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| Doesn't look far on the map as I have noted our start/end points. |
Sounds like a long while but if you count an hour or more for lunch, a lengthy stop at the duty free shop on the border to pick up your duty free wine (or other spirit of your choice), some interesting getting into and out of the bus at the various immigration points and a number of pit stops to care for the personal needs of many of we oldies on the bus, then it boils down to not very long at all.
I was chatting with someone who didn't come on this brief weekend sojourn only today who told me that Hat Yai is the place where people go every 3 months to get their passports chopped (aka stamped). Why would this be, I asked? They issue 3 month tourist visas and some people who live here in Malaysia from as innocent as a spouse of a Malay who never bothered to get a visa in their own right to illegal workers (and they do exist, coming in from Myanmar and Indonesia primarily or so I am told) head there and get restamped.
It is quite a palaver actually. On the way out isn't an issue from the Malay perspective but it is on the Thai side. The organizer told me that Thailand is the only country in the world to charge you when you go through Immigration for the privilege of getting a stamp. However this isn't certain as there are signs everywhere saying "no charge for passing through Immigration... during regular hours." Apparently they justify the charge by saying it is for "overtime".
We didn't pay anything or at least don't think we did and as we chose to go out on a Friday and back on a Monday, the crowds weren't too bad. So the delay wasn't that onerous.
Coming back though was the reverse. The Thai authorities ushered us through in no time but the Malay side was a bit of a pain. Nor from the immigration perspective but from customs. Being a muslim country, Malaysia is pathologically concerned with alcohol and making sure that nobody ... and I do mean nobody... has more than 1 liter of the stuff per person.
I don't know what else they are looking for as they took great pains to examine our bags for booze and stopped a couple from our party who had in addition to their allowance the remnants of a bottle of wine with no more than 2 inches left at the bottom of the bottle and hassled them. This after they had 'cleared' things with the supervisor at the outset.
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| Some more serious things they look out for at the border: human trafficking and ivory |
However the real reason for going to Hat Yai was to stay at a sports resort just out of town where there were 4 indoor tennis courts. Very good they were too and apparently very useful as it rains an awful lot in Thailand (and for that matter Malaysia too). The entire thing was a nice idea having in addition to tennis courts, 5 badminton courts, a big gym and a Muay Thai complex as that sport (Thai kick boxing) is hugely popular.
The town itself is meant to be the largest in southern Thailand with over 200,000 inhabitants. It is located in Songkhla Province more of which later. Only further south is the separatist insurgency! Thankfully. We saw no sight of it but there were certainly tons of police and armed forces lurking around all the time.
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| Tuk Tuk is the best way to get around |
The big reason to come here other than as noted in the guide book is food and shopping. One big shopping mall takes care of the latter but the food is everywhere. You simply cannot avoid eating and being with a bunch of Malays from Penang meant that nobody wanted to. You can scratch the surface of even the grumpiest Penangite by asking where his/her favorite chicken rice stall is and that lets loose a fountain of information (always different from someone else) and you have broken the ice. Voila!!
We had some great food, so much so that I have resurrected my other blog "Grey Nomad Eats" -- you can find it here -- to wax lyrical in the way it should be done. But my goodness the food was simply fabulous. It is great in Penang and so it is in Hat Yai too.
Unfortunately we stayed at the Lee Gardens Hotel right in the middle of town for one night and it was totally and utterly a dump. I was OK with it for one night but the following day we got stories from every member of the party regarding their experiences. I know that we slept with our bags on the bed with us!
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| The Western Saloon was pretty good fun... and had the band |
Nightlife was fun though. And it was a pleasant surprise that there was no reluctance to serve booze of all sorts. We even found good cocktails as well as craft beer.. and of course a bar that had a house band playing classic rock. Guitarist was very decent too.
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| Cocktails at Homeless, also a restaurant |
One thing though is the language barrier. One on one, it is OK as most Thais I think know some English but street signs, shop fronts, etc. are simply impossible as they are mostly in Thai script without translation. Google Maps was very helpful.
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| Sometimes even Google gets confused |
Highlight for me was lunch on the 3rd day when we went on a longish drive after leaving the tennis resort and before checking into the Lee Gardens in Hat Yai. The last little while was next to a large body of water on the way to Songkhla proper (we never made it to the town just stopped at the restaurant to eat).
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| View from the restaurant of the fish farms and the water |
Did I say the food was great?
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| All sea food from the waters next to the restaurant |
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