Hat Yai: My Cross-Border Experience (Part II)

For those who’ve been wanting to read how my second day in Hat Yai went, the wait is finally over. I hope you are as excited as I am to tell you the other half of my story. For those who’ve missed the part one of my Hat Yai trip with my girls, click here. Now, shall we dive right in into the longer day 2 since we had the whole day to ourselves?

Day 2 started pretty early because I was having a hard time to fall asleep even when we went to bed as early as we could. With the one hour time difference, I’m assuming the sun rises earlier too making it even harder to fall asleep. We were still a little groggy but well-rested at least. We were already looking forward to explore the streets nearby our hotel room and maybe catch a breakfast.

Talking about breakfast, we walked across one of their many 7-Eleven stores and their coffee was really inviting so we got some cheese sandwiches and their signature coffees to begin the day. It was probably the best choice of breakfast I must say. The coffee was one of the best I’ve tasted and the sandwiches were the bomb. We literally decided that we were going to have the same breakfast again tomorrow before we catch our train. It was that good.

After being stuffed with our mouth-watering breakfast and pretty much done roaming around the streets, we decided to head to one of the newest and largest mall in Hat Yai.

1. Central Festival Hatyai

At first I thought there was a festival going on or something but I was wrong. It is literally the name of a mall. Not knowing why they named the mall that way, we decided to have a look and experience on our own.

Very unusual for us, they had security personnel to inspect our bags upon entry to the mall. It did get us freaked out a little not knowing that the security was pretty tight over here. I’ve never been inspected to any malls I’ve been to in Malaysia or even in the US. That was definitely a first time for me and my friends as well.

The moment we entered the mall, it was literally an explosion of people and food for real. You could see a variety of people from all walks of life and countries.

We were so excited when we saw a stall selling mango sticky rice. We’ve been wanting to try them ever since we got here but was a little worried of the hygiene part and no we didn’t want to go back feeling sick. With the corona virus outbreak, we had to be EXTRA cautious.

While we sat down to enjoy our mango sticky rice, a Malaysian uncle (we call everyone uncle and aunty in Malaysia even if they are total strangers) said hey and chatted for a bit. He was with his teachers group and was elated when he saw us, the fellow Malaysians. I loved the hype of the crowd and their beautiful desserts that was way too cute.

We shopped around for a bit and then we left when we realized it was only a few more hours to sunset.

We must have been roaming around not knowing the time. You can get lost track of time since you have so much to see and taste over here.

We finally left to get to our second place to just relax and enjoy our real vacation.

2. Alive, Hat Yai

Not knowing what to expect we got here based on the recommendations we found on Google. Glad that this was not a disappointment at all. We instantly fall in love with this place the moment we got here. It was definitely among one of the instagrammable cafes in Hat Yai.

I was estatic with just the thought of being surrounded with plants and inhaling all those good oxygen as much as I can being far away from the hustle and bustle of the city. Set among the treetops, this place literally looked like a huge tree house.

They had big bean bag-like-cushions on tented nets and swings in between trees to give you more like a jungle feeling. My friend made me pose on those bean bags knowing how acrophobic I was. At first I didn’t want to move but eventually I felt safe and started to lie down on it after getting a little comfortable. Go check out my Instagram for more exclusive pics and videos from this place.

We just wanted some coconuts to complete the natural jungle feeling that we have right now.

The food was okay but the ambience was definitely everything to this place. We had a lot of fun posing and people watching as you can just kickback and chill as long as you want.

As it was getting past sunset, we had to leave even when we didn’t want to. We definitely underestimated this place but we actually loved it more than we thought we would. We wanted to go check out another night market that we have on the itinerary before we call it a night.

3. Greenway Night Market

The visit to the Greenway night market was a really short one. This night market was a little smaller compared to the Asean Night Bazaar but their food station is definitely the latest and largest in town with over 1000 menu. We shopped for a bit but we didn’t get anything to eat over here. They were using some type of card system that we were too lazy to try.

We got a tuk-tuk as a part of our tour to head back so we could all brag about it when we get home. It was quite an experience trying not to fall when they speed. We were all sliding and laughing until we came to an abrupt stop.

The tuk-tuk brought us to McDonald’s.

Before heading back to the hotel, we decided to try one of their greasy fastfood chain to see what’s so different than the one in Malaysia or the US. We loved the hot chocolate that was not-so-sweet and the choice of burgers were slightly different too. I was already counting my calories by then.

We got to the hotel by 10 p.m. and my friends were already ready for their in-house Thai massages. I am still a little terrified from my first and probably the last full body massage I got when I was in Melaka. I was bruised all over. So I opted out this time.

Going to bed not knowing the severities of the shootings in the malls near Bangkok earlier. Thanks to the masseuses at least. If not we wouldn’t have known at all. Glad that we are heading back early tomorrow. But definitely looking forward to my first and longest train ride home. I’ll see you next week with another interesting topic to talk about. Stay kind!