We took the overnight train from Bangkok to Nakhon Si Thammarat. It takes about 15.5 hours to cover a distance of 750 km. And this is a good thing.

I love these journeys.

You get to experience the little miracle of having your pair of seats converted into a pair of beds. You get to tuck yourself up in your curtained-off alcove while the train clickety-clacks its way south.

And the next morning, if you've ordered breakfast, it will be brought right to you, so you can start your new journeying day with hot rice porridge and fresh pineapple.

Outside, sliding past your window, are vistas of lotus ponds, snow-white egrets, big, bulky water buffaloes, banana trees and rubber trees, the occasional patch of rice, and temples twinkling in the morning sun. And there are mountains. Quite big ones that you gradually work your way around.

There was a mass exodus of foreigners at Surat Thani. So much so that solicitous railway officials kept coming up to ask us where we were going, concerned we'd somehow missed all the "Surat Thani" hollering. By the time we got to our destination, we were the only ones left in the carriage.

Our accommodation, Tree Home Plus (which we found courtesy of the ever-useful Travelfish), is an absolute joy.

We have a huge, airy room, with our own private garden. The aircon works well, as does the wifi. The main house is spacious, high-ceilinged, and elegant. Its garden is cool and shady, with big trees, ponds, and potted plants. Breakfast is served out on the main terrace: hot rice porridge with pork and egg, or the Thai version of chicken rice; mountains of fruit (there are always bananas and oranges, while rambutan, longan, and mangosteen appear as available); and if you're still hungry, there's thick bread to toast. Coffee and tea (plus bread and fruit, if you get an attack of the munchies) are available all day in the kitchen area.

What about your budget accommodation aspirations, I hear you saying. Well, here's the charm: this place costs us about MYR 90 per day (that's GBP 17 or NZD 33). It costs us less to live here than it used to cost to rent our (smaller) studio in KL...






And Nakhon Si Thammarat, it turns out, is an extremely interesting place. Visually, the city as a whole is not outstanding. It's pleasant enough, and the residential areas are leafy and lovely, but the commercial streets are not super-beautiful (there are not many of these attractive traditional wooden houses left, unfortunately).



Where it really scores, however, is in its culinary scene (more on this soon) and its exuberant historical presence.

This cosmopolitan trading city was, at different stages, within reach of the power projected by the Srivijayan and the Khmer empires (this is a much more complicated and contingent relationship than just being "part" of an empire); it was a vassal of Sukhothai (at which point it continued to maintain close ties with Sri Lanka and was a major centre for Sri Lanka-influenced Buddhism); later still it fell within Ayutthaya's zone of influence; and in the 18th century, it became part of Siam.

Bits of all this heritage are still visible, and we've been following them up, guided by Travelfish's "cultural walk". We still haven't made it to the end of this itinerary. Everything is so picturesque and interesting that we just want to linger.












All this is good. Nakhon's real stunner, however, is Wat Phra Maha That, with its early 13th-century chedi. During our visit, helpers were hard at work taking down the saffron cloths that had draped the temple for Maha Bucha day.












Then there are the things you just happen upon:




And we're so not finished yet...