How to get to Hat Yai from Penang? 

My husband Googled and found this website where you could book a shared van to get you there. We paid only RM50 per person for a round trip and additional RM20 for some immigration charges. Super affordable and hassle free! We could also select from where we want the pick-up to be and so glad that 1 of the pick-up points was just 3 minutes away from my parent's place. 

We left early in the morning and arrived at Hat Yai about noon time. They dropped us off at Lee Gardens Plaza. The van was super spacious and comfortable. 

Where did we stay in Hat Yai?

It's so easy to look for a place in Hat Yai as there are countless hotels there. We chose a rather affordable one called PM Residence. Here is where we stayed for RM340 for 3 nights. Clean, comfy & comes with free snack bar refill daily! Our room looks like this: 

Photo from agoda.com

What did we do in Hat Yai? 

People would say there isn't much to do there, except shopping, eating and getting a real good massage. So we did EXACTLY that and maybe a little more. When we got there, we realised that it is cheaper & convenient to rent a car than to take Grab or tuk tuk. So we got a contact from our hotel receptionist and got a rented Toyota Vios for 2 days. We went on a little road trip to Songkla too. There, we got to stop by at the beach and also did some touristy stuff, and ate. Oh, before I forget, I may have visited 7 to 8 7Eleven's while we were there. I love love love their convenience stores! Just look at that variety of sausages! Haha, ok not just the sausages, but there were sooo many types of snacks, ready-to-eat food and drinks. I would literally travel to Thailand just for their 7Elevens! 

7Eleven in Thailand rocks my socks!

Tried Orange Espresso for the first time. Yumz!

He was so fascinated by the tuk tuk so he was a good boy in the rides :)

A Thai Milk Tea place we found on our road trip to Songkhla - SUPER GOOD!

Yummy unhealthy food by the street

Some glutinous flour snack with coconut.

Also, randomly stopped by a cafe and ordered their sandwich. The drink behind was supposed to be a milk tea, but we don't know what happened lol!

Food places we ate at in Hat Yai: 

DAY 1

1. Rado Hotel (Coffeeshop downstairs) Pork Knuckle Rice & Koay Chiap

DAY 2

1. Chok Dee Dim Sum - dim sum was below average. We also tried their bak kut teh, it was also not that good. 

2. ไผ่ BETONG ผัดไทยใบตอง&หอยทอด (นางงาม) – Songkhla

We randomly stopped by at local coffee shops and bought these... They were okay. Nothing to shout about. 

Every dish at this restaurant was really tasty, but also spicy. For a person who cannot tolerate so much, I was kind of struggling to eat this meal. But I cannot deny the tastiness! Coconut water helps reduce the pain in your mouth though! Haha! 

1. Chen Loong Boat Noodle (Beef Soup Noodles) - this was SUPERB! The best boat noodle I have ever tasted. 

1. ก๋วยเตี๋ยวเรือเป่าปากชามกะลา (Pork Noodles Soup) - Also randomly found this shop as we were preparing to leave Hat Yai. We walked over from our hotel and they could not speak any English so we just picked from looking at the photos on the menu. Turned out yummy!