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Pattani and Narathiwat: Old Towns, an Ancient Mosque and the Painted Boats of the Gulf

Pattani and Narathiwat: Old Towns, an Ancient Mosque and the Painted Boats of the Gulf South of Songkhla, the Gulf coast runs on through two provinces that most Thailand itineraries skip, and that this blog covers here as part of the deep south's own story: Pattani and Narathiwat. This is one of the oldest continuously cultured coastlines in Southeast Asia — Pattani was a trading port and sultanate capital when many Thai cities were villages, a place where Malay, Chinese, Siamese and Arab and Persian influences met on the same waterfront — and its heritage is correspondingly deep: an old town of shophouses and shrines, one of Thailand's most ancient mosques, a Chinese goddess legend retold for centuries, and a fishing culture that paints its boats like floating calligraphy. Narathiwat, the last province before the Malaysian border at Sungai Kolok, adds a long pine-backed town beach and the heartland of the painted kolae boat. We run a small family condo business over in Paton...
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The Betong Run: Chicken, Tunnels, Flowers and Hot Water at the End of the Road

The Betong Run: Chicken, Tunnels, Flowers and Hot Water at the End of the Road Betong sits at the very end of the road — the southernmost town of Thailand, folded into green mountains on the Malaysian border in Yala province, closer in feel to the Malaysian hill towns across the line than to the Gulf coast you left behind. For travellers based in Songkhla and Hat Yai, "the Betong run" is the classic deep-south excursion: a winding mountain drive, a town famous across two countries for a single chicken dish, a kilometre of hand-dug tunnels in the hills, flower gardens that should not exist at this latitude, and hot springs to finish. This article covers Betong inside our Songkhla blog, as we cover the whole deep south here — culture, food and landscape first, practical notes kept factual and plain. We run a small family condo business over in Patong, Phuket, and the comparison is instructive: Phuket sells its sea. Betong sells its cool air, its Chinese-Malaysian border-town ...
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Location: Betong, Betong District, Yala 95110, Thailand
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Songkhla Lake and Ko Yo: Thailand's Great Lagoon and Its Island in the Middle

Songkhla Lake and Ko Yo: Thailand's Great Lagoon and Its Island in the Middle Thailand has bigger claims to fame than its largest lake, which may be why Songkhla Lake still surprises people. This is not a reservoir in the hills but a vast coastal lagoon system — Thailand's only true natural lake of this scale and one of the largest lagoons in Southeast Asia — stretching some 80 kilometres north from its narrow mouth at Songkhla city, widening into broad shallow basins, and shifting in character from salt water near the Gulf to fresh water at its far end. Fishing villages line its shores, stake nets pattern its shallows, and rare Irrawaddy dolphins survive in its northern reaches. And near its mouth, connected to both shores by Thailand's longest concrete bridge, sits Ko Yo: a small green island of temples, weavers, orchards and seafood restaurants that makes the easiest and most rewarding day trip in the province. We run a small family condo business over in Patong, Phuke...
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Location: Ko Yo, Mueang Songkhla District, Songkhla 90100, Thailand
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Songkhla Old Town and Samila Beach: Shophouses, Street Art and the Golden Mermaid

Songkhla Old Town and Samila Beach: Shophouses, Street Art and the Golden Mermaid Songkhla keeps two faces, and they sit about three kilometres apart. On one side is the old town, a compact grid of shophouses on a narrow spit of land between Songkhla Lake and the sea, where Chinese, Muslim and Thai communities have traded side by side for more than two centuries. On the other is Samila Beach, the city's pine-shaded seafront, where a small bronze mermaid on a rock has become the symbol of the entire province. Most visitors rush both into a single hurried hour. This guide argues for the opposite: one slow morning in the old streets, one unhurried afternoon by the water, and an understanding of how the two halves explain each other. We run a small family condo business over in Patong, Phuket, a town that rebuilt itself around tourism within living memory. Songkhla did the reverse — it kept its old commercial heart intact while the region's trade moved inland to Hat Yai, and what...
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Location: Songkhla, Mueang Songkhla District, Songkhla, Thailand
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