Hat Yai is the border town between Thailand and Malaysia. When you have a mix of spicy food, beef noodles, Malaysian Nasi Ayam and couple that with Traditional Thai Ancient Massages, Wee-Hour Thai Clubs and last but not least beautiful women (or men), what’s not to like?
You can get there via bus or railway train. For Bus from KL ( Pudu Sentral Bus Terminal, or from Bandar Tasik Selantan- a new station for bus transits) or by Train from KL Sentral. I took a bus up and it took about 9 hours to reach the border and costs me 45 ringit (US$20+). By Train, it takes about 12 hours.
I’ve done trips to Phuket and Krabi from Hat Yai, so it is really basically a pit-stop. But I figured, why not explore it a bit. Keng Chong (bottom left) Keng Hong (top left) daren (in shades) And myself before I Left them and decided to head north. Eatery close to the Hat Yai Border Hat Yai Customs Well, not so hot after all huh? It rained the whole day I was there. Even after two massages. Pork Noodles with Fishballs. Simple but good. My room for 250 baht. About 10 Singapore Dollars with a toilet and fan. And I haven't mentioned that the flush was not really working. Well, whatever man... So here I am, Soaked but Psyched to find a motorbike. Me and my bike driver on the way to Wat Hat Yai Nai, a reclining buddha 1.5km out of town. Paid 80 baht for a two way trip about 4$ sing Wat Hat Yai Nai. 35m Reclining Buddha. Interesting how the words of the donation bowl are actually in Chinese. Getting some tea from a local shop, run by Malaysians now residing in Hat Yai. Its amazing how so many Malaysians move over to Hat Yai to start families and businesses. Plain Old Chinese Tea with Milk Kampung Style Houses In Hat Yai Hat Yai-Style Fried Chicken is a dish known across Thailand and locals claim Kai Tod Daycha does it best. The Family of Muslim women don't speak English but Malay is good to conerse. Enjoy the spicy bird over fragrant yellow rice. The Pink Lady Hotel and Bar. Looks wrong right? but surprisingly, they got good entertainment here. Drinks are at 150baht for a big bottle of Heinken.Fighting Fish in a Bottle.
Sepia Shot of Thanon Montri 1 where they sell everything from clothes to bags to meat to deserts to electronics.
One of the more Tantalizing finds of the day was this desert. With Ice cream toppings added with bread crumbs, sweet pink noodles and black jelly, this was a fantastic way to cool down after much touring. Toilet and Bed, Nice combo!! Ancient Massage Shop. They have the oil massage at 300baht for an hour and it was a very refreshing massage. Jina -the boss on the most left, and her friend behind and her daughter in front and Pom on the most right. Me and Danil from Moscow. Met him at the guest house and he sent me off back to the bus. Nice guy!!!
That was one hell of a solo adventure and it was a great warm up for what’s to come. Ill be climbing in China in 5 days. And I cant wait. Hope you enjoyed Hat Yai as much as I did.
I'm an aspiring climber from the tiny island of Singapore looking constantly at different places of the world, looking for places to exploit and fill up my adventure gauge which is always hanging in the balance.
I graduated from Republic Polytechnic with a Diploma in Outdoor And Adventure Learning and I believe that I'm a true advocate of the outdoors.
The first trip that I did was to Mount Ophir, standing at 1276 metres in Johor Bahru. The feeling of being immersed within nature and actually climbing to the top was just rejuvenating. From then since, I've climbed a total of 41 mountains around the world, highest being Mount Everest South Summit at 8700m and two 7000m peaks called Lenin Peak and Peak Korzhenescaya.
Currently, I'm managing sales and marketing at a rock-climbing company and forming my own adventure company, JTrace, focusing on adventure trips consultation, training clients for their own Everest, corporate team building, inspirational speaking sessions and brand ambassadorship.
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