During this volunteering in Thailand in Surat Thani with Worldpackers, we have lots of free time. We don’t work on weekends and usually work 3 hours daily in the morning before it gets too hot. Comprehensible, because heat here is a thing. In my first week, I even had 3 days off as I was the only volunteer for a few days.
As afternoons are free and weekends too, there is more than enough time to explore Ban Na and Surat Thani and do other things I may wish to do. I was not expecting Surat Thani to have so many interesting spots to visit, even less this remote as I was, where not many foreigners ventured. These are some of the places in Surat Thani that I have visited while volunteering in Ban Na, a rural town, where not much is going on.
On my first weekend in Ban Na, Surat Thani, I spent Saturday alone and I decided to cycle until my bum could no more haha. I cycled about 20km away to a limestone cliff and back. Next to that limestone cliff was a temple.
Nasan Sand Dunes
My first stop of the day was an unusual sand dune. Its name even includes “unseen sand dune” haha
This is a dune like none I have seen before. It has these peculiar formations looking like stalagmites with a small rock on top. They are very small in size but many in number and create this unique landscape. Feels like the sand is washed away with the rain and the tiny rocks stay in place forming these pillar-like shapes, so interesting. It is not a flat desert dune. On top of the dune, a surprisingly beautiful view with limestone cliffs far away is a delight. I was not expecting this place to be so charming. Truly recommend.
Continuing on my journey, I came across several lush green sceneries, riding among palm oil plantations, rubber tree plantations, and such luxurious landscapes, I loved it. Simply riding a bicycle among all these beautiful trees is already rewarding. And oh coconut trees, they are so appealing to my eyes, I can’t explain why…
Then I encounter this very charismatic metal bridge where the train passes by with the limestone cliffs just behind. So beautiful and photogenic!
Wat Na San
The last stop of the day was this temple by the limestone cliff called Wat Phra Phothisat Kuan Im (Wat Na San) in Nasan City, Surat Thani province. There is a river just in front and the views are also beautiful. Even though this place is far for a bike trip from Ban Na, the way to get there is pretty flat with some ups and downs but never very steep so the ride is quite pleasant. Just my bum suffered much more haha. Then, I went all the way back to Ban Na and called it a day.
Pa Nong Thung Thong Nature Reserve- Hot Spring
On Sunday there were 2 other volunteers and we decided to go to some hot springs that were not as far cause my bum was too sore for a ride the same distance as Saturday. Pa Nong Thung Thong hot spring was 12 km away from our place so it was fine. Before the hot springs, we biked across this beautiful lake Nong Thung Thong which is a maritime reserve. Such a quiet and serene spot!
After that we went to Pa Nong Thung Thong nature reserve, Khian Sa to enjoy the Hot springs. I had no idea Surat Thani was a place with many hot springs. We had no idea that the place had an entrance fee of 400bh!! Yes, you read it right. Insane! Too expensive for these hot springs… but, no one was there charging a thing so luckily we were able to enjoy the springs for free. I am sure this is due to COVID because no tourists were going there at the time, so why would someone be there to collect any fee haha
There were several different swimming pools with different levels of temperature. One extremely hot, one acceptable hot, and a little cooler one, so you could choose where to stay. We were there alone for most of the time. Only some Thais showed up.
It is possible to spot the source of the hot water that I could see bubbling and the vapor denounced it. I didn’t dare touch it of course. The bike ride to Pa Nong Thung Thong hot spring was through a bigger street. Even though the traffic flow was very low, it was still less enjoyable than the ride I had done the previous day. Note that places to eat along the way are not a very often sight. We ended up having some grilled chicken with sticky rice in what was the only place we saw selling food throughout the journey.
It was still a very enjoyable ride and the hot springs were worth it. So relaxing!
Kamin cave
Kamin Cave is another attraction that is not far from Ban Na for a bicycle trip, so the destination was chosen on a Friday I had off. Yes, I had 3 days off weeee. From Ban Na to Kamin cave, it takes a bit longer than 1h and it is about 12km distance. I didn’t go through the main street cause riding in smaller streets is always more pleasant. Once at the cave, I had to pay 200bh to enter. I also found that the cave closes at 15.30 which is kinda early…
I arrived a bit before 14.30h and was done by 15.20h with the ranger rushing to go home. So, when I got here, the lady at the ticket counter called a ranger before to check if I could go. You can’t go on your own. Must be accompanied by a local ranger. I read before that a group of 4 is needed, but I went alone….
