the enterprising Thais speak Mandarin and Hokkien fluently these days, apart from Teochew so you won’t even have to learn Thai.
What more can you ask for, in a weekend getaway for shopping-mad Malaysians?
All the edibles you can buy in this Hatyai market
All the edibles you can buy in this Hatyai market

Hatyai With Dancing Ladies, Part 3

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.
Image of roast suckling pig, Thai style
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!
shopping in hatyai town
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!
Huge prawns and chicken pieces - this was a halal stall
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.
Can you believe the size of these prawns?
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!
shopping and night bazaar in Hatyai
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!