Hello readers! So my latest getaway was visiting Hat Yai! This time round, bringing along my parents for this holiday trip! Jetstar was having a national day sale so it cost only $150 per pax with baggage for 2 way only!
In case you have not heard of Hat Yai, this city is located at southern Thailand, pretty near to malaysia borders so many malaysian or singaporeans like to have a stopover at this city before going to other parts such as Penang, Krabi, Phuket and so on. Based on my understanding, they didn't have flight previously so the main transport is to take buses and it will take about 10+ hours before reaching Hat Yai. However it definitely cost lesser than taking a plane. For me, i would still prefer taking a plane since it's only an hour journey away from Singapore!
Hat Yai time is one hour slower than Singapore time, as Jetstar only have a few flight timing to Hat Yai, so we took a night flight on friday and returned on monday night. We reached Changi airport early and went to have our dinner first after checking in our luggage. I didn't know there was a Peach Garden restaurant so we decided to dine in, but i think they were pretty slow in serving the foods, they took more than 1 hour to serve our food and as i saw the clock ticking by i was panicking as we had to take the skytrain back to T1 and it was such a long journey to walk to the boarding gate!
When we finally reached the boarding gate, i heard the immigration officer reporting to their colleagues and it seems we was the last few to enter the security check. Full board liao. Phew.
When we finally reached the boarding gate, i heard the immigration officer reporting to their colleagues and it seems we was the last few to enter the security check. Full board liao. Phew.
Anyway the food at peach garden was not too bad, but not recommended if u are catching a flight. unless you prefer to eat light.
I went to Phuket in July and mentioned in my previous post that i bought a sim card because it was cheaper to purchase one via Changi Recommends. (Thai Ais Sim card)
You can visit changi recommends website, or click the link here. It cost only $5.50, you will have unlimited data for 7 days, so far i had no issue with loading video or my social media platforms while using the card and you can use it to tether too so i thought i could share it again in this post. I am sharing again so they won't end this promotion and will continue to provide this promo price to benefit us. Hurhur
A family photo before the dinner and our flight at peach garden restaurant.
Since it's an hour journey away from Singapore, we reached Hatyai international airport at 10pm, it was the only plane so we had to take the stairs down and walked to the arrival hall, we cleared the immigration fast and Jeremy walked ahead to check out the grab price and the taxi counter price, eventually he went for the taxi counter since it was a mere difference of 10 baht. Taxi charge 300 baht and grab charging at 290 baht. It's really cheaper than what we paid for our taxi to our resort at Phuket charging us 800 baht which is supposedly their market rate if you opt for cab.
I was searching for a nice hotel that is near the Kim yong market and i decided to try this New season square hotel that is newly built. According to the GPS, it takes about 5-6 min walking distance to the market.
Since it's an hour journey away from Singapore, we reached Hatyai international airport at 10pm, it was the only plane so we had to take the stairs down and walked to the arrival hall, we cleared the immigration fast and Jeremy walked ahead to check out the grab price and the taxi counter price, eventually he went for the taxi counter since it was a mere difference of 10 baht. Taxi charge 300 baht and grab charging at 290 baht. It's really cheaper than what we paid for our taxi to our resort at Phuket charging us 800 baht which is supposedly their market rate if you opt for cab.
I was searching for a nice hotel that is near the Kim yong market and i decided to try this New season square hotel that is newly built. According to the GPS, it takes about 5-6 min walking distance to the market.
It was only a 30min drive to the hotel. We reached around 10.30pm, got our keys and check out our room! There is a gym and swimming pool and it happen that the front desk has given us the rooms on the same level that house all the facilities so it was very convenient for us.
After checking in, Jeremy and I went out to explore the places nearby our hotel. My parents want to rest in so after checking in, we went down and explore around, only to discover most of the places that i had included in the itinerary were pretty nearby each other. So it saves us lot of travelling time as we were staying pretty near from the hotel.
