Hat Yai - Celebrating My Mom's Birthday

Our Hat Yai trip was on the 11 and 12 June and my mom's birthday fell on the 12 June so me and my sister planned to do a mini celebration there and by mini, we meant three slices of cakes arranged as a 'round' cake. We can't find a reasonably priced whole cake in Hat Yai and that my mom is not really a big fan of icing cakes so we just bought three slices as a gesture. 

We bought it late at night on the eleventh with the plan of busting into her room at 12am but they were all reasonably tired and were fast asleep by the time we came back. Yes, the elders went back first while me and my sister roamed around the town area. Well, the surprise have to wait till tomorrow, we thought. 

The place where we bought those three slices of cakes

Interior look of the place

They even have ice creams there

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

I'm Home!

Finally, a little update on my blog after quite a while of MIA. Not intentional, but the damn internet line in my house is simply too frustrating, making me unmotivated to write anything. And the fact that I just came back from Bangkok yesterday have something to do with it too. Haha.

I'll talk about my trip to Hat Yai with my family (11 - 12 June 2011) which I totally wanted to write last week but...you know the drills. Anyway, after I'm done with my Hat Yai report, it will be my Bangkok trip (17 - 20 June 2011). So, here's some photos of my family and my relatives who went along for the trip to Hat Yai with us. Photos from Bangkok is still in my camera, yet to be transferred so, stay tune.

Hat Yai and Songkhla - Different, yet the Same - Part 3

At the end of last month, me and my friend went to Hat Yai for the first time for both of us. It was a 2D/1N trip and I'll begin the recount of our trip here, pieces by pieces, in no chronological order. So, dinner's done and we're already halfway through the day at Songkhla. I'll finish it as fast as I can. Damn finals.

Of an Unknown (to us) Island and Back to Hat Yai


It was tiring, yet sort of fulfilling, to walk around the beach and along the road and discover new and unexpected sights. I always find walking a great way to travel. It's like exploring an uncharted territory where greats wonders are waiting to be shared with you.

Some huge wild mushrooms we saw on the road

Hat Yai and Songkhla - Different, yet the Same - Part 2

At the end of last month, me and my friend went to Hat Yai for the first time for both of us. It was a 2D/1N trip and I'll begin the recount of our trip here, pieces by pieces, in no chronological order. I had already covered the dinner we had at Hat Yai, so let's me continue by bringing us back to the morning of our arrival.

Exploration of Songkhla


It took us a few minutes to get used to the idea that we were already at Hat Yai after almost 4 hours of ride, more or less, from Penang. Throughout the journey, we slept off our fatigues from last night (our journey began at 5.30am) so that we will not be walking deads when reaching the place. Once the initial shock wore off, we then moved on with the itinerary. The itinerary planned was more of a guide and we didn't follow it strictly. We were pretty much off the route when we arrived (detour to a 7-11 for quick bite and looked around the place) and our timing cannot be more off from the plan.

The name of a street in Hat Yai

We walked to the clock tower in the town district, a few blocks away from King's Hotel, our accommodation. According to the researches I did, this is the place for us to take a bus or taxi van to go to Songkhla. When we arrived, there was no sign of the green bus that I was told was the bus to go to Songkhla but there were quite a few numbers of taxi van waiting for customers. It was a bit pass 9.30am Thai time and the bus departed every half hour. So, we approached one of the vans, asking the price. They started off with 54 Baht for 2 persons, but we haggled it down to 50 Baht for 2. Not much discount, I know, but better than nothing. Few minutes later, off we went to Songkhla. Continue for more stories about the trip.