Koh Lipe 2012, The Southern Experience

And so I had yet conquered another island in the sea of many surrounding Thailand, now back to working life in Bangkok. Looking forward to yet another, plans drawn for months ahead in 2013. Such is life in Thailand, where there are always places to go to, places to explore, places to dip in tranquility where there are crystal clear seas. A life that stand out against those of folks back home, where casinos and vibrant lights permeates their souls, where their existence had infused with the city and the life-blood of all is just money.


Now one thing I liked about my trip to Koh Lipe was how systematic the boat ride was organized. Think of Thailand and the word chaos will naturally come into mind. Well not always as I had experience. On arrival at the operator, I was handed a card with a number on it. Number 1. I arrived two hours early. At the pier we left for Koh Lipe, a number of food outlets serving roti and the morning coffee. So that occupied our time till eleven when the boat was scheduled to leave. No hording mad tourist pushing their way onto the boat, no screaming kids falling into the sea. We were lined up according to our numbers and I was able to pick the best seat up front. So, do arrive early to board first I highly recommend.


There are two main beaches on Lipe. Waters will be clam depends on the season and the winds. October, Sunset beach was churning most of the time and therefore the waters a haze of sandy brown and green. There were however periods of calmness in-between offering postcard perfect scenes of glassy waters set against dark blue skies. The breeze was on strong, though marring the waters, was actually a welcome in contrast to just the blazing heat scorching our salt marinated skin wet with perspiration, typical of any island holidays. Before the occasional downpour, seen at a distance before they dark clouds encroached onto land, their million fine tentacles of rain. The draft turned chilly and the distinct refreshing smell of ozone accompanied the prelude of rain. The sight was dramatic, of darkness far back, of sunny brightness and shimmering pearls the foreground.



Idyllic resort is set on the far southern tip of the island. That’s where I stayed. It is reputed to be the best on the island. Further proof of this reputation denoted by the Malaysian wedding held while I was there. Lipe is popular with Malaysians, many have been there since it is not too far away from the border, offering them a change in cultural diversity as a holiday destination. Most of the resort's rooms had been taken up by the forty or so wedding guest chatting away in Chinese dialects and Singlish like English. Not only is the place great with weddings, but also great for affairs - matured Malaysian men with pretty young things will be a common sight. Idyllic offers several styles of accommodations to choose from, give their website a go and discover. Amenities were up kept and beach up front was pleasantly clean. They have a pool but disappointingly the water was murky. Sipping beer by the pool bar sprawled on the ledge of the infinity pool would have been great but I gave that a miss. The wedding party goers however did not seem to mind as they jumped into the pool after a few rounds of beer, their laughter pierce the clear night skies dotted by glittering stars.


Meals in the hotel was eating art, they were all well presented and the price tag matches the serenity of the settings and the well mannered, very friendly and smiling staffs. Fortunately they do not employ neighboring foreign workers and so there were no linguistic challenges when ordering our food. The staffs were walking information centers and they could tell you heaps of what to do on the island. One even shared his life story with us, mentioned that he had fallen in love with working on this gem of an island and can never adjust to life back in Bangkok. Breakfast was perfect and with the breeze going on, it was just so flawless with the postcard spectacle of long tail boats moored on the white sands, the rocky outcrop of an island set against clear blue skies just opposite the resort.


There are canoes for the guest to explore the surrounding islands. The waiter said he once had to rescue and hull back tourists who ventured too far out. During certain times of the year, the currents would be too strong. So make sure you are physically fit before trying to impress your sweet young thing with testosterone driven acts of heroic “i-strong-can-paddle-round-the-island” display that could turn out to be alpha lion in distress. They have snorkeling gears for rental at very cheap rates if you want to waddle the waters when it is clear and clam. Just watch out for that sea urchin. A bikini clad guest learned that sea urchins are not hairy, they have hard spikes. The hotel staffs were busy performing first aid on her foot, bashing the spot with beer bottle so as to disintegrate the fragments of spikes lodged stubbornly in her sole. I however was just a witness drooling at her bikini lines.





