Phatthalung Province

The province is on the Malay Peninsula. To the east it borders the large shallow Songkhla Lake, while the west is covered by mountains of the Nakhon Si Thammarat chain. Khao Pu–Khao Ya National Park is at the border to Trang.[6]

Phatthalung was formerly known as Mardelong (Jawi: مردلوڠ) in Malay, especially during the time when the region came under Malay-Muslim influence.[7]

During the reign of King Ramathibodi I of the Ayutthaya kingdom in the 14th century, Phatthalung became one of twelve royal cities. At the end of the 18th century King Rama I submitted the city to the Ministry of Defense, which was responsible for all the southern provinces. During the administrative reform by King Chulalongkorn, Phatthalung became part of the Monthon Nakhon Si Thammarat.

The majority of the province's populace are Thai Buddhists. Muslims account for 11.1 percent of the population. Many of Phatthalung's Muslims have some ethnic Malay ancestry, but over the centuries they had intermarried with the Thais and adopted Thai cultural norms.[8]

The provincial seal shows the 177 meter high Phu Khao Ok Thalu mountain, the symbol of the province. The provincial tree and flower is the sweet shorea (Shorea roxburghii).

According to the Bangkok Post, Phattalung is "...notorious for its hitmen." The province has been referred to as "the source of Otop hitmen" by the police. "OTOP" refers to a governmental program, "One Tambon, One Product" that promotes and sells the unique specialty product from each Thai sub-district ('tambon'). A police lieutenant colonel explained that, "Hitmen [in Phattalung] are easily found—it is not expensive. Just give them speed pills and they will do the job." No explanation as to why this is so.[10]

Health	Education	Employment	Income
41	38	58	54
Housing	Family	Transport	Participation
23	68	46	22
Province Phatthalung, with an HAI 2017 value of 0.5679 is "somewhat low", occupies place 56 in the ranking.

Since 2003, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Thailand has tracked progress on human development at sub-national level using the Human achievement index (HAI), a composite index covering all the eight key areas of human development. National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) has taken over this task since 2017.[3]

Map with provinces and HAI 2017 rankings

Manora or Nora (มโนราห์หรือโนรา) A local performing art in the south. It was an influence from the south of India, together with Lakhon Chatri (theatrical show by males). However, some dancing patterns were changed to match folk cultures in each province. There are 12 major dancing patterns. The patterns are done to lyrics sung by the dancers, either impromptu or composed in advance.

Talung (ตะลุง) *shadow plays) is a popular folk performance of the south. Talung puppets are made of dried cattle hide, cut beautifully into the characters of each shadow play. The puppets are usually painted black and each of them is held firmly between split bamboo slats called "mai tap". A puppet's mouth and hands will move in accordance with the narration. A Talung ensemble comprises the puppet masters (who are also the vocalists) and a band, totalling no more than eight persons. The musical instruments include pipes, drums, phon (a special kind of drum), and a gong.

Reports (data) from Thai government are "not copyrightable" (Public Domain), Copyright Act 2537 (1994), section 7.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Phatthalung Province.

• Phatthalung travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Website of the province (Thai only)
• Phattalung provincial map, coat of arms and postal stamp Archived October 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine