Things To Do In Hat Yai Part 2: Local Experiences

Read Part 1 of “Things To Do In Hat Yai” here.

As a first-timer to Hat Yai, I did my research and I realised, to my horrors, that….. there is nothing much to do in Hat Yai. My advice is not to plan a long trip, because you really only need a maximum of 4D3N in Hat Yai to cover everything you need to see there. Thankfully, the trip turned out fun nonetheless and even though Hat Yai is incredibly small, there is still some charm to it. If you are planning your first trip to Hat Yai as well, make sure you include all these into your itinerary!

Disclaimer: I did not travel out of Hat Yai city to visit the Samila Beach because people travel more than an hour out there just to see an olright beach and a mermaid statue. I was seriously not interested. I did consider travelling an hour out of the city to take the cable car to see the Municipal Park but all they have there are gigantic Buddha statues which again, I was not interested at all.

1. Breakfast At Chok Dee Dim Sum

This is a must-do especially for first-timers to Hat Yai because dim sum here is freshly steamed on-the-spot, very affordable and yummy. Just hop onto a Tuk Tuk and tell them Chok Dee, and you will be there in no time at all. Try to go early though because it can get quite crowded.

So, what’s so interesting about Chok Dee Dim Sum? The whole experience is very pleasant and fun. Upon reaching the shop, you’ll see this mountain of steam baskets filled with all kinds of raw dim sum. All you need to do is to get a table number, point to whatever you want to order and the dim sum will be steamed right away for you. After you are seated down at your table, fresh and piping hot dim sum are served!

Every portion is small, so you can really go ahead and order to your heart’s content to try different ones.

Look at our table full of food! This sight made us very happy indeed. How I wish every breakfast is like this. =P

Besides dim sum, you can also order a pot of Bak Kut Teh to share. Please order it because it is super delicious and very hearty! It would definitely complete your experience at Chok Dee. :)

2. Visit Kim Yong Local Market

I always try to visit the local market whenever I visit a country because that is the best way to experience and see how locals live their daily lives. The Kim Yong local market is the largest in Hat Yai and about 10 minutes’ walk from my hotel. Plus, my mom had a long list of things to buy from there, so we visited every morning when we were there. Just in case you are wondering, dried seafood such as dried scallops, dried longan, ikan bilis etc are all very fresh and cheap there. Make sure you buy the dumplings as well because Thailand is famous for their good quality rice, so their dumplings are heavenly! They come in plain or with red bean, hay bee hiam fillings, and in mini sizes, so it is very convenient to eat them as a snack.

3. Authentic Thai Food At Kan Eng Restaurant

Kan Eng Restaurant is a well-known restaurant in Hat Yai and many tourists and locals flock there for meals everyday. They serve pretty good Thai food and at reasonable prices as well. You may want to take note though that they add salted fish into many of their dishes, so if you don’t take salted fish, make sure you tell them. I personally find that salted fish adds a unique fragrance and saltiness to the dishes, so I like it.

 
 

4. Buffet Dinner At Lee Gardens Hotel

This is possibly the cheapest buffet you will ever eat at less than $7 per pax. For that price, you cannot expect great dishes but the spread is not too bad in my opinion. Think of it as paying for a unlimited serving of zap cai beng (mixed economy rice), with desserts and drinks free flow as well.

The main reason why people go for this buffet in Hat Yai is because the restaurant is located on the 31st floor of Lee Gardens Hotel and so from there, you can get a pretty good night scenery of Hat Yai.

Read about our other travelogues here.

Things To Do In Hat Yai Part 1: Visit Khlong Hae Floating Market

Friends ask me the same few questions when they heard that I was in Hat Yai:

 

“Where is that?”
“What’s there to do?”
“Are the things cheap?”

 

To be fair, Hat Yai is not a common destination of travel for people in my generation. I only hear of Uncles and Aunties in their 50s and 60s, who visit Hat Yai to visit temples to pray or for very cheap shopping. I like checking out new destinations that I’ve never been to, and since the primary purpose of the trip was to spend time with my mom, I didn’t mind going to a place that could potentially be ‘boring’. Thankfully, I did my research and found enough things to do to occupy my 4D3N there. Some tourist spots are an hour’s ride away, so I skipped those. We pretty much covered the more interesting places in Hat Yai town, which is very small by the way. If you are planning a short trip to Hat Yai, this will be a useful guide for you.

