Caveat

Hat Yai changes amazingly quickly. Most of the work on these pages was done during 2004. During 2005 I became very bored with the downtown area and moved further out of town for a quieter life. This also coincided with a period where I didn't have much motivation to make updates to this site.

In early 2006 I realised that quite a few places I had recommended had already closed. Also, during 2005, oil prices shot up as the Thai government removed its subsidies. This resulted in transport fares shooting up thus rendering my information out of date.

Two things are required to keep web site information up to date - time and motivation. In 2005 I had little of either. In 2006 I made several updates but restaurants and hotels continued to open and close faster than I could make the updates.

At the end of 2008 I spent more time making updates but things constantly change. If you find that information is now out of date please contact me so I can make the necessary changes.

This Site

I started writing this site after having lived in Hat Yai for about a year. My reasons for doing so were for my own amusement and to perhaps assist other people thinking of making a visit. With this site in mind it has made me generally more observant of things around me.

Before I came to Hat Yai I tried to find information about the town but what I found on the Internet wasn't very good. All people ever seem to mention are the whereabouts of a few cheap guest houses and bars on Thamnoon Vithee Road. Very boring. Even semi-official looking web sites tend just to use their web space as an advertising board for a few local establishments and don't offer any real information.

The Hat Yai section in the Lonely Planet Thailand Guide isn't particularly good either. Lonely Planet don't exactly lie but the information they provide isn't that great and the image of Hat Yai in my mind after reading Lonely Planet wasn't at all how I actually found Hat Yai to be.

Lonely Planet have got Bangkok pretty well sewn up and as Joe Cummings lives in Chiang Mai they do a good job there too. The publication is aimed at backpackers so they concentrate on the well-trodden backpacker route through Thailand. My impression of their Hat Yai entry is that they considered it necessary in a guide to Thailand, but not very important, so just included an assortment of hotels, shops and restaurants selected at random in order to fill a few pages.

The latest edition (as of early 2005) is a lot better and more balanced than previous editions but they still miss a lot. It's understandable. Their readership, which consists mainly of backpackers, will typically only be spending a night or two in Hat Yai and not venturing very far from the train station. For these type of travellers the information provided by LP will be quite sufficient.

Perceptions of Hat Yai

No one sees the same place in the same way. If you have come from rural Thailand, Hat Yai seems big and the shopping good. However, if you have come from Bangkok, Singapore or a large Western city, it seems small and the shopping not very good.

Many countries are quite restrictive. Laws are generally enforced more than they are in Thailand, and some countries have restrictive religious laws. Therefore, arriving in Thailand after living elsewhere can seem like a big relief. However, that perception can change if you have lived in Thailand for several years.

The central tourist area of Hat Yai is very different to the rest of town. If, for example, you live on the university campus your view of Hat Yai will be very different compared to someone who only knows Lee Gardens Plaza. Etc, etc.

I have experienced Hat Yai as a wide-eyed tourist with no knowledge of the town, and I have experienced it as a fairly long-term working resident. I have lived near the central area, and I have lived further out. I've met lots of tourists, and I know lots of Thais who work or study in Hat Yai.

As a tourist I used to wear rose-tinted glasses whenever I was in Thailand but they were thrown away a long time ago. Also, during that stage, I didn't know enough to realise what was going on around me. Some of my observations aren't very flattering but I don't believe they are inaccurate. I try to keep a balanced view and therefore you will read things here that you won't find in a normal tourist guide.

Depending on your background, your view may be different to mine but it's probably because we are looking at the same thing in a different way. If you are new to Hat Yai, I probably thought the same way as you did when I first arrived but views can change over time.

Feedback

Constructive feedback and suggestions for improvement are always welcome. I answer most e-mails and try my best to help people if I can.

It has been fun doing this but at times my patience has been stretched. Thais can't seem to grasp the concept of just providing information. On many occasions when I asked about transport options they were expecting me to jump on the next minivan and seemed puzzled when I explained I didn't want to. "What about tomorrow, then?" Well actually, I don't want to go tomorrow either.

