Day 17/72: mopeds and beaches

After breakfast this morning Tom decided to go for a long run down the beach. This proved to be a silly idea when he came back completely exhausted, sweating more than a person should be able to sweat, and barely able to take off his own shoes. A swim to cool down was needed, and after this we headed over the road to a moped rental place, and hired one for the day for just over £5.

We had picked up a map from the hotel lobby, and set out with a beach in mind, driving on quiet lanes with goats and cows lining the roadsides. After arriving at a sign saying 'beach' we followed it down a track, across rougher terrain than we thought a road could be, and finally reached the point where the road turned into a footpath (of sorts). We scrambled down through the thickets and plants, avoiding the landslides, and finally, sweating and tired, arrived on our own little, deserted, Thai beach. After a cooling swim we climbed back up and made our way back on the moped to where the path met a real road (with tarmac and everything).

Our next stop was some lunch, we stopped at a little restaurant by the side of the road with kittens and friendly owners who brought us a free side of watermelon with our fried rice and chocolate milkshakes. We then set off on the road again, with the destination set on a spit of sand that stretches half way out to a neighboroughing island. We had an incredibly shallow swim, and wandered along the spit as far as the tide would let us.

Our final stop of the day was (you guessed it) another beach. This was a long beach with no one sat on it (when we arrived, we obviously stared a trend because 5 minutes into our visit 6 other people decided to sit here too). We had another swim; the water wasn't quite cold enough to be refreshing, felt a bit like when the bath water starts to get cold and you debate whether to add a bit more hot water or not. The sun was beating down on the beach through the pine needles; an absolutely idyllic location with a cafe at the entrance with more kittens, one of whom decided to sit on our moped so we couldn't leave without giving her lots of cuddles.

When we arrived back at the hotel we went for a lovely swim in the pool, and sat by the edge reading and playing cards. A very successful day all round!Read more