Heading down South

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 cannot enter that section unless the driver has the token in hand. When the train reaches the next station, the token is handed over, allowing another train to use the section.

It’s a fail-safe system — if you don’t physically have the token, you cannot be on the track.  This is especially useful on rural or older lines where full signalling systems aren’t installed.  

We had some lovely views on our way down the coast from our carriage window.

On arrival I did a quick video to show you the third class local train leaving the platform.

We are staying at a small B&B hotel for 5 nights at a cost around £22 per night.   It is new hotel with a great balcony view of the mountains.

We are approximately 20 minutes walk away from the beach.  Once we checked in, we headed down for some blustery sea air in the 30 degree heat.  Tomorrow we will pick up some bicycles so we can do some proper exploring.

Prachuap Khiri Khan is a small seaside town, unspoilt by tourism.  We look forward to exploring over the next few days.  It is well known for seafood so George will be very happy with the menu variety this week. 

On our walk around town we found a wonderful homeware store, full to the ceiling with plastic items and anything else you could dream of!

George showed me the wide range of wok and utensils to try and get me excited about cooking when we get back to the UK.  I ignored him.

People who know me, know I love stationery.  So I was really excited to see a dedicated aisle and eagerly starting rummaging through the notepads.  But something else caught my eye.

A cat was asleep among the books.  It looked cute at first, but the poor thing must have been in a fight as they had a chunk bitten out of their neck.  I hope the little one will be taken to the vets by a kind local.