Hat Yai - Songkhla, Heavens of Gastronomists

 อ่านภาษาไทยคลิกที่นี่

Each time coming back to Thailand, Hat Yai has never been in my travel plan. However, this time I have caught a train getting here because a friend I wanted to see got a job in the city since last year. This seemed like a good deal for me who prefer traveling with local people, I then started packing again after had stayed in the same town for the whole five months because of the first spread of Covid-19.

Spending over ten hours on a train from Prachuap Kirikhan brought us to Hat Yai Station in one early morning. My friend came to pick us up and presented us a breakfast in southern style like Dim Sum. 

Inside the Hat Yai's train station

I visited Trang many times, so I’m kind of getting used to the way that southern people have a big meal in the morning. Since in the old days, people in the southern regions have worked mostly in the sea: they go fishing after sunset and will be back to the land at dawn. To fill all used up energy, these fishermen look for a heavy and yummy stuff like Dim Sum with coffee or tea. We, who had lost energy by sleeping on train, shall pursue the same path of those fishermen. Once arrived at the restaurant, we settled down at the table that the former customers just left, before ordered some drink and went to grab some Dim Sum dishes as we desired.

The staff working busily in the restaurant

Various types of Dim Sum presenting, waiting to be picked up

So many things we picked, but finished them all anyway

Since we planned to stay in Hat Yai only for two nights, we took off directly to Hat Yai Municipal Park after the big breakfast. Up on the hill, a huge Buddha image (Phra Phutthamongkol Maharat) standing elegantly, heading toward the panoramic view of Hat Yai city.

Phra Phutthamongkol Maharat with 19.9 meters height

Panoramic view of Hat Yai city from the hill

After so, we had a quick look at the Samila beach,  it wasn’t wrong to use the term ‘quick look’ because once we stepped out of the car, the big gray clouds were gathering around the area. We didn’t even take even a shot with the legendary mermaid, the rain already scattered insanely all over the area. Seemed like it’s no use to wait until it stopped raining, thus we headed to the Songkhla city where situated many old but colorful buildings. However, it rained cats and dogs in the center; we couldn’t manage to get out of the car but continued our drive heading back in the direction where Hat Yai is situated.

The gray clouds were approaching

A sneak peek of the golden mermaid

 

Street art in the center of Songkhla District

The Central Mosque of Songkhla Province is claimed as the ‘Taj Mahal of Thailand’. The mosque stands gracefully right behind the long pool. The symmetric reflection of the mosque in the water enriched even more its beauty. All photographers, amateurs and professional ones were gathered at this place, at this moment, with or without any appointment. A tourist like me couldn’t help myself joining them, playing the song of shutter sound. Just to keep pictures of the precious moment as a souvenir.

The Central Mosque with the 200-meter-length pool

Getting more beautiful with the sunset scene

What a breathtaking scene

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Day 2

Our beloved friend needed to work that day, and I truly knew this before. Me who didn’t plan anything decided to go back to the center of Songkhla, where we missed to admire its charm. “We need to remake a visit” I told Maweang, who is both my boyfriend and companion.

On ‘Nang Ngam Street’, colourful Sino-Portuguese buildings locate on both sides. We were discovering the area just for a while, our stomachs started moaning, telling us it’s lunch time. We headed directly to the famous stew restaurant that the fellow recommended us… but it’s too late; they already sold the food out since noon! We looked desperately around  the area; we found only dessert/snack stands. Suddenly, a man from an old Thai movie shop told us to try a Chinese restaurant across the street, which seemed as fine as the stew restaurant. We were satisfied with his suggestion; the food here was good enough to console our tummies.

Street art on Nang Ngam Street

 

 

Old town area

Street art on the central shrine wall

The friendly old Thai movie seller and his shop

The recommended Chinese restaurant

Sea bass sauteed with holy basil

Fried tofu with minced shrimp

From Nang Ngam Street, which is full of various shops and buildings, I enjoyed taking plenty of photos with no awareness until we popped up on Raman and Nakhon Nai Streets. Not sure if it’s because of Covid-19 crisis or it’s always like this where most of the houses and shops were totally closed. Under the strong sunlight, we walked, we sweated, and then we were back on the Nang Ngam Street to get some pictures of street art that I’ve missed. I bought ‘Galorgee’, a glutinous rice flour dessert for Maweang to try before heading to the famous ice-cream shop, ‘I-Tim Ong’.

Street arts presenting Songkhla people's way of life

 

Raman Street

Buildings in Sino-Portuguese style

 

Galorgee stand

Hot served Galorgee

Lychee and coconut ice-cream served in small jars swiped the heat we had away. It was a weekday; we noticed that most of the customers were students who just finished their class, along with their parents. Apart from the ice-cream – in – jar, these customers ordered as well some fried fish balls. Maweag and I aren’t fans of fish balls but couldn’t help being curious how good they were since almost every customer ordered them. We finally asked the shop for 3 skewers of tiny fish balls. The shop owners looked at us in a weird way, that’s a very few amount, we truly knew. I explained them that we just wanted to ‘try’ them despite we didn’t like fish balls.

