Hat Yai Chapter 2 (The Surgeries)

         October 2013: That morning, we woke up at Hi Season hotel, despite the ache from the massage, i slept well that night (Read the whole story on Chapter 1 here!). This was my hotel view that morning around 7am :).

Hat Yai town at 7AM

So, Jaja will have her breast implants surgery today at Dr. Prinya.  We took Tuk Tuk and go to Prinya first to drop Jaja there. The clinic is quite well maintained, with lovely nurses. Even Dr. Prinya himself is very soft spoken and kind. As we were waiting for Jaja's name to be called, we saw there was this Singaporean lady with her boyfriend or husband maybe waiting for her turn for nose job. As everybody know, Thailand is quite expert in plastic surgery, especially Hat Yai and Bangkok. TIPS: I would really recommend Prinya for this surgeries as the he is very gentle and pleasant to talk too.

Inside of the Clinic

From Outside

Dr. Prinya gave advise to Jaja on what should she do and what shouldn't. All the information she needs were there, the size, the aftercare, the process etc. The price of the implants if i am not mistaken is around 6 to 7 thousand Ringgit (MYR). TIPS: For breast implants there are various sizes. If you are skinny (like me), the doctor will advise you to do only 200cc to 300cc maximum. The range of size is between 200cc to 500cc (Mariah Carey like maybe, lol). But most doctors wont recommend you taking that large as it is dangerous. There is the new type of implants called he Papaya. It looks more natural but risky as it can slip from its place.

Jaja was taken inside the surgery preparation room and so we left her there because it will take about 2-3 hours. We took Tuk Tuk to the market again to have breakfast and maybe do a lil shopping more, hihihi.

Ignore the messy me, this is the front gate of the market.

They have this tradition called the 'Pecah Telur' where when they open their market in the morning around 9AM, If you are their 1st customer, they will ensure you buy something, so you can really take this opportunity to bargain at that time. They believe that if they didn't sell it that morning, they won't be getting any sales that day. I just bought a purse, pretty :D .. TIPS: Go shopping in early morning for the best bargain price!

After we had breakfast and bought that purse, hihi..we went to walk around the city center. We found a shop that sell cheap clothes, there's lots of shoplots that sell clothes along the road, you can check the price as you walk. I bought few clothes for my friends as souvenirs. We also went inside the mall there, Lee Garden Plaza. You need to scan your bags before entering, as from what we know, Hat Yai have been bombed few times by the extremist..ergh fuck the extremist, bring nothing but problems. TIPS: Just don't forget to be careful!

It was a typical mall u know, shoplots, restaurants bla bla..but what caught my attention is that they sell guns in there...yep, real guns, licensed guns..something you won't see in Malaysia. It's so not good.

We got bored and exit the Plaza. I really like this colorful building in front of Centara Hotel:

Actually, if you walk and watch closely, there were also shoplots along the road that sells guns. Scary ay?, selling guns in the middle of the day. And you put securities all over the city, meh?.

We had lunch around this area, luckily most restaurants know how to speak basic Malay. So the menu have Malay translations like in pic below, but some have the word written wrongly like there was one restaurant wrote 'Dangin Marah' instead of 'Daging Merah' ...lol..angry meat. 

After lunch, we took Tuk Tuk back to Prinya to check on Jaja, along the way i saw this art, and for me, it is very Siam..beautiful art, and yea that open-van like vehicles, is a Tuk Tuk.

So, we reach Prinya and Jaja was already sitting, a lil dizzy. The nurse took good care of her. She call the Tuk Tuk and ask he driver to send us straight to hotel and to drive slowly as jaja jus finished her surgery, very nice of her. 

We reach hotel and spend the rest of the daytime in the hotel. Only daytime, hehe. As Jaja was sleeping, we went out that night for dinner. We went to the market again. This time we had the Thai Laksa, it was different than our local laksa. It is yellow in color and they have several vegetables ulam, and one of em is jackfruit (nangka).  It was delicious!

Yummeh!

We bought the Pa Tang Ko again as we get quite addicted to it, hihi. This is the stall.

various stalls along the road

this is me posing beside the Briyani Thai with that boy lookin at me like 'Dafuq?'

