Hat Yai – Christmas in Thailand

© Image by Depositphotos

In November 2017, I found myself back in Thailand, this time together with Elissa (my partner and co-founder of our website).

Elissa had scored an English teaching job at a high school in Hat Yai, which is a major city in the deep south of Thailand in the Songkhla province, near the Malaysian border.

The idea was that I would also acquire an English teaching job, which I did while we were there, working privately as a freelancer for teenagers and adults. In addition, I would continue working on our website traditionalbodywork.com, which had been in development since May 2017 and which I planned to launch in March or April 2018.

Hat Yai, by the way, had its share of horrible floodings in the past decades, and currently, as I’m writing this chronicle (end of November 2025), it’s again hit by devastating floods.

Anyway, one of the advantages of being stationed in Hat Yai is that you’re not far from the various Songkhla beaches shoring the Gulf of Thailand. It takes about an hour to get there from Hat Yai with public transportation, typically by taking a minivan. So, that made for nice weekend outings.

In Hat Yai, we had rented an apartment in a high-rise building for about USD $250 per month. And, as is typical, you really get value for money in Thailand. The apartment boasted a gym, two swimming pools with stunning views, a laundry facility, and a library/lounge and study room with free Internet.

Since Christmas is neither observed nor a holiday in Thailand, we had a real Thai-style Christmas, meaning that it was just an ordinary day where Elissa needed to work at her school. So, not much to say about it, and that was all fine to me. Perfect.

Nonetheless, a few days later a short school vacation period started, and we went to Ko Bulon Le, a small, calm island paradise in the Andaman Sea with stunning beaches and clear waters. That definitely made up for “lost Christmas” and gave us a pleasant start of the New Year.

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