6 August 2018, Monday

I slept pretty well on the train last night. The bed was comfortable and spacious enough despite having to place my big backpack on the corner of the bed. I woke up intermittently from 4am onwards, mainly because the air-conditioning was getting really cold.

At 5:50am, a vendor came on board to sell breakfast to the early risers. I bought a cup of hot coffee for 60 Baht (S$2.52). She used two packets of instant coffee to make my coffee. If you prefer a smaller cup, you can just pay 30 Baht and she will use one packet instead of two. It was nice to sip on piping hot coffee to start my day right.

At about 6:20am, the train attendant came around again to convert the beds back into seats. However, the guy on the upper berth above me was still sleeping so the attendant let him continue sleeping and did not disturb him. He must have been tired because he only came on board at 11:45pm last night.

After 16 hours of travelling, I arrived at Hat Yai Junction at 7:28am. After disembarking, I fired up Google Maps and navigated myself to my accommodation, which was just 650m away from the railway station. I walked for less than 10 minutes and arrived at The Aree Hat Yai Hostel, located at 255/11 Niphat Uthit 1.

The hostel was located in a shophouse building not unlike those found in Singapore. For my one night stay here, I booked a private dormitory room via booking.com and it cost 441 Baht (S$18.57). Even though I had arrived much earlier than the official check-in time (2pm), the owner was kind enough to let me have the room.

My private room had a double-decker bed and it was big and clean. I took a shower to freshen myself up, then rested in bed for a while before heading out again at 10:45am. I walked back to the railway station to buy my onward ticket to Padang Besar tomorrow.

Earlier, I had already pre-booked my KTM train ticket from Padang Besar to Kuala Lumpur, scheduled to depart Padang Besar at 11:15am. However, the train from Hat Yai to Padang Besar was a shuttle service operated by State Railway of Thailand (SRT). It could not be pre-booked online, so I had to buy it from the station itself.

Back at Hat Yai Junction railway station, I saw that there were booths selling Tickets For Travel Today and a separate Advance Booking Office. I went to the latter to buy my ticket. The shuttle train ticket cost only 50 Baht (S$2.10) for a seat in the Third Class, non-air-conditioned coach. I bought the 7:30am departure on Express train number 947.

The journey from Hat Yai to Padang Besar takes about an hour. The tricky thing is that on the ticket, the scheduled arrival time at Padang Besar is stated as 8:25am. Note that this is based on Thailand time, and not the local time in Malaysia. There is a time difference between Malaysia and Thailand, and Padang Besar (Malaysia) is one hour ahead of Hat Yai (Thailand). So even though the arrival time at Padang Besar is stated on the ticket as 8:25am, it is actually 9:25am local time in Malaysia.

Therefore, for all onward connections from Padang Besar to Kuala Lumpur, you have to take into account the time difference or you may miss your connecting train or bus. Anyway, even after arriving at Padang Besar at 9:25am and factoring in the time taken to clear immigration, I should still have enough buffer time to catch my 11:15am KTM train to Kuala Lumpur.

With my travel arrangements sorted out, I was now ready to enjoy Hat Yai fully. A short distance from the railway station was Robinson shopping mall. It reminded me of our Robinsons department store in Singapore so I went in for a quick look. There wasn’t much to see so I left shortly after.

I decided to have an early lunch so I went around to search for some good Thai food. The more I walked around Hat Yai, the more I felt like I was in Malaysia rather than in Thailand. I noticed more people here speaking Mandarin and Cantonese rather than Thai. Even the cuisine seemed more Chinese than Thai. I was disappointed not to find any Thai food so I settled for a bowl of Wanton Mee (50 Baht).

I didn’t do any research on Hat Yai beforehand so I didn’t have any agenda. I walked aimlessly around the downtown area and came across a few shopping malls – Odean and Lee Gardens Plaza. They were very dated and looked like something out of Singapore in the 80’s. Desperate, I searched online and found out that there was a modern shopping mall called Central Festival, so I made my way over.

Central Festival was huge and more reminiscent of the mega shopping malls in Bangkok and Malaysia. There were five levels of shops, a Cineplex and many restaurants. However, I wasn’t in the mood to spend too much money so I just strolled through the levels to pass time. As my lunch earlier was not satisfying, I went to McDonald’s for some comfort food. At 4pm, I took a Grab car (85 Baht/S$3.61) back to the hostel, and remained in my room for two hours.

From what I had seen of Hat Yai, there didn’t seem to be anything of interest to do here. Hat Yai is popular with Malaysians just across the border but it is otherwise not a tourist-oriented city. Perhaps the most interesting attraction in Hat Yai is the Khlong Hae Floating Market, but it is a 20-minute drive away from the city centre and it is only open from Fridays to Sundays. The only other time I felt close to being bored during this trip was in Nha Trang, but even Nha Trang managed to redeem itself with the Skylight Havana rooftop bar.

At 6pm, I headed out again, hoping that there would be more to see as night time approached. Unfortunately, save for a handful of stalls, there wasn’t much going on even at night. I was unlucky to be here on a Monday because none of the big night markets were open. One of the best ones is Greenway Night Market but it is open six days a week from 4pm to 10pm except for Mondays. Same for the Asean Night Bazaar, which is also closed on Mondays. Such a bummer.

I came across some stalls selling street food so I decided to give them a try. Still craving for authentic Thai food, I ordered a plate of Pad Thai noodles for 50 Baht. However, the texture and taste of the noodles weren’t close to what I expected so it was quite disappointing. I then bought a bowl of iced dessert (50 Baht) and it was okay.

By 7:15pm, I concluded there was nothing more to be gleaned from walking the streets of Hat Yai so I called it a night and went back to my hostel. I regretted making a stop here and wished I had continued my journey to Malaysia instead. Oh well, one boring day out of 97 days so far is not that bad. It’s all part of the Grand Adventure.