There was also a stall selling porridges, like all sorts of porridges, durian, banana, red bean, green bean etc, it was so good, i bought two for 50 baht..ahaha. We went back to hotel. Jaja already woke up, we bought her some rice porridge. Kak Linda became her private nurse that night. Hihi. Tomorrow is my day of surgery..krik krik. TIPS: After breast augmentation/Implants surgery, it is better to have someone to take care of you for at least 1 to 2 days as u have to limit your movement.

The next day, day 3 we were in Hat Yai.. my appointment is afternoon. So, we woke up, freshen up and went to have a drink first. Just me and Kak Linda and  Jaja was resting in the room. 

Me in TukTuk otw to Nara

So, we reach Dr. Nara Clinic for my chondrolaryngoplasty or adam apple shaving. Some people ask why did i do it?, well sometimes i lost my confidence because of the size of my 'throat'. So, for me, it is a must and i hate it whenever i see it in the mirror, it sometimes lead me to depression and it is not easy to explain it to people.

we got into Nara, check my name, verified this and that. It was a smooth process. We settle the payment, it was THB 10000 (RM1000) at that time, and i already gave deposit of RM300, so i paid 700Ringgit more. TIPS: Nara Clinic only accept deposit via Paypal and for chondrolaryngoplasty, it is the only place in southern Thailand that do this surgery.

As we waited to fill in the form and stuff, the phones in the office keeps on ringing and all the customers who called was Malaysian, mainly asked for nose job and eye job. Hmmm, that is the reality u see.

We went for a drink first before waiting for 3PM, my appointment. We had drink here, the place near to Nara's Clinic

At 3PM we went there again and as we were waiting for my turn, there was this Malaysian lady who did eyelid job just came out of the surgery room, wow, it looks so easy. 

I went in changed to the blue outpatient dress, and waited to be called in. Dr. Nara is a softspoken doctor too, he said to me he can removes much as he can and allowed too. Because the bottom part is protecting the voice cord and it cannot be removed. So, i agreed.

I lied down and they started giving me drugs makin me feel dizzy, but conscious. My mistake was i drink some juices before going in, so i don't really feel sleepy, I was awake during that whole procedure. I didn't feel any pain, but i was awake. I can hear Dr. Nara and the nurse. Only at one point i feel a lil pain. I remembered he said to me 'Don't swallow, don't swallow'. As sometimes i swallowed because my head was put in the position where my neck is higher than my head. So it wasn't easy!.Luckily it was quite fast, i think around 30minutes and it was done. TIPS: U should never drink any juices before going to surgery!

I woke up and they take off the outpatient dress and the nurse showed me the part of the adams apple that was shaved off,  'This is your bone' she said, It looked like fingernails after u clip it, She put shawls around my neck to cover the bandage, and she said to Kak Linda, that i will still be dizzy, the effect of the drugs. I need to come back again tomorrow to remove the bandage. means before i go to the airport. 

But, as soon as i was out of the clinic, i saw a a beautiful dress and i bought it. lol, even in that time of dizziness, i can still shop :P. 

But I was happy that i done it, the courage that i have, We went back to the hotel and i just sleep as the drugs started to make me feel sleepy, only now it started to give me that effects! grr. Kak Linda bought few of this Soy drink which was amazingly good. A must. I texted some of my friends who were worried about me, telling them it was all okay.

The next morning, we checked out from our hotel, and we went to Nara first. This is me in front of the Nara before going back to KL:

As u can see i was wearing a shawl to cover the bandage. The nurse bring me in, remove the bandage and replace it with the waterproof plastic bandage. She said, within 3 months i need to avoid screaming, which i did. and some advise on how to take care of the stitches. TIPS: Dont scream, don' go to karaoke and don't talk too much (cos u will feel tired)

So, we head to the airport, me and jaja, Kak Linda head to Lee Garden to take the Van back to Penang. We landed safely in KLIA 2. TIPS: The Van from Hat Yai to Penang depart from Lee Garden Plaza. 

I have to remove the stitches in Malaysia after 5 days, which i did after 8 days cos i was so stupid to think it is okay to delay it. Until my friend bring me to a clinic in Damansara Utama as the stitches is starting to look like thorns, and the doctor who is trans friendly remove it gently for me. 

After several months, the part of the adams apple that looks clearly before have faded. but not all. As mine was so big so i might have to do it twice. which i dont know whether i will again. hehe. But at least it is reduced. Give  a smile on my face.

So, that was all, my journey in Hat Yai, the city of southern Siam. :) would love to come again to enjoy the food!