Hat Yai - Day 1 (Stainless Steel Temple - Hat Yai Plaza Market - Lee Garden night market - Khlong Hae floating market)

Hat Yai is a city in southern Thailand sitting near to Malaysian border. We went there once many years ago and it's a day trip from Alor Setar, Kedah. Since our friend is coming all the way from Taiwan to Penang for a leisure trip, Jon decided to bring them to Hat Yai for 3 days. There's eight of us and instead driving on our own, my partner decided to rent a van with a private driver. It's a 10 seater van equipped with television, audio equipment, karaoke and mobile phone charger. Apart from that, it has a spacious interior with reclining seats and cool air conditioning. The driver is very professional, friendly, always on time and has a good driving skill. The cost of renting the van with a private driver is RM 2,200 for 3 days 2 nights. Basically the driver will take you anywhere, anytime!

We requested the driver to pick us up at Jon's place in Penang at 7am. He arrived before 7am and we left Penang around 7.15am. Two hours later the driver make a pit stop at Naluri Aman Sdn Bhd, a duty free shop in Bukit Kayu Hitam, Kedah and we took a 30 minutes break. In the meantime, the driver took all our passport and helped us to fill in the arrival card. Apart from the duty free shop, there's a convenience shop and a small stall selling food. 

We reached Bukit Kayu Hitam Immigration around 10am. Upon arrival, the driver asked us to leave the van and to bring along our luggage to the immigration counter. It was a smooth process and within 10 minutes we're heading back to our van. Sadao border checkpoint is just few minutes drive away from Bukit Kayu Hitam Immigration. There's a long queue but this time we don't need to bring along our luggage. We head back to our van 20 minutes later and we are on our way to Stainless Steel Temple.

Our chauffeur drives this van for 3 days 2 nights 

Spacious and comfortable van

Spacious and comfortable van

Naluri Aman Sdn Bhd

Along the way, the driver asked whether we want to make another pit stop for brunch. He recommended us to try this chicken rice shop which is approximately 40 minutes drive from Sadao border checkpoint. We ordered six plates of chicken rice, steamed chicken, roasted pork belly, fried chicken, a bowl of fish ball, pork ball, seaweed & bean sprouts soup and one bottle of sugarcane juice. Overall the food taste average to me.

Total bill - THB 730

大同鸡饭

Restaurant ambience

Sugarcane juice

Dipping sauce

Roasted pork belly

Fried chicken

Fish ball, pork ball, seaweed and bean sprouts soup

Steamed chicken

Chicken rice

Address:

大同鸡饭

VF3C+Q5Q, Petchkasem Rd,

Phatong, Hat Yai District,

Songkhla 90230,

Thailand

Stainless Steel Temple is approximately 35 minutes drive from the chicken rice shop (大同鸡饭). The temple is quite small and we spent about 20 minutes here. It is located on top of Kho Hong hill and it's build from stainless steel. There's a wide open space in front of the temple whereby you have to take off your shoes before entering the temple. We didn't realize there's stairways leading up to the top of the temple and missed it.

Stainless Steel Temple

Stainless Steel Temple

Stainless Steel Temple

Stainless Steel Temple

Stainless Steel Temple

Stainless Steel Temple

Stainless Steel Temple

Stainless Steel Temple

Stainless Steel Temple

Public squat toilet

Address:

Stainless Steel Temple

2G48+4PF, Kho Tong,

Hat Yai District,

Songkhla 90110,

Thailand

Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel is approximately 20 minutes drive (9km) from Stainless Steel Temple. We arrived at the hotel around noon and only one room is ready for early check in. So we put all our luggage in that room and asked our driver to drop us at Hat Yai Plaza Market, just 4 minutes drive (1km) from Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel.

It's a Sunday afternoon and the market looks dead. There's several stalls selling cashew nuts, macadamia and other types of nuts. You can find fake branded items as well and there's stall selling clothes, bags, shoes, local food products and kitchenware. Jon bought us all coconut water. It's sold by a street vendor just outside the market. The coconut water is refreshing and super hydrating.

Hat Yai Plaza Market

Hat Yai Plaza Market

Hat Yai Plaza Market

Coconut stall - THB 40

Address:

Hat Yai Plaza Market

2F69+MRM, Montri 1 Rd,

Tambon Hat Yai,

Hat Yai District,

Songkhla 90110,

Thailand

One of the joys of travelling is trying local food. Feeling hungry we decided to have our late lunch at this shop nearby Hat Yai Plaza Market. The shop owner speaks good Mandarin. We ordered four bowls of dry noodles, braised pork leg rice, braised pork knuckle and Thai milk tea. My dry noodles consists of fish balls, fish cake, slices of bbq pork, bean sprouts and bitter gourd with meat stuffing. The noodles taste bland at first. So I try to mix everything together and it tastes better but still not tasty enough. However, I kinda like the noodle texture. It's thin, soft and slightly chewy. Glad that their Thai milk tea is not too sweet but it has a mild flavour.

Total bill - THB 825

ไทย เซ่งฮวด โดยนายวิทยา ปริญญาคุปต์

Braised pork leg rice

Braised pork knuckle

Dry noodles

Thai milk tea

Address:
ไทย เซ่งฮวด โดยนายวิทยา ปริญญาคุปต์
22 Montri 1 Rd,
Tambon Hat Yai,
Hat Yai District,
Songkhla 90110,
Thailand

We continue to explore the market and my partner bought a packet of dodol (THB 120). Dodol is a sweet dessert made from glutinous rice flour, palm sugar and coconut milk. There's three types of flavour - coconut, durian and pandan. It has a chewy and sticky texture. I prefer the coconut flavour but overall it's just too sweet for my liking.

