Crawled out of the Sea...

So many perfect beaches and so little time, so today we tried to do them justice and successfully managed all three...

After breakfast a small jungle path took us to Ao Nieng beach, amusing ourselves with hermit crab racing and snorkelling off the reef, it was like swimming in an aquarium. 

A walk around to the main beach for lunch and a well earned snooze in the shady hammocks then over the hill for a last dip at the empty Sunset beach on the west.

As we were in and out of the sea others seem to be content turning themselves into KFC (Kentucky Farang Chicken) by welding themselves to plastic chairs in the 37 degree heat.

Tomorrow we leave the relaxed beaches behind and head back to the mainland it's back on the Ha Thips....even the Internet is slow here...!

Track by Laura Marling and a double whammy cos the album is called 'Alas I cannot swim'!

The Captain...

Captain King came good. 

The smiling, moped sidecar taxi girl arrived in full hijab promptly at 07:00 and with a couple of bungees the bikes were strapped on. With the awkward ballast distributed fairly we careered off, comically, up the bumpy island road to the port at Ban Ma Phrao.

Captain King had probably been up all night, checking bearings on sea charts, depth of fathoms, weather conditions and wind speeds and had probably plotted a compass course due true north across the Andaman sea.....but he needn't have bothered. 

Nautical sea conditions were , as far as I could see, 'as flat as a fluke'! and odds of us getting there were 'favourable'...probably about 3-1 on.

His proud vessel, a sleek 30ft hand crafted wooden long tail with a performance Porsche engine strapped on the back driving a massive propeller was idling sweetly as we loaded the manifest on to the poop deck below the busy pier.

Onlookers waved, and the lady that drove the moped taxi smiled sweetly as we set sail and ripped out of the harbour with the enormous engine bellowing smoke, out north to sea on the crest of a wave with the compass set for Koh Kradan, about an hour away!

On arrival into the clear turquoise waters, Captain King deftly rammed the prow of the boat up on the white sandy beach and we had officially landed on the next island. 

Paradise Lost was the next stop for the accommodation and it didn't disappoint. A generator powered collection of bamboo houses in the jungle with a room for 700baht and a private beach to die for only 5minutes walk away up a little jungle track.

All in all ....a pretty cool place!

Photos will have to be tomorrow as they have been censored due to excessive nudity and limited wifi... 

This will have to do for the next couple of days, I'm afraid!

Scottish rockers Biffy Clyro provide this lovely raucous track from the album 'Only Revolutions'

The tide that left and never came back...

It was only few paces for a morning wee and a swim in the warm Andaman sea as the day broke before 7am.

Following the now obligatory breakfast bowl of noodle soup it was off on a scooter, borrowed for the day from one of the waitresses. For 100 baht and the proviso that we would put some juice in it we went for a nosey around the 34 square kilometres of the island. The sea was well out today for some reason? 

Maybe something to do with the earthquake in Indonesia last night?

The purpose built Dugong watching tower, over the rickety pier by the small stilted Muslim fishing village, provided no sign for us of the strange elusive creatures.

Smaller dusty tracks only led past the rubber trees, probably used for making condoms, deeper into the jungle where the macaques were happily swinging about noisily in the coconut trees.

Back up at the pier in the north, much to everyone's hilarity, a young bull was arriving 

by boat and being persuaded along to its new home, later to be found wrapped around a tree!

A transaction was then woven over an iced green tea that involved a 'Captain King', a 7am pickup from the south and a seaworthy long tail boat off to Koh Kradan for tomorrow. Many hands were shook, backed up with smiles and nods of approval seemed to seal the deal....watch this space!

Playing footie with the kids was fun but it's now far too hot....hammock and cold Beer Chang anyone?

Now on the south west it was an ideal place to watch the sunset.

Track by another indie band, the 'Veils' and a track off their debut album that questions

todays sea quite nicely.

Got a Keep Movin'...

Trang is incredibly HOT....it's a baking 35 degrees!

A fellow train traveller on a bike kindly showed us to a nice guesthouse in a quiet part of the town and saved us the time and effort of looking for somewhere ourselves.

There was no way you could ride in this heat without ending up with third degree burns so getting to the ferry port will need to be done early tomorrow morning when it's a lot cooler. This gave time to pig out down the quite wonderful night market on spicy catfish and a local speciality 'Moo Yang'.

