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Published: December 28th 2012
Ao Phrao
This is not a swimming pool. It is the sea!!It is 02h30 and the coughing starts. It's like they are in our room. I start by feeling empathy for someone who must be really ill. It gets worse and I eventually turn on the ac to try to mute the noise, but it gets cold and we have no blankets in the room. By 04h00 there is a lot of activity in the room next door. I am convinced they must be taking somebody to the hospital. He must be very sick. Pneumonia perhaps? I am expecting to hear the dying rasps of an old man, but instead, it is the children who come out past our window. Just talking, but they could be sitting in bed with me they are so loud. Oh, it is only one child! The morning ablutions start - coughing, hocking up phlegm, snorting and showering and chain smoking in their open bathroom, which is connected to our open bathroom..... Geez, how many people are in there? Why are they up so early? It is nearly 05h00. By this time we are really grumpy from very little sleep and Andrew whacks the wall. " keep it down we are trying to sleep." " only talking"
comes the timid reply; but only talking at this time of morning with paper thin walls is not acceptable to us especially after the only coughing and snorting all night! In Asia you loose face when you raise your voice or loose your cool; we loose face... but we are Londoners and we didn't pay £50.00 a night to sleep in a shitty little shack to share it with 20 noisy neighbours. This is not supposed to be the Premier Inn in Liverpool!! We go out to see what all the fuss is about. I am waiting for a very sick old man to be carried out on a stretcher by his extended family and their friends, but instead, out walk two young women, one little girl and a young man in his twenties. Surely not!!!! They head off to breakfast laughing at us as they pass by. I am livid. "We're moving" I growl. If these people had been Russians it would have ended up in fisty cuffs on the front lawn! Thank god they are sweet Thais. We march off after them to the restaurant, where breakfast starts officially at 07h30. It must be about 06h30 by this
time. We are still wondering why they are up so early. Aaaah, it all becomes clear. They are leaving today and are taking the 09h30 ferry from the pier 10 minutes away. They stand next to the 4x4 which will take them there for 2.5 hours and wait quietly.....
I am being very Un-Thai as we take things up with the resort owner. We have paid for 9 nights in advance and I am determined to leave NOW. Andrew sends me off to have coffee and negotiates quietly and slowly. We get to change to another room - this time a stand alone bungalow, where hopefully we will not hear the neighbours. I have to give up the hot water shower, but at this stage I don't care. There is only limited availability on the bungalow so we will stay for 4 more nights and then move on.Neverland Beach resort is situated on the southern end of the west coast of Koh Kut. It has a 700m stretch of white sand, with crystal clear water; a jungle covered headland on either end and a coconut palm plantation along the beach. A beautiful lagoon borders the jungle on the north side.
Our River view hut
Neverland Resort Koh Kut Sea eagles circle above. The grounds are amazing. We visited every single resort on the island on our first day to find accommodation for after our three nights at Bann Makok in the north. We chose this one because of the grounds and the massive empty beach, and because the only other two places we liked were Dusita - which was fully booked, and Cham's House, which costs THB 16000 per night - a little over our budget! This is the busiest two weeks of the year on these islands and finding accommodation can be tricky if you're a little bit fussy. Anyway, Neverland ticked all the boxes - £44 per night for a basic hut with private bathroom. No hot water, but an average breakfast included, and they gave us the high season rate instead of the peak season rate. We've rented a motorbike from them too, for better than the THB 400 going rate on the island, and the owner is a lovely gentle little man. The place has about 18 huts and has been run by the family for 10 years. there are no mangy dogs, and the cats are friendly. And the gardens...... As long as
you can avoid the garden view rooms then this place is a great little budget friendly "resort", with beautiful shady grounds and a wonderfully quiet beach. To make up for the mediocre breakfast (both Thai and Western) we've been buying our own fruit at the tiny market and the owner's wife has been chopping it into fruit sculpture for us for breakfast. She is quite an artist. Pineapples and mangos turn into the most delicate flowers. Wow!!We have also been enjoying our morning runs. There is an old concrete path which still runs most of the way along the island's west coast - harking back to the days before there was a road. It goes both ways from Neverland and running through the coastal jungle and along the beach and through the coconut plantations is just spectacular. Probably the most scenic running we will ever do. Got to get started early though, otherwise it is much too hot. And have to watch out for snakes. On our first day we emerged from the jungle to notice a man gesticulating frantically from the beach. Andrew went to chat and with only Siberian and sign language he told Andrew he had been
accosted by a snake on our path just the day before. We promptly googled snakes of Thailand and discovered some disturbing facts. Andrew has now become my snake charmer, i.e. he runs in front..... We' ll have to get an amulet for this when we are in Bangkok again!!
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Mom
non-member comment
Loved reading your blog! ..
I am not quite sure how this works .. but hope i am typing the right things in the correct space .. you can let me know on next e-mail .. the photo's are stunning! .. and the water looks soooooo inviting! .. as do the Tai drinks and food! .. do be careful of those SNAKES though! my worst fear! but to be expected with Jungle vegetation! .. do you know what to do if one of you get a bite? .. where to go for help? .. best to find out about all that too! .. so nice to know that you are both having such a great time though .. blowing all those city cobwebs away! .. enjoy! lots of love Mom