Smiles
November 10th, 2008, 09:17
Hopping in our shaggin' wagon and cruising southward from Hua Hin about 130 miles or so, we stumbled across ~ within a mile of each other ~ the most beautiful temple in Thailand, and the best meal I've scarfed down so far this year ... on a beach populated only by small crabs, one dog, one farang (me), one horny Thai man, an unused volleyball net, and a great sunset.
Head south toward Bangsaphan and just before you get there make a sharp left turn and head down towards the gulf (about 3 miles) and Ban Khrut. A start and lovely white sand beach stretching for miles along a very gently curving bay, it had most of the features one conjours when thinking 'tropical beach paradise'. A small road follows the beach and luckily the small number of resorts which are there are on the other side of it ... the beach itself is unobliterated by anything but peace and quiet.
Stand way out there on the sand bar and look north (back toward Hua Hin) ... and up there on the hill you can see this great golden-roofed temple overlooking the ocean: Wat Khlao Thong Chai.
Now I know, I know ... another bloody temple. But guys, go take an hour or so and look this one over, it's worth the trip. Inside on perimeter of all the walls you'll find a mural of Thai country life in the same style as the Ramakien in the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Make sure you have a Thai guy to explain the paintings to you ... you won't regret it.
As grand as Doi Suthep (it not as historical), inside Wat Thong Chai you'll find what I've never seen inside a Thai Buddhist temple before ... stain glass windows, telling the stories of the Buddha in the same fashion as Christ's is told at Chartres. The story of Adam and Eve is right there front and centre, but the snake is a monkey and Eve's breasts are hidden in Thai silk.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Thailand_Sept08-Apr09/IMG_2429_resize.jpg
Walk around the grounds and you'll get some really excellent views of the coast line to the north (in the photo below) and looking south you can see the great sweep of Ban Khrut bay.
Wat Khao Thong Chai is easily the richest temple I've ever come across in Thailand (with the exception of course of those in the Grand Palace). Loaded to the nines with tons and tons of marble stairways, walkways, and floors ... it's spotlessly clean, maintained properly on a level one rarely witnesses in up country Thailand.
It really is ~ if I hade a choice of only one ~ the temple I would recommend to folks not to miss.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Thailand_Sept08-Apr09/IMG_2447_resize.jpg
Driving back down to the beach we stopped at, well, The Beach Restaurant.
A romantic and sublime little place if ever there was one. Hardly any customers (we drove up to the door at 5:30pm), a slowly setting sun, boats heading out to sea for a night of fishing, we sat nursing beer for an hour while the Sea Bass was slow grilled. No one was in a hurry at the place, including us.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Thailand_Sept08-Apr09/IMG_2531_resize.jpg
An appetizer of the most delicate deep-fried prawns imaginable ... not a drip of grease to be seen, the batter as fresh and light as possible. I could've chomped down on these puppies all night.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Thailand_Sept08-Apr09/IMG_2526_resize.jpg
And then there lay our beautiful Sea Bass. A giant of a specimen (150 baht!!), it was perfectly cooked ... delicate white meat falling off the spoon in great delicious chunks tasted of the ocean (a bit) and a dash of heaven (a bit).
Hua Hin has some great sea food restaurants, but a fish the size and beauty of the one we had on Ban Khrut are easily 100 to 200 baht more.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Thailand_Sept08-Apr09/IMG_2540_resize.jpg
Then ~ can it GET any better? ~ we were treated to a pinkish sunset slowly descended over the sea way out in front of us. As it got even darker you could start to see hundreds of twinkling green lights far out dangling out there on the horizon ... the fishing boats of Bangsaphan doing their nightly jobs.
I noticed Mr Pot's eyes starting to get all dampish in the sweet ambiance of it all and I figured deep down in my black little conniving heart "there's gonna be a playful mood in the bed tonight, yes sireee"!
