We searched Hostel.com and we found out that there were only three hostels available in Hatyai. I had mentioned in my previous post that this was a random trip. We planned it just a few weeks before the Raya holiday. We went there during peak season and the cheapest hostel named Hatyai Backpackers Hostel was fulled. The hotels  there were very expensive. So we only left with two choices which were  Hat Yai Youth Hostel and The Hive Hostel. At first I wanted to book The Hive Hostel because the atmosphere looked like the one that I had stayed at Taiwan. The hostel looked clean and comfortable. However, my friend said that it was expensive. So we chose Hat Yat Youth Hostel.

1. Hatyai Backpackers Hostel------RM28.16 per night but fully booked.

2.The Hive Hostel -------------------Rm39.42 per night.*pay few more bucks only to get better rooms*

3. Hat Yai Youth Hostel ------------ Rm32.66 per night. *since my friend was on tight budget*

p.s Sometimes we ought to choose wisely. Some hostels are really cheap but the beds are fulled with bed bugs. So it's not worth to stay there. Luckily this hostel was in good condition when we stayed there! 

We paid 553baht per person for our two nights' accomodation.

Deposit RM11.70 per person.

Price

1.Private rooms

Basic Double Bed Private

-sleeps 2 

-shared bathroom

Basic 4 Bed Family Room                          (We chose this room because there're four of us.)

-sleeps 4 

-shared bathroom

*2 bunks beds, 1 air-con, 1 fan, and room with window   

2.Dorm Beds

-Basic 4 Bed Female Room

-Basic 6 Bed Mixed Room

-Standard 6 Bed Mixed Room

Facilities

Free                  ◘Linen Included  ◘Free City Maps  ◘Free WiFi  ◘Free Internet Access

General            ◘ Security Lockers  ◘Breakfast Not Included  ◘Air Conditioning  ◘Adaptors

                         ◘Book Exchange   ◘Hot Showers   ◘Hot Tub  ◘Cable TV ◘ Parking ◘ Ceiling                                    Fan ◘ Washing Machine

Services            ◘Airport Transfers  ◘Bicycle Hire  ◘Towels for hire  ◘Tours/Travel Desk 

                         ◘Currency Exchange

Food & drink     ◘Cafe    ◘Tea & Coffee Making Facilities

Things to note

1)Cash payment only upon arrival.
2)Visitors/friends are not allowed.
3)3 days advance notice for free cancellation.
4)Check in 2 pm and Check out 12 pm. 

5)The door is closed at 21:00

My Review

My friends and I had a pleasant stay at this hostel. The location is very near to Lee Garden Plaza. Besides that, Ed is a very helpful and thoughtful staff. Thanks for the hair dryer :D. We booked a one day tour from the hostel too and it was nice! This hostel is very quiet so you can rest well. Toilet is clean. The room is comfortable. A small yet cosy hostel. The common area is quite small and it lacked some atmosphere. We didn't get to meet many backpackers here. Overall this hostel is worth to stay! Based on our conversation with Ed, we just knew that he had cycled from Kuching to Sabah. Then he dived at Semporna. Amazing right! This was one of the reasons that I wanted to stay at hostel.I always got the opportunities to listen to backpackers' stories. We asked him because we saw a Sabah flag displayed on the hostel's wall. At first we thought that the flag was a gift from his guest. Then, he told us about his cycling adventure.

Yeah. Ladies. Haha. It took us almost one hour to get prepared. Even though we kept on yelling we were hungry, we still applied our makeups slowly. Lol. Girls being girls. Then we planned to go to the Central Festival.

We loved the interior design of the hostel. On the right was the book exchange area. 

The pantry area. We didn't eat the free breakfast during our two days' stay because we woke up quite late. Do you notice the Sabah flag? 

We were talking with Ed. We booked a one day tour at the hostel. The tour was 2000baht per day. Ed told us that the driver would fetch us to any 5 destinations in 8 hours only. So, we discussed the places that we wanted to go.  Initially, we wanted to add Khao Nam Khang tunnels and Ton Nga Chang Waterfall into the list but the driver told us that these two places were far from the city. We needed to add more money for the gas. And Ice Dome..Damn. It was closed many months ago. It was kinda ruin our plan. We just knew that after we reached the destination. It was replaced with some Magic Show. So we changed to Hatyai Municipal Park, Chang Puak Elephant Camp, Reclining Buddha, Samila Beach and Tesco Lotus. Tesco Lotus was the last place that we wanted to go because we didn't have any nice places to go already. 

Here are some advices for you...

It's better to book a tour if you want to visit Songkhla area which the iconic mermaid statue was located. I can't imagine taking a tuk tuk to Samila Beach. It's almost an hour's trip to Samila beach. Taking a tuk tuk would lengthen the duration to reach there. Our cab overtook so many tuk tuk on our way to Samila beach.

If you can't speak or can't even understand simple phrases of Thai language. You should book the tour. You should ask the hostel staff to list down the destinations and talk to the cab driver. We forgot about it and we thought our driver knew some basic English. So we didn't tell Ed to talk to the driver. Too bad...When we boarded the taxi, I told the the driver that we wanted to go to Hatyai Municipal Park. He didn't know what I was talking about. Some tut tuk driver also couldn't read English words. For examples, Prachanam road which was the road to our hostel. Most of them knew Lee Garden only. So every time we'd ask the driver to drop us at Lee Garden Hotel and we walked back to our hostel.

Show the drivers the photo of the places that you want to go. Screenshot the streets in Thai words. It helps!

Learn some basic words before you visit any countries where the local seldom speak English.

Besides that, I realised the importance of having internet connection. We got lost for so many times so I had to subscribed two days' roaming to use google map. 

If your friends keep on saying expensive la whatever la..want to experience the 'local feel'. I mean you can experience tuk tuk ride at Hatyai area la. If they still want to take a tuk tuk to Samila beach. Lol. I'm sorry. I can't help. You know what to do.

Let's go!

Our first night at the hostel. There're like nobody there but us in the hostel. Haha. We were enjoying our pork flavour instant noodles. My friends were very excited because this was their first time tasting pork flavour instant noodles. After we had our supper, we were pretty bored because there were no signs of other backpackers at the common area. Then we went back to our room to sleep.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. :D