Hello! It’s me, a Pakmeng.

Day: 23-26
Mileage: 2,150 kilometers
Location: Pakmeng, Trang Province

In a personal ranking of the most suitable places to spend a sabbatical year, Pakmeng comes easily on the second place, after Koh Phangan. Very few farang people come to Pakmeng and those who do usually take a boat to the paradise islands nearby. The beach is deserted Monday to Friday and gets a bit more animated during the weekends. Locals come from Trang for a barbecue pork and a beer.

Pakmeng offers an excellent combination of natural beauty, things to do, infrastructure and service. It's quiet enough to put your thoughts in order but has also enough action not to drive you crazy. Let's take them one at a time.

To see, to do

The beach itself is beautiful, grey and soft sand, with spectacular cliffs and islands that break the monotony of the horizon. There are mangrove forests full of birds at both ends of the beach. A lazy river runs parallel to the sandbank, flowing into the sea two kilometres further south. You can go kayaking both on the river and the sea. A mile offshore lies a desert island.

Speaking of which. Pakmeng Port is the ideal base for transfers to Koh Kradan, Koh Mook and Koh Ngai, three of the most beautiful islands in Thailand. Super-class snorkeling around any of the three.

Five kilometers North the Chao Mai National Park begins, a miracle of nature including 200 square kilometers of beaches, forests and islands. I spent a whole afternoon walking on Hat Chang Lang and left only when the sirens announced that visitation program ended. From the park entrance, going another 12 kilometers to the North, you can enjoy the benefits of the hot springs sulking at 70 degrees Celsius.

Chao Mai National Park

Chao Mai National Park

Infrastructure and services

Pakmeng is 40 kilometers away from Trang and 80 kilometers from Krabi. Easily reached on a three lanes highway. It took me 2 hours from Krabi, riding on Unirea and including a long stop for gas and coffee.

Once you arrive, you have at least 10 accommodation solutions, from small bungalows at 350 thb per night to the luxurious Anantara Resort Sikao (which, despite everyone’s belief, is not in Sikao).

Anantara Resort Sikao

My recommendation: Fisherman's Huts, located at the Southern end of the beach. Ten chic cottages, tastefully furnished and equipped with AC, TV, refrigerator, hot water and Wi-Fi. 800 thb/night and worth every penny.

Fisherman's Huts

Pakmeng is a paradise for gourmets. A lot of restaurants, serving international dishes. You can have a Buddhist breakfast, a Muslim lunch and a Christain dinner as well. The local specialties consist of fried fish and seafood. Any of them makes an excellent choice! You buy them from the street vendors and eat them on the beach, sprinkled with some watermelon juice or Singha beer. Picnic by the seaside.

Beer, cigarettes, anti-mosquito spray, slippers and sun are sold in all the mini-markets. There is also a non-stop store, on the way out towards Trang.

There’s only one thing missing from Pakmeng landscape: the nightlife. The restaurants close no later than 11 pm and all night entertainment weight falls on a crowded, sordid and obscure karaoke bar. Assuming you want to go on stage, get ready for a pleasant surprise. The list of English songs includes 10 titles and the first on the list is "Dragostea Din Tei" :-)

"Alo! Sunt eu, un haiduc"

Tham Morakot. The Emerald Cave and the Terracotta Soldiers

Day: 23
Mileage: 2,000
Location: Koh Muk, Trang Province

The boatman put on a life jacket, took a flashlight between his teeth and jumped into the water. You, come. I jumped after him. I had to swim 80 meters under the earth, through darkness, to Tham Morakot, the Emerald Cave. That's in Koh Mook, a few miles away from Koh Kradan.

Tham Morakot. Before.

The tide was at maximum height and the underground ceiling was low enough to kick it. The strong current was trying to push me out towards the open sea but I didn't give in to it. I was stubbornly following the flash light, strongly paddling with my legs. Five minutes later I saw the sun again. First its reflection in the green water at the end of the tunnel. Then borrowing its splendor to the Emerald Cave.

You’ll ask: how come you saw the sun shinning if you were in a cave? It was shinning, alright. Morakot is a cave but has no ceiling. Or, if you prefer, a completely closed lagoon, which can be reached only through the trap I was swimming in. A perfect hideaway. In fact, the pirates hopping the Andaman Sea and the Malacca Strait used it as a repository for their prey.

By the time I arrived to Morakot, two groups of Westerners (Englishmen and Germans) were already there, sitting and admiring the beauty around with gaping mouths. The turquoise water was gleaming, the limestone cliffs adorned with shrubs and flowers seemed to revolve around us. Peace and quiet. I could have stayed for years, taking care of the pirates’ treasures.

