Southern · Thailand
Narathiwat · นราธิวาส
Ao Manao beach, Sungai Kolok crossing to Malaysia, Budo mountains.
- Region
- Southern
- Population
- 810,000
- Area
- 4,475 km²
- Stories filed
- 0
About Narathiwat
History
Narathiwat was part of the old Malay sultanate of Patani, incorporated into Siam by the 1909 Anglo-Siamese Treaty. The province retains a strongly Malay-Muslim cultural identity: Yawi is the everyday spoken language, the 300-year-old wooden Taloh Manoh mosque at Ba-Ngoi is the architectural heritage highlight, and the annual royal-sponsored Hala ceremony celebrates Malay cultural heritage with traditional music, boat-racing, and craft displays. The province shares a long border with Malaysia's Kelantan state, with cross-border family ties and trade maintained independently of the official land crossing.
Landscape & geography
A Gulf coast to the east, the Sankalakhiri range rising to over 1,000 metres in the west along the Malaysian border, and a low-lying central plain of rubber, rice, and oil palm between them. The Kolok river forms the border with Malaysia at Sungai Kolok and is crossed by daily cross-border trade in Malaysian goods and Thai produce. The Sirindhorn Peat Swamp Forest near the Tak Bai coast is the largest remaining peat swamp ecosystem in Thailand, supporting specialist birds and rare orchids.
Why visit
Security advisories have been in place since 2004; check current guidance before travel. The province's rewards for those who do visit are significant and entirely off the standard circuit: the Taloh Manoh wooden mosque at Ba-Ngoi, the royal-project Phikun Thong flower garden in the mountains, and the Sirindhorn Peat Swamp's canoe trails through nipa-palm and pitcher-plant country are experiences found nowhere else in Thailand. Narathiwat's seafood, cooked Malay-style with tamarind and chilli, is among the most distinctive regional cuisines in the country.
Stories from Narathiwat
Articles, reviews, and itineraries tagged to this province.