As you have an entire month and it's your first time in Thailand, I would advise against not spending too much time in Hat Yai! There are some beautiful places within a few hours' drive. Phattalung is pretty - Khaochaison and Thale Noi. Nakhon Sri Thammarat has great temples and also great beaches at Khanom. Satun, Trang and Krabi are all very scenic on the Andaman coast and all have islands. As a place to live, Hat Yai is quite convenient but it's not the prettiest place in southern Thailand. Enjoy your stay!
@@expatlivinginthailand my friend will be on an internship in the hospital there. So we have to work with what we have. But we will definitelly travel a lot during weekends. Thanks for the tips!!
@@thiwanjwilliam9352 Enjoy your trip. Pleased to see people beginning to visit again. The town has been dead for a long time and needs an injection of life.
Thank you 🙂 Enjoy your trip! Maybe come back in the comments section later to let us know how it went and if you have any information that would be useful for other people.
Hi Phil.... Finally i can see something had changed at Lee Garden. I went there on mid May. Sad to say there nothing there. So i decided to go to Greenway instead. Atleast something is going on there... Anyway thanks for the update.. 👍👍
Hi! Same with me. Every visit to Lee Gardens Plaza I have made in the last couple of years has been quite depressing. The last time I went to the Night Market it was open but not that busy. Greenway, on the other hand, was a lot busier. Greenway continues to be a popular place and I always enjoy visiting. The new and second-hand goods are worth looking at and there's quite a big food centre. I would say it's the top after-dark attraction in Hat Yai. I'll do another update soon.
Wow you were there in 87, my first time was April 1998, but still remember cruising around with Amex and Thomas Cook Travellers Cheques for local cash in phuket
Thailand started to get inside my head in the late 70's. After finding serious work in 1982, the chance of visiting then became a reality. One planned trip in, I think, 1985, got cancelled. There was no visa exemption scheme back then, and if you wanted to visit you had to get a visa from the Thai Embassy. I still have the visa for that cancelled trip. I eventually visited in November 1987. Thailand then was completely different. Bangkok was just on one level - street level. No roads or trains in the sky. Pattaya was fairly quiet and very pleasant. Samui was completely undeveloped. No airport, no mains electricity, no hotels. There were just tiny bungalows on the beach with lighting powered by small generators. Like you, I took a lot of Baht from the UK and used Thomas Cook travellers' cheques. How the world has changed since then! It was a great trip and the Thailand I saw then was something that no one will ever see again. We can't turn back time. I have a few photos from that 1987 trip but, unfortunately, not that many. Happy memories!
I went to a ladyboy cabaret many years ago at Hansa Plaza on Rajuthit Road. I haven't been down that way for a long time and don't know if it's still there. So much has changed in Hat Yai.
greatly appreciated the updates. planning to come in November to celebrate Loi Krathong here but wonder is Hatyai doing this event not? have not been here since many donkey years ago, think last visited here was back in the early 90s! thanks.
Songkran and Loy Gratong are probably the two biggest festivals in the Buddhist calendar. Covid has wrecked everything in the last couple of years, but everything is getting back to normal now and I fully expect Loy Gratong to take place. Not only in Hat Yai, but everywhere in Thailand. It's a festival I really enjoy - much more civilised than Songkran, which is a little too anarchic for my liking. This year's date is 8 November. It's based on the lunar cycle and occurs on a full moon, so the date varies every year. It's normally in November, but two years ago it fell on the last day of October. If you haven't been to Hat Yai since the early 90's you will see a LOT of change!
@@expatlivinginthailand great! thanks for all the information. btw, i had just returned from BKK for a 4 days leisure trip with my wife just totally loved it and miss this travel.see you soon in november.😀🤣
@@presido69 Pleasure! I think a lot of people feel the same way. The closed borders and lockdowns for two years have caused a lot of people to feel very frustrated and restricted being stuck at home. Now that the Thailand Pass has been dropped, Malaysian and Singaporean tourists are flooding back into Thailand. I feel sorry for a lot of Europeans. They too have had the same restrictions and feel the same frustrations, but with soaring energy bills coming their way soon many won't be able to afford trips to Thailand or, for that matter, trips to anywhere else. Europe is in a huge mess. We are fortunate to be in Southeast Asia!
A lot of places still closed and some places closed permanently. It should get back to some semblance of normality, but I don't think it will ever be the same as before.
The guy in the white uniform said he was a member of Hat Yai City Municipal Council (a city councillor or alderman). The municipal council is the legislative body of the municipal government of Hat Yai City.
Hi, I am a new subscriber to your channel. Thanks for your effort to post the current situation of Hatyai. I would travel to Hatyai at least annually pre Covid time for holiday, shopping and makan makan. It has been almost 3 years that I have not been there and really missed there and looking forward to visit there again. I usually stay at Saneha Nusorn Road area, from your video it seems things are slowly improving with two travel agent shop open but not many visitors. Now, the only cumbersome things to do is to apply for the Thailand Pass and the USD10k insurance. Hopefully, the situation would improve and the Government would remove the said requirement so as to encourage travellers from Malaysia to visit Thailand. Keep up the good work and stay safe.
It's a pleasure, thank you for your comment! There has been a slight improvement, but tourist numbers are still way down. I realise that many Malaysians and Singaporeans used to visit Hat Yai regularly and they have missed not being able to travel for over two years. As a local resident it's sad to see that so many businesses have closed and the sense of fun has disappeared from the town. As you say, the entry requirements are cumbersome and not really necessary. Many other countries have dropped all the entry requirements and now Thailand is losing tourists to other places. Hopefully, they will drop all the requirements soon but at the the moment they seem reluctant to do so.
