Driving on the street of Hat Yai
It has been slightly more than 10 years since I last visited Thailand.
It was really an eye opening experience being able to tag along Wendy and her friends to Hat Yai last month. And of course many thanks to Ah Sea for being our driver! Without her we would be literally blinded in the alien land up north.
It took us about 5 hours ride from Penang as we decided to go through the not-so-hectic Padang Besar (Perlis) check point rather than the usual Bukit Kayu Hitam (Kedah) entry point. Arriving there, we first checked in to the drive-in hotel and later on went out for lunch.
The name of the hotel is Leelawadee Resort (thanks to Wendy for remembering!) I can’t really recall what is the name of this hotel but and it’s reasonable cheap! It only costs us about 350 baths per night!
Drive-in hotel, Hat Yai
For lunch, we had something that’s I can never find back in Malaysia. It’s koay teow-like mee with pig’s blood as the main ingredient for its soup. Definitely a good experience I must say…
Something you can never find in Malaysia. Koay teow alike mee with pig's blood
Moving on, we went to the typical shopping area around Lee Gardens (Wikipedia map). Following the several bombing incidents that rocked southern Thailand many months ago, the security guards may perform check underneath your vehicle and in your car’s boot if they find you cheeky enough!
Around Lee Gardens shopping mall and hotel, Hat Yai
Hat Yai looks very lively with its economy. If I’m not mistaken, I have read a piece of news before saying that during peak period, the number of tourists would actually outnumber the local populations. It seems to me that there are people everywhere in every corner of the city.
It’s practically to safe during the day time but try not to walk alone in quiet places during the night. Staying in the crowd would be a good idea.
Posing with the bronze mermaid statue in Samila beach
Later in the afternoon, we drove to Samila beach, Songkhla (Wikimapia link). This is where the golden bronze statue of a mermaid is located. It is the landmark of Songkhla. Samila beach is really long and it is filled with tons of people on the beach when we visited it.
Recently, they have completed another statue whereby it is a dragon that is really really long where you need to drive from one part of its body to another. What you are seeing in the photo below is the head. The tail and part of its body is far apart.
The head of the dragon
Later in the evening we visited a night market back in the Hat Yai city and only eating our dinner at 12am. That’s the kind of timing you will only get to eat if you have bunch of girls visiting a night market buying clothes like crazy. One more post to follow after this to end this trip’s postings.
Happy Chinese New Year folks.
PS: The map links below shows the location of the bronze statue.
Popularity: 20% [?]
Related posts:
- Smokehouse, Cameron Highlands
- Panoramic Hong Kong
- Kerachut Trip this sunday
- Second Pulau Tikus kayak trip
- 台湾古早味 Kocha, Burmah Road, Penang
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Wendy
February 23, 2010 at 12:25 am
Firstly, it’s Ah Sea also known as Supison Payoonroongsiritawee not Ah See
Secondly, the hotel we stayed at is name Leelawadee Resort
Thirdly, it costs 350baht per night!
Reply
Hugo Lim Reply:
February 24th, 2010 at 9:39 pm
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh….
Ohhhhhhhhhhh…
Ohhhhh… hahahahaha thanks alot ahhh for filling the wrongly chopped piece hehehehe
Reply
santo
March 30, 2010 at 2:46 pm
hi,
is the resort good? Where is it located?
Reply
Hugo Lim Reply:
April 7th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Hey, thanks for commenting.
The resort is more like a guest house. Nothing more, nothing less than you need for a nice good sleep. Don’t expect anymore more but it’s well suited for budget stay.
I wish that I have saved the coordinate but too bad I can’t find in on wikimapia too now. I’ll try to locate it and let you know.
hope it helps.
cheers
Reply
santo Reply:
April 8th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
350 baht per night per person? Do you have more picture of it as im going there coming May.
If is located center of the city? Or far more remote area?
Reply
Hugo Lim Reply:
April 9th, 2010 at 7:35 am
Hey, let me try to ask my friend and get back to you ya.
From what I know, It’s still in the city area.
Reply
Hugo Lim Reply:
April 9th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
hey there, I have asked my friend. You can tell the tuk-tuk driver ‘Dland 1′. Then they would know which area you are going to already.
Good luck!
Reply