Phatthalung Railway Station & Night Market 26 Dec 2019

It was around 5.30pm when we reached City Park Hotel and checked in. We asked the receptionist for some information on where to exchange the Thai currency.

She advised us to go to the local banks or we can take our chance going to Coliseum if there is any.

We headed to the one and only shopping mall in the town – Coliseum where the building just at a small roundabout in the town.

There is a small bank counter there. The lady asked us to come back again the next day and able to do the exchange as it was already 6.00pm and the counter already closed.

We would come back the next morning for that. Then Alvin just drove us to the Phatthalung Railway Station or Train Station.

It is located in the centre of the small town of Phhattaluang which are the best known visitor attractions in the town centre.

Although the station building is not really special and what stands now is made of concrete and not particularly attractive.

It is something that attractive to me because we can get a nice view of the Khao-Ok Thalu, a steep sided hill, from the platform. There is a tourism places to go in the station.

The ticket office is located just inside the main entrance to the station building. There are 4 ticket windows although only one window ever appears to be staffed.

We just took some photographs at the railway station. We saw there are some exercise machines were installed at the station area.

It is like so odd to us that a railway station has this kind of facilities. Both Issac and Annabelle were happily exercising there.

It was so happened that we managed to see a train was coming and stopped at the Phatthalung station.

It kind of reminds me of the good old childhood days when I at my home town Labis.

We were happy that we were here, at the Phatthalung Railway Station!

After the sky getting darker, we just walked towards the night market near the railway station. This night market mainly is food.

Khao Mok Gai

We saw the Muslim-Thai favourites Khao Mok Gai which is turmeric rice with roasted chicken. It is exactly like our Malaysian Nasi Briyani with chicken. And it taste good too with 50 Baht a plate.

Khanom Jeen

it is the Thai rice vermicelli with curry. There are a few types of curry that the vendor sell. It ranges from sweet to spicy curry.

Alvin ordered a medium sweet with little spicy, whereby as usual I have the spiciest one! The dish comes with some fish!

And it is eat togehter with some side dish of Thai rice vermicelli such as seasonal vegetables like bean sprouts, boiled banana stalk, morning glory, and other leafy vegetables.  It taste simple but nice! It reminds me of the Vietnamese noodles.

We can also find all the Southern Thai food that we came across at Hat Yai such as:

Grilled Squids

Deep Fried Sausages or Meats

Moo Ping, Grilled Pork Skewers

Fresh fruits and salads

Braised Pork Rice

even Sushi

Finally we saw this – Fried Insects!

This is the first time we came to see this in real and we could not imagine how to eat or swallow in the mouth! Well, it has been an eye opening for us! We called off for the day and went back to the hotel and rest.

Khao Chaison Hot Spring Phatthalung 26 Dec 2019

After completing our boat tour, it was already nearly 4.30pm. Alvin drove us to the Khao Chaison Hot Spring.

The entrance is free but we need to pay for the parking as the parking fee is 20 Baht.

I was pretty disappointed as how the place is kept, I personally think that there should be a lot upkeep and cleaning need to do at the compound area.

There are private rooms and function hall to rent here. There are providing Thai massage here too.

The water is really hot and I can barely put both of my feet inside the pool earlier. After a while then it is ok.

It is too much for Annabelle to bear the hotness of the water! The locals smile to us when they saw her reactions.

We were a little bit tired thus we just only soaked our feet in the public pool for about 20 minutes.

The mountain behind this hot springs is so beautiful and stunning. We do not have much time as we need to check-in to our next hotel at Phatthalung city. We left about 4.45pm.

Tham Nam Yen @ Khao Chaison Phatthalung 26 Dec 2019

After our lunch at Tonnam Café, we continued our journey to the Tham Nam Yen. We arrived there about 3.15pm. By the time there were quite a number of tourists were waiting for their turn to boating inside the caves.

We immediately went straight to the information centre to check and wanted to buy a ticket here to go boating to explore the cave. Only that we noticed that the opening time is from 9.00am to 4.30pm.

There are several activities her, there are 2 types of guided tour: Tham Nam Yen Cave Boat tour costs 200 Baht per boat ad Lorkor Cave Tour costs 200 Baht.

We do not know if we managed to catch the boat by that time looking at the crowds there. The lady told us to standby at 4.00pm after she calculated the queue in front of us.

Alvin and I were relieved as we managed to reach here after our delicious meals at Tonnam Café. We walked around the nearby park before we came back for the boat again.

Tham Nam Yen is a local park in Khao Chaison District of Phatthalung province. It is quite a famous tourists destination in Phatthalung Thailand.

At the back of the rocky mountain is the Khao Chaison Hot Spring. It is just a walking distance from here.

This park is big and within the pond, one can do paddle boating here. The park is suitable for picnic too. Locals bring their own mats and food here to have a picnic.

The place has a lot of trees which shade you from the heat of the sun. It is a good place for relaxing and taking photos. There are public toilets, small stalls, and an restaurant or juice bar.

After almost nearly 4.00pm, we went back to the boating area and wait for our turn. The ticket to go boating inside the Nam Yen Cave and Lorkor Cave for 200 baht per ride.

Maximum of 4 people per boat and 30 minutes cave exploration with 2 tour guides. The entrance to go inside is narrow and the tour guide told us to lay down on the boat to enter the cave.

We entered the cave with a big spotlight provided by the guide, and slowly as the front tour guide rowed the boat into the cave.

The local tour guide cannot speak English well and fortunate for us, one of the guides able to speak Mandarin and he is trying to explain what is inside the cave.

Inside the cave are the different rocks formations and stalactites some of them glitter and a lot of bats of coarse.

Jelly fish

Elephant head

Marble patterns

The tour guide was joking about these look like boobs?

Looks like coral reefs under the sea

More formations

A lot of small bats in the caves

Waterfall like formations

We are not sure what is the water level inside the cave and the cave smells a little bit bad. At some points of the caves are, we would need to lie down completely on the boat to be able to pass.

It make us feel a little bit like the real explorers. It is such a good and brand new experiences for all of us!