@@expatlivinginthailand Yup, hopefully it would remove all the requirements soon. I have just recently renewed my passport which was expired last year and is now ever ready to travel there...
Regarding foreign tourists, I would estimate much less than that around Lee Gardens Plaza. As I said in the video, I don't go out at night as a rule but when I first got to Hat Yai it was very busy at night and there were far more night venues. The Pubb used to have live music and was always busy, but that closed some years ago. Many other places have also closed. The Thai scene was a bit different. That mi-rin-da place with the live music was full, although the other places in that area seemed quiet.
@@expatlivinginthailand I personally opine that tourists especially Malaysians still reluctant to travel to Hatyai is mainly due to requirements for Thailand Pass n Medical insurance. If both is lifted I will be the 1st to go after almost 4 years.
@@expatlivinginthailand read one of ur comment that photography is one of ur hobby. I used to quite active in photography b4, but all my photography gears (Canon 6D body, etc) been "sleeping" in dry box for 5 years, tot of restart my photography, where is the best location to shoot? Saw some nice shots of lotus, etc at Phattalung never been there tho.
@@bk1571 From what I have read in comments, different people are reluctant to travel for different reasons. For some the Thailand Pass and insurance isn't an issue, but for others it is. I've been a keen photographer for over 40 years. In recent years I haven't done much because of family commitments. Also people want video these days. You should try to get to Phattalung. Many areas are photogenic, but especially Thale Noi if you want to see birds and lotus flowers. I've been several times, but not for a while. I really want to get back soon.
I went there this morning and it's still closed. I was quite surprised because the hotels nearby - Grand Plaza, Lee Gardens Plaza, Centara - are all open.
@@bk1571 Thank you. I’m always grateful for suggestions. I don't stay at hotels in Hat Yai because I have a house, but when my website was active I kept quite close tabs on Hat Yai hotels. I will bear this in mind for future videos.
Hello Phil ,I remember during the late nineties friend of mine who has a Thai girlfriend invited us to this area but its was a shady open air with a traditional make-shift wooden stage when the local Thai rock group performs now things have changed even Gap's garden is gone although you re not a nightlife person to enquire but your precious information around the area in an assets .❤❤
Thanks Francis! I spoke to a local girl years ago who had five Malaysian boyfriends. She had five rooms and five phones, depending which boyfriend was in town at the time! Many of the shady, seedy areas have now gone. I was saddened about Gap's, but I spoke to Jan the owner before he left and business had been tough for a while. He also had some staff problems, which I think is normal after hearing from other farangs who have set up businesses in Thailand. No videos this week. My wife and daughter are at home after testing positive for Covid!
@@franciskhoo5828 Thank you Francis, very kind. They're both fine. My wife has typical cold symptoms and although my daughter tested positive she is completely asymptomatic. She thinks it's great, not having to go to school and playing games all day!
Some years ago all the book shops in Hat Yai had an English section, but they all disappeared. It's a shame. The only place I know of now that has English books is the tiny book store at the airport. I now buy my books online at Asia Books.
I want to visit Thailand. I go every year to bangkok and chiang mai. I want to got to southern this time in thailand to a city with ALOT of mosque, wet, day and wet markets. Cheap( not phuket)Im looking at hat yai. Do you have any advice or other cities I can
If you look on a map, it is close to Indonesia, but there is no food influence as far as I'm aware. The main influences are Chinese and Muslim. Many locals are Thai Chinese or Muslim, as are most tourists from Malaysia and Singapore. There is Thai food as well, of course, including quite a lot of Isaan style food.
gday phil, nice to see you out and about in dark for a change,your like me, i seldom wander around after dark but when i do i see a completely different scene, which is the same in most cities of the world, what,s that song " the snake's crawl at night" , it is true some people are completely nocturnal, never see daylight, how,s your lovely kids and wife ,well i hope, that bar with the bar girls , pre cvid was packed ,also had a band in there of a weekend, i went for a look one night, stayed for 5 mins and left, how come you managed to get a leave pass to go exploring??? good on you anyway, your viewers deserve to see all aspects of your great city, what was is your brother once called it, the lewisham of thailand or was it the graves end, something like that ,made me smile , i actually like hat yai ,and will be over again in november so i hope we touch bases then, if ever i relocate it will be there or toys home town of phattulung, i like it there too,take care my friend, aussie john
Hi John! I've never been a night owl, but I don't like really early mornings either! We're all different. You're right, places take on a very different appearance at night. I've been out to the night market and Greenway at night, but this was the first time I'd been to central Hat Yai after dark for many years. My brother, or it might have been his friend, referred to Hat Yai as the Harlow of Thailand. Harlow is one of the UK's post-war 'new towns' and very unattractive. I'm not sure how I got a free pass. The missus disappears to her parents' house frequently, leaving me to take care of the kids. When she came back yesterday evening I told her I was going out and she couldn't say much! So, you're coming back in November, eh? Keep me posted. If you decide to relocate to Thailand we need to have a chat. There's nothing I like more than a day trip to Phattalung. I bought a new camera recently and really want to get back to Thale Noi to do some bird photography. However, I think I would have problems living there permanently. Talk later ...
