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| A very pretty location, day or night |
The journey to Prachaup Khiri Khan went
smoothly. A sleepy, seaside town recommended by a friend of mine, where very
few westerners visit as the area is considered more of a Thai holiday venue.
Certainly, this was our experience of it at least.
We arrived quite late, and not wanting to
try room hunting when we were both tired and new to the area, we had gone
online and booked the cheapest place we could see close to where the bus was
going to stop. The website showed the location of the property was right on the
sea front, but would be a short taxi ride away, which was fine as we were
greeted by a motorcycle and sidecar as soon as we hopped off the bus.
Unsure of the name of the place in Thai,
and him speaking little English and unable to read our alphabet, we were
struggling at the first hurdle of getting moving. We attempted to point it out
on a map, but this wasn’t of much help. Eventually we found a telephone number
for the property and handed the phone over. After a while, nods of agreement
were being made and we were on our way. Except, we seemed to be going in the
opposite direction to where we’d expected.
After some 15 minutes of going what we
believed to be the wrong way, we saw signs with the name of the property along
the main road. At this point, we realized we’d been somewhat tricked, as this
was getting much further from the beach, but we’d only booked one night, it was
cheap and it was already late so we only needed a place to crash and we’d find
somewhere else in the morning. We rolled up to the place, paid our motorcycle
driver and were greeted by the owner, a very helpful man who spoke a small
amount of English. A long row of doors, each with their own little porch area
were attached to the main building.
We were shown to our room, which wasn’t
actually a room but pretty much a studio apartment. We had a TV room, down a
corridor we had our bedroom and a bathroom. The bedroom had AC and the comfiest
bed (In bright green... Conspiracy?) we have had in a long time. Not having
eaten, we were rustled up some pots of instant noodles, tried to understand
some Thai TV which was difficult, but we did find some sort of X-Factor
equivalent which was somewhat entertaining, and headed to bed.
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| A comfy bed! With AC! |
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| A living room! |
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| Resident, overly energetic dogs appeared from all the nooks and crannies |
After a great sleep where if anything we
were too cold in the night, we asked for a taxi towards the beach in order to
find another guest house a little closer to everything. The same motorcycle
taxi who had dropped us off turned up and took us to a place on the seafront,
called Om Guest House. If anyone happens to visit the area, I’d highly
recommend the place. The room was simple enough (we did have a balcony
overlooking the sea though, which was a great view) and a shared bathroom, but
the person who owned it, JJ, was incredibly friendly and welcoming, telling us
at every opportunity to just make ourselves at home. Free water and coffee was
available to make when we fancied, bananas in the reception bit (to the point
JJ’s mum, realizing we liked bananas, went out and bought hundreds of them.
Diana felt bad eating them though, so they ended up being forced into our
hands) and a fridge we could use. They also had scooter hire, which was useful
(although, had the last place we’d been offered a scooter to us we’d probably not
have left there, it was very homely).
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| Great view from the balcony |
We decided for the first day we’d just take
a leisurely walk along the town and beach to get our bearings. We arrived on a
Sunday, so everything was even sleepier than usual. Walking along the beach for
around 2 hours we only really bumped into about 10 people and a few dogs, very
quiet indeed! Nothing particularly remarkable happened, plenty of dead things
washed up on the beach and as customary whenever I go near the sea I got a cut
on my foot. Exciting!
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| One of the many dead things we found on our travel |
The next day we rented a scooter (at no
point did we hand over a passport or any ID when we were there, incredibly
trusting…!) and headed slightly south to Ao Manao, a beach located on an air
force base, a Japanese invasion point in WWII. Nowadays, it seemed more of a
formality than anything, we rode in with nothing more than a nod to the guard
and parked up in front of the beach. Getting something to eat and a couple of
cold coffees (an addiction in Thailand, they’re everywhere and they’re
incredible!) we headed onto the beach and to a couple of chairs under an
umbrella.
