Khlong Hae HALAL Floating Market in Hatyai Thailand

I had always wanted to visit a floating market since I began to have the opportunity to travel. But, it was always near miss opportunities, until this year at Khlong Hae Floating Market in Hatyai when I am 64 years old and retired 😂

Khlong Hae was a good experience - it was everything I expected Thai floating markets to be like since reading about them in tourist brochures during my youth a long time ago 🫢

Khlong Hae Floating Market opens only during weekends, and serves Halal food.

It is popular with locals and tourists alike, so the place was packed.

I estimated about 50 boat stalls and at least another 50 food stalls in the adjacent market on land. Besides food stalls, there were also stalls selling trinkets and souvenirs.

There were many traditional dishes like this otak otak which is steamed fish paste with coconut milk and spices. These were stuffed into bamboo stems. So nice!

Fried spiced battered vegetables and fish cake.

Don't pass up Thai dim sum, they are good 😋 Plenty of traditional as well as new innovative varieties, fresh ingredients, and handmade - we tried it in Hatyai and in Trang, and loved them all.

Fried prawn crackers.

Seafood omelette. The food were cooked a la minute in the boat.

Several fried noodle stalls.

Of course, they have insects like these fried sago worms. Creamy like warm cheese and gently savoury sweet. You will enjoy it more, if you didn't know it is a worm 🫢

I love watching the whole process of selling food from a boat, starting from ordering food. The hawker will cook the food once order was received.

The cooked food is put into a small basket which is extended to the customer using a long pole.

The customer takes the food from the basket and put payment into the basket.

Food stalls on land in the adjacent market. They sell similar food as the boat stalls.

There's also a short stretch of road lined with some thirty street side stalls, sort of like a pasar malam (night market in Malaysia).

My first floating market experience and I enjoyed it. Am looking forward to visiting other floating markets, e.g. in Bangkok which I understand are bigger and the boats move around instead of being moored like here at Khlong Hae.

If you are in Hatyai, I recommend dropping by Khlong Hae which is open on weekends. Allocate about 2 hours here, especially if you intend to buy food and eat at the floating market.