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Friday, April 29, 2016

Hatyai Excursion April 2016: Part III

The last day (Sunday) here, Emily and I were going ape-shit walking around and exploring some old parts of the city. Specifically the dodgy parts. It was pretty awesome in a rustic way but I didn't want to bring my huge-ass camera there for safety and security reasons. After walking for what seems like forever, we got back to the hotel and rested. At night, we wanted to head out again to make the most of what time we had left in Hatyai.

First stop was dinner with the family and the rest of the Hatyai Gang. We headed down to a seafood restaurant recommended by a tuk-tuk driver my mother befriended. As we stopped, I wandered for a bit for my street shots of this busy area.





I also dabble in some weird black and white 'noir' experimental shots. There is a strange mystery about this shot that I like.


The said seafood restaurant, where we ate. The food was not bad, and the price average. It costs about 15 pax some RM300+ with crabs and fish. Not the cheapest but it was OK. I made I caught the details of the outlet just in case any of you wanted to check it out in Hatyai.


Casual shots, i.e. bored and waiting for food. That is me mum in red. Hello Mom!


This is me dad, on the left with the glasses. Hello Dad, and thanks for dinner!


Yeah, another one. He did pay for dinner.


My darling sister, Kathryn, whom I can't find on Facebook anymore because she changed her name to some ambiguous word to avoid Facebook stalkers. I love her so much!



Uncle Charles. I couldn't get one of my Aunt Eleanor because Kat was blocking me. Also... nevermind.



After dinner we took the same tuk-tuk and headed out to this massive open air shopping bazaar known as 'Greenway'. A shot from inside the said tuk-tuk.


More Hatyai Noir shots. Drive by shooting I like to call it.



My lovely model, Emily Chua. Isn't she pretty?



The outside area of Greenway, which is quite huge in total. We started out here.


Interesting story here.. In my experience, walking around in a foreign country with a large camera strapped on you, you'll more often than not get photo ops like this one - I shot this adorable little Thai girl who was enthusiastically making faces at my camera to the amusement of her mother. I showed the said mother her photos and she wanted a copy. I told her no problem, just give me an e-mail and I'll share the love. She told me to wait for her husband, so I walked off to explore, promising I'd return before the close of the night to get it from her.

As we were walking around the said mother later managed to find us in the huge crowd to pass me a piece of paper with her husband's e-mail address. How can you not appreciate such tenacity right? Well, in another 30 minutes, she managed to catch up with us again to tell us the previous e-mail address didn't work, and handed me a second piece of paper with another e-mail written on it. I guess she really liked the shots.

When I got back, I quickly edited the photos and I wanted to send it out ASAP, but unfortunately, the e-mail she gave me, also didn't work. Not sure why. I'll keep trying as long as I remember, because that lady did try very hard and I'd be disappointed not to be able to pass the shots to her. Here are the shots of that little girl. I don't know what she was trying to do here, but I thought it adorable.




 A random shot of this stall that sold tie-dyed t-shirts. I got one, but it was kinda pricey. Grammar Nazi in my shot this because of the misspelling. Also nice colors.


In between the outside area and the inside are of Greenway, there was this! I almost jumped in myself! The place apparently closes at 10pm and as we walked out around 10pm, the entire structure was already deflated and cleared out with lightning efficiency.


One thing I noticed about Greenway in particular which the other shopping bazaars did not have - animals for sale. I am against the sale of animals under such commercial conditions as I don't support most breeding methods and living conditions imposed by many commercial pet stores.There were puppies and kittens for sale, all beautiful and cramped in small cages. The kitten cages were small but housed up to 5 kittens who was draped all over each other. Most were sleeping. Another small cage of 5 playful puppies was there. Then this cage caught my eye, with a lone, solitary kitten. Ohmagad, those eyes.... I swear something in me died a little and I almost adopted this one, just because I wanted to save him/her.



Next to the open air area of Greenway, was this domed area. I just thought the awning made for some nice lines. Greenway was bigger than this though, but not much interesting shots to take. Oh hello Emily! There you are!



