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Yala
Yala is the southernmost and one of two landlocked provinces in southern Thailand, bordered by Songkhla, Pattani and Narathiwat and sharing a southern frontier with Malaysia's Kedah and Perak states. Approximately 72 percent of its population are Malay-speaking Muslims, giving the province a strong cultural affinity with the Malay world.
Yala covers 4,521 square kilometres of forested interior highlands and fertile valleys within the Malay Peninsula, with no coastline — making it one of only two landlocked provinces in the Thai south, the other being Phatthalung. The province was carved from Mueang Pattani in 1808 and its status as part of Siam was formally confirmed by the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909. Yala city, the provincial capital, is notable for its tree-lined boulevards and the Wat Khuha Phimuk cave temple (Wat Na Tham), where a large reclining Buddha shelters inside a natural limestone cavern. The town of Betong, near the Malaysian border, is famous for its giant post box — the largest in Thailand — and the surrounding forested hills. The province is divided into eight districts and its economy is based on rubber cultivation, palm oil, fruit orchards and cross-border trade with Malaysia.