The long tails boats operated by the sea gypsies can be for rent at below 2000 Baht. They could take on six guests. We went on one, joined another three Thai guests from different resorts. Depending on the season, depending on the currents, they will bring you to different islands and snorkeling spots. The sea of Andaman is definitely better then in Ao Thai. Visibility was excellent and I could see a group cuttlefish about five meters down displaying their kaleidoscope of color changes. Some of the snorkeling spots however can get quite crowded. It was an out crop of undersea corals in the middle of nowhere we were dropped. The current was too strong so we had to hold on to ropes. It was a disaster as the many streams of ropes from the many anchored boats let off their many guest of all ages that trashed about the water. It was sort of like the movie Titanic, minus the iceberg. After the ordeal, our guide told us he promised to take us to places where we will see more fish then feet, we were relieved. And true enough every other location burned into his mental map he took us matched his promise. We had the included lunch on Koh Ra Wi that was abundant with food robbing aggressive monkeys. Walking around with plastic bags of food was a bad idea, the monkeys attacked the tourist attempting snatch robberies. Even the dogs on the island were afraid of them tree climbing thieves.


We spent the third day in the resort. Early morning, watching sunrise from the hidden beach further west of the resort was just such a captivating experience. There was a small trail that leaded me past the home of natives and onto the very private beach next to Serendipity resort erected on rocky hills. Taking the wooden weathered stairs up into the resort and just sitting on the viewpoint platforms or the restaurant overhanging the cliffs offered breathtaking moments where I awe in admiration of nature. Serendipity was under renovation, we had the whole place to ourselves during dawn.




Deckchairs sprawled the shoreline front of Idyllic, we sun tanned throughout the day and the few Caucasians downed beer, read books and let their kids loose terrorizing hermit crabs and small fishes in the water. Zanom restaurant, a few resorts away, was a perfect place for dinner during sunset, lobster dinner at reasonable prices. We had them tasty crustaceans to accompany the dusky skies, we sat on the upper deck. In the night, the street that leads to Pattaya beach on the other side of the island was an abundance of activities. Shops and restaurants, you will be spoilt for choice. And there was a good restaurant popular with many which I could not remember the name. It had good seafood that you get to pick fresh from the ice laden tray, which then you tell them how you wanted your pickings cooked. This place offered amazing Thai food as well. To get there, from Sunset beach, you will have to travel up the slopes. On the downhill of that street towards Pattaya, the restaurant will be on the right. It should be filled with many customers, both locals and foreign, during dinner times. It’s famous, the price reasonable. The only thing I could not understand was that those common roundish white clams were five times more expensive then in Bangkok. I asked the locals and it seemed ironically, there were no clams to harvest on the island shores. Do beware however, pick the wrong restaurant without many patrons and you will be dining on chemicals. The BBQ fish we had on one of the not so lucky nights was so heavily soaked in formalin I could distinctly taste it.


The journey back to mainland for many of us would begin sadly in the early morning hours, our trip was 9 am. For many locals who came from Bangkok, our flight from Hat Yai to Bangkok would be in the afternoon. We need to have ample time for travel in order to make for our flights. Booking a flight that leaves around 3 pm would be perfect timing. After the self controlled do-not-eat-too-much breakfast, we again headed early for the departure point located quite a distance away. I got the queue number card 1 again, oh yeah, best seat on the boat again we choose. By evening of the same day I was in my apartment allowing for ample rest to ready for work the next day. Dozing off watching television, my mind was still set to the vision and pace of Koh Lipe, an island endorsed by me worth a next visit again in time to come. I shall visit Koh Lipe next on a low season as recommended by the island folks, where hotels are cheaper, the crowd a minimal and to different sheltered spots of islands I shall be dipping.

Getting to Koh Lipe

Sitting cross legged on a white weathered chair, the reverberating sound of sea breeze accompanied by soothing Thai melodies in the morning salty air. There I sat blogging in the yellow glow of the morning sun, looking out to distance Langkawi, the dark blue skies dotted by the occasional sea bird that soared high. It was just after my morning sunrise shoot, I sat sipping hot instant coffee, my laptop laid on the breakfast table, Marlboro smoke bellowed from my mouth. At times like theses, grinning from cheek to cheek broader then Joker’s smile, I wished time would crawl.


Koh Lipe is considered one of the more difficult islands to reach. Firstly it is located far down south next to the border of Malaysia. Driving there from Bangkok will be too time consuming and so the journey would start with a budget plane ride to Hat Yai that took us an hour more or less. From Hat Yai to the pier in Satun leaving for Koh Lipe was another two hours by van and a speed boat ride with very limited schedules that departed in the morning. The sea crossing took us another one and a half hours or so. Because the first ferry this October season was 11am in the morning, we had to arrive in Hat Yai the night before on a Friday and stayed a night there.