Taking photos was also a pain at times. Some Thais objected and others stared at me while I was taking a photo as if I were committing a lewd act on the street. I can't remember how many times I heard, "farang ty roop". Yes, I'm taking a photo, OK? Do you really have to provide a running commentary of what I'm doing? And stop calling me farang.

Orientation - Map of Hat Yai

In Thailand, all secondary towns and cities after Bangkok are very small by comparison. This includes Hat Yai which, although considered quite a large provincial town, is still tiny compared with the sprawling capital. Most places of interest to visitors are within easy walking distance of the central area. Clicking on the image to the left will open a new window with a map of Hat Yai. The map is divided into quarters and clicking on any quarter will link to a larger map of that quarter. Map references have been included throughout these pages to assist readers with finding places I have referred to.

Street Names and Transliteration

Transliterating Thai words and names written in Thai characters to words and names written using the English alphabet is open to all kinds of interpretation. There is no commonly used system; everyone does it their own way and this leads to inconsistencies. Examples of these inconsistencies exist within these pages. When referring to the addresses of individual establishments I have tended to use the version in that establishments' brochure or on their business card but this may differ to the spellings on the map pages.

The map refers to Thamanoonvithee Road but a guest house might spell it 'Thamnoon Vithi Road'. Phetkasem Road also appears as 'Petchkasem Road'. Thais do not use the word 'Road' of course, this is only used in brochures written in English. Phetkasem Road is therefore known as 'Thanon Phetkasem' locally.

The photo I have used here provides another example. The actual street sign says 'Thanon Manasruedee' but on the Map this is referred to as 'Manatruedee Road'. Many Thai characters change sound depending on whether they are used at the beginning or end of a syllable. Some transliteration systems account for this but others don't, e.g., Sawasdee and Sawatdee.

It's a mess. I can do a reasonable job at transliterating Thai words to give an accurate phonetic representation of the word when written in English but my version would be different to standard versions (and not recognised by anyone) so I tend to use the standard version if there is one - Phuket, and not Poo-get.

There is one very easy way to avoid all this nonsense and that is to learn how to read Thai. It's not actually that difficult.

Alternative Place Names

As if the Thai language wasn't already difficult enough, Thais take extra precautions to ensure that foreigners can't understand what they are going on about by having alternative names for streets and places. What's more, they don't think anything of using these alternative names with foreigners, and they expect strangers from out of town to know what they mean.

A few examples in Hat Yai would be the Prince of Songkhla university and hospital which is always referred to as Mor Or. The three Niphat Uthit roads are referred to as Sai 1, Sai 2 and Sai 3 but you will never see this stated on a map. An area of Rajyindee Road is known as saamsip met (30 meters) for some reason. Schools tend to be abbreviated to initials so Hat Yai Wittayalai school becomes Yor Wor. Etc etc.

Photos

All photos on this site are my own and were taken in Hat Yai or the surrounding area. To reduce download times thumbnail images have been used throughout the site. Clicking on any thumbnail image will open a pop-up window containing a larger image. Because of the way this works Javascript must be enabled in your browser.

Please do not steal any of my photos. If you want to use a photo please ask my permission first. Most photos are available in larger file sizes if required.

Hat Yai

As you enter Thailand by road from Malaysia at the Dannok border crossing there is a large sign warning of the dangers of HIV and AIDS.

Pfizer, the manufacturer of ViagraŠ, paid for a huge billboard to warn of the dangers of taking fake erection enhancing drugs. The sign first appeared above Gim Yong market then moved to the side of the V.L. Hotel so it was visible from a long way off when approaching Hat Yai from the direction of Satun.

