Sisaket (TH) to Singapore – Ep 14

Thailand – Songkhla

There are two reasons why we arrived in Songkhla.

First, Sang wants to meet old friends from the Taksin University, Songkhla. What we did and what was great fun.
Second, I had an appointment for bike service at Triumph Hat Yai.
This bike service was
– change the tires (Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR)
– change oil and oil filter
– change the air filter (not in stock but got it from Triumph Phuket with in 1 day)
– change the gear box oil
– renew the seat / cats try to jump on it and killed it successfully.

Quite a long list, it took 2 days to finish all and they really did a great job. The tires,
I preordered from home.
Triumph Hat Yai – very friendly and professional. When you talk to Phueng (Bee) and her husband, English language is no problem.

Songkhla – the city itself – is far away from being relaxed. Very crowdy, very busy and hectic, a lot of traffic especially motorbikes everywhere. We stayed here 4 nights due to our program and 1 extra day for relaxing and write posts. 4 nights is enough…

Here some impressions from Songkhla

The best ice cream in town (shop is in the Taksin University)

Samila Beach

What about the mouse, the cat and the ball??

Name of a local myth from Songkhla.
The tale describes that a Chinese merchant bought a dog and a cat from their master in order to have some company on his long sea journeys. One day, the merchant got possession of a magic crystal that had the power to prevent its proprietor from drowning. Longing to live on land rather than on the boat, the cat convinced a rat that also lived on the Chinese sampan to steal the magic crystal so they could escape together by swimming to the shore. When they where somewherealong Laem Samila’s coastline they jumped overboard and tried to swim ashore. The cat and mouse, however, drowned and turned into the islands which are today known as Koh Maew (เเกาะแมว) and Koh Noo (กาะหนู), i.e. ‘Cat Island’ and ‘Mouse (or rat) Island’, respectively. The dog though, keeping hold of the magic crystal, managed to make it to shore, yet eventually died of exhaustion and became the hill called Khao Tang Kuan (เขาตังกวน). The crystal was totally destroyed and became the white sandy beach called Hahd Kaew (หาดแก้ว), i.e. ‘Crystal Beach’. Today, the legend is celebrated in a Thai-Chinese style gate-like monument at Samila Beach that is home to the Cat & Mouse Sculpture which was damaged in a double bomb explosion in December 2018, an attack linked to the ongoing southern Islamic insurgency and that also damaged the nearby Golden Mermaid Statue. In Thai, the story is known as nithaan koh noo koh maew (นิทานเกาะหนูเกาะแมว), i.e. the ‘Legend of Mouse Island and Cat Island’.

Krom Luang Chumphon Khet Udomsak Shrine

Street art in the old town…we did a great night walk.

Chinese temple

On our last day in Songkhla we visited the Tang Kuan Hill viewpoint.
Up there you can walk or use the cable car for 50 Baht. As it was hot and we where lazy to walk, we choosed the cable car.
Great view up there. You can see clearly that Songkhla city has limited space to grow.

Tomorrow we will leave Songkhla and go down south to the Malaysian border.

Have a safe ride and enjoy yourself!