On the way back, finger itchy, took more street noir shots. See you again Hatyai. I won't be back anytime soon, but I will most likely be back for the wandering, shopping, midnight tomyum soup as well as with my camera to see how you've changed, hopefully not as long as 20 years from now.


Thanks mum and dad for organizing this awesome bus trip. It was great to get out for the weekend. I was getting seriously burned-out in my KL life. Until next trip. Oh, yeah, I while shooting random shots, I chanced upon this, and gave it to my mom. Thanks for everything!



If you forgot what PART I was like, you can click on THIS LINK RIGHT HERE to go back and check it out!



Disclaimer: The views published in the above photoblog are the author's and the author's alone. If readers are not agreeable with the above views, well, you can bugger-off. All rights are reserved for the the photos and/or articles itself. This article may be reproduced with permission from the author for private or public usage, or other forms of general mayhem. Any unauthorized usage of the images and/or article contained herein is expressly prohibited. Violators will be violated with kitchen utensils and hot tar, and survivors will be prosecuted with the full force of Malaysian law applicable. Thank you for reading this disclaimer.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Hatyai Excursion April 2016: Part II

The next day in our short Hatyai trip, a bunch of us rented 2 vans and did a little tourist run thingy. I didn't shoot many pictures because honestly, they were elaborate tourist-traps with little to no soul. Plus the excessive bumpy rides were giving me a massive migraine causing me to sleep constantly.

But I did get some interesting shots in our First Stop - a seaside restaurant, that literally bred their own fish. Not uncommon but I like how they had a pier which went in about a 100 meters into the sea and linked up with a lovely infrastructure of piers. Have a look and tell me what you think of them!

You can start walking into it here...


Some random funny things shooting from the sand. I thought it made a nice ambiguous shot.


At the end of the narrow pier was a larger installation. The wood was rotted in some places and rickety, but you guys know that hasn't stopped me before. I did take note of the satellite dish in that first hut.


A few pictures of the nets that they use to breed and keep(?) the fish. Don't blame me for any inaccuracies. I'm no fish breeding expert, just guessing. On the right...


... and on the left.


I thought this shot was composed pretty nicely. You think so?


Customary 'long-pier' shot. This is proof of the dangerous conditions some of us shoot in! Save the Photographers!


A close up on one of the nets.


As I walk further in, the road ahead gets interesting.


You can see the elaborate infrastructure of planks-on-stilts. City boy like me loved it to bits.


Oohh! Look! Boat!


In my humble opinion, another nicely composed shot. You don't have to agree with me. Most almost never do.


Remember the hut I first saw? This is it again.


My favorite shot of the entire set! Something so awesome about it!


 Some fluffy clouds.


 Another shot I like. Something very detached about it. Like me.


Made a new friend. Unusually scaly but no less cold-blooded than some of the people I know.


One of the destinations in our 'tourist-run' - the Songkhla Floating Market, which was frankly a massive disappointment as we were victims of gross, gross fraudulent misrepresentation. If the picture isn't clear, ask me when you see me.



The rest of the day was kinda a blur due to the extreme tiredness of mineself. Other tourist locations to note were:

1. A sleeping Buddha statue which was covered in scaffolding. What the serious fu...
2. A beach which was trying to popularize a bronze statue of a, wait for it, mermaid. A Thai beach wants to make an European mythical creature its mascot? Apparently you can rub its bronze tits for good luck. What the serious fu...
3. A tourist oriented shopping baazar.

I don't remember much afterwards. Was so bloody tired. Wait, there is more tomorrow! You can click on the link HERE to get to Part III quickly!


Disclaimer: The views published in the above photoblog are the author's and the author's alone. If readers are not agreeable with the above views, well, you can bugger-off. All rights are reserved for the the photos and/or articles itself. This article may be reproduced with permission from the author for private or public usage, or other forms of general mayhem. Any unauthorized usage of the images and/or article contained herein is expressly prohibited. Violators will be violated with kitchen utensils and hot tar, and survivors will be prosecuted with the full force of Malaysian law applicable. Thank you for reading this disclaimer.