Thailand – Heading North

I still have a bit of catching up to do. We are in Bangkok and after the events a couple of days ago things are going back to normal unlike poor Myanmar.

I’m so far behind with my writing, I may have to rush through a couple of towns that we visited before Bangkok.

Travelling here is very cheap. Obviously we want to budget as best we can. We’ve toyed with the idea of hiring a car and this may be an option in the future. Mostly we’ve used Grab Taxi’s and buses. Slowly we are making our way North from Southern Thailand. We decided to take our first train. All the guide books say to book in advance, this may be true of the sleeper trains but, it’s taken a few days to realise that tickets are only released at the station the day before if you want to travel by day. It’s really cheap only a couple of quid to travel for 3 hours or so.

The journey from Surat Thani to Chumphon was 3rd class with bench seats. The windows and doors were wide open. I loved it, it was noisy and buffeting but, with views of the flat land around us, fields, paddys and towns. We saw storks, herons, egrets and other wading birds. Other birds included, Mynas, Coucal, Drongo, Kuals, kingfishers, Asian fairy blue bird, and Thick knees (not mine) most had to be looked up afterwards.

Men and women wandered the carriages selling food and drinks. We were a bit timid to try this. Some of the women had some pale powder dusted on their faces. much later we discovered these women are from Myanmar and it’s a natural sunblock they make and use.

Chumphon is not a particularly touristy town. It has lovely beaches nearby. Unfortunately they are not for swimming as there is a rip tide here.

There wasn’t much to see or do here, we a had a coffee from a Volkswagen outside the Hotel the morning after we arrived all very hippy!

We had been reading about monkeys being used to harvest coconuts before we arrived and the controversy that follows this trade. Then we actually saw one working, I cannot say he was any quicker than a guy we also saw knocking the fruit down or that he was being mistreated in any way! A day or so later we saw a few heading to work in the back of a truck! They looked like they were chained  and not caged,  hanging onto a rail.

We did get another massage, honestly I might be a hedonist and Tatajana definitely is! While I waited for Tatjana to finish her massage I went for a wander. I quite like the less salubrious places and wandered under the road bridge to discover a harbour!

We visited the fishing harbour after our massages and on the beach saw these teeny tiny crabs making little balls of sand and runway-like escape routes.

The next day we moved a bit closer to town and the hotel offered cycles and kayaks for free. It was a really peaceful area.

Most homes here have little shrines to the spirits of the place they live. It seems a bit like following folklore. They come in all shapes and sizes and often have flower offerings dangling from them.

Chumphon has a night market and we tried these little pancakes

We also got massages in Chumphon town too! I’m going to be feeling all Zen when I get home!

Sorry to rush but Food is coming up next!