We slept late after the rough yesterday, I think we woke up at 12-1pm. We got to the shower and went to look for a place to eat and to get to know our surroundings. At the first glance the place seemed like a very small and quiet country town. From the first junction we found a small diner where no one spoke English, but we managed to order a whole grilled chicken and some noodles.
Still at service?
We took a quick stroll around town and everyone were looking at us. A lot! You don't see much tourists here, especially one with tattoos from head to toe and the other one looking like Thai, but speaking some never heard -language. Some couple we are.
That country side idyll!
When we had enough of walking we went back to the bungalows. Now that we could actually see something, the place was really beautiful and at a nice location. There weren't too many customers, but then again, it wasn't even high season yet. Some of the bungalows were still under construction, so the place was very new.
Later that night we heard loud music and other noises from the road, we went to check it out and we found a big (in proportion) festival. There was some roulette-like gambling (illegal hush hush), bingo, ring throwing where you win boxes of cigarettes if you get the glow ring on one of them. We had to try that, it was only 5TBH (13cent) per throw, but no luck with four rings. There was a lot of food and other games too.
Bouncy castles and other things for the smaller ones too.
Pretty big for a small town festival!
We bought some more food and headed back to our room, at the door we met Ben, a gentleman from Swizerland, who had been living in Thailand for 9 years already. His room was one apart from ours and he had a dog too, a small one tho. Very nice man who gave us some tips and tricks for living in Thailand. But it was time to watch a movie and get some more sleep.
7.12.2014
At the breakfast we got to know mr. Ben a bit better. We also met Noi, the owner of the resort and her older daughter Plub. We told them about our backrounds and why we were there. While we were finishing our breakfast, one of the construction workers got a call from the pier. A fishing boat was about to come to the shore, a rare sight to see. Fishing boats come to bring fish and stack up on ice every 4-6days. Not many get to see this in action and Ben asked if we wanted to come with him. Didn't have to think twice, we had already eaten and you don't often have a chance like this, so we jumped on a motorcycle's side car and head to the pier. These fishing boats catch most of the fish sold in Southern Thailand.
At the pier!
When we got to the pier they were already loading up the ice for the boat, we missed the unloading of the fish, damnit! They asked if we wanted to see the ship from inside and how the fishermen live at the sea. Milla wasn't allowed on the boat, the skirt was too short. The fishermen have been on the sea for a week, so it was safer this way. Most of these young fishermen don't have time for dating, when they unload the fish they have a little time to go to 7eleven to buy chips and candy and what ever they need for the next trip.
The ice from the ice factory gets shipped here, where they send it on the way to the ship.
Here the ice gets crushed so it fits the ship better to keep the fish cold for the whole time, before the boat gets on shore again.
Milla stayed on the shore when Ben and I climbed on the ship. The fishermen ran to the closest store to stack up on chips and candy. Milla was amazed how the boys moved on the boat like little monkeys, you get a good balance when you're on the sea.
Mr. Ben went first.
The captain of the ship and his cabin.
The cat of the ship with freakishly yellow eyes!
The room of the first officer, aircondition and a tv, not bad!
Ship's kitchen.
The sleeping hole of the fishermen, that hammock life!
Full of ice and ready to go!
Morning shower.
Most of the fishermen were young (and hella fit!) like this fella.
The ship from the front deck.
Small net, according to them. Hmm.
On the way back we stopped by an other pier near by, just to take couple of photos. We also saw another hotel under construction, also owned by Noi. A good businesswoman knows to put cheap hotel near the pier, for the fishermen to use.
Beautiful graveyard of ships
Selfie time!
When we came back to the resort we got a motorcycle to use, it cost us only 200TBH (5€) for the day. There was also a cock fight that had began when we was away, just across the road from the resort, cheering and yelling and lots of cars parked next to the big arena. It would've cost 300TBH each, but we didn't have any extra money at that time. We ordered some food instead and after eating some fried rice with fish we got served with salapau, a local soft dessert bun stuffed with something meaty.
Salapau.
When we finished them it was time to go drive around. Soon we found a roadsign telling us where the nearest beach was. Few kilometers later we already saw the beach, it was amazingly beautiful and big! We parked the motorcycle at the beach and started walking on the soft sand. From the beach you could see the gorgeous mountains surrounding the 9km beach.
I want to travel the world with the person I love the most.
The lovely mountains.
9km of uncrowded beach, what more can you ask for?
Selfie!
It was so nice just to walk down the beach and write stuff on it. For example "Hajotkaa pakkaseen" with our footprints and few shells. And ofcourse Bai Tong <3 Tutka. We also wrote "Maybe I'm not free, but close enough" but the wave washed away everything else, leaving only "close enough".
Close enough, right?
In Finnish, meaning pretty much: Freeze to death!
