We decided to take the first train at 7.00 am. The train coaches were clean and comfortable plus the chairs are reclinable. We booked the seats that comes with a table, a wise decision considering the amount of food we brought along to eat during the ride😁😁😁.
The train ride was smooth, and the air condition works very well too!!! There's a total of 13 stops albeit a very brief and short one. The train managed to hit up to 150 km/hr on some stretches.
Once we reached Padang Besar, the station is quite small and full of people shouting offering taxis, van rides and Thai telephone sim cards. It was quite chaotic. If you have a big group, like we do, you can bargain slightly to get a van to take you all the way to Hatyai. We paid RM 280.00 for the entire van whilst the normal fare is RM300 per van. The van was big, comfortable and could accommodate all 10 of us plus our luggage.
Our Ride to Hatyai
Firstly, the van will drop us at the Malaysian Immigration to clear our exit and the van will then pick us up to go to the Thailand Immigration. At this point we are required to take all our luggage with us to clear customs to enter Thailand. The journey to Hatyai takes about 45 mins to 1 hr.
We booked 5 rooms at The Three Hatyai Hotel, a mid-size hotel in the heart of the city. The hotel has a very small reception area and with 5 people inside is considered very cramped !! However the rooms are very spacious and you're provided with almost everything you require from toiletries, safe, 4 bottles of water everyday, a mini fridge, hair dryer etc.
Front view of the Hotel (Left) and reception area (above)
DAY 1 - HATYAI
After checking in and settling ourselves comfortably in our rooms, we decided to proceed to walkabout in the city. First stop was a quick walk to Kim Yong market. This market is located about 5 minutes walk from our hotel. You can get almost everything you want from dried food products, cashew nuts, clothes, etc and on the first floor there are shops selling all sorts of electrical products. You can spend a good amount of time here just looking around. We then proceeded to get our foot massage. The center is located just around the corner of the hotel, about 2 minute's walk. The massage was good, the masseurs were strong and did a good job in massaging our legs. For an hour, it cost THB 200
Inside and outside Kim Yong Market
We gathered again in the evening and decided to proceed to have dinner at Kan Eng Restaurant, about 5 minutes walk from the hotel. For dinner we ordered Pig's Trotters, Thai style omelet, Deep Fried fish, mix vegetables, Kangkong, Seafood Tom Yum Soup and Mango Salad. The food is quite delicious and the fried fish was crunchy and fresh. I found the Tom Yum a bit too sour for my liking. The Pig's Trotter was tender, soft and yummy. Overall a good place to have dinner and not too expensive.
After dinner we proceeded to have dessert at a nearby shop, local Thai desserts.
On our way back, we decided to stop by the street market at Lee Garden Plaza. It is a very lively place at night with all the stalls selling food and local Thai products.
After a long and tiring day, we proceeded back to the hotel for some santai time at the hotel's lounge.
DAY 2 - SONGKHLA
On our second day, we hired a van (cost us THB 2,200) to take us to Songkhla for a day trip of sightseeing. The journey to Songkhla took about 45 mins. Our first stop is Songkhla Old Town. We were dropped off at the main gateway and took a stroll down the road to look-see some of the old buildings and street art. Some of these buildings were well preserved.
The Main Gateway
The street art is located all over the old town and you need to take your time to slowly search for them
From the old town, we went to visit Samila Beach next. It's a beach area with a Golden Mermaid sitting on rocks, just like the one in Copenhagen except that this one is golden and bigger.
There's lot of stalls around too, selling Thai food and local souvenirs. The beach is very clean and well maintained.
For lunch we went to a seafood restaurant close to the beach. We had steam fish, clams, steam mix spicy seafood, omelet and 3 types of mix vegetables. The food was OK and not cheap.
After lunch we went to Tang Kuan Hill, it's located next to Samila Beach. Going up the hill is via a vehicular rail lift. At the top, you get a good view of Songkhla town and the sea. There is a Royal Pagoda at the peak with lots of chime bells.
The Peak (left) and the rail lift
The Royal Pagoda
We had another round of santai time at the hotel's lounge with Mr Chang and Mr Singha
View of Songkhla Town and the sea
From Tang Kuan Hill we took a ferry across to Ko Yo Island. On the island you can have take great photos of the sunset but unfortunately, we were too early. There is a huge golden statue of a Sleeping Buddha on the island as well.
We couldn't spend a lot of time here as it was starting to rain. There are other interesting things to see within the temple. On our way back we decided to stop by the Flower Farm. It was a disappointment as I expected more flowers in the farm but unfortunately it was a let down. The good part is the entrance fee came with a free drink and we took this as a pit stop to refresh ourselves.
On the way back we stopped by Khlong Hae Floating Market, a must stop place for everyone visiting Hatyai. This Market consist of some sampans on a river selling different types of local food. Next to the floating market is a stage where traditional dancers perform. There are shops around the area selling other stuff, mostly clothes, some do sell food and souvenirs. There are a few more stalls across the bridge and there's 1 particular stall that sells fried bugs!!!😱😱😱
After a quick freshen up at the hotel, we decided to take a Tuk Tuk to Greenway Night Market. It's quite a huge night market with a food court inside. We decided to have a simple dinner in Greenway Food Court. This is another shopping paradise where you can get almost everything.
We had another round of santai time at the hotel's lounge with Mr Chang and Mr Singha
DAY 3 - SHOPPING IN HATYAI
It was time for some last minute shopping before we leave the next day. We decided to walk around Hat Yai city to some of the shopping areas to check out some of the road side stalls. We met again for lunch, this time at Baan Khun Bhu, a 12 minute walk from our hotel. This is a place where locals usually hang out and it serves amazing local Thai cuisines.
All dishes we ordered deserve thumbs up !!! We ordered the grille chicken and sausages, mango salad, glass noodles, omelet, seafood paku veg and Tom Yum. The sausages were flavorful with meaty taste, Tom Yum soup was perfect, not too sour or spicy and the omelet was fluffy.
After lunch, we decided to visit a Bakery & Coffee exhibition (so happened it was on) and there were a huge variety of local produced coffee of all flavors. And as expected we bought some local coffee powders and beans. We decided to head back to the city for more shopping and ended up going for another round of foot massage.
After a quick freshen up and some rest, we headed out for dinner to a hole in the wall type of restaurant called No. 46 Soi Niphat Phakdi, a 15 min walk from our hotel. Unfortunately for us the restaurant was closing up and one of the patrons recommended us the next door restaurant, No. 44. The food was good though and very reasonably priced. We ordered the Steam Pork Belly with Preserved Mustard Green (Mui Choy Kau Yuk), Fried Fish, seafood mix veg, Fried Pomfret with Garlic, Chef Specialty Tofu, Bitter Gourd with Eggs and Spicy Bamboo Shoots Chicken
DAY 4 - BALIK KAMPUNG
After a good night's rest and a quick breakfast at the hotel followed by Thai style Bak Kut Teh, it was time to pack up and head back to Padang Besar to catch the train back to Kuala Lumpur.
Overall, it was a well deserved break and short holiday. More importantly it was a very inexpensive holiday. Thoroughly enjoyed my holiday with my friends, more so with good company, good food and good fun sightseeing.
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