Blissfull beaches and bustling Bangkok
Bangkok and Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand, 2008-09-04 12:00 by Martin and Laerke
Crossing the border into Thailand was as easy as ever, quick and efficient. We’d planned first to go to Bangkok, as we needed to apply for Indian visas there – and as it takes a week to have the application processed, we would then go back south or east to a beach to wait it out. We stayed in the Khao San area, which has great shopping and all a traveler needs nearby, but is so crowded that you quickly get tired of it. The weekend market was as always one of our destinations in Bangkok – it really is a great market. So many rows of everything; but for us it was mainly about touching up the old wardrobe a bit. You get tired of wearing the same t-shirts all the time! Luckily a friend of Laerke was in town, so we caught up with her and some others and had a fun night out.

After Bangkok we took a little break from the backpacker life and booked ourselves into a gorgeous resort about 6 hours south of Bangkok. The resort is called Keeree Waree, meaning sea and mountain, aptly named as the resort is right on the sea and at the end of the long beach there is a little mountain. On the mountain there is a temple, we rented bikes for the ride, on the way we passed small bays filled with fishing boats and a few people sitting around mending there nets. After a hot struggle up the mountain we were greeted by a band of cute monkeys enjoying some bananas in a tree, there was a lot of scrambling and munching! The temple proved to be really appealing, with impressive yellow toned murals and red crooked doors. All around there was amazing views of the sea. Sitting a little further down the mountainside was a huge golden Buddha, gazing out over the ocean. We didn’t meet a single person at the temple except for the girl taking donations at the entrance, it was the same at our resort – we were the only guests there! Which was pretty lucky, it felt so good to have the whole place to ourselves!
We swam in the two beautiful swimming pools, one surrounded by Frangipani trees and the other the ocean, and one evening we stayed in the warm waters until nightfall, watching the starts and the bats swarming above us before heavy clouds obscured our view, and sent a heavy downpour upon us. We swam and splashed around in the cool rain for a while before going back to our luxurious hut – by far the most luxurious thing we’ve ever stayed in - put on our complementary bathrobes and slippers and later fell asleep to the sounds of the rainforest. The next morning, after a relaxing shower in our out-door bathroom, we strolled to the beach. The sky and the sea looked like one – there was no defined line between them. In the horizon it seemed that a ship was sailing in the air. The fishermen were fixing their nets on the shore or lazily chatting in murmured voices - the whole non touristy tranquility was quite unlike any Thai beach scene we’ve experienced.