When I lived in Hat Yai 97/98 I hardly ever went into town at night. Back in those days there was only Sugar Bar/Club opposite Post.(?), Nashvilles, Westside and the restaurants. Most massage places were in Hotels. Post laser was where you went to watch a vhs video in the afternoon, much like the beach resorts used to offer. Its western food mainly consisted of a club sandwich and american fried rice😂. I lived on. Klongrien Song,so was more used to going out in the Thai area. Jirahut was a famous lived music, song for life bar. It's gone now.
That was a few years before I arrived. There was another place called Corazon that was always busy, but I think that has closed too. I lived in an apartment building on Klongrien 2 for about four years, quite close to the Bangkok hospital. With so much closing down in Hat Yai I wonder what the plan is. Presumably there is a plan. With so much dependency on tourism and with so many people suffering when something goes very wrong with the industry, I wonder if Thailand now wants to decrease its dependency on tourism?
@@expatlivinginthailand Thailand certainly needs to diversify, but Tourism is always going to be draw. Hopefully with a more sustainable approach in future. Hopefully!! (Remember now - Sugar Beat was that bar.. it got bombed)
@@ivanovichinus Sugar Beat still exists. I've been there for lunch, but not sure what goes on at night. It's very close to where I went in the video. Yep, it never pays to have too many eggs in one basket. At the moment I'm not sure what the plan is for Thailand. There seems to be no hurry dropping the restrictions to allow 'normal' tourists to return easily but I keep hearing about plans to attract 'better quality' (richer) tourists. Time will tell.
On my 1987 trip I went to Bangkok, Samui and Pattaya. My first visit to Hat Yai was in 2002. In 1987 Samui had no airport, no electricity and no hotels. There were just some small bungalow operations on the beach for about Bt100 per night and each operator had a small generator to power lights. No real bathrooms or hot water. It was really primitive. Pattaya was fantastic. There was proper infrastructure (unlike Samui) and not that many people. It was known to some foreigners, but there was certainly no mass tourism. I loved Pattaya in 1987, but I quickly fell out of love when I went back in 1992. Bangkok back then was on one level. There were no elevated freeways or sky trains and there were very few tall buildings. Unlike today, where there are hundreds of tall buildings, elevated roads and rail lines everywhere. It was a fantastic experience in 1987, made even better because hardly anyone had been to or knew anything about Thailand. There was no Internet, unlike today where there are a million blogs and TH-cam channels about Thailand. It was exotic, mystical, unknown and quite unique. All I have now are memories and a few photos because the Thailand of 1987 has gone forever and will never return.
@@expatlivinginthailand Thanks for detailed commentary 💕. Actually I just loved the way you described about old days in Thailand. Yeah I can imagine when there was no internet or even cell phones or proper infrastructure (except popular destinations like Pattaya or Bangkok) it must had been a pleasant experience & fun to explore in those days. Basically I am more interested to know about old days of south, especially Hat Yai back in 1980 or early 90's. But any way thanks again for letting us know about old Bangkok and about over all Thailand.
@@trashbox4807 The world changes and nothing stays the same. Some things get better, some things get worse. In central Hat Yai - Niphat Uthit 1, I think - there is a row of old shophouse style buildings. One was renovated a couple of years ago and is now a restaurant - similar to what they have done in Songkhla old town. Upstairs are lots of old photos of Hat Yai, which I think you'll enjoy if you're interested in history. I'm afraid I can't remember the name of the place at the moment.
All I can say, is that Lee Gardens Plaza is not what it was. Before 2013 it was THE place to stay in Hat Yai. After Central Festival opened at the end of 2013 a lot of retailers, restaurants and other businesses moved to Festival and LGP went very quiet. It ticked over for a few years, but Covid really killed everything. Central Department store opposite LGP closed a couple of years ago and the shopping in that area is not very good now. If you like traditional markets, LGP is near Gim Yong and Suntisuk markets but there's not a lot else. If you want modern shopping and restaurants, Central Festival has everything. It's close to Thung Sao and bus station, which is quite a vibrant area. In the evening you could also visit Greenway and the Night Bazaar, which are also in this area. I went to Lee Gardens after dark last week and there wasn't much going on. On balance, you are probably better off staying near to Central Festival these days. I wouldn't have said this in the past, but Hat Yai has really changed a lot in the last 10 years. Since Central Festival opened quite a few hotels have also opened in that area. Before Festival there was only the Crystal Hotel, but now there are quite a few new hotels and the Crystal Hotel has added a large extension.
Oh Dear, TWO Bar Girls in Town, and only ONE Suave Superstar Farang TH-camr in his High Performance Supercar (!!!) 😍. I sense The tension is building to a dramatic standoff in front of Lee Garden 5555😂. Thanks Phil for the entertaining video. It peculiarly, captured a fuzzy nostalgic feeling for me, seeing the typical White Thai streetlamps, which I never really felt watching other videos, captured correctly, really good white balancing. Are you using a camera with fixed exposure? Normally I think the exposure would be bouncing around more? Anyway it's outstanding and special, and managed to capture the nostalgic atmosphere, I'll probably watch a few times 👌😊. Good to see inflation hasn't affected Mamasan's commission 😀. Great to see the Fried giant prawn lady seems to be back. It's sad how dark the McDonalds corner looks. And I was sad to see the bazaar next to Watsons had really closed, wasn't sure before. Wow the insurance is 30? That's good news! 😊
You're very kind, thank you 🙂I use two cameras. I just bought a Canon EOS M6 Mk 2, which is a fantastic camera. The other one has given me problems since the day I bought it - a GoPro 9. GoPro recently released some firmware updates so I used the GoPro last night to see if the updates have fixed the problems. I like it because it's small, light, and the image quality isn't bad. However, it has so many problems and I reached the point where I could no longer trust it. The high ISO performance isn't great so last night's video in low light was very grainy. Anyway, I'm pleased to hear that you liked some of the images. I wasn't expecting to get any comments like that. That little Mamasan is hilarious. When I was single and spent a lot of time wandering around the town center I would bump into her often. She's very small and always wears something wrapped around her head. Last night she had a little stall directly outside Lee Gardens Plaza where she was trying to sell tourist trinkets. She was complaining bitterly about the economy and really wanted me to take one of her lovely ladies. The insurance isn't bad if you're visiting for a long weekend. I got a comment on the other video from someone who only crosses the border for a few hours and it's expensive if you do that. I'm busy again today. The high performance supercar could really do with a wash!
