Mothers Day & A Trip South to Chumphon

Luna & Benedict on Sai Ri Beach, Chumphon Province

14.08.10

The Queen's Birthday is Mother's Day in Thailand and as well as being a lovely occasion it resulted this year in a very nice long weekend off. Wednesday's timetable was taken over by school activities to celebrate Mothers Day.Thursday was the actual Queen's Birthday, a public holiday,Friday was a sandwich holiday, Saturday classes were cancelled, Sunday & Monday are normal days off for me. In effect I had a nice 5 day break. You bet, I love the Queen.

The school activities were a pleasant start to a very pleasant weekend. The Thais are completely unrestrained when it comes to sentimentality. I enjoyed watching  a doting mother and her gobby and cheeky daughter, reduced to tears, when it came to her turn to pay respect to her mother. Nice to see the daughter, a student from last year, in a different light. So the school closed and we had a peaceful Wednesday evening at home and headed south on the Thursday.

Our first stop was Hua Hin to see a few friends and have a bit of lunch. I like Hua Hin but I am glad we don't live there. It is undoubtedly hurting as tourist numbers have dropped significantly. However Hua Hin and more so, nearby Cha-am, are popular with Thais, about a 2 hour drive from Bangkok. So it is not quite a ghost town.

After lunch we drove on through rain to Chumphon where we had decided to spend the break. About a 400 km drive door to door, taking 6 hours or so with plenty of stops including the purchase of a wicker chair for Benedict and the obligatory purchase of a bunch of bananas in the roadside market as we entered Chumphon province. Basically the main highway is line with stalls selling bunches of bananas.

We  stayed at the Suan Hin Nam Resort where we had been before and liked it as it was clean and comfortable and not too expensive; 600 THB a night this time with a warm welcome and the people remembered us as the teachers from Ratchaburi and of course were only interested in Benedict! I have to say a particularily comfortable bed.

We had a lovely weekend the highlight being the food: crab, fish, fresh oysters, mussels and prawns. Absolutely fantastic seafood at ridiculous prices...... and no adverse reaction to the oysters. There are some lovely beaches in the locale especially Hat Thung Wua Laen to the north of the town. Must be one of the cleanest beaches in Thailand, post card stuff really and not too busy. We also had a lovely meal on Sai Ri Beach, a smaller beach and not quite as beautiful.

Street food at the Night Market

Chumphon 14.08.10

The Night Market in town is good and the street food, in particular, is excellent. We also took a trip to Mo Kho Chumphon National Park and our teacher ID cards secured entry for 40 THB as opposed to the normal 200 THB for "foreigners". There is a new mangrove walkway in the park which I reckon will be the best of its type in Thailand at present. It covers an extensive area including a bridge over the river. All in all a good day out and the park has excellent facilities: toilets, restaurants and the mangrove itself provides great shade.

My edition of the Lonely Planet guide to Thailand, (2005), says of Chumphon: "There's little reason to linger in this junction town........ . The provincial capital is a busy place, but of no particular interest...... . Most people only stay long enough to catch the boat to Ko Tao." All I can say is: Alleluia! Thank God they got it so wrong. Means it is a really pleasant, laid back, traditional Thai town where there is a warm welcome and a polite curiosity from the locals. Thank God it is not thronged with Western tourists seeking a meaningful, authentic Thai experience and whinging about getting turned over as happens in most parts of Thailand where they are in significant numbers. Thank you Lonely Planet!

On the mangrove walkway

Mo Kho Chumphon National Park

14.08.10

Of course Benedict is the star of the show. He arouses so much interest. In the Seacon shopping mall in Chumphon he had the sales assistants at his mercy. One of my mates in Hua Hin, on witnessing the enthusiasm the waitresses in the restaurant had for Benedict, asked if he could borrow him for an hour as it would improve his ability to hit successfully on the girls!

Me and my boy

Chumphon Night Market 14.08.10

I did a bit of birding and you can read about that on botab.blogspot.com .

We also made it to mass on Sunday at St Paul's Church, Chumphon and again received a very warm welcome from the priest who remembered us from our previous visit. I don't know this guy's name but he actually made the effort to say a little in English during his sermon. I think was a very nice gesture. Luna also met one of her former students from Ratchaburi  and they hadn't seen each other since before our wedding and before Benedict.

So all in all we felt very comfortable in Chumphon and we will undoubtedly be back. Reasonably uneventful drive home saw us back Sunday about 17:30h.

Sai Ri Beach

Chumphon Province 14.08.10