Kampua Talk

You know you are in Thailand when…

• Signboards on the street looked alien to you.
• You seemed to have more money after you exchange your Malaysian Ringgit to Thai Baht
  
• Your mode of transport is the “tuk tuk” (pronounced ‘took took’)

I went to Hatyai, Thailand (again!) with my ex-roommate and two of her friends two days ago. Waking up as early as 7am was a drag, always! We took the 8am bus to Changlun to get our cab which would bring us to the border. We had our Arrival and Departure Card done there as well as change some money.

The cab took us from Changlun to the Duty Free Complex (at the border) in Bukit Kayu Hitam (approx. 15 minutes) where a Thailand-registered van took us from the border to Hatyai (approx. 1 hour). We were dropped off at the M&R Travel and Tour office to book for a car to take us back to Malaysia that night before heading off for breakfast.

The boss of the M&R, Mr Alex (whom we called ‘Unlce’), took us to the best breakfast I’ve ever had in Hatyai. I had weird-tasting-not-so-delicious chicken rice (as if Malaysia doesn’t have delicious enough chicken rice *roll eyes*) during my previous trip here. But this time, Uncle brought us to a shop claimed to serve the best pig internal organs in Hatyai.

The shop is located at Niphat Uthit 1 Road:

We ordered 2 bowls of pig internal organs soup with a plate of sio bak (roasted pork) with a bowl of rice each:

There were pig’s stomach, intestine, liver, kidney, tongue, ear, blood, etc in the soup with salted vegetables.

Best taken with a bowl of rice. The internal organs were nicely cooked - neither under- nor over-cooked. This was the best pig internal organs soup I have ever eaten in my entire life! A pork-deprived me would say, “I feel a million times smarter after finishing everything in the soup!”

Wash them down with sugarcane juice

Cool and refreshing, no added sugar. 40 baht (RM4) per bottle, more than enough for 5 person.

Skillfully prepared by these two Thai ladies here as well as some other staff in the shop, I wish they have those in Malaysia. If they do, I do not mind having them for breakfast EVERYDAY! Breakfast cost about 240 baht (RM24) for 4 person. That was so damn cheap for such delicious food!

*[Detailed description will be updated in my food blog]

After breakfast, Uncle called a “tuk tuk”, apparently was his friend, to bring us around for the whole morning. They brought us to Nora Plaza to shop for souvenir.

This is also a place for you to have bird’s nest at only 150 baht (RM15). After getting some souvenirs, Uncle brought us to another shop to buy some local products.

Tom yam paste, cashew nuts, peanut, keropok, dried cuttlefish, instant noodles, candies, durian dodol, kerepek pisang, just to name a few, could be found here.

After nuts-shopping, Uncle asked the driver to drop us at the market

We were left to roam and explore around the area for two hours, from 11am-1pm (Thailand time). We browsed, we looked, we bargained and walked away, we bought a couple of stuff at the market.

That was the activities for the morning. Stay tuned for the second part of my visit to Hatyai.