as indicated in the previous post, the bangkok strikes caused most of public transport to shut down, just before we could leave the little village of khao sok.
we postponed our departure for a day and were able to go back to suratthani the next morning, and from there managed to book two tickets on a private long-range bus to prachuap khiri khan [G].
prachuap was first recommended to us by a local in khao sok. lonely planet also said that this was a good city to leave the tourist-trail, and step into an authentic part of thailand. they were right!
the only person in our hotel (yuttichai hotel; a very nice one, by the way!) speaking english was the owner himself.
in 3 days, we only saw three other farang (“westerners”) – one at a restaurant and two young women at the night market (one of the few places to find food in the evening).
near khan kradi cave, three school children took pictures of us.
..and in one of the restaurants, they just served us a set meal as soon as we sat down, because nobody spoke english anyways…
i used to laugh at the “evil monkey in my room” jokes in family guy — until i met some monkeys in the city that just seemed to be out to get me.
some of them tried to scare me with intimidating grimaces, while others made a direct approach to assess my reactions!
now i see how the writers might have come up with the joke…
[view photos: suratthani & prachuap khiri khan (thailand pt. 4)]