Hat Sichon, Southern Gulf Thailand
Anna's entry:I am writing this blog on the beach of Hat Sichon located on the Eastern coastline of the Gulf of Thailand. I am looking at the tranquil bay in front of me surrounded by the coconut palm trees in the South, and the distant blue mountains in the North. Today is May 16th, 2008 - the so called low season on the coast. We seem to be the only tourists in the entire Hat Sichon, so anywhere we walk we get the sincere attention from the locals, friendly smiles and waving hands. I can't tell you how refreshing it is NOT to see any tourists around us, especially the Western ones. This part of Thailand was chosen specifically for that purpose - to get away from the crowds of Westerners. Yes, it feels good.... I think I can relate now to the celebrities choosing isolated islands and beaches to experience isolation in paradise...
We arrived last night. Our bus from Songkhla dropped us off on the highway at the entrance to town. We started walking with our big backpacks towards Hat Sichon getting a lot of curious looks from locals not accustomed to seeing foreigners around here. Some kids began shouting "hello!" to us, and adults waiving to us. A truck loaded with waiving people went buy in the other direction, and then a few minutes it turned around, caught up with us, and offered us a ride to the beach. We offered money for an unexpected ride, but the driver said no. It is possible that the place he dropped us off at (at our request) gave him something, but nevertheless, it was nice not to walk a few kilometers in the afternoon tropical heat.
This morning we walked along the beach for a breakfast at a local restaurant also located right on the water. Similar to last night, we were the only visitors, so we got a special treatment... After breakfast, I put snorkeling gear on, and literally walked to the Gulf of Thailand from the restaurant, while Rob was chatting with a Thai restaurant manager on the shore. Then we walked along the coast back to our place (also located on the beach), where we settled for an afternoon for more swimming, reading, trip planning, listening to science programs on the new MP3 player that Rob acquired in our previous stop in Hat Yai with a help of a local boy, who knew the right place to get MP3 at a reasonable local price, not "farang" (foreigner) price.
This afternoon a short downpour rain came with thunder and lightning, but about an hour later it was all over. We settled in the wooden constructed terrace over-looking the bay under the palm trees contemplating about our next few days; later that evening we went for a dip in the ocean right under the moon light. Yes, life has been good so far... We needed this low-key break without any annoying foreign (western) tourists; just the locals and us, surrounded by palm trees, mountains, and the Gulf of Thailand...
posted by Rob and Anna @ 3:41 AM
2 Comments:
Hello.
I have a website about Hat Sichon, and searching the net, I found your blog, where you write about your visit to Sichon.
I took the advantage and copied your blog into my forum.
I hope you don't mind?
You can find the forum here:
http://sichon.info/forum/index.php?topic=307.0 and you're of course very welcome to sign up and place a comment on Sichon :-)
Nice blog! I spent a week in Sichon teaching English at the village school with the charity Go Without Borders. One of the most rewarding experiences of my life, and always wanted to return for some chilled time on a deserted beach to maybe write a book.
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