Wat Mahathat, Nakhon Si Thammarat

The most important temple of the province Nakhon Si Thammarat is clearly Wat Mahathat, located in the southern part of the town. It is the oldest temple of the whole region, in fact it is the temple chronicle which provides the early history of the kingdom of Nakhon Si Thammarat.

The full name of the temple is Wat Phra Mahathat Woromaha Viharn (วัดพระมหาธาตุวรมหาวิหาร), and the actual age is not really known. Two versions of the temple chronicle exist, however centuries of copying and amending the text turned the oldest parts into something hardly distinguishable from legend. The reason to build a chedi at that site was to enshrine a tooth relic of Buddha, which according to one chronicle happened together with the foundation of the town in the year 1176. Yet both chronicles agree on several reconstructions of the chedi after it fell into disrepair, so the modern 74m high chedi in Sri Lankan style isn't the original one for sure.

The main chedi is surrounded by 173 smaller chedis in the courtyard, and a hall encircling it with many Buddha statues facing in all four directions. On one side of the chedi is the staircase to climb onto a gallery. The hall with this staircase alone is worth seeing, with figures of giants and lions protecting it. On the gallery one can encircle the chedi completely, and the sound of hundreds of small bells moved by the wind give it a great atmosphere.

Also within the temple area is a temple museum, which shows many historical items from the town. As it is already four years ago I can hardly remember any details on the exhibition, except that it seemed to me a bit unsorted - but still definitely worth visiting. South of the temple is a market, which among many other things also sells souvenirs styled after the traditional Lakhon figures used in shadow plays. However as I was traveling with Thai we only bought some snack there.

The town has several more historical places I haven't had the time to visit then - doing it as a day trip from Surat Thani only left some hours, and we spend most of the time in Wat Mahathat. I could at least take a few photos of the city wall, the city pillar shrine and Wat Yak - however though we passed them I missed the two Brahman shrines Hor Phra Isuan and Hor Phra Narai, and most of all the local branch of the National Museum would have been worth a visit.

Only after that trip to Nakhon Si Thammarat I learned about an English book on the history of this town, the visit would have been even more worthwhile if I had read it before and already knew about the significance of the various sites. I just wish it'd have more such books on other regions of Thailand.

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Beach at Khanom

As there is no real beach around the town Surat Thani, the nearest place for a day at the beach is in Khanom district in neighboring Nakhon Si Thammarat province. I went there three times already, as when staying in Thailand at least some time at the beach simply belongs to the itinerary. What I like at the beach in Khanom is that they are still quite unknown to foreign tourists, who all are found on Ko Samui - which also has great sandy beaches, but to me is way to crowded already.

Along the beach there are many small resorts which often include a restaurant, as for Thai tourists traveling usually means eating at a different location. Of course having fresh seafood directly at the beach is something I enjoy as well. The last two times we went to the Nai Pet beach (หาดในเปร์ต), this time we went a bit further south to Nai Plao beach (หาดในเพลา) and stayed at the only hotel of the whole area, the Supar (sic!) Royal Beach Hotel. Nai Plao beach is much shorter than the the Nai Phet, the two are separated by a small group of rocks which make a really beautiful view.

The beach is reasonably clean, inevitably there is some garbage left by careless people but most of the non-natural stuff washed ashore is styrofoam torn off from the fishing nets. But to be honest I had to look a bit to find that long stretch of garbage in the photo. The sand is fine, some shells can be found as well, though most are already broken. Last time I also saw several eremite crabs walking on the beach, the one I successfully photographed however was already dead as that one did not run away from my camera before I could focus it well.

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