Milla's Thai-nickname Bai Tong
Maybe I'm not free, but close enough <3
We saw lots and lots of shells in the beach, when we noticed how unique they were, we were hooked on collecting the most beautiful ones.We spent a good while on the beach, but had to keep going when Milla needed to go peepee. We stopped by a restaurant on the beach. The restaurant was owned by a Italian gentleman, who came to talk with us when we stopped. He was from some small island near Napol. He also had a Thai wife who was from Nakhon Si Thammarat. What a coinsidense! When Milla came back from the toilet the man reminded us of using a helmet, so we wouldn't get fined by the police. We also saw first toursits on the beach!
When we reached the main road's junction, we desided to turn left, to get further away from the resort. 15 minutes later we saw a sign, "Samed Chun Waterfall" and without hesitation we desided to go find it! While driving this small road towards the mountains, we were stunned of it's beauty. The mountains and the jungle were amazing!
You really feel alive when the jungle gets thicker and thicker. We had to stop and just listen to the sounds of the jungle, so much life all around us and we could hear a flute, somewhere up in the mountain. We kept on driving and soon we figured we had driven too far. It wasn't too bad, Milla saw her first monkeys on someone's yard. They train them to fetch coconuts from the trees.
We headed back the same road and ended up on a small dam with a pond. "This might be it" we thought and then saw a small sign pointing uphill to the mountain. There was only a small path going up and we only had flipflops. We felt suspicious walking without long pants, the incets and all, you know. We hiked uphill and got closer to the water. We climbed on some rocks to sit down and listen to the jungle and the water coming down. Lianas coming down from the trees and jungle surrounded us, pretty romantic! We didn't have our big camera with us and the battery in my phone was drained, we would have to come back! For the lack of camera we just had to scourge the scenery with our eyes. When we headed to the resort, we promised we'd put on our hiking gear and cameras and came back tomorrow!
When we got back to the hotel, Noi and Plub were there to greet us. We had already made plans in the morning to eat together. They asked us to go ask Ben to eat with us also. We were sure that they'd already eaten, but the dinner here starts around 7pm. We went to the patio and sat down, dinner was fish soup, spicy minched pork and crabs. It was Milla's first time eating crabs, she said it tastes like the sea. I had eaten smaller crabs last year in Thailand, but not this big and definately not as fresh!
Our dinner party had a lot of fun because Milla didn't know how to open and eat crabs.
Plub (on the left) and Noi, the resort's owner.
During the dinner we talked a lot about Finland and it's winter, educational possibilities and the culture in general. We have no idea how does the idea of snow and swimming in the frozen sea during winter sound to Thai people. We also talked about the age when people get children in Thailand and Finland. They said 19-25 years is the normal age, because the body is at it's best for baby making. "You still have 4 years to make them" They laughed.
When we finished the dinner, Milla wanted to talk with Plub one on one. They talked about all kinds of things and Milla asked who's the little boy who comes by every now and then at the resort. "His name is 20 and he's 5 years old, his mother died few years ago and now him and his brother 30, are orphans." She replied. They live aróund the resort, trying to find food and a place to sleep. They met a few days ago with the older brother "30" and they give them food and water.
It's a part of the Thai culture to teach the culture and the codes of the society and because they have no one to teach them, Noi's family feel obligated to be the ones to teach it to these boys. They also teach the boys how to learn by them self. Plub also said how it's horrible when 12 years old girls get pregnant because there's no one to give them sex education. Milla asked her if it's true that Thai parents abandon their daughter if she get pregnant before marriage. "Definately not! They upbraid and let the girls hear about it, but when the baby is born, the whole family take it as their own."
The impression that Milla had of Thai culture, was totally shaken, she was always told the opposite. Milla also told Plub about finnish culture and Plub was astonished and said the same thing as Noi "It's all beacause of the weather." If we had the same climate we would have all the same chances and we would do the same things and have same kind of culture and society. So many things would be different, we also noticed this from little things with Milla. For example all the things sold in 7eleven conveniant store are small packages, even deodorants. In Finland you buy all in bulk so you don't have to interract with people, in Thailand you have to go to the store more often and see and talk to the people around you. There's something to think about for all of us westerns!
We were super thankful to get to dine with these people and learn from the culture. We already felt exited for our trip to the waterfall tomorrow. This is what we like, in the heart of Thailand and with these people, we are so lucky!
Mr. Ben, the Swiss guy.
We had trouble getting money from the ATM and because it was Sunday, the closest bank open was far away. Ben offered to take us there, but Noi and Plub gave us 1200TBH (32€) loan to survive and let us stay in the resort and wait for monday. They had also been travelling a lot and have had the same problem, so they knew how it was to be abroad with no money.
Earlier at the waterfall in the middle of the beautiful jungle, we had talked how there must have been a reason why our cards stopped working in this place at this moment, maybe it was meant to be...
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