But, as we were calmly sitting and admiring the beauty reserved only to the bold ones, the earth started shaking and a sinister sound coming though the tunnel opening froze the blood in our veins. We quickly exchanged some glances: Earthquake? Tsunami? Sea monster? Saruman’s evil orcs?

Tham Morakot. After.

Worse. Local tourists. At least 100 pieces. Men, women, elderly, children, strung on a rope not to get lost from the herd, trying to swim with their little arms and chanting to the pace dictated by the guides like an army ready to sweep everything standing in its way. Within minutes, they conquered the cave with their laughs and their absurdly loud splashing, with their cameras hanging in plastic bags around their necks. Terracotta soldiers were having fun on a team building.

They stayed exactly the time needed for each of them to have their photo taken – alone and with the department to which each belonged to. Just enough for the Morakot Cave to turn from the quiet oasis of the brave ones to the putrid beach of the corporatism tourism. Oh, the precision, the coordination!

Then the guide whistled and the soldiers took their places, lining disciplined on two rows. One hand on the rope, the other taking their pants out of their asses, they resumed the military chanting, and marched towards the exit. Bye-bye. Soldiers versus Pirates: 10-0.

When darkness has swallowed the last rump of tile, I instinctively looked back to my English and German companions. They were leaning against the rocks with long faces and losers attitude. I was certainly hanging the same flag. We seeped out quietly. On the other side, the battalion was already embarked and enjoying the well-deserved watermelon, complimentary offered with the tour. A second army was in line and ready for the attack.

However: the tourist ships leave Pakmeng at 9 am. If you manage to get to Morakot by 8 am, you have one hour of peace. After that you continue to Koh Kradan. This way you’ll be always ahead of THEM. The boat should be no more than 1,000 thb for a half-day trip. Drinking water and snorkelling equipment included.

Koh Kradan. Life like a cookie jar.

Day: 23

Mileage: 2,000

Location: Pakmeng, Trang province

Thailand is among the most beautiful countries in the world. Trang is one of the most beautiful provinces of Thailand. And Koh Kradan is considered as the most beautiful island in Trang. And rightly so. 

When you first step on Kradan you think you entered a cookie jar. It makes you run back and forth tasting everything: the white beach sugar, the caramel rocks, the jungle green glaze or the colored fish-shaped candies. You eat and then eat again and you cannot stop eating. You get to the point where you end up under a coconut tree, belly rounded and smiling like Jerry after eating a whole wheel of cheese (while Tom was out in the city).

As it covers only 4 square kilometers, Kradan can be slowly crossed on foot between breakfast and lunch. After you had lunch, you can surround the island, this time on a kayak rented from Paradise Beach. If your arms are strong enough try going around by swimming. Take care of the strong currents.

What to do on Koh Kradan? 

I could easily answer you “nothing” as I truly believe this is the most appropiate activity to engage yourself into. If you are that kind of young and restless tourist you’ll be on your way in a few hours. But if you want to relax, just you and the sea and a good book, take a few days and lay on the board. It’s good for you back and other parts.

The underwater weddings have become a tradition in Trang and Koh Kradan holds the Guiness Book of Records for the biggest wedding organized below the water surface. Not much difference from a normal wedding, I guess, except you have to remember to take off the snorkel to kiss your beloved half.

Where to stay? 

Although I did not expect that an ecosystem so fragile to bear too much infrastructure, Kradan offers accommodation options for all tastes and all pockets. 

Kradan Beach Resort - a series of bungalows lining on the beach, 10 meters away from the sea. Quite clean. Lowest price: 760 THB (Fan room, low season). The resort has also a restaurant which is open every now and then.

Lost Paradise Resort - located in the jungle, but sufficiently close to both beaches. I talked to a few guests who were pretty excited with Paradise Lost. The excitement starts at  550 THB.

Seven Seas Resort - 4 stars, pool, luxury. The rooms are nice and clean and the bathrooms are absolutely brilliant. To admire the sea you must book – you guessed it right - a "deluxe seaview room" which will cost your card 5,000 thb.

How to get on Koh Kradan? 

You can embark on one of the over-populated small ships leaving Pakmeng and taking a one-day tour of the islands (Koh Ngai, Koh Muk and Koh Kradan). Or you can just hire a long tail boat. I can recommend Chai, a boatman, tourist guide and policeman at the same time. He speaks English. Call him when you get to Pakmeng: 081 747 28 15.

Yong Star Cape

Day: 22 
Mileage: 1,850 km
Location: Laem Yong Star, Trang Province 

I discovered the one hundred percent environmentally friendly way to freeze in Thailand while everything else around is melting hot. The method doesn’t use freon, nor liquid nitrogen, not even some high technology. Let me tell you about it.

