[Day 2 ] Phathallung Thailand with Hadthong Resort 金海滩度假村水晶岛旅游区
By Gaylen KaSai - Sunday, May 26, 2019
We were greeted by a beautiful sunrise the next morning, right in front of our window. We could just stand in the balcony and admire the new day. We skipped the resort’s breakfast on that day because we were heading out to one of the most iconic place in Phatthalung. On the way to our first destination, we saw many Bull plowing and we were told by our guide Xiao Yong that these bulls are trained for fights and every morning in the wee hours they go through their exercise. Every village in Phatthalung will send their bulls to fight and the winner wins cash, according to Xiao Yong not everyone could own a bull so only the village head or those richer families own them. I questioned Xiao Yong whether these bulls will fight to death, he said no. They don’t allow them to fight to death which is a relieve. I would hate to see bulls fighting each other till death because that is just plain cruel.
Bulls plowing
This is deep fried fish egg! It's really good. If you see it anywhere, do try. its THB20 for like 10 pieces.
I don't know what fruit this is but it was really good. So good I was looking for it on the 3rd day. Its something like Jeruk
There are so many catfishes
Local Homok [Otak Otak] Super Spicy
The view from the bridge
We also pass a bridge, which also
happens to be like a morning market. The bridge is one of the main roads that
leads to the City, which is why early in the morning food vendors will sell
their good here. The bridge as a pretty nice view for some photos too. We
bought some market food for breakfast, and Xiao Yong introduce us a special
breakfast snack, fried Fish Egg! Yes..OMG I loved it so much. I never ever
thought there could be such a thing. I think I ate too many Fish Egg that
morning itself.
We stopped by another bridge
which overlooks of the most iconic landmark in Phatthalung, the SriPakPra. This
is where you can see all the traditional fishing nets. These traditional fishing nets still require man power to operate them but soon I heard that they will be replacing the with automatic hydraulic ones. So do hurry if you still
wanna see the traditional stuff.
We arrived at our first
destination which was
Thale Noi 莲花内湖 ทะเลน้อย
Thale Noi, Thale means little
while Noi means Lake. This is not just any Little Lake, this is actually huge
Lotus Lake. You can find so many type of water lilies and lotuses here. Thale Noi is also a waterfowl sanctuary, so you can watch birds that flew here. There
are various different species of birds different from the one we see back home.
I almost forgot, in front of our resort we could also do bird watching because
there’s also an area where you can find many birds. It is a spectacular view.
Once we got all our equipements ready we took the sampan and headed out into
Thale Noi.The lake is so big that I couldn't see the end of it. We were already
out in the lake by 10am, even then it was a little bit hot but we braved the sun and took so many beautiful photos. Birds were flying in the sky and
skimming on the water surface which is a rare sight for me. There were so many
lotus flowers in full bloom that I was just sitting on the sampan gazing at
their beauty. We spent around 2 hours at the lake and took hundreds of photos. This is a great place for pre wedding photos too! Here I will share some of our most beautiful pieces thanks to Harris & IZ.
Long Tail boats
After Thale Noi, we quickly changed into our
Thai Costume and headed to our next destination. Yes, this trip we wanted
something different with our photos and decided to rent the Thai traditional
costume. We got ours at Anantee Weddingstudio and they were super affordable at THB 450 for a 7
days rental period. I Love Thailand. The shop is opposite Greenway Night Market, so it's easy in
and out of Hatyai. Can check their outfits at www.rentthaidress.com too before your trip.
On the way to our next destination, we dropped by at one very famous Tong Sui [Dessert] shop Kanomwaan Pakee Thai desserts are known as Khanom in Thai or sweet snacks and is taken after a meal especially after eating spicy Thai Dishes. This shop is famous among the locals because of its long history. Each bowl of dessert cost THB10, which Is very affordable. Here they serve all kinds of desserts like the famous Thai Bua Loi, Bubur Cha Cha, Sago and so many more.