Nasty Hat Yai Experience

On arrival in Hat Yai, the cheapest way to get to our hotel would be to know the place first and catch a cheap ride for 50 Baht or so in what Bangkokians call two-row trucks. The price varies and could go as high as 100 Baht per head if one were to arrive late after dark where the frequency of such service dwindles. The hunt for the trucks, yes the hunt, requires one to walk out into the parking lot and spot them parking alongside the roads. If none are around, wait a while and there should be one soon pulling up letting off passengers. They would stop there for an hour or more, depending, so that they could be filled before leaving for reasons of economics. We spotted some locals sitting on the grass having beer next to one such truck, we spoke and asked about getting to town and the guy downing the bottles of Leo said he would leave in a moment after the next flight arrives. He was the driver.

You need to know which vicinity your hotel is located in. Find a hotel near popular markets such as Santisuk or Kim Yong. Why? Because that’s the only way to tell the driver where to go. If your hotel ain’t one of the big names recognized, they will not know where to drop you. Maybe they will say yes they know, but when they let you off, you will be in for an adventure. But not to worry if this happens. Well, it happened to us. Hat Yai is crawling with mini Tuk-Tuks. These are small little red or blue Daihatsu pick-ups with chairs and a roof bolted on. It’s like a mini version of the tow-rows. These are the in-town taxis and they will likely know where your hotel is. Cheap 20 to 30 Baht ride. They seemed honest, we picked up a few Caucasians along the way and they were charged the same rate as local folks there.


River Grand Hotel, the thought of it makes me fuming mad. I don’t know to be mad at Agoda or to be mad at the hotel itself. When we arrived late, they said they had no more rooms even though we had the booking papers from Agoda. We called Agoda, they said it’s the hotel’s fault but never offered any resolution on where we were to stay then. The hotel staffs blamed Agoda back, stating they did not receive the booking orders. To add to the complication, they had hordes of Malaysians by the tour bus loads arriving that day and the hotel then twisted the story to say they overlooked our booking because we arrived late. That was utter rubbish hotel management. They then gave the next excuse that their telephone system was down and that they could not check emails. Another guest that arrived the same time as we did had our similar problems. That made two fuming mad guest which the reception tried to brush aside as best as she could with constantly changing reasons.

Mid October every year, there will be this traditional Taoist religious festival going on where Malaysians flock to Hat Yai in the thousands and all hotels will be fully booked. The receptionist of River Grand, low IQ and IT illiterate, no checking email system. What the f...! And so after heated debate and teaching the receptionist some manners and how she should handle the situation, we got ferried around in a blue Daihatsu tuk-tuk to another two hotels belonging to the same chain. The other guest checked in un-happily to the only room left in one and we had to move on to the other hotel in the vicinity. For some lucky reasons, we met the owner of the chains and he offered to open a suit room for us, without extra charges back in the hotel which we booked. That doused my flame fortunately. He mentioned his receptionist was new and did not know how to handle situations like these, his receptionist should have offered us the suit in the beginning instead of wasting our two hours looking for rooms elsewhere. It was only later on, when we shared our experience with other Thais, that we found out Hat Yai is notorious, very well known in fact, for lousy hotel services. They said with a tint of racism that Malaysians however do not mind such crap because the rates are just too cheap anyways. Cheap it was really, my room cost 600 Baht, so I should just shut up and stop whining.


It was the night 19 of October, the festival was in full swing. The streets were filled with Hokkien speaking crowd from Penang. It felt like back home in Singapore, army days, Hokkien words and swears filled the air. Food everywhere and so dinner was not a problem. By the streets we sat and ate our Mee-Goreng. It was packed shoulders to shoulders. Folks lined the streets to receive the good luck that emits out from deities rocking the religious chairs as they paraded down the road. Pickpockets grinning and spotting easy targets operated among the festivities. It was like Singapore decades back but the only difference was they had loud firecrackers to accompany the jumble of gongs pulsating effortlessly through our skulls. Our hotel was near and we had a nice stroll back. As we did, we chatted about the other guest who checked into the only last room left in the hotel they were sent. See, in Asian beliefs, there will always be one room in any hotels that remains out of bounds to guest. It’s for the nasty ghost to reside in so that paying customers will not be “disturb”. They will sometimes use that room under “crisis” situations. A colleague of mine had one such encounter sometime back in a hotel fully booked at Saraburi. He felt his hair stood on ends in the room, something felt oddly strange as he lay on the bed. So he looked under his bed to find an altar. He slept in the lobby as a result.

