I got waked up early today. It was 7AM when Johny (gee I hope his name was Johny - I'm terrible with remembering names.. :( ) knocked on my door as agreed yesterday evening. We were going to have an early morning walk through the city and to the hill with a few Buddhist buildings on its top. It took us quite a while to get up there and it wasn't because of the many steps that you have to scale to get there... The reason was monkeys. Yes, they were here too and in substantial numbers. They obviously like something about long flights of stairs. The first monkey we found was sitting in the middle of pavement where somebody left (or dropped) quite a few mangoes. This guy was filling his stomach and cheeks with them.

Just around the corner, where the flight of stairs leading to the top of the hill starts there were many more of these cute creatures. Many of them were mothers with freshly born or still very young babies. The older babies were running around playing, some of them still having some problems with coordination. The really fresh ones were happy that they could hang on on their mothers when she was moving. When she would stop they would sometimes fall off her, unsuccessfully trying to stand up on their own arms and legs, usually falling flat on their nose. They were really cute and the others entertaining as usual. I could spend hours or probably even days watching them play and/or trying to keep the pecking order right.

These monkeys were even tamer than the ones I saw in Batu Caves in Malaysia. And they weren’t protecting their food so ferociously either. In Batu Caves if you gave some food to a monkey and then tried to get too close he would show his teeth. Some were even trying to steal the food of you when you were not looking. It was different here. They would go about their own business on the stairs (whatever that was) and wouldn’t worry at all about you passing just a few centimeters from them. And when they saw that you had some food for them in your hands and you were just standing there, instead of trying to steal it from you they would just come close, maybe just gently pulling your shorts so that you notice them waiting. Some would gently climb up your leg a bit but it felt more like “hey, I’m your friend and I’m right here; have you noticed me yet?” type of thing.

At the end we got to the top, where a few really nice dogs (they, surprisingly, are mostly very nice dogs that you see here) around with puppies. We took some photos and headed back as Johny had to catch a 10AM bus to Bangkok. I had a breakfast first, then packed myself as well and then used the hotel’s computer that they could connect to Internet to check on something quite important. The connection (or the computer; or both) was really slow so this little thing took half an hour. I paid for my room (160 Baht) and the Internet (20 Baht – 30 per hour, but half costs 20) and left as well. My destination today is the floating markets about 80 km left of Bangkok. These are apparently real ones as opposed to just a tourist attraction that are the floating markets in Bangkok. This info comes from a Dutch couple that spent the night at the same hotel. They are traveling on bicycles! They were not the youngest pair so the more they deserve my admiration.

I’m now at a resort about 4 km from the markets, which I’m going to visit tomorrow early morning as suggested by the locals. The name of the resort is Ban Suchokai Hotel (or Resort) and its location is N13.54543 E99.96528.

This resort is quite amazing. Compared to the road outside that is currently undergoing heavy reconstruction it is heaven. Even without this comparison it is truly very nice. Most of the rooms are in huts around a small (probably artificial) water body. My room is not but I have my bike parked just behind the window which will definitely contribute to a good sleep. This is also the first time I didn’t have to carry all my panniers several flights of stairs up as in all the other hotels so far. Also having an on-suite is the first time for me on this journey. The room is very clean, the bed solid and the walls are from natural bricks, which I absolutely love.

On my way here I saw a few interesting things which I took photos of and you can see some of them in my TraveledAround photo album. 

I passed through the city of Hua Hin and saw it as quite a touristy place since I had no problem seeing white people in the local busses and cabs. There are a few big international hotels that reminded me of Australian Gold Coast. They were not as concentrated there as they are on the Gold Coast though. However, I think that the ones on the Gold Coast are nicer with nicer and definitely cleaner beaches in front of them.

It is not as easy to get to a beach, as most of the pieces of land adjacent to the beach are privately owned with people living there. I found a spot leading to the beach right next to one of the big hotels. This must have been one of the last allotments waiting for some development. After seeing the beach I have to say again that Gold or Sunshine coasts in Oz are much better. They really should do something about the mess on their beaches, at least the tourist ones.

The next interesting city was Phet Buri (or Phetchaburi) It seems to be full of temples and there is a wat in the middle. I also attempted to go up on the hill where a couple of other monuments are visible from down below. However, I was caught by a guard who explained that no vehicles were allowed and that I would have to go on foot. I didn’t have time for that so I just turned and continued driving north.

There, when this guy stipped me in the very steep hill I first experienced what consequences it can have stopping while going up as rear loaded as I was. The front wheel had no chance to get enough grip on the pavement and I was sliding down backwards faster and faster. I was very lucky that there was this guy to catch the bike and me desperately trying to stay up on it. At the ent it was him who stopped me there anyway, wasn't it?.. :) And if he didn't help me to stop the un-navigable bike, which was gaining speed in reverse, I could have even destroyed his guard booth so it was in his interest too.

I must have found the location of the floating markets long time ago on the Internet so I wasn’t really sure how accurate it was. All I remember is that the location was described something like “60 km south-east of this and this city”. I tried my luck and after about 20km of riding among villages that almost all have majority of the houses located on or by the channels of which there is more than roads I finally managed to cross the river and connect to a main road. In another 15 minutes it started to get dark and so I decided to find a place to stay right where I was. I was lucky again as the markets are apparently just 2 km from the point where I started asking. Then I found this resort where I have the above-described room for 150 Baht a night.

Then I had some food again  as I haven’t eaten since breakfast - well, I didn’t have much time for stopping today and I was not hungry either. I had some chicken and liver kebabs on sticks with rice and some greens, all for only 45 Baht.

(290km)

I can't help to add another cute monkey here... ;-)