 

Some basics first - We flew to Hat Yai on Tigerair, which is the only budget airline that flies direct from Singapore to Hat Yai at about S$200/pax. Flight time was approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes, and Hat Yai is one hour behind Singapore time. We stayed 3 nights at Centara Hotel Hat Yai, and you can read about our experience here. Centara Hotel has one of the best locations in Hat Yai, and I would strongly recommend staying there. For the price that you will be paying, it’s very worth it. I’m going to share my list of recommended things to do in Hat Yai in two posts, and this first one is on Khlong Hae Floating Market:

 

The floating market is only open on Friday – Sunday 3pm-9pm, so make sure you plan your itinerary in order to catch it. The floating market is really small compared to those in Bangkok, but it’s still worth visiting because of the really cheap food you can get from the market vendors here. Apart from the floating market vendors, there is also a bazaar selling all kinds of food, clothes and knick-knacks. We paid a Tuk Tuk driver 300 baht to bring us from the hotel to the market, wait for us and then bring us back again to the hotel. Depending on your negotiation, you can pay a lot lesser than that, I believe. We were just lazy to negotiate because it was the first place we went to.

 

This is the entrance to the floating market, with both sides lined with stalls selling clothes. Prices are cheaper than in Bangkok and I found that the people are friendlier too. I like it that it is not crowded like Bangkok, and I feel a lot more relaxed when shopping in Hat Yai, without the need to rush or squeeze through crowds of people.

 

 

That’s the whole stretch of floating market – very small but take your time to walk down the banks and you will discover many delicious street food options at really cheap prices.

 

To put things into perspective for you, 10 baht = $0.40. So you can see that most of the food items here are selling at less than S$1 each. These are already considered expensive by their standards because they are targeting tourists, but still considered affordable to us.



 

 

There are several stalls selling drinks in these character ceramic cups, and almost every visitor would buy one so that they can bring the cups home as souvenirs. I used them as flower pots when I got home – Super pretty! But of course, you cannot be too picky about hygiene and just close one eye when you drink whatever beverage you purchase. I opted for Thai milk tea and it was yums! Only $1.20 for the drink and the cup.

 

 

 

 

I saw this lady selling these bamboo rice and wanted to try. Turned out that 8- cents got me two bamboo rice in different flavors – Purple rice was slightly sweet and the glutinous rice was salty. So very delicious and fragrant – Regretted not buying more back to the hotel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This other snack we bought may be very sinful and oily but tasted super good. Deep fried battered sakura prawns! You must try this when you are there – surprisingly no smelly oil taste even though I’m sure the oil’s been used many times over.

 

 

 

At the pasar malam area, you can buy different types of fresh fruits (their mini pineapples are signatures and very sweet when fully ripe).

 

 

 

And we stayed around to watch a vendor attempt to fry a huge pan of phad thai with chives and beansprouts. Like a performance, really!

 

 

So, take your time and slowly enjoy the atmosphere at Khlong Hae Floating Market and the bazaar. Like I said, the place is not huge but definitely worth a visit if you want to enjoy cheap street food and go home with really cheap clothes, shoes and bags. The vendors are very open to bargaining and generally friendlier than the vendors in Bangkok, IMHO.

 

Read my next post on Hat Yai here.

Visiting Hat Yai: Centara Hotel

Bringing my mom on a holiday has always been on my wish list, and I’m so glad I finally did it! To be frank, I didn’t have a big budget, so I was just checking around for a nearby place to go to, preferably with cheap airfares, accommodation, food and shopping.Just so you know - my mom is a major shopping queen. She can find something to buy in every kind of market or mall, and she enjoys stopping at every single shop just to see what they have to offer. So, I was browsing through different destinations offered by the budget airlines and I saw this unusual place in Thailand called Hat Yai. The fare was cheap because it’s the nearest destination in Thailand to Malaysia, which meant that flight time would be relatively short as well. After discussing with my brother, we decided to just go for it even though we had no idea what we can do at a place like Hat Yai.

When we told our mom the next day about this place we would be bringing her, we were shocked by how excited she was! Apparently, Hat Yai is a very popular holiday destination especially among Malaysians because of how near it is to Penang. A few years ago, she visited Hat Yai with her sister and enjoyed the place so much because everything was cheap, cheap and cheap. Hat Yai may not be a popular or even conventional holiday destination for Singaporeans, but all of a sudden, I was looking forward to the trip! =P

The search for a place to stay in Hat Yai began and I was browsing through the internet for reviews and found Centara Hotel Hat Yai, for many favorable reviews because of its prime location and comfortable rooms. So glad that the hotel was happy to host my family when I wrote to them that I was visiting Hat Yai and wish to do a review. The Thais have always been friendly, warm and hospitable, and I felt that even before the trip. Centara Hotel Hat Yai is located right in the town centre, next to Lee Gardens Plaza and there are plenty of street vendors everywhere at night. You’ll have no lack of food options at night, that’s for sure!