Leaving Trang at 6am gave a better temperature to ride the 50k along the 4008 to the port of Hat Yai. The markets were already in full swing and the lines of monks were out on their daily morning pilgrimage to collect the free stuff and give out blessings.

This was a nice easy ride and we had soon done 32k before a coffee stop. Continuing on down the rural traffic free road we were bombarded with 'Hello's' from the quizzical locals as we passed by. As we arrived at a deserted Hat Yai beach around 10am it was time for the first dip in the Andaman sea....and it was well worth it!

The long tail ferry boat was ready and waiting for us, so once we had paid the 70 baht fee we then had to manhandle on the bikes along with a moped and a load of melons. 30 minutes later we were arriving at the little pier on the first island, Koh Libong....home of the infamous and elusive dugongs!

On arrival we opted to head down to the quieter south of the island and here we first rejected a plush resort with rooms starting at 6000 baht for a nice little beach bungalow for 800 baht and ideal for a spot of snorkelling.

A track from American singer songwriter Willie Mason and the title track off his first album 'Where the Humans Eat'.

Blame it on the trains...

Our last day in Prachuap Kiri Khan. 

It was time to say goodbye to the beach and the langurs, the  seafood, the temples and the smiley faces and the Honda...

It was time to head further south...

Arriving at the station around 22:30 with a ticket for the midnight train, all that was left to do was to get a luggage ticket for the bicycles....unfortunately, the station master had other ideas as there wouldn't be room for the bicycles tonight but they would probably go on one of the next trains and maybe arrive in a couple of days time!

 A few minutes of contemplation ensued then another plan developed. 

As it always does in Asia...Same Same but different...as they say around here.

We now had tickets for the earlier 23:16 to Thung Song Junction. A sleeper train that would get us in at 08:15 with room in cargo for the bikes so we could get a connection on arrival to Trang in the morning. This is exactly what happened and after a nights slumber we had made our way further south during the early hours.

The 08:55 left Thung Song on time the next morning and arrived at Trang one and a half hours later but we paid the price...the ticket cost a whopping 15 baht!

We were once again the only 'Falangs' in town.

(farang=westerners: but Thais can't pronounce an 'r' )

It was greener here.

The jungle was closer.

This track comes from Art Brut off the aptly named album 'It's a bit complicated'.

Just another ordinary day...

Sunday today and next to nothing to do so the lazy morning was spent zipping about on the Honda like a couple of twokkers with asbo's around a council estate. Riding down through the chaotic maze of narrow market stalls and then hitting the highway like a battering ram we flew once again, using another pseudonym, to Wing5 Air Force beach.

It's been quite windy so the surf is up and the sea is warm. 

Returning back for the pre arranged revisit to the torture chamber for another hour of sharp elbows digging into tendons and little brown feet walking up and down your spine trying to realign the vertebrae to bring the Ying in line with the Yang.

A song by  'Patrick Watson' and the title track off his debut album.

Earthly Pleasures...

The jungle was alive with noisy creepy crawlies croaking in the dark at 6am when our lift arrived to take us back into civilisation. The Park Ranger dropped us back on the main road which now meant we had only a leisurely 44km morning ride down to Prachuap Kiri Khan, past the cows and along the coast.

Before 10.30 we had found a nice place to stay, dropped off the laundry and swopped the bikes for a Honda...

Ao Manao was the destination for the afternoon. A strange place on a military Air Force base where you have to gain entry past the guards and sign in. On doing this, and as long as you abide by the rules, you get access to a wonderful beach. Now you can then get as crispy as KFC or until you get bored to death...

Symptom

Tongue swelled up to the size of a cows, eyes watering, gasping for breath, palpitations and sweating profusely.

Diagnosis

Som Tam too hot...

On a quiet part of the base the friendly langurs were fed banana's before it was back to town where an old woman slapped a lemongrass and chip phat infused oil on to you and mercilessly rubbed and pummelled into your bare bumcakes for an hour in the form of an invigorating Thai massage for earthly pleasure.

Meanwhile, down the road the walking nite market was up and running selling everything from insects to a Toyota Land Cruiser under the neon lights and a background of loud Thai music.

A strange little song from 'The Villagers' lesser known second album 'Awayland'.