Hat Yai - Another Visit to the City

There are many things that are yet to be explored when I first visited this Southern city of Thailand last March and here I were again, to be there for another visit, only this time, it was with my family and relatives. It was my family's first trip oversea and they were visibly enthusiastic about it.

We began our journey around 4am through a van. It was a tour with the driver as our tour guide. They were restless and were unable to sleep, so they were just sitting at the living room, watching movies. As for me, I'm a bit lazy to sleep I resorted to sleep during the ride and just surfed the Net while waiting.

The journey was a long one, about 5 hours or 6 before we reached Hat Yai at last. The moderately long queue at the border did not help at all. The elders in the van were unable to sleep so they were chatting throughout the ride. We made a breakfast stop once we entered Thailand, somewhere along the road heading to Hat Yai. Chicken and roasted pork rice.

After that, our first stop was to visit a very famous temple, Wat Pah Koh Suwanaram, I believed. This temple is famous for housing the remain of the late abbot of the Wat, Luang Poh Thong-Susangwaro, a well-respected monk. We paid our respects to the late monk and also admired the beautifully built temple. It was not a big temple like some in Bangkok but still reputable enough.

Wat Pah Koh Suwanaram

The body of the late abbot

After that, the tour guide brought us to the warehouse of sort where we can buy those cheap leather goods and gold necklaces and jades that Hat Yai is famous for. It was a paradise for my aunts and my cousin sister who shopped and shopped non stop. As for our family, we just browsed around. Apparently, nothing seems appealing to them.

Cheap leather goods can be found here

We might not be leaving that place with bags of leather bags but we did have some delicious bird nests which were like only 200 Bahts per bowl. Super nice.

The stall inside the plaza

Bird nest with longan

Bird nest with coconut flesh

While waiting for the delicacies to arrive

Next stop, another visit to a wholesale stall, only this time it's those snacks that were on sale. By the time we came out of that shop, the van was almost crowded with shopping bags. Then, we visited another temple whose name I do not know. It was a very modern looking wat, made of spiraling rods of silver and was painted with gold and decorated with gold coins.

Me with the temple

This temple was located up in a hill and was further in along the road to the restaurant I went to last time in Hat Yai. The views from the temple are indeed beautiful and nice.

My mom hitting the kompang

Some of the views

They were scooping for lucky coins

When we were done with the temple, we went to check into our hotel and rest for a while before heading out to Klonghae floating market and having buffet dinner near Lee Garden Plaza. While the dinner was nothing special except being cheap, the floating market itself is indeed a unique experience. I'll talk more about it next time.

A shot of the floating market

*TO BE CONTINUED*