Getting to the Pier

The trip to Pak Bara pier started in the early morning. We took a Tuk Tuk to the Kaset bus terminal. Lined up in the shades the white vans sat. We booked two tickets which cost 90 Baht each. There were no schedules, they left as and when they felt the vans were economically filled. The distance to Pak Bara was long but the journey was short at the same time. We sat in the vans so notorious for life terminating accidents widely reported in news. We made it anyhow after just one and a half hours in the hands of the race driver and no we did not shit in our pants. And there at Pak Bara, we waited for the speed boat that left at 11am. That was a cheap ride from Hat Yai to Pak Bara, in contrast to the 300 Baht per head ride in alternative pre-arranged packages provided. That was cheap also, compared to the 2000 over Baht taxi service from Hat Yai airport.

The drone of three diesel fueled Yamaha engines vibrated through every bone of every passenger as the vessel sliced through swelling ocean waves. There were times of calmness as the boat navigated in-between the shielded waters of Koh Tarutao. Beyond that large land mass, swelling deep blue oceans, the whoosh of air under the white canopy and the never ending reverberation of the Yamahas. Over crest and into the trough, the hull slammed the deep dark blue, the sensation of an out of sync galloping horse jumping over high fences. It was difficult to keep the remarkable sight at a distance, the curvature of mother Earth, in focus. This reason, one should not have a big breakfast before embarking on the crossing. If one had not already puked one’s meal out in the previous formula one van trip from Hat Yai to Pak Bara, the marine ordeal is a guarantee for one to regurgitate with the capacity of an ostrich with gastro-intestinal problems.


Koh Lipe will appear in the horizon floating on huge welcoming sheet of shaded jade. As the throttle was pulled back, the drone settled into a whirr. The overriding ring in the ear would however still fill out every void of your senses. It took sometime for me to register the gentle splashes of shimmering green. Looking over the starboard side, my eyelids raised more then what they normally should. There I was in Sunset Bay, the spirits of all on board came together and escalated into pure awe. Clicks of the cameras heard, passengers stood and moved. The boat rocked side to side as the captain challenged to counter steer and balance. In the midst of it all, I sat silent on the high chairs up front in a state of ecstatic trance, taking in full breaths of pristine clear waters with the white gleaming coast where long tail boats of sea gypsies lined. The bustling trees so green against the backdrop of cotton candy clouds on sky clean blue. Elation, just elation. That was how I arrived.

From Pepsi to EST

And so for some reasons, Pepsi’s local partnership with Serm Suk bottling plant ended in the beginning of Nov 2012. No more Pepsi production in Thailand. Thais were even saying Kentucky Fried Chicken does not serve no Pepsi no more. That remains to be seen, I seem to be able to order Pepsi through their online menu. Anyway, EST had blanketed the Kingdom by storm. Why let the distribution channel got to waste Serm Suk would ask themselves. Instead of delivering no nothing to the retailers, they cooked out their own recipe and called it EST. No idea what that means. Retailers continued with whatever Serm Suk sent and sold what was received. In metro, yes we know what EST with their deceiving Pepsi matching colors is and so we went over to the Coke faction if there is a choice. At restaurants and food outlets, they would say “sorry no more Pepsi… we have EST”. But guess what when upcountry. A fellow mate of mine asked for Pepsi and was given EST. The outlets in the provinces had associated Pepsi with Serm Suk. They see the same delivery man. They pay to the same account. They order through the same channel and receive the bottles from the same truck with deceiving stickers in the same blue red white colors. To them Serm Suk water = Pepsi. I have heard of color blind, but this is either word or brand blind.

Suan Phueng, Sheep Galore

Just Sheep!!!

The latest trend these years is Suan Phueng. It’s a province located not too far away from Bangkok, west to be exact near the mountain ranges bordering Burma. It’s a popular destination during the cooler winter months, but getting accommodation for weekend stay is a huge challenge by itself – all weekends fully booked in the months late October to January. As to why Thais swarm this countryside that once used to be ignored, one will have to visit and then to know. As one transverse the twisty roads, one would see countless resorts with large greenery dotted with the so many overfed sheep and witness the marauding sheep craze Thai folks posting in all imaginable fashion with them wooly creatures. Are sheep classified an extinction species or what in Thailand one would not know.

