Monday, December 14, 2009

The road to Hat Yai…

… is long and tiring.

Practically sat in the car driving til my butt is sore.

Started my journey with Yu Hui at a not-so-early time of 8am and stopping at the first petrol station along the NKVE for our morning breakfast – KFC’s AM Twister.

Not really an ideal breakfast, but it’ll last the journey.

After about 4 hours drive, we took a little trip into Penang, seeing that it was along the way up north.

But, Penang being Penang, and on a working day for them, it was jammed packed in the city area. And me not being so familiar with the roads still although I’ve travelled up there for a few times now.

After having a nice bowl of Assam Laksa and a bowl of Penang Prawn Mee, we decided to continue on our journey up north as we weren’t planning to do much sightseeing nor shopping in Penang.

My car actually did 519km to a full tank of RON97 petrol. And that is also including the driving within Penang.

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Upon reaching the border of Thailand, we immediately proceeded to get our passports stamped and I had to get the entrance permit for my car.

The customs being a pain-in-the-neck, rejected my car grant because the car is registered under my dad and told me to get an authorisation letter from him.

I drove 600over KM for that!!!

So, I had to call my dad to ask him to draft an authorisation letter and fax it to the nearest place possible – the Malaysian Duty Free plaza.

Had to bother the staffs in the Duty Free office to allow me permission to receive a fax and to wait for my fax to come in. Can’t thank the lady enough for standing there, unable to finish her work and just stood there waiting for my fax.

Alas, after receiving the fax, I proceeded to drive back over to the Thailand Customs to shove that piece of authorisation letter in their face.

We eventually stayed at a hotel called the River Grand View, got some traditional massages and went out hunting for food. And of all food, we chose the KFC there. LOL.

But I must say, their KFC is so much nicer that ours here.

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Their chicken are fried with a hot and sour batter and their Pepsi comes in a nice glass cup.

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They even serve Char Siew rice.

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I only find their signs a little odd.

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The next morning, we set out further into Thailand – Hat Yai. Seeing that so many tourists couldn’t resist going there, we wanted to drive up to see what the hype was all about anyway. After all, it’s only another hour’s drive.

Along the way, I tried following Malaysian cars or tour vans to ensure I was heading in the right direction.

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We actually kind of lost our way at first, not knowing where the actual city area is, but then I found the city, purely out of instinct and curiosity. I took a wild turn into a street that looks like it was headed towards a city centre.

I can see what’s so hyped up about it. It’s more of a shopping haven, from malls to local grocery stalls. But there were so many things and so many people around.

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We bought some local tidbits and even sat down to a nice Sharksfin meal.

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It wasn’t bad, just a little pricey, seeing that it was near a tourist district. Should find out if there are other restaurants somewhere else.

Hey, their McDs have Pork Burgers, Double Big Mac and Triple Layer Cheeseburgers!!! Not fair!!!

Would save me so much money than to order 2 Big Macs instead of just one Double Big Mac.

But eventually, all good things come to an end and we have to travel back to KL. A long, tiring 6 hours drive back home brings a fun weekend to its end.

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Parents indicated they would like to travel up there in the future as well. And I am to be there travel guide.

*Groans*

My sore butt~

(I’ve never gotten into the habit of bringing my camera when I travel. I don’t know why.)

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