First, you must put on some very thin pieces of clothes and then you must get on the saleng (motorbike). You head to Yong Star Cape, 70 kilometers away from your base. If you are lucky, right when you pass through the mountains, God helps you and the rain starts to fall. You’re soaking wet in less than three minutes. The temperature is easily adjusted via the throttle lever. Faster means cooler. Once you get to 60km/h reminiscences of the day you were born begin to march in front of your eyes: it is just as cold and you are just as naked. There you have it, that’s the method. Too bad I missed the Prentice Hall in Geneva.

Rain in Thailand looks as if it’s God’s treat. He doesn't care about the money, he just shares from the bottom of his almighty heart with all his children. The children in return receive from the bottom of their humble hearts – whenever rain pours down on them they start laughing with joy and go on riding their motorbikes with water running all over their bodies. Something like the Songkran, though us down here cannot return the favour by humbly splashing a bucket of water on Him all the way up in heaven.

The Yong Star Cape is sweet as candy, nothing to do with the majestic and solitary desolation at Than Yong Po or Thalumpuk. Yong Star is small and cheerful, decorated with strange rocks, colorful flowers and hot Tom Yam Kung aroma. It’s mere appearance made me instantly warm.

How to get there: driving on Satun-Trand highway, you turn left towards Palian and follow the sign for Yong Star cape.

Koh Sukorn. The island of watermelons.

Day: 21

Mileage: 1650 km

Location: Koh Sukorn, Trang Province

What do you think about when you hear the words "tropical island"? Exactly: white sand, palm trees, a few bungalows on the beach, bars, reggae music or even better, deserted place, Robinson Crusoe style of life. I used to imagine all these until the moment I stepped on Sukorn island. This one was about to teach me there are also normal islands.

Ignore the Andaman Sea surrounding the island and you get the same feeling as you would be visiting the countryside. No resorts, no restaurants, tour operators or taxi cabs. Well, there are two or three so-called resorts but, trust me, you don’t want to spend your holiday in any of them. The only thing Sukorn is known for is the peak season for the watermelons – March and April.

Precisely because they're extremely tasty and famous for that fact, you can find the Sukorn watermelons being sold all over the Trang province coastline. What’s the point, though, to buy “imported” melons when you can go directly to the source?

I arrived in Sukorn one late afternoon, on a boat sailing from the small port called Taseh. The way here was in fact a 250 thb shower. Disembarking I took a deep breath trying to have a sniff of the legendary watermelon scent. My wild imagination pictured this place as being the Las Vegas Sukorn with shining pyramids of cold watermelons resting in the sun. A neverending festival dedicated to the green on the outside and red on the inside fruit. An orgy of watermelons.

 

I started walking under the stifling heat, trying to sight a pub, restaurant, an eatery maybe which served the local specialty. Nothing. Weirdest things of all was that none seemed to understand the word “watermelon”. Words and mimics weren’t enough to explain what I was searching for so I finally drew a watermelon on a piece of paper and showed it to an itinerant seller. “Aaaa, daeng-moh! Don’t hep.” She pointed another seller’s stall “maybe hep”.

She had. One. One watermelon. A small daeng-moh. I placed the order. She sliced ​​it and served it to me on a chess table, near the stand. It was hot as a pie, but nothing mattered after a full day on the road. The taste - good, indeed. Juicy and sweet, though I felt a touch of spice. It must have been grown on a chilli plantation.

Romanian watermelons are definitely tastier than those in Thailand. But if the Romanian ones must be first tested (cut a cap, for example), here you can pick any because they are all good. No need for that cap test. They are all perfectly ripped. Maybe it’s just me but out of the (probably) one hundred watermelons I bought since I lived in Thailand, none ever broke my heart with dissapointment.

While I was munching the only watermelon on the watermelons island I suddenly found the explanation for the lack of the famous fruit. Well, if everyone here grows watermelons what’s the point in selling them on the island? If they all have it, who’s gonna buy it? Me?

I returned to the pier, I took a boat and headed towards Taseh still holding a sweet-spicy taste in my mouth. Not only from the watermelon but also from the whole day I had spent running around to find it. Sukorn island guessed what I would be writing about it and made a last attempt to win my favour. Halfway from the island to the main land the boatman’s face suddenly lightened with a huge smile: “You, look!”

A few meters away from the boat a team of dolphins had started their evening show, making funny tricks as per the joy of all fishermen in search of sea food and that of a farang in search of a land fruit. Thank you.

Note: the Thai name of the island has two transliterations: Sukorn and Sukon.

Rawai and Toong Sa Boh. The Dream Beach.

