Very easy to enter Thailand from Surat Thani, I did it yesterday (KL - URT) on a visa-exempt. It's even easier than the one I did entering from Chiang Mai 2 months ago. In Surat Thani, you give your passport to the counter and they take your fingerprints before the officer at the counter even opens your passport. Then they take your picture while that same officer stamps your passport. It's like they are trying to break a world record for how quick the process is. No question asked, she smile at me and I was good to go. Having seen first hand the process, there is no way that they reject anyone at Surat Thani because i've been here for a long tiime and it was even easier then CM, Nong Khai border, etc.

 

What I did is Khon Kaen - Hat Yai in the morning, Bus to border, Train from border to Alor Setar (only 40 min). Spend the day in Alor Setar. Next morning Alor Setar to KL, and then KL to Surat Thani. Then long bus Surat Thani back to Khon Kaen. You can also come back KL to Hat Yai and do the same Hat Yai to KK. But the KL to Hat Yai plane for some reason was not cheap.

Thanks for the information. Why not use Air Asia instead of the buses?

 

Surat Thani to Khon Kaen way too expensive.