The famous ice-cream shop

Lychee ice-cream in a jar

Once the first fish ball got eaten, the fellows joined him uninterruptedly. We ended up ordering 20 skewers of fish balls! Some smiles appeared at the shop’s owners’ mouths when we reordered and paid the bill. I must admit that these were the best fish balls I’ve ever had. Until today, Maweang and I still think about those yummy fish balls from the ice-cream shop. 😆

The deadly fried fish balls, once you start, you can't stop eat them

Before saying goodbye to Nang Ngam Street, we bought some Thai traditional dessert as some souvenir, for ourselves and family. The shop had some rare desserts like Sum Pun Nee  (สัมปันนี) and  Thong Ek (ทองเอก) which gave totally different impression from the ones I had before (and didn’t like them). Too bad that they couldn’t be kept for many days, or we would have brought some more back home.

Abundance of Thai desserts sold in the shop

Some more street art works

 

We arrived in Hat Yai District at the same time that our friend came back from her work. After learning what we have done and had today, she said she would show us different stuff. From mind Chinese meal for lunch, we had hot and spicy southern Thai dishes  for dinner. Gaeng Tai Pla, Pad Sataw, Nam Prik were served with a basket full of various kinds of vegetables. I was so into Gaeng Tai Pla that I bought one back home after had learnt that it could be preserved in a fridge for a few days.

Super hot southern Thai dishes - shouldn't miss if you love spicy food

“When Thai people meet, they don’t do anything but eating.” This was a part of a conversation between Maweang and his mom when visiting Thailand last time. I won’t deny this though, because right after the spicy meal, we went to cool our tummies down at a tea bar. This place is obviously a meeting point for young people at night, especially for strict Muslims who can’t have alcoholic drinks. A thin, crispy roti was served alongside hot Teh Tarik (pulled milk tea). The mild taste of the tea and the sweetness from roti ensured me that I would have a good sleep tonight.

Mild sweet Teh Tarik

Tasty crispy roti

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Last Day

The train was leaving at 6 p.m., so we had plenty of time hanging around in the city. We checked out from the hotel, but left the luggage there before going out to have lunch with a friend. The sign and atmosphere of the restaurant ‘Aa’ (อ้า) represented well its experience and professionalism. The entire menu was written in Thai and Chinese. When seeing the restaurant, our Chinese friend started talking to the waitress in Chinese. Instead of replying him, the waitress looked at me as if she needed some help. I had no surprise why they couldn’t understand each other: my friend speaks mandarin, while the waitress speaks Teochew (a Chinese dialect). Although I could understand only some words of both versions of Chinese, I knew that they didn’t come from the same region. I then cut the conversation by ordering food in Thai. All the dishes were right in front of us in just a few minutes later. We as well finished them all in a few minutes.

Another good Chinese restaurant in Hat Yai

All yummy dishes we had finished right away

We said goodbye to the friend who traveled from Bangkok to Hat Yai by bicycle (yep, you read it correctly 😃) before going shopping at Kim Yong Market. Tons of fresh fruits, dried fish, snack and different kinds of nuts presented all along the walkway, they are the best selling products on the market. We got some almonds and pistachios for my dad and ourselves. As well, we bought some imported snacks from Malaysia. We wandered on the streets observing the city while heading back to the hotel. We noticed that there were so many restaurants that look good. Maweang and I have posted a question just for fun: you think how many days we need in Hat Yai, in order to be able to try all of these seem-yummy restaurants? And we agreed upon the number of 30 days or a whole month. It was too late now, but next time we have to be well prepared for a long stay.

The front entrance of Kim Yong Market

Various kinds of products you can find here

Colourful buildings in Hat Yai city

The train would arrive in an hour. We looked for something that we could eat in the train and ended up having some cooked to order dishes. While waiting on the platform, we just realized that we haven’t tried the famous fried chicken of Hat Yai yet! It’s almost the time that the train would arrive; we spotted a small fried chicken stand on another platform. We ran to the stand and order an extra-large set of fried chicken and sticky rice. We ran back to the platform with fried chicken in hands. The officer announced the arrival of the train heading to the north. We brought the luggage and food on the train and found the seat numbers indicated on the tickets. 

“How was the chicken?” No answer from Maweang’s mouth, but I thought I could interpret it from his look. I took a piece of chicken from his lap, and took a nibble. “Too salty and too cold!” Maweang who tends to like salty food exclaimed. “But the fried onion was good.” I consoled him. – It was a pity that we tried so many foods that we forgot to try the most famous one of the city. It didn’t surprise me that one from a food stand in a train station was cold and was not yummy. 😅 Moreover, when we were back from Hat Yai, I saw a friend who was in Hat Yai showing a photo on a social media exclaiming “The chicken is so good!”; I then made a promise with Maweang that we would go back to Hat Yai to have the fried chicken and the fish balls again, for sure!    

อ่านภาษาไทยคลิกที่นี่