Blogs from Chumphon, South-West Thailand, Thailand, Asia

Just hours ago we were in a very touristy area, with a few older travellers, but predominantly a young demographic gathered to learn how to dive and party on after. We spent a good forty five minutes in line with a zillion tourists leaving Koh Tao on the same ferry as us this morning. But when we arrived on the mainland, almost all of them disappeared into a number of waiting buses and continued on to Bangkok, while we chose to stay in the town of Chumphon, to pick up our flight tomorrow morning. We realized on the half hour ride inland to the city, with only about ten others on the near empty bus, that Chumphon is not a tourist destination. Just a regular city. Clean, nice enough, but not situated on beaches, or near ... read more

Jo had booked what appeared to be a stunning little bungalow on the beachfront in Koh Tao, a small island in the Gulf of Thailand. We planned on getting in some diving and taking it easy for the remainder of the trip. This day was always going to involve alot of travel but we figured it worthwhile as Koh Tao looked like our kind of place. We were at the breakfast table around 0830 and by 0900 I had gassed up my bike for the final time and Jo had finished packing. We dropped the bikes back to Say Cheese Guesthouse and began asking around about how to get to Chumphon where we planned on taking a ferry to Ko Tao. There was one place that had a bus / ferry combo that unfortunately left at ... read more

I felt somewhat relieved that this days’ route was only 45 km. However, after that 101 km ride, my body was not so happy to have to sit on the bicycle again, so it felt quite hard. At first I went to Chumphon railway station because I had read that all the ferry agents were there. Funny enough, googling for the coordinates of the night ferry did not bring up a real location, so I had to ask there. One Thai tried to sell me the speed boat ticket but after I told him that I want the night ferry, he even let me a map and pointed me to the right location. However it must have been the 100th copy of a copy and so I was quite happy to find signs to the ferry ... read more

After five days of beach-bumming, punctuated by the raucous Full Moon Party on the final night, it was finally time to leave the islands, and return back to the track leading to Bangkok. My next stop was Chumphon, the natural jumping-off point from the mainland to the islands. There aren't any real attractions in this small city per se, but it still sees many tourists in transit to the islands. It was here that my inhibitions from my Koh Phangan escapade caught up with me - as I began to feel the effects of food poisoning. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but I suspect it was the cold pizza I had from one of street vendors at the FMP. That ruined the day of my arrival in Chumphon, as I was basically bed- (and ... read more

Vanuit Ko Tao namen we de goedkoopste boot naar Chumphon. We vertrokken halverwege de namiddag en kwamen 's avonds laat toe. De rit duurde een goeie 4 uur. In de haven van Chumphon was er een gratis busje naar het stadscentrum. Van de 30 toeristen op de bus waren er slechts 2 die niet met de nachttrein naar Bangkok gingen, wij dus! We besloten om in Chumphon te blijven overnachten, wat de beste beslissing was! Een prachtige avondmarkt hebben ze daar! Chumphon is een goeie plek om 1 nachtje te blijven. Veel is er niet te doen, buiten de markt. Er zijn talloze straatstalletjes en vooral de desserts blijven ons bij. Heerlijke donuts en een soort oliebollen met suiker. Heerlijk! Er is niet veel keuze van hostels of hotels in Chumphon. Er zijn er slechts 3 ... read more