Stocky

Hat Yai's had over 200mm of rain since Nov 1st, that's about half the November monthly average, it's going to be a wet month.

OK so that's what the 2nd update was all about.

I updated to 17.5 and then the new 17.5 (17.5.1) several days later, both work(ed) fine on my little H96 Pro + box (Android 6).

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Quickest is to stay on the N-S Highway as far as Surat Thani then head west.

That's the problem with long range forecasts, they usually prove inaccurate.

Still going to wet even if Surat looks more likely to see the worst of it.

1 hour ago, USPatriot said:

Since it is trumps business friendly politics driving the economy and stock market

Errr, no, it's cheap money that's driving the stock markets.

You can run through the predicted weather on https://www.windy.com/

This is what's predicted for November 3rd, whether the weather eventuates we'll have to wait and see, but looks potentially like a very nasty storm.

58 minutes ago, webfact said:

‘hard to understand why a country doing so well wanted to ruin it’

Big business and Mr Bloomberg might have been doing "so well" but Joe Soap, the average UK citizen, hasn't been; hence the vote to leave.

I've been using powerline adapters in our 4 storey shophouse for six years. The current set up has two networks running side by side; TP Link Nano AV500 with 1 input and 3 outlets,  plus a pair of TP Link  AV1200 adapters. They're not all on the same wiring circuit,  just run through the same junction box.

The system works very well.  Our TOT Fibre connection is 50/20 and I regularly get 40/15 on my TV on the top floor, so can happily stream video from my IPTV media box. That's with the AV1200 connection, speeds via the AV500 connection is about half that.

The faster adapters work using live, neutral and the earth wire, so three pin plugs, something to remember if your house is only wired as two pin.

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3 hours ago, smo said:

There are Chinese tourists too

Yes. Hat Yai has a large ethnic Chinese population, so we've started to attract tourists from the Mainland, come to see how the diaspora is doing. Indeed, Kunming Air has just started flying twice a week from Hat Yai to Kunming City, in Yunnan province.

We also see a quite a lot of Indonesian tourists too.

But as you say Hat Yai tends to be a weekend city break, for shopping and letting your hair down. We get a mix of families, young couples and lads and lasses looking for a party weekend. Those looking for a quick leg-over don't venture much further than the border towns of Dannok or Sungai Golok. 

On 13/10/2017 at 10:39 AM, smo said:

I'll leave Feb to the tourists in case there's a rush...

Busy times in Hat Yai correspond with the main holidays in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.  Chinese New Year is mid-February next year, but apart from then Hat Yai in February won't be any busier than usual. We don't have well defined high and low seasons, and the only farang tourists we see are just passing through.

1 hour ago, Seizhin said:

1) Dont rely on public transportation. It's limited.

If you're living in Hat Yai town there's plenty of public transport, certainly Uber and Grab Whatever haven't reached us, but there's no shortage of songthaew and tuk-tuk around.

1 hour ago, Seizhin said:

4) Avoid going out at night alone.

In thirteen years of living here I've never had a problem. Because of the extra army presence around town it's probably safer that most cities in Thailand. I guess you were just unlucky.

Well we're just about to head into the wet season down south, the north-east monsoon should be with us next month. November and December are the wettest months in Hat Yai, that's the time we can get flooding. Best month to visit is February, but January and March are also good.

On 09/10/2017 at 3:29 AM, mstevens said:

Perhaps a silly question, but is there any way to know the status of the respective arrival halls and the queues at Immigration?  Are there any monitors or updated digital displays anywhere pointing passengers to the arrival hall with shorter queues?

Sadly not. It would be rather handy if there was a TV monitor at the bottom of each ramp, giving a view of the other hall, letting you quickly gauge which hall would be quicker.

On 09/10/2017 at 3:29 AM, mstevens said:

Perhaps a silly question, but is there any way to know the status of the respective arrival halls and the queues at Immigration?  Are there any monitors or updated digital displays anywhere pointing passengers to the arrival hall with shorter queues?

Sadly not. It would be rather handy if there was a TV monitor at the bottom of each ramp, giving a view of the other hall, letting you quickly gauge which hall would be quicker.

17 hours ago, smo said:

Could you be so kind as to give some suggestion of which part(s) of Hat Yai is quiet, safe and well served by public transport (bus, songthaew)? I know it's a big city...Would appreciate that, thanks.

(ps - You're welcome to pm me if that works better.)

All of Hat Yai is 'safe', there are no dodgy areas, at least not that I'm aware of.  There are 5 songthaew routes that loop across the city, red, white, blue, green, and white with the yellow & green stripes. As well as plenty of tuk-tuks and motorbike taxis. There are taxi 'meter' but due to frictions with the tuk-tuk operators it's difficult to flag them down, just call the number. But it's difficult to get them to use the meter!