I'm really enjoying your videos, they are extremely helpful as I'm coming to Hat Yai soon for a few months, and I now know what to expect. I hear there is a drag racing track nearby, do you know anything about this?
Hello Stu and thanks. It seems that all Thai males drives around with 'Racing' stickers in their pickup trucks and they love driving fast. Thailand has the second most dangerous roads in the world. I got into a conversation with a guy a couple of years ago who was working on his modified pickup truck. He told me the engine was pushing out 1,000 BHP, which sounded doubtful. Anyway, he mentioned a drag strip, which is the first I had heard of it. I think he said it was just off the new road between Hat Yai and Songkhla, but I've never been, I don't know where it is, and I know nothing about it. I'm not interested myself, so I have done nothing to find out any more. There are shops in town that reprogram ECU's and do other modifications for the racing boys. I'm sure these places will know where it is. Sorry I can't help more.
All those soapy massage places have disappeared from the far south. Even Sungai Kolok used to have a place, but that has been gone for years. If one wants to have a massage like that, I think Phuket or Samui is the closest. Not that I care ;)
So, it's not just Hat Yai? Thanks for that, I thought it was just Hat Yai. I share the same sentiment as you - I don't care because I never used the places, but I would still be interested to find out what exactly happened. They all closed fairly quickly. I have a couple of theories, but I don't know for sure. One place, Naruto in front of the Merlin hotel, had a big sign up at one time inviting girls to apply. There's a lot of money involved. The girls could earn a lot, but lots of other people also benefited. The culture in Thailand is not to mess with other people's rice bowls and it must have needed some powerful forces to cut off all that income.
@@expatlivinginthailand In Narathiwat local authorities just do not renew entertainment licenses anymore. Once a business is gone, and many are due to the pandemic, it's gone forever and the property will either be torn down or changed into something else. Nearly all karaoke bars in town have been turned into clothes, bags or beauty shops. The only disco in town was demolished earlier this year. At least in Narathiwat Town, all nightlife is gone now and probably forever. Roti shops on the other hand keep popping up left and right, but they won't draw any tourists.
@@saddq1 I can kind of understand it for the three southernmost provinces that have big Muslim populations. I've read before that there have been proposals to generate more tourism in those provinces to increase income, however, the local people don't want all the nightlife stuff that goes along with tourism. Backpackers on the banana pancake trail would have been good customers for roti shops, but cheap Charlie tourists are no longer welcome in Thailand. The rate at which things change in Thailand is phenomenal. I wish driving behavior would follow suit, but that's something that never seems to change. Thanks for your insights. It's interesting for me to find out what's going on elsewhere.
@@expatlivinginthailand You're welcome. I forgot to say that shabu restaurants are also very popular now. We got at least six in town and more are coming. ;)
@@saddq1 Shabu. Are these the places where you get raw ingredients and a pot of boiling water to cook them in? If so, my wife likes shabu. MK have done it for a long time, but not cheap. My wife bought a pot to make it at home. I can eat it, but not overly keen.
Appreciate the video! Planning to drop by in Jul, glad to have the latest update of the area!
Thanks! Hopefully, things might have improved by then. Many people won't travel until the Thailand Pass and all the restrictions are dropped.
Thanks for this update! We will be visiting Hat Yai with my friend in Jul for the whole month. First time for us in Thailand!
As you have an entire month and it's your first time in Thailand, I would advise against not spending too much time in Hat Yai! There are some beautiful places within a few hours' drive. Phattalung is pretty - Khaochaison and Thale Noi. Nakhon Sri Thammarat has great temples and also great beaches at Khanom. Satun, Trang and Krabi are all very scenic on the Andaman coast and all have islands. As a place to live, Hat Yai is quite convenient but it's not the prettiest place in southern Thailand. Enjoy your stay!
@@expatlivinginthailand my friend will be on an internship in the hospital there. So we have to work with what we have. But we will definitelly travel a lot during weekends. Thanks for the tips!!
@@LogiOriginalGames Ah, I understand, a working trip! Well, if you get a whole weekend off a lot of those places are within reach. Enjoy yourself!
Same, heading hatyai next julai. I’m from Malaysia between wish can meetup there 😅
@@thiwanjwilliam9352 Enjoy your trip. Pleased to see people beginning to visit again. The town has been dead for a long time and needs an injection of life.
Your video give a very good update on how Hatyai look like now. Looking forward to my visit on 18 June 2022.
Thank you 🙂 Enjoy your trip! Maybe come back in the comments section later to let us know how it went and if you have any information that would be useful for other people.
