Exploring Paradise: A Weekend at the Beach

Two weeks ago, My Man and I headed south to Chumphon to check out a rumored paragliding spot on the central coast of Thailand.  I am normally a manic trip planner, the kind of person who plans out each day with an hour by hour itinerary.  We don't necessarily stick to the plan, but I feel comforted, when heading out to the Unknown, to at least have a plan to fall back on.  Chumphon, however, did not cooperate.  It is a quiet place, a beach destination for Thais but not Westerners (who generally opt to simply jump off from Chumphon to get to Koh Tao or Koh Samui, popular diving destinations).  For maybe the first time in my life, we bought plane tickets and booked a rental car and headed off without a hotel reservation or any idea of what to expect.  It was a true exercise in spontaneity.  It was also a complete disaster.  OK, that is an overstatement.  Whenever you get a weekend away without the kids, it's a great time, and the weekend was full of surprises and wonderful moments, but almost nothing went as planned and it is telling that we ended up coming home a day early.

We flew from Chiang Mai down to Surat Thani, then took the scenic route north along the coast, stopping at a cute little Thai restaurant on the beach (cute if you didn't look at the piles of garbage and unfinished construction around the beach and instead fixed your gaze higher, to the palms, the blue sky with puffy white clouds, the ocean stretching blue green away into the distance.

With a bit of selective vision the whole thing was idyllic really.  The drive was interesting too.  We wound our way on tiny roads through rural Thailand, through plantations of rubber trees and palm groves, soaking in the sights and sounds of this new place.  At one point we almost crashed when we noticed the coconut truck passing us had four large monkeys riding along.

Our attempts at locating the flying hill were unsuccessful (maybe we'd have to hike up to the launch?), but the drive was interesting.  We enjoyed seeing the rural houses and farms, the exotic landscapes and people.

At sunset we finally pulled into the beach area to look for a place to call home for the next four nights.  We chose Nana Beach Hotel, situated across the road from Thung Wua Lean Beach.  It was a nice resort with bungalos (all full) and rooms and a beautiful infinity pool overlooking the ocean.  It was arguably the best place on the whole beach and for less the $45 a night with breakfast, it was perfect.  We walked along the beach after settling in and were amazed by how quiet and empty the place was (actually, I was impressed, while My Man was dismayed).  The sand was coarse but clean and the water was a bit murky (rainy season) but blue.  It was hot, even at nine at night, and humid.  There was absolutely no breeze at all (a definite mood killer for My Man since the whole point of the trip was paragliding).

The next morning, I headed out to try diving while My Man enjoyed a well-deserved morning of complete relaxation in bed (he'd been working extra hard while his boss was gone for more than 3 months and was enjoying the opportunity to decompress).  Koh Tao, just about 40 minutes away by ferry, is famous for its diving.  So famous that it is generally crowded with divers year-round.  I thought it would be nice to try the diving around Chumphon instead since it is supposedly similar but cheaper and much less crowded.  Although it looked like rain, I love diving and decided to go for it, even though the dive center (Chumphon Dive Cabana) warned me that visibility was not ideal.  They were right.  It was some of the worst visibility I have ever seen.  Still, I imagine it would be fantastic diving between November and May, because even though visibility was only 2-5 meters, there was a lot to see.  We dove a fascinating wreck, saw incredible soft and hard corals, lots and lots of fish and nudibranchs and shrimp and anemones.  I loved it.  As far as recommending the dive center?  The equipment was good and our dive master was good.  They didn't speak any English though and never asked to see my Padi certification card (actually they didn't ask anything about my experience at all!).  There was no talk of safety procedures or buddies (a little disconcerting with the lack of visibility).  So, if you are an experienced diver, I would recommend them; if not, however, maybe look for another place with a bit more support.

The wind was still uncooperative, so for dinner My Man and I headed into Chumphon city to try out a restaurant that had been recommended to us (Yimphochana Seafood).  It was absolutely phenomenal, the best Thai food I've ever had in Thailand (and that's saying a lot!) and incredible fresh seafood (I'm not generally a fan of seafood and I ate fish soup and horseshoe crab soup with relish.  It was amazing!).  If you ever find yourself in the area, it's worth checking out, in fact it was so good we went back again for lunch the next day!

Speaking of the next day, it dawned sunny and beautiful and hot and windless.  In other words, miserably terrible paragliding weather.  I headed out for a walk on the beach after breakfast while My Man grieved and consoled himself by watching paragliding videos on YouTube.  About an hour into my walk (which was incredibly beautiful but already uncomfortably hot), I got a call from My Man: "Want to check out Rayong?" "Sure," I replied, happy for a new plan since My Man had been so disappointed by Chumphon.  He packed up while I walked back, picked me up, and we headed back to the airport in Surat Thani to catch a short flight up to Bangkok.  On the drive back, I searched on my phone for rental cars in Bangkok but kept coming up with nothing.  We figured maybe it was because you can't rent online the same day and didn't fret too much.  Turns out, however, there really weren't any cars available once we landed in Bangkok.  So we caught a taxi for the one-hour trip to a hotel in Rayong, negotiated a ridiculously expensive last-minute rental the next morning, and lost no time heading to the first flying site in Rayong, a little hill right on the beach.