A young Australian I met who had been in Hat Yai for a year teaching and studying told me that every day he questioned his decision about basing himself in Hat Yai. "There are 250 Karaoke bars and not one art gallery," he told me. I'm not sure how accurate his figure of 250 was but there certainly are a lot of Karaoke bars (where no singing takes place) and I am not aware of any permanent art galleries. If you can't live without art galleries or other forms of cultural stimulation then Hat Yai probably isn't for you. Better choices might be New York, Paris or London.

These things tend to say quite a lot about how Hat Yai is seen by many people. But is there more to Hat Yai? I think there is, otherwise I wouldn't be here, and in these pages I'll attempt to paint a more balanced picture of the town.

According to Lonely Planet, Hat Yai is 933km from Bangkok and is Southern Thailand's commercial centre. Yes, it is a long way south of Bangkok and it is only about 60km away from the Malaysian border. The economy of Hat Yai is dominated by visiting Malaysian tourists (mostly of Chinese ethnicity).

It should be just another slightly depressing provincial Thai town that goes completely dark after sunset but because of its proximity to the Malaysian border it is quite different.

Malaysians view Hat Yai as southern Californians might view Tijuana, or Brits might view Amsterdam. It is close enough to visit for a weekend, it's cheap relative to Malaysia, and it's fun. Groups of Malaysian girls come to shop, families come for weekend breaks, and groups of men come for other reasons. The Malaysian visitors are mostly of Chinese ethnicity but Muslims and Indians also arrive.

In addition to Chinese Malaysian tourists, Hat Yai sees quite a few Chinese Singaporean tourists who come for basically the same reasons but have to travel a little further.

Asian visitors are not restricted to Malaysians and Singaporeans. An article I read about prostitution in Thailand mentioned that Hat Yai is 'notorious' throughout Indonesia as well as Malaysia. Visitors also come from Hong Kong and China and I am told that there are lots of Japanese also.

Old Hat Yai

One of the great tragedies of Hat Yai is that no one seems to be interested in preserving the city's old buildings. There are still examples of old wooden buildings but they are fast disappearing. Along one part of Niphat Uthit 1 Road you can even find some examples of classic Sino-Portuguese architecture but the buildings in question look in a very sorry state.

It seems almost criminal. In nearby Songkhla (in the old part of town), the old buildings have been protected with preservation orders. On my last trip to Phuket town, I noticed that a lot of the old buildings have been restored, and restored faithfully.

When Lee Kuan Yew began Singapore's journey to that of being a developed country, a lot of old areas were demolished. However, the Singaporeans realised in time that they were destroying their heritage and acted quickly. The brightly coloured Chinese shophouse buildings intermingled with Singapore's skyscrapers and modern architecture look fabulous now.

What did Hat Yai used to look like? Probably the best place to get an idea of how things used to look like is around the train station area where there are lots of old wooden houses.

A few restaurants and photo frame shops have the odd picture of Hat Yai from some time in the past. The most extensive collection of photos can be found at Hat Yai City coffee shop, located next door to the Winstar hotel, near to Diana department store.

The owner, Khun Juckkris Noonark, is keen on old photographs of Hat Yai and has obtained several from different sources (mainly people from old Hat Yai families). He has framed several and hung them around his shop. They are very interesting, and available to buy.

As I write, there are plans to open a museum in the old TOT building next to the clock tower and Hat Yai Plaza. It's not open yet, and I'm not sure what it will feature, but hopefully it will give some interesting glimpses into Hat Yai's past.

What Hat Yai Isn't

Many people I know expressed their surprise when I based myself in Hat Yai because I could have lived anywhere in Thailand. For people who have never been to Hat Yai I have to stress that it is not beautiful. It is not 'Tourist Brochure Thailand'. In fact, compared to many areas of Thailand it is downright ugly.

A friend from the UK who visited at the end of 2004 described it as the, 'Harlow of Thailand,' and anyone who has visited Harlow in Essex will understand that this comparison isn't exactly complimentary. Friends and family tend to visit once and then they never return!

In the books with beautiful glossy photographs of Thailand and similar books that summarise the best hotels Thailand has to offer there is never a mention of Hat Yai, and for good reason.