Day 20
Mileage: 1500
Location: Rawai Beach, Satun province

The first two weeks of my trip I followed a route with clear touchdown points and dates. Once I reached Koh Lipe I realized I was an idiot. The purpose of this motorbike tour was to discover new places and to move into the beauty and the mystery. Not to mark destinations which others have more or less superficially ticked before me and others before them. I decided to give up the initial route and savor what Thailand has to show me.

A second decision I took was to forfeit the Northern segment of the tour. It would have been impossible to reach Chiang Rai until the Songkran if I wanted to truly experience the Southern part of the country. Besides, to drive around proved to be more difficult than inital estimations. I was often stopping for smoking, drinking water, refuelling. Plus the longer stops for photo shooting, inspecting accommodation and so on.

In the the twentieth day, early morning, it was time to leave Koh Lipe. I picked up Unirea from the parking lot and headed towards Trang. No plan, no strings attached. Halfway to my destination I noticed a sign pointing to the left: Rawai Beach. The name didn’t ring any bells so I obviously followed the pointed road. Almost ten kilometers long, it went through the forest, passed several bridges and culverts until it finally reached the seashore. I stopped. I was in shock. I knew this beach! I had dreamt about it one month before the trip! I had dreamt even the aproximate location on the map – somewhere in between Satun and Trang. All things fit. This was indeed the beach in my dream.

You either adore or hate Rawai Beach at a first glance. The water is so shallow to very far offshore. No chance for swimming. Instead you can walk for miles into the sea. They say if you are swift of foot you can reach Koh Petra before the tide rises.

The sand, although fine-grained, is a bit oozy due to the river flowing into the sea on the Northern end of the beach. On the other hand Rawai is a treasure for those into beach-combing. It really left me with the feeling that the Andaman Sea is still alive – snails and clams were swarming like nowhere else. Plus battalions of crabs made the sand look as if it was moving by itself for meters.

 Apart from a small local restaurant and three wretched bungalows (where I spend the first night) there is no other facility on Rawai Beach. The chances are high not to see any humans on the five kilometers long beach for a whole day.

Main strengths of Haad Rawai are the sand (black here, reddish or golden there), the wilderness and the perspective on Koh Petra Marine Park which lays a few miles offshore. You feel like shouting of so much beauty.

Rawai continues on the other side of the river towards Ban Toong Sa Boh. Five more kilometers of tranquility and beauty. Here you can also find the one decent accommodation in the area. Concealed by Casuarina trees and overrun by flowers and birds, Lalita Homestay Resort pleasantly contrasts with the cruel beauty of the beach. It belongs to a local family who also operates it. The granddaughter is in charge of the reception and the food is deliciously prepared by an aunt. The manager is the owner’s daughter and her name is, you guessed it righ, Lalita. Her English is perfect.

Rooms are tastefully decorated with a playful good taste and are sparkling clean. There’s also a small swimming pool facing the beach – very useful and enjoyable given the sea is a bit too shallow. Prices start at 800 thb per room per night. The restaurant is very affordable.

Almost forgot to tell you about Koh Hingham!

Ko Hingham is a small uninhabited island which no one would have ever bothered to visit unless the Gods adorned it with precious stones. Precious, indeed, because Gods – precisely the God of Turatao – also launched a curse at any future visitor who would have dared to take even a pebble off the island. Beware, you cannot mess with the Gods!

Even though you cannot take the stones home, you can play with them within the boundaries of the island for as long as your inner child wishes to do so. Thai people, for example, use them to build miniaturized cheddis and kneeling in front of them, they lay their most ardent wishes and prayers. Less mystical white people write short messages in black and white as you can see in the photo above.

How to get there: find a old man on Koh Lipe and bargain as skillfully as possible for a long tail boat trip. You should pay 600-700 thb. Ten persons fit comfortably. The journey to Hingham island takes around 20 minutes.

Satun: Than Yong Po Cape

Considering the largely accepted definition of a touristic destination, this one doesn’t fit at all. Good accommodation, seafood and water sports are not attractions to be expected in Than Yong Po. Instead one can admire beautiful sunsets over the Tarutao National Park and millions of rocks encrusted with precious shells. A magical silence reigns the place. Old trees, birds and fish with legs accompany it with every step.

Hot to get to Than Yong Po: drive North from Satun and turn left 10 kilometers before Chebilang. Watch out as you might miss the small sign behind the tree. You go ahead for 5 or 6 kilometers, turn right at the end of the road and start walking on the coast. Beware of too much beauty intake as it may become addictive.

Fill up the gas tank once you leave Satun as there is no other petrol station on the way.

Thunderstorms overs Malaysia.