Unfortunately, the wind forecasts had been changing ever since we left Chumphon, and by the time we got to the flying site, it was all wrong.  Still, My Man was able to kite for awhile and play with the wing on the hill, and that, it turns out, was enough.  We headed to lunch at a fantastic little cafe (Phala Pier Cafe), where we enjoyed the ocean breeze and beautiful views (not to mention delicious food).

Then we headed out to check out another alleged flying site nearby.  Turns out the wind was not cooperating there either, but the views were wonderful and there were about 500 different kinds of butterflies.

We headed back down to check out the beach (Hat Mae).  It was pretty, with pine trees almost to the water's edge to provide shade and lots of little hotels and bungalos.

The beach itself, however, leaves something to be desired, with lots of trash and garbage along the whole expanse.  We had just found that roundtrip tickets to and from the airport in Rayong from Chiang Mai could be had for less than $50, so we were looking for a good family getaway.  I wasn't entirely convinced, however.

As we had dinner in a beautiful restaurant overlooking the ocean, though, I stumbled across information about an island just a 40-minute ferry ride away (Koh Samet).  It looked perfect for a family getaway, with beautiful beaches, snorkeling, nice hotels for cheap, and easy to get to.  Since the trip was all about spontaneity, we booked our trip home for early the next morning from this closer airport so we wouldn't have to drive back to Bangkok, then booked tickets and a rental car for the whole family for just two weeks later.  We researched hotels and booked a place right on the beach (Samet Pavilion Resort), which was beautiful and had a nice pool but had rooms for under $40 on agoda.com including breakfast.  And that was the end of our spontaneous getaway weekend.

Looking back on it, it was a strange kind of wonderful trip.  So different from our regular relaxing getaways in Railay, but fun in a quirky sort of way.  We saw new things, had lots of interesting driving, and discovered a new family destination (one that turned out to be one of our favorites).  We made the best out of frustrating circumstances.  We ate new foods, slept in three different hotels, explored lots of beaches and restaurants, and flew from three different airports, all in the space of four days.  And we got home in time to celebrate the 4th of July with friends and family, complete with fireworks and a BBQ.

Just goes to show that you can't always plan ahead for everything.

The Golden Triangle & Other Adventures in Paradise

My Man had the opportunity to travel up to Chiang Rai (the Thai province directly north of us) for an outreach project at work last week. Since we've been wanting to head up there anyway, he decided to ditch the official transportation and take all of us in our own car. The hotel we booked for the first night was about 3 hours north of Chiang Mai. On the way, we stopped at the renowned Charin Pie House, which everyone we told we were heading to Chiang Rai assured us we HAD to stop at.

There was a cool garden area with caged exotic birds, including peacocks, and a bridge over the river. We got kind of excited because the map on our phones said "Lao" and looked like a border. "Wow, we are crossing into Laos!" we thought as we walked across the precarious-looking bamboo bridge. Turns out the river is just called Lao and we were still in Thailand but it was still cool. :-)

We watched people fishing in the river, ordered some pie (definitely not as good Grandma's!), then headed out. Honestly it was too hot to enjoy staying for long, and the kids were anxious to get back to our Harry Potter book anyway (which we read on the drive). We stayed our first night in Chiang Rai at Le Meridien, a beautiful hotel with an even more beautiful infinity pool (and the most expensive buffets I've seen in Thailand!). We opted to eat at the Chivet Thammada Café instead and it was wonderful.

The next morning, while My Man worked, the kids and I headed to the pool and had a wonderful time swimming, reading, and sun bathing. Too soon it was time to check out and head to our next hotel, the Nak Nakara, a smaller hotel more centrally located downtown. My Man ended up needing to do a jail visit that afternoon, so we changed plans and instead of heading to the Golden Triangle as we'd originally planned, the kids and I hit the pool again. They were glad to have another chance at swimming since 2 1/2 hours that morning hadn't been nearly enough.

For dinner we decided to head to the Chiang Rai Night Bazaar, a short walk away. We got there just as vendors were starting to set up, so we opted to eat first. The selection was fantastic and everyone found something they enjoyed. Pork satay, fresh pineapple, French fries, fried rice, fruit smoothies, mangoes and sticky rice, and more. I even found a place selling tacos! We had just started eating when the place got hit by an incredible thunderstorm. There was lightning, thunder, and torrential downpours. We moved under cover and watched the rain.

