NOTES ON THE JOURNEY: Unwinding and Rejuvenating in Hatyai (Part 2)

Hatyai (also Hat Yai, Had Yai or even Haad Yai) is a town in the southern Songkhla Province of Thailand, very near the Malaysian border. It is the largest town in Songkhla Province and is a commercial and business centre for the province, while Songkhla is the administrative centre. The name Hatyai is short for "Mahat Yai" which means a big Mahat tree, a relative of the jackfruit tree according to Wiki. Hmmm ........ a relative of the jackfruit tree. Could it be cempedak then? Or may be sukun? So Cempedak Besar or Sukun Besar town. Hatyai has a population of about 150,000 in the town itself while the surrounding area known as Greater Hatyai has some 800,000.

Walking around Hatyai among the tourists and the locals it is difficult for me to believe the town had suffered a number attacks by presumably Muslim insurgents or separatists in 2006, 2007 and lastly in early April 2012. Both me and PA had bought train tickets to Hatyai in 2012 with the intention of experiencing the Songkran festival which takes place in mid- April every year. We were both very excited about the train journey, the Songkran festival and of course about Hatyai itself that we just could't wait to go. However on 31st March 2012 (or was it 1st April) a car bomb exploded in the basement of the Lee Garden Plaza Hotel killing 5 and injuring hundreds. We were very dissapointed but decided to abandon the trip as there was a travel advisory by the government to discourage Malaysians from visiting Hatyai in the aftermath of the incidence. Lucky for us KTM refunded 75% of the ticket price since it was still more than 72 hours away. That is the thing about violence, it makes people shy away from visiting a place, it disrupts economic activities and it hinders people from conducting their daily lives. Wandering round the Lee Garden Plaza Hotel last Friday, Saturday and Sunday I felt a little sad because I saw many of the hawkers and traders there were actually Muslims themselves. They must have been affected by the violence in some small ways in the least.

About 10 km from Hatyai town centre and about 15 minutes tuk tuk ride is the Khlong Hae Floating Market. All the four of us went there last Saturday evening. We took a tuk tuk from the hotel and it cost us 4000 baht which is equivalent to RM40 more or less. The usual return fare was 5000 baht but Darling bargained with the kindly pakcik, saying that there was only 4 of us and not the full capacity of 8 persons.

The Khlong Hae floating market consists of a row of stationary small boats (sampan) lining up against the canal bank. A wooden platform is built alongside for people to walk on. There were tables and benches provided if you want to eat there. The market opens Friday to Sunday from 15.00 to 21.00 approximately. All the food sold on the floating market are halal as the vendors are all Muslims and a big majority of them are women. Further up the bank of the canal were more stalls selling food, T-shirts, key chains and many other souvenir items.

What struck me about the floating market was the attempt made by the local to use banana leaves, bamboo and clay pots as containers for the foods and drinks sold. Plastic bag usage was minimised and I did not see any styrofoam container at all. It seemed an environmental campaign has long been in place. The place was clean with many rubbish bins provided. The canal too was clean, no floating rubbish can be spotted. Our pasar malam should emulate this cleanliness attitude and perhaps try to reduce the usage of non-degradable plastic bags. At the pasar malam near my house I never see any rubbish bin.

As there were so many people at the floating market last Saturday we decided to buy food and eat them at our hotel. So we jostled among the crowd and bought our food. We ended up buying a a 4700 baht worth of food. Everything looked delicious we were just too spoiled for choices. Back we went to our hotel to enjoy our food. We planned to go for some TTS (borrowing Darling's term which I believ is for lepak or rendezvous with food and drink) near the Lee Garden Plaza later on as it was only 20.00 Thai time when we arrived back at the hotel. The teh ais there was just too delicious to miss.

Perhaps I was a little intoxicated with all the food I do not remember all that we bought. PA did capture the image of each food, may be later I will borrow her photos to write about them. As for the TTS planned, after all the food which we couldn't really finished, we were just too tired to go out again. Even PA who was very keen about the TTS was fast asleep before me, Darling or Dear.