Surat Thani is really just a stop over place to get to the islands in the gulf or the airport. The Kaew Samui was absolutely fine - nothing special and relatively clean. It is very cheap at around 500 baht but our TV had no english channels and the rooms are pretty sparse and not really somewhere you want to spend much time. The food in the restaurant was not bad but the breakfast was really not very appetising - again though for 500 baht it really wasn't that bad and all the staff were lovely but I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to spend another night there. : )