The Crown Jewels of the Gulf of Thailand

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.

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.

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.

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 10 – 30
when they are near the shoreline. About 50 pink
dolphins are local residents of Khanom.

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.

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.

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.
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.
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.

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.
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.
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.