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| Not much to blemish the view |
Nearby, an older white English man and a
Thai lady were having a chat. Her English seemed good although not quite
perfect, as she was asking him about certain English mannerisms. For example,
she asked him what the white beans they ate with noodles were called. I just
about managed to resist the urge to smack myself in the head when I heard him
reply with ‘I don’t know, but knowing the English language, it’s probably just
“white beans”’. Mung beansprouts I believe was the answer he was looking for.
After a while we went exploring this beach,
as I’d heard that there are some monkeys that are found at the northern point
of the beach known as Dusky Leaf Monkeys. Managing to drag Diana too, we walked
around 30 minutes up the beach before seeing a few of them hanging out on the
roof of a wooden structure, and drinking water out of a nearby boat.
Interestingly, the babies seemed to be bright orange, and then they turn black
and white when they’re older. All very cute and friendly though, no hostility
at all to us!
Just monkeying about.
Heading back to town and this time armed
with a scooter, we take a longer route to find out if anything else is going
on. We found a huge night market by the train tracks, selling fruit, vegetables,
cooked meats, clothes, perfume and children’s toys. After wandering around (and
treating ourselves to a whole cantaloupe) we headed around the corner to
another night market, this one specifically for food, and tried out one of the
buffet salad options. Included with this were glass noodles, a transparent
noodle like.. thing… Which was crunchy and tasted pretty much like water, but
an interesting consistency anyway. Another odd ingredient was a green jelly,
again almost tasteless but with a quite solid jelly like texture, we later
found out this was a grass jelly. Not a fan, but not the worst thing I’d ever
eaten. Dollops of yellow liquid were chucked over it all, which luckily turned
out to just be a salad cream and quite complimentary – we’ve had experiences of
sauces ruining an otherwise perfectly good dish in the past..!
One recommendation of things to see nearby
was an Elephant Foundation called Hutsadin (http://www.hutsadin.com/).
We were quite wary, as we’ve seen elephants previously who were clearly not
well looked after or treated well, however, this one seemed to have quite a
good mission statement with many positive reviews. We were also aware this was
not the only place in the area offering interaction with elephants, and most of
these other ones had very poor reviews where people stated the animals had cuts
or were hit to get them to do things.
Making sure we had the right place set on
the sat nav as we didn’t want to end up at a bad place, we hopped on the
scooter for around an hour and a half in the midday sun. Needless to say, this
was our first case of a pretty bad sun burn, Diana suffering particular where
she’d had her legs hidden for the last 4 months and just getting used to
wearing shorter clothing.
We arrived at the right place, and were
greeted and shown a ‘menu’ of interactions with the animals. Not quite what we
were hoping, we really just wanted to see them in a more natural habitat,
however, we opted for going for a walk, feeding and washing an elephant, as
this seemed the least like ‘working’ it. We were lead to an area with 3
elephants, all of which were chained up with water and under a shelter.
The ‘mahout’ released the chain from the
building (although still attached to the elephants leg) and we began walking.
Another man did have a long thin stick, however, no hooks or anything similar
attached, and seemed to just be using it by tapping the elephant on a side to
get it to go that way. The elephant we were with did seem to have a cut on its
head, however, we got to a part on the way where it was rubbing up against a
tree quite hard and the guy with us said this is how it had happened. Hopefully
this was the case, there were no signs of any other cuts and we didn’t witness
any violence in any way.
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| A friend! With bananas! |
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After the walk, the elephant was chained up
again and we were given a broom and a hose pipe to clean it with (which was
necessary by now, as most of the walking it was chucking dirt all over itself
in order to cool down). I think the elephant believed we were doing a poor job
of it, as it kept spraying itself down at the same time.
Finally, we were lead back to the start,
where another, smaller elephant was chained up. This one seemed a lot more
distressed about it though, trying to reach away from where it was to get
things out of reach. The trainer (mahout) then let it free, and it started a
clear routine, where it sat down on one of its legs and we were invited to go
sit on it. Next it hugged each of us with its trunk, and finally, it headed
off, picked up a basket with money in it and placed it by us. We both ignored
it, we’d already paid for what we had wanted and were somewhat dubious about
giving any more. The trainer said something in Thai and the elephant picked up
the basket and placed it by us again. Again, we ignored it, and the trainer
issued the same command. This happened maybe three times in total, before he
said something different and the elephant picked it up again and headed back to
its enclosure, where it was chained again.
