With some 800,000 people living in the metro area, Hat Yai competes with Chiang Mai for the title of second most populous city in Thailand. Founded only when the railway was built in the 1920s, the city grew into a regional economic powerhouse with an international airport, two large bus terminals and a skyline composed of towering hotels and office buildings. Hat Yai is sometimes dubbed the capital of the South.
Stroll through the central business district to watch incense smoke coiling from Chinese shrines as shopkeepers sell bird’s nest soup, gold chains and teacakes while speaking the Teochew and Cantonese dialects that came with their immigrant grandparents decades ago. Also contributing to Hat Yai’s cosmopolitan feel are Malay-Thais, Malaysian tourists, a handful of Western expats and business travellers from around the region. All of these influences are represented in a competitive ... Travelfish members only (Full text is around 600 words.)
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