There are no beautiful white, palm-fringed beaches. There are no turquoise seas with opportunities to snorkel amidst stunningly colourful tropical fish. There are no giant limestone karst formations rising majestically out of the ground and sea, creating a magnificent backdrop to the town. There are no royal palaces, no ancient ruins from past Thai civilisations, no historic or particularly beautiful temples, no national archives or museums.

But also what Hat Yai isn't is a big farang tourist trap. Yes, it is actually a big tourist town but most of the tourists are Malaysians just there for the weekend. There are no Indian tailor shops and generally I don't get hassled while walking around. Vendors in the local markets and some tuk-tuk drivers try to inflate prices but it is nothing to how prices have been inflated in mainstream farang tourist areas like Bangkok and Phuket. Prices for pretty much everything are cheap.

In Hat Yai I actually feel like I am in Thailand and not in a suburb of Frankfurt or downtown Stockholm. As I walk around I see real Thais doing real jobs. It's a working town and not somewhere where every business is there purely for foreign tourists. Also, as I wander around, I get big smiles and I talk to a lot of people. I am not just another farang tourist and the locals haven't yet become jaded towards people like me. It's a nice feeling and something that disappeared from places like Phuket and Koh Samui long ago.

I've seen lots of beautiful beaches, lovely turquoise seas, tropical fish and palm trees. Quite frankly they bore me very quickly and the tourists can keep them. I also get bored very quickly with greedy Thais at tourist resorts who think I am just another idiot straight off the plane who is only there to be cheated and ripped off. I am grateful that Hat Yai isn't beautiful and long may it stay that way.

Hat Yai is also a good size for me. I find the sheer scale of Bangkok overwhelming and I would get bored living in a small town or village in the countryside. Hat Yai is big enough not to be boring but small enough to still have a personal touch to it. There are excellent transport links to other parts of Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore so it is easy to get away from for short trips and in many respects I find it an ideal base.

It provides a good mix of 'Thainess' and farang comforts. I can eat as much cheap, authentic Thai food as I like but when I crave a burger, pizza of KFC mashed potato, that stuff is also available. There are cinemas in town showing movies in English, bookshops with English language books and restaurants selling Western food but it's not like Phuket where everything is there for the tourists. In many ways it's the best of both worlds but (and I repeat again) it isn't beautiful.

People

The local community is very mixed. For a start there are the born and bred locals, many of whom work in the tourist business as this is such a huge money spinner. They run the hotels, shops, market stalls, restaurants, travel agencies, massage shops and salons that the Malaysian tourists demand.

The locals have kids who need educating so there are several schools in town as well as a large campus for the Prince of Songkla University. Hat Yai and Songkhla are very closely tied although the two towns are quite different. Songkhla is the provincial capital and location of many local government departments, schools and universities. Hat Yai is more commercial and tourist oriented.

A great number of locals travel between the two towns each day because they live in one place and work or study in the other.

There is a very large ethnic Chinese population and also a large Muslim community. After Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani, Songkhla is the fourth southern province where Islam is widely followed. Mosques can to be found amidst Buddhist temples and Protestant and Catholic churches.

Because of the tourist money, Hat Yai draws in many people from other areas of Thailand who cannot find work where they live. There has been an incredible amount of economic migration in Thailand where people have moved from poor areas either to Bangkok or to one of the popular tourist areas. It has confirmed to me how important the tourist industry is to Thailand.

I have met many Thais in Hat Yai from Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, Trang, Phattalung, Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarat, etc. etc. Most come from these areas for regular work. Of the girls working in massage and night time entertainment, a disproportionately high number come from the north-east area (Isaan) and the north (Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai).

The farang expats in Hat Yai and Songkhla keep a fairly low profile. It seems that most foreigners living in the area do so because they want a quiet life. Backpackers pass through while travelling between Thailand and Malaysia but don't stick around for long, and English teachers come and go.

