DIY Explore In Hatyai

A Simple Guide For Newbies Going To Hatyai

Scenario 1

You are a first-time traveller to Hatyai from Singapore, and you would like to explore the place on your own. This is your travelling plan:
1. Travelling to and returning from Hatyai by coach
2. Plan to spend 3 days 2 nights in Hatyai
3. Stay in a mid-range hotel that has internet connection in the room for your laptop
4. Activities for the 3 days includes:
(a) A traditional thai massage
(b) Female companion for 2 nights
(c) Night entertainment for both nights
(d) Shopping

Guide For You

1. Buy a one-way coach ticket from any of the travel agencies at Golden Mile Tower, Beach Road. Recommendation is Grassland 24-seater coach at S$44 (non-peak season price). Please note that Grassland coach has toilet facility for urination only. Get the key from the driver if you need to use it during the journey. Coach will depart at 7.00pm sharp, so it is good to be there to check-in with the travel agency staff at least 30 minutes before departure time. The travel agency staff will retain your passport to fill up the immigration forms, and will return it back to you in the coach. Make sure you signed both Malaysian and Thai immigration forms when it is return to you. Check the coach number with the staff if you are not being told.. Make sure you have some Malaysian currencies to pay for refreshment or toilet use during the rest stops in Malaysia. You may also want to exchange some Thai currency at one of the money changing booths, or you can wait till you reach Hatyai. All coaches are parked along the side road, and normally the coach should be there 15 minutes before departure time.

Before you go for your trip, make sure that you read up on the necessary precaution to take when you are in Hatyai, as well as the cons and scams that were reported in the forums, in order that you do not fall for them.

2. At the Causeway 2nd Link customs, you only need to disembark for passport checks without bringing your luggage down with you. However at the Malaysian custom checkpoint, you will have to carry your luggage down through the Malaysian immigration checkpoint. After that, you can take your rest for the 2 hours journey before arriving at the first rest stop in a place call Yong Peng. The duration is half-an-hour, and you can visit the toilet or have some refreshment. The next rest stop is at Tanjong Malim, which is about 4 hours away, so you can take your nap. At the Tanjong Malim rest stop, again you can alight the bus to visit the toilet and have some refreshment, or you can choose to carry on sleeping in the coach. After another 3.5 hours journey, you will reach Changlun at about 6.30am for the final rest stop.. During this 30 minutes break, you may take the opportunity to freshen up and have a bite as the Malaysia-Thai border is about 30 minutes away. You should reach the Malaysia's Bukit Kayu Hitam imigration checkpoint at about 7am. You need not have to bring your luggage down when you disembark for passport checks. After this checkpoint, you will cross the border. Along the way, the coach guide will enquire whether anyone is interested in buying duty-free goods. If there is, the coach will make a brief stop at the Duty Free Complex. If no one is interested, they will proceed direct to the Thai imigration checkpoint. At this point, kindly note that Thailand is one hour behind Singapore/Malaysia time zone, so the local time is about 6.30am. Here you need not have to bring down your luggage when you disembark for passport checks. The coach guide will give direction on which passport checking counter to queue, so follow his/her instruction. Be prepared to wait for about half-an-hour here. After the passport check, go behind the main custom building where all the coaches are parked for custom inspection. Once the check is completed, the coach will be on it's way to Hatyai. The journey is about 1.5 hours before it reaches the city center (about 8am local time) where you will alight in front of Lovely Tour travel agency office. Once you alight with your luggage, go straight into the office to buy your return coach ticket, hotel voucher, and changing of your money to Thai currency.

3. Since you need a mid-range room with internet connection, you should choose New Season Hotel for 850baht a night (w/o breakfast, non-festive season rate). Get your hotel voucher for two nights as well as your coach ticket and proceed outside to get a tuk-tuk to go to your hotel. As a lone traveller, you should be paying 20baht and not more. Always ask the tuk-tuk driver for the price before you get into his vehicle. Ignore all the other touts trying to con you into their minivan or car (please read about the minivan tout's scam here.). Since you are a DIY explorer, ignore the tuk-tuk driver's attempt to bring you to scout for girls.

4. At the hotel, as you check in, the hotel receptionist will retain your passport for security. Make sure that you get a retention acknowledgement chit from them. In the room, you may freshen up, try the internet connection with your laptop, or take a nap. If you feel like having breakfast, you may walk along Prachathipat Road towards Lee Garden Plaza, where there are a variety of food stalls along the way. From the hotel entrance, just turn right and Lee Garden Plaza is about five minutes away. This is also a good time for you to walk around the city center if you are not tired, as it is too early to visit the KTV brothels. The best time to start looking for your female companion there is between 10am to 10.30am.