Temporary Bridge

In October the weather should have been cooler, the locals shared their account. This year, it was hot, humid and unexpected heavier than normal downpour had broke the tourism trade in the region. As I drove the scenic routes, there were many spots of recent landslides, a bridge that was washed away and innumerable road repairs going on. Not a pleasant drive but in all a nice experience as the extreme crowds in lined up roads were not present. The resorts, normally filled to the brim had cancellations the weekend I went. The arrivals were affected by recent news coverage of how badly the region had been affected by the passing tropical storm called Gaemi. She came from Vietnam waters and swept inland missing Bangkok which the authorities warned could undergo massive flooding. The media advised everyone to stay at home. And yes the Bangkokians did obey but only to see the glorious sunshine and wispy clouds in the clear blue skies over Bangkok. Critics slammed the authorities in public media over the next few days.

Morning Glory Resort

Damaged Roads

Morning Glory Resort suffered from the recent torrential downpour and lost part of her road leading into the compound to the meandering river running alongside. The simple resort, run by a young couple and features only about four villas, privacy I liked. The young attractive lady owner loves to bake and so there was a bakery in the making to add to the amenities. This is no place to satisfy the petting desire of sheep crazed Thais. The resort has a large sloping field filled with supposedly more than a hundred cute bouncy bunnies. Now bunnies are not only bouncy, but mischievous like a cat. They breach the parameters and stray all over the resort, just like stray cats do. So one could find them at one’s door step, below one’s car and scurrying all over the vicinity from shades to shades. The bunnies, they do not exhibit themselves as the sun grew fierce with the afternoon hours. So the only time I could frolic with them was either early in the cool morning or late as the sun was about to set. One would have to entice them to crowd around by rabbit feed which the resort happily hands out.

Rabbit in the Yard

What happened to the supposedly hundred strong battalion of rabbits? They perished. Not by eagles swooping down on bunny buffet nor by Burmese hunting them for food. But by disease sadly the truth is, communal living has its dangers and negligence resulted in lost stock. Some see the resort as a dumping ground for pet bunnies, irresponsible owners who could no longer take care of their pets drop them at Morning Glory Resort as a convenience. And so once there was a sick rabbit that the owners left there, and then the infection spread. I saw sad rabbits, I saw cloudy eyes, patches of empty skin with rashes so grueling and on the heads of the bunnies tattered ears. We had to disinfect ourselves and my camera just to make sure I do not bring the infection home to my own bunny I so love.

Hot Spring

Enough of sharing the dark side of bouncy bunnies and back to blogging about the geography. There are hot springs in the region, yes, hot springs where steam and water surface from the ground, probably fueled by deep volcanic rocks that will erupt with lava December 2012 as the Earth is prophesized to go bonkers. There are waterfalls somewhere here and there but that would require some trekking. And the place is now blooming with so many coffee this and coffee that shop one will be spoilt for choice. They all are there only for one reason, not to serve good aromatic coffee but only to serve as picturesque mini theme parks for one to take pictures. There’s a temple of the candles where every copyright on Angry Birds had been infringed. Good restaurants a few there are, but only the locals can tell you where and one that I find most interesting, was to lunch on the peak of a hill. A simple rustic setting of wooden tables, chairs and counter, they cooked out German sausages accompanied by mash and to wash down our meals, mini bottles of Fanta Strawberry soda. The middle aged owners comical and so extra friendly told tales of how they terrorize their customers using an iPhone app that adds random ghostly apparitions to pictures taken of them. We enjoyed their company as they enjoyed ours, secluded, the second table came as we left with full bellies of food and laughter.

Foggy Morning

Suan Phueng, not too far just a 2 hours drive, must go in winter to witness the sea of fog encroaching the undulating peaks of many. Unspoiled nature still abundance thanks to the environmental mindset of the country folks there. Avoid in scorching summer.

The view where German Sausages were Served

Coffee Shop by the Road

Pool fed by Hot Spring

Where the source of Hot Water is From

Bathroom in Morning Glory Resort

A cute Swiss Shop

How do we solve problems here?

As I did ever blogged before, if any sections of roads suffers from extreme congestion due to cars queuing up for that u-turn, traffic police here simply blocks off that u-turn. Drivers go find a u-turn somewhere else. Same concept goes for toilet in the block I work in. To solve the problem of too many dirty toilets, simply just locked many of them up. If no one can use it, it won’t be dirty. And so I ran from floors to floor looking for that open toilet, shit leaking as I did. And in my dash seeking critically needed relief, I came across the cleaners sitting down at corners yakking away about which pa-la (fermented fish) from whatever province makes their som-tam (Thai Papaya Salad) better. Amazing Thailand.

