Well I’m glad I’ve stopped here. It’s way less commercialised, the food is more authentic it seems and it is a very different style. I had red pork soup with wantons coupled with pork dumplings. Bloody delicious. You don’t have to walk too far to find small local restaurants that cater more for the locals, although there are pictures and translations sometimes.

The night market by the river has every kind of food you can imagine and many other things. I got a few rice paper rolls filled with pork and vegetables and the green spicy sauce was magic. A big bit of chicken on a stick and a bag of mandarins to close the deal. I’ll be heading there tonight if its on.

Getting from the airport was easy. There is a bus that will drop you in town and it costs 100bhat and takes about 40 mins. I had a short walk to my hotel which sits on the opposite bank of the river to the main centre, but well worth the slight inconvenience of a 15 min walk to get into town.

Not sure how long this place will stay like this, as most places try to cash in. Surat Thani is usually a transit town where people head to either Koh Samui or Phuket and Krabi, however I would recommend that you stay for a couple of days and experience a different side to Thailand.

This is the view from my hotel room.