Day trip to Surat Thani

Day trip to Surat Thani

Yesterday we came over to the mainland with strong winds on the ferry ride but the boat stayed stable enough to have a pleasant ride. It was very busy, lots of folks are on the way back home again.

The cosy little shopping road leading up to the restaurant

We went to see our friends Kob and Chot who live in Sakhon Nakhon but originate from near Surat Thani. Kob is a school friend of my wife who we visited last year during our Isaan trip.
Our friends Sao, who's wedding we visited last year was also present, being 10 weeks pregnant now.
We went to eat at the Nai Aow Restaurant in Kanchanadit, an excellent sea food place.


This visit was no exception, the food was awesome and we ate some mighty big crabs amongst others. This picture shows the advertisements for the various restaurants, Nai Aow is to the left.

The place is massive and can easily seat well over 200 people.

There was very high water this time around, in contrast to last time we visited. In the background are the oyster farms that this area is famous for.

On the way back to the car we stocked up on fresh made sweets and candy! Absolutely delicious.

We went to Kob's house, near Phun Pin (where Surat Thani's railway station is located) and hung out for a while. Than it was off to down town Surat Thani for another night at the Diamond Plaza Hotel. We'll be on the ferry back early this afternoon but not before we hit some shops in town!

Camille

Samui International Hospital, Chaweng

Samui International Hospital, Chaweng

Although nobody wants to end up in a hospital during a holiday, I still though it a good idea to compile a list of hospitals available on Koh Samui.

When I arrived 9 years ago, there were only three hospitals on Samui; Samui International Hospital about which I'm posting right now, the Government Hospital in Nathon and Bandon Hospital in Bophud.

Since than, two more hospitals have been added, Thai International Hospital and Bangkok Samui Hospital, both in Chaweng.

It's also worthwhile to mention in this thread the two hyperbaric chambers that are currently located on Koh Samui.

Samui International Hospital (SIH) has been my hospital of choice for most of my out patient visits. I find the staff friendly and the doctors seem to know what they're doing.

SIH used to be a resort, way back when and there's a swimming pool behind the reception area, which is used for dive training by some dive centres on the island!

The location of SIH is excellent, almost smack downtown Chaweng, towards the Northern part, near the Amari resort.

Here's their full contact info;

SAMUI INTERNATIONAL HOSPITAL (SIH)

Northern Chaweng Beach Road, 90/2 Moo 2, Bophut, Koh Samui, Surat Thani, Thailand, 84320. Tel: +66-077-230781-2 Tel: +66-077-422272 Tel: +66-077-411349

Don't forget to use my Camille's Samui hotel recommendation blog and my Camille's Thailand hotel recommendation blog for all your hotel bookings on Koh Samui and around Thailand. By doing so, you will support my blog. Thanks folks!

Camille

AowThai Restaurant, Ban Don

AowThai Restaurant, Ban Don

After not having visited this place for at least a year, we went again yesterday and it was pleasant.

Lot's of (local) Thais visiting but also plenty of Westerners. They have a massively big screen, good for sport events, and a live band playing. Make sure to get a table that's not located in front of the band.


It's located opposite Bandon Hospital, on the road leading away from the ring road. Behind the Irish pub on the corner.

Here's the band in action, they mainly sing Thai love songs or soft Thai music, no rock and Western main stream songs.

The food was good, especially their specialty, the sizzling plate, here with mixed seafood.

AowThai is very big and has outdoor tables and two big roofed areas as well. It's enjoyable and worthwhile visiting.

Camille

Nai Aow Restaurant, Kanchanadit, Surat Thani

The Nai Aow Restaurant has been a favourite of my wife since a long time.

Today is the first time I made it over there myself. Every trip we made to the mainland, once we got to the Kanchanadit exit, about 20 km's before Surat Thani town, she told me over and over about this incredible place. I know people on Samui who just go over with the ferry in the morning, have lunch there and go back to Samui with an afternoon ferry, so expectations were high!!

It's about 7 or 8 km's from the highway, but you gotta make a couple of turns before you get there. There's a big parking lot outside with some stalls selling oysters and sweets. The oysters come from directly in front of the restaurant, where they are grown (?).

Here's the scenic walk to the restaurant, after the market stalls. The little walkway goes past mangroves.

From inside the restaurant you have an immediate view over the ocean, today, when we were there, it was very low tide however.

A view on the restaurant, it's a big place and it was fairly full once we started our meal. More tables than on this picture were occupied.

An absolute fave dish of mine, 'puu phong curry', crab with Indian curry powder, done in an outstanding fashion here. We ordered a second plate!

What the place is known for, oysters! In all sizes and very cheap. Have a good look at the size of these oysters and these were the smaller ones.

Condiments to go with the BBQ'ed fish that we ordered.

A specialty of the house 'Yam Nai Aow' or Nai Aow salad, a sour mixed seafood salad. Very yummy!

Outside the stalls are selling these oysters, although the picture isn't too sharp, the prices for the oysters are stunnishing, 15 Baht for a big one!

In the stalls they also make sweets, fresh off the hot plate. All of us bought various goodies, from sweets to cashew nuts.

The restaurant definitely lived up to it's legend, I can't wait to go back and try more dishes that I saw pass onto other tables, loaded with crab, mussels and other seafood.

This was it, the end of our little week long trip. Tomorrow morning we're back onto the ferry at 9 am and than off to our lovely home in Plai Laem.

Hope you enjoyed the trip reports and pix and don't be shy to post some comments.

Camille