Travelling to Hat Yai by Land: An Experience

I went with my family. We rented a bus decided to save on flights. This means that instead of reaching Thailand in one hour, it took us about 10 hours.

And that's just on the road, not including border control from both Malaysia and Thailand.

Because I travelled from Malaysia, passing through Malaysia land border was a breeze. Malaysian Immigration is suprisingly efficient this way.

It was the land border control at Sadao that killed us the most time.

Because our destination was Hat Yai, we need to pass through the land border control in Sadao. In the olden days when the old immigration office was in effect, my dad recountered that it took only 15 minutes between queue and stamping despite not being electronic. Now that they have moved to a new building with supposedly tighter regulations and modern equipments, it took me one fucking hour.

I'll tell you the "fun" facts now:

1. There is no crowd control in Sadao Immigration Office. So you see people cutting lines and pushing people like neanderthals.

2. There's only one queue line. This means the red-banner thing that supposed to keep a queue, only has one. You kind need to push people around JUST to get into the "actual" queue line. Picture this: a school of sardines pooling outside a cavern because only one fish can pass through at a time. It's absolute hell. I was lucky that we departed quite early in the morning and there were only 80 people at most. By the time I crossed, the queue had trailed way into the main road.

3. Immigration officers are rude as fuck. Just answer their question and smile. They can deny you entry simply because they are in a bad mood and can choose for the heck of it.

4. The new immigration office is extremely small and has no proper air conditioning. Be prepared to rub with sweaty, smelly, sticky people. DO NOT carry too many things with you except absolutely the necessary things. Forget about buying things in duty free during departure. Your priority should be standing in line first.

5. Empty all tanks and bring plenty of fluids, sunscreen and a hat. There's very little shade if the queue trailed way outside into the main road. They DO NOT make special arrangements for the elderly or disabled. You queue like everyone else.

6. Granted the new Sadao Immigration Office has only just begun operation but it's seriously badly managed.

7. If you must buy stuff in duty free, wait until Changloon Duty Free Complex. Throw all hope at Sadao Departure Immigration Office. Changloon has pretty nice chocolates.

8. Despite the general bullfuckery, it's a very clean place. You can shower and get spruced up there.

9. Because there will be shitloads of buses around, those with respiratory difficulties are advised to bring the necessary medications and supplies. Pollution is very bad there. Extremely important to stay hydrated. 

10. Once you have passed through the departure immigration office, go get you a nice cup of coconut water. It'll help with the heat wave, hydration and any pollution you inhaled. There are plenty of hawker stalls selling organic drinks like coconut water etc.

11. Don't be one of those nutters that wear heels during travel. Wear sensible shoes.

12. They sell freshly cleaned petai for dirt cheap. My mom bought 2 packets. My dad also bought larger than usual cashew nuts from the hawker stall areas.

About Hat Yai

Hat Yai has a significant Muslim population because it's so close to the largely Islamic population of Northern Malaysia. They have a very beautiful integration of Muslims and Buddhists living together in perfect harmony. Hat Yai has many Hindu temples (Vinayagar and Ganesha temples)

Floating Market is a MUST-SEE. You get excellent street food and very nice clothes for dirt cheap.

If you visit Buddhist of Hindu temples: make sure you get blessings from the monk to ensure a safe journey for you wherever you are. They ask only that you make a small donation for the temples maintenance. They'd give you a divined necklace or cloth bracelets as gifts. It is an experience in itself.

Muslim food is Hat Yai is not very nice in my honest opinion. I had it only once and never wanted to eat them again. Go for genuine Thai or Chinese food. They're better.

If you pass by Perlis highway to enter Malaysia from Hat Yai make sure you eat at the Indian-Muslim (Mamak) shop near Changloon Shopping Complex (not to be mistaken with Changloon Duty Free Complex). It's a little corner restaurant. I believe they have a Marry Brown in the opposite of you want fast food.

Any questions feel free to ask!

Himalaya Herbals: Triphala Review

I have always suffered from bloating. I love food but eating in general makes me uncomfortable, due to the after effect. Bloating not only makes my belly bigger than it really is, I end up being gassy at both ends until the food digests.

I learned that some people have missing enzymes in their stomach that causes them to digest certain types of foods inefficiently. That certainly rings true for me as some of the food that I eat simply doesn't digest! (How I know? I looked back to examine my er...'brownies' and saw that the food I chewed remained as bolus and not 'brownies'). Therefore I am convinced that my stomach is missing some digestive enzymes.

This poses a huge problem, as the foods that you eat determines the health of your second brain, the GI-tract. The GI-tract contains beneficial bacteria that helps in digestion and absorption of food. So imagine having a wonky stomach content and the GI-tract unable to recognize the breakdown of the digested food, because the undigested bolus interrupts the GI-tract and...you get the picture.

When I bake brownies in the wazoo, the experience had always been unpleasant for me. Some days I am positively a musical human march band.

So I began to research foods and supplements that would help in digesting my foods, also act as my digestive enzyme that would not irritate my GI-tract. You see, we're essentially looking at probiotics here. 

Yoghurt is the easiest and convenient access to probiotics but the ones on the supermarket shelf has preservatives and sugars in it. Did I mention that my stomach can't also digest sugar effectively?My research explains why I seem to have fatty deposits on specific parts of my body; making me look completely out of shape. There's also another problem: I am lactose-intolerant. So yoghurt, easily accessible as they may be, 1) I can't digest fucking milk, 2) it has sugar. Both of which would only worsen my condition. 

So I researched probiotics and supplements similar to that. I found Triphala. Pronounced tree-palla. 

What is Triphala? According to Banyan Botanicals, literally meaning “three fruits”, triphala is a traditional Ayurvedic herbal formulation consisting of three fruits native to the Indian subcontinent: Amalaki (Emblica officinalis), Bibhitaki (Terminalia belerica) and Haritaki (Terminalia chebula). 

Benefits listed are as follows:

Assists natural internal cleansing

• Gently maintains regularity
• Nourishes and rejuvenates the tissues
• Supports healthy digestion and absorption
• Natural antioxidant

I have found the magic elixir that basically cured my digestive health. The first few days I started on this capsule, I had the shits like there was no end to it. Triphala does that you see: cleanses your gut, liver and spleen of impurities and toxins. After approximately 5 days, I noticed absolutely incredible changes in my digestive health.

I am no longer a walking human trumpet, there are farts here and there but not as frequent as before. I poop regularly, my bloating stopped.

This doesn't mean I can eat those foods whose enzymes had been missing. Nay, I still eat food where the sugars are naturally occurring like some fruits and veges. The odd teh tarik and milo panas now doesn't bloat if I pop in 2 capsules after eating. I eat 2-3 capsules right after eating and the results have been tremendous. I no longer suck my stomach to hide the bloat nor do I waddle like I am 4 months pregnant.

My stomach is slowly becoming flatter as Triphala also assist in weight loss if taken with proper food and exercise.

The brand I am using is Himalaya Herbals' Triphala vegan capsules. At the time I bought this, there was sale but I ended up buying only a bottle as I did not know how well it worked for me. Had I known, I would have bought boxes of it!

So if you a gal (or gent) that suffers from bloating and indigestion like me, try this.

DISCLAIMER: Make sure you research thoroughly about Triphala like I did before deciding to go ahead with it. This magic elixir is extremely potent and reacts differently in some people!