We have been hearing about these bus trips to Hat Yai for more than two decades but somehow before Covid struck Hat Yai is not a destination that we are interested to explore despite positive reviews 😅 After 6 years holidays hiatus, we are more open to explore shorter duration trips 😁
So while scrolling the Instagram, I came across a post by Explorasi Cinta Travel Sdn Bhd re their upcoming Hat Yai bus tours. Their departure dates are during extended long holidays in Malaysia. What made us joined their trip is one of their pick up points are at a bus terminal in Shah Alam. Very convenient for us not having to go all the way to KL Sentral.
The trip was four days two nights. It cost RM365/person. Food and travel insurance are not included. If we add food cost, we ended up spending around RM650 per person. People always say that food cost in Hat Yai is cheap. Let me tell you, that is A MYTH 😅
A corner shop (similar to kedai mamak) selling hot milk tea for RM5. If you wish to "tarik" the tea it will cost you an extra RM1.30. In comparison, Dancing Fish @ Bangsar, an acclaimed Michelin restaurant charged RM5 for Teh Tarik 😋 A street hawker in Danok sold Khao Mok Rice for THB90 (RM12). The dish just had rice + fried chicken + sambal. Not even a big portion 😅
Our itinerary was as follows:
13 September 2025. Shah Alam - Bukit Kayu Hitam
14 September 2025. Bukit Kayu Hitam - Hat Yai
13 September 2025. Shah Alam - Bukit Kayu Hitam
14 September 2025. Bukit Kayu Hitam - Hat Yai
15 September 2025 Hat Yai - Songkhla - Hat Yai
16 September 2025. Hat Yai - Shah Alam
16 September 2025. Hat Yai - Shah Alam
My World Countdown:
I've been to Thailand before so my number is still stuck at #64. This is however my mom's first visit to Thailand so her countdown added another country to #55 😍
NOTE: Recently I have recalculated the number of countries that we have been to so that it tallies with the official United Nation's 195 sovereign countries. We have to remove Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau from our numbers. Thus the discrepancy from the blog posts made before Covid.
POST MORTEM (Updated 1 October 2025)
Tour Company:
First time we travelled with this company, Explorasi Cinta Travel Sdn Bhd. Their service was acceptable. Nothing to complain but nothing outstanding either.
First time we travelled with this company, Explorasi Cinta Travel Sdn Bhd. Their service was acceptable. Nothing to complain but nothing outstanding either.
Itinerary:
Pretty packed for a short trip. They brought us to a lot of time wasting "commission based" shops. Not that I mind cause I didn't plan to do any serious shopping. But if you do, maybe your time is better spent elsewhere. As it was, we arrived late at the hotel so the tour members who wanted to do more shopping had to do it at night, which is probably good cause the temperature is better at night 😂
Pretty packed for a short trip. They brought us to a lot of time wasting "commission based" shops. Not that I mind cause I didn't plan to do any serious shopping. But if you do, maybe your time is better spent elsewhere. As it was, we arrived late at the hotel so the tour members who wanted to do more shopping had to do it at night, which is probably good cause the temperature is better at night 😂
Tour Leader:
Our Malaysian tour leader name is Safwan. I will rate his service B-. Helped me changed some MYR to THB before the trip. As it turned out our Local Tour Guide did provide money changer service on the bus so not critical to change beforehand. Some shops also accept MYR and have in house money changer. Most of the shops also accept payment via QR codes.
Our Malaysian tour leader name is Safwan. I will rate his service B-. Helped me changed some MYR to THB before the trip. As it turned out our Local Tour Guide did provide money changer service on the bus so not critical to change beforehand. Some shops also accept MYR and have in house money changer. Most of the shops also accept payment via QR codes.
Local Tour Guide:
Pretty Thai lady named Fatheha. She can passed as Malaysian Malay anytime 😋 I will rate her service B. She should set a proper timing at each location we stopped. This laissez faire style was not efficient. Since we didn't know how much time we had, we took our own sweet time and ended up the last to board the bus 😅 Sorry folks! If you set the time when to be on the bus, we will for sure adhere to it.
Pretty Thai lady named Fatheha. She can passed as Malaysian Malay anytime 😋 I will rate her service B. She should set a proper timing at each location we stopped. This laissez faire style was not efficient. Since we didn't know how much time we had, we took our own sweet time and ended up the last to board the bus 😅 Sorry folks! If you set the time when to be on the bus, we will for sure adhere to it.
