On to Chumphon

We crossed by bus to Chumphon on the Gulf of Thailand where we stayed the night before ferrying 30 miles to Koh Tao (at 5 am). On the bus we saw mostly rubber tree, coconut, palm oil and banana plantations ("estates"). I am sure there was more, but that's what I could recognize. People appeared to be much better off in the agricultural community.  

The soil is reddish clay overlying weathered bedrock (mostly limestone) which explains why everything is concrete and brick.  Given the amount of organic matter, there is surprisingly only a thin veneer of top soil. Outside of the plantations it would take you the better part of a day to hack your way a mile through the rugged overgrown jungle.

Here we are in a "taxi" in Chumphon. I need to work on selfies.

We ate street food at the night market in Chumphon. We tried a little of everything.  Nothing was more than 40 baht ($1.33). It was all very good. Only one surprise, what I thought was chicken on a stick turned out to be a very chewy mystery meat. I'm pretty sure Zoe ate it anyway.