5. When it is time to start your hunt for your female companion, hop into a motorcycle or tuk-tuk. Please read the companion page for more information on which area you want to go - Channivate/Thungsao or See Kim Yong. As a DIY explorer, you would not want to pay more for the driver's commission. So if you are going to See Kim Yong, direct the driver to go to Merlin Hotel and wait inside the hotel until the driver is gone. Then you go behind the hotel where the KTV brothels are. If you are going to Channivate/Thungsao, ask the driver to stop at SK Hotel. Again, wait inside the hotel until the driver is gone before you begin your tour. For direction, please download the map of Hatyai City and study it.

6. As you visit the individual KTV brothels, remember that you are not obligated to pick any girls if they are not to your likings as the pimp can be quite pushy and persistent. All the pimps in these joints are conversant in English, Mandarin, Hokkien/Cantonese dialects, so communciation should not be a problem. Once you found the girl you like, you may want to find out more like whether she has given birth before (caesarian scar may turn some men off), what language she is conversant in, age, and does she has an Thai IC. Once you are satisfied, then ask about the price. The price guide is in the "companion" page, and it is good to know about it to avoid overpayment. Whether to negotiate will depends on the individual. If you think you are good in negotiation, then you may give it a try, but in general as a newbie, we advise against it if it falls within the acceptable price range. If you do negotiate with the pimp, it is advisable not to do so in the presence of the girl. As a newbie, it is advisable to book the girl for one day to gauge her service and attitude, and to extend her for another day if you are satisfied with her. Once all that is settled, you pay the money, tell the pimp your hotel and room number, as well as the time the girl should be present. Since you are a newbie, you should request for the girl to go with you immediately. In this way, the girl can act as your guide and companion for the rest of the day. Note that you are not obligated to tip the pimp. However remember to get his name card so that you can contact him should the escort give you problems.

7. Once the girl is with you, you can tell her what you want to do for the day and ask her to guide you from there. As your escort, the girl is obligated to have sex with you at least two times per day. .Anything more than that will depend solely on her likings for you. Treat her nicely and chances are that you be rewarded.. Reminder to practice safe sex, and use a condom all the time

8. For meals, tell her what/where you want to eat and she should be able to bring you to the right place. Check out the "eating place" page for information. Since one of your itineraries is to get a traditional massage, tell her to bring you to Oliver Traditional Massage Palor, which is highly recommended in the forums. If you desire, you may want her to join you, or else she can wait for you at the lounge while you have your massage. Tip the massuer at least 100 baht after the session.

9. For shopping, you have choices ranging from night market stalls to well-established department stores and hypermarket. For night market, you can go Niphat Uthit 3 Rd where Yongdee, Suntisuk and Asia market is. You may also try the stalls along Sol Prasancha 4 (behind Odean Department Store). You can ask your escort to bring you there, or refer to the Hatyai City map. Here you can get the traditional thai products and food stuffs. For departmental stores, you may visit Odean Department Store, or Central Department Store. In Lee Garden Plaza where the youngsters hang out, you will find four floors of speciality shops there. There is a cinema on the fifth floor if you want to watch a movie in Thai.

10. For night entertainment, if you like live band performance, you should go to Kiss Channel, Water Bar, West Side Saloon, Deep Wonder and Sugar Beat. If you prefer disco, then a must visit is Paragon. Your escort should know all these places. For "tiger show" there are two places where you can watch it - SC Heritage Hotel and Inter Hotel. Ticket price is 250baht including a complimentary drink, and you can buy the show ticket from any travel agencies. The one hour show starts at 9pm. For more details, please read the "entertainment" page.

11. On the second day, your escort will leave at about 8 to 9am. If you wish to extend her, let her know so that she can call up her workplace to inform her pimp about it. If she does not have a booking on that day, then she will stay with you for another day. You can pay her on the next day before she leave. If you don't wish to extend her service, then it is advisable to tip her before she leaves, unless she is really bad in her service and attitude. The amount of tip to be given depends on the individual, but as a guide, the average amount given by most people is 500baht per day. To scout for a new escort on the second day, points 5 & 6 applies again.

12. The third day is your day of departure. Check-out time for your hotel is 12pm. Remember to collect back your passport from the receptionist. You can then have your meal, and/or do some last minute shopping. Then take a tuk-tuk to Lovely Tour by 1.00pm. The staff will retain your passport to fill up the immigration form, and it will be return to you in the coach. The coach will arrive at 1.30pm and depart after every passengers have boarded.

13 The journey back to Singapore is no different from going to Hatyai except that it will arrive at the Woodland immigration checkpoint, instead of the Causeway 2nd Link checkpoint in Tuas. By the time you reach this checkpoint, it should be about 4.30am in the morning, depending on the traffic conditions. You can then chose to disembark after the Woodland immigration checkpoint, or at Golden Mile Tower. Please do inform the coach guide where you will be disembarking, so that he/she can account for all the passengers under their care.

Here is a video clip of a group of young tourist going up to Hatyai by coach.