Kanomwaan Pakee [Dessert Shop]
Sampaothai 三宝船 สำเภาไทย
A famous tourist place for the locals, this place is actually a paddy field. The most iconic thing in Sampaothai would be the huge Ship and the Huge Gorilla that is in the middle of the paddy field. There is also a rest area for you get some local delights. The sun was getting really hot just right after noon, so we hurried along and took our photos. The best time to visit would be around 5pm so that you can also get the sunset. I did also notice that there are some cute photo booths being set up, just like the Heart shape chair similar to the one we have in Penang Hill and there are also little huts for you to rest in or to hide from the scorching sun. Let me share some of Harris’s masterpiece, most of them I've posted on my social media...so do check it out because I think its beautiful. Not me. The photos. This is also a great place for pre-wedding photos. I wish I had more time here, tho I would go in the evening when the sun is not that strong!
Napokae 稻田农庄ศูนย์การเรียนรู้ นาโปแก ควนขนุน
Next we visited Napokae Learning Center which is
a new landmark in Phatthalung. Napokae means The Paddy Field of Grandfather. Na
means Paddy Field, Po means Grandfather and Kae mean ancestor. This place
allows the younger generation to learn more about their grandparents, The
life of Phatthalung farmers. How they plow, plant, other stuffs.
Back then, buffalo is the farmers best friend but today they have been replace
by technology, here you can even meet 2 very special buffaloes Ai Khao [5 years Old] & Thong Klau [4 Year Old] They are albino buffalo which
makes them pretty special because 10,000 only have one. We also saw many equipment used in the olden days
to produce rice. We tried our hands on milling rice via the hand pounding of
paddy in a mortar with a pestle and It was hard. Now I know why back in the
olden days, my grandmother use to tell me to finish my rice because it is hard
work.
Nice greeneries
Trying our hands on this. It was not easy...watch me Video to find out how its done
Kwanjai Bamboo Garden ตลาดสวนไผ่ 竹林市场
Next we went to a bamboo garden which is only
open during weekends, This is a folk Market under the bamboo shades. You can
find a huge variety of local food and snacks, souvenirs, clothes and unique
drinks. We spent around 45 minutes here before we went for lunch
BaebThai.Com
We had our lunch at Baebthai.com , where we got our fix of Traditional Thai Cuisine.. This restaurant is air conditioned and is surrunded by lush greeneries so you can experience a nice quiet meal. Upon arrival we were served a variety of welcome drink which was very refreshing, Pea Flower & Lemon. Lunch was really yummy and spicy. The rice that was served here is a little different from others, they use a mixture of brown and white rice which is also their signature.
Steam Sea Bass Fish with Lemon THB 400
Dee Fried Crab Meat Roll THB 180
Lotus Root THB 150
Tom Yam Gong THB 200
Coconut Otak Otak THB180
Fruits THB100
Baebthai also offers a massage and this
place is unlike any I have seen. The interior is veryThai which is really lovely. The place is huge and has all the facilities
you didn’t think it could have. Jacuzzi, Sauna, Guasa and much more and their therapist are all very well trained. It is also clean,
spacious and airy. You could spend 5 hours here just relaxing and enjoying
their services. They also have a organic shop here if you would like to try out some of the products. We didn’t have the chance because we had a full schedule ahead
of us, but we had the chance to try out their Foot & Body massage. It was
so good I wished we could spend 1 more day in Phatthalung just so I could stay
here all day. Lol. Let’s move on because after a massage we are going for an
adventure.