She let me in and I started my way up, yes, because there are some stairs before you enter the cave. So, on my way up, I met a group of tourists heading down and they were 4. As the ranger or guide was already up there, he just had to wait a few minutes for me to get up there. I think I was lucky cause this group ended their visit just by the time I wanted to enter the cave.
The ranger doesn’t speak much English. He didn’t say many things except for pointing at some Buddha drawing on the wall of the cave and another stone shaped like a lady’s head that I wouldn’t have noticed if it wasn’t him mentioning it.
Kamin cave itself is super dark, there are barely any lights, so this ranger goes with me and lights up my way and the formations when necessary. The floor is muddy-like, not sure if I was stepping on guano most of the time or not. At times the floor was slippery as the moisture in the cave is big and the dirt floor gets muddy.
I think the ranger is needed because there is no light most of the time. It is pure darkness. Otherwise, I don’t see why is this guy needed cause the cave is not complicated to navigate and is easy to walk through… no climbs, no sketchy steps ahead, very doable.
I didn’t like the fact that I had to go with this ranger cause he walks fast and I’m a slow traveler. I like to stop and enjoy what is around me and appreciate the scenery cause that is the reason why I visited Kamincave. He is so fast that I can’t stare at the walls for a long time. He is always there waiting for me and I feel the pressure to move on when I wish I could stay longer and be wowed by this cave. It just reminded me why I don’t join tours and I prefer to do things at my own pace. This was annoying for me cause I like to see all the details and be mesmerized by Mother Nature. At some point, I stopped caring that he was going further and followed my own pace. I went there to see the damn cave, so I am stopping to stare at the ceiling and walls that have beautiful formations, even if he likes it or not.
The cave is big, I am not sure if I saw it all or not cause I followed my ranger and he seemed to be rushing. I could have enjoyed this cave for much longer, but there were so many completely dark areas that I could have been a little creeped out on my own haha. Bats are flying around and I even saw this huge spider on the floor. Would have liked to have seen more creepy animals I confess haha.
Overall the cave is beautiful! If it is worth 200bh? Hmm not sure. It seems to be kind of popular in Surat Thani though.
There was another trail just before the Kamin cave entrance and I asked the guide what was it. He said it is a viewpoint. I asked if I could go and he said it was closed. Well, I don’t think it is closed, the thing is that it was 3.20 pm and this man was obviously rushing to go home. He kept waiting for me even when we were off the cave. I think he didn’t understand that I could have gone to the freaking viewpoint on my own! He didn’t have to go with me jeeez… only on the last steps to the street he went ahead and left on his motorbike. A few minutes after the lady at the entrance counter left too. So I was left there thinking that if I had come at 3.30 pm I could have visited this cave on my own and for free!
The thing is that I wouldn’t be able to because I didn’t come prepared for such a situation. I had no flashlight with me and visiting this cave alone in complete darkness wouldn’t have been worth it cause the few lights that were installed inside helped the visitors see how big are those chambers, and the lights lit up the most beautiful formations. I would need a powerful flashlight if I were to do this on my own. Now you know about it, maybe you can give it a shot.
Khao Plu Hot Spring
Not even sure how I found this spot in Surat Thani honestly haha. Even my hosts didn’t know about it. There are a few hot springs around Ban Na. I have visited one already, with my volunteering friends, but there was still one missing: Tha Sathon Hot Spring, and it is, apparently, a popular one. I searched on the map around it to see if there was something else nearby and that was how I found these Khao Plu hot springs. This name isn’t marked on the map. On Google Maps it is in Thai: บ่อน้ำพุร้อนบ้านเขาพลู
It took more than 1 hour by bicycle to get to Khao Plu Hot Spring, but the street is so flat that the journey is easily doable. I followed the street beside the railway and the trip was pretty cool. No traffic at all, it was very quiet overall, along with greenery and butterflies flying around. Riding a bike per se was already a nice day trip. It is tiring to get to the hot spring though, so one there finding what I found was unexpected and awesome. Most of all I wasn’t expecting much, as there is no info online but some Google reviews. WOW! I was overwhelmed with my view! It was like something I had never seen before.