We would like to believe that the place IS
doing good. We asked questions, and they said at nights there is an area the
elephants go to where they are more free to interact with each other, although
we never actually saw it. We’d like to believe the elephants are chained up for
our safety, as these animals could easily kill if they wanted to. And most
importantly, we wanted to believe the only reason the animals performed the way
they did was because it was the only way they could raise enough money to look
after the animals as they need to be. However, I’m not entirely sure. I don’t
think the animals are treated violently, but they were obviously chained and
couldn’t have been entirely happy. We’d both have been happier to see them in a
natural environment and pay a donation for the upkeep, but that seems hard to
find and I doubt they could operate that way with a reliable income. Assuming
their website isn’t outright lying, I hope this is the reason. They do state
they take in volunteers, I’d hope if it wasn’t a good place it would have been
whistleblown by now.
Regardless, we were now finished, but
unfortunately the heavens opened. For a good 45 minutes, we were getting an
idea of what the monsoon season here could be like. We stayed under shelter and
waited for it to ease off. Fortunately, someone had moved our helmets so they
didn’t fill with water whilst hanging off our bike, something we hadn’t even
considered! We wanted to see more of Hua Hin, the seaside town we were now in
that was a more popular tourist destination, but not wanting to get caught out
in the rain we headed back.
The ride back we stopped via an open air
market to get something to eat. One cultural difference we’d seen here was
people buying curries and other foods in clear plastic baggies, tied up and
made air tight with an elastic band. Thinking we could do this too, no problem,
Diana sampled a couple of curries on offer, and after deciding the first one
was too spicy, settled on the second one. Trusting her judgement, we get two of
them and a disposable spoon and head under cover as it was raining lightly
again, in order to eat our lunch.
Whether the first curry had simply dulled
her sense of heat, or she was playing a cruel joke, I don’t know, but the curry
was basically pure, liquid fire, with a side infusion of every chili in the
world. That’s right, we were eating napalm from a bag with a spoon, trying not
to let our throats combust. This resulted in a mess, a burning mouth for the
next half an hour and a fairly disappointing lunch.
The ride back unfortunately got caught in
another torrential rain storm. Fortunately my half face helmet, which didn’t
really fit and had to be adjusted every 5 seconds to stop it either blinding or
strangling me, had a visor, otherwise I’d have been blinded by the sideways
rain. Within seconds my t shirt was not just wet but saturated, and sticking to
my skin to the point I couldn’t even feel I had a t shirt on anymore. The rain
constantly stinging my arms, I considered pulling over but couldn’t see
anywhere sheltered. Fortunately it stopped as suddenly as it started, and
somehow by the time we got back my top was completely dry. Magic.
Unfortunately Diana’s sunburn was starting
to seriously kick in around about now, with two huge red patches on her legs.
Not wanting to go out now, I headed out on a hunt for after sun, sun cream (for
next time) and food. Not sure why, but after sun and sun cream are both hard to
get hold of and if you do, incredibly expensive. I managed to find some aloe
vera anyway, and grabbed some more of the last night’s salads as they were a
reliable choice.
The next day we just relaxed in the shade
and got some laundry done, planning our next move. The notorious ‘Full Moon
Party’ on Ko Phangan island was coming up in a few days, and as we were in the
area anyway it made sense to make the hop over and see what all the fuss was
about. After asking JJ what the best way to get there would be (a boat left
from a town a couple of hours south called Chumporn) we decided we’d visit
there, and booked some accommodation for the days we’d need as we weren’t sure
how booked up and expensive it would get if we didn’t. Before this, we thought
we’d visit another nearby island we’d heard mixed reviews about called Ko
Samui. We decided we’d leave the next morning, although JJ recommended we
waited to see what the weather would be like before getting a boat anywhere.
