Songkhla in the south, about the province and some history

In the city center are several hotels big and small, they are not on a scale as Hat Yai Hotels but quite ok. They have some bars, karaoke, girls and nightlife in the coffee shops there are also several nightclubs in the vicinity. This area is dominated by farm and fishing communities and was until recently the hub for the gas drilling platforms out in the Gulf of Thailand.

The city is partly squeezed between the Gulf of Thailand

and the big lake. the province has plenty of attractions like empty beaches, waterfalls, hill forest, parks, a interesting fishing port. Some old heritage is still visible such as parts of the city wall and plenty of artifacts in the museum. The city is also known as 'great city on two seas'. Its over 1000km south of Bangkok but easily reachable either by road travel, bus, air and rail from Bangkok and elsewhere. Markets are plenty as everywhere in the country one is in front of the

Songkhla port

is the home of a huge fishing fleet, but over fishing is rampant and every year less fishes are catched. Tourism is not very developed here and only few people do some travel into this area.

Most people bypasses at the west side to the border at Sadao and Padang Besar which are the two crossings into Malaysia.

Sadao and Hat Yai are two of the hottest nightlife with girls spots, fueled by the guys from the south. There is a monoculture of  rubber and oil plantations, the raw latex is processed in huge factories built along the highway to the south.

Fragments from the past are still visible, among other artifacts is a stone axe, around three thousand years old which was found at Ban Phli Khwai , Sathing Phra, and a very old bronze drum was found near Chana.

As many other places the city has experienced plenty of foreigners from different nations passing through since ancient times, Indians, Arabs, Malay, Chinese, Persians, Europeans and more.

The old name of the place was “Singhla” which morphed into the present day name over time, it identifies two islands looking like crouching lions at the entrance to the lagoon.

In the first 2 centuries A.D. communities of Hindu traders emerged on the Sathing Phra peninsular, the peninsular was a agriculture area and transformed into the port afterwards.

In the sixth century some Indian traders brought Buddhist culture, created temples and placed statues there.

In the seventh century Sathing Phra emerged as an international harbor and plenty of junks came in from the south China Sea. In the second half of the seventeen century the Chinese took over commercial activities in this area. There are several museums to show what was going long times ago.

The premier showcase is the National Museum, this museum is located in an old Chinese mansion at down town.

Beside of folk arts and crafts, ancient ceramics plus Buddhist and Hindu objects are shown.

A visit to the Thaksin Khadi Sueksa

Institute makes some sense to understand the past better. This days the port is mainly used by fishing boats and vessels.

Some years ago the city has become a center of the offshore oil and gas business and exploration in the west side of the gulf of Thailand, all the big US companies are here such as Unocal, Halliburton etc. since they are the one who have the expertise.

The hotels make good business with the professionals who shuttle everyday from the local heliport to the offshore platforms. It looks like not much from the money created through this business find the way into the local environment.