Samad Dang Resort

A couple of years ago seriously, where does the time go, Tom took us to this place to celebrate Mr John's birthday. This year, we went again to celebrate his nieces (Taan) birthday. Emma also joined us as she's heading back to the UK for good in a couple of weeks. The weather has really started to heat up but we were thankful for the occasional breeze coming in off the sea.

We really enjoy the food here though you probably need to budget about 250 baht per head but you do get quite a bit of food for that. On this occasion we had red seafood curry, crispy fish and a tom yum type soup.


Getting here is very easy by car but you can ride here on your motorbike. You need to allow about 45 minutes and make sure you use plenty of sunscreen and have a full petrol tank. Of course it's so close to monkey beach that you can combine two of my favourite things in the one trip - swimming in the sea and eating - so really, your time will be well spent.

Puk Tom's sister in law brought a box of Cicadas with her that she had lovingly prepared. I have, so far, managed to avoid eating insects but she's so lovely, I had to have one. Actually, they were quite nice and this was probably good practice for when there's too many people in the world and the only way we can get any protein is to eat insects. When that day comes, I think I'll move in with Puk

Monkey Beach

The weather has been really hot lately, no seriously, hotter than it should be this time of year. Also, we haven't had as much rain as we've had previously though I have to keep reminding myself it is only part way through June. Sometimes it appears that rainy season is definitely here and then it clears up for days on end. Unless you're living in Bangkok at the moment. There have been some horrendous storms, mostly in the wee hours of the morning, some flooding which invariably results in commuter traffic chaos. We have some friends living there and it's playing havoc with a good nights sleep.

In fact, it has been so hot lately that I told Mr John we needed to go to the beach the other weekend. Some of the new teachers joined us and we had a lovely afternoon. We headed off to Laem Sing and Ao Krathing or monkey beach as we like to call it. There's ample parking though I found the walk back up to the bike a bit much not being 100% fit.

Of course prior to being even remotely fit enough to do this trip, I dragged Mr John along to the cinema. We went to Big C shopping centre and saw Mad Max at the Major Ciniplex. All films in Chanthaburi are shown in Thai although the trailers for other movies are in English. It's a lovely way to get out of the heat for a little over 100 baht. My only advice, if your Thai is not very good, go for a low or no plot action film

I started back at yoga last week. Its a good reminder of how sick I've been. I find that when my head spends too much time pointing at the floor, I have to stop and sit down. It makes me so giddy but not in a good way. 

photo courtesy of Orla

TO GET TO MONKEY BEACH: Head to Laem SIng and the large bridge that spans the river. If you're coming from the highway go over the bridge and you will see a large white temple at the end of it. Turn left here and just follow the road. You will see signs for Ao Krathing and end up in the parking lot. Go down the steps to get to the actual beach. Oh, and beware of the monkeys who can steal your bag.

Baan Rua Resort

My friend Kik told me about this place and she was absolutely right. It's a great place to enjoy a swim and have some lunch. Although at first glance the setting may not seem that glamorous, being right beside a big bridge, it's a lovely spot to while away quite a few hours.

Having not been here before, I took Anne & Graham with me on my first trip whilst Mr John soldiered on at work. I'd been told it was at the end of the bridge on the right hand side and in trying to establish its whereabouts I had mentioned the white temple at Laem Sing. Kik said yes and that I should turn right. I had also seen photos on her Facebook page of the resort and knew you could clearly see the bridge from it.

Without further ado, we all jumped in the car with our beach towels and headed for Laem Sing. After a walk along the beach and, I must say, an outstanding cup of coffee, we set off for the bridge. Before turning right, I thought I'd drive past the spot where we saw monkeys, you know, for our foreign visitors entertainment. Turns out they weren't where I expected them to be but as there was nowhere to easily turn around I had to keep heading west when we accidentally found them all over the road. Excellent tour guide brownie points.

Having turned around, I then intended to go straight to the resort. By now it's getting toward lunch time. I head back toward the bridge and straight on which would have been the agreed right turn if I'd come from the bridge itself. I'm thinking, no worries, piece of cake, we'll be able to see the resort from this high up. Except we couldn't. I drove straight ahead thinking there'd be a sign. But there wasn't. Then the heavens opened and I pulled into a "rest area" whilst poor Graham is trying to find the resort on his phone. It was then we discovered there was a small leak around the rear window. 

So no joy with trying to locate the resort but he's spotted a large swimming pool on the location map. We head off with renewed optimism. I follow the instructions given and we end up on a dead end road with a rather large wall surrounding what could only be described as a derelict building - albeit large! At this point, I also noticed we were low on gas but decided not to share that with the group considering it to potentially be a step too far! All tour guide brownie points lost.

We took all sorts of turns and roads, crossed the bridge more than once and ended up in more than one dead end until finally I gave up. I decided the best course of action was to drive the coast road to Chao Lao beach and hopefully find a petrol station. I knew there were places to eat there! Well, you'll never believe it but going over a bridge (about 15 minutes down the road from Laem Sing) I spot the resort. We'd found it! 

It all worked out beautifully in the end. The food was outstanding and reasonably priced (around 100 / 200 baht for a main dish). I should warn you that, whilst the staff are lovely, their spoken English is not great, but the menu does have the English titles so a bit of smiling and pointing and you end up with a lovely lunch. There was only one ladies toilet by the pool so guess there might be a queue on busy days, but the two showers have liquid soap and shampoo so you can freshen up nicely.

