Before I came to Thailand, if you h

Before I came to Thailand, if you had asked me to name any Thai city beginning with the word “Nakhon”, I would have been fairly stuck. I’m guessing that you might be a bit like me in this regard. If not, maximum points, well done.

As it is, our adventures in Thailand have taken us to two cities starting with the word Nakhon. These were Nakhon Ratchasima (better known locally as Korat, although I hadn’t heard of it by either name), and the city of Nakhon Si Thammarat, which most Thai people refer to simply as Nakhon, and which is the subject of today’s post.

If you’ve never heard of Nakhon Si Thammarat, don’t worry, it doesn’t seem to feature particularly high up on most itineraries. This is probably because whilst it is in the south of Thailand, it’s not exactly on the beach, and when you think of southern Thailand you probably think of the gorgeous Andaman coast, or some beautiful far flung islands ringed with white sands and turquoise waters.

Slightly grubby and, in the words of the Lonely Planet, “not likely to win any beauty contests”, Nakhon doesn’t even make the radar as somewhere to pass through.