Instead of asking our driver to send us back to our hotel we decided to ride a Tuk Tuks, a widely used form of transportation in Thailand. There's eight of us just nice to fit the four wheels open air car. (Cost - THB 20 per person)

Hat Yai Plaza Market

Hat Yai Plaza Market

Four wheels Tuk Tuks

While the rest of them decided to get some rest in the hotel room, me and my partner went for dessert hunting. Just right below our hotel at ground floor, there's this Kyo Roll En dessert shop. Their best seller is bamboo charcoal roll but it's all sold out. They only have their signature vanilla roll cake. So I order their Kyo roll set comes with a slice of vanilla roll cake, Kuromitsu sauce (black sugar syrup) and mixture of matcha & charcoal soft serve ice cream.

Vanilla roll cake is nice. It's soft and moist filled with smooth cream filling. However, matcha soft serve ice cream has this slightly bitter after taste which I don't really fancy. On the other hand, charcoal soft serve ice cream tastes bland to me. Overall, their soft serve ice cream texture is not smooth and creamy enough. 

Kyo Roll En

Kyo roll set - THB 220

Signature Kyo roll

Address:

Lee Garden Plaza Shopping Mall

Kyo Roll En

2F4C+9JQ, Tambon Hat Yai,

Hat Yai District,

Songkhla 90110,

Thailand

There's nothing much to shop at Lee Gardens Plaza. Most of the shops are closed for good and there's only two levels. There's an art gallery but sadly there's no visitors. Outside the shopping mall, there's a night market selling souvenirs, clothes, fruits, nuts and local food. Somehow both of us are not attracted to the street food.

Art gallery

Art gallery

Art gallery

Art gallery

Lee Garden night market

Lee Garden night market

Address:

Lee Garden night market

2F4C+9HG, Tambon Hat Yai,

Hat Yai District,

Songkhla 90110,

Thailand

Our van driver came and picked us up to Khlong Hae floating market at 5pm. The floating market open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 1pm to 9pm. It's approximately 15 minutes drive (5.5km) from Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel Hat Yai. You will see sampans lining up near the walkway selling local food, drinks and souvenirs. There's a lot of people and it's very lively. There's also traditional Thai dance and music.

Next to the floating market, there's many stalls selling local food, clothes, shoes and souvenirs. There's place for you to sit and eat as well. My partner bought mango sticky rice, a popular Thai dessert. It consists of steamed sticky rice, thick coconut cream and perfectly ripe yellow sweet mango. Basically it's a perfect combination. Jon bought us ice blended coconut but it's just too sweet for my liking.

My partner tried the miang kham, a traditional snack from Thailand. You can enjoy this snack by wrapping roasted coconut shavings, dried shrimp, small cubes of ginger, peanuts, lime and sweet sauce on a betel leaves. It's a one bite wrap with a perfect combination of sweet, sour, salty and spicy flavour. He loves it!

Wiring system in Thailand

Khlong Hae floating market

Stall selling fried insects

Khlong Hae floating market

Khlong Hae floating market

Khlong Hae floating market

Khlong Hae floating market

Khlong Hae floating market

Khlong Hae floating market

Khlong Hae floating market

Khlong Hae floating market

Stall selling mango sticky rice

Mango sticky rice - THB 40

Mango sticky rice

Mango sticky rice with thick coconut cream

Miang kham

Khlong Hae floating market

Ice blended coconut drink

Street dog

Street dog

Address:

Khlong Hae floating market

Khlong Hae, Hat Yai District,

Songkhla 90110,

Thailand

We had our dinner at Suan Cheun Sook recommended by Jon. We ordered eight dishes and my favourite dish of the night is paku salad consists of paku (fern), egg and prawns. It's fresh, sweet, sour, tangy and a very appetizing dish. Apart from that, tom yam (hot and sour Thai soup) is nice too. Not too spicy and very flavourful. However, spicy yellow curry with seabass and young coconut shoot or mix vegetables also known as Kaeng som is a bit too spicy for my liking. Thai style grilled pork neck is flavourful but the meat has a slightly chewy texture. Thanks to Jon, all of us had a wonderful dinner.

Total bill - THB 1,750 (including 6 rice and 4 mineral water)

Suan Cheun Sook

Drinking water

Paku salad

Stir fried vegetables with pork belly

Deep fried shrimp cake - THB 120

Stir fried Chinese broccoli with crispy pork belly - THB 100

Spicy yellow curry with seabass and young coconut shoot or mix vegetables - THB 200

Tom yam - THB 180

Stir fried prawn with cashew nuts

Thai style grilled pork neck - THB 120

Rice

Address:

Suan Cheun Sook

208-1, Thanon Phetkasem Soi 27,

Khuan Lang, Hat Yai District,

Songkhla 90110,

Thailand

After dinner, our driver send us back to our hotel. Instead of going straight to our room we decided to explore the shops around our hotel area. We ended up at this Burapha Bird's Nest. My partner order a bowl of blood bird nest while I had their house bird nest. Even though blood bird nest is the most expensive and demanded bird nest I still prefer the house bird nest as it's tasteless compared to blood bird nest which has a flavour similar to egg whites. Each bowl of bird nest comes with a complimentary cup of ginseng tea. Feeling healthy after drinking the best nest I decided to call it a day. My partner on the other hand went and pamper himself with a massage.

Total bill - THB 700

Burapha Bird's Nest shop with complimentary ginseng tea

Blood bird nest - THB 500

House bird nest - THB 200

Address:

Burapha Bird's Nest

Trok Sukonthahong Alley,

Tambon Hat Yai,

Hat Yai District,

Songkhla 90110,

Thailand