Rewinding back in time, I spent my Chinese New Year Eve on a bus heading from Tuas, Singapore and all the way to Hat Yai, Thailand. That’s like 15 hours of bus ride and this bus journey is even longer than the bus ride I took from Toronto, Canada to Washington D.C in America.
The first attraction we visited was Khao Nam Khang Historical Tunnel. I didn’t take any pictures there because I always have this uneasiness whenever I visit such historial sites where people suffered and died for a cause. Instead of holding a camera and shooting the site, I very much wanted to stow my camera away in my bag and just focus my senses on learning and visualizing about the events which had taken place here as the guide goes on to tell us true stories about the site. Besides, I believe that even if I’ve taken shots there, my pictures would do no justice to this historical site. Maybe that’s one of the limitations of photography. It can’t fully capture the mood and atmosphere. And there’s no way I can take a photograph of the largest and longest man-made tunnel which is three levels deep. Darkness is photography’s greatest enemy.
Songkhla’s version of sushi
Place your money in the basket.
Then, collect your food!
Another creative invention by the Thais for you here!
The Thais love it very sweet and spicy at the same time.
Buy an ice-cream for 25 Baht and you will get to bring home that little clay pot which contains the ice-cream too. What a good deal, isn’t it?
I really like this photo composition. Notice how the crackers are arranged neatly, like grid lines?
Life here is simple but colourful.
Our tour guide says the Thai people love spicing up their lives with colours. Well, bright cheery colours like yellow and red do perk your mood up, right?
The Thai mango salad was irresistable! Mum and I had to order it!
The Thai kids are adorably cute. The ones I’ve met so far had witty eyes and charming smiles.
Fancy converting a vehicle to a shop selling vintage stuff?
On our third day, we spent the wee hours of the morning touring the local market after breakfast.
Then we saw some monks queuing on the streets with huge metal bowls. Thai monks are highly respected individuals in their society.You could see it from the way the woman in the photo kneeling down on her knees and handling some food to the monks.
Fresh dew on lotus.
Fresh flowers, for you every day.
Since most of the Thai people here are Buddhist, they often visit the temple to pray. They pray to their gods with fresh flowers each time.
Dad and mom checking out the fruit stall while I went hopping from stall to stall, in search for something to shoot at.
This looks like a scene in Little India, Singapore.
I was a little nervous while taking photos of the monks because I am not too sure whether it may seem as disrespectful to take pictures of them openly on the streets like that. But moments like this are too rare, how often could you witness such a sight like this? I want to capture the moment before it is all gone and forgotten. That’s my inspiration and motivation behind photography. I don’t exactly aim to take the most beautiful or gorgeous pictures with my camera. I just want to capture the precious moments with my camera lens because I know time could never turned back again. The trick is to know when to press the shutter button.
The market place is an exciting photo-taking attraction. It’s full of activity, movement and colours. A playground for all budding photographers.
After visiting market, the tour bus drove us to an ancient town in Songkhla province. We visited a temple, beach and the town area in Songkhla province.
I thought the doggie was acting as the guard for the sleeping Buddha.
Covered with gold flakes, dancing in the breeze.
Sleeping Buddha with sleeping doggie.
The Golden Mermaid
Samila Beach
Good yoga posture there!
So after the day tour, we were brough back to our Hotel at Hat Yai where we had about 3 hours to roam around the town. The sun was beating down and everyone was dead tired but I still insisted on exploring the area around the hotel before sunsets.
Lots of seafood here, at Hat Yai! This is where you get the freshiest prawns to cook Tom Yum Soup!
Mayflower Grande Hotel.
We stayed at this small hotel for 2 nights.
When the sky turned dark, the red lanterns started to glow in brightness. Soaking into the Chinese New Year festive mood. But I just can’t really immerse myself into this Chinese New Year mood. Am I diverting away from my own roots?
Water treatment dispenser spotted along the streets of Hat Yai!
Thailand, you never fail to amaze me each time I visit you!
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Travel Destinations on my ever-growing bucket list:
1) Turkey
2) South Africa
3) Egypt/Dubai
