…The Beach Resort & Residence, Pathio District.
Day 1 is HERE.
Nice place. Enjoyed one night here. But like most resorts, it was not without its quirks.
The quirkiest of the quirks was the approach. Here’s a triptych of pics, reproduced without the kind permission of Google Maps…
If you can find the correct road to turn down (there is a sign, which you can only see if you are coming from the north, and I wasn’t, so I didn’t) you are met with a barrier. It’s usually half open so you can drive underneath. The gates in the Google photo have gone. There’s a sign informing you you are entering some military training facility. So, you ignore that and continue towards the beach. Except the hotel isn’t on the stretch of beach that’s straight ahead. You have to make a left and tootle down the gravel road. The Google Street View car didn’t go any further. I did. The hotel is around the corner on the right. No big deal, but some signs sure would help.
However; I sympathize. One of the many oddities in Thailand, is that you have to pay an annual fee to the local government for any sign you erect, even if it’s on your own property, and even if it’s to help tourists. You pay per square centimeter and it costs you extra if the sign has any language other than Thai, and even more if it only has a foreign language and no Thai. Go figure!
Since I was only staying one night, I splashed out just a little extra to have a studio room with a sea view. I’m not sure I was there long enough to warrant the extra, but it really wasn’t much. Here’s some photos taken before I spread my “toys” around…
I assume the table and chairs are what make it a “studio.” There’s a small balcony to the right. Anyways, the table was plenty large enough for an iPad, drone batteries and charger, plus one glass and several green cans. Cheaper hotels, I find, can be downright uncomfortable after dinner, with the only place to sit being the bed, and with everything carefully balanced alongside. Wobble one cheek and you spill your beer. The “studio” was a nice feature.
After a long day of driving and tootling I prefer to eat in the hotel if possible. It was possible. But I was the only person in the restaurant. Usually not a good sign, but the food and service were excellent. And reasonably priced.
As I mentioned in the previous article, the whole province seemed to be covered in a fog or haze. Here’s the sun finally appearing about an hour after official sunrise. Maybe it’s a sea fog. It didn’t smell of anything, so I assume it wasn’t pollution.
Anyhoo, did you notice the bed? That was another quirk. Why the heck is the mattress smaller than the bed? How do you get out? Stand on the black wooden part and leap off – executing a front flip with pike as you go, or do you shuffle your buns to the edge of the mattress and try to stand? I tried both (minus the flip’n’pike) and I still don’t know the answer. Oh, and as usual, there’s no light switch anywhere near the bed. There’s an outlet, so you can BYOTL. Bring your own table lamp.
Breakfast was a little disappointing and overpriced. But I confess I ate so much that I skipped lunch.
It did have one chuckle-worthy moment. I was the first into the restaurant, and the waiter asked if I’d like a freshly-cooked omelette. Sounded good. After it was delivered, I decided to add a few things, but by this point I started a trend and several new arrivals decided on omelettes. So, I had to squeeze into the line to reach the month-old sausages. I couldn’t quite figure how to grab them, so looked in front of the hot water filled sausage potty and noticed a plate with fork and spoon. So, I grabbed the spoon and managed to snuggle a sausage on either side of the omelette and replaced said spoon.
At which point the man in front of me hastily grabbed the plate with what turned out to be his fork and spoon, and he brusquely stepped one place forwards towards his soon-to-be-cooked breakfast 🙂
Most Thais would have found this hilariously funny, as did I. It’s not called The Land of Smiles for nothing. But he was clearly not amused at my blatant abuse of his spoon.
But, while eating my omelette and toast, ignoring the unchewable sausages, something related – that happened several decades ago – came to mind. At one of my first job interviews after leaving school, perhaps my first interview ever – it’s too long ago to remember – there was a long table with three interviewers on one side, and a somewhat nervous me on the other. Before the questioning started, in trundled the tea lady with her trolley. She started putting cups and saucers on the table, so I took one and thanked her. As she rolled herself out, I heard one of the interviewers mutter something like “I’ll get one later” – at which point I noticed she’d only left three cups.
They didn’t offer me a job.
The bottom line – The Beach Resort and Residence in Chumphon. Recommended. But be careful how you grab your sausage.
