Surat Thani

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This article is about the town Surat Thani. For other uses, see Surat Thani (disambiguation).

Surat Thani (Thai: สุราษฎร์ธานี) is a city in Amphoe Mueang Surat Thani, Surat Thani Province, southern Thailand. It is the capital of the province Surat Thani.

The city has a population of 126,018 (2007), and an area of 68.97 square kilometers. The city's population density is 1,827.13 inhabitants per km². It is near the mouth of the river Tapi on the Gulf of Thailand. The city has no tourist attractions, and is thus only known to tourists as a transfer to the nearby Ko Samui island.

City pillar shrine in Surat Thani.

It forms the regional commercial center, with a seaport dealing in the main products of the province, rubber and coconuts.

1 History
2 Traffic
3 Administration
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

The city received its name by King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) in 1915 which means City of Good People. Then this name was given to the city due to the high devotion of the locals to Buddhism. Previously the city was known as Bandon, which means Village on higher ground.

On December 21 1930 Surat Thani became a sanitary district (sukhaphiban),^[1] which was upgraded to a town (thesaban mueang) on December 7 1935, with a municipal area of 2.67 km².^[2] The area of the municipality was enlarged to 6.95 km² on October 14 1958,^[3] and on December 22 1994 it was further enlarged to 68.97 km².^[4] On May 4 2007, the town was upgraded to city status (thesaban nakhon).^[5]

Since 1969 Surat Thani is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Surat Thani, responsible for about 6000 Catholic Christians in southern Thailand.

[edit] Traffic

Surat Thani is connected with Bangkok by the southern railway even though Surat Thani Railway Station is located in Phunphin, about 15 km far from the downtown. Asian highway AH2 also passes the city at Phunphin. A regional airport, Surat Thani International Airport, is about 30 km from the city by road. Though some ferries to Ko Samui are provided in the downtown, the main ferry pier is located at Don Sak, 40 km east (about 60 km by road) on the coast of Gulf of Thailand.

[edit] Administration

Municipal office.

The town covers the tambon Talad and Bang Kung, and parts of the tambon Khlong Chanak, Bang Chana, Bang Baimai and Makham Tia, all part of the Mueang Surat Thani district. The town is subdivided into 45 communities (chumchon).