Up about 9:00, I had another great sleep last night. Walked around town looking for breakfast, nothing happening in town yet, even at 9:30 am. Almost all the shops still closed, none of the restaurants open, and only a handful of tourists walking around. Went back to the Happy Lagoon restaurant for an expensive American breakfast, but it ended up being huge. I didn't need to eat again until later in the afternoon.
Walked back to town and rented a motorbike for 200 baht for 24 hours. Motorbike rentals are sooo cheap in Thailand, it's awesome.
Headed north of town and first stopped at the Tsunami Memorial Sculpture. Not really impressive, just a bunch of metal bars sticking out of the ground, designed by some dude who designs furniture. But I guess it's the thought that counts.
Then turned off to see Khuh Khak beach. Amazing beach, only one resort on the whole beach, the beach was almost deserted, just a few people sunbathing or swimming. There were huge waves crashing into the shore, so I decided to do some body surfing. One wave I surfed brought me right down into the sand on my stomach, and pushed me, on my stomach, along the sand. It hurt like hell, like someone was rubbing very coarse sand paper on my stomach really hard. When I finally stopped, I expected to see my stomach all scraped and maybe bleeding a bit, but it wasn't. However, my stomach was still hurting hours after that experience.
As I was leaving the beach, I stopped to take pictures of what looked like it was a very nice restaurant not too long ago, now broken and busted and abondoned, presumably a casualty of the tsunami. The tsunami wave was 10 metres high in this area.
Then headed up to Leam Pakarang (Pakarang Cape). Nothing here, just me and sand and palm trees. You can see resorts on either side, a kilometre away.
Then on to Sai Rung waterfall. It's dry season, so not too much water coming down. Some local kids were swimming in the waterfall, they wanted me to take their picture.
Turned around and headed south and stopped at Chong Fa waterfall. Very nice and picturesque. Went for a dip in the pool of the lower waterfall, then hiked up to the upper waterfall.
After that, stopped at the Tsunami International Museum. Just a small "museum" that has displays about the tsunami, how it happened, how it affected lives and the environment, the worlds response to the trategy, etc. Kind of a tear jerker.
Headed back to the room, and had pizza at a pizza/pasta place near my bungalow.
Then headed south of town to see Ton Pling waterfall and the pedestrian suspension bridge that goes nowhere.
Then stopped at Small Sanda Beach, a small national park that's, well, a small and sandy beach in a small bay, surrounded by rocky butresses on either side. Very nice. I went for quick swim. Because it's a national park, there's a 100 baht entrance fee, but because it was 4:00 in the afternoon, she let me in for free.
Then stopped at the Tsunami Volunteer Centre. It was the HQ for the volunteer efforts after the tsunami. Not too much there, a few locals.
Back to the room, showered and walked downtown, had a beer at Ska Bar, an outdoor bar downtown along the highway. Walked up to a bookstore and bought a new book. The new book was cheaper than the used book he had for sale. Go figure.
After being here for a few days, I don't care for Khao Lak. It has every amenity you could want, but it's too resort friendly, and there's nothing at all on the beach for average backpacker dude like me. And because the main highway runs right through the centre of town, it's crazy busy, with everything from motorbikes to big transport trucks rolling on through.
In the evening, sat on my verandah and wrote in my journal, chatted with an old lady in the room next to me for a bit.
Then went to the Happy Lagoon pub and had a couple of beers. As I sat there, I conducted a very scientific survey, and counted the groups of people that passed by and put them into three categories. 31 of the groups were families, 40 of the groups were old people and 14 were younger. And even many of the younger ones were iffy, almost all couples, maybe married, holding hands. That's what Khao Lak is like. :-)
Went to bed sometime after 10:00.
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