Travelogue 2019/2, Beaches and Lakes in South Thailand

We went further down south. We visted two beaches and two large lakes. We seldom go to beach destinations, now twice, on the northern part of the Gulf of Thailand.

In the central part of the long stretch that forms Southern Thailand, we visited a large reservoir in the mountains and a large natural lake near the sea.

Beach town Hua Hin

In Hue Hin we had a nice hotel in a rather Thai neighborhood. Thai people lived and worked in the alleys around us, and the local market was nearby. But other parts of the city were completely taken over by mainly Scandinavian tourists. Many families with children, many elderly couples, and older men with their Thai wife. Mostly people come to stay over for the winter or come for the beach. There must be literally tens of thousands of Scandinavians living here. And there were quite some Asian tourists around too.

This time of year it is normal for the water to be high in the Gulf of Thailand, but these days it was extra high. There was hardly any beach for much of the day. One morning none at all. We stood at a beach entrance watching people carrying their mats and towels, looking a bit alarmed, and turning away again. But in between we could swim and paddle in the surf and enjoy the sun.

Hat Thung Wua Lean (Chumphon)

With an express train and a songthaew (a pick-up truck with benches in the hold) we moved 260km further south. There is a small beach, one kilometer long, with one road alongside, where it is busy with Thai during the weekend. During the week it is very quiet, the few hotels and restaurants that are open hardly have any guests. Here too the beach is narrow because of the high tide, but you share it with just a handful of others. We had two quiet days.

Single track trains

We did all our longer transfers by train. Often there were just one or two trains a day that were useful to us (there are also many night trains). These are old tracks and diesel trains, with antique signaling systems that work with hoops, tokens and flags.

To prevent two trains running into each other on a single track, each track section has one token (a metal disc) that a driver múst have to be able to drive on that section. At stations where opposite trains pass each other, the token is given to a station employee. To make the transfer easier from a moving train, the token is clamped in a large hoop. The station employee brings the hoop with token to the other train. Sometimes the employee pulls a long sprint for that, once we saw him driving down the platform with a moped!

The express trains reached up to 120 km / h. And even the wooden (!) local train that we had, reached almost 90 km / h. After 4½ hours, wooden benches are very hard indeed…

Ratchaprapha Dam / Khao Sok NP

From the town of Phun Phin (Surat Thani) we made a day trip to the Ratchaprapha Dam, the largest reservoir in South Thailand. It is a popular destination for boat trips, both by backpackers and in the weekend also by Thai. Almost everyone comes with an organized tour, so it took some time to find our bearings in the chaos. But in the end we sailed on our own little boat inbetween the rock formations, mountain peaks and jungle. Magnificent!

(Find the details how to organise a day trip from Surat Thani to Khao Sok National Park here.)

Phatthalung & Thale Noi NP

We stayed in the small provincial capital of Phatthalung for a few days. It is situated pretty much in the middle of nowhere and there are hardly any tourists. Yet there are some beautiful limestone mountains with caves and it is located near the largest lake in Thailand: Lake Songkhla.

A remote corner of the lake, still 5x5km, is a bird sanctuary, Thale Noi. We could make a boat trip. We got in with a somewhat older man who turned out to be a fine boatman. The trip was fantastic. We passed a variety of "land" scapes, vegetation and animals. Large parts of the lake were covered with water plants, but the water was crystal clear.

The first part was the water lily zone. Up close there was plenty of space between the flowers, but if you looked into the distance, there was a purple-pink glow over the water. We saw moorhens, gulls, herons, storks, cormorants and many more birds, of which I do not know the name. Part of the trip went through reeds, and we saw a large herd of water buffalo. The shepherds sailed in two small boats to keep them together. A baby buffalo stayed behind. Every now and then we cut through pieces of water plants, which separated underneath us. But once in a while, our boatman had to turn around. 

Next we passed large moving fishing nets (Kochi type) that were strung along a kind of canal in the middle of the lake... 

Hidden in the reeds we saw three more water buffalo. We saw the huge animals swimming and clambering lazily. Finally we sailed along a long row of trees, where each tree root formed its own small island.

Further south, the Thai seem even more friendly. There is not only the proverbial “Thai smile”, but also radiant faces, happy eyes, helpful interventions, greetings and an overall feeling of being welcome. Unfortunately, hardly anyone speaks English, so we had no deep and meaningful conversations.

Travelogue 2019/1, Old and New in Bangkok (Thailand)

Including suggestions for excursions

New Year's Eve

We arrived in Bangkok on New Year's Eve. I thought over here New Year’s Eve would be a non-event like in many Asian countries. What a mistake.

