Songkhla
- is a clean, small, friendly fishing town and regional capital, 25km
from Hat Yai, and it's one of my favourite places in Thailand for no
particular reason. Western tourists are few and far between, there's
nothing much to do during the day or in the evening, the scenery isn't
that spectacular, and I love it to bits. It's sandwiched between the Gulf
of Thailand on the east side, and a huge saltwater lake (called Thale Sap)
on the west side. At the north end of the peninsula, there's a quiet
little beach where the seafood is delicious, and where you can sit all day
and read a book while sipping from a coconut under a tree.
How to get there - half
an hour in a taxi from Hat Yai, or about 45 minutes from Hat Yai airport.
Where to stay - The
Sooksomboon 2 Hotel
is the only place I've ever stayed, mainly because it's spotlessly clean,
small, friendly, and cheap. I thought about trying somewhere that was
dirtier, bigger, less friendly or more expensive, but I decided against
it. You can get an air-conditioned room with a large bed, TV, western
toilets and hot/cold shower for 400B a night, dropping to 360B per night
if you stay a week. It's located on Saiburi Road, near the Queen Hotel and
National Museum. There are other cheaper guest house options on Rong Muang Road
if you're really tight with your money.
What to do in the day - The
main activity is to go up to Samila Beach,
organise yourself with a deck-chair at one of the several dozen
restaurants, order some lunch, read a book, snooze, and then do exactly
the same thing all over again. You can sit there all day if you like, and
no one with bother you at all, except by making casual enquiries about
whether you'd like some fresh mango, or some peanuts, or another glass of
beer, or a squid or a fish or both. On your way back into town, take the
road that leads between the two hills, and at about 5pm you'll often see
people feeding fruit to the monkeys
who live up in the trees, along with some ferocious mosquitos.
If you're feeling more energetic
during the afternoon, take a walk (or a tuk-tuk) down the beach to the Muslim
fishing village at Khao Seng, to see the
fresh fish market and the brightly decorated fishing boats. There are some
rocks you can clamber around if you stay on the beach and walk past the
coast road as it swings inland. It's a good stroll from the centre of
town, and could take you about an hour if you dawdle to pick up seashells
on the way. On the way down there, you'll see a selection of
roadside restaurants on the right hand side, and if you spot a bar in the
middle of them called "Beach Boy",
call in at around 5pm for a cooling beer - if you can wake up the guy who
runs it - my friend Sak - who's about a relaxed a guy as you could ever
hope to meet. The sea breeze in the late afternoon is most refreshing, and so is the
beer. It's where I spent Millennium night with Sak and a few friends.
Another thing to do in the day is to
catch a red bus or, more unpredictably, a long-tail boat, and head over to
Ko Yo (Yo Island)
which is across the Thale Sap saltwater lake. There's the Southern
Folklore Museum attractively set on a hillside at the north end of the
island near the second span of the impressive Tinnasulanonda Bridge, and
there are some seafood restaurants just around the corner, walking
south-west.
What to do at night - My favourite
restaurant in town is Ouan Khao Tom,
a big Chinese affair close to the Pizza Hut on Jana Road - you'll see the
shiny aluminium tables and blue plastic chairs set outside. The food here
is cheap and reliably tasty - try the prawns fried with asparagus or some
sweet and sour fresh fish. There are a few boisterous bars up Sisuda Road
and on Sadao Road, but these mostly cater to a clique of westerners
working on the oil rigs in the Gulf. You can sit and watch the world go by
in the Paradise Beer Garden
on Sisuda Road if you like, or get a really cheap fried noodle or fried
rice dish at the night market
opposite the Post Office on Nakhon Nai Road. If you're on Sisuda Road,
look out for a bar called "The Hole in
the Wall". I met the new boss - a woman
called Bpai-ee - in July 2000, and we had a long chat about Songkhla
stuff, including her plan to petition the City Hall for a monkey bridge
between the two mountains - apparently, the monkeys keep getting run over
when they cross the road.
