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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 Buddhist culture 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
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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. |
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for you |
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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 |
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Songkhla,
information on Songkhla
southern Thailand,
Songkhla,
Thailand, Songkhla province,
Songkhla nightlife,
nightlife, history,
pictures
of Songkhla, photos
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