Stepping in Centara Hotel was a pleasant experience. The lobby’s located on Level 6, as the hotel is situated above a shopping mall. The lobby was spacious with high ceiling, and the staff made us feel at home with a refreshing welcome drink and a smile. Check-in procedures were done quickly and we were ushered to our rooms.

 

Our room was cosy and had everything that we needed. It had a nice and consistent maroon color theme that ran through the wall, bed covers, sofa and cushions. This would be our nice and restful abode in Hat Yai after lots of walking and shopping on the streets all day. The beds were really soft and comfortable, and we got 2 pillows each, which was awesome. Everyday when the housekeeping comes by to clean up our room, they will leave us a plate of fresh fruits, which makes my mom really happy because she is a big fan of fruits and good service.  In fact, my mom told me that she has never been to a hotel which serves her fresh fruit platters every day! I think Centara Hotel made an impression on her just by that alone!

Bottled water with coffee & tea are provided complimentary on the bar counter.

 

 

The bathroom is basic with a standing shower and all the necessary toiletries. Love the smell of their shampoo and body foam – Makes me feel like I was having a Thai spa!

 

 

The mom and I took a tour around the hotel and we found her favorite lotus in the little pool right next to the swimming pool, which got her very excited of course. From there, you can get a pretty decent view of the city (which is really small).

 

 

The swimming pool was not big, but sufficient for a morning swim. My mom loves to swim, so that was one of my criteria when choosing a hotel for the trip. I also thought it was a nice idea to be able to laze around by the poolside (in case Hat Yai turns out to be boring =P) and just have a relaxing time. Right there in front of the swimming pool was a well-equipped gym (open 24 hours) so one of the mornings, I was there running on the treadmill while mom was swimming. It was really nice to have a slow and take-it-easy holiday when most of my other holidays were usually packed and hectic.

 

 

In case you are wondering if the pool is kid-friendly, you can rest assured. One end of the swimming pool is shallower than one metre, so even my 7-year-old Jayne would be able to stand in the pool with no problem. :)

 

The gym is well-equipped and clean. Best for holiday goers who wish to stay trim and fit on a trip.

 

 

For families visiting Hat Yai and planning on staying at Centara Hotel, there is a room for the kids as well with a TV and some simple toys. At other Centara Hotel properties, there are even programmes planned for  the kids everyday to keep them occupied. Find out more here: http://www.centarahotelsresorts.com/kidsclub/

 

 

And of course, while there are many cheap massage options on the streets, if you prefer not to step out of the hotel, there is always an in-house hotel spa to meet all your needs. They may be more expensive than those on the streets, but they are still considered extremely cheap by Singapore standards.

 

Breakfast is very important to me, and I was glad that the breakfast buffet at Centara Hotel was fabulous! There were Asian dishes, pastries, noodle and egg stations, cakes, salads, fruits etc. A very sumptuous spread indeed! And I couldn’t resist the deep fried chicken skin and had that every single day! =P

 

   
 

 

Love good hotel breakfasts. Starts my day right at Hat Yai everyday!

 

If you are planning a visit to Hat Yai soon, do consider staying at Centara Hotel Hat Yai. Our stay was pleasant and comfortable, with our requests met promptly and always with a smile. Not to mention, the location was superb as well, with a few shopping malls all within three minutes’ walk, a large wet market about 10 minutes’ walk away, where you can observe and see the everyday lives of the people of Hat Yai, and many food options on the streets even late into the night. There are massage parlors and hair salon at extremely cheap prices everywhere too. Stay tuned for my next few posts as I talk about the places to visit and eat in Hat Yai, and perhaps you can start planning for a very affordable but relaxing Hat Yai trip soon too.

Thank you Centara Hotel Hat Yai, for making my first trip to Hat Yai such an enjoyable one, with your great service and wonderful amenities. My mom has already started telling her friends to visit soon! =D

 

Centara Hotel Hat Yai
Website: http://www.centarahotelsresorts.com/centara/chy/
http://www.centarahotelsresorts.com/

Disclosure: The J Babies was sponsored in total 5 nights of stay (2 rooms) for purpose of review. No other financial compensation was received and all opinions and photographs used in this post are mine.