Weather

Southern Thailand is hot all year round. Sometimes it's just hot, other times it's very hot and occasionally it's very, very hot. The humidity can get quite high too. They told me the hot season was March and April and in true Thai fashion that wasn't exactly a lie, but it also wasn't quite the truth. March and April were indeed very hot but so was January, February, May, June, July, August, and September.

Unlike northern Thailand, Hat Yai doesn't get cold at night in the 'cool' season. In all my time spent living in Hat Yai I have never once needed any article of warm clothing.

The town is surrounded by a ring of hills which effectively places Hat Yai in a 'bowl' and I think this is why it gets so hot in the summer. On a trip to Phuket one year I was surprised at how cool Phuket felt, and how hot Hat Yai felt when I returned.

The rainy season varies slightly from year to year but fairly regular rain appears to arrive around mid-late September. October through to January can be very wet causing the floods which affect Hat Yai periodically. By February it's getting damn hot again, ready for the full-blown hot season and seven or eight months of intense heat.

Be prepared for anything though. The winter of 2004/2005 was very dry - so dry in fact that over 50 Thai provinces were affected by drought conditions. In 2006 and 2007 the rainy seasons were also relatively dry but there was more torrential rain in November 2008 with more flooding.

The most pleasant time of year is during the October to January rainy season, provided it's not raining. This is when the temperature is most bearable but heavy, persistent rain during this period can make life quite miserable.

When To Go

Hat Yai doesn't have a high and low season tourist as such. It's not like Phuket, for example, where there are huge crowds between November and March. The Malaysian/Singaporean tourist trade stays fairly constant year round but as they tend to visit at weekends there is a definite pattern each week.

Central Hat Yai on a Saturday or Sunday looks very different compared to Monday mornings after most of the Malaysians have gone home. If you are planning to stay for a short visit and can time your arrival to fall on a Sunday or Monday it's a good idea (provided the previous weekend isn't a Malaysian public holiday). If you arrive on a Friday or Saturday, hotel vacancies may be more difficult to find.

With regard to the time of year you visit, see my comments above about the weather. To summarise though, February through to September is very hot while October through to January is still hot but can be very wet. October and November appear to be about the two most comfortable months - temperature wise - but this period is subject to heavy downpours which can be a little disruptive.

The 2005 Farang Invasion of Hat Yai

When I first visited Thailand in 1987 there were very few foreigners in the country compared to the situation now, even in Bangkok. That changed a long time ago. For many years it hasn't been possible to go anywhere in Bangkok and avoid farangs.

Chiang Mai became a favourite farang alternative to Bangkok some years ago and is now overrun by Westerners. Coastal areas (Hua Hin, Pattaya, etc) and major tourist islands (Phuket, Samui, etc) have gone the same way.

I have nothing against my own kind per se but being surrounded by Westerners rather defeats the purpose of my being in Thailand.

When looking for somewhere to live in Thailand I wanted a decent level of infrastructure, the availability of a few Western comforts, but somewhere that still felt very 'Thai'. Hat Yai seemed to fit the bill quite well. It's not pretty, but pretty gets boring. A day or two on even the most beautiful beach or island in Thailand is about all I can take before I am bored out of my brain.

On my first visit to Hat Yai in 2002 the lack of foreigners was one of the things that attracted me and when I went to live there near the end of 2003 there were still very few. It was rare to see more than a handful in one day, even in the city centre.

That all changed in 2005 for some reason. At the beginning of 2006 I couldn't believe how many I saw every day now and it wasn't just my imagination because all of my Thai friends were saying the same thing.

Footnote: After the immigration clampdown that started around September 2006, and which subsequently made it difficult for foreigners without proper visas to stay permanently in Thailand, a lot of the farangs who suddenly arrived in 2005 disappeared again.

The 2006 Malaysian Invasion of Hat Yai

When the insurgency problems in southern Thailand flared up again at the beginning of 2004 it affected business in Hat Yai even though Hat Yai was hardly affected by the troubles. Throughout 2004 and 2005 there were a lot fewer Malaysian tourists visiting Hat Yai than usual.

