The trip up North

Well well, mid of April has come and go. There goes my short holiday up North I hinted earlier.

I was in Hatyai (Haadyai) last weekend. It was the much celebrated Songkran festival, also known as the Thai New Year which is celebrated every year on 13 April to 15 April. (source Wikipedia & this site)

Some people also call it a water festival or phut shui jit in Cantonese (literary translated to splash water festival)

Portrayed here is children holding container and splashing each other with water. Picture taken in the hotel I stayed

Eve of Songkran Festival (day time)

On the Sat morning, my family were already on the road heading towards Bukit Kayu Hitam, the Malaysia-Thai border. The Songkran festival which is quite a big scale event in Thailand have all the Malaysians traveling into the nearest Thailand town of Hatyai to join in the festival. The long bumper-to-bumper crawl started 1.4km before reaching the Malaysian customs. I think it took us almost one hour to travel that 1.4km and get past the customs.

A lot of Malaysian cars heading into Thailand

Park our car at the duty free complex and board a comfortable 10-seater van to get us to Hatyai, which is another 45mins drive away. We share the van with 2 other families who are traveling together with us. A van from the duty free complex to Hatyai cost about RM120, not too expensive if you were able to find people to share.

In Hatyai, I stayed at The Regency Hotel which seems to be one of the highest building there. The lift goes up to 26th floor.

The view from my room at 24th floor

As we're reaching the heart of Hatyai in the van, I can see people standing by the road side with a big bucket of water, splashing water to passing tut-tut, motorcycle and passer-by on foot. Even us in the van was not spared, people shoot at us (!!) (with water pistols la...) as our van drive by.

Some of the patung decorations seen in the hotel lobby

Excited with the wet war going-on on the street, we quickly change into wet-able clothes and heads into the street. I brought along the camera's marine pack to protect it from water, just in case kena splash. It is also time for lunch as it was already 3pm (2pm Thailand time) when we reach the hotel.

People equip themselves with big machine guns and ponchos

Papa said the water war should only start at about 7pm that night (12April), as it is the case last year. But this year the war seems to start a little too early. Well, in my opinion, there's no written rule on what time the war should start, so as long as there's water supply along the road side, the war can get started.

All these big machine guns are seen on the outside of a restaurant...they belongs to the restaurant patrons

In Hat Yai, it is all about food, shopping and massage even on normal days. During this festive time of the year, a few main roads were closed for vehicles to make way for a few performance stages, boxing ring, food stalls and other interesting stuff.

2 long rows of food stall lined both sides of the street

After lunch, we walked around the streets and find that they are setting up stage for tonight's event. At the same time, we hunt around the stalls for after-lunch desserts.

These are super sweet mini pineapples, each cost about RM3.50 to RM4 depending on their weights
Couldn't get enough of them, we had these for desserts for all 3 days :)

Various types of lok lok in special Thai sauce...I didn't try this coz they don't seem special enuff

By avoiding "wet" streets, we were able to get back to hotel in a dry state. Mami and sis went out for shopping after that, papa and me relax at the hotel. My knees are killing me at that time, that's why I didn't join in the shopping routine. Later that evening, mami and sis came back to hotel 50 to 60% wet...haha!

Eve of Songkran Festival (night time)

Sunset from the hotel

As the sun goes down, the water festival heats up and there are more and more people on the street splashing water. This is how the street looks like from the hotel, the street is just so full of people.

This is the street in front of Lee Garden Plaza shopping mall (click to enlarge)

There were street parade at the time when I went down for dinner. Locals in their beautiful clothes dancing to the music on moving floats. Some are splashing water from the floats down to people on the street while those that were busy dancing get splashed by people on the street. And this is not even the official day, it's just the eve of the Songkran festival.

Girls dancing on moving floats

Robinson is the name of a supermarket in Hat Yai. Maybe those that are dancing on the float are the supermarket promoters? There's just so much to see and so many food to eat...

Foreground is dirty five-foot-way and background is wet floor and a float passing

Almost all the kaki lima in Hat Yai is in a bad condition. They are in the process of putting tiles on all the five-foot-way making the place unsightly (is this a legal word?)

I wonder how the 4 people on the left climb onto the balcony

So convenient for people living in the upper floors of shophouses to climb out to their balcony to join in the celebration without getting themselves wet.

Have I not mention on the food yet? Wow...better get started with foooooooood!

Start from top (clock wise): (1)Big fat sausage (2)duno wat but I name it crunchy popiah (3) big big bbq squid (4) mango, fried prawn, fried chicken and fried crab

Other than splashing and shooting strangers with water, Thais also gives you a touch of perfumed 'talcum cream'. 'Talcum' cream is the name I give to this substance where they mix talcum powder with water making it thick and creamy. If you happen to have eye contact with Thais holding a bowl of such cream, they will smile and at the same time walk towards you and apply the cream to your puffy cheek. Almost everyone there smells very good coz of the cream... :)

Some other interesting performance and shows available on the eve of Thai New Year includes fireworks, Thai boxing, balancing-beam boxing, stage performance like dancing and singing.

Summary of the night in video...


The official day

The next day, Sunday, is the official New Year day. Woke up to find people were already splashing each other everywhere on the street. We were already a little wet when we reach the coffee shop for breakfast, have to take breakfast in wet clothes.

Truck with pool of water driving around splashing water

It was really fun playing with water on a hot day, refreshing. But at some spot where there are ice supply, it gets annoying when people pour a whole pail of ice + water over your head. The ice that got into the clothes burn the skin and it gets so cold when wind blows.

Lining the street and just shoot anyone who pass by

The locals are very generous in supplying water to tourists/visitors, most of the shops will have big bucket of water outside and someone will be there to keep filling water into the bucket. Maybe water is free on that day itself I don't know.

Even those not living on the ground floor can contribute water

In the middle of war

I'm ready for war too...

As I have mention, in Hat Yai, food is a popular must try. Here comes another round of food!!

Start from top (clock wise): (1) Small egg, duno wat it's called in English (2) Written there shell, taste like satay ikan (3) colorful agar-agar (4) duno wat is this also, it is sweet and crunchy

The water war lasted until that evening. We make sure to come out after 7pm for dinner and to watch show and performance so that we maintain dry for the rest of the night. Before dinner, we went for foot massage first. It is just fair to pamper the foot a bit after 2 days of walking.

Tonight's show we get to watch adult male Thai boxing, and kids as well. No more float, no more balancing-beam boxing. Also no fireworks. Just a dry and peaceful walk on streets of HatYai. :)

Even cars are not spared from the talcum cream and water war

Definitely a well-worth visit to Hatyai.

The next day was another traffic jam day near the Malaysia - Thai border as all the Malaysians head back home.