Hi Phil.... Finally i can see something had changed at Lee Garden. I went there on mid May. Sad to say there nothing there. So i decided to go to Greenway instead. Atleast something is going on there... Anyway thanks for the update.. 👍👍
Hi! Same with me. Every visit to Lee Gardens Plaza I have made in the last couple of years has been quite depressing. The last time I went to the Night Market it was open but not that busy. Greenway, on the other hand, was a lot busier. Greenway continues to be a popular place and I always enjoy visiting. The new and second-hand goods are worth looking at and there's quite a big food centre. I would say it's the top after-dark attraction in Hat Yai. I'll do another update soon.
Wow you were there in 87, my first time was April 1998, but still remember cruising around with Amex and Thomas Cook Travellers Cheques for local cash in phuket
Thailand started to get inside my head in the late 70's. After finding serious work in 1982, the chance of visiting then became a reality. One planned trip in, I think, 1985, got cancelled. There was no visa exemption scheme back then, and if you wanted to visit you had to get a visa from the Thai Embassy. I still have the visa for that cancelled trip. I eventually visited in November 1987.
Thailand then was completely different. Bangkok was just on one level - street level. No roads or trains in the sky. Pattaya was fairly quiet and very pleasant. Samui was completely undeveloped. No airport, no mains electricity, no hotels. There were just tiny bungalows on the beach with lighting powered by small generators.
Like you, I took a lot of Baht from the UK and used Thomas Cook travellers' cheques. How the world has changed since then! It was a great trip and the Thailand I saw then was something that no one will ever see again. We can't turn back time. I have a few photos from that 1987 trip but, unfortunately, not that many. Happy memories!
I still remember there is the Hollywood disco and the Emperor disco with the ladyboy caberet show.
I went to a ladyboy cabaret many years ago at Hansa Plaza on Rajuthit Road. I haven't been down that way for a long time and don't know if it's still there. So much has changed in Hat Yai.
greatly appreciated the updates. planning to come in November to celebrate Loi Krathong here but wonder is Hatyai doing this event not? have not been here since many donkey years ago, think last visited here was back in the early 90s! thanks.
Songkran and Loy Gratong are probably the two biggest festivals in the Buddhist calendar. Covid has wrecked everything in the last couple of years, but everything is getting back to normal now and I fully expect Loy Gratong to take place. Not only in Hat Yai, but everywhere in Thailand. It's a festival I really enjoy - much more civilised than Songkran, which is a little too anarchic for my liking.
This year's date is 8 November. It's based on the lunar cycle and occurs on a full moon, so the date varies every year. It's normally in November, but two years ago it fell on the last day of October. If you haven't been to Hat Yai since the early 90's you will see a LOT of change!
@@expatlivinginthailand great! thanks for all the information. btw, i had just returned from BKK for a 4 days leisure trip with my wife just totally loved it and miss this travel.see you soon in november.😀🤣
@@presido69 Pleasure! I think a lot of people feel the same way. The closed borders and lockdowns for two years have caused a lot of people to feel very frustrated and restricted being stuck at home. Now that the Thailand Pass has been dropped, Malaysian and Singaporean tourists are flooding back into Thailand.
I feel sorry for a lot of Europeans. They too have had the same restrictions and feel the same frustrations, but with soaring energy bills coming their way soon many won't be able to afford trips to Thailand or, for that matter, trips to anywhere else. Europe is in a huge mess. We are fortunate to be in Southeast Asia!
One of my favorite place. A lot of places still closed. 💕💕
A lot of places still closed and some places closed permanently. It should get back to some semblance of normality, but I don't think it will ever be the same as before.
The guy in the white uniform said he was a member of Hat Yai City Municipal Council (a city councillor or alderman). The municipal council is the legislative body of the municipal government of Hat Yai City.
I caught สมาชิก and guessed something like this. Thanks for the info.
Hi, I am a new subscriber to your channel. Thanks for your effort to post the current situation of Hatyai. I would travel to Hatyai at least annually pre Covid time for holiday, shopping and makan makan. It has been almost 3 years that I have not been there and really missed there and looking forward to visit there again. I usually stay at Saneha Nusorn Road area, from your video it seems things are slowly improving with two travel agent shop open but not many visitors. Now, the only cumbersome things to do is to apply for the Thailand Pass and the USD10k insurance. Hopefully, the situation would improve and the Government would remove the said requirement so as to encourage travellers from Malaysia to visit Thailand. Keep up the good work and stay safe.
It's a pleasure, thank you for your comment! There has been a slight improvement, but tourist numbers are still way down. I realise that many Malaysians and Singaporeans used to visit Hat Yai regularly and they have missed not being able to travel for over two years. As a local resident it's sad to see that so many businesses have closed and the sense of fun has disappeared from the town. As you say, the entry requirements are cumbersome and not really necessary. Many other countries have dropped all the entry requirements and now Thailand is losing tourists to other places. Hopefully, they will drop all the requirements soon but at the the moment they seem reluctant to do so.
@@expatlivinginthailand Yup, hopefully it would remove all the requirements soon. I have just recently renewed my passport which was expired last year and is now ever ready to travel there...
@@xundestravelfood7055 Judging from the many comments I have received, there are many people like yourself.
Tq for showing latest Hatyai night scene...it seem the crowd is less than 30% of that b4 covid
Regarding foreign tourists, I would estimate much less than that around Lee Gardens Plaza. As I said in the video, I don't go out at night as a rule but when I first got to Hat Yai it was very busy at night and there were far more night venues. The Pubb used to have live music and was always busy, but that closed some years ago. Many other places have also closed.
