Gulf Coast

From Chumphon, we drive south along the Isthmus of Kra.  We cut east across the river flats of Surat Thani, and climb into the coastal mountains of Nakhon Si Thammarat.  The final stretch into Khanom is a rewarding detour: a quiet, well-paved road flanked by karst hills which leads to a secluded coast.  It feels like you are […]

The air gets warmer and the water clearer the further down the coast we travel.  By the time we reach Chumphon, universally known as the “Gateway of the South,” we’ve left Central Thailand behind and crossed into a new and distinctly different part of the Kingdom.     The food is spicier, the Southern Thai dialect is (for