Once we drove the 2 hours back to it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Thailand_Sept08-Apr09/IMG_2528_resize.jpg
(Couple of hours later we were back at home in Hua Hin and hit the sack exhausted. The playfull mood had disappated ... the romance of it all forgotten in his much-more-pressing desire to snore away until morning).
Cheers ...
Head south toward Bangsaphan and just before you get there make a sharp left turn and head down towards the gulf (about 3 miles) and Ban Khrut. A start and lovely white sand beach stretching for miles along a very gently curving bay, it had most of the features one conjours when thinking 'tropical beach paradise'. A small road follows the beach and luckily the small number of resorts which are there are on the other side of it ... the beach itself is unobliterated by anything but peace and quiet.
Stand way out there on the sand bar and look north (back toward Hua Hin) ... and up there on the hill you can see this great golden-roofed temple overlooking the ocean: Wat Khlao Thong Chai.
Now I know, I know ... another bloody temple. But guys, go take an hour or so and look this one over, it's worth the trip. Inside on perimeter of all the walls you'll find a mural of Thai country life in the same style as the Ramakien in the Grand Palace in Bangkok. Make sure you have a Thai guy to explain the paintings to you ... you won't regret it.
As grand as Doi Suthep (it not as historical), inside Wat Thong Chai you'll find what I've never seen inside a Thai Buddhist temple before ... stain glass windows, telling the stories of the Buddha in the same fashion as Christ's is told at Chartres. The story of Adam and Eve is right there front and centre, but the snake is a monkey and Eve's breasts are hidden in Thai silk.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Thailand_Sept08-Apr09/IMG_2429_resize.jpg
Walk around the grounds and you'll get some really excellent views of the coast line to the north (in the photo below) and looking south you can see the great sweep of Ban Khrut bay.
Wat Khao Thong Chai is easily the richest temple I've ever come across in Thailand (with the exception of course of those in the Grand Palace). Loaded to the nines with tons and tons of marble stairways, walkways, and floors ... it's spotlessly clean, maintained properly on a level one rarely witnesses in up country Thailand.
It really is ~ if I hade a choice of only one ~ the temple I would recommend to folks not to miss.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Thailand_Sept08-Apr09/IMG_2447_resize.jpg
Driving back down to the beach we stopped at, well, The Beach Restaurant.
A romantic and sublime little place if ever there was one. Hardly any customers (we drove up to the door at 5:30pm), a slowly setting sun, boats heading out to sea for a night of fishing, we sat nursing beer for an hour while the Sea Bass was slow grilled. No one was in a hurry at the place, including us.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Thailand_Sept08-Apr09/IMG_2531_resize.jpg
An appetizer of the most delicate deep-fried prawns imaginable ... not a drip of grease to be seen, the batter as fresh and light as possible. I could've chomped down on these puppies all night.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Thailand_Sept08-Apr09/IMG_2526_resize.jpg
And then there lay our beautiful Sea Bass. A giant of a specimen (150 baht!!), it was perfectly cooked ... delicate white meat falling off the spoon in great delicious chunks tasted of the ocean (a bit) and a dash of heaven (a bit).
Hua Hin has some great sea food restaurants, but a fish the size and beauty of the one we had on Ban Khrut are easily 100 to 200 baht more.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Thailand_Sept08-Apr09/IMG_2540_resize.jpg
Then ~ can it GET any better? ~ we were treated to a pinkish sunset slowly descended over the sea way out in front of us. As it got even darker you could start to see hundreds of twinkling green lights far out dangling out there on the horizon ... the fishing boats of Bangsaphan doing their nightly jobs.
I noticed Mr Pot's eyes starting to get all dampish in the sweet ambiance of it all and I figured deep down in my black little conniving heart "there's gonna be a playful mood in the bed tonight, yes sireee"!
Once we drove the 2 hours back to it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v18/sawatdeephotos/Thailand_Sept08-Apr09/IMG_2528_resize.jpg
(Couple of hours later we were back at home in Hua Hin and hit the sack exhausted. The playfull mood had disappated ... the romance of it all forgotten in his much-more-pressing desire to snore away until morning).
Cheers ...