There is a wide swimming pool, much bigger than Pa Nong Thung Thong Nature Reserve- Hot Spring and free. I saw a handful of people there and this is absolutely not a place where foreigners go. What mesmerized me was the formations within the round pools before the swimming pool where people can bathe. The large swimming pool has two sides with 2 different water temperatures. Both of them are very enjoyable, not boiling.
So here, it is possible to see the water flow several meters before the pool. There are other small pools, absolutely not for bathing, that are steaming with hot water and inside, there seems to be a new ecosystem for sure. There are these yellow-brownish formations that look absolutely dope. I had never seen anything like it. They almost feel like cotton candy lying there in the bottom. They come in very eye-pleasant patterns and shapes, they almost look like accumulated fat on a body. So amazing. I confess I stared at these formations more than I should, but they hypnotized me. The consistency was also weird, like body fat too, looking nasty. I have no clue what is, it has this spongy look. I dared not touch it but saw some locals messing with it with a stick and ruining the beautiful patterns they created. Once out of the water they lose all the volume and acquire this sort of slimy texture… what a weird thing haha. Fascinating. This was the reason why I liked this spot so much and decided to go back another time along with other volunteers who seemed to enjoy my discovery too.
In this area, there are also some wooden walking paths along the forest, that are nice for a walk, but they were way too abandoned when I visited in June 2023. Plants took over and at some point, it wasn’t possible to walk farther. Seems to me that these paths once connected this hot spring to Tha Sathon, but probably because of COVID-19 it was left to be abandoned. Still, provided a nice small walk among the trees.
When I was there with friends we simply soaked in the water for hours. There was almost no one there. We took some snacks, we were just missing the drinks haha, and would be a lovely place to chill. As the place seemed very local, I didn’t bathe in swimwear but rather normal clothes. It would feel uncomfortable to have Thai people staring at me and all my skin showing off. NOP. Everyone there is dressed and I do the same. I’m the visitor, I must adapt, not the other way around.
Dat Fa Waterfall at Tai Rom Yen Natural Park
On another free day off, I decided to ask my hosts to rent their motorbike and went all the way to Dat Fa waterfall after being in Surat Thani town to extend my visa. I found this waterfall not so far from Ban Na, Surat Thani and it seemed to be gorgeous with several levels of waterfalls tucked in this natural park. It seemed worthy of the ride. I chose the wrong day as it started to rain heavily, but I was still able to enjoy the spot for a while.
I had to pay an entry fee of 200bh, a foreign price which is kind of a lot for a waterfall but anyway, seemed to be worth it. Until I discovered I couldn’t see the waterfall I was hoping to! I was pissed.
Once at the entrance of the forest trail, the ticket collector tells me that there are 8 different levels but I can only go till the 3rd! WTF why did you let me pay a ticket to visit something I can’t see? At least tell me that in advance so I can decide If I want to go or not… but no. Only meters after paying for my ticket I am informed of this. Why?- I asked in disbelief: because it is dangerous WTF!! Are you serious? I came all the way here and you beg me to come back after level 3 cause it is dangerous. I was honestly thinking that, once again, because I’m a foreigner, they think I’m not capable of doing things on my own. They seem to think everything is very dangerous for foreigners but they can do the craziest shit and it’s ok.
Anyway, I was so pissed, I decided to tell her yes I would do so but was honestly intending to proceed to the furthest level and see what I came here for. It didn’t take long to reach the furthest level I was supposed to visit. The trail is among a lush jungle with the river just there. The views are beautiful and the place is silent. Very pleasant for a walk. The waterfall at level 3 was actually nice! It has some nice greenery and flowers around and I liked what I saw.
