Finally I am at the end of our little reports on our holiday. I tried to make it shorter - really!!
We had organized to have a 2 day break with Richard %26amp; Megumi so we left it up to them as to where we would go etc, wow did they plan a great weekend.
They picked us up on the Saturday morning, Megumi had her hand drawn serviette map ready of the places they wanted to go and off we went.
We are going to Ranong – the wettest place in Thailand!!
Now Ranong is only 300 kilometers from Phuket but it took us nearly 9 hours to get there with all the stops and sightseeing we did along the way! Just after we left the island and stopped for fuel Gary took over the driving so Richard could be a tourist for once (and for some reason Gary loves driving in Thailand) Megumi and I were in the back of course.
We stopped at beautiful bamboo furniture places and if I had a house in Phuket all the furniture would be bamboo – so much cheaper than at home.
Around 2pm we stopped at a market/bus meal stop for lunch. It was like a food court but all the signs were in Thai so I found something that sort of looked ok and had it with rice. Gary had the same. It was some sort of chicken curry that was about to blow my head off, very cheap here, lunch cost 15baht each. It would have been nicer if I didn’t get all the boney bits of the chicken with no meat on them (or parts I didn’t recognize ha-ha)
After lunch we headed for Ton Phet Waterfall, it took us ages to find this place, off the main road onto rough dirt tracks, talk about being out in the wilderness, I kept thinking what if we cant turn around at the end and I’m sure Megumi was thinking the same. Eventually we came to the end of the track and there was some sort of small waterfall with an old rickety falling down bridge going across the stream.
Of course Richard had to cross it, even though it looked like it was ready to fall down!!
We didn’t stay here long and with directions from Richard, Gary managed to turn the car around (of course Megumi and I stayed out of the car while this was going on – just in case, as it was a bit tight). Off to the right there was another dirt track so off we went, this track was a bit boggy so there was a little bit of sliding around. At the end was a swimming hole with a Thai family bathing, it was a lovely spot, perfect for a drink break.
Back on the road to Ranong and the scenery is just beautiful and changes so often. It’s so lush and green – just perfect.
On the outskirts of Ranong we started seeing lots of police and soldiers, then a huge checkpoint manned by soldiers with machine guns, well, I don’t think I will chance taking a photo of them, though would have loved to!!
We arrived in Ranong at about 7pm and checked into the Royal Princess Hotel where Richard %26amp; Megumi had already booked us all in. It’s a lovely hotel in the commercial district. I took lots of photos of course ha-ha. We had room service and were all tucked in by about 8pm as it was to be an early start the next day.
When Gary and I went down at 7am for breakfast Richard %26amp; Megumi were already there, now the buffet brekky here is not like most of us are use to, I didn’t recognize anything except the eggs but it all smelt good so I piled my plate up. – Yikes it time for an exploding head again, some of the hottest food I have ever eaten. But it was also really nice and tasty
First stop was a look at the boats leaving for visa runs to Victoria Point Myanmar (Burma) you can see Burma and the trip takes about 20 minutes.
Then its north of Ranong to find the Phra Khayang Cave (ok I know I said no more caves but I wasn’t going to disappoint Richard %26amp; Megumi as everywhere we are going today is a first for them as well)
Legend has it that the governor of Kraburi took his son to this cave, tied him to an easel and left him there to die because the boy had an affair with his stepmother
This beautiful cave was easy to find but as soon as we got out of the car the stench of bat urine hit us, it was so powerful. Not a problem though, I prefer bats to spiders.
This cave was fantastic;
I have never seen so many bats before or walked in so much bat crap!!!Lots and lots of stairs to climb up some very narrow and slippery in places but it was a great cave with lots of stalactites and stalagmites. We went as far as the stairs went as then it became quite dangerous, extremely slippery but we nearly made it to the very top.
We came out of this cave boiling hot, sweaty and reeking of bat urine so now we need to head for waterfalls to have a bath but there’s a little detour on the way.
Next on Megumi and Richards list is Khao Fa Chi, the remains of an old railway line and train, a Japanese warship and underground tunnels. The Japanese army used this area to supply war materials to their army in Myanmar (Burma).
Well after much looking we found the railway line and train. Gary %26amp; Richard were on a mission to find the tunnels but after ages of looking they were nowhere to be seen. We didn’t find the Japanese warship either but have found out since we came home you can only see it at low tide!! Oh well maybe next year.
Now its time to go to Punyaban Waterfall only 10 minutes north of Ranong. It’s so easy to find as it’s virtually 20 feet from the road.
