Chumphon

- Chumphon town is the capital of this Thai province, at the waterfront of the western shore of the gulf of Thailand.

Chumphon province is only minor developed for any kind of tourist activities.
Which is strange since Chumphon province has about 140 miles of coastline with plenty of attractive beaches, coral reefs and very clear water. Since Chumphon weather is also quite stable.

The main north - south Thailand motorway (A4) Bangkok Chumphon runs close to waterfront with a couple of Chumphon hotels and resorts just a turn off the motorway.

Chumphon beach sites are not very attractive since they are not maintained, lots of rubbish and remains washed in by the waves is laying around. A bus Bangkok  Chumphon leaves several times per day from the southern Bangkok bus terminal, costs are around Baht 400,- for a one way ride. Most traveler just pass Chumphon on the motorway to the south of Thailand to Samui, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and further to the Malaysian border. There are no separatist and no insurgency, only Muslim Thai and Buddhists. The problem with the Thailand separatist and insurgency is about 800 km further south on the eastern part of the Thailand Malaysian border, it doesn't affect any other part of Thailand. There is a network of roadblocks on any road running from north the south where continuous checks are done, some by the Thai military and some by the Thai police, both are very friendly people you wont have any problems with them unless you are not doing something real bad.

Most tourist will notice Chumphon either on the before mentioned travel to southern Thailand or to take the ferry from Chumphon to Kho Tao. Kho Tao is just off Chumphon in the Gulf of Thailand and one of the most popular scuba diving destinations in Thailand with a great underwater world. 

Note that at Kho Tao many resorts wont rent you a room unless you alsoa diving tours. But at least there are some hotels and resorts, this is different to one of the other great diving places in southern Thailand, the Similan Islands which are about 300 km on the other side of south Thailand in the Andaman Sea. There are only a few flimsy bungalows since the Simians are a Thai national park.

Isthmus of Kra
 

But this is not a real problem because at the Khao Lak beach front which is just opposite the Similan archipelago are dozens of hotels and beach resorts, its only an hour with the speed boat to the islands.

From Phuket to Chumphon are two routes, either via Surat Thani and to Chumphon or from Phuket to Ranong and passing the Isthmus of Kra, which is the shortest land distance between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. They talk since decades to construct a channel similar to the Panama Canal but due to the political problems in Myanmar or

Burma (which needs to be crossed) and a fierce opposition of the Singapore government (they  would loose most oft their harbor income) the channel was never started, maybe something with happen in the future on this Myanmar Thailand border. The drive from Phuket to Chumphon via the coast and Ranong is much more attractive, the Chumphon weather is

not so good that way since there is always some rain at least between. A drive from Chumphon to Bangkok could  end like pictured above. the seaside and the mountain range. Via Surat Thani its shorter and more easy since the road is much less winding. Actually a bus from Phuket to Chumphon and Bangkok usually takes the Surat route.

Chumphon Thailand is mainly a agriculture province with plenty of  rubber plantations, fruits plantations such as pineapple,

                               
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