50 something on her travels

After a successful immigration centre visit, we had a quiet few days at the lovely guesthouse in Ranong.  Yesterday we headed from Ranong on the Myanmar border, over to the west side, and a brief stop in Chumphon.  As it was only for one night, we decided to stay right in the city. It was one of the hardest jobs for me to find anywhere decent to stay. Because there was nothing. Not even something expensive that had a good rating.  So we ended up in a basic hotel which in fairness was clean. It has the word 'boutique' in its title. It's anything but. It's the only hotel I've not photographed. Apart from the delightful art above the bed.  Reviews state to avoid the rooms at the rear due to the constant noise from a dog shelter. So we asked for a quiet room which ended up being at the front. I was awake most of the night listening to the road traffic on the main road.  As you can imagine I was up early so we could exit as swiftly as we arrived. 😐

After being woken by the guest next door coughing up a lung at 5:30am this morning, we left our hotel. George was delighted at check out when the hotel gave us a partial refund for leaving early. 😳 Today we took the two hour bus ride from East to West Thailand. It's the very thin bit! It was 1.5 hours curling around the roads uphill. And then 30 minutes flying down the other side.  Our bus interior was quite bizarre - check out the ceiling.  Every bus has blue curtains as standard. Usually with frilly hanging bits. Luckily we didn't have those dust collectors today.  Our destination today was Ranong which is the sea border with Myanmar (Burma). Sadly we can't visit due to the war and the FCDO advising against all travel. As we crossed into Ranong Province we stopped at a checkpoint for the police to board the bus, check us out and had a look at the luggage.  The seating system and ticketing on the journey today was quite ridiculous. Mostly tourists board...

On Saturday we left lovely Prachuap Khiri Khan to head South.  The second class train option was fully booked, so we has no option but to travel third class. This cost was around £1 per person.  The three hour journey down South was hot and quite unbearable at times in the busy carriage.  We stood for about 45 minutes, before managing to get a seat next to an open window blasting in hot air.  Our next stop is Chumphon.  We knew this town was going to be a little quiet. But the purpose of the visit was to sort out a visa extension.   The town is mainly used as a ferry departure point for Koh Tao, Koh Samui and Koh Phangan (full moon party). I did look at options to revisit these islands as it's been a few years. However it is peak season so the prices have risen dramatically.  Unfortunately our stay hasn't been very exciting.  We are staying slightly out side the town (which we knew to be the case) in a modern hotel....

We discovered a beautiful beach 🏖 today called Ao Manao. We finally managed to hire two old bikes and cycled 3km to visit.  The location of this beach is interesting. It's inside a military base and was a battlefield during World War II.  You arrive at the checkpoint and sign in the register with passports.  You then cycle through the base to the beach further along. No photos are permitted to be taken of the base. However when we got to the beach we were taken aback by how beautiful it is. And photos here are allowed.  It was great as there were hardly any tourists around. I believe it gets busier at weekends with local families.  We will definitely be returning on our final two days to enjoy the sunshine, peace and warm water. 

Today we awoke to a beautiful sunrise.  It felt tropical and reminded me of early mornings in Bali. Without bicycle hire (don't ask, it is frustrating), we walked to Wat Thammikaram Worawihan (aka The Monkey Temple).  It is located at the top of Khao Chong Krajok hill that overlooks the bay of Prachuap Khiri Khan.  Climbing to the top takes 396 steps, and is quite challenging in the morning heat.  The steps are also home to many macaque monkeys who roam freely up and down.   The monkeys are largely unfazed by visitors.  If you ignore them and walk by they don't care.  If you feed them this may result in fights and potential scratching.  Believe me, we don't want another visit to a hospital for a course of Rabies vaccines.  Mind you, there were a couple of tourists feeding them bananas 😩.  You must also remember to have your possessions locked in your bag, otherwise they will nab them.   The locals do arm you with bamboo c...

We spent a low key week at Cha-am Beach.  George had chance to recover from his chest infection.  I had a very busy travel booking week, often working until midnight due to the UK time delay.  It ended up being a good stop to sleep, lay on the beach and catch up on work. Today it was time to move on.  We took the two hour stopping train journey from Cha-am down south to Prachuap Khiri Khan.  Apart from western tourists, the station was pretty much empty for the delayed 11:20 departure. The cost of our journey today in third class was just over £1. I want to explain to you about the "token system" shown in the photo below.  On Thailand’s single-track railway lines , a token system is a traditional safety method used to prevent collisions between trains moving in opposite directions. Each single-track section (between two stations) has a physical token (historically a metal staff or tablet).  Only one train can possess the token at a time . A train ca...