Tonnam Cafe @ Kaeng Nam Hu Rae Phattalung 26 Dec 2019

We left the Stainless Steel Temple or Phra Maha Chedi Tripob Trimongkol nearly 1.00pm. We continue our journey towards north. Our following destination is to have our lunch.

According to Alvin, it is a place that a little out of the main road and it is a cafe or restaurant which is built along or upon a river. After an hour drive, we reached the place – Kaeng Nam Hu Rae, a stream or river.

The place do not have a proper parking space so we just park our car under the rubber trees. The place was not so crowded, may be it is because it was already 2.00pm when we arrived.

Tonnam Cafe is the place we had our late lunch. We came to the kitchen and the indoor dining of the cafe, which there is a small cottage house like nicely decorated and filled with tables and chairs.

Further down, we saw the riverside is filled with some wooden take took us to the small huts on the river. The place is breezy and has a good atmosphere for relaxing.

We can see a lot of locals come here on lunch break and late afternoon. The waiter helped us to clean up a hut and we sat on it.

The river water is moving slowly or normally and it is not deep. The water in the river is cold, crystal clear and clean.

While having we are having our snacks or lunch here, Alvin and the children soak their feet to feel the coldness of the water.

One can enjoy swimming too, so its good for a family outing. The river is not deep so the children are safe to swim.

They serve local foods and it is reasonable price. From the menu, we ordered some delicious dishes.

Ground Pork Salad

Green Papaya Salad

Stir Fried Mince Pork with Basils

Deep Fried Pork with Garlic

We love all the dishes here, or may be it is because all of us were too hungry as we ate our lunch only at 2.30pm.

Finally we had the cooling and fresh iced lemonade to conclude our lunch here. All of us were so satisfied with our lunch here.

The price is reasonable but the service is little bit slow but still bearable. Maybe they have a lot of orders in queues. Overall is a good experience that we were eating on a small hut on top of the river.

Phra Maha Chedi Tripob Trimongkol Hat Yai 26 Dec 2019

After our Big C Supermarket trip, we straight way headed to our next destionation – Phra Maha Chedi Tripob Trimongkol or better known as Stainless Steel Temple.

It is a good idea that we went there by driving ourselves as it is located on the summit of a hill and if we chartering grab car, it will cost a lot!

It is not easy to make one’s way to Phra Maha Chedi Tripob Trimongkol, located off Punnakan Road, without private transport. It is considered far from the city and the winding and narrow road to go up the hill.

Although Phra Maha Chedi Tripob Trimongkol is one of Hat Yai’s top tourist attractions, we felt surprised when locals give us a blank stare when we ask them for directions to this temple

After that, literally that we know that they would call it Stainless Steel Temple. This is world’s first Buddhist stainless steel temple and it is interesting to visitors.

It is said that the temple looks more alluring at night. We were there during the day.

I wondered how the driver can go during night time to see the alluring temple but from the photos from internet, it is indeed beautiful.

Once we were there, we visited the left side of the temple ground. There are 12 Chinese animals zodiac statues and a few Buddha statues.

The base of the stainless steel pagoda (or stupa) is made up of circular-shaped chambers that depict the days of the week.

Each circular has been installed with one or two Buddhist deities and framed murals on the wall. The murals that seems to tell different tales of Buddha.

On ground level, you can see two circular stairs to the top of the pagoda which lead to the upper level of the pagoda.

On the upper level within the bowls of the pagoda are more stainless steel structures.

Similar to the ground level, these too indicate time, in the form of Year and Month.

The upper level has wind chimes installed, the sound it made when the wind blows is so tranquil and serene. We really enjoyed the peacefulness from the wind chimes.

Even though the whole upper level is open and it’s under the hot sun, but we do not really feel the heat at all.

A visit to Phra Maha Chedi Tripob Trimongkol does not require too much time, except the journey to it.

However, once you are there, you would want to stay longer to enjoy its tranquility, especially on the upper level of the pagoda.

We would like to stay longer, but we need to continue to our next destination as we need to be at Phatthalung town by end of the day. There are still some places that we need to go before we check-in to the City Park Hotel.

Chue Chang Temple Hat Yai & Big C Supermarket 26 Dec 2019

After our breakfast, we walked around the wet market outside Gim Yong market. There were already a lot of people at the market already.

I can see a monk was giving blessings to the believers or followers.

We can see many vendors already out for their daily routine in the market, selling all types of local food.

Suddenly the street just turn to a breakfast street or food street.

Then we just wondering around and came to a huge big temple called Chue Chang Temple.

Inside the centre court of the ground floor alter hall, sits the golden Buddha, and both side of the wall sits 30 statues each wall.

At the side hall there is a golden image of Avalokitesvara with multiple arms and heads.

It is remarkable for being the male embodiment of this bodhisattva rather than the far more common female version, Kuan Yin.

The temple is well crafted with chinese ornaments and architecture. We left the temple around 7.30am and walked back to our hotel as we need to pack up and prepare to check out.

We checked out from Asian Hotel around 9.30am and leave both children at the hotel lobby to wait for us. Alvin and I were walking towards Lee Garden Plaza and we waited at the Regency Hotel for easy parking.

We rent a Toyota Yaris Ativ model year 2018 for 4 days from Yuri Car Rental. We actually get a really good bargain and deal. We paid for 3000 Baht for 4 days.

What required are the copy of driving license and the passport, and deposit equivalent 3000 Baht or Ringgit Malaysia 400.00.

After we got the car, we just drove back to Asian Hotel picked up both Issac and Annabelle and we started our journey up to north.

After we got the car, we went to Big C Supermarket. It is actually on our way towards the north. Big C Supermarket is just like our local Tesco or Aeon Big Hypermarket.

We just shop at the instant noodles section and to check out the instant noodles which we cannot find in Malaysia. Mainly we are looking for Tom yam flavour and some other flavours. We bought Pringles potatoes chips too!