A short get-away trip to the land of Hatyai

We planned to have one day trip to have sightseeing in Hatyai on 3.2.2015. Dad and mom actually wanted to revisit Hatyai. This city is known as heaven for travelers who cross by land between Malaysia and Thailand. We woke up rather earlier on that day to wait for the mini bus to fetch us.

We took the most earlier van at 5.30 am from Penang to Hatyai. It costs us RM300 by mini bus 

along with another group of tourists . After five hours of mini bus ride, we finally reached Hatyai.

Our first stop was Lee Garden Plaza. We strolled along the road outside Lee Gardens Mall. Lee Garden Plaza is the central of the Hatyai City.Next stop, Kim Yong Market, with lots of stops along the way.

The development in Hatyai is a bit slower if compares to Malaysia. Look at their electrical wires. The electricity wires in Hatyai is so terrible and backdated .

Hatyai's famous public transport is TuTu car. The tutu car can fetch you to all around Hatyai with standard charge of 20bath per person. Tourism in Hat Yai consists mainly of the weekend trade from Malaysia and Singapore.

One thing that shouldn't be missed in Hatyai, of course is their MCD samurai pork burger. McDonald’s Thailand offers Samurai Pork Burger which can’t be found at McDonald’s Malaysia due to its halal nature.

We walked to the McDonald's to fill our hungry tummies. Mr Ronald Macdonald who greet us at the entrance of Lee Garden Plaza.

We had to go through the security check before entering. It has been heavily guarded ever since the bombing incident. We had our lunch here.

Apple pie is the most common pie in McDonald’s Malaysia. At Hatyai , we can have corn pie, pineapple pie and spinach pie.

Mcdonald's Samurai Pork burger. Have you tasted one? After devoured the first bite, both of you made a thumbs-up sign.

Crispy pie crust with tasty yam chunks.

We came across Mister Donut which is located at Lee Garden.

Mister Donut is a fast food franchise founded in the United States in 1956, now headquartered in Japan, where it has more than 1,300 stores. It is offerings doughnuts, coffee, muffins and pastries.

Mister doughnut is not to be missed. Very happy to find a Mister Donut in Hatyai.

Animal themed doughnut. Do you like cow-themed doughnut?

What is better than yummy snacks? Yummy snacks that look like cute animals, of course! Which of the animal-themed treats is your favorite?

We were hungry again. We planned to find KFC here. You can try different kinds of snack which are not available in Malaysia KFC.

You only can get the egg tart at Thailand KFC Cafe. 

You can also get unique KFC items like shrimp donut, which is a donut shaped piece of shrimp that is breaded and fried.

Have you tried KFC spicy kerabu rice before? It is worth trying. It has a slight tinge of sourish taste mix with prawns and squid. A good appetizer.

After strolled around the city, we went home by mini bus at 4.30pm. It was our short get-away trip to the land of Hatyai. We are planning a trip to Thailand.

Girls, dad and mom want to explore Thailand to experience its beautiful. Thailand is a country which overshadowed by Buddhism and a culture. There is a joy to know that there are churches in Thailand. It is great hope that God's love can reach out to people here.

Sarawak Trip Day Two

We detoured to Gunung Gading National Park, hoping to see Rafflesia on 28.12.2014. By the time we started our hike, the rain was pouring. We were caught in a heavy rain. As a result we all got wet.

One of the best places to spot a Rafflesia is in Gunung Gading National Park. Entrance to the Park costs RM10 for adults, children are RM5 or free if less than 6 years of age.

Lots of climbing up steep,slippery and wet steps to get to the top.  A trip to Gunung Gading may be incomplete without catching the rare sight of the blooming Raffesia.

To trek through the jungle to where the Rafflesia thrives, you need to engage the services of a guide. A guide for the Rafflesia walk costs RM30. We were glad to see the full life cycle of the flowering in its various stages of development.

Our tour guide took us off the plank walk into the forest. We saw the rotten aftermath of these flowers as well as the younger buds. Rain started to shower on us and we felt the journey became more difficult.

We spotted a bud that will become rafflesia. 

Finally we arrived at our final stop. It is especially difficult to locate the flower in forests as the buds take many months to develop into the flower. The flower wasn't as big as dad and mom were expecting either.

You will regret if you do not make your trip to this national park and have a picture with this giant flower before leaving from Kuching. It was only a short visit but well worth it. The photo was a bit blurry due to rain.

Firstly we went to the Serikin Market and afterwards continued on to Gunung Gading. Serikin is a village which located boarder of Malaysia and Indonesia (Kalimantan). 80 km from Kuching city. Serikin is best visited either in the earlier part of the morning or late in the afternoon.

Serikin is not really small. There are a few hundred stalls selling all manners of goods like clothings, trinkets, mattress, curtain, stove, sea shell decorative items, fake designer watches, belts, bags and many exotic tropical fruits. As this is border town, makes this place unique.

It is a popular weekend destinations among locals and tourist. Bargaining skill is very important when you buy goods at this market. Mostly the owner of this shops and stalls come from Indonesia.

Wei Cong and his mother also joined our trip. Since they believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior, they live a happy, Christ-centered life. Dear girls, christians experience real joy and happiness in their life.

Great place for shopping for anything under the sun. Plenty of stalls selling souvenirs, local snacks and delights.