We read Harry Potter for awhile, hoping the rain would slow down before we braved walking home. We had to shout to be heard over the storm. After awhile, My Man dared the kids to run across the courtyard. They were absolutely soaked in seconds!  The rain did stop, though, and about an hour later we headed home in light sprinkles; the night bazaar shops never did open so we had to save our souvenir shopping for the next day. After a wonderful breakfast at the hotel, we said good bye to Nak Nakara and Chiang Rai and headed up to the Golden Triangle, the place where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Burma (Myanmar) come together.

We got there early enough to beat the tour busses and easily booked a ride on a longtail boat for a quick ride up the river to see Burma, then back down and across to an island in Laos. It was great. We stopped in Laos for about an hour, browsing the traditional wares and souvenirs. We bought bananas to feed an elephant. And we got a beautiful dress for Darling Daughter. She was only disappointed we wouldn't let her bring home the cute little puppy she befriended.

The kids had decided ahead of time how much of their money they wanted to spend and it was cute to see them choose how to spend it. The boys found a collection of snakes and lizards embalmed in liquor that they thought would be good souvenirs until we explained what it really was! They still had fun looking at all the specimens though. Darling Daughter and Young Man both got great hats to keep the sun off. And My Man got me two beautiful Laos paintings for Mother's Day! Still, the highlight of the trip was definitely the boat ride.

After that we walked around the tourist areas on the Thai side. There is a huge golden Buddha statue, lots of vendors, and other statues.

Although it was getting hot, I really wanted to hike up to the wat on the hill nearby, so we braved the steep dragon staircase. It was worth it!

There were lots of beautiful stone statues and the wat doors were intricately carved, but the best part was the view.

 There was also an extremely old Buddhist statue and an old temple that was in ruins.

But there was another set of dragon stairs to the top of the hill, so of course, we kept going.

It was so beautiful! I really loved stopping to enjoy the beautiful views, exotic carved stone monuments, and amazing flowers.

 These yellow flowering trees are everywhere and they always take my breath away.

Supposedly from this point, you can see China, Laos, Burma, and (of course!) Thailand. Four countries from one spot. Wow!

We took a different trail down from the old temple ruins we found at the top of the hill, hiking down the side of the mountain through the jungle and I was thinking, "Wow, this is just so cool!" Then I thought, I wonder if the kids know this is not an ordinary experience? When I asked, they admitted that this one was pretty cool, but they didn't feel a need to see EVERY Buddhist temple in Thailand because there are just too many and a lot of them are kind of the same. It makes me happy and sad to know that these extraordinary experiences are kind of normal for our kids. I love that they are seeing the world and that exploring an old temple in the jungle on the border of three countries is something that they take in stride. But still, I hope they aren't missing out on that thrill that I feel as I experience the exotic strangeness of other places, cultures, foods, people. I guess that's just part of growing up as a TCK (third culture kid). We stopped at a wonderful little restaurant for lunch on our way out of town, then headed to Mae Sai and the Burmese border crossing.

My Man probably won't be happy until every country in the world has stamped his passport, so we couldn't pass up the chance to cross into Burma when we were so close. The kids and I preferred to browse the shops while he went over the bridge and through immigration. It was interesting to see how many people pass back and forth over the border here, but I was more excited about our next destination: Wat Thompla.

Wat Thompla means Temple cave fish. I had read that there were caves and a lake and a monkey temple but couldn't find a lot of details. I'm so glad we decided to check it out!

The lake was beautiful. Set at the foot of a verdant jungly mountain, it completely took our breath away. Although there weren't boats on the lake as I'd expected, there was a bamboo walkway across the lake to a trail and set of caves.

The cave offered a nice respite from the 103F (feels like 118!) temps and included ladders to explore all the way through. The lake was filled with giant fish, some looked bigger than Funny Guy! A part of me wanted to jump in to escape the heat, but the other part thought if I did, I might become fish food! I'm joking. Kind of. I didn't jump in.

According to Google Maps, the monkey temple was a bit down the road, so after a couple hours of exploring, we headed over there.

The monkeys were great! My Man bought some peanuts to feed them and was instantly surrounded. Unlike the monkeys we encountered in Bali, however, they were fairly calm and we never felt worried about getting bit.

After playing with the monkeys, we explored the main cave, which was much deeper than the one at the lake (500 m). Funny Guy got a little claustrophobic, so I came out early with him and we went to see the old stupa.

After reuniting, we watched the monkeys play for awhile, contemplated climbing up another steep set of dragon stairs (to another Buddhist temple, I presume?), but it was getting late and was just so hot, so we decided we should head home and save it for next time instead.

On our way home we read Harry Potter, finishing The Goblet of Fire. We also enjoyed some of the juiciest, sweetest pineapple we've ever had from one of the many pineapple stands along the way.

As we drove the rest of the way home, munching sweet pineapple and talking about our trip, we all agreed the weekend had been an incredible success. On our next trip to Chiang Rai, though, we hope to go mountain biking and bamboo rafting on the Mae Kok river. But we'll save that for the cooler season!