Red Ant Water Rafting ล่องแก่งหนานมดแดง พัทลุง
红蚂蚁漂流
Yee haa, Water rafting. I have never tried this
before. There are many other smaller vendors
around but we went to Red Ant Water Rafting which is one of the oldest and most established Water Rafting in Phatthalung. We opted to get a staff to help us with the paddling so we could fully experience this and also because I know if we paddle ourselves we will not get pass 1 km. Hahah. The whole river will be around 6 km. Once we got our life jackets and other safety gears we hopped on to one of the pick up trucks which brought us to higher grounds, and we got onto our kayaks and started screaming away every once a while. We saw little kids on the kayaks by themselves which is such a cute sight. As we rafting down the river we could see many trees, and underneath seaweeds can be seen. It was such a beautiful sight that I have decided to bring the kids there this year end. Another interesting thing that I saw is the people living there, by the banks of the rivers. They are so welcoming to tourist locally and abroad. There is a pit stop at a restaurant[ or a resting corner if you are kayaking yourself] where you can get yourself some drinks but do note that you cannot have them on your kayak because you might dirty the river. There used to be a huge slide at Red Ant Water Rafting which will slide into the river but it has been temporarily shut down due to safety reasons. After the Kayak session, you can enjoy a sauna session here too at no extra charge, and also coffee and tea. I am always amazed at Thailand’s hospitality. Back home, everything also charge. Lol. If you have never tried this sport here are some tips for you.
around but we went to Red Ant Water Rafting which is one of the oldest and most established Water Rafting in Phatthalung. We opted to get a staff to help us with the paddling so we could fully experience this and also because I know if we paddle ourselves we will not get pass 1 km. Hahah. The whole river will be around 6 km. Once we got our life jackets and other safety gears we hopped on to one of the pick up trucks which brought us to higher grounds, and we got onto our kayaks and started screaming away every once a while. We saw little kids on the kayaks by themselves which is such a cute sight. As we rafting down the river we could see many trees, and underneath seaweeds can be seen. It was such a beautiful sight that I have decided to bring the kids there this year end. Another interesting thing that I saw is the people living there, by the banks of the rivers. They are so welcoming to tourist locally and abroad. There is a pit stop at a restaurant[ or a resting corner if you are kayaking yourself] where you can get yourself some drinks but do note that you cannot have them on your kayak because you might dirty the river. There used to be a huge slide at Red Ant Water Rafting which will slide into the river but it has been temporarily shut down due to safety reasons. After the Kayak session, you can enjoy a sauna session here too at no extra charge, and also coffee and tea. I am always amazed at Thailand’s hospitality. Back home, everything also charge. Lol. If you have never tried this sport here are some tips for you.
Things to Bring
-Waterproof Bag, just dump all the belongings
you need on the kayak in the bag like your shades, mobile phones
-Swimming Shoes because when you are about to go
on the kayak you need to walk on stony roads and inside the river it is pretty
slippery
- GoPro or any waterproof camera
Now after such a awesome rafting adventure, it's
time for tummy adventure.
Tyme Royal Pastry พัทลุง
When we arrived we were quite shock to see such a huge bakery! It seems that this place is even bigger than our petrol station back home. Lol. As we walk, we were greeted with This place is pastry heaven, if you are familiar with Thailand then this you would know as it is especially famous with the locals. You can find all sorts of local pastries and souvenirs. There’s even a cafe and a small flea market here. Their signature pastry would be the ‘Total Spring Rolls’ which is actually a crunchy pastry which is great for souvenirs, these little pastry balls are filled with green tea, pumpkin, yam, lotus and all sorts of fillings. You can also find other famous Thai snacks here and also souvenirs and you may sample them before trying. I tried their brownies and they tasted really good. We brought some Fish FIllings Pillow which I think is very tasty and 2 boxes of Total Spring Rolls as souvenirs. If you love pastries and desserts this is a must visit.
We headed back to our resort for late dinner, it was already 9pm local time when we got back. Tonight we had a great meal as well!
Fatty Pork & Yam
Steamed Siakap [Fish]
Steamed Siakap [Fish]
After dinner we continue with a karaoke session,
yep here at Hadthong Resort you can be sure to find many activities such as
Mahjong, Bird Watching, or walking to the nearby [about 300m] to see beautiful
sculptures. We had an earlier night because according to our itinerary tomorrow
we are going to visit the highlight of the trip! I will share more about the
resort in the final post of Phatthalung Thailand with Hadthong Resort 金海滩度假村水晶岛旅游区