I noticed a yellow tape covering the following path and a sign saying to not go further: Danger: falling rocks. After giving it many thoughts, I decided to stay at level 3 and not proceed further. Even though I wanted to go. But then I thought that they must know better, and decided to not do anything stupid. Plus the woman made me promise I would go back after level 3. She seemed to be scared for me haha anyway… I enjoyed this not-that-big waterfall with absolutely no one else around. As I mentioned, the weather wasn’t the best, so I didn’t enjoy the spot for longer. I decided to leave before it started to rain heavily, and I don’t really like the idea of walking in the jungle under the rain as it gets muddy and too slippery. Too late, I was in the jungle when it started to rain pretty heavily and I even fell on the floor and hurt my knee. Damn! Got soaked haha
I arrived at the entrance very wet and the nice lady offered me a hot coffee that I accepted even though I don’t like coffee. I ended up not drinking it. But, It felt awesome to warm my hands with it haha
Once the rain cleared, I hopped on the motorbike to head to Ban Na through quiet and beautiful roads. It was still a nice trip even though I wasn’t the luckiest person.
Train to Kantang
As I spent a lot of time volunteering in Ban Na, Surat Thani, I had to do a lot of research for things to do around the place cause doing nothing is not my thing. I’m in a new place, I have to explore everything I can haha. So I came up with the idea of going all the way from Ban Na train station to Kantang, the last station of the Andaman railway line, and over 100 years old. It seems to be an attraction and the architecture lovely. Even though it would take all day on the train, I decided to do this trip because I couldn’t find something else to do haha and also because it was super cheap. I like riding the Thai trains anyway. Feel the wind on my face, being surrounded by locals and their smiles, and beautiful landscapes outside the window, perfect for me. The last time I was on a train in Thailand was to do the death railway in Kanchanaburi more than a year ago, so I was missing a proper train ride. To check the train schedule, you can visit this website which is very accurate. It tells prices and train delays too. Very handy to plan your trip.
So basically this day I spent more than 8 hours on trains. The journey to Kantang is something like 4h and then all the way back to Ban Na, only to enjoy Kantang train station for 30 minutes haha. Not sure if this trip was worth it, but better than nothing to do anyway. Especially because I had to do the same route a few weeks later to get to Koh Lipe haha. I didn’t think about it before so yeah, the train ride made no sense after the Koh Lipe trip. But you can just hop on the train and enjoy it for a couple of hours and then come back later. Also possible.
Kantang train station itself is beautiful, as well as most of the train stations I saw along the way. Thai train stations are pretty. A rustic style, flowers, and colors, so pretty. But Kantang train station was the best for sure. It is all in wood with yellow and brown colors and it looks very photogenic and aesthetic. So pretty. There were a lot of people at the station taking pictures. Many of them came from Trang on purpose to see Kantang Train station and then head back to Trang on the next train.
It was nice to cross the same bridge I had seen before in Nasan city and have those limestone cliffs as a view from the train.
Khao Soon mountain
This spot was another discovery I have done while volunteering in Ban Na, Surat Thani. Pretty cool discovery actually. To visit this mountain region, I convinced another volunteer to go with me. There is a cheap train to get near Khao Soon mountain, so we decided to go and explore somewhere new. We hopped on the train in Ban Na, but before we checked on the website if it was delayed. It is the slowest train and, therefore cheap. It stops at every station, but our destination was Than Pho train station about 2h away. We went in the morning and came back on the last train available in the evening.
I ended up crossing the same landscapes by train too many times haha. Once in Than Pho, we stopped to have lunch. The place has a small market and not much going on. Needless to say, people were surprised to see us there. From the train station, we walked several km to reach a high point in the mountain with nice views. We ended up not walking until the point we were supposed to: Khao Soon viewpoint, because the weather wasn’t helping either. We had to stop to shelter from the rain for a long while and it left us no time to walk all the way to the top and then back to hop on the last train… still, we managed to have nice mountain views of Khao Soon mountain.