Since we are going to the kim yong market in the morning, which i think Jeremy will not be interested, so he continue to sleep in while i went to the market with my parents. There were tuk tuks standby outside the hotel, but they decided to take a morning walk, i follow the GPS but i ended up taking a longer route to reach. Later we try the tuktuk back for 20baht per pax. Haha
The morning market was crowded, with many doing their marketing, many likes to come here for breakfast, there is a variety of items being sold here for eg from fruits,vegetables, seafood, condiments, flowers and many more. Mum and dad love this place because it reminds them of their old kampong days.
I love this stall that sell marinated pork sticks, we bought like 10 to try, the meat is so tender and juicy that we bought it almost every morning. Hahaha
After that, we went in a random shop to try their kway teow soup, and this is good! Though i can't remember how much it cost except it's pretty cheap!
After buying some stuffs, we returned back to the hotel to put some of the stuffs that we bought and rest before we headed out in the afternoon to Hat Yai Municipal park.
Our main transport getting around Hat Yai was taking the grab because it's so convenient and pretty fast compare to grabbing in bangkok. Some places only cost less than 100 baht. So it's important to have mobile data there for grab! We checked the weather forecast and thought it's going to be a rainy day, luckily the weather was pretty good so we manage to take some nice photo.
During the journey up, as we will pass by the Guan Di and Guan Yin temple so they wanted to come down to pray, but it was pretty far if we were to walk down so we tried to check how much the tuktuk cost, but it was very expensive and overprice when it was a simple short drive down that takes less than 5min?
Eventually we saw there were people alighting from a shuttle bus and after checking with the guard, the bus will bring tourists to a few stop, and it cost only 20 baht per pax. So we wait for the bus to check with the driver that they are having a stop at the temple before boarding. The driver told us to simply let him know when we want to go down later, so it's almost two way for just 20baht. I saw in tripadvisor, some call it the pikachu bus, which i saw it later when we request to go down the park to call for a grab. But the bus that we took was much bigger than this pikachu bus.
This temple house several gods such as Guan Di, Guan Yin and Buddha.
Saw this beautiful backdrop as we was coming down to the park so got my parents to pose for a photo there. hahaha
Our next stop was the asean trade bazaar market, but we went there too early like 3-4pm, i would recommend to go probably later in the night like 7pm onwards, most of the shops was not opened yet, there were only some food stalls located at the 2nd level so we had our late lunch here before heading back to the hotel.
The itinerary had to be spaced out because my dad has not been moving much in his daily routine so he gets tired easily and would request to return back to the hotel when we only visit one of the many places that i had plan in the itinerary. That's when Jeremy mentioned we should travel together with my parents more often so i won't jam pack every single day of our itinerary.
But that will never happen often as we are planning to visit Khao Yai in december and it will be just the two of us. Hahaha I know holiday is meant to be enjoyable but if you are planning to laze in the room all day, it should be a staycation and not a holiday trip.
To me, a holiday is taking a break, but it can also be interpret as moving out of your comfort zone and your daily routine to explore places or check out stuffs that you never have time to do so, of cos we can have some sleep in days but most of the times i prefer spending our day wisely.
So when we returned back to the hotel, mum was telling me she is staying in too because she had blisters on her legs and it's painful to walk around so Jeremy and I went out to buy her some plasters, that's when we notice the road that we walked during the daytime have been converted into many pushcarts stalls that sell all sort of foods ranging from mee goreng, fried rice, tom yum soup, dessert etc and so on, as we walked further in, there were many hawker stalls, so i decided it would be such a pity if mum didn't came out and explore so we went back with her plaster and manage to get her out while my dad decided to stay in the hotel.
Mum resting while waiting for Jeremy to queue for the highly raved 'big fish' that we used to eat back when we went bangkok.
If you visit Bangkok often, you should know this dish, over here they give plenty of vegetables and sauce to dip in. This fish is coated with salt, so you can't eat the skin, got to peel the skin and eat just the meat inside. This is really good and it cost cheaper than if we purchase in bangkok. This was only 180 baht!
Pretty much summarised our 1st and 2nd day in Hatyai.
Shall end this post for now.
Till then
