Thailand: A road trip to nowhere fast: Angry Monkey moments- Rayong Beach part 2
well, a lazy kind of place deserves a lazy kind of coffee is my understanding of how the world goes round and round.
After a lazy day yesterday and an even lazier evening thanks to the low key environment of Rayong Beach, I opted to have a lazy morning to round it off wholistically. My plan for today was simple, find coffee, eat breakfast and go for a stroll and take some pictures. After a satisfying coffee and a basic but filling breakfast of Thai Omelette and rice at a local café I decided to jump on the bike and have a snoop around the headland of the local beach. I’d seen bikes going up and down the beach yesterday evening to a local fishing village so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity for the Grey Ghost to meet some sand for the first time. Given she is a mountain dirt bike what could possibly go wrong.
Rayong Beach, after a near death experience with “quicksand” the GG stands proud after her first beach run.
Well I can tell you, soft sand, a fat farang (that’s me) and no momentum nearly ended up in an embarrassing moment where I got bogged down in the sand. As my rear wheel spun and dug into the sand, disappearing at a great rate of knots, I came to a grinding halt. Fortunately, I caught it in time and stopped, jumping off the bike there the GG stood crest fallen, her rear wheel half buried in the sand. I was able to lift her out of the hole with some brut force and walked her out of the soft stuff under gentle power. Lesson learned I hopped back on the bike on firmer sand and had a blast riding up and down the beach. The headland was a bit of a fizzer as I couldn’t find any tracks that led up into the lush jungle that literally came down to meet the shore. But none the less it was a picturesque adventure. If I’d had a fishing rod it would have been a nice place to flick a lure or two. Not to worry maybe next time. Hopping back on the bike I headed for the quick sand exit, this time I hit it with a bit of speed, fish tailed through it and up onto the dirt track. Now I’d say I looked like a pro doing this, but I’d be lying so I’ll just say I didn’t go Yak Non (drop the bike) and lived to fight another day.
Next stop was the National Park. After paying my obligatory 200tbt farang fee and 20 tbt for the GG I was granted entrance to the Khao Laem Yo-Mu Ko Samet national park. This little national park is worth a visit if not for the headland walk but for the monkeys that’ll accompany you seeking a hand out. Now I’ve seen monkeys before and actually eaten them in the Philippines on a dive trip many years ago so their cuteness and novelty has long worn off on me.
In fact, I find them annoying opportunistic thieves in my eyes. I guess as I paused to snap a quick picture for the blog the Alpha monkey sensed I was not going to be an easy sell and give out food. He gave me a look of distain scratched his balls then started to hiss at me. Not backing down I hissed back at him and in hindsight that was probably not the smartest move as this clearly was antagonistic to him and his Harlem of lady friends. Baring his teeth he advanced on me and just as I was getting ready to introduce my size 10 boot to him, I was saved by the bell, a loud chattering of monkey speak rang out in competition for the food being offered by a Chinese tourist bearing fruit.
The walk from the carpark starts on a road down monkey alley and morphs into a beautiful shady all be it steamy jungle trail.
Mr Alpha monkey I’ll call him Angry Phil/Big J on account of his charismatic persona, rude head and fondness for playing with his balls) looked at the others getting fed,, looked back at me, snarled once more for good measure and chose his need to sate his hunger over winning a pissing competition with me and bounded away.
whilst the Alpha monkey may not be the cutest creature in the jungle, this beetle hands down one of the most colourful creatures,
I must admit I was a little relieved the confrontation was over and backed away quickly continuing on my hike. The headland hike was a really nice little stroll through dense jungle. Whilst the humidity was pretty oppressive, and I was drenched in sweat within minutes the sea breeze coming up the trail acted as a cooling effect that was akin to a portable aircon blowing on you. Sitting on the headland I spent a good 30 minutes in the shade of an Australian gum tree of all things staring out into the distant Islands and watching the locals harvest oysters in between waves on the rocks below.
I guess it is true, the tourist brochures often say where the jungle meet the reef. In this case they actually are correct.
Exercise for the day complete, i meandered back to the carpark. it was time to escape the heat of the day, you guessed it. I sought refuge only way I knew how, by sipping on a mango smoothie under the shade of a silky oak tree and whittled the remaining day away in my hammock with a good book.
This Rayong beach was a chilled place to be, cool beers, good food and a relaxed atmosphere were indeed soul food for an intrepid Meanderthal, and whilst I’d have loved to spend a few more days whittling away time and exploring the region, unfortunately, I’d run out of time for once and Chonburi was beckoning, it was time for my Enduro riding course.
It wouldn’t be a Rayong beach blog if there wasn’t another magnificent sunset to post.
