Day Nine which is also pretty much the last day of our trip which took us from Kuala Lumpur to Phuket and now back to the Southern city of Hatyai.
So after very delicious simple breakfast at Lalita Boutique Hotel, we headed out to the nearby city of Songkhla.
Songkhla, the capital city of Songkhla Province is about a 45 minutes drive from Hatyai and has quite a day full of things to see and do. However since this was our full day after a long trip, we decided to take it easy and also make it a catch up day with a friend of ours who lives and operates a saloon right here in Songkhla.
So our itinerary for the day is simple ~ two things we are going to do ~ Old Town Songkhla and also Samila Beach, which I would say are two of the many must visit here in Songkhla. I will do another sharing of the others things that are exciting to do in Songkhla on a later date.
As we got into Songkhla, we met up with our friend Tanya who has a hair saloon Cocoya Professional Saloon (just in case you need a hair cut here in Songkhla) and head out to Old Town Songkhla which if not mistaken is in the process of getting the UNESCO Heritage status. Old Town Songkha is mainly made up of charming traditional 19th century Sino-European buildings along three streets, Nang Ngam Road on the east which houses the famous City Shrine Temple, Tang Seng Ong Shrine, and Guan Yu Shrine, Nakhon Nai Road on the west which you will run in to the must see Hub Ho Hin Old Rice Mill, Baan Nakhon Nai Museum, WWII Memorial and Saksitipitak Pier. On the southern tip of Nakhon Nai Road you will find the new Songkhla Old Town City Gate while the northern tip of road you will find the remains of the old city wall.
Just like UNESCO listed Georgetown in Penang, Songkhla Old Town is now very decorated with lovely wall murals, depicting either life of old Songkhla to beautiful modern art. The murals are scattered around the old town and you will run into them as you walk around town.
We spend a good two hours in Old Town Songkhla, visiting the shrines, Hub Ho Hin Old Rice Mill, Baan Nakhon Nai Museum and walking pass and taking photos of the murals. It was lunch time, so our local friend Tanya suggested we head to 2459 Restaurant which serves traditional Songkhla cuisine right here in Old Town Songkhla. The restaurant is located across the street from Tang Seng Ong Shrine on Yaring Alley.
The restaurant name 2459 is because the building that the restaurant is located in was built back in 2459 or 1916 in our Roman Calendar and is a lovely rustic wooden building. The decor are simple and classic and the food is simply amazing ~ unique and delicious and dishes are served in tiffins.
After the lovely lunch at 2459 Restaurant we head out for some coffee at Coffee Beach on Chalatat Beach, which is adjacent to the famous Samila Beach where the iconic Songkhla Mermaid sit. We had fun catching up with our local friend over a cup of good coffee and later while she sits and enjoy the cool air-conditioned shop, we headed over to Samila Beach for some horse riding and of course a photo with the iconic mermaid in her hair-washing posture which mimics depictions of the Water Goddess of Phra Mae Kongkha who is believed to wash away evil spirits with a torrent wrung of her long black hair.
We left the lovely Songkhla and headed back to Hatyai as the sun goes down. We headed straight to one of the best shabu place in town – a place called I-Ya Shabu. I had been to this place a couple of times with local Hatyai friends and I would strongly recommend to you if you like meat 🙂
I-Ya Shabu gives you the option to select from a big list of items, from various cut of pork, beef, and chicken to fresh seafood and vegetables and is free flow. Also don’t forget to also get the free flow of cheese where you can melt them over your seafood. Drinks are also free flow here as well as ice-creams and self-make waffles with toppings of your choice. Give the place a try, and I am sure you will give it a thumb up.
We were so full and satisfied after I-Ya Shabu, and decided to head back to our hotel for the night – Centara Hotel and Resort Hatyai which is located right in the heart of downtown Hatyai.
Located on top of the Centara Department Store and right at the doorstep of the Hatyai “Walking Street Night Market”, Centara Hotel and Resort Hatyai gives its guest convenient shopping and access to food. Street food lined the street outside of the main entrance and you can probably find hundreds of food stalls and restaurants within a 20 minute walking radius.
After checking into our rooms, we headed to its lounge for a drink and later out to the streets for a good stroll to help digest the lovely shabu we had earlier.
After a few items shopped from the 7-Eleven across the street, we headed back to our rooms for a good night rest before heading back to Kuala Lumpur the next day.
Read Roadtrippers 1.0 Day One here
Read Roadtrippers 1.0 Day Two here
Read Roadtrippers 1.0 Day Three here
Read Roadtrippers 1.0 Day Four here
Read Roadtrippers 1.0 Day Five here
Read Roadtrippers 1.0 Day Six here
Read Roadtrippers 1.0 Day Seven here
Read Roadtrippers 1.0 Day Eight here
