On the long ride to Prachuap Khiri Khan, there are lots of fruit stands along the road. We stop at a colorful one, and discover it sells seafood… I decide to try one of the large crabs, and they prepare it for me on the spot. When I explain that I don’t wish to take it with me and prefer to consume it on the spot it turns out that they are not quite prepared for that. But they quickly arrange a plate, and a heavy pair of pliers serves as an aid for crushing the shell, while the two ladies offer advice on which parts are best and which can be discarded. The crab is very good, but I still refuse the offer to buy a bag of clams for the road. Eventually we do find some mangosteen and rambutan, as well as sticky rice candy grilled in folded nypa palm leaves.
We entered Prachuap khiri khan from the West, seeing from afar the monkey mountain (a hill, in fact), looming over the bay. The golden temple on its top looked very attractive, with a long yellow staircase climbing to it, and we decided to visit it the next day.
When we got closer, we saw the marketplace right on the bay shore, by the mountain. Passing next to it, on the way to our homestay, we noticed quite a few macaque monkeys on the sidewalk, on the phone lines, and in fact all around. On the winding dirt path that allegedly led to our homestay, we got stuck behind a bike-tuk-tuk. This strange contraption is made out of a slim motorcycle harnessed to a metal frame with another bike wheel on the other side, and is widely used in these areas to carry people and goods around. Despite the urge to overtake the slow moving vehicle, something told me this was going to be our host. and indeed, at some point the rider, who turned out to be a girl, stopped at a grocery store and made hand gestures to us showing where we should go.
The driveway brought us to a very spacious yard, with four large houses and several smaller ones around it, set in a beautiful lush garden. Soon, our lovely hostess arrived and showed us around, pointing out her parents’ house, hers and her sisters’. One of the smaller units was ours, and turned out to be very clean and spacious. the building next to the garage contained the large kitchen, which was equipped with every imaginable dish and utensil, and provisioned with bread, butter, eggs, sausages, tons of fruit, and more. She said this was all for us, and urged us to use it. She also gave us a nice and refreshing blue drink made of blue flowers, which turned purple when we added some fresh lime to it. We were shown where we could borrow bikes, and where two small canoes were moored, with which we were invited to explore the local brook.
After taking showers, resting a bit and exploring the yard, we went out to the night market we’ve seen on our way. We bought freshly-prepared papaya salad, Pad Thai, squid skewers in hot chili sauce, and pasta in tomato sauce for Daniel, and had an excellent dinner by the sea for something like 150 baht. The kids were curious about some strange green crepes filled with colorful sugar threads, so the seller gave each of them one – for free. They got another dessert sample from a nearby stall, again as a present, with the seller refusing to accept payment for it. In addition to looking at the strange and delicious foods prepared in the market, and tasting some of them, we enjoyed a stall selling lots of carnivorous plants, and another selling bonsai trees. On the way back to the car I stopped for a few minutes to admire the work of a Durian seller, accurately dissecting the fruit to remove the hard and thorny shell and expose the soft flesh without injuring it.
Family Trips 