Kuala Perlis
In case you missed it, me and the gang did it! The long awaited plan and much anticipated eventually happened! At first I was a bit worry since it was a very long journey, crossing borders of Malaysia & Thailand, and on top of everything else, we had babies on board! But, Alhamdulillah, everything went very well with no major hiccups. It's just that we only had to get a frequent stops to make sure the baby is okay and comfort all along the journey. I really got to say that we had the most awesome babies on board because they didn't really show any signs of discomfort, yet they seemed to really enjoyed the trip. So next plan is KL-Krabi seems to be no big deal for these 2 babies, huh? Hahaha
The journey from KL to Perlis took like 5 hours time. We spent a night at Kuala Perlis before we headed up to crossing the borders of 2 countries the next day. We just had to make sure that everyone of us gets enough sleep and rest due to very long hours of driving. In Kuala Perlis, we stayed at De Palma Homestay, a very nice, clean and quiet home surrounded with paddy fields and beautiful Kampung view. A highly recommended place to those who love to enjoy Kampung moment and sawah bendang.
Co-Pilot took the charge of manoeuvre as the pilot already tired of driving
This is the view that we had at our homestay. As we walked out the door, we got to see the paddy fields! Sawah terbentang luas, depan rumah, belakang rumah, kiri kanan rumah. But the not so good part is, sekarang ni dah start musim menuai, so feeling2 nak berlari atas batas sawah then take pictures with the greenery of paddy tu terpaksa la kami lupakan. Yang ada, lumpoq ceklat yang tak berapa nak feeling laa kann :p
Super mommies & awesome babies rocking the beach at Kuala Perlis.
I guess this is the jetty for the fishermen's boats, located near to our home stay.
Lost & found my cargo army pants since my year in Uni. Thank God I can still fit into it :p
Kuala Perlis is well known with its seafood eatery. So kalau mai sini jangan lupa singgah sat kat Dataran Seafood Kuala Perlis naaa. Murah with loads of choices!
Our morning view. Like I said, this home is surrounded by paddy fields! Beautiful morning sunrise at De Palma Homestay, Kuala Perlis.
The incomplete family portrait right before we hit the road to Padang Besar, the border between Malaysia & Thailand.
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Crossing Border
From Kuala Perlis, we started our journey to Padang Besar that took merely 30 minutes of driving. We chose to enter Thailand from Padang Besar because from our readings, entering Thailand from Padang Besar would be so much easier and faster compared to Bukit Kayu Hitam. From our research, one took nearly 4 hours just to get his document pass approved by the Custom in Bukit Kayu Hitam. As for everyone of us (11 pax including 2 babies), the process of getting the car insurance plus the travelling pass only took less than one hour. Some tips if you are entering Thailand from Padang Besar, make sure you are able to be at the custom check point early in the morning as the volume of travellers could be higher especially during weekends. Or else you will end up dealing with a very long queue for getting everything done. In your passport, make sure you attach together RM1, it's like a tips for the customs in order for them to process your document. Last but not least, get ready with photocopies of your car grant as they will ask for one, and if you happen to bump into roadblocks in Thailand, be prepared with your travel document as well as your car grant, the police might ask for a copy too.
Breakfast on the go! Right before we started our journey to Padang Besar.
On our way to Padang Besar. Beautiful set of scenery in Changlun.
Getting our documents ready
This is like a temporary road tax for foreign cars.
Big temple in Sadao.
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Hatyai
From Padang Besar, it took nearly 1 hour before we reached Hatyai City. Yes, the distance was not very far actually. It's just the drivers really had to take note with all of the traffic especially the motorcyclist. If you are driving in Thailand, please make sure that you are highly focus and alert since Thai drivers somehow are a bit reckless compared to ours. So just be careful and try not to speed. As we arrived, we took a stroll around Hatyai City, went to a few markets, malls and tried some of the local food. If you are looking for Halal food, there's quite a number of restaurants and stalls around Odean Mall and Lee Garden Plaza.
Tired of walking, we took TukTuk instead
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Songkhla
We spent 2 nights stay in Songkhla, a city by the beach. We tried to avoid the mess and busy traffic in Hatyai by staying at a quite secluded area outside town, Samila Beach Resort, Songkhla. It takes like 30 minutes drive to reach Songkhla from Hatyai city.
Nice view from our room
Some tips if you are planning to stay in Songkhla. There's a number of hotel in Songkhla, but Samila Beach Resort is nicely located by the beach, it has its own private beach area and directly can be accessed from its pool side. This is the view from the hotel restaurant when we were having our breakfast. Cool?
Mermaid is an icon for Songkhla.
You can easily find Muslim food along the beach area. Try to look out for crescent and star logo on each of the restaurant signage, it's a sign of Muslim or Halal food.
Night market in Songkhla, most of items sold here are food.
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Khlong Hae Floating Market
This is the most exciting part in our trip. The floating market! Not like the one in Bangkok where you have to pay to enter the market, this one is free! And I guess, Khlong Have floating market is not too commercialised compared to the one in Bangkok. Most of the items are food, and the best part is almost 90% food sold here are Halal.
There's a stall selling these exotic food. Eww. Fried roaches? Dare to try some? Gullppp.
All sort of maggots. Eww.
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