A380 Introduced

The Thai Airways fleet recently had a new member. The famed giant of the skies - A380. The in-flight magazines are sprawled with pages on this plane. The media updated with images of this massive technology marvel in the skies. So proud, so glorious the carrier is now. Well guess what, they only have one. And it flies only the short routes between Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore. Theses giants are suppose to be for long haul. What the heck are they thinking? And they are promoting wildly the airfares so cheap to be on the A380. And so the topic on us Thai frequent flyers here is that we are guinea pigs. We think they are doing a load test, stuff the A380 full and make it takeoff and land as many times as possible just to make sure a nut don’t fall out, a bolt don’t fracture, the wings don’t snap, the engine don’t independently fly off in different directions, the brake works, the toilet flushes, the aircrew gets familiar, the ground crew accustoms to maintenance, the pilot don’t push the wrong button that open doors in mid air… practice makes perfection before the long haul assignment.

Living in Clay Huts - Vana Varin

Just 17 units nestled on the hills of Hua Hin, away from the beaches, away from the noise. You do really need a car to get there. There are 12 basic units of idyllic straw roofed clay huts, each christen with one of the animals from the Chinese zodiac. There are 5 larger traditional Thai villas for the bigger families, one even featuring her own private pool. The room I was in was basic to her core, matching her very reasonable price. TV, air-conditioning, free DIY coffee, hot water from the supplied kettle. Nice and clean my room was, in fact so clean and well polished the wooden floors that I could so easily slip and slide around in the large rooms so spacious. Greenery was abundance, my room had her own private garden and there's even a doggie house seated nicely at a corner overlooking the Burma sunset across the distant border. I think this place is dog friendly.


They could however had place more attention to the limited selection buffet breakfast which was a wee bit disappointing. The number of seats was inadequate. The large Thai family who came dominated the only four tables by the pond where the buffet line was and turned breakfast into a fish market for us. From their grandsons to their living ancestors, the whole family tree was there. Kids played their iPads and iPhones refused to leave the table and sat on till 10. The adults chatted away loudly unashamed in full awareness that guest turning up had to look for tables elsewhere.


The large pool located next to the restaurant offered me a refreshing dip after a long hot day of cave trekking. There's a Jacuzzi corner built-in that gently massaged my so aching muscles as the ever blowing mild breeze accompanied my beer by the pool. Under the clear blue skies interrupted by sky rocketing trees, it was a gratifying time as evening approached. Coming here, no five stars treatment and don't expect five stars amenities. The resort was only opened in April of 2011 and I suspect like all other resorts in Thailand, as soon as it gets popular, the prices will definitely multiply. So do it now before the inflation. Privacy and just the basic all I needed, my experience there was in total agreement to the money I had paid.


The clay huts will do. They have larger villas for big families, but those are of wooden built and not as interesting as the clay ones.

We copy the Santorini

This April 2012, we wanted tranquility and so again Hua Hin we went. En-route to the destination in our jelly bean of a Honda jazz, we stumbled upon this newly opened imitation of Santorini. See, in Thailand, we copy everything. First it was bags and clothing apparels, now we copy the whole town. Newly opened, we were lucky to be among the first few hundreds to have walked her alleyway. All buildings in bleach white tastefully splashed with ledges of a dark baby blue. It is huge the compound and hot as the sun blazed down. Some tenants had not moved in yet but aplenty of them had already opened shop. As usual, the regular types of shops you would find in all touristy places. I could see this place fast becoming one of the “die-die-must-come-take-picture” here places. Thais have this weird concept that if you never come to certain places in certain provinces, you have not actually been to that province. My conclusion was verified when we stumbled into a crowd of photographers from some TV station I did not know shooting a sexily dressed see thru covered tall beautiful i-want-her type of Thai movie star whom I did not know. As the hours passed more people came and soon it was time we left on our way to Vana Varin, our destination.

Advise I would give is, if you would like to visit Santorini, and it is the weekend you are going, do it on the Saturday en-route to Hua Hin. Make an effort to u-turn as this place is located on the other side of the road in the direction back to Bangkok. See, if it’s a Saturday, all people will be heading to Hua Hin and all will plan to go Santorini on the return trip the next day. So the “return” day on Sunday, Santorini will be Sardine-rini. And go early, less people, less blazing sun. You know how hot Thailand can get.