Looking south - the beach goes on forever and there is hardly anyone on it.
They drive on the "wrong" side of the road here and I think you have to watch out more for the scooters than the cars. :-). Scooters are everywhere and entire families pile on. We went into town today to check it out. A 1.5 km (.9 mile) walk to the highway and then we were able to flag down a Song Thaew (used to be called a tuk-tuk) to get a ride into town. While we were wandering we came across this temple. Absolutely gorgeous. The colors were soo bright.
Soo much more to see inside, but no pictures.
We stopped and got some fruits at a roadside stand and a few drinks at 7-11 (of all places) and decided to head back. We flagged down another Song Thaew but we passed our turn off. We knew we didn't recognize where we were. Got off and had to find someone who spoke a little bit of English, enough to head us back in the right direction. We were about 2km past so this meant another fare on the Song Thaew.......to go 2 km!!!!! Luckily I happened to take a picture of the road sign so we knew where to get off.
Just part of the adventure!!!!! :-)
Soooo.... We have learned a few words in Thai: no idea how to spell it, but we are using phonics....
Hello: Sweat-ika. But the "t" is more like a "d"
Thank-you: Ko-pun-kah - for women
Ko-pun-kup - for men. The kah/kup is accented
Your welcome: Dew-eye-kwam-yin-dee
Money here is the Baht. (BHT) - Exchange for USD is about 34 baht to the dollar.
For the most part it is much cheaper here. We are along the beach so things are a bit more than if we were inland.
Just a few examples:
The ride on the Song Thaew was 30 BHT per person.
Meals at the hotel restaurant start at about 180 BHT, but at a little family restaurant they will run about 60-90 BHT.
3 diet cokes were 42 BHT (diet coke is hard to find)
A large bottle of water is about 20 BHT.
4 bananas cost 10 BHT.
You could live here fairly cheap.
There are a few things I really have a hard time with. Some of the smells really turn my stomach. I think it is some of the spices that are used in the cooking, maybe the different currys and ginger. Also I have a hard time with the uncleanliness of the area which also has odors that turn my stomach.
It is a beautiful place to visit, but I don't think I could live here.....
The wedding is in a couple days, I will share more pics then.
Shell, the smells were the things that got to me, too, when we lived in that area. I will tell you that I got used to them, in time. Now, when I happen to smell something like that, I am immediately transported to the Philippines and my time there. It looks like you are in paradise, my friend, at least from the looks of it. Too bad the smells seem to put a damper on the adventure. Hang in there.
ReplyDeleteHappy to see you made it to Thailand!! Paul said a it was 20 baht to the dollar when he was there in 1972/1973. Enjoy this once in a lifetime experience!! Love you!
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