Bus:
Above average. Very comfortable. Lucky for us since we ended up spending such a long time on the bus due to gridlock at both Thai and Malaysia immigration on the way there and slow traffic on the way home. Gridlock at the immigration was 6 hours! And the journey home from Bukit Kayu Hitam to Shah Alam took 10++ hours!
Above average. Very comfortable. Lucky for us since we ended up spending such a long time on the bus due to gridlock at both Thai and Malaysia immigration on the way there and slow traffic on the way home. Gridlock at the immigration was 6 hours! And the journey home from Bukit Kayu Hitam to Shah Alam took 10++ hours!
Bus Drivers:
Good. Both drivers were very patient and drove very smoothly and safely. Well done! 🎉👏🏻👍🏻
Good. Both drivers were very patient and drove very smoothly and safely. Well done! 🎉👏🏻👍🏻
Hotel:
We stayed at Kosit Hotel, Hat Yai. Good sized room with firm mattresses albeit the deco a bit dated. The bathroom was terrible. Luckily their basic set up hot shower worked well 😋
We stayed at Kosit Hotel, Hat Yai. Good sized room with firm mattresses albeit the deco a bit dated. The bathroom was terrible. Luckily their basic set up hot shower worked well 😋
Breakfast:
This was not a full board trip so they brought us to the eating places where we chose and paid for our meals. Breakfast on the second day was on the bus due to the gridlock at both Malaysian and Thai immigration. The breakfast place on the third day was a disappointment. The food was expensive and yet not tasty at all 😅 The fourth day was good, we had dim sum for breakfast 😍
Lunch:
Terrible lunch on second day in Danok. We had nasi kerabu, nasi dagang and ayam percik. Expensive, tasted so bland and they were served cold. Lunch on third day was at Khlong Hae Buffet Seafood. The buffet was good if you have enough time to enjoy it. The place was so crowded that you have to queue for so long to get ice cream, salted grilled fish and banana flatbread 😅 The cooked food finished so fast that you had to wait quite some time for it to be replenished. Seriously not recommended for short on time tour like ours.
Terrible lunch on second day in Danok. We had nasi kerabu, nasi dagang and ayam percik. Expensive, tasted so bland and they were served cold. Lunch on third day was at Khlong Hae Buffet Seafood. The buffet was good if you have enough time to enjoy it. The place was so crowded that you have to queue for so long to get ice cream, salted grilled fish and banana flatbread 😅 The cooked food finished so fast that you had to wait quite some time for it to be replenished. Seriously not recommended for short on time tour like ours.
Dinner:
We had dinner at a restaurant in front of our hotel. Not too bad the food. We thought to try their pizza for dinner the next day but we arrived at the hotel pretty late and was feeling a bit tired that we decided to skip dinner 😅
Rapport With Fellow Travellers:
The trip was pretty short so we did not have time to get to know all the group members. But they were lovely people. Pretty sporting, love to shop 😂 I met my friend's neighbours on the trip. Small world huh?
The trip was pretty short so we did not have time to get to know all the group members. But they were lovely people. Pretty sporting, love to shop 😂 I met my friend's neighbours on the trip. Small world huh?
Timing:
The worst timing to go 😂 DO NOT GO during a long Malaysian public holiday! Fly there instead of taking the land transport 😋 We don't plan to do a repeat of any bus tour in the future. Once in a lifetime adventure 😅
The worst timing to go 😂 DO NOT GO during a long Malaysian public holiday! Fly there instead of taking the land transport 😋 We don't plan to do a repeat of any bus tour in the future. Once in a lifetime adventure 😅
Overall:
The trip was not perfect but we had a great time nonetheless. The secret? Zero expectation. Que sera sera. Managed to catch beautiful photos, bought a few sling bags and snacks, got to eat Thai durians + grapes + pomelos AND most importantly safe journey. What else do you want? Syukur alhamdulillah 😍
The trip was not perfect but we had a great time nonetheless. The secret? Zero expectation. Que sera sera. Managed to catch beautiful photos, bought a few sling bags and snacks, got to eat Thai durians + grapes + pomelos AND most importantly safe journey. What else do you want? Syukur alhamdulillah 😍
I've uploaded the photos and videos of the trip at my IG account (mkhasha.n.travels) and food that we had there at my other IG account (mkhasha.n.food). Do check it out.
Hashtags specific to the trip:
#mks2025Thailand #mks20250913 #mks20250914 #mks20250915 #mks20250916
#mks2025Thailand #mks20250913 #mks20250914 #mks20250915 #mks20250916
Njoy!
