Ko Yo

Ko Yo, about fifteen square kilometres of hills rising to 151 metres at Khao Kuti, sits in Thale Sap Songkhla, the large brackish lagoon behind the city, and has been linked by the Tinsulanonda bridge since the 1980s. Two things define it. The first is pha kor yor, a hand-woven cotton cloth made on the island for generations in distinctive small repeating patterns, still woven in households and sold from workshops and a village market - the weaving can be watched and the cloth bought direct. The second is the Institute for Southern Thai Studies, a large folklore museum on the island's hillside run by Thaksin University, built as a group of southern-style pavilions and holding a substantial ethnographic collection: shadow puppets, textiles, tools, boats, coconut graters, weapons, ceramics and material on the region's Malay, Chinese and Thai communities, with a view over the lake. Fish farms in cages fill the water around the island and lakeside restaurants serve what comes out of them.

What's there

• The kor yor weaving - hand-woven cotton in small repeating patterns.
• The folklore institute - a large southern ethnographic museum on the hillside.
• The lake - Thale Sap Songkhla with cage fish farms around the island.
• The lakeside restaurants - serving the fish farmed alongside them.

When to go

December to April; the southern rains fall October to December. The museum closes on some weekdays - check before travelling. Half a day covers both.

Practical notes

The museum is large and takes two hours; labelling is largely in Thai. Weaving workshops are family operations, not displays. The lake water is not clean. Reached by road across the bridge, so a car is needed.

Nearby

Songkhla old town and Samila Beach are east; Hat Yai is south.

Key facts