I was in Hat Yai from 1pm to 9am the next day, so I was there for less than 24 hours but that did not stop me from exploring. Below I wrote a word-for-word excerpt about Hat Yai from the physical journal I kept, The only change I made was converting it to past tense.
March 1st, 2016
Hat Yai is a town in Southern Thailand. The city center is densely populated. as I walked people would look at me, I'm guessing they dont see many foreigners in town. The streets were relatively narrow and some motorcycles were parked on the sidewalk, in which case I had to walk on the street. People did not get out much during the hot hours (~1pm to 4pm). The city center came to life at night. The city had a good amount of light and the streets got busy very quickly. I meet a boy and a girl in front of a smoothie stall. I did not know how to communicate with the old lady that was running the stall, I figured she did not speak English and I did not speak Thai. She had so many fresh fruits to pick from and I had no idea about the Thai currency (Baht), so if she were to ask me to pay, I would have showed her my calculator on my phone so she can write the amount. But I did not take that option, so I asked the boy who was standing close to me about the amount of the smoothie. The boy did not understand what I was saying, but he turned to the girl next to him and said something to her in Thai. She came close to me and I repeated my question, and she smiled spoke back in broken English, and I was able to understand her and know the smoothie price, and to confirm she showed me a Thai coin. I thanked them and all three of us smiled. We went further to talk about where I came from, and how long I will be staying in Thailand and where I will be going after Hat Yai. I also asked them about Hat Yai, and I found out that they lived their whole life in Hat Yai, this was their hometown. I told them that I was going to Koh Lipe Island next, but they did not know the Island. I repeated the name thrice. They finally understood what I was saying. I was actually pronouncing the Island name incorrectly. They explained to me how to pronounce it in Thai. I forgot how it was pronounced, but it sounded beautiful just like the island itself. They were very nice people. I wondered sometimes how I could have meet these distinct people if I did not take this travel adventure, our paths would have never crossed in this life time if I stayed home and did the same routine over and over again.
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| Smoothie in a bag |
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| Rice, egg, chicken, and vegetables. |
Back to the smoothie. The old lady made the smoothie by combining fruits, sugar, ice, a liquid (probably juice), and a white powder (maybe sugar, maybe coke (I hope not)). The old lady mixed everything together in a blender and poured the smoothie in a clear bag, inserted the straw and handed me the plastic bag. The smoothie did not taste sweet, it tasted a bit salty, but it cooled me off since it was very hot and humid in Hat Yai and it only costed a mere 10 baht ($ 0.25). The girl told me it was healthy and cheap, which I agreed to. Relatively speaking, people in Hat Yai did not eat much, and I assumed so based on the food I got, very small portions. I had a tuna sandwich for lunch which barely had any tuna. And for dinner I had the above pictured plate with an egg, rice, chicken and vegetables. Good variety of protein but not enough. Most people generate income from running their own business in Hat Yai. There were many restaurants, and stalls selling fresh cooked food, raw vegetables, fruits and nuts. There were shops selling merchandise such as sandals and T-Shirts, not the best quality but it was average for the people of Hat Yai. I asked about the price of a sandal (made from mainly plastic) to understand the market price, and they told me it was 80 baht (~ $2.30). Of course bargaining is a must, I think it would be possible to buy it for around 40 baht. They usually raise the price when they see a foreigner. There were many budget restaurants, some have "halal" sign to indicate that they have Halal meat.
I bought a ticket to Koh Lipe Island which included the 2 hour van ride to Pak Bara Pier and a two hour speed boat across the sea to Koh Lipe Island. The ticket price was 600 baht ( ~ $18).
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| Ticket to Koh Lipe Island. |
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| Inside the van. |
March 2nd, 2016
When I bought the ticket, I gave them my address so they pick me up in the morning. We drove to other hostels and hotels to pick up other travelers. The commercial van had about 10-12 people and it was air conditioned too. We needed to be at the pier at 11am or before to take the speed boat at 11:30am.
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| One of the hostels that the van stopped. |
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| Took this in the morning before I got on the van. |
Next stop was Koh Lipe Island, Thailand.
