KHANOM. The Crown Jewels of the Gulf of Thailand

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1 KHANOM The Crown Jewels of the Gulf of Thailand Khanom has not only many breathtakingly beautiful white sandy beaches but also an ancient marine history going back more than 800 years to the time when it was an important seaport during the reign of King Uthong of the Early Ayutthaya period of Thai history. The prosperous settlement was then known as Muang Tranom. Today Khanom is the smallest and northernmost district of Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. It is about 100 kilometres north of Nakhon Si Thammarat City and about 60 kilometres from Suratthani City. It has 32 kilometres of shoreline with 16 large and small bays. Khanom is blessed with many natural and cultural attractions for visitors from the beautiful sandy beaches fringed by green forested mountains to the picturesque fishing villages and their traditional way of life.

2 Khanom Golden Beach Hotel on Nadan Beach offers delicious fresh seafood and magnificent sea view from every room. It is also a venue for a monthly Full Moon Party held on the night after full moon with a cocktail bar and reggae and Brazilian music on the beach for happy revellers. Excellent accommodations are available at Racha Kiri Resort & Spa, Alongkot Resort, Talkoo Beach Resort, Khanom Hill Resort Anavilla Tangke Resort and Ton Tarn Resort & Spa. Visitors can enjoy delicious seafood offerings, spectacularly beautiful sunrise, sea kayaking, and even catching a glimpse of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins in the surf. Seafood lovers will enjoy a great variety of fresh and delicious seafood dishes on the menu in Khanom: grilled fresh prawns, crab meat fried in curry powder, spicy horse shoe crab egg salad, blue swimming crab somtam, steamed squid in spicy lime sauce to mention just a few. These dishes are served in the hotel restaurants or you may visit the many excellent local restaurants in Khanom such as Krua Goongphao restaurant and Krua Tangke restaurant.

3 Luang Pho Thuat Prayer Chant. (9 Incent sticks, 9 Jasmine flowers) Namo Tussa Phakawato Arahatho Summa Sumputhussa (3 rounds) Namo Phothi Sutto Akuntimaya Itipakawa (3 rounds) You will be living happily ever after. Things to do and see while visiting Khanom Luang Pho Thuat Yib Nam Talaejeed and Freshwater pool on Koh Nui Nok This fresh water spring in the middle of the sea is found on Koh Nui Nok (Nui Nok Island) off the coast of Khanom. The small pool with freshwater gushing up from under the sea floor can be seen only when sea level falls below the rim of the pool. Some people believe that this fresh water spring is the same one that is mentioned in the legend of the renowned monk, Luang Pho Thuat who trod on freshwater in the middle of the sea. According to this legend, while he was travelling on a ship from Pako temple, Songkhla to Ayutthaya, there was a big storm and the sailors did not enough freshwater for drinking. Luang Pho Thuat stepped on an island in the middle of the ocean, freshwater gushed up from under the sea floor becoming a small freshwater pool. It is advisable to visit this site only when sea level is lower than 1.2 m. This is one of locations of the unseen in Thailand.

4 Roulette Channel This is situated on the northernmost point of Khanom. It is a deep channel between Koh Tham and Khao Huachang where a large number of small mullet gather. At the channel entrance, there are small islets called Koh Phi where visitors can watch schools of pink. white, and grey dolphins. Sometimes bottlenose and Irrawaddy dolphins are sighted here as well. Pink or Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, Sousa chinensis, look like bottlenose dolphins. When they reach the age of about 60 years, their skin turns pink. They swim slowly in a group of when they are near the shoreline. About 50 pink dolphins are local residents of Khanom.

5 Koh Tham or Koh Tharai This is the only location where seagrass is found in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. There are four species of seagrasses: tropical eelgrass (Enhalus acoroides), dugong grass (Thalassia hemprichii) fiber-strand grass (Halodule uninervis) and spoon grass (Halophila ovalis). Seagrass is an important source of food for marine animals such as dugongs and sea turtles. It also serves as a hiding place for various marine creatures. In the back of Koh Tham, there are layers of breath-taking sedimentary and lime stone rock formation. Phoomphuang Stage Phoomphuag Stage is the moniker given to large slabs of limestone and hard rock that are stacked alternately one on top of the other to form what looks like a natural tiered alfresco concert stage on the beach of Koh Tham. Local fishermen use it as a rain shelter where they eat and rest when they are out fishing. Thongnian Bay Golf Course With its unique location and magnificent natural scenery, this is the only on-the-sea golf course in Thailand.

6 Khao Phabpha or Pancake Rock The spectacular rocky cliff has its beginning as alternate layers of limestone and hard rock that were formed under the sea about 260 million years ago during the Permian Period before being raised by tectonic force above sea level. The rocky cliff resembles layers of folded cloth. Embedded in different layers are white calcite, chert, and ammonites which are coiled, flat, and column shells of various extinct mollusks found as fossils in Mesozoic formations.

7 Visitors can also view the daily activities of local fishing communities: catching prawns by hand, laying floating fishnets, gathering and preparing shrimps for making shrimp paste for which Khanom is rightly famous. Khanom also has important ancient sites associated with Buddhism such as Chedi Pakarung (coral chedi) and an ancient temple pond. Khao Wangthong Cave The limestone cave, the interior of which resembles a collection of large and small halls, features many beautiful stalagmites and stalactites of various shapes and forms looking like chedis, hand, fried egg, Guan Im, Torch ginger flower, custard apples, or any forms upon your imagination. For eco-tourism, the Khanom Marine National Park is richly endowed with many beautiful unspoiled beaches and islands to be enjoyed and explored by nature lovers such as Wongnok, Wangnai, Raub, and Tan islands. Diving to view colourful coral reef, recreational fishing, cruising among the mangrove forest during the day and watching the flashing lights of fireflies at night, pampering yourself with fish spa at Ton Tarn Resort, studying local flora and fauna on forested mountains, splashing around under a waterfall during the rainy season, running and walking for exercise on clean white sandy beaches.

8 Visiting Kanom this trip is worthwhile, enjoying sandy beach, staying at a nice hotel, viewing local fisherman way of life, paying homage to Luang Pho Thuat Yib Nam Talaejeed, viewing ammonite fossils on pancake rocks, kayaking at Koh Tham, seeing pink dolphins, having great seafood, paying homage to Coral Chedi, and buying some shrimp paste as a souvenir. This is Khanom, the Crown Jewels of the Gulf of Thailand. Acknowlegdements We would like to thank Ms. Suleeporn Serewiwatthana and Mr. Saree Thanutsornsarn, the Director of the Tourism Business Association of Nakhon Si Thammarat for taking us visiting tourist attraction places in Khanom, supporting accommodation and meals during our visit, and providing invaluable information about Khanom attraction sites. How to get there If you drive from Chumphon Province, instead of turning into the main road leading to Suratthani City follow the State Highway 401 (Suratthani Nakhon Si Thammarat) for about 60 kilometres until you reach Klong Leng intersection (look out for a sculpture of a pink dolphin). Turn left off SH 4014 and keep going until you reach Khanom township.