Most Underrated Thai Town - Songkla

9-10 Aug – Early next day, I checked out from the guesthouse and walked to the clock tower to catch a minivan to Songkla, a coastal town 25km East of Hat Yai. The 30B minivan took 45 minutes to reach Songkla as it keeps stopping to pick up more passengers along the way.

A Thai girl who speaks excellent English gave me an introduction to Songkla and even help me to direct the driver to my guesthouse. However upon reaching I was told that the guesthouse that I wanted to stay has closed and had to look for other alternatives. Walking on the streets of Songkla will really show you the difference between a small and large town. Unlike Hat Yai, Songkla is relatively much quieter. After much difficulty, I managed to find a pretty decent guesthouse at the foothill of a scenic mountain for 200B a night.

As I only plan to stay 1 night here, I wasted no time and upon checking in, I went straight to check out the town. My first stop was Tang Kuan Hill which houses the royal pagoda, Pratht Chedi Luang built in 1886. Visitors can choose to climb up the stairs for free or take the lift for 30B. As this is only my first stop of the day, I didn't want to waste my energy climbing up the hill, therefore I took the lift.

The view from the top of the hill was indeed fantastic and you can see the shoreline of Songkla town clearly from it. The chedi (pagoda) which was restored in 1996 consist of the relic of Lord Buddha bestowed by the current Thai King. The locals come here for prayers which gives this place a serene and calm feeling. However this place is also home to bunch of playful monkeys.

After feasting my eyes on the stunning view of the town, I decided to walk down the stairs and I stumble upon another interesting building. However there's no signboard in English explaining what this building was so I can't comment much.

At the foothil, I went into a temple with a reclining Buddha. The temple here are similar to all the temples throughout Thailand so I wasn't particularly impressed by it especially after seeing the ones in Kelantan.

Next I decided to check out the beach (Hat Samila) and to my surprise the sea water here is quite clear and there is a long stretch of sandy beach with stalls selling food and souvenir. The beach is also house to a number of pubs, hawker centre selling an array of seafood and a resort hotel.

Similar to the rest of Songkla, this place is very quiet despite the fact that it's a Saturday. The most famous sight here is the bronze statue of a mermaid squeezing water out of her hair. According to Lonely Planet, the locals believe that by rubbing her breast will bring the person good luck, however I didn't see anyone doing so and decided not to try. HAHA. In case someone shouts and me and accuse me of being a sex maniac.

One thing worth trying here is the coconut ice cream. The 25B ice cream is mixed with papaya cubes, peanuts, “atapchi”, nata de coco, sticky rice and bread. It sounds quite disgusting to me at first but after trying it, I wanted more. After that I went to the market and the shopping district of Songkla.

At night after dinner, I went to have an oil massage and a drink at the pub with live band singing Thai songs. The massage (180B for 1 hour) I had here is also the cheapest I have ever had throughout Thailand.

The next day, I woke up early to continue my sightseeing in Songkla with 2 other Malaysian guys (Aaron and Kenneth) I met on the hill who coincidentally are staying in my guesthouse as well. We went to the National Museum which is housed in a Chinese inspired building which we later learn that it was the home of a Chinese merchant.

As Songkla has a history of being one of the oldest town in Thailand, the museum showcased a lot of artifacts from the Paleolithic and Neolithic era. It has also a large amount of porcelain from each Chinese dynasty and the thing that amazed me most here is that they are not kept in any glass case and there's not even a security camera or guard in sight. At first I thought this was going to be a boring museum but I was so amazed by the quality and sheer age of each artifacts. The showcased item here are easily over a thousand years old and you can just touch them if you want even though there are signs asking you not to.

We checked out and left to Hatyai after visiting the museum. I am really glad that I have visited Songkla because it really opened my eyes. I imagined Songkla to be a boring coastal town but I was really proven wrong. I would highly recommend Songkla to all my friends especially those people staying in Northern Malaysia as a weekend visit. It's definitely a great place to relax as it is not as touristy as other parts of Thailand.