Rest days in Surat Thani

April 6, 2018 to April 7, 2018

Skip this page if you are regular visitor to South East Asia yourself.

This page is supposed to "promote" Thailand to those of you who are not necessarily interested in cycling around here but might consider coming for one of the best travel-reasons of all: inexpensive quality food. This topic has really dominated my 2 1/2 days here and therefore I wish to dedicate this page to Surat Thani´s genuine markets and restaurants with the most appetizing fresh products on display. I spent at least one hour per day in the morning market (talad chao) as I absolutely adore its peculiar atmosphere.

The rest of the time? Obviously consuming the final result out of all those products (=food), trying to bring myself back up to at least 75 kg which I consider my ideal weight. Plus a little bit of sightseeing but realistically there is not all that much to be seen in town. As I said before the flair of Surat Thani is more the particular location making it the transition hub for onward travel to Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and Koh Tao.

I almost forgot: Do you remember how p..... off I was about the way I was treated in that Vietnamese Post Office trying to send some of my warmer clothes ahead to New Zealand? Bruce, I do understand now why you are so fond of the Thailand Post! The same stuff was on its way within 20 minutes: I purchased a cardboard box for 25 Baht; filled out two forms (CN 22 customs declaration and the Thai Post address label) waited 10 minutes until my number was called up; paid 1300 Baht for the 4 kg surface packet and got my tracking slip which was online 2 minutes later. Take that Vietnam Post!

And finally a few sentences on my further proceedings: The bad weather shall move in this afternoon (Sat) resulting in waves up to 3 m. No way I will be on the ferry to Samui while this is on. So I have two options:

a) stay here in Surat for another night which is not my favourite one

b) try to cycle against the massive easterly that´s predicted for tomorrow and spend the night in Don Sak, hoping the sea will calm down until Monday

I will only make that decision tomorrow (Sunday) morning as the Lolita Resort in Maenam / Northern Samui has reserved my favourite bungalow and left it up to me whether I do arrive on April 8 or 9.

Surat Thani Municipality Market. Different to many other markets most stalls do just offer one particular product like.... Fish (Pla)

And - as important as the basic products - the homemade curry pastes (Gaeng)

That´s what the nightboats to the three islands look like. The passengers are constipated on the upper deck, either on floor mats or in bunk beds. Personally I don´t see the attraction of doing it but I guess travellers on a small budget do save paying one night of accommodation

You are going to Surat Thani? Make sure you have these egg noodles with Chinese kale and crispy duck (bamee ped ya) at the small restaurant right next to the Tapee Hotel. 40 Baht - 1 €!

My favourite stall on the nightmarket. Lovely ladies doing delicious Sukhi, either...

The Saturday Night Walking Street. This photo was taken at 6 pm sharp and you may notice everybody is standing to attention. You have that scenario twice every day at 8 am and 6 pm when the Thai anthem is publically broadcasted.Fascinating!

I liked this one. Children and adults alike bought white china figures and painted them to their own gusto

The front is moving in. Time to get back to the hotel but....

...not without a last little duck snack (khao na ped)...

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	6
Comment on this entry	Comment	0