A large part of Siam Square was closed for traffic - and that says something in this car city. Six-lane roads were transformed into pedestrian areas and party locations. The decoration and lighting was impressive: so cheerful and colorful. The amount of people already in the streets at 9 pm was even more overwhelming. Thick masses of people flocked to the plazas with music and show for the countdown, many wearing illuminated headgear. Despite the crowds and noise, the atmosphere was relaxed.

We passed a large temple with the sound of chanting. Rows of people, hundreds, prayed and sang. A group of monks led the chanting. Almost everyone was dressed in white and had a piece of string tied around their head, that came down from a network of strings that had been spun above the whole site. So everyone was connected to each other.

At midnight there were some big fireworks shows.

Walking from park to park

Every dark-gray autumn day, every ice-cold winter day I had been looking forward to this moment, after the night-flights and the long walks through air-conditioned terminals, after the train-ride and the station building: to feel the solid ground and to taste the warm air of Bangkok.

Bangkok is vibrant, lively, colorful and cheerful. But also busy and noisy. That's why it's so nice to discover the quiet, hidden corners.

New Year's Day Lumphini Park was lively but not crowded. There was walking, jogging, cycling and picnics going on. There was a light breeze, just perfect.

We sat down at one of the big ponds. A few crows were fighting over a fish.  When we looked sideways we saw a monitor lizard that was also busy with a large fish. At first the lizard seemed  smallish but it was still one meter long. It had a hard time with the fish. Tore it in half and then swallowed half of it. The fish got stuck and for a long time two tail fins stuck out of the lizard’s mouth. A pretty silly sight. Eventually it managed to swallow it. Then the other half of the fish was eaten, say shredded. It was a bloody scene. Later we saw an even bigger lizard more peacefully sitting in the sun on a bank.

There is an elevated bike path from Lamphini Park to Benchakiti Park, partly above, partly next to a canal. It is a beautiful walkway along the backs of old neighborhoods, far from busy roads. You see wooden houses, small gardens, banana trees. Birds whistling, cats sleeping in the sun. The village was messy, and only the new skyscrapers in the distance reminded you that you were in the big city.

Around Bangkok - The Erawan Museum 

We made two trips to suburbs of Bangkok that are officially located in another province. A big contrast in means of transport. To Samut Prakan we took the brand new, just opened extension of the hypermodern Skytrain. To Samut Songkhram we took a slow train over an ancient narrow gauge single track ...

We took the BTS to Royal Thai Naval Academy and had a look at the small Bang Nang Kreng joining the big Chao Praya river. Then we backtracked with a song thaew to a stop underneath a giant motorway flyover. Just one crossing to the museum.

The Erawan Museum in Samut Prakan is a bizarre collection of kitschy elephant statues and historical Buddha statues in and around a giant three-headed elephant. The elephant reaches 47 meters high and can be seen above everything from a great distance. Around it gardens and ponds and temples and elephant statues. Ínside the elephant is an overabundantly decorated stairwell, where Asian ladies like to be photographed in graceful poses. Upstairs, in the belly of the elephant, is a blue lit room with precious ancient Buddha statues. Very remarkable.

The Mae Klong railway market

Hidden behind a market is a small train station, Wong Wian Yai. It’s the starting point of  a slow train to the southwest. We walked there from the BTS station with the same name. We rode along small houses and the backs of buildings, past banana trees and market stalls. Slowly the urban development became less dense. After an hour, over 30 km, the terminal station was in a large fish market.

From there it was a few minutes walk to the river, that we crossed by ferry.

Then another ten minutes walk to the next train station, where a similar train ride took us to the next river. This strech was more rural, with large fish ponds and salt basins. Here too, the line ended in a market. When a train came in, the goods had to be removed from the tracks and the marquises folded back. This had become a true attraction in recent years, and was visited by thousands of tourists as a tour-bus day trip from Bangkok. So our train was welcomed by a huge crowd that was photographing and waving at us.

You can this as a return trip with careful planning of the train schedule. We stayed the night in Samut Songkhram.

The next morning we watched the scene from the other side. Some stall owners had put their crates of goods on a moving rack, which slid over small rails to make just enough space for the train. Others had stacked their vegetables so low that the train ran overhead the cabbage and mangoes. What struck us was how close the space between the market stalls and the train was. Really just 2a3 cm clearance. And a train is very big when it passes a few centimeters from you ...