Things to Do in Songkhla in May

The wooden shophouse district along Nakhon Nok and Nakhon Nai roads is Songkhla at its most atmospheric. May's low visitor count means you can wander these narrow lanes without dodging tour groups. Start early, before 8am, when the heat is still tolerable and the neighbourhood smells of strong coffee brewed through cloth filters at corner stalls. The Sino-Portuguese facades here date to the 19th-century tin-trading era. Several have been converted into small museums and galleries. The five Chinese clan shrines, each dedicated to a different Hokkien or Teochew lineage, remain active places of worship where incense smoke curls through painted timber beams. By mid-morning the pavement radiates heat. You will want to duck into one of the Old Town's handful of air-conditioned cafes. Those first two hours are worth the early alarm. The humidity makes colours richer. The turquoise shutters, the rust-orange roof tiles, the deep red of shrine lanterns all pop against the whitewashed walls in a way that flat midday light kills.

Songkhla Lake is the largest natural lake in Thailand. It is a brackish inland sea stretching roughly 80 km (50 miles) north to south. In May the water sits calm enough between monsoon pulses for long-tail boat trips to the fishing villages dotted along its western shore. The lake smells of brine and wet vegetation. The surface catches light differently than the open ocean: flatter, more metallic, broken only by the silhouettes of bamboo fish traps that local families have worked for generations. Koh Yo, an island in the lake connected by bridges, has a weaving village and a folklore museum surrounded by orchards where the trees are heavy with mangosteen in May. Morning departures tend to be safest from a weather perspective. By early afternoon the thunderheads begin stacking and boat operators will cancel if lightning appears over the water. The experience is nothing like a tourist cruise. You are riding a working boat past working fishers. The quiet is the kind of quiet cities cannot manufacture.

Songkhla's food is a different animal from Bangkok Thai or even Chiang Mai Thai. The curries are thinner, fiercer, built on turmeric and dried shrimp rather than coconut cream. The khanom jeen (rice noodles with curry) served at morning market stalls comes with a forest of raw vegetables that most visitors cannot identify. May's heat makes the covered markets the most comfortable cooking environment. The Tae Raek night market, which runs along a stretch of the inner harbour, is where Songkhla's food culture is most concentrated after dark. The air there is thick with charcoal smoke, chilli oil, and the caramelised-fish-sauce smell of southern-style stir-fries hitting screaming-hot woks. A cooking class that begins with a market tour in the cooler morning hours and moves into a kitchen by late morning avoids the worst of the afternoon heat. It gives you a genuine understanding of why southern Thai food tastes nothing like its northern cousins. The shrimp paste alone, fermented in the sun along the coast south of the city, has a funk and intensity that rewrites your expectations.

Khao Tangkuan is the low forested hill at the tip of the Songkhla peninsula. Climbing it at first light, before the heat turns hostile, gives you a panoramic view across the lake on one side and the Gulf of Thailand on the other. The trail is short, maybe 20 minutes of steep stairs. In May's humidity even that short climb will soak your shirt. At the top, a breeze usually kicks in off the gulf. The view justifies the sweat: fishing boats heading out to sea, the long curve of Samila Beach below, and on clear mornings the faint outline of Koh Yo floating in the lake haze. Come back down to Samila for the famous Mermaid statue. It is more interesting as a cultural landmark than a photographic one. Walk the beach north while the sand is still cool enough to go barefoot. By 9am the sand temperature climbs toward uncomfortable. By 10am it will burn exposed skin. The shoreline smells of salt and drying seaweed. The fishing nets spread across the rocks at the southern end of Samila create geometry worth photographing.

Khao Seng is a Muslim fishing community tucked against the rocks at the southern end of the Songkhla coastline. It is one of the most visually striking working villages in southern Thailand. The painted korlae boats, with their carved prows and bright geometric designs, are pulled up on the beach in rows. In May the pre-monsoon light gives their colours an almost electric quality against the grey-green sea. This is not a tourist attraction. It is a place where people live and work. Approaching it with respect matters. The smell of drying fish hangs over the village permanently. The texture of the boat hulls is rough with salt and sun-cracked paint. The sound is a mix of surf, diesel generators, and the call to prayer from the village mosque. Early morning is best, both for the light and because the catch comes in then. The beach is busy with activity. Mid-afternoon storms tend to push the boats higher onto the sand, which changes the composition. Fewer fishers are around to interact with.

Hat Yai sits 30 km (18.6 miles) inland. It is Songkhla's commercial counterpart: bigger, louder, more air-conditioned, and packed with markets that serve as the region's trading hub. The Kim Yong Market is a multi-story warren of dried seafood, fabrics, and southern Thai ingredients. The smell of durian in May is inescapable because the season is peaking. The Lee Garden night market area comes alive after dark with food stalls serving Hat Yai-style fried chicken. This dish is famous across southern Thailand for its shatteringly crisp skin and turmeric-marinated meat. The practical advantage of this day trip is that Hat Yai has better air-conditioned shopping and dining options. These help during the hours when Songkhla's outdoor heat becomes unbearable. Minivans run between the two cities constantly from the Songkhla bus terminal. The ride takes roughly 40 minutes through flat rubber-plantation countryside. Come for the morning markets. Retreat into a mall for the midday heat. Eat fried chicken at the night market. Be back in Songkhla by 10pm.