Hatyai Trip

Last Friday I took a trip to Hat Yai, my choice of transport this time around was KTM (Keratapi Tanah Melayu). It was a looong 12 hour journey all the way from KL Central to Hat Yai but nevertheless, it was an experience. Price for KTM tickets there via sleeper train was around RM58, so at least we got to sleep on the train!

No pictures of the sleeper train though because my iPhone battery was dying :(

Anyhoo! We reached Hat Yai the next day at approximately 12pm, or 11am Hat Yai time! We stayed at the V.L Hat Yai hotel which was located in the city of Hat Yai and to our delight, was in walking distance of the Hat Yai train station! Approximately 10 minutes walk to be exact!

The hotel was pretty nice, I mean it wasn't meant for luxury, but it was comfy and sufficient with WiFi (that you have to request login details and password from the receptionist) and everything. Room service there was crazy cheap as well.

Price of the hotel was RM80 per night including all the taxes. Pretty cheap for a budget hotel. Plus, we were staying on the 10th floor, so the hotel came with an awesome view of Hat Yai City!

After settling down, we decided to use the first day as a free day to walk around and just explore the city and what it had to offer. First stop was the market that was just across the street from our hotel.

The market wasn't really what we expected I guess because when we thought "Thailand" + "market", I guess we kinda expected it to be something like Chatuchak market in Bangkok. This market on the other hand was more similar the the Filipino market in Sabah.

Rows of shops that sold stuff from food, to clothing, bags, make ups, household appliances and nearly everything you can think of! (except pets).

Now people expect prices of stuff in Thailand to be cheap, but after my trip to Phuket and now Hat Yai, the price doesn't really vary much from the prices of stuff sold in places like Sungai Wang, KL. So I determined that I wasn't gonna buy anything from Hat Yai because at the end of my trip, I'm gonna be the of suffering while carrying back super heavy luggage filled with 'stuff-I-could've-bought-in-Malaysia'.

Anyway!

After walking around for a bit we then decided to get some food. We were recommended to go to the food court as we did not wanna risk eating street food and getting sick so early into our trip. After lunch and more walking around the city, we then decided to go for Thai massages. Massage parlors can be found nearly everywhere you look in Hat Yai. The basic price of a massage would be 300baht, but because they have many competitors around, you can easily bargain with them.Our traditional Thai massage on the first day cost us 300baht (RM30) for 2 hours.

It was so soothing and I could feel my bones being readjusted in nearly every part of my body! .After that, i headed back to shower and came out again at around 7pm at night to find food before going to round city.I decided to try various types of street food this time around. So I try Super soft, hot and fresh buns! With kaya, butter, or click floss fillings to choose from. Mine is the green on with kaya and it tasted good! Chicken floss one was also OK, but personally I've never really liked chicken floss. Price? 10baht each!. After that, I try to eat manggo, but my friend said that this was supposedly good. Mango, served with glutenous rice and topped with coconut milk. It was really good. The mango was sweet, but I have to say I loved to glutenous rice more! Price? 50baht!

Tuk tuks in front of hotel's will try to rip you off by giving incredibly high prices for a ride. Normal price per person for a tuk tuk ride is 20-25baht, but if you attempt to catch a tuk tuk in front of the hotel, they would attempt tcharge you 100baht per person!

The next day! We booked a day tour that cost us 1500baht (RM150), where a driver would bring us to all some of the tourist destinations in Hat Yai. RM150 was for a personal driver, that meant it was only RM75 each, cheap!. Our guide dropped us off here, at the Tang Kuan Hill Lift Station where you can buy tickets at 30baht per person and the lift would bring you up a very high hill which a beautiful view!

Gorgeous view of Songkhla beach!

Beautiful view of Songkhla.

After enjoying the view and heading back down, our next stop was the aquarium that displayed loads of fishes taken from the gulf of Thailand! There was even a show where the diver fed the fishes, turtles, and sting rays! Cute. Entrance fee was 300baht(RM30) per person, but it was a nice place to cool of from the heat while still doing touristy stuff.

After the Aquarium, we then headed to the Songkhla beach to see the mermaid status on the beach side, but sadly I wasn't able to take a picture with it because this kid was sitting there for a good 20minutes refusing to budge while touching the mermaid, very obscene sight.

So I gave up and settled for a picture of the beautiful beach!

Our last stop was the floating market, we were disappointed at first because it was raining, but thank God, after awhile, the rain stopped!

The entire place was really beautiful, and seeing such different culture, the way people live and all was really a nice delight.

We also decided to grab some stuff to eat while we were there:

Overall, Hat Yai was a really nice place , though by taking KTM is actually totaled to 4 days 3 nights.

Reminder is that everything here is in Thai, and unless you can speak Hokkien which is what the locals there speak, you better do some research before going.

Recommended travel agency to go to for a day trip tour would be Chan Travel Agency that's just beside Lee Garden hotel because we went to a lot of different travel agencies, and Chan offered the most for the lowest price! *props for them*

So yeah, next time me and friend planned to take a KTM to Hat Yai and bus to Krabi - Phuket - Bangkok, haha, we shall see.

Til then, ta for now!

Happy holiday Hatyai wif friend