This waterfall is beautiful, it’s about 20 metres high and there are three levels surrounded by a lush green forest. The waterfall originates from small streams in the forest preservation area named La Un and Rachakrud Forest. There is also a 300 metre nature walk, restaurants, toilets, lots of shade, lovely places to sit and relax, but none of that for me %26amp; Megumi, we were getting in (plus I still had bat crap on my legs)
The water was icy cold, it was so good to cool off and be clean again, lots of locals were here having picnics and loads of kids in one of the deeper pools swimming around. We stayed here for quite awhile as it was just so beautiful.
I should mention my episode in the deeper pool, I though it would be nice to be in water higher than my knees so decided to venture down the rocks to the deep pool, I was nearly there and about to take another step and instantly knew I was going to fall.
My foot slid out from under me, I landed on my backside and did the big slide into the deep pool down the rocks, lucky for me the huge rock sloped into this pool and not over the edge down to the next big drop.
When I surfaced all I could do was laugh as there were all these Thai families standing there looking at me, I laughed and then everyone started laughing. Not a scratch or bruise on me. I stayed in this pool for awhile sussing different ways to get out (and plucking up the courage to get out) up onto the slippery rocks and happy to say I made it out!!
Thank god Gary didn’t have the camera handy!!
Wow we have done all of this already and it’s only about 12pm.
Ok on to the next adventure, the one Megumi %26amp; I had been looking forward to, we are off to the Ranong Hot Springs and Raksawarin Arboretum about 2 kilometers east of Ranong
These springs have been popular ever since King Rama V visited in 1890 and named the road to the springs “Chon Ra-u” which means hot water.
This place is absolutely beautiful and it’s all free!!.
There is a lovely lush green forest surrounding the springs called Raaksawarin and there are little undercover eateries. Over the road there is a deep swimming area which is where Megumi %26amp; I left Richard %26amp; Gary, as the water was cold here so off we went exploring.
We decided to try out the hot spring pools, these are 3 natural spring pools and the temperature remains a constant 65 degrees Celsius.
You sit on little stools and put your feet in the water, I could only do this for a matter of seconds as the water is sooo hot.
We came across a huge open building with a cement floor about the size of 3 basketball courts and wondered what it was. Amazing it’s a place to sit or lie but only for about 30 minutes as the cement is heated by the hot springs. I don’t think I would have lasted 10 minutes lying on that floor – tooo hot!! Though doctors send people to these springs for their medicinal purposes.
There is a lovely rocky creek running through the centre of all of this, this is the run off from the hot springs, lots of minerals in this milky water.
Now this is better, the water is a lovely temperature, the sun is shining and the setting is perfect. It’s so hard to describe this place as it is just so beautiful and well maintained. It’s extremely popular with the Thai’s and there was not another westerner in sight.
Megumi and I were really enjoying this lovely peaceful experience – then everything changed. I had a feeling that I was being watched by a large group of people on the bank and mentioned it to Megumi. I had swimmers on but had covered up with a large singlet as well. (The people in the water here and at the waterfalls before were covered up)
Megumi could hear them talking and said they were not Thai so maybe they were Burmese. Then a little girl got in the water and shyly said hello, so of course I said hello back, she then splashed me so I splashed her back. Then it was on, everyone on the bank jumped in, they were all fully dressed, guys in jeans and shirts, girls in dresses etc.
It was hilarious, the worlds biggest water fight, I was surrounded by about 10 people, little kids, big kids, teenagers, adults – you name it they were there. One of the guys spoke a few words of English and once the water fight settled down we all tried to talk to one another, these lovely friendly people were from Burma.
They were touching my hands, feeling my hair, comparing our skin colors, holding my hands, I had kids arms around my neck giving me hugs, they were even hanging onto my toes!!!!
It was just the most amazing experience.
Then it started to rain, well actually it poured but Megumi and I plus all my new friends still stayed in the water, I don’t think anyone wanted this strange experience to end. Then Megumi went to get Gary %26amp; Richard so they could see what was happening to me, plus I wanted a photo with all my new friends’ ha-ha.
Sadly Gary could not get a photo as the rain was now torrential and he couldn’t find anywhere undercover to be able to take the camera out. Time to get out of the water now and after lots of hugs and goodbyes the Burmese family had to leave.
What an experience, something I will never forget.
Ok after all of that its time for some shelter and lunch, we headed for an undercover area, dripping wet and let Richard %26amp; Megumi order lunch for us. It was delicious, 2 plates of bbq chicken pieces, lots of sticky rice, papaya salad, pork and drinks, from memory the bill for this was about 300baht and it was one of the best meals we have had in Thailand.
