"Chumphon - Small town & big offerings" Chumphon by wondersF

Chumphon slowly grew in importance when vehicular traffic increases. The important land route of Highway 4 from Phuket and Ranong through the Ithmus of Kra needed to past through this town. Then another lesser used Highway 41 from Surat Thani joins this route. The junction where the 2 highways meet is Chumphon. Which ever way follow, drivers on the long journey required traveler to halt for night. The town is still another 450 kilometers from Bangkok. That was years ago and Chumphon then was of special importance.

With today's better designed vehicle and the existence of Expressway, driving another 450 kilometers is a matter of hours. Not that many drivers stop over in Chumphon. For a change, more tourist are coming to Chumphon.

In fact this small town is not just a junction but is also the provincial capital.

This township takes care of the farming business in the vicinity. Seeing the good number of fruit stalls, I assume that this must be an important growing area. The town sees small number of tourist when compared to places like Phuket. Then those who arrive will be heading for the tiny waterfront of Pak Nam. In the north of this ferry terminal, a trip of beach Hat Sai Ri is a good spot for a quiet sun filled vacation for those not venturing further than Chumhon.

Quite a few offerings in Chumphon make this province well known on the world map. Off shore there is a cluster of islands for diving into the coral seas. But right in the middle of the Gulf Of Siam is this "off the beaten track" island is Ko Tao, renouned for its consistent water clarity and choices of dive sites. This is a very popular destination just north of the famed Samui Island. For those coming from Bangkok, Chumphon has a closer port to reach the island when compared with the boat ride via Samui itself.

Also of interest is the bird nest industry that thrives in Ko Rang Kachiu island. Collection time should be between the months of January to September. Prior permission needed before going to the island.

In the last few years, the town got new fame as the Bird watching city. Raptors flying south and passing the Ithmus gathers here in great concentration The high land point for the annual bird count, maintaining records of this happening here each October is Khao Dinsor.

This is also the reason that the few petrol stations situated outside the town area are especially large to serve the motoring public and were the state of the art complexes.

• Pros:This is adventure land -very exciting destination
• Cons:Quite remote and long land journey
• In a nutshell:After the 1st trip, only go there for specific purpose