Songkhla

Songkhla province has two distinct faces. Hat Yai, Thailand's third-largest city, is the commercial engine — a cross-border shopping mecca for Malaysians with huge night markets, excellent dim sum, and a buzzing energy. The Kim Yong Market and Lee Garden night market area serve some of the best Chinese-Thai street food in the south. Hat Yai also has a massive reclining Buddha at Wat Hat Yai Nai and the Ton Nga Chang waterfall in the hills behind the city.

Songkhla city, on the coast, is the cultural counterpoint — a quiet, historic town on a peninsula between the Gulf of Thailand and Songkhla Lake. The old Sino-Portuguese architecture around Nakhon Nok Road, the ancient city walls, and the Songkhla National Museum (in a beautiful Chinese-style mansion) are highlights. Samila Beach has the iconic mermaid statue, and the lake itself is vast — fresh on one side, salt on the other, with Ko Yo island in the middle, famous for its cotton-weaving village and local seafood. The annual Chak Phra festival features boat racing on the lake.