Hatyai, Thailand Trip (Part 1)

Salam,

So my friend and I decided to go for a weekend budget getaway.

We chose Hatyai in southern Thailand because it is accessible by train. We booked our train 3 days prior our departure. At first, I tried to book it online, but after 3 times of unsuccessful transactions, I just gave up and went to KL Central to buy our tickets.

After more research on Hatyai, I found out the date we chose falls on Songkran Festival, Thailand's New Year or famously known as the Water Festival. I just thought, "Cantek lah!".

We meet up at KL Central. And by 9.30pm we boarded the train.

We chose the sleepers seat. Which btw, the main reason why we wanted to take the train. Ehe! It was surprisingly very comfortable. There's a clean pillow, a thin sheets act as blanket and a small long curtain which easily turns your seat into a personal private space. Our neighbors were made of a group of Indonesian Chinese seniors, another group of Kl-ites ( whose sole purpose is to participate in the Songkran Festival) and a Mat Salleh couple, who seems confused to be trap with a bunch of noisy makers.

Tickets. Never lose it. They'll checked twice in the whole 12 hour journey

Loving it!

Lailah and her space.

How the place looks like.

I will say, I absolutely love my bunk/upper berth private section. Even more, was the sound of the moving train. It sounded like a lullaby! Tidoq habis la kami.

We reached at Padang Besar, Perlis around 930am for our immigration process. Unlike Johor-Singapore immigration, here they do things the simpler way. One building, 2 immigration office, side to side. It took us less than 30 minutes to go through both immigration.

After finished, we rest for awhile at the only food stalls there. Usually there will be a gap of 30 minutes before continue boarding the train to Thailand. So yes, no rush if you want to eat there. That 30 minutes is actually used to release some of the train coaches. From 7 coaches, only 2 coaches will enter Thailand. A rule made by the Thailand governmen

Morning. Lepak di luar.

At Padang Besar, Perlis after the immigration process.

Passenger waiting the train to Hatyai

When we reached, we took a tuk-tuk to the city center. There'll be plenty of tuk-tuk drivers, so no worries for transportation. Paid 20 baht and off we go. But after I stayed there for awhile, did I realized the city center is actually walk-able from the train station, only a 20-30 minutes of walk. If say, you're like to walk lah.

We drop at Lee Garden Plaza Hotel (which supposedly to be in the middle of city center), and start to find a place to stay. Beside Lailah and I, we were with another 2 guys, who we made friends during our train-break-time. So the 4 us wander from one hotel to another. Now, the thing is most of the hotels we went were fully booked on the eve of Songkran. We then decided to go to a travel agency (which is plenty there) and asked them to help us find a less than 1000 baht per night hotel. Maka, Rado Hotel jadinya!

Rado Hotel if I may say, is perfect for us. It is at the city center, cheap (1st night 550 baht, 2nd night on Songkran eve 1200 baht-which is around RM125/2 nights, and it should be cheaper on non-festive season), have the basic necessities (clean room, tv, fridge, fresh towels everyday) and because it doesn't provide with breakfast (another factor why it's cheap) is just perfect for us!

So yeah, eventhough it's such a gamble to go there without prior booking (esp on a festive season), I guess we were lucky. I do not recommend it for others though, since we met a family who had to stay outskirt from the city because they couldn't find a room. But on a non-festive day, go ahead, and just find a hotel there.

Beds. A bit hard actually. Layan.

Clean bathroom, except for the constant 'blop' sound from the toilet

We rest for awhile, and meet up with the guys for lunch. Muslims restaurants are everywhere around Hatyai city center, so a yay yay for us!

After that, we went our separate ways, the guys wanted to go to Municipal Park, whereas Lailah and I opt for walking around City Center. The city is busily preparing for Songkran festival, so you can see tents and stages are putting up, waterguns are sell everywhere (from small to big guns), roads aew block from vehicles, and big blue water reservoir are at every corner of the streets.

Lunch. Tom yam!

Water supplies are everywhere

Waterguns

Songkran festival

We took our time at Suntisuk markets (which has a Sungai Wang vibe to it), and then afterwards aThai Massage at the Graden Plaza Hotel. For 36 baht (around RM36), we had our 2 hours session.

It was my first Thai massage. It went something like this: "press, press, press, hold, bend my limb in an awkward position, hold, press, press, press, hold". It was oke larh, for a first time experience.

Simple clean bed.

Looks a bit creepy. For a moment, I thought I'm in a brothel. Wahaha!

Lailah who's the one excited with the massage.

By the time we finished, it was Maghrib. Hawker food are everywhere, and most of it were Muslim sellers. So again, no problem in finding food. Oh btw, some Thai Malay Muslims can't speak Malay so start with English, if he/she replied in Malay, then continue with Malay.

Sotong kering

I chose pulut mangga!

Eventhough it is not yet Songkran (not even the eve!), lots of people already start to play with waterguns. They have no mercy, attacking whoever passes by, even those watergun-less (like us!). Beside that, they'll put scented white water powder mix to you, preferably your face.

So a a bit of history. Songkran is the Thai's New Year. So during this time, people will pour water on Buddha statues/images for a prosperous year. Throwing of water to people on other hand, originated as " A  way to pay respect to people. By capturing the water after it had been poured over the Buddhas for cleansing and then using this "blessed" water to give good fortune to elders and family by gently pouring it on the shoulder" (wikipedia) .On other words, bringing good luck.

Isi peluru dulu

Crowds

Watch your back!

A small Buddla Statue for people to pour water on it.

We walk, and walk. Got ourselves wet. Eat, and walk again.

Food!

Otw back to our hotel, we saw a fighting ring in the middle of a road junction. To be specific, a muay thai fighting ring. So we hang out there for awhile, and watched a muay thai fight. A first timer, I watched it with aww. Lalat definitely boleh masuk mulut.

Muay Thai!

So yeah, a good Alhamdullilah first day.