The Thai scene was a bit different. That mi-rin-da place with the live music was full, although the other places in that area seemed quiet.
@@expatlivinginthailand I personally opine that tourists especially Malaysians still reluctant to travel to Hatyai is mainly due to requirements for Thailand Pass n Medical insurance. If both is lifted I will be the 1st to go after almost 4 years.
@@expatlivinginthailand read one of ur comment that photography is one of ur hobby. I used to quite active in photography b4, but all my photography gears (Canon 6D body, etc) been "sleeping" in dry box for 5 years, tot of restart my photography, where is the best location to shoot? Saw some nice shots of lotus, etc at Phattalung never been there tho.
@@bk1571 From what I have read in comments, different people are reluctant to travel for different reasons. For some the Thailand Pass and insurance isn't an issue, but for others it is.
I've been a keen photographer for over 40 years. In recent years I haven't done much because of family commitments. Also people want video these days. You should try to get to Phattalung. Many areas are photogenic, but especially Thale Noi if you want to see birds and lotus flowers. I've been several times, but not for a while. I really want to get back soon.
Has the Regency Hotel open back up? Stay there many times.
Last time I looked it was closed. Next time I'm in that area I will take another look.
@@expatlivinginthailand Thanks . Love your videos. Appreciate your work.
@@f4jet Thank you!
I went there this morning and it's still closed. I was quite surprised because the hotels nearby - Grand Plaza, Lee Gardens Plaza, Centara - are all open.
@@expatlivinginthailand Thanks for checking.
great vlog. keep up the good work! 🍻
Thanks! Lots of ideas at the moment, but it may start to be a problem when I run out of ideas. Thanks for your encouragement 🙂
@@expatlivinginthailand maybe u can show the top 10 hotels in Hatyai, price, why, where, etc...just my humble suggestion 😀😊
@@bk1571 Thank you. I’m always grateful for suggestions. I don't stay at hotels in Hat Yai because I have a house, but when my website was active I kept quite close tabs on Hat Yai hotels. I will bear this in mind for future videos.
Love the city. Beautifully filmed. Thanks.
Thank you 🙂
Hello Phil ,I remember during the late nineties friend of mine who has a Thai girlfriend invited us to this area but its was a shady open air with a traditional make-shift wooden stage when the local Thai rock group performs now things have changed even Gap's garden is gone although you re not a nightlife person to enquire but your precious information around the area in an assets .❤❤
Thanks Francis! I spoke to a local girl years ago who had five Malaysian boyfriends. She had five rooms and five phones, depending which boyfriend was in town at the time! Many of the shady, seedy areas have now gone. I was saddened about Gap's, but I spoke to Jan the owner before he left and business had been tough for a while. He also had some staff problems, which I think is normal after hearing from other farangs who have set up businesses in Thailand. No videos this week. My wife and daughter are at home after testing positive for Covid!
May i wish your family a speedy recovery and best regards 👌👌
@@franciskhoo5828 Thank you Francis, very kind. They're both fine. My wife has typical cold symptoms and although my daughter tested positive she is completely asymptomatic. She thinks it's great, not having to go to school and playing games all day!
I find it is quite impossible to get English books in Hatyai, unlike Bangkok which has 3 kinokuniya bookstores.
Some years ago all the book shops in Hat Yai had an English section, but they all disappeared. It's a shame. The only place I know of now that has English books is the tiny book store at the airport. I now buy my books online at Asia Books.
13:09 what is the name of the restaurant? Thank you
mi-rin-da มิรินดา
maps.app.goo.gl/9CyqA1XHLHKTNrEt7
I want to visit Thailand. I go every year to bangkok and chiang mai. I want to got to southern this time in thailand to a city with ALOT of mosque, wet, day and wet markets. Cheap( not phuket)Im looking at hat yai. Do you have any advice or other cities I can
You left the same comment on another video and I have answered there.
@@expatlivinginthailand Thanks! Very detailed. Thanks for responding 😀
@@justice4all997 Pleasure!
Is there any Indonesian food influence there, I notice Hat Yai is close to a big city called Medan, Indonesia
If you look on a map, it is close to Indonesia, but there is no food influence as far as I'm aware. The main influences are Chinese and Muslim. Many locals are Thai Chinese or Muslim, as are most tourists from Malaysia and Singapore. There is Thai food as well, of course, including quite a lot of Isaan style food.
gday phil, nice to see you out and about in dark for a change,your like me, i seldom wander around after dark but when i do i see a completely different scene, which is the same in most cities of the world, what,s that song " the snake's crawl at night" , it is true some people are completely nocturnal, never see daylight, how,s your lovely kids and wife ,well i hope, that bar with the bar girls , pre cvid was packed ,also had a band in there of a weekend, i went for a look one night, stayed for 5 mins and left, how come you managed to get a leave pass to go exploring??? good on you anyway, your viewers deserve to see all aspects of your great city, what was is your brother once called it, the lewisham of thailand or was it the graves end, something like that ,made me smile , i actually like hat yai ,and will be over again in november so i hope we touch bases then, if ever i relocate it will be there or toys home town of phattulung, i like it there too,take care my friend, aussie john
Hi John! I've never been a night owl, but I don't like really early mornings either! We're all different. You're right, places take on a very different appearance at night. I've been out to the night market and Greenway at night, but this was the first time I'd been to central Hat Yai after dark for many years. My brother, or it might have been his friend, referred to Hat Yai as the Harlow of Thailand. Harlow is one of the UK's post-war 'new towns' and very unattractive.
