Day 323: Surat Thani - Chumphon (ชุมพร)

Feb 20 - To the Phantip bus station early, loads of backpackers here. Get a minivan to Chumphon. Interestingly, we are the only foreigners getting on this vehicle. In fact, I get the feeling that 90% of the tourists here are just transiting from somewhere else (most likely to and from Koh Samui and Bangkok). These towns do not hold the sorts of entertainment most people are looking for. It is a relief to us, after having spent three days in the tourist mobs of Ao Nang. Everywhere we pass through now is basically sea level and with a fair density of inhabitants. Much different from Malaysia, where there was more topography and jungle.

This part of Thailand we’ve been traveling to, prior to about 1000 CE, was under the influence of the Malays. It was only in about 1200 CE, when the Sukhothai Kingdom became dominant in the region, that this area began identifying itself with the peoples to the north. This association continued during the Ayutthaya Kingdom (1238-1438 CE) and extends to this day.

As for religion, more or less crossing the Malaysian border to here flipped the majority from Muslim (in Malaysia) to Theravada Buddhist (in Thailand). The breakdown in the southern Thai provinces is about 75% Buddhist, 25% Muslim, and less than a percent Christian. I’ve noted thus far a large number of Taoist temples, which begs a question as to where the Taoist devotees come into the statistical breakdown. Because of the southern Chinese origin of many Thais, what are now called ‘Thai-Chinese’ do actually practice Taoism, Confucianism, and other variants. However, they are all statistically treated by the Thai government as ‘Buddhist’.