Lots of places to live in Hat Yai, I guess it depends on what you're looking for and your budget. Nicer part of town is to the east of the city toward Prince Songkhla University (PSU) and Kho Hong and the Municipal Park. That said we live in the older part of town to the west of the railway near Wat Hat Yai Nai, no real reason beyond we found a house we liked there. Provided you don't stray too far from the 4 main roads Phetkasem, Sam-Sip Met (Rachindee), Sripoovanart and Kanjanavanit you'll always be near a songthaew route. The main malls and supermarkets all lie on these roads too, Tesco Lotus 1, Macro and Central Festival on Kanjanavanit, Big-C Extra, Plaza, Gim Yong, Index Living and Tesco Lotus 2 on Phetkasem, and Diana on Sripoovanart.

We've several large condo blocks but most housing in town is the shop house kind, with some detached housing with small gardens largely to be found to the east of town.

Nightlife is concentrated in three main areas. The town centre where there's a cluster of music bars, pubs and restaurants around Thumnoonvithi Road. Rajuthit Road to the west of the railway line has the Hansa Entertainment Complex plus a scattering of bars close by. Thumnoonvithi Road East (toward PSU) bars, restaurants and clubs in the studenty end of town. There are bars, restaurants and clubs scattered elsewhere throughout town, plus numerous karaoke bars and massage parlours which tend to cater for more licentious pleasures; we have no a-go-go scene in Hat Yai.

There's a lot of development out near the airport, with lots of newly built gated housing estates, but you'd want your own transport to live out that way.

4 hours ago, vinniekintana said:

Hat Yai is pretty dead too imo...lived there for 7 years

Being bigger/busier it gives the illusion that it's more 'interesting' though.

 

I'd say that it's far from dead, though equally far from being Bangkok, Phuket or Pattaya, if you're looking for crazy nightlife, splendid cultural events, Michelin starred restaurants, all set against a beautiful city backdrop then Hat Yai ain't it!

If you're happy enough with a moderate sized city, reasonable amenities, a smattering of nightlife and a safe environment to raise a family then Hat Yai's not a bad place to be.

But as suggested above, best to come take a look yourself, spend a bit of time in Hat Yai and Songkhla. PM me if you find yourself in Hat Yai.

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We came through Suvarnabhumi on Thursday morning, there were about 8 people in the queue ahead of me. Wife went through the Thai passport autogate, no queues there, but no option for me to accompany her as there were no manned desks for Thai passports.

We got off nearest the West Immigration Hall but were redirected down to the East Immigration Hall, at least they're providing staff to redirect traffic and balance the numbers now. There have been many times before that I've found the one hall queuing down the ramp so have carried on to the second hall to find it empty.

We live in Hat Yai, had thought about Songkhla, way back when we were looking at where to live, but it is a sleepy backwater, sure it's a pleasant place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.

Yes it does have a charm to it, certainly more charming than many paces in Thailand, that the Navy own the coastal strip for their base means the long beach front hasn't been turned into a mess of crappy buildings, so it's a relaxing walk along the front, but it is pretty dead.

Songkhla Town has a 4km promenade along Samila Beach, Chalathat Road.  Apart from weekends and public holidays the place is empty.

It's full of Muslims and mosques; judging by your previous posts would suggest you stay away.

Everything working again with Covenant, must have just been a bad day,

I had problems with Covenant since last night, nothing or little seems to load. Will give Maverick a try.

On 29/08/2017 at 11:19 PM, lemonjelly said:

I can't think of a hotel with 31 floors in hat Yai except possibly Lee Gardens, and I'm sure it doesn't have balconies


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On 30/08/2017 at 3:43 AM, Damrongsak said:

An article in Pattaya One said it was the Lee Gardens Plaza hotel.  33 stories. (The one that was bombed in 2012.) I looked at some pictures of the outside and the rooms and I didn't see any balconies.

Yes it was the Lee Gardens Hotel, and there are no balconies, just a window. There is a roof garden but that's on the north side, the body was found in the alley on the south side, between the Lee Gardens and Grand Plaza hotels.

The Prime minister has declared Monday a holiday to celebrate success in the SEA Games. He only did so on Thursday. Whether the embassy will observe the holiday I don't know. But today is a public holiday in Malaysia.

2 hours ago, jobwolf said:

I changed to 3BB in Phuket and got what I was promised. TOT has lousy service and its not available on weekends and holidays.  If you call 3 times they get angry and will ignore you. TOT is the worst of all when I talk to my friends as well.

That might be the case for TOT Phuket but it's not the case in Hat Yai. We've been with TOT for more than thirteen years, from dial-up through ADSL to fibre and we've always had generally good connections and good service.

Internet in Thailand is something of a postcode lottery, you can't say one is better than the other nationwide, you need to see what's the best option in your area.

Re the OP, did you try a wired connection from your laptop to make the comparison?