How to get to Hat Yai from Penang? 

My husband Googled and found this website where you could book a shared van to get you there. We paid only RM50 per person for a round trip and additional RM20 for some immigration charges. Super affordable and hassle free! We could also select from where we want the pick-up to be and so glad that 1 of the pick-up points was just 3 minutes away from my parent's place. 

We left early in the morning and arrived at Hat Yai about noon time. They dropped us off at Lee Gardens Plaza. The van was super spacious and comfortable. 

Where did we stay in Hat Yai?

It's so easy to look for a place in Hat Yai as there are countless hotels there. We chose a rather affordable one called PM Residence. Here is where we stayed for RM340 for 3 nights. Clean, comfy & comes with free snack bar refill daily! Our room looks like this: 

Photo from agoda.com

What did we do in Hat Yai? 

People would say there isn't much to do there, except shopping, eating and getting a real good massage. So we did EXACTLY that and maybe a little more. When we got there, we realised that it is cheaper & convenient to rent a car than to take Grab or tuk tuk. So we got a contact from our hotel receptionist and got a rented Toyota Vios for 2 days. We went on a little road trip to Songkla too. There, we got to stop by at the beach and also did some touristy stuff, and ate. Oh, before I forget, I may have visited 7 to 8 7Eleven's while we were there. I love love love their convenience stores! Just look at that variety of sausages! Haha, ok not just the sausages, but there were sooo many types of snacks, ready-to-eat food and drinks. I would literally travel to Thailand just for their 7Elevens! 

7Eleven in Thailand rocks my socks!

Tried Orange Espresso for the first time. Yumz!

He was so fascinated by the tuk tuk so he was a good boy in the rides :)

A Thai Milk Tea place we found on our road trip to Songkhla - SUPER GOOD!

Yummy unhealthy food by the street

Some glutinous flour snack with coconut.

Also, randomly stopped by a cafe and ordered their sandwich. The drink behind was supposed to be a milk tea, but we don't know what happened lol!

Food places we ate at in Hat Yai: 

DAY 1

1. Rado Hotel (Coffeeshop downstairs) Pork Knuckle Rice & Koay Chiap

DAY 2

1. Chok Dee Dim Sum - dim sum was below average. We also tried their bak kut teh, it was also not that good. 

2. ไผ่ BETONG ผัดไทยใบตอง&หอยทอด (นางงาม) – Songkhla

We randomly stopped by at local coffee shops and bought these... They were okay. Nothing to shout about. 

Every dish at this restaurant was really tasty, but also spicy. For a person who cannot tolerate so much, I was kind of struggling to eat this meal. But I cannot deny the tastiness! Coconut water helps reduce the pain in your mouth though! Haha! 

1. Chen Loong Boat Noodle (Beef Soup Noodles) - this was SUPERB! The best boat noodle I have ever tasted. 

1. ก๋วยเตี๋ยวเรือเป่าปากชามกะลา (Pork Noodles Soup) - Also randomly found this shop as we were preparing to leave Hat Yai. We walked over from our hotel and they could not speak any English so we just picked from looking at the photos on the menu. Turned out yummy! 

Some stuff that happened since: 

1. I gave birth. Duh! Maybe another post for this story? Idk. 

2. I spent all my time in confinement with my parents and husband coz there was a 2nd lockdown, God knows how many lockdowns we've had. 

3. Then I got to raise my baby at home from May - Dec 2021 because there was another lockdown! Haha! I'm so eternally grateful for those months. 

4. I sold the car that I bought in 2015, I still miss it sometimes. 

5. I got to travel out of the country again in 2022. It was a short trip to Taiwan, blessed by my pastor. 

6. My grandfather whom I was close to when I was younger passed away in November 2022, while I was in Taiwan. 

7. I went to Hatyai, Thailand with my family early this year (March 2023). It was splendid! 

I think that's all that I can remember for now. Becoming a mother, other than worrying about having enough breastmilk, it was tough for me. I often see myself as someone who needs to be taken care of, not me taking care of others. I'm not sure why, some may say I'm spoiled hah! But yea, a lot of things were done for me by people around me. It's just naturally like that... So when I became a mom, I felt the weight of being responsible of another human being too heavy. Often I felt inadequate as a mom, as a staff in church and as a leader of my ministry. I really don't want to blame it on motherhood, but as I contemplate and reflect, motherhood has taken a big part of my being. Now I have to think of the wellbeing of another person, how are we raising him is constantly circling in my mind. Yes, like a lot of people, I also succumbed to letting the people around me dictate certain ways I do things. Which is... sometimes not wrong but at most times, IT IS STRESSFUL. 

Now that our baby, oh, his name is Asher and no longer a baby, is almost 2.5 years old, I'm only beginning to get used to the rhythm of motherhood. This shows how un-motherly I am haha! Or at least how I view myself. Yup, only now I am beginning to not feel that weight anymore and am able to carry out my usual tasks without feeling like crap. 

I have our parents to thank. They help us look after our boy Tuesdays - Fridays. So that's a lot of weight lifted off our shoulders. And some weekends when need, we send him to my parents too so that we can really focus on our 'work' which deals with people a whole lot! 

I'll also talk about how God has always been providing for us in our journey. Both Sean and I work full time in church, so we don't earn what normal young working adults do. With a house (rented), 2 cars (1 given to us) and a kid to take care of, what we do get from our jobs is only just enough. We don't get to save much or at all. BUT. Every time. I repeat, EVERY TIME when we needed extra money for certain items, somehow, the money would just come to us. It has happened at least (from my poor memory) 4 times since we had Asher. When Sean's phone was about to die, someone (we don't know that person) transferred money, more than enough to our account. When we needed a mattress coz the previous one was faulty, someone sent donations from the US! At the right time, we have always been blessed with more than enough for what we actually need. We are sooo thankful to God and those who have blessed us all these years. 

Now on to the next phase of our lives, we are now thinking, praying, discussing about sending Asher to nursery. I am reminding myself that my God will supply all of our needs, just like how He always does. But it is a journey, an exciting one I would say. We cannot afford to pay for the fees with our current salary. Hah! But my God can leh! So just wait for my next update to see how God came through for us ok? Stay tuned!