been there, seen that... [somewhat offtopic]

SPIEGEL online, the online spinoff of the political magazine DER SPIEGEL and one of the fastest and most read german-language news portals published an article on Thailand's Chumphon region today. I agree with almost everything they wrote, this is one of the "undiscovered diamonds" in Thailand:

Die Strände Thailands scheinen mancherorts endlos zu sein. Am Golf von Thailand zwischen Hua Hin und Chumphon kann ein Urlauber lange am Wasser laufen, bevor er ein Dorf oder gar einen anderen Touristen sieht. Weiter südlich bei Surat Thani, Nakhon Si Thammarath und Songkhla haben Besucher ebenfalls viel Platz. Die Infrastruktur für Reisende ist überall gut: Ein schöner Strand, ein sauberes Zimmer, preiswerte Busse, Bahnen, Fähren und Restaurants, dazu exotische Märkte und freundliche Menschen. more

This was one of the most intriguing experiences there: Traveling in a country that welcomes 13.8 million vistors a year usually means never being "alone" at a place, whatever remote. The province of Chumphon (Chumporn being definitely the funnier transcription, but it loses at google: 162,000 versus 684,000) marks an exception: although easily accesible by train from Bangkok, you can find yourself walking endless sand beaches completely alone, maybe with some fishermen's kids playing in the water. Being the only foreigner makes you an attraction and you can experience by yourself what earlier visitors of Thailand meant when writing about the Thai's legendary hospitality and friendliness...