4.7.24

Happy birthday to my son Curt. 😍 Also it’s election day.

John woke me, I was still dead to the world at 9am.

We had a Grab booked for 10.30am and had to raid 7 Eleven for picnic goodies.

Pranburi forest is about a 20 minute drive from Khao Tao.

Once again a very steady, perfect driver. There’s no madness on the roads here, although motorcyclists mostly don’t wear helmets.

At the entrance to the board walk was a small stall selling drinks. One iced pineapple and one iced coffee just 75 baht.

I imagined that having no price list and a monopoly we’d get stung, but no. I’m repeatedly impressed with their pricing, no trying to rip tourists off here. (Türkiye take note..)

We were concerned about monkeys stealing our picnic, no worries there aren’t any here. We saw none yesterday, when we queried it we were told they don’t have them and don’t want them. That explains why there’s so little litter here, no naughty monkeys going through the bins.

The forest board walk goes through mangroves. I was trying so hard to get a good crab photo until John told me I’d taken enough.

There are hundreds, probably thousands of them, the mud base is a constant motion of crabs. We assume they make the mud holes to hide in and to be able to breathe.

We had read that there is a boat trip from here, but no sign of any boats and not much water.

On the sand were loads of white crabs.

Yayyy, I finally used my binoculars that I bought years ago. They were fascinating, they had one large claw, most were on the right, some left handers too.

It was a very pleasant stroll, in terms of wildlife though, not the greatest.

Crabs & mud lobsters – shy creatures, so shy we didn’t see any. Oh and a white heron type bird.

I thought I saw a long thin worm, John didn’t believe that I saw it move, so he got a long stick and prodded it. It was a stick, not a worm. I’m not going to be allowed to forget it.

So, that was it, forest and mangrove done.

In the opposite direction was Pranburi beach. We selected a table for our  beach picnic. We had to share with the chickens.

As I was tucking into my tuna pastry, yep.. Sounds disgusting, actually very good.. I was bitten by a humungous ant on the back of my arm. I’m pretty good with pain but omg it hurt really stung, still hurts now.

I’ve googled Thai ants and they’re not venomous although some people do get anaphylaxis. I guess that would have happened by now.

We started walking along the beach and decided that we would walk back to where were staying as we’ve been so greedy the last few days.

It was really pleasant. At the end of the beach was the mountain where we saw all the temples yesterday. No way through, we had to go round to the back of the buildings and join the road.

We thought we might have a drink in the beach bar at the very end. It was a QR scan menu, with crazy prices, 3 times what we’ve been used to, so we smiled and said our goodbyes.

This area is definitely for much wealthier people than us, loads of exclusive luxury pool villas are being built, very up market cafes and restaurants there. Some of the existing huge houses are beautiful with huge gates and stunning gardens.

A pack of 6 dogs didn’t get the upmarket memo, they ignored us as we walked by, then 3 ran out barking.

John did a sort of dinosaur roar with dinosaur actions. They turned and ran. I was tempted to do the same.

By the time we got back we were drenched in sweat, thankfully it was overcast, it would have been impossible in the sun.

We headed for the small restaurant that made the best drinks yesterday. No sign of the kitten, apparently it’s fine, but a white and black cat fell in love with John and sat purring on his lap. He’s a pussy magnet  I just get crabs, ant bites and fake worms.

We chilled until dinner and went back for another massuman curry, next door to the fab drinks place. John opted for Hawaiian pizza. His cat saw him in there and made a beeline for his lap. Awww.

This evening I shall go to sleep early and set an alarm for 5am  to catch up with the election results. I do love a swingometer.

We ended this lovely day with ice creams. 7 Eleven is just too close to resist temptation.