…Plus A Windmill, A Deep Puddle And A Hill.
As I mentioned yesterday, on the way back from the Stone Fish Museum in Don Sak, I tootled around looking for new things to explore.
I was only a few hundred meters away from the museum, heading back towards Khanom, when I spotted what looked like the top of a windmill. I slowed down, and decided the only way to get anywhere close to it was to take the tiny road down to Ko Raet. If you remember, that’s the cute little island that’s only accessible across a narrow concrete bridge.
Or, you could swim.
Immediately before the bridge there was the entrance to a rough gravel road on the right, so I figured that must be the way to reach the windmill. I wasn’t wrong. But it was a windmill plus so much more. Here’s the main building, which I’m told will be an hotel and restaurant…
I can’t show you any more because I was immediately accosted by someone I assume was a security guard. But he was dressed head to foot in some kind of orange cape complete with hood and face mask, and his eyes were covered by reflective sunglasses. He could have been a Martian. Anyways, I was told very clearly that I could not take photographs … in fact that I should not be there at all … but I was welcome to come back next month when the place had opened. At which time, I assume I’d have to pay for the privilege.
I didn’t want to give up too easily so I asked as many questions as I could – which was really only two – by which point I figured I was about to be forceably ejected. Despite the fact it looks Dutch, it’s not. It’s Thai owned. And it’s called Hug Village.
The latter piece of information was enough for me to investigate further. And here’s the odd thing. They have a Facebook page. And if you take a look at that (please come right back to Twitterings) you’ll see that – despite the fact the place currently looks brand new and unfinished – people claim to have stayed there. You can see people riding and petting cuddly animals, there are wedding photos, people climbing on fighter airplanes, etc., etc.
How can this be? Were they all brought in for promo photos, or was it open then perhaps sold, and closed for renovation by new owners? I think the former. It’s all too perfect for it to have been open at any point. There isn’t even a proper road, but it looks like what is there will soon be paved, along with a large parking area.
Anyhoo, I don’t plan to go back to find out. It all looks very artificial, false, and un-Thai. No doubt it will be a huge success.
Bert and I left in a hurry.
And on the way home spotted this…
Well, I thought, that’s new. How the heck do I get to it? Ah, turn into the wat…
… park near to the building that can be hotter even than the rest of Thailand…
…and then, I’m guessing, walk up there, and there, and there…
…until you reach this still-under-construction shrine…
I probably could have driven, but I didn’t know that until I reached the top. By which point my lungs had been over-inflated and my cardios had been well and truly vasculated. If that sounds painful, it wasn’t as bad as the large aggressive black dog which, while I was attempting to catch my breath, was trying to separate my right foot from my leg. Another good reason I don’t travel around in shorts.
Once he realized I wasn’t too tasty, nor too amused, I managed to take some photos of the views…
And then, once back on the road, I spotted some water, way down below road level. I think this might be the “puddle” I was looking for in October when I wrote “Six Wats And A Puddle” … but never found. It’s a bit bizarre. Almost like it’s just been moved from Arizona…
They sure have some big fish…
Which just left a short drive back into Khanom, where I stopped to take a few photos by the river…
But sadly the best view has been spoiled by the construction – now abandoned – of a new restaurant. I won’t embarrass the company by naming them…
…but they really should be forced to finish it or level it. It has been like that for more than twelve months, and it’s not the only one they’ve left like it.
Bizarrely, it looks like the construction workers were vaporized or teleported to another dimension as all their tools are left in place…
In most countries the tools would “disappear” overnight. Here, well, I guess everyone thinks the workers might come back one day and they’ll need them.
An interesting morning.