…And Now For Something Completely Peaceful.

After leaving the Bureau of Monks I headed a little further out of Phang Nga town to find a peaceful lake and cave known as Tham Sa.

Phang Nga town is small, and although the lake looks like it’s in the middle of nowhere, I was only about four kilometers from the town center. Maybe I should call it a city as it’s the capital of Phang Nga province, but the place doesn’t seem large enough to deserve such a grand title.

Anyhoo, despite the continued gloomy weather, and the fact it was close to sunset, the place looked really attractive…

After looking at both ends of the lake from the roadside, I ventured down a small pathway and found this…

Sounds interesting, I thought, but as I ventured further I was almost immediately stopped by a pack of monkeys. As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t like monkeys and monkeys don’t like me.

People in the western world seem to think they’re cute. Trust me, they’re not. They are aggressive and destructive. I was carrying my iPad to take these photos, and I had a clear mental image of the monkeys carrying it off into the jungle and smashing it on a rock. They do that kind of thing.

Years ago when I lived in Malaysia, on my regular morning walk, there was about a one kilometer stretch of road where all the street lamps (and lots of other things) had been destroyed by monkeys. If they ever get into your house, well, imagine the mess burglars make, and multiply that by ten.

Anyhoo, I was using my iPad because my usually trusty DSLR had chosen to take a break from taking great photos. The body and lens periodically decided not to talk to each other, and I don’t yet know whether this is a permanent divorce or just a temporary separation. Figuring that out is quite low on my To Do list.

So, I made a hasty retreat from the nasty monkeys and took a couple more photos…

And since I usually talk about hotels, I will briefly mention that I stayed at a place called Rachawadee House. I chose it because it’s really a motel, where you can park right outside your room. I am forever forgetting things, and seem to spend my life going down four flights of stairs, through reception “Oh, it’s you again” out across the parking lot, to retrieve a charging cable. And of course, back again.

So, the hotel did serve that purpose, as I probably went out to Bert about ten times during the evening, but I can’t think of any other reason to stay there. It was clean, and cheap, but exceedingly plain. There must be nicer places in Phang Nga