I'm not sure how I got a free pass. The missus disappears to her parents' house frequently, leaving me to take care of the kids. When she came back yesterday evening I told her I was going out and she couldn't say much!
So, you're coming back in November, eh? Keep me posted. If you decide to relocate to Thailand we need to have a chat. There's nothing I like more than a day trip to Phattalung. I bought a new camera recently and really want to get back to Thale Noi to do some bird photography. However, I think I would have problems living there permanently. Talk later ...
When I lived in Hat Yai 97/98 I hardly ever went into town at night. Back in those days there was only Sugar Bar/Club opposite Post.(?), Nashvilles, Westside and the restaurants. Most massage places were in Hotels. Post laser was where you went to watch a vhs video in the afternoon, much like the beach resorts used to offer. Its western food mainly consisted of a club sandwich and american fried rice😂. I lived on. Klongrien Song,so was more used to going out in the Thai area. Jirahut was a famous lived music, song for life bar. It's gone now.
That was a few years before I arrived. There was another place called Corazon that was always busy, but I think that has closed too. I lived in an apartment building on Klongrien 2 for about four years, quite close to the Bangkok hospital. With so much closing down in Hat Yai I wonder what the plan is. Presumably there is a plan. With so much dependency on tourism and with so many people suffering when something goes very wrong with the industry, I wonder if Thailand now wants to decrease its dependency on tourism?
@@expatlivinginthailand Thailand certainly needs to diversify, but Tourism is always going to be draw. Hopefully with a more sustainable approach in future. Hopefully!!
(Remember now - Sugar Beat was that bar.. it got bombed)
@@ivanovichinus Sugar Beat still exists. I've been there for lunch, but not sure what goes on at night. It's very close to where I went in the video. Yep, it never pays to have too many eggs in one basket. At the moment I'm not sure what the plan is for Thailand. There seems to be no hurry dropping the restrictions to allow 'normal' tourists to return easily but I keep hearing about plans to attract 'better quality' (richer) tourists. Time will tell.
Sorry lost your channel before
Good to see things picking up
I've been very busy with family/personal matters recently.
When was the first time you visited Hat Yai ? If it was 1987, then please tell us how was Hat Yai at that time? Probably very small town then ?
On my 1987 trip I went to Bangkok, Samui and Pattaya. My first visit to Hat Yai was in 2002. In 1987 Samui had no airport, no electricity and no hotels. There were just some small bungalow operations on the beach for about Bt100 per night and each operator had a small generator to power lights. No real bathrooms or hot water. It was really primitive.
Pattaya was fantastic. There was proper infrastructure (unlike Samui) and not that many people. It was known to some foreigners, but there was certainly no mass tourism. I loved Pattaya in 1987, but I quickly fell out of love when I went back in 1992.
Bangkok back then was on one level. There were no elevated freeways or sky trains and there were very few tall buildings. Unlike today, where there are hundreds of tall buildings, elevated roads and rail lines everywhere. It was a fantastic experience in 1987, made even better because hardly anyone had been to or knew anything about Thailand. There was no Internet, unlike today where there are a million blogs and TH-cam channels about Thailand. It was exotic, mystical, unknown and quite unique. All I have now are memories and a few photos because the Thailand of 1987 has gone forever and will never return.
@@expatlivinginthailand
Thanks for detailed commentary 💕. Actually I just loved the way you described about old days in Thailand. Yeah I can imagine when there was no internet or even cell phones or proper infrastructure (except popular destinations like Pattaya or Bangkok) it must had been a pleasant experience & fun to explore in those days.
Basically I am more interested to know about old days of south, especially Hat Yai back in 1980 or early 90's. But any way thanks again for letting us know about old Bangkok and about over all Thailand.
@@trashbox4807 The world changes and nothing stays the same. Some things get better, some things get worse.
In central Hat Yai - Niphat Uthit 1, I think - there is a row of old shophouse style buildings. One was renovated a couple of years ago and is now a restaurant - similar to what they have done in Songkhla old town. Upstairs are lots of old photos of Hat Yai, which I think you'll enjoy if you're interested in history. I'm afraid I can't remember the name of the place at the moment.
Planning my first trip to Hat Yai, I am now torn if I should still stay near Lee Gardens?
All I can say, is that Lee Gardens Plaza is not what it was. Before 2013 it was THE place to stay in Hat Yai. After Central Festival opened at the end of 2013 a lot of retailers, restaurants and other businesses moved to Festival and LGP went very quiet. It ticked over for a few years, but Covid really killed everything. Central Department store opposite LGP closed a couple of years ago and the shopping in that area is not very good now. If you like traditional markets, LGP is near Gim Yong and Suntisuk markets but there's not a lot else.
If you want modern shopping and restaurants, Central Festival has everything. It's close to Thung Sao and bus station, which is quite a vibrant area. In the evening you could also visit Greenway and the Night Bazaar, which are also in this area. I went to Lee Gardens after dark last week and there wasn't much going on.
On balance, you are probably better off staying near to Central Festival these days. I wouldn't have said this in the past, but Hat Yai has really changed a lot in the last 10 years. Since Central Festival opened quite a few hotels have also opened in that area. Before Festival there was only the Crystal Hotel, but now there are quite a few new hotels and the Crystal Hotel has added a large extension.
