1.7.24
Pinch punch first of the month & no returns.
We didn’t wake up until almost 10am at the Chaba Chalet Hotel!
Breakfast was good, I stuck to choice 1. Toast and jam. John had menu 2 – Fried rice.
We checked out, got the 200 thb key deposit back and got a Grab taxi to Khao Takiab, 15 minutes or so away, just 100 thb.
It’s a really cute place, Zea Za bungalows, although we were pretty early it was no problem at all. After checking our passports and them spraying air freshener around the room we were in.





We wandered down to the beach, we could see right across to Hua Hin, where we’ve come from. The beach here isn’t quite as beautiful because there’s so many shells, definitely need footwear in parts.
It was fascinating watching some people finding clams, it took me back to Devon & Cornwall on holiday as kids finding cockles.






The beach bars and restaurants were mostly empty. It must be so hard to make a living.
To get to the Golden Buddha which we could see previously in the distance from Hua Hin, we had to go around the river past the pretty fishing boats.

It’s much more rural here, and the roads are pleasant to walk along without having to shout at each other and dodge traffic.
It’s definitely a little slice of paradise.
We saw a dog absolutely fascinated by something. It turned out to be a tiny baby bird.



We had iced drinks before going right up to the Buddha and chatted to the cafe owner about life here.

She gave us a catapult just in case the monkeys came. They did. We only had to show them the catapult and off they went.
There were loads of monkeys around there. They don’t call it Monkey Mountain for nothing!
If it had been our first time seeing them I think we’d have been really nervous in such close proximity. They’re only interested in having a great time playing with whatever they can find and looking for food.












Instead of going back the way we came we headed for another temple in the distance.

A pig started trotting about, then lots of dogs appeared, and loads of monkeys. Next I saw a monk come out of a room with food.
It was surreal, cockerels, pigeons and sparrows all joined in.








John had to almost drag me away, I just loved it there. If we lived here I would be some kind of weird monkey feeding woman.
We walked back via the fish and seafood market. They can also cook it for you to eat in their little restaurants.







Realising that it was 5pm and we hadn’t had lunch we decided to go to Market Village as we really liked the big food court.
The nice cafe lady earlier had explained how to use the Songtheaw, the green vans that transport people about. It was excellent and only 15 thb each.


I had the lovely butter chicken again. John opted for duck noodles. It looked like someone had performed a post mortem and put the bits in a bowl with noodles, hot water and a sprinkling of coriander. Not for me. I don’t do gizzards.
We had a stroll after our food, John bought a charger adapter and we went to see the piglets in the animal area.
John went off and treated me to 20 bahts worth of milk.
I was in my element.


We had just enough time to demolish a Kit Kat ice cream from 7/11 before a green van came along and dropped us a few minutes away from our pretty bungalow.s
It’s been such a lovely day. Very special.