Stocky

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.

.

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


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

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?

1 hour ago, wtboatr said:

We visited the Thai Consulate in Los Angeles and they would not change the name on  her Thai Passport.

The problem is the name attached to her ID number can only be changed at amphur where your wife is registered. Once the ID card is changed then the passport can be changed.

Have you spoken with the airline, explained your problem, and asked if it's possible the change the name on the ticket in Bangkok?!

Worth a try.

Is this a major facelift to the current facelift?

They've been buggering with Hat Yai airport on and off the last ten years. They added a new jetway, then a couple of years later another one. Then they extended the domestic lounge, and updated the international lounge. Currently they're adding a new main entrance and improving the drop off pick up area and taxi rank.

I'm guessing the major facelift will likely take it up to the projected 2019 4.5 million passenger capacity rather than thinking ahead and upgrading to XX million and a 2040 capacity projection.

I've bought 2 Dell laptops from the Dell supplier here in Thailand both came with the OS I specified.  You can order online or deal with the sales people via phone or email. Service was excellent.

http://www.atomworldwide.com/index.php?route=common/home

Lee Garden Hotel in downtown Hat Yai, about the only one we have with a 31st floor.

18 hours ago, bobrussell said:

You can accompany her, whichever line you chose. Just go for the shortest!

Non-EU line can be shorter at times!

Exactly, precisely what we do.

All depends on the time of day, and which day you pick, crossing from Malaysia. As pointed out in an earlier post morning and evening there's quite a lot of locals from eitherside going backwards and forwards for work and trade. Weekends there are many Malaysians and Singaporeans travelling up to Thailand for the weekend. Best time to cross is mid-morning or mid-afternoon in mid-week. Always difficult to say who the travellers are, Malaysians, Thais, Singaporeans and Indonesians all look very similar.

Doesn't help that they're updating the Thai side of the border at Sadao with new facilities for coach and minibus passengers, at the moment it's a bit of a mess, or more of a mess than usual. It's most likely that's the crossing the OP's friend was using.

End of this month will be a good time to avoid the Malaysian border crossings as it's Malaysia Independence Day on Thursday 31st August and then Friday 1st September is Hari Raya Haji, so a long weekend.

TOT 50/20 from Hat Yai.

My connection is behaving itself again, been pretty consistent this last week. Combined DSL, TestMy and Speedtest results, local and International for this lunchtime below.

5 hours ago, Goldbear said:

If you decide to get a tablet, just realize that if you are using it for reading that it's not the same thing as an e-reader with e-ink. A tablet will have a back-lit screen just like a computer. They are very different beasts. If you read a lot I highly recommend that you get an e-ink e-reader. 

+1

Reading on a standard tablet for any length of time isn't good on the eyes, the matt surface, low-power paper-like e-ink displays are far far easier on the eye. Important also to remember that the battery life on an e-reader is much greater than a tablet.

2 hours ago, Mosha said:

Sat Nav shows one

Well their website doesn't list one and I don't remember one, but I'm sure your Sat Nav is right!

I used to say I preferred old fashioned books too until I tried a Kindle.