PKK to Chumpon

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We spent the next couple of days just hanging out and exploring the area by moped and finding nice places to eat food. We had a really nice relaxed time at PKK and will remember that little place. Eventually the time came to leave and we got the 3rd class train at 13.30 (which meant 14.30 in real time). It was only 34 baht as opposed to 160 for 1st class with air con and comfy seats. When the 12.30 1st class train pulled up (at 13.30) we were a tiny bit jealous... Soon enough our “charming” little 3rd class train pulled up and the masses made a dash for it. We actually thought we might be standing for the 4 hour journey, but managed to find 2 separate seats and lug our heavy packs in to the overhead storage. The seats were a bit hard and our version of air con was 5 rickety old fans for the whole carriage, almost half of which weren't working... But it was a truly fantastic journey with some beautiful views out of the windows, most of which were open, which meant a lovely breeze when the train got going.

All too soon we were pulling into Chumpon station, our destination. Before we were even off the platform we had secured a bed for the night and a boat to Kho Tao (Turtle Island - our next proper destination). The guest house was “no frills” but we were leaving the following morning at 6.30 to catch the express boat to the island. We spent the evening wandering around the town and found it to be a horrible dirty, smelly place after our little village. We ate some nasty noodles then got a nice banana and egg roti on the way back to the guest house. Southern Thailand has a big Muslim community (there are actually some extremists who actually want to establish a separate Islamic state down there, but that is another story) and where there are Muslims, there is roti. We had developed a taste for them in Malaysia last year.

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Photos

Mon at the nightmarket
The food here was fantastic and cheap! And spicy!!

Our favourite stall
A nice spread. All the food we got from this place was the nuts and cheap too! And they sold Singha beer. Heaven.

The night market from acrross the road
There were loads of stalls and they were all busy. Apparently it is often cheaper for locals to eat out than cook for themselves. Nice.

Another shot of the nightmarket
With the standard vehicle. The moped.

Macro shot of gekko
This little critter fell out of the sky and plopped on to the table in front of Joe. Hung around just long enough to get his picture taken then scarpered.

Waiting for the train
All the trains seemed to be almost precisely 1 hour late...

Joe waiting patiently
There was something stuck in my back tooth driving him mad!

The 1st class train
All the posh tourists got on this one while we waited for the 3rd class one!

On the train
Joe looks happy amongst the locals!

Joe and Cow
(No, not Mon)

The train crosses a road
There is a storm brewing the background

Mon watching the world go by...
This looks like a nice naturally shot, but Mon actually had Joe take about 3 of these til she got one she liked.

Boy with head out of window...
Safety? PAH!

The landscape speeding past
Nice and green.

Same same
But different...

Little iron bridge
There were lots of these along the way...

More plastic animals!
Not just limited to the little town we stayed in... They seemed to be popular all the way down the coast.