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Published: February 2nd 2023
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Choosing to come back here was a great idea, but why I didn’t decide to upgrade to my own bathroom, or even one not involving a walk through a pitch black garden at night, I’m not sure, and I’m TELLING myself that next time I won’t do it. Definitely my reason was that Yai, the owner, is such a lovely guy and deserves peoples’ business. One older Scottish guy, here because his other place was double booked for a few nights, was quite incredulous that the pics on booking.com didn’t look anything like his tent, and also that the state of ‘reception’ is not because of Covid, it was exactly the same before, although a few more chairs have broken and now there is practically nothing to sit on. Hence, after 4 days I’m exhausted! Luckily it has been ok to sleep at night without even a fan, until the cockerels strike up. There are many mosquitos, all laughing in the face of my spray.
So is it worth coming here? Depends. Not if you expect perfect sanitation (having to use the family bathroom in a lot of the restaurants was revealing), and if you don’t like to
see rubbish everywhere, plastic which hasn’t been cleared up in a very long time. I don’t know what they do with it and whether out of season it’s taken to the mainland but it is shocking to see, especially in the few small local villages where it’s just thrown outside all over the place. But if you do like to see local Thai life, the friendliest people of all ages, good food and a really gorgeous beach then it’s a great place, even though getting here is not particularly easy (see last blog and most likely the next one too).
There are some things to do, not that I’ve done them. Most people come here for the Emerald Cave and to go on snorkelling trips to Koh Kradan, both of which they rave about. You can walk up to a viewpoint but I looked at pics of people hauling themselves up on ropes and thought no thank you! I walked to Charlie Beach every day, half an hour, usually through the local village where people said hello a lot and there was one group of about 8 women sitting on the floor playing bingo. I wanted to
take more photos but it seemed too intrusive. You can get a ‘taxi‘ anywhere on the island for 50baht. Yai is happy to drive people around -at one point there was 6 of us on his 20 year old motorbike and side car, coming back from the sunset at the beach.
The tents at Cashew Nut Bungalows (no bungalows….) are full of young backpackers. I’d gone to bed one night and could hear the French guys outside, breaking sticks and knocking stones together. Then I heard ‘fire’ and shot out. I said, you are not trying to make a fire are you? Yes! I said don’t do it, it‘s very dangerous in a garden full of dried leaves and (my) wooden house, especially in the dark. They said sorry and moved away so I rang Yai and dobbed them in, he just told them to be careful! I packed my stuff in a panic, ready to bunk out if things got out of hand, checked alternatives on booking.com but in the morning we were still all OK so I unpacked again.
Charlie Beach has loads of sunbeds, chairs and umbrellas, way more than pre-
pandemic times. They are free as long as you buy drinks etc at the bars which run them. I went to the first one, Mong Bar, like last time and showed them my pic from last time. The guy zoomed in and found himself in it. He was super chuffed. There is a loo up the slope to the left but no tap to wash your hands and you have to flush with a scoop and water which could have come from anywhere, so it is adequate but not marvellous. It gives you the chance to look into the kitchen. I’m glad I did this after I had breakfast there. Even the most flexible on sanitation would find it a struggle. You can rent kayaks to go to the Emerald Cave from here and also there is a toilet hut at the back of the beach but you have to pay 20baht for that. There are taxis waiting at the back if you are too lazy to walk and haven’t got Yai at hand. The Bundhaya speed boat picks up and drops off at this beach but unless you have a rucksack it is one hell of a trek through
the sand to the taxis. Kids go to school on scooters, sometimes 4 on one, like Vietnam, with a 10 year old driving!
Last night I walked along the pier and there was a dugong lolloping about. Apparently it is always there, and sometimes turtles, but is didn’t see any of those. Then I walked along the path through the fishing village, which was the weirdest combo of really basic, some falling down, local houses and some tourist accommodation, which mostly looked out of place amongst all the rubbish! I had delicious coconut seafood soup in a restaurant there and tried not to think about the fly paper sitting on top of the fish display at the front.
Tomorrow I have to go to Krabi to see my friend Jinnie and then fly to Chiang Mai on Saturday. Yai sold me a ticket for the boat to the mainland and then a van to Trang where I’m on my own to get a van to Krabi Bus Station. Apparently this is easy (I tell guests many time is OK!). I’ll probably have to wait for the van to fill up or take a local bus which
takes longer. Anything to avoid the speedboat fiasco of my journey here
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