By evening time, Diana’s sunburn was still
playing up and the aloe vera wasn’t quite cutting it. We tried to go visit the
night market we’d found the first time by the train tracks, however, this must
only have run on certain days as when we arrived there was no evidence
what-so-ever it had ever existed. Heading to a Tesco (Left my clubcard at
home…! Although I have a feeling it was a slightly different system…) Diana
wanted to pick up some yoghurt as she’d heard it was good for sunburn. At no
point did I mock her for wanting to become yoghurt-coated.
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| Bloody weirdo. |
On the walk back, we spotted some bright
flashing lights on the pier that hadn’t been there previously, and music
blaring out. Curious, we wandered over to see what was going on. Walking past
lots of people who were, admittedly, a hell of a lot more dressed up than we
were (me in my shorts and t-shirt…) we realized we’d stumbled upon a wedding.
People were lining up to take photos with the bridge and groom, some sort of
music concert/karaoke was happening in the background. Realising we weren’t
dressed or ready for the occasion, we headed back to our guest house.
The following morning, JJ was ready to give
us a lift to the minibus section, as she seemed to operate a motorcycle taxi on
the side of renting out scooters and rooms. She pointed us in the right
direction, showed us what bus we’d get on, told the man to drop us off at the pier
and sent us off on our way, just like an adoptive Thai mother.
The minibus took about two hours and didn’t
take us to the pier at all, but just dumped us near another motorcycle taxi in
town. Not happy about this, but not really being able to argue it, we speak to
the motorcycle taxi driver about the boat and he informs us it’s 1100 each for
a direct ticket to Ko Samui, and would be about a 45 minute drive from where we
were. As this would work out to about £44 for both of us and the cost of the
taxi, we asked if there was a cheaper way to do it.
He told us there would be an overnight
ferry to Ko Tao, one of the other nearby islands, which would cost us 400 Baht
(£8) each and leaves at 11pm. The pier was also closer, so the taxi fare would
be a lot less. Happy with this option but knowing nothing about Ko Tao, we
accept and figure we’d work out the fine details in our 10 hour wait for the
boat departure.
Luckily, the waiting area for the boat had
baggage storage, water, toilets, Wi-Fi and shower facilities. We didn’t feel
quite scummy enough to take a shower at this point, but we did use the water,
toilets and Wi-Fi quite extensively. Reading through leaflets, it seemed Ko Tao
had one major attraction, something neither of us were very knowledgeable
about, diving. Seems it’s pretty much the #1 place in the world to do it, and
works out incredibly cheap if you’re interested.
Realising we had a lot of time to kill we
decided to leave our bags and go for a wander. Nothing on the map appeared
close to where we were, so I decided just to lead us towards the sea front and
hope for the best. On the way, we saw many dead snakes on the side of the road,
which made me wonder if we’d actually make it there and back without either
being bitten by a snake or being killed however they were.
We met a fork in the road, one stating a
beach was 4km to the left, and the road to the right I was planning to take as
it looked like a road to a beach was a lot closer. We carried on my way, past people’s
wooden houses suspended on stilts, down a little dirt road which took us to
what was basically our own private beach. The only people to see were doing
stuff on their boats, although at one point when we were distracted by a dragon
fly someone did walk past and tell us the Thai word for dragonfly. We forgot
this within 3 seconds.
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| The winged beast in question |
After enjoying this for a while, we headed
back towards the dock. On the way, a man stopped his scooter alongside us with
a child standing in the front, and after a few broken sentences he worked out
we were going and beckoned both of us to jump on the back. Feeling it would be
rude to say no, we hopped on, forgetting we were aiding in putting a child’s
life in danger.
Many hours slowly pass, we managed to find
a place to get something to eat down the road where we befriended a disabled
dog who couldn’t use one of his paws, but was still a happy little chappy
running around with other dogs anyway.
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| Spritely little three pawed fellow! |
Around 10pm, our boat was finally
accepting people for boarding and on we hopped!
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| Taking the ring to Mordor..! |
