Hat Yai City

Hat Yai is the largest city in the south of Thailand. Sitting close to the Malaysian border, Hat Yai is the third-largest metropolitan area in Thailand. Often overlooked by even domestic tourists, Hat Yai is actually a super cool and really interesting city to visit and explore.

We left Hat Yai Municipal Park and headed for Hat Yai City itself. After checking in and dropping our bags at the guest house, we walked out into the town to find some coffee.

Wat Chue Chang, a massive Chinese temple, stood on the corner of the street. This temple is one of the landmarks in Hat Yai, unique for its Chinese and Tibetan designs.

It's rare to find a temple in Thailand for Mahayana Buddhism, and rarer still to find one with elements of Vajrayana (Tibetan) Buddhism!

The temple was built decades ago to serve the spiritual needs of southern Thailand's large Thai-Chinese population. Even moreso than in Bangkok, the Thai-Chinese in the south have held on to more of their traditional culture and spiritual practices. Songkhla Province, as a matter of fact, is home to the largest Thai-Chinese community in Thailand. 

Tibetan Buddhism is extremely rare in Thailand, and I found the bright colors and mythical animals represented in the architecture and artwork to be evocative and mysterious. Tibetan Buddhism is the most mystical and esoteric branch of Buddhism, and it is so mysterious to me that I find it really interesting when I happen to come across it.

Though the Chinese elements of the temple are obvious, the Tibetan elements were what stood out so much to me!

It was a quiet afternoon, and nobody was around when we visited the temple, save for an old caretaker who excitedly indicated that we were welcome and free to explore.

The geometric designs and stylized dragon motifs are heavily inspired by Tibetan art traditions.

The interior chapel hall featured statues of the Buddha alongside Chinese Taoist deities,

Taoist saints, sages, and masters lined the walls of one of the shrine rooms. My knowledge and understanding of Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism are definitely lacking!

Statues of various Taoist figures in one of the shrine rooms.

In the main hall, a statue was labeled with a small English sign as the "Fortune Guardian God".

Before him sat a stack of gold-leaf "ghost paper" in offering.

Another shrine, this one dedicated to Guanyin, looked distinctly Tibetan!

And of course there was a shrine to (I believe) the Jade Emperor, the Chinese god of heaven.

It was a beautiful temple, and completely different from any temple that I had ever visited before in Thailand.

After that, we flagged down a local songtaew driver and hired him to take us to the nearby Wat Hat Yai Nai, another famous Buddhist temple near the city.

Wat Hat Yai Nai is known for its huge reclining Buddha - the third-largest in the world!

The reclining Buddha at Wat Hat Yai Nai is even bigger than the one at Bangkok's Wat Pho.

Beneath the reclining Buddha statue, a small shrine, smoky with incense, was open for visitors to worship and pray.

Every corner of the little shrine was stacked with statues!

Unlike some reclining Buddha statues, the feet of this particular statue were not decorated in the typical elaborate designs. The statue at Wat Pho is known for the intricate mother of pearl inlay on the feet.

In the evening, we walked to the nearby Kimyong Market, a bustling market full of food, cheap goods, and amazing stuff to see and buy. It's a crowded indoor market, and reminded me a bit of Central Market in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Whenever I'm in Malaysia, I absolutely must buy a bag of Old Town brand White Coffee! It's some of the best coffee that I've ever had - super rich and sweet! It makes me think back fondly to my adventures south of the border in Malaysia. Since we were so close to Malaysia in Hat Yai, we were thrilled to be able to buy Old Town coffee at the market!

The next day, we sort of stumbled across Wat Thawon Wararam, another temple that looked very Chinese and quite unlike other temples in Thailand. It was tucked away in a back street, and we discovered it quite by accident while hunting for a coffee shop.

The interior was cool, dark, and quiet. A statue of the Buddha, wrapped in a golden robe, sat serenely upon the altar.

Another shrine hall featured Chinese sutras and various deities flanking the central shrine image.

Looking closely, you can see that each one of these statues is unique. Each one represents a Chinese deity, immortal, sage, or teacher. I suppose that a scholar could be able to tell you more!

We also passed a Thai-style temple painted in an unusual sky blue! I don't know the significance, but I thought that it looked really nice.

In the evening, we wanted to visit the ASEAN Trade Bazaar (ASEAN means "Association of South East Asian Nations". It's a sort of political trade union kind of like the EU but much looser. We were expecting to be able to find good imported Malaysian snacks to bring back to Bangkok. As we were walking through the city that evening, though, the sky suddenly grew ominously dark! We knew we had to hurry!

We arrived just in time! We hurried into the night bazaar just as heavy raindrops began pounding against the metal roof covering the narrow market alleyways.

I have to say, I'm disappointed in the ASEAN Trade Bazaar. When we were planning our trip, we had expected to find all sorts of great imported goods, snacks, coffee, tea, etc. What we found was a very typical clothing and cheap goods market. There was nothing interesting or unique for sale (at least nothing that we needed - it was more just stuff for daily life). Disappointed, we took a taxi back to the Kimyong Market, which had more of the type of goods we were looking fore. The taxi driver laughed when we told him about our experience at the market, and informed us that most of the goods were purchased at Bangkok's Chatuchak Market and resold here in Hat Yai. Chatuchak Market is just a few minute's walk from my home in Bangkok...

On our final night in Hat Yai, we took a walk through the city center. What I thought from afar was a carnival or fair turned out to be a shrine covered in colorful neon lights!

A small Chinese shrine was closed for the night, but it too was bright and cheerful in outstanding neon.

Hat Yai was a lovely city - lively, colorful, and easy to get around. It's usually more popular with Malaysian tourists coming up from Penang, but I think that it has a lot to offer tourists from all around the world. While cities in the south like Phuket may be far more popular, Hat Yai is a city of food, culture, and a laid-back lifestyle. I wouldn't mind going back again sometime soon!