@@expatlivinginthailand thank so much! It really help loads, I hope to share my views on this little gem soon!
Oh Dear, TWO Bar Girls in Town, and only ONE Suave Superstar Farang TH-camr in his High Performance Supercar (!!!) 😍. I sense The tension is building to a dramatic standoff in front of Lee Garden 5555😂. Thanks Phil for the entertaining video. It peculiarly, captured a fuzzy nostalgic feeling for me, seeing the typical White Thai streetlamps, which I never really felt watching other videos, captured correctly, really good white balancing. Are you using a camera with fixed exposure? Normally I think the exposure would be bouncing around more? Anyway it's outstanding and special, and managed to capture the nostalgic atmosphere, I'll probably watch a few times 👌😊. Good to see inflation hasn't affected Mamasan's commission 😀. Great to see the Fried giant prawn lady seems to be back. It's sad how dark the McDonalds corner looks. And I was sad to see the bazaar next to Watsons had really closed, wasn't sure before. Wow the insurance is 30? That's good news! 😊
You're very kind, thank you 🙂I use two cameras. I just bought a Canon EOS M6 Mk 2, which is a fantastic camera. The other one has given me problems since the day I bought it - a GoPro 9. GoPro recently released some firmware updates so I used the GoPro last night to see if the updates have fixed the problems. I like it because it's small, light, and the image quality isn't bad. However, it has so many problems and I reached the point where I could no longer trust it. The high ISO performance isn't great so last night's video in low light was very grainy. Anyway, I'm pleased to hear that you liked some of the images. I wasn't expecting to get any comments like that.
That little Mamasan is hilarious. When I was single and spent a lot of time wandering around the town center I would bump into her often. She's very small and always wears something wrapped around her head. Last night she had a little stall directly outside Lee Gardens Plaza where she was trying to sell tourist trinkets. She was complaining bitterly about the economy and really wanted me to take one of her lovely ladies.
The insurance isn't bad if you're visiting for a long weekend. I got a comment on the other video from someone who only crosses the border for a few hours and it's expensive if you do that. I'm busy again today. The high performance supercar could really do with a wash!
I'm really enjoying your videos, they are extremely helpful as I'm coming to Hat Yai soon for a few months, and I now know what to expect.
I hear there is a drag racing track nearby, do you know anything about this?
Hello Stu and thanks. It seems that all Thai males drives around with 'Racing' stickers in their pickup trucks and they love driving fast. Thailand has the second most dangerous roads in the world. I got into a conversation with a guy a couple of years ago who was working on his modified pickup truck. He told me the engine was pushing out 1,000 BHP, which sounded doubtful.
Anyway, he mentioned a drag strip, which is the first I had heard of it. I think he said it was just off the new road between Hat Yai and Songkhla, but I've never been, I don't know where it is, and I know nothing about it. I'm not interested myself, so I have done nothing to find out any more. There are shops in town that reprogram ECU's and do other modifications for the racing boys. I'm sure these places will know where it is. Sorry I can't help more.
Amazing
Thailand!
miss this place
A lot of people do 😒
Really good thank you I like it
ขอบคุณมากครับ 😀 🙏
Nice
😀
👍👍
🙂
All those soapy massage places have disappeared from the far south. Even Sungai Kolok used to have a place, but that has been gone for years. If one wants to have a massage like that, I think Phuket or Samui is the closest.
Not that I care ;)
So, it's not just Hat Yai? Thanks for that, I thought it was just Hat Yai. I share the same sentiment as you - I don't care because I never used the places, but I would still be interested to find out what exactly happened. They all closed fairly quickly. I have a couple of theories, but I don't know for sure. One place, Naruto in front of the Merlin hotel, had a big sign up at one time inviting girls to apply. There's a lot of money involved. The girls could earn a lot, but lots of other people also benefited. The culture in Thailand is not to mess with other people's rice bowls and it must have needed some powerful forces to cut off all that income.
@@expatlivinginthailand In Narathiwat local authorities just do not renew entertainment licenses anymore. Once a business is gone, and many are due to the pandemic, it's gone forever and the property will either be torn down or changed into something else. Nearly all karaoke bars in town have been turned into clothes, bags or beauty shops. The only disco in town was demolished earlier this year.
At least in Narathiwat Town, all nightlife is gone now and probably forever. Roti shops on the other hand keep popping up left and right, but they won't draw any tourists.
@@saddq1 I can kind of understand it for the three southernmost provinces that have big Muslim populations. I've read before that there have been proposals to generate more tourism in those provinces to increase income, however, the local people don't want all the nightlife stuff that goes along with tourism. Backpackers on the banana pancake trail would have been good customers for roti shops, but cheap Charlie tourists are no longer welcome in Thailand. The rate at which things change in Thailand is phenomenal. I wish driving behavior would follow suit, but that's something that never seems to change. Thanks for your insights. It's interesting for me to find out what's going on elsewhere.
@@expatlivinginthailand You're welcome.
I forgot to say that shabu restaurants are also very popular now. We got at least six in town and more are coming. ;)
@@saddq1 Shabu. Are these the places where you get raw ingredients and a pot of boiling water to cook them in? If so, my wife likes shabu. MK have done it for a long time, but not cheap. My wife bought a pot to make it at home. I can eat it, but not overly keen.
No beautiful girls can be found around Lee garden. Kinda boring😢
The video wasn't intended for sex tourists like yourself. You’d be better off going to Pattaya.