Two weeks in and a spell by the beach 19th - 28th June

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On Thursday 19th June we went to the Siam centre - a large air-conditioned shopping centre, well known for its designer shops. We walked about 5km to the Hua Lampang station via Chinatown which was a bustling place full of jewellers, street vendors selling anything and everything, motorcyclists using the pavement (much like the rest of Bangkok) and traffic which did not stop when pedestrians were crossing a crossing. Needless to say it was a bit of a mission getting there. We had to catch the underground metro and then the BTS skytrain to Siam. We were both impressed with the metro and skytrain - cool, quick and very efficient. The Siam centre was a nice escape from the heat of the city, but limited to what we could carry in our rucksacks we did not buy a lot.

The next day we left Bangkok and travelled to Phetchaburi, a town 1.5 hours down the west coast. We got there via bus which was a sweaty experience as the air-conditioning was broken. Phetchaburi was an interesting place, it had the usual Buddhist temples (wats) of other towns and cities in Thailand, but also a large population of monkeys which caused some amusement. We found a basic guesthouse and then went off to explore the town. On Saturday we got up early and went to see the Khao Luang Caves. The caves were lined with stalactites and old Buddha statues. Sunlight from a hole in the ceiling illuminated the main chamber and made for some great photos which Mike skillfully captured! Just before reaching the caves we had a little walk up to a historical park where many monkeys were basking in the sun. One cheeky individual made a grab for our water bottle much to our disbelief!

On Saturday we headed further south to Hua Hin on the coast. This is where the King of Thailand allegedly goes on holiday. We had high expectations of it, but unfortunately the place did not live up to them. It was not possible to swim in the sea because of all the rocks, crabs, jellyfish, starfish and litter! We witnessed a Scandinavian woman run out of the sea claiming 'I have been bitten by a fish' - a jellyfish we thought or maybe she had just walked into a rock? However we made the most of our 6 days there by sunbathing on the beach in the day and exploring the night markets in the evenings. Hua Hin is very much a tourist trap and as such it was a lot more expensive to eat and drink there, but we found a nice restaurant a bit further back off the main strip where many Thais ate and it turned out to be very good value for money (a slap up meal and drinks cost us £1.50). Our guesthouse was lovely and we enjoyed having an air-conditioned room.

On Monday we decided to walk to a vantage point at the Southern end of the beach. On route we called in at Tesco (should have brought the clubcard!) to get a picnic lunch, hoping to find a nice bench at the top. We got a shock when we reached the top as we were not expecting the large population of monkeys to be up there - if only we had known Khao Takiab is also known locally as 'Monkey Hill'. As a result the thieving monkeys enjoyed our picnic much to our astonishment and Mike's disgust. After shouting a few obscenities at the monkeys we decided not to hang around and made our way back, arriving back at the guesthouse after nearly 5 hours of non-stop walking at the hottest time of the day - we were a little tired by this point!

We are now back in Bangkok and went to the Damnoen Saduak 'Floating Market' today (Saturday 28th). This was certainly different - we had to reach the market by long boat (which we thought might capsize as the driver was trying to break the water speed record!) and then you could either walk around most parts or hire a gondola to take you around. It was worth a visit, but our guide admitted that it had become a tourist trap and therefore you had to barter hard for a bargain.

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Photos

No longer a joke...
The thieving ****** just jumped on Mike's back and grabbed the water bottle out of his rucksack!

Khao Takiab, Hua Hin or 'Monkey Hill'
It was safer at the bottom.