Surat-Thani Travel Guide
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644km (400 miles) S of Bangkok
Surat Thani is believed to have been an important center of the Sumatra-based Srivijaya Empire in the 9th and 10th centuries. Today, it's known to foreigners as the gateway to beautiful Koh Samui and to Thais as a rich agricultural province.
Surat is the main jumping-off point for the eastern islands, Koh Samui, Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Tao as well as the navigable jungles of Khao Sok National Park and nearby Wat Suan Mohkk, a forest monastery that holds monthly meditation retreats for Thais and foreigners.
Surat is known for its oysters, farmed in Ka Dae and the Tha Thanong Estuary (30km/18 miles south of town) where more than 6,475 hectares (16,000 acres) are devoted to aquaculture. Fallow rice paddies now support young hoi takram, or tilam oysters, which cling to bamboo poles submerged in brackish water. After 2 years they can be harvested; the summer months yield the best crop. Surat Thani's other famed product is the Rong Rian rambutan (ngor in Thai), a fruit with a spiky rind hiding a sweet, pitted fruit not unlike lychee. In 1926, a breed of the spine-covered fruit grown in Penang was transplanted here and now more than 50,590 hectares (125,000 acres) of the Nasan district (40km/24 miles south of town) are devoted to plantations. Each August (the harvest is Aug-Oct) a Rambutan Fair is held, with a parade of fruit-covered floats and performances by trained monkeys.
