For the rest of the trip in Thailand, we decided to spend in a small town by the beach in Chumphom, Thaiand, about 9 hours from Bangkok. The drive was pretty monotonous except for occasional out of ordinary sights such as folks sacking in a hammock in a moving vehicle.
About mid-way into our trip along the coast lines, we followed a persistent sign for lunch, leading us to a porch resort’s restaurant set in a contemporary style with a private beach. The road side signs didn’t jell well with the real upscale resort. Nevertheless, we decided to break the budget (of ~$50/day for 3 persons) to indulge. The individual villas were spread out. The place seemed like a destination for wealthy tourists. While we saw mass Chinese crowd in Bangkok touristy joints, here we ran into a few wealthy Chinese couples with their pooches.
At about sunset, we reached our intended destination ‘Nana Beach’ where we would be put up for 2 nights. A modest looking resort by road side – no visible commercial activity nearby, relatively calm and situated on the sleepy side of the town. The rooms were decent enough and the facility had a pool overlooking the beach. The boys frolicked around in the pool. There weren’t many restaurant choices nearby. The only one that seemed to be open and lively was across the road from us overlooking the beach. We settled in for dinner and a long chat with Jimmy (our Overlanding travel guide in Thailand). The restaurant was pretty much taken over by a large group comprised of some Thai government minister and his staff. As the wine started flowing, one by one, the folks started taking turns in singing with the live band. The pecking order was clear from the placement of the key personnel and the enthusiasm of the applause after the senior folks render a song. We survived listening to that Karaoke. The other entertaining part was a female dog and her two puppies continuously lugging at and playing with each other during the course of that dinner.
Next day, we had signed up for snorkeling. One other Chinese family showed up for the trip. A family with two kids and another woman whom I had incorrectly assumed to be the mother of one of the parents. I was ashamed to be corrected by the Chinese bubbly gentleman with a perpetual smile that she was his friend. I hope he assumed it to be a legit cultural faux pas. Luckily, I didn’t have to embarrass the lady. After orientation, we boarded the boat and headed out to the snorkeling site. It was interesting to observe that the kids sprinkled English words while talking in Chinese to their parents. Guess, this is the order of new China.
After about 2 hours, we reached our first of three snorkeling site. Overall, the snorkeling experience was decent but paled in comparison to scuba diving in Vietnam. The choppy water made it a bit difficult to float still and watch the sea world. But this was much more preferred to the crowded Bangkok
For dinner this evening, we headed out to a nearby shack run by a British expat. The chef in his 60s traveled around in Australia and New Zealand before deciding to retire in Bangkok. He made solid Indian curry dishes for us. We were about the only customer and slowly other British retirees started to trickle in. The patrons and owners knew each other and pretty much there was a common conversation in the shack. One could easy mistake that place for a British pub if not for the tropical weather and shack. The common theme among the retirees were around increased cost of living in Thailand and reminiscing over their yesteryear in Thailand. We played a few rounds on the pool table and took a long walk by the empty road.
There was no human noise apart from the night time insect buzz sound and the splash of the waves. It is not a surprise that the retirees are attracted to this serene and hassle free part of this country where main stream tourists were absent.
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