Destination Yala...

"A beautiful border town, southernmost in Siam" is the slogan of Yala province. The word "Yala" comes from a folk word "yalor", meaning "fishing net" because at the original site of the town, Yalor, there was a mountain shaped like a fishing net.

It was a low land and people earned their living by using fishing nets to catch fish. Eventually, many new towns were set up one after another until finally it moved to Nibong, which is its present location. (Nibong means a kind of tree called "laocha-on").

Yala is the southern most province of Thailand with and area of 4,521 square kilometers. It is 1,055 kms. from Bangkok by rail and 1,440 kms. by road. It is the only one of the 14 southern provinces that is not next to the sea. Yala is mostly mountains and covered with forests but has very little flat land.