We also discovered that the area has accommodations with a mountain view. We were not expecting to see anything touristy here. But there are several accommodation options in its spot. Some nice bungalows with mountain views for a bit more than 1000 bh/ night. What a quiet chilled place though. It looked pretty cool to spend some relaxing days actually. We stopped at Khuan Ta Roen Khao Soon mountain because the owner was super gentil. Offered us bottles of water and allowed us to sit and enjoy the view. And what a view. This is where we stopped and decided to enjoy the cloudy view. From here we headed back to stop for a drink at Craft Cafe and Bar 365 but the internet connection wasn’t the best. We needed the internet to check the train schedule…
When the train time was near we had to walk all the way to Tan Pho train station, already time-tight haha Luckily, a woman saw us walking on the street, where no one walks, and decided to stop to check where we were going. We got a very needed and helpful free ride to the train station. We were already so tired of walking haha. That motorbike lift was perfectly handy! Awesome! We had to wait for our train for a bit, and then back home to Ban Na, Surat Thani.
River spots around Ban Na, Surat Thani
I had never heard about Ban Na, or its attractions so volunteering here came even more surprising than I thought. Ban Na is not that far from Surat Thani city center, about 1 hour away, and has so many cool spots to explore around as you have discovered in this post. I have explored all these spots for more than 1 month spent volunteering in Ban Na, but I also cycled a lot around ending up finding some other cool areas nearby for shorter bike trips. Ban Na, or Ban Na Doem, has a river named Lam Phun that offers some cool areas to relax after volunteering hours. I went to 2 different spots that are worth a mention. The first one is: ท่าขอนเรือ. Please note that these spots aren’t touristy so there aren’t even names with our alphabet characters. That name is what you should copy into Google Maps to find this cool river spot. There are some food stalls here and benches in the water. It seems like a place where locals come for a swim and the water temperature is very pleasant indeed. To get here about 20 minutes on the bike is enough. The street is super quiet with green sceneries around, but be prepared to find some aggressive-looking dogs chasing you for a while as you cycle. I didn’t like this little detail honestly. Was a little scary crossing some parts on my own.
Another nice spot to bathe in the river near the house in Ban Na is if you cycle along the Lam Phun River past Wat Ban Na. You will see a street side by side with the small river, just follow it until you find a way to the river. We found a shallow spot to go for a swim and enjoy the cooling water that was unexpectedly not cold. Maybe there are more nice river spots near Ban Na, but this was all I found. I also found a nice lake nearby that I introduced to several volunteers, but honestly, just cycle around and discover yourself how beautiful this rural part of Thailand is and how Surat Thani has so many beautiful landscapes to offer.
Surat Thani Firefly tour
We celebrated the birthday of one of the volunteers while in Ban Na, so we decided to go for a day trip to Surat Thani town after work. I heard about this firefly tour and promoted it to the birthday girl haha We were 3 volunteers and we decided to do it. We also went to town to see Barbie the movie.
I knew nothing about this tour, prices, times, or how to book it. There isn’t much about it online. We decided to go by the river during the day to figure out how to do the firefly tour. Bad move. It just made it complicated for me. If you want to do this Surat Thani firefly tour, simply show up along the river next to the night market near Wat Klang Kao and there will be locals with their boats advertising the tour. You don’t need to schedule in advance, just show up. The phone where I saved info about this trip was stolen so I’m not sure about the details. But, I believe the tour lasted a bit more than 1 hour and cost 150bh for each one of us.
I have done a firefly tour before in Malaysia and I really liked it, so I was excited about this one. I think the one in Malaysia was better if I compare. But, if you have never done such a thing, I think this one in Surat Thani is worth it. The boat goes in the dark near the trees where the fireflies like to hang around. We saw many! Seeing these insects feels magical as they look like Christmas lights shining in the distance. It is so relaxing to watch, and silent! We saw plenty of them!
On the way back after seeing the fireflies, the driver took us to a nice spot with floating houses and a very cool restaurant overlooking the river. I’ll leave the name of the restaurant here: กาแฟห้อยขา@บ้านบางหลา. The atmosphere as we crossed it seemed awesome. People were waving goodbye. We also went to the lit-up bridge and then back to the spot where we hopped on the boat. Of course, this is a trip you can only do at nighttime. Not sure until what time the boatman is there waiting for customers.
Besides all these places near Ban Na, Surat Thani I also ventured further, to a spot I had in mind visiting since the time I lived in Krabi: Thamma Park, Surat Thani. Check out more about it here.