It’s now pretty late in the afternoon and the torrential rain doesn’t look like its going to stop so its time for our drive back to Phuket. I hate driving in bad rain so this is not going to be a good trip back for me but I have to admit it was ok and Gary took it real easy.
On the way to Ranong we passed Ngao Waterfall, this huge waterfall can be seen from huge distances due to its massive height, well you should have seen it on the way back. With all the rain it was double the width, we were miles away but could see huge amounts of water cascading down. We pulled into a garage so I could try to take some photos from under my umbrella.
Through the zoom the whole mountain range (within Khlong Phrao National Park) had water cascading down, though this does not show up in the photos, it was a very spectacular sight and we couldn’t believe how much it had changed from the day before. The photos do not do it justice, actually all the photos from this weekend do not show how beautiful the places we went to were.
We arrived in Khao Lak at dusk and there was one more stop. Somehow when Gary and I were in Khao Lak we could not find the police boat that was bought ashore during the tsunami, so Richard made sure we saw it.
The rain had let up quite a bit by now, it was late but there was one more little stop at Thalang, lets go to the Halal Food Festival, well we tried to but the traffic and parking was so bad we turned around and left.
Finally we arrived back at Swiss Palm about 9.30pm, we were all so tired but happy as we had had such a great weekend together. It was also sad as this was time to say goodbye to Richard %26amp; Megumi, they planned the perfect weekend and we cannot thank them enough for this, wonder what they have planned for Road Trip No. 2 next year, should be interesting!!.
Photos from this weekend are here:
…google.com/CathyandGary/OurRoadTripWithRich…
Our Road Trip with Richard %26amp; Megumi to Ranong %26amp; Beyond
Hi Cathy,
A fantastic report and it makes you feel as if you are there in person,
Thank you so much Cathy for all of your reports , they are so interesting to read.
Cheers,
Stewie.
Our Road Trip with Richard %26amp; Megumi to Ranong %26amp; Beyond
hi Cathy and Gary,
Wow your trip sounded fantastic. Don%26#39;t know if you%26#39;ve read my post but we are going back to Phuket in Sept. This is definately the sort of thing we would love to do. maybe our friend mr sam could do something like this with us, although it seems he is pretty busy these days
What is the Swiss palms like. am looking for nice cheap accom for this trip. any suggestions. 1000-2000 baht per day??? per room
regards Lizg1313
Hi there Liz, seems like forever since I last spoke to you.
If you go to Ranong you would definately need to overnight as theres heaps to see arounbd the area.
We really enjoyed our time at Swiss Palm, the hotel has everything we want and its so good being in an apartment, the pool is small but lovely and we have never stayed anywhere beofre where the staff and management have been so friendly and helpful.
I took heaps of photos of the hotel and a few other apartments - 1 bedroom and 2 bedroom, they are on the link below.
We liked it there so much we have just changed our booking for next year to 3 months. (Now we can do lots more road trips haha)
…google.com/CathyandGary/SwissPalmBeachHotel…
Cathy
Hey Cathy, what fun you guys had. That little girl must have been really cute.
When you guys go back to Ranong, you must check out the Ranong Canyon, it%26#39;s really beautiful. It looks like a set for a movie. The lake is chock-a-block with fish that you can buy food for and feed. Ranong is a lovely spot!
Hi Cathy, thanks for the great read. What an experience you%26#39;ve had, and beautiful memories that your left with. Loved the photo%26#39;s as well. Thanks Cathy,
Rene
Thanks Cathy, will check out the photos. can%26#39;t believe we are going back . It wasn%26#39;t on our agenda for this year. Just a last minute decision, hence the need for cheaper accom.
I feel like a junkie the way I get addicted to the forum.
Nice to be back
thanks again
Liz
Thanks Cathy great photos you look like you had a great time and how lucky are you to be able to go for 3mths next year. Thanks very much for all your reports and photos. Bez
Hi Cathy %26amp; Gary, the photos are terrific. We will certainly consider staying there. is it very noisy being so close to the action?
Cheers
Liz
Hi Cathy
Looked at your photos the other day and noted the ones from your weekend with Richard %26amp; Megumi, what an amazing experience you guys had, thank you so much for sharing all your adventures with us.
Lee x
hi cathy,loved the report and the photos.that bat poo smell does get right up your nose and you carnt shake it for a while.could just about see you do that big slide into the water,what a shame gary didnt get an action shot,might of seen it on funny home videos.thank you for taking the time to tell us about your adventures,jenny
