SIMPLY (t)RAVELLING

Wandering Hatyai (Part II)

 

26 Nov 2011.

Third day in Hatyai, and again we were cherished with another beautiful morning. The flight back to KL was scheduled at noon, and with a window of a few hours we decided to venture the streets. We had our breakfast at Muslim Ocha, one of the muslim restaurant nearby (I later learned that Ocha means ‘delicious’ in Thai). DH was having his ordinary egg prata and I the fried noodles as I need a heavy breakfast to sustain the long walk. The restaurant was clean, and I ate my meal while enjoying an Indonesian song by Wali band played at the background (much to my surprise). After serving our breakfast, the owner fed his caged pigeons, a hobby which I noticed quite common across Hatyai.

 

 Beautiful sunrays amidst cloudy sky.

 

Brekky’s over, we continued walking along the streets and spotted a lady doing her morning prayer.

 

A walk further up and we arrived at our must visit spot – the wet market. This one is located at Saeng Arthit Road.

 

 The scene at the market. From their apparel, most of the traders here were muslim ladies.

 

Onions & spices.

 

Dried chilies.

 

Sunday, and a busy day.

 

 A happy trader with her prized goods.

 

Big catch, these fresh water prawns and fertile too. The eggs are orangy in color, and will change to grey when they ripen.

 

I was seating at a bench in front of the shoplot, while waiting for DH buying some stuff to be brought back home. The guy with the pineapple glanced towards me as I was about to take his photo. 

 

A  serious haggling on-going. Not sure what was the article of trade though.

 

Roselle fruit. Apart from its main usage as coloring agents, the fruit extracts (which are rich in vitamin C) are also used in cooking and being processed into healthy drinks, jem and preserves.

  

A lady selling some fruits and  tapioca at the market. She was segregating the bird eye chilies based on the sizes. Known as ‘Prik’ in thai, bird eye chili is the ultimate ingredient in most spicy hot Thai dishes. Now I know that everytime I order Nasi Padprik at a local Thai stall, it actually means ‘spicy fried rice’ (Nasi is a malay word for rice, and Pad means ‘stir fried’ in Thai).

 

Dried shrimps, DH favourite souvenir across South East Asia.  We had been collecting samples from Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand and more so to come, and the best so far goes to Vietnam.

 

 Salted fish in round bamboo baskets. The bended heads make it looks prehistoric.

 

 Eggs seller, doing some packaging. I was dumbfounded on  how she cooked the eggs and then cracked it up with exactly equal propotion, with the surface fully covered with yolks.

 

A boy with umbrella spotted at the wet market, playing alone while his mother manning the stall.

 

A lady doing some descaling, fully absorbed in her work.

 

The street actually led us back to the Kim Yong market, and when going inside for shade I saw this stall with huge squids on display. The size was almost the same with the lady’s arm!

 

Inside Kim Yong wet market.

 

Pork butcher. I noticed that the market did not segregate between halal and non-halal stuff, and muslim vendors were setting up tables not far from the stalls selling pork and lard. 

 

Muslim lady selling vegetables inside Kim Yong.

 

Last photo before leaving the market, a three-wheeler with a bouquet of flower.

 

We left the market and strolled the streets. Saw this sign and curious to where it leads, so we followed the direction.

 

The road ended up at a junction facing this old chug.

 

Behind the relic was the actual train station, with some opening at the barbed wired fencing. Saw a local passing through and we followed suit. Not sure if that’s considered breaking and entering; we totally had no intent on arriving.

 

A train from Bangkok, bound for Kuala Lumpur.

 

 Laundry day?

 

 Lotus flower, at the train station.

 

As we were about to leave the train station I accidentally slipped, and broke my sandal . It was raining the night before and the soil were all soggy and slippery, too much for a ten ringgit sandals to endure (now that’s a call for the all-terrain sandals – the brand that I’ve been eyeing is quite expensive to afford!). I’m such a sloppy traveller, and I spent most of my adventure in my toilet rubber slippers or some straps. Yeah I know its lousy, but at least it makes me comfortable. (Okay, okay.. I learned my lesson). Back to the story, the bad thing was, we’d been wandering too far from all the shops and markets and absolutely in a middle of a lonely street, so there was no hope for me.  DH tried to fix it with some stick but after a few steps it got out again, so with heavy heart I trod slowly behind him. 

We saw a shop at a distant, and walked towards it hoping that we could get a glue, or buying a new slippers. Turned out it was a plate number shop. A patron informed us that she will be driving up to Penang, and need to translate the Thai plate number into standard Romans. She saw my bare foot and the broken sandals, and pointed me a nearby booth. I followed her direction, and immediately jumped with relief. It so happen that I broke my sandals in the middle of cobbler town!

 

Cobbler, cobbler mend my shoe, get it done before half past two… cause I will be going back to KL, that’s why!

 

If you are in Hatyai and having any triffling problems bothering you, you should come under the bridge cause they have booths to fix almost anything. It’s the headquarters for locksmith, cobblers, tailors and barbers.

 

Express tailor and alterations.

 

After fixing my sandal we left the area and ended up back at the familiar Niphat Uthit 1 road. An old structure with matching colors caught my attention. It somehow reminds me of our own Lebuh Ampang.

 

Colorful strings tied to the grilled door. A charm preventing break-in, maybe?

 

Booth selling lottery tickets such as this one are common in Hatyai.

 

 Triple riders seen at one of the intersection. It takes two to tango, three to rock-and-roll!

 

In view of the recent event downtown Bangkok, some of the hotels here were already taking precaution against mother nature with sand bags and all, such as these colorful stacks.

 

Reflection of the red tuk tuk in the puddle of water. Tuk tuk in Hatyai and Krabi is more of  a convertible pickup truck, nothing like the the three-wheel motorbike taxi seen in Bangkok.

 

Street hawker. She didn’t look happy as the only person who came approach was only interested in taking her picture!

 

Palm reader, languidly waiting for customers. From his haggard looks and empty gaze it seemed that life is not that fortunate, even for the fortune teller himself!

 

I was quite attracted with the post box designs I spotted around town, from the simplest cardboard made and the rusty old-fashion up to the sophisticated metalic chrome.  

 

 Another self-made postcard consists of signboards and landmarks, a token of my short visit to Hatyai.

 

 The End.