A Memorable Trip To Hatyai, Thailand


A MEMORABLE TRIP IN HATYAI, THAILAND
Last year, my sister and I was decided to join a short family vacation in Hat Yai, Thailand. Its only a two days one nights trip. That day, I just got back from school , looking tired and haggard because of the tight schedule full of extra classes and group discussions as we are going to encounter one of the biggest examination as Malaysian’s student called Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM). Then, I got a called from my aunt asking that whether I want to join them on a trip. My eyes literally shine and my thoughts was like ‘YES’finally after so long of not taking a break or a trip. That moment the only thing that worries me is whether my father will let me go or not.

Shockingly, when I asked my father whether he will allow me to join my aunt. He agreed and I was dumbfounded . I remember making eye contact with my sister surprised that he actually let us go. About an hour later, my aunt come pick us up . I am so excited because that is actually my first time being on a trip without my parents . That night we spent almost the whole night talking about everything that happens in our life. It felt so nice spending such a moments with those who we called family . The day, we woke up at 4.30 in the morning. I think we only had three or four hours of sleep that night. We woke up early so that we had enough time getting ready . We have to take turn washing up as there is six of us.

Then, we left the house around 6.30 in the morning. There we have to go through all the border check and everything. It’s a long journey but full of laughter and pranks . Firstly, we went to Songkhla , it is such a beautiful beach with clear water and stuff. Then , we continue our way to Hat Yai , on the way there we have a stopover at a grocery store called 7-Eleven. It is surely a heaven full of junkfood and all of it is separated by the halal and non-halal food. So it is easier for a muslim to buy it without any worries. There’s a lot of choices whether in drinks, bread or chips. There’s also a service where we can heat up the bread that we choose. The staff is also very friendly and kind. When we arrived at the hotel , we decided to take a rest for a while before heading out in the evening.

In the evening, we decided to stroll around  with tuk tuk, it is a main transportation in Thailand. We went to Central Festival Hat Yai. After spending a couple of hours there , we went to Asean Night Market . I was in love, truthfully its definitely my type of place. Lots of choices from shoes to bags and shirts , wide range of foods and drinks and the most important thing is its so cheap. You can just spent a 50-70 Baht for a full meal. I also bought a pair of flat shoes only for 100 Baht, it’s a price that you won’t find in Malaysia. Especially for a pair of shoes that looks nice and wearable in public. My sister and I decided to bought shirts for my parents and younger sister as a souvenir. Without us knowing its already so late , its almost 1 a.m in Hatyai and almost 2 a.m in Malaysia. There’s a one hour- difference . We decided to call the tuk tuk driver that sent us earlier to pick us up.

Unfortunately , there’s a language barrier between us and the driver as we can’t speak Thai language  and he can’t speak English. He told us that there’s an accident and he will be late but will arrive in 10 minutes, but that’s it. We don’t understand what happened whether he was the one involve in the accidents or there’s a traffic because of accidents,. As we wait for fifteen minutes, and he still didn’t arrive we call him again and again. Its getting late and we’re all girls, so its dangerous especially since we are not in Malaysia. While we’re waiting there’s a strange looking man that kept on looking at us. We are so scared , thank goodness there’s a convenience store and we stayed in there until he went away.

Once we know that he left, we all went outside. We call the driver once again and all he said was that he will be late, accident and 10 minutes. We started to get mad, because we have been waiting near 30 minutes yet he didn’t arrive yet. While we are waiting , there’s a tuk tuk full of passenger that stopped in front of us. The driver called us trying to get our attention , we thought that it is a friend of the tuk tuk driver and that he called his friend to pick us up. However, the passenger in the tuk tuk full of men and a few woman didn’t went down and all they did is staring at us while grinning creepily. My cousin went to talk with the driver as he kept on calling for us . While the rest of us wait across the street. Then , I could saw my cousin kept on telling no while shaking her head and crossing her hands.

Then, she hurriedly come to our side and kept telling us to walk away . She ushered us to enter the convenience store once again. She told us that the driver ask her whether we want to ride the tuk tuk with him or not and we were in shock. There’s six of us and we’re all girls,so that moment was so scary. That’s probably why all the men inside the tuk tuk is staring at us while grinning creepily. I had goosebumps its so scary and maybe we all are in shock of what might happened if we are alone and not in groups. That moment I remembered what my father always said “You’re a girl , always remember that whatever happened your strength couldn’t compare to a man’s strength”.

While we are in shock the tuk tuk driver arrived, and the whole ride to hotel was silent. We kept on glancing to each other. We decided to make whatever happened that night as a lesson and repenting on our mistakes. As we promised not to be careless and always know that we are indeed far away from home and we should not act so irrational . However, we try not to care about it and enjoy the rest of the trip. For me , that is definitely one of the most memorable travel experiences in my whole life.
Written by:
Nur Ivana Ghufrani Bt Rosli
(AA101 SECTION 1)
………….. BASED ON A TRUE STORY ……………..

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