Things returned to normal in 2006. The 2006 Songkran festival resulted in about 75,000 visitors making a trip to Hat Yai and, for the first time in ages, all hotel rooms in town were booked out. Since then the Malaysians have continued to make their weekend trips as confidence has been restored. The majority are ethnic Chinese, along with a few Indians and ethnic Malays.

There is still so much hotel capacity that you will always be able to find a room somewhere but if you arrive at the weekend and want to stay somewhere specific it would be wise to book a room in advance.

The 2007 Demise of Hat Yai

It's May 2007 and Hat Yai appears to be dying a slow death. Ever since the insurgency problems in the southern provinces flared up again at the beginning of 2004, Hat Yai's tourist economy has suffered.

The incidents that have actually occurred in Hat Yai didn't help but the economy seemed resilient enough to be able to stage a comeback. However, now that we are into the fourth year of the problems and there is still no end in sight, I'm not so sure about that any longer.

Yesterday was a Friday and in the evening I went downtown for a massage. The streets should have been crowded with weekend tourists from Malaysia and Singapore but they were deserted.

I went to the Siam Centre hotel only to find out they have closed their massage shop. One of the hotel staff told me it was because there were no customers. I heard recently that C-Spa has closed down and I have noticed that a number of small businesses and restaurants ('2gether' restaurant and Orkar Part 2 nightclub, for example) have also closed. The massage place I ended up at was also deserted.

What is interesting is that new hotels continue to open fairly regularly. I guess though that what will happen is the new hotels will attract guests and that, in turn, will result in some of the older ones closing down.

It's a sad thing to witness. The government desperately needs to sort out the situation in the south otherwise the situation will only continue to deteriorate.

Update 28th May 2007. Last night, more explosions went off in Hat Yai. I was not aware of any problems until I saw the report on The Nation web site this morning. When the last explosions happened I received quite a few phone calls but mobile phone networks were cut last night just in case mobile phones were being used to detonate the devices.

According to the report, no one was killed. The devices were small, apparently, designed to create chaos rather than cause loss of life. I suspect that the terrorists have been successful in meeting their objectives and that Hat Yai's tourist trade will go even quieter than it has been recently.

2007 Engineering Works

Whenever I return to Hat Yai from Singapore, one of the most notable aspects of Thailand is that there are electricity cables everywhere. In Singapore - as in most developed countries - these are hidden underground.

A few years ago, some local government billboards appeared promoting the idea of doing the same in Hat Yai. However, like the monorail system before it, a lot of these big ideas never get any further than being big ideas.

Of all the local government ideas, I really liked the idea of burying ugly electricity cables but it looked as if nothing would ever happen. But then, all of a sudden, some time during 2007, the workmen arrived and started digging up lots of roads.

Naturally, before it starts to look better it will look a lot worse and - as I write - the whole of downtown Hat Yai is one big building site. It was never the prettiest of Thai provincial cities anyway but now it is truly a mess and when it rains, it looks even worse.

Nonetheless, if the final result looks anything like the artist impressions, it will be worth putting up with the mess for a while.

The smiling man in the photo above is Prai Pattano, the current mayor of Hat Yai. He is obviously happy to take the credit for this latest civic improvement. He's quite an interesting character.

Apparently, he wants to improve the network of klongs in the city with the idea of turning Hat Yai into a mini Venice but whether or not we will ever see gondoliers in this part of southern Thailand remains to be seen. Somehow I doubt it.

Such a regeneration project would cost billions and I can't see where the money would come from. Hat Yai does not attract wealthy international tourists.

January 2008 Update

As 2008 gets underway, here is a quick update on what's happening in southern Thailand's main commercial and transport hub. It's a mixture of good and bad.

