Holidaying out of the country is usually a costly affair. You got ticket flights, accommodation and shopping to consider. So for this year’s holiday we were looking for a place that is nearby, has favourable exchange rate and cheap accommodation. Somewhere you can just drive across the border to. Since Singapore is none of those, that leaves us Thailand. The most popular and nearest Thai town that came in mind was Hat Yai.
Now I’ve never drive any vehicles outside the country before so I did some research and ask people around for a guidance. It sounded complicated and troublesome at first but once I got to it, it’s not that hard. First you have to have a physical driving license. The virtual one in the JPJ app would not do. Since I haven’t bothered to line up at a JPJ counter in years for that, I went to one specifically for the purpose. On my first visit, the officer told me to show proof of accommodation, hotel booking or something similar before they can issue a physical license. Looks like they don’t simply issue physical licenses to everyone without a concrete reason nowadays.
So after booking out hotels, I returned to the JPJ office and wait in queue for 45 minutes to get a copy of my physical license. I have printed and filled up the JPJ L1 form and brought a copy of my driving license although the officer in charge didn’t even collect them. She said, I need to renew my license for another year before I can get the physical copy and call it my foresight, I renewed them for an eye-watering 150 ringgit and 5 years. Who knows we might drive over to Thailand again some time in the future. The officer recommended that I apply for the International Driving Permit (IDP) instead which costs RM150 a year but since we don’t need an IDP for driving in Hat Yai, I skipped that. You might need an actual IDP if you travel further than that some say. This statement however say ASEAN drivers don’t need IDPs.
Apart from a physical driving license, you also need to show an original copy of your vehicle’s grant. If you are renting a car, you need a letter from the owner confirming that. Before entering Thailand, one final thing we did was buying a Thai vehicle insurance at the border town of Changlun. There were literally hundreds of shops available for this purpose and the insurance range from RM35 to RM150 for the more comprehensive coverage.
While doing my research, I heard conflicting reports and guides about entering Thailand by driving. Here’s how it actually went for me. There’s about half a dozen entry points into Thailand along the borders but the most convenient one is Bukit Kayu Hitam ICQ which is easily accessible from the north-south (PLUS) highway. The first checkpoint was the Malaysian immigration booth. I went out of the car and hand over all of our passports to the officer and she confirmed all of the passport holders in the car were present and waved us away. No we didn’t need to get out of the car and walk to any counters and nobody inspected our car or luggage.
The second checkpoint is the Thai immigration booth. This time everybody need to get out of the car and scan our eyes into the biometric scanner. Again, the officer did not bother to come out of his booth to check the car or our belongings. Remember to get your vehicle declaration form (filled up earlier at the insurance shop) stamped by the Thai immigration officer before you proceed to the customs counter. The third checkpoint is the Thai customs counter where the car owner need to line up with his/her passport and car grant. After filling up the form (just sign at 3 places) and showing the passport, grant and vehicle declaration form, you proceed to the fourth and final checkpoint which required you to show the forms you stamped earlier. All those while, we need to get out of the car only once and nobody inspected our car or luggages. I suppose this is to expedite the entire immigration process. We went on a week day so the queue was not that long but one could imagine the traffic and queue would be during peak hours or weekends when you have thousands of cars crossing the border at the checkpoint. Anyway this is a surprising change compared to the strict immigration process at the Singapore border.
Our first stop after clearing immigration was a restaurant at the Danok (Sadao) border town, we had lunch at one Kak Jah restaurant famed for its grilled beef. Just as the reviews said, the price, especially for grilled beef are a little bit pricey and we spent over 80 ringgit for a four adult meal. That said I had half expected touristy places, Danok included to charge slightly more for tourists (that’s us) to make a nice profit of our visit. There’s no price list on the menu so we’re totally at their mercy.
Anyway we left Danok with a full stomach and a short one hour drive to Hat Yai. Thai’s road were not as smooth as major Malaysian roads but at least they have less potholes than ours. We checked in at the Smart Hotel Hat Yai which is smack in the middle of town and a short walk away to Central Festival Mall, Makro and ASEAN Night Bazaar. After resting at the hotel for a while, we drove to our first tourist attraction - the Kho Hong mountain viewpoint. There’s a cable car station at the foot of the hill but it was not operational when we visited. Much to my surprise, we can just drive straight to the viewpoint which is next to the Phra Phutthamongkol Maharat temple. Over there, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset overlooking Hat Yai town.
In the evening, we visited the popular ASEAN Night Bazaar. It is a market not unlike Chatuchak in Bangkok but confined to one large building. We had dinner at the food court upstairs and even on weekdays, the place is packed with mostly Malaysian tourists. We couldn’t even secure a table to sit. We end up eating on some bench next to the stalls. The food was okay I guess but some of them can be rather pricey for my budget. After dinner, we did some shopping at the bazaar. I bought a t-shirt while the kids bought some toys and tote bags.
That concludes our first day in Hat Yai. The Smart Hotel Hat Yai was clean and affordable and I would definitely recommend it when staying in Hat Yai. Just be prepared to deposit 1,000 baht for the rooms, as required by all hotels in the country.