Serikin Weekend Market is synonymous for its cheap handicrafts and also colourful fabric.

A stall selling crafts made from sea shell. Hand crafted giraffes are very unique.

Do not forget to buy one or two souvenirs for someone special or even for yourself as remembrance.

We never forgot to stop by a stall and grabbed a pack of nasi lemak.. After a long walk, we were hungry. We also bought some goreng pisang. Goreng pisang is a filling and tasty snack to have in between meals.

We went woship at Blessed Chapel古晋蒙福教会 at 6.30pm. The 2nd service on Sunday starts at 6:30pm in (Mandarin and English).

Pastor Lim Gee Tiong 林义忠. Full Time Senior Pastor of Blessed Church Kuching 古晋蒙福教会全职主任牧师. He is`also a Chinese Malaysian international composer-singer with albums. 

GT Lim has written close to 500 songs and released 18 personal albums to date, including both Mandarin and Hokkien albums.

We were shivering in the air-conditioning hall. Wet clothing caused us to lose body heat more quickly and felt chilled. We requested some dry clothing to cover our neck. It can protect our lungs from extreme cold.

Pre-recorded Live weekly bulletin.

Yahweh-Jireh: "The Lord Will Provide", – the name memorialized by Abraham when God provided the ram to be sacrificed in place of Isaac. Girls, "Yahweh, He is God; there is no other besides Him." Deuteronomy 4:35.

We left the church at around 8.20pm. We were going to have our dinner as our stomach rumbled loudly. Girls, although we were tired and exhausted from the long journey, we all agreed that it was worth it. 

An excellent family day at Legoland, Johor

It took us around 15 minutes to reach Legoland from our hotel on 15.9.2014. Legoland Malaysia is a theme park which opened in Nusajaya, Johor, Malaysia on September 15, 2012 with over 40 interactive rides, shows and attractions. 

Legoland is majority about family and kids. It is an iconic tourist attraction for both domestic and international tourists.

We purchased an entry ticket online one week before arrival. Entrance tickets for four adults costs RM480. Even with the rebate, it is also expensive for locals. Buy your tickets online can skip the ticket line. Can you see what we trying to post? Yes, you are right. It is LEGO.

We drove to Legoland. It provides a huge parking space for visitors. You may park at the basic uncovered car park at RM9 per entry. The place was just big enough to cover in a full day.

The park has several themes and plenty of rides for all ages of kids. To avoid crowds, it is advisable to come on a weekday and arrive before 11am.

The theme park has a convenient hotel with theme room.

Albert Einstein at the Lego Academy.

It is such a wonder to see these characters as they are entirely made out of Lego bricks.

Giant Octopus with its victims. It is not kidding. The octopus is made out of lego. 

It is amazing seeing all the different types of things they construct out of legos.

Dad and mom were amazed with the design and the models.

"I am willing to draw of whatever you want," said the Lego artist.

It's well worth skipping sections to go to the miniature worlds. After a long walk, we reached the Miniland of Legoland. Signature buildings around the world that are made out of Legos.

Laos.

The Forbidden Palace and Great Wall in Beijing, China.

Petronas Twin Towers in miniature size.

Indoor miniland area features Lego models of events from all six Star Wars movies and the animated Clone Wars television series.

The activities at LEGO City can be participate by the whole family or group. We went around doing the Galaxy Hunt Activity Kit. It was fun. We won some prizes after finishing the trail.

There is another highlight in Lego city, which is called Driving School. Children can experience an unique chance to drive. They queued up and went for their crash course on how to drive safely.

Four fire trucks were lined up at the starting point and ‘firemen’ had to ‘move’ the trucks towards the ‘house of fire’. 

Please keep quiet. This uncle was snoring. People who snore always fall asleep first. Do you agree?

Don't miss the sleeping man on the bench who snores. He snores every time someone gets close to him.

We spent about seven hours taking rides and walking around under the sun. It was a very tiring but fun and productive day trip.

It was`time for 4D movie show. We need to queue early according to the time given. They have certain show time. Ample of seats in the theater. We can feel the breeze and cooling air with the bee coming out from the screen. After 10-15 minutes of the show, suddenly there was few bubbles coming out from the front and people at the front side is the most affected side.

The lines were not too bad, probably 10-20 minutes for each ride. Rides are often limited by height and age. One big down point for Legoland lacks shades and cooling down areas. It was extremely hot.

Lots of fantastic photo opportunities. This was another thrilling, ride that we gave a miss.

You could do the water park as well which we opted not to since we had one day here. We planned to go to Hello Kitty Land the next day. Two days are great for both the Theme and Water park.

Dad and mom found that all items inside the shop was double higher expensive than outside shop. The restaurant and food there was limited choice and overcharged. We went searching for some food outside the theme park. Have your lunch before getting inside.

It is great to bring your family members to the Legoland Theme Park and Water Park during school holiday to enjoy your priceless family moment. An excellent family day out with something for everyone.

We truly enjoyed the amazing fireworks display and shows at 8pm. We were also given a pair of 3-D glasses to view the firewalls. They weren't 3-D glasses. They were lego glasses which made any light look like Legos.

Dad and mom were dead tired at the end of the day, but nothing compares to this kind of family bonding. We look forward our next trip. Hello Kitty Town and The Little Big Club, here we come.