Starting with the good stuff, the ongoing civic redevelopment of the city centre that started last year is taking shape very nicely. Running in parallel with the project to bury electricity cables underground, they have also been laying new pavements (sidewalks, if you are American).

All of a sudden, Singapore-style 'developed world' pavements have started to replace the typical broken and uneven excuses for pavements that can be seen all over Thailand. I am extremely impressed. They have even repaved the road surface around Lee Gardens and it looks great.

While the work was being carried out, the Lee Gardens area was closed to traffic and very pleasant it was too. Last year, on one version of the free map that is given away to tourists, there was an artists impression of the area as it would finally look and the drawing indicated it would be a pedestrian-only zone.

I was therefore disappointed that when the work was completed, they reopened the road to traffic. There is already far too much traffic on the surrounding roads and it would have been great just to have one small area where you could walk around without fear of being run down by kids racing their motorbikes.

The other question that remains to be answered is whether the new pavements will remain clear or not. The fact that the work has been carried out by the local municipality would indicate that the pavements are public property but Thais have a habit of claiming pavements in front of their houses and shops as their own.

They clutter them up so that pedestrians cannot pass and even create physical obstructions with large plant pots and other objects so that people are forced into the road in order to get past.

The pavement upgrade programme covers a large area and when it is all finished - along with the removal of the rest of the overhead power cables - it will have completely transformed the general look of Hat Yai.

In addition to the work in the downtown area, another new development has been built next to Diana department store. It's a small leisure area with water in the middle, some small shops and a food centre that is pleasant to sit or walk around in the evenings.

On the downside, the economy is still not good and for a town that relies so much on Malaysian weekend tourism, hotel occupancy rates are still way down. The town still gets very busy on fixed holidays (New Year, Chinese New Year, Songkran, Muslim holidays, etc.) but is quiet the rest of the time.

The last time I went to Hat Yai airport (November 2007), it was still being advertised as an international airport but that is no longer the case. For a while, the sole remaining international flight out of and into Hat Yai was operated by Tiger Airways to Singapore but Tiger pulled the plug in November.

This was a huge blow to me personally, as I have family in Singapore. It was great being able to take a 20 minute ride to the airport and fly down to Singapore in just over an hour for not a lot of money. My options now are to fly to Bangkok first and then get a connecting flight to Singapore (inconvenient and expensive) or sit on a bus for 14 hours and arrive in Singapore at 4am.

It will also be a disappointment to those Singaporeans who used to enjoy weekends in Hat Yai. Tiger Airways, apparently, are very keen on the Indian market and since starting routes into that sector want to do as much business there as they can. As they don't have a massive fleet, it has meant cancelling other routes and Hat Yai is the casualty. Tiger still operate flights to Phuket and Bangkok from Singapore.

In the same month, Nok pulled the plug on its Hat Yai to Phuket flight. Being the lucky person I am, I flew to Phuket one day before this happened. I was thus unable to get a direct flight back from Phuket and had to fly via Bangkok. What should have been a 40 minute flight ended up taking me all day to get home.

Another unwelcome result of the flagging economy are increasing crime rates. Barely a week goes by without hearing about a break-in or a bag-snatching incident. There was a break-in where I work last week and a computer LCD monitor was stolen.

At the beginning of January, the room next to mine was broken into early one morning. The single girl staying there was beaten severely, robbed, and her assailant then tried to rape her.

The detection rate is very low and people I know who have had bags snatched have told me the police told them they can't do anything. However, the burglar/thug/rapist was picked up on a nearby shop's CCTV system and the police apprehended him.

As happens in Thailand, he was taken back to the scene of the crime later (along with lots of police and an army of press and photographers) to re-enact his crime. I just hope he spends a very long time behind bars.

There is certainly no need to be paranoid about crime in Hat Yai but it would be advisable to exercise caution, especially in quiet areas at night. Single females should be especially careful and make sure their rooms are secure at night. Without exception, every incident I have heard about has only involved female victims. It would appear that Thai criminals are not very brave.