Songkhla

Songkhla, information on Songkhla southern Thailand, Songkhla, Thailand,
Songkhla province, Songkhla nightlife, nightlife, history, pictures of Songkhla.

Thailand's deep south is from Songkhla and Hat Yai

southwards to the Malaysian border. The area is dominated by farm and fishing communities, a very huge mosque - picture below -is currently constructed between Songkhla and Hat Yai.  A stone axe, around three thousand years old, found at Ban Phli Khwai , Sathing Phra, gives a glimpse into this very early times, the early settlers might have moved from caves into the fertile plains around

A very old bronze drum or Dong Son drum was found in Chana. In the first and second centuries  some communities of Hindu traders and fisherman emerged on the Sathing Phra peninsular, this peninsular was basically a agriculture area and transformed into a port after.

In the sixth century Indian traders brought Buddhism into the area. In the seventh century Sathing Phra was already an international harbor and administrative center for the area. In the second half of the seventeen century Chinese took the lead in commerce activities.

Some museums give a idea what happen in the past, a lot of old items of various kind are on display.

The main museum is the Songkhla National Museum, the museum in an old Chinese mansion offers insights into the past, beside of folk art, old Chinese ceramics, Buddhist and Hindu objects are on exhibition.

A interesting visit is into the Thaksin Khadi Sueksa Institute (a view over Songkhla from the institute is below). Songkhla is a fishing port since ancient times and has recently become the center of the offshore gas business

and exploration in the gulf of Thailand. All the big US companies are here, since they are the one who have the expertise, like Unocal, Halliburton etc. the hotels make good business with the professionals who are shuttled 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.

View over Songkhla from the Thaksin Khadi Sueksa Institute                                                                                         Songkhla Mermaid

On the seaside there are some fishing village and one beach follows the other. A large inland saltwater lake (Thailand largest) gives some interesting views. 

Songkhla fishing village, inshore fisherman repair their nets.

Songkhla Harbor, plenty of Fish Trawler                                                                                       Songkhla Fishing Village inshore Fishermans Boat
 

Songkhla is only minor developed for any kind of nightlife, there are a few cafe with girls singing and some karaoke in the major hotels, there you also can find some interesting companions but this wont match e.g. Phuket by any means. One can have a short drive to Hat Yai and there it is where the heat and action in terms of nightlife is on, as mentioned before Hat Yai is a small edition of Bangkok.

Songkhla old City Wall                                                                               Songkhla old House                      Songkhla Restaurant on the Water

The very old quarter of Songkhla is located on Sathing Pra. As many other places in southern Thailand the city has seen a lot of people from many nations passing since ancient times, they mainly were Indians, Arabs, Malay, Chinese, Persians and so on. They called the place “Singhla” which mutated with the time into the present day name. The name identifies two islands looking like crouching lions (some fantasy needed) at the entrance to the Songkhla lagoon, now their name is Koh Nu and Koh Maeo.

Songkhla central market                                          Songkhla central market selling fish        Songkhla central market selling vegetables

Very few tourist come all the way down to Songkhla and if they come its usually a through ride to Malaysia.
 

Hat Yai, the third largest city in

Thailand, a few miles southwest of Songkhla is the main commercial city in the region, actually it’s somehow a smaller edition of Bangkok. Not much to say about beside that Hat Yai has a sizzling nightlife mainly serving Malaysian, Singaporean, Korean and Japanese tourist who seek some short time fun in Songkhla and Hat Yai southern Thailand.

The natural extension is to download our unique e-book on southern Thailand where you will find much more content and a lot of exiting full scale pictures. You can have a look on the screen and if you like you can print all content on any desktop printer, ...more e-book