The charge for using the pool is 100 baht and although we had brought our own towels, they were insistent that we paid. And here's the map so you won't be driving down any dead ends honestly, it's so easy to find I'm a bit embarrassed

Samad Dang Resort

It sounds so posh when you give it its full title!  We were taken here by Tom for Mr John's birthday and I can't believe I never blogged about it.   It's at Leam Sing beach and to get there you go over the long bridge to the white temple, turn left, go up the hill then take the left that looks like it goes nowhere except over the edge of the cliff.

Tom's brother Tor joined us along with his wife Pok and their daughter Taan and even though there was a bit of a language barrier they were terrific company.  We had an amazing lunch looking right out into the bay with crispy snapper, red curry, prawns, noodles and washed it all down with a large bottle of Johnny Walker with soda and ice.  I wouldn't recommend drinking whiskey in the middle of the day - soda or not!

If you do fancy tucking in though and having a few drinks, there is accommodation at the resort and I believe it's reasonably priced - just call the number!

Road Trip

Gosh, I really don't know where the time went last week.  Mr John was having a well earned beer after work on Friday when I realised what day it was and that I hadn't published anything.  The joys of not working.

Wicus and Mr John enjoying a coffee

We headed off on Saturday to Laem Sing with our friend Wicus.  It was a beautiful day, as they have been lately, though a bit breezy.  We decided to get breakfast, (well brunch really) before heading off, at the Vietnamese place near the Cathedral. 



We really enjoyed the food but decided, with hindsight, that we probably should have headed straight to the beach as none of us were hungry enough to enjoy a seafood lunch.  Shocking.

Last time I wrote, I tried to describe my limited facility cooking situation.  Well, I impressed myself on Saturday evening with a delicious (even though I say so myself) pasta meal.  I only have one gas ring, so you have to boil the pasta first, keep it in the pot to stay warm and then add the "sauce" later.

Even more exciting than dinner is the progress of a lime tree I bought at the New Year markets.  It already had a lime on it and I've been finding the right spot for it at home, you know not too much sun, and I can't believe I not only have new growth but also flowers.  Whoop, whoop! 


Of course, the primary function of the tree is to freshen up my vodka, but if the crop is good enough, some might manage to make it into the cooking
;-))

Weekend - Part I

Concert was televised by Channel 3

There was so much going on this weekend that I feel I have to break it down into two parts!  We'd heard that on Friday there was going to be a jazz orchestra at the Lake so we headed down their to check it out.  Nothing had started when we got there and we weren't sure when it would, so we decamped to Sangchareon bar.

The view, the breeze, the only way to eat lunch

On Saturday, Mr John took me to Laem Sing beach and we had a fabulous day.  It took roughly 45 minutes to get there on the scooter but it was well worth it.  We had a lovely stroll around the place and ate some excellent seafood.  Mr John ordered Squid in Lemon, which sounded fairly inoffensive and whilst it did have a beautiful flavour, it was soooo spicy! 

This one was medium sized

When we first arrived we stopped for coffee at Chaba Coffee where we not only had the drinks we ordered but were given a free cup of tea as well.  The coffee was good and came with free Wi-Fi.  We took a little drive around the area and went over the large bridge (signposted for Chao Lao) where there is a pure white temple and unbelievably we came across monkeys.  There were loads of them from newly born to the "dad" who was about 3 feet tall.  


It's my birthday in a couple of weeks and we have decided that this is where we'll spend the weekend.  It's not very "touristy" with most visitors being Thai and with virtually everything being on the beach it is an ideal location for us.

Life's a beach

Chao Lao beach

So Mr John had the whole week off due to the rain / flooding last week and it was much needed.  This term runs from May to October with the odd long weekend and he was feeling a bit run down.  He was perked up a bit by the arrival of a toaster on Friday when we got to enjoy peanut butter on toast....mmm bliss! 


Anyway, he announced on Saturday that we were going to the beach the next day and our friend Juls decided to join us.  About 38 kilometres (or 40 minutes on the scooter) is Chao Lao beach and so off we went.  Although it had rained in the morning, the sky didn't look too threatening, so we chanced it and were rewarded with a sunny dry day at the coast.

The unassuming entrance

The beach itself was a little disappointing (we've obviously been spoilt by the beaches on Koh Chang) but it wasn't overcrowded and we enjoyed a lovely lunch at our own thatch shaded table. Fortified by a lovely cup of coffee, we headed back down the coast for a bit of an explore before heading back to Chanthaburi. 

We were given small fish to feed the big fish!

It was well worth the small detour as we came across the Sea Farming Demonstration Unit in Kungkrabaen Bay.  It didn't look much, just a sign with a long walkway and a network of further walkways at the end of that.  In fact, Mr John didn't come down the walkway at first. 



Laem Sadet Aquarium on the beach

The fish they were "farming" were amazing.  There were leopard sharks, bull sharks, turtles and .... I knew I should have taken more photos of signs as I've forgotten half of them!  Heading back towards the main road is Laem Sadet and we stopped here to see an Aquarium that Mr John had seen on his last stay in Thailand.

There's a huge variety of fish, moray eels, sea urchins and sharks to see and a small walkway through a plastic dome so you see the fish swimming above you.  Now anyone who's been to an aquarium is probably thinking that's fairly standard - nothing new there - except this place is free to get into!  Needless to say we all left a donation in the box by the exit.