T.I.C.D.: Songkhla Lake region (Part III: Phatthalung)
An obscure province set between lake and mountains, condensed.
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T.I.C.D. ticker: So far, we’ve covered 774 islands and 214 notable coastal areas in 44 sections, including this one. (To view all previously published sections, see the welcome page or the working Table of Contents.)
Resuming Phatthalung province…
This 3,424-sq.-km province extends between Talay Luang and Talay Noi in the E, and the rugged Ban That mountains to the W. In between, shimmering rice fields and towering massifs rim a rather quaint capital city.
Once a relatively autonomous kingdom that existed between the larger ancient powers of Singora in the S and Ligor / Nakhon Si Thammarat to the N, Phatthalung is thought to be, according to the TAT at least, where the performing arts of nang thalung puppetry and nora dance originated. For an area that contributed much to these pillars of traditional Southern Thai culture, modern Phatthalung comes across as an overlooked backwater despite its miles of Lake coasts to match those found on the busier Songkhla side of the Lake region.
Occupying the N edge of what I consider to be the Deep Southern Gulf coastal zone, Phatthalung is predominantly Buddhist and its provincial capital feels more like a scaled down version of Trang, the Andaman-coastal neighbor to the W, than Songkhla and the other provinces set further S down the Gulf coast. Rural villages and old temples dot the lakes, whose sleepy islands are accessible from Phatthalung by boat and road.
(Note: Some would say Phatthalung is not technically a ‘coastal province’ because it has no seacoast, but Talay Luang makes it coastal enough for me, and indeed I’ve always counted it as one of Thailand’s 24 coastal provinces.)
Phatthalung’s major protected areas, in addition to the Thale Noi Waterbird Sanctuary, are Khao Pu - Khao Ya National Park and the Khao Ban That Wildlife Sanctuary. Both support dense jungles that birth several rivers winding into a host of waterfalls amid the steep Ban That mountains that stand as a natural border with Trang.
Phatthalung and its under-appreciated scenery is well off the mainstream tourism trail, so don’t expect to find tour offices and motorbike rental shops. Still, public songthaews to places like Ban Thale Noi and Ban Lam Pam are easy to find in town. For non-Thai-speaking travelers, I reckon Phatthalung is challenging but doable, and certainly no less safe than, say, Krabi or Surat Thani.
Mueang Phatthalung also comes in handy for switching to the Andaman coast. Over on that W side of Southern Thailand, Trang can be reached via an hours’ van ride over the mountains that can be scenic, albeit frightening if you get one of the all-too-common van drivers who think they are Mario Andretti.
Coastal areas below are listed roughly from N to S.