Island Hopper's Travel Blog

From Hat Yai to Songkhla is one hour journey. We took an air-conditioned mini-bus from HatYai which left us in the center of the town, in front of the Historical Museum.We saw,on the other side of the street,two hotels and chose the first one,which looked very inviting with a patio inside the reception area. The Sook Soon Boon 2 Hotel turned out to be a very spacious, clean and airy place, full of light. The rate was Bht.450 for a double room with attached shower, air-conditioned and with a view of the rooftops and the harbor.

We deposited our suitcase in the room and came down to have a look at this place. It has an atmosphere of total quiteness, some one would say peacefulness. There were literally no tourists in the town, we found some in an internet cafe, otherwise the town is very low key. We went looking at the many temples and also wanted to go to the Khao Tang Kuan temple atop the hill, but the heat was so intense that we climbed about fifty steps and gave up. Later in the center of the city we learned from the Tourist Board that there was a cable car to take you to the top of the mountain, which perhaps was not working, it being 2.30 in the afternoon. So we went to the National Museum which also was closed until 16hours. Therefore we gave up sightseeing and went in search of food.

In songkhla there is a very colorful market, selling fresh vegetables and fruit, fish and seafood. One kilo of fish was from BHt.45 to 75, large prawns were Bht.45 for a heap sorted out on the floor. A bunch of bananas was only Bht.5. Incredibly cheap food. Food carts with a wide variety of food, fried squid, crab meat, calamari etc was delicious and seemed popular food. So was the Thai clear soup with bean sprouts, meat and pork pieces, pork balls and noodles. If you want to take it easy, enjoy the beach and good food, songkhla is the place and you can come here from Satun, instead of breaking journey in Hat Yai.

We stayed in this peaceful town for one night and next day took a mini bus back to Hat yai to continue our journey to Krabi, our next destination