Prachuap Khiri Khan

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During our time with Tim and Becks in Laos, Tim told us about a place that they had visited called Prachuap Khiri Khan in which there was a temple that had been overrun by a clan of monkeys. Legend has it that they hitched a ride on a bus from Bangkok in search of some Mangos. Tim had also bet us that we could not reach the top of the temple through the hordes of Monkeys. They themselves had tried and failed. He also told us about a beach that was situated in a military air base. We hadn’t originally planned to go there but thought that it would be a great place to break up the journey down to Phuket. So on the 24th April (Martin’s birthday) we hopped on a bus from Bangkok. We foolishly managed to get on the wrong bus at the bus station, luckily at the last minute we realised what we were doing and went into the bus station to find the right one. Martin was in heaven when he discovered that they had pay as you play Pro Evo 5 at the station and had a couple of games with the locals to pass the time.

Prachuap is a small fishing town on the east coast of Southern Thailand. It is a holiday destination for Thai people who obviously want to escape the masses of tourists on the Southern Islands. It is a quiet place with not a lot to visit except the beach and the temple that we had been told about. However the week we were there when there seemed to be a local Beer Singh festival in full swing.

There was a huge stage where we watched a couple of local bands and a beauty pageant with much enthusiasm. We celebrated Martin’s birthday with a nice meal in a restaurant and a bottle of cheap Thai Whiskey (Sang Som). This ended with an argument about chavs. We both to this day have no idea what we were talking about and blame the whiskey. We retired and arose early the next day to take down some Monkey Mayhem and win our bet.

We surveyed the enemy at the foot of the temple. Having carefully analysed our opponents we armed ourselves with Banana Grenades and began the assault.
It wasn’t long before we were surrounded. The ratio of Monkeys to Men was not in our favour but we were not willing to back down. Banana Grenades were fired left right and centre. Our time in Nam had served us well. Eventually we reached the top of the hill with a full squad and no major injuries sustained, although ammo supplies were looking a little low. Whilst at the top of the temple we obtained photographic evidence. Mission accomplished. We regrouped and set about our journey back to base. With limited ammo we were going to have to be careful. Our shots would have to be precise. There was no room for waste. Martin came close to injury when he tried to take a sneaky picture of the enemy. The flash went off and the Monkey launched an attack. We retreated but safe in the knowledge that the mission had been a success.

We headed off in search of the beach within the grounds of the airbase. We signed in at the gate. On the journey to the beach at one point you actually cross the runway. It comes complete with a set of traffic lights. We found a spot at the beach and some breakfast. We had a little bet that Pete couldn’t eat all the chillies they had supplied with the meal. He cried a little but they were consumed.

Luckily that day we had hired a motorbike and were able to travel a little further afield. So we went in search of an aquarium we had been told about by the tourist n office. It was quite good and as it was off season there was no charge for entry. Bonus!

We rounded off our three day stint in Prachuap with a quiet drink and an exchange of travelling stories with a Kiwi we met at our guesthouse. It was a nice end to our relaxing stay.

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Photos

The view fromthe top of the temple
Mission accomplished

Bangkok Bus Terminal
Pro Evo 5! What a godsend!

Prachuap
the objective

Beer Singh Festival
dancing girls

Monkeys
successful deployment of banana clusterbomb

Monkeys
A vicious attack was to follow

Monkeys
The enemy were everywhere