Most visitors go to Hatyai in search of shopping and food hunting. I, on the other hand, was trying to look for small hill to hike in Hatyai.
On the 1st trip to Hatyai, I went exploring Songkla, a more mellow town around 1 hour away by bus. There is a hill in the town called Tangkuan Hill where people go by cable car to the top for temple visit and bird's eye view of the town. I walked to the other side of the foothill to climb the stairs in about 25 mins instead, to the top. It was as short isolated steep hike.
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| Start of hike at foothill |
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| Lonely isolated stairs |
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| Songkla town |
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| View from top of Tangkuan Hill |
On the 2nd visit 2 months later, I explored another hill in Hatyai Municipal Park near Hatyai city. There are few sightseeing venues in the hill,where 99% visitors will drive or take a public transport up. I took a grab car service to the entrance at the foothill. From there, I walked around 30 mins uphill on the main tarred road whereby many vehicles pass by me.
The 1st pitstop was a four face Buddha temple where firecrackers were played for good luck. The surrounding view was not that impressive though. From there, I walked in the other direction for another 30 mins on the main road to the viewpoint. There, we can get a bird' s eye view of the city.
From the viewpoint, I walked through the stairs down to the foothill passing by another temple. There is a small less visited flower garden at the bottom.
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| Walking on a tarred road where only cars pass through |
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| View from four face Buddha temple |
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| Hatyaoitown from afar |
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| Sun salutation sunflowers where they grow in the direction of the sun |
