A year in Thailand Pt.4 (Satun & Koh Tarutao)

[Arwing]

After spending a week in Trang i headed to Satun on 22nd March. I got the impression either very few farang or blondes come to Satun because everyone was pointing and smiling at me and mostly kids wanted pictures taken with me.... the attention was nice actually lol

Anyway, I found Satun to be a really nice little town. I stayed at Satun Thanee hotel for 200B/night which was a bit expensive compared to my usual 150B but i couldn't find anywhere cheaper. Besides the ladies behind the counter were really helpful with information and places to see, so i can't complain.

I really enjoyed the muslim style curries here in Satun, i found one restaurant that did a really tasty masaman curry and also made good friends with one of the 7 eleven girls as well as a few other people, one of whom hired out motor bikes which made my life both easier and cheaper.

I stayed here a week, but generally the 1st day i arrive i just chill out at the hotel or guesthouse and settle into my new digs. The 2nd day i like to wonder around and look for the nearest Ayudhya bank, 7 eleven and places of interest or good places to eat. Basically just get orientated with my surroundings. Then the day trips start

1st day trip i did was head down to Tammalang? pier and charter a long tail boat to Tham lod pu yu. They wanted 1000B which is fine if there are 2 or 3 of you to share the cost but was a bit much when on my own, so after saying haa roy baht dai mai, they laughed and said mai dai but i managed to get it for 650B in the end which i thought was good. Rather than explain the cave, a picture paints 1000 words so i'll let the photos do the talking.


My longtail boat driver


Me at the cave entrance (only accessable during low tide)


Beyond the cave


Tour guides floating hut


Looking back through the cave


Navigating the mangroves to tham pu yu

[Arwing]

Entrance to Tham Pu Yu


Inside Tham Pu Yu


Me at the top opening after climbing from inside the cave


The view (and what a view) from the caves top opening

Next i'll update with pics of when i went to Thale Ban National park and it's surrounding sights.

[windy]

excellent trip and excellent thread

[alvinkhoo]

fascinating experience ain't it..?
any bats in the caves..?
more pics more more more!!

[Richard Barrow]

Thanks for posting the pictures. I have never been there and would very much like to go.

[Arwing]

OK! Second day trip was Thale-Ban National park and it's surrounding area (I've been to so many national parks so far, i'm scared to tally up all those 200B's i've spent )

Anyway, it didn't take long to get here by motorbike and was pretty easy to find. The main attraction is the huge lake. There is a very very small water fall and a nature trail but to be honest, the main reason for coming is to see the lake.

At the parks visitor centre, it showed other sites of interest close by. This included "TonDin cave" (which i actually noticed and went to, on the way to Thale-Ban national park, but the cave is apparently closed and although i wanted to explore it somemore, i thought it best i didn't without a torch) other sites were Yaroi waterfall and some grasslands.... which i never did find. Yaroi waterfall on the other hand i did find and if you goto the top tier it's got a lovely pool of fresh, cold water to swim in. The lower tiers had many thais swimming and picnicing.


Thaleban National park


The lake


The lake again


The lake, yet again


Tham TonDin


Stept to caves entrance

[Arwing]

The only pic i got of inside the cave using the flash. If i'd had a torch i'd have gone in but after seeing what the picture looked like, i thought it was a bit dodgy with no light.


Yaroi waterfall


The top tier

[Arwing]

A place north of Satun called Manag is where i headed on the bike on my next day trip. Via word of mouth from locals, Manang was home to some amazing caves and waterfalls. However, to cut a long story short, i never found the place lol but still had an awesome road trip on the bike which was a day out in itself with the beautiful scenery all around (though you never know where the next pot hole is, or other bike riding on the hard shoulder towards you on the wrong side of the road lol so you can't look too much at the scenery )

Anyway here's a pic or 2 of Satun national Museum (Kuden Museum) which is somewhere i visited another day. It's only 5minute walk from my hotel and cost 50B to go in.... i've not included all the pics of the inside, just the out building. Inside explains ancient life in the south of Thailand, has some interesting facts both historically and geograhpically on Koh Tarutao and also the history of muslim life in Satun.


Kuden Museum


Kuden Museum building

Next i'll add the pics from Koh Tarutao (as it's in the province of Satun i thought i'd add it to this thread as opposed to starting yet another one)

[Arwing]

After Satun, i went to pak bara (boats no longer depart from Tammalang) port and headed to Koh Tarutao. I absolutly loved this island. It had a raw, pre-historic feel to it, i don't know how else to describe it.

The island is completely undeveloped aside from the area around the visitor centre which includes government run, eco friendly cabins and shower facilities, a single shop, a small resaurant and camp grounds at the beach Ao Pante Malacca.

The 1st night i camped at Ao Malacca which was a beautiful beach and i pretty much had it all to myself lol. Also at mid to low tide you could wade to the next beach called Ao Jak? and then again to Hat Sone though this was quite a bit farther along but unfortunatly due to the wading/swimming aspect i didn't bring my camera to these 2 beaches.

The next day i brought enough food and water, which i put in my big rucksack, to last me 3 days. They allowed me to put all my belongings into a room in the visitor centre. I then walked around the island with my tent and camped inj either the jungle or on the beach for the next 3days and 2 nights. One night my tent blew down (should have guessed the pegs wouldn't hold in the sand) another night i had monkeys banging on the tent and running around lol and i had to wash in the sea and sleep on stoney grounds and thanks to the hole in my tent woke up wet (we had a good down pour every night) or with bugs crawling on me. But what an experience.

At the end of the 3rd day i got back to Ao Malacca about 5pm so showered and went to the restaurant for some good food. Met an american girl who was trying to rally people up to share the cost of a longtail boat to crocodile cave (tham jarakhe) in the morning. I said i was definatly up for that and out of the 8 that said they'd come, only 5 did, but that was still enough to split the cost of the longtail nicely which was 500B a trip so only 100B each with 5 of us. The Kyaks to use in the cave were then 50B to hire per Kyak but held 2 people so me and the american girl went halves in a kyak too. So 125B for the trip, a bargain and they cave was amazing.

After that i went to toeboo cliff view point, which is a short 10-15 minute climb from the visitor centre and gives an amazing birds eye view of the island (well, the north-east side at least) I then hired a mountain bike and went to Ao Taloh Waw which is where they kept cibilian prisoners pre and during WWII. Definatly a sordid history surrounding the island regarding this. Saw all the old buildings ranging from hospitals to club houses to prisoners sleeping quarters all with signs explaining everything and it's history. Was definatly an interersting afternoon looking around here. I then carried on biking to Ao Taloh Udang... which was farther away than i'd thought and was a tough ride, most of which i had to walk the bike as the terrain was just too rocky and steep up-hill. Though after i got to Ao Udand i noticed i had a puncture and had to walk all the way back with tyhe bike which was damn hard and it was after dark when i arrived back at Ao Malacca lol. But Ao Udang was amazingf and definatly worth the effort in the end.

Got up the next day chilled on the beach in the morning before packing up and heading back to pak bara port where i then got as mini van to Hat-Yai. I had wanted to stay longer to see the waterfalls but i was so tired after the last 3 or 4 days activity plus my national park ticket only lasted 5 days so had expired lol so i had to go that morning. I'll go back for the waterfalls one day though.


Koh Tarutao

Toe Boo cliff view point


View from toe boo cliff


My tent at Ao Malacca


Ao Malacca


Karst at Ao Waw

[Arwing]

View from Ao Waw


Me on the "trail" from Ao waw to Ao Udang.....


Ao Udang


Ao Udang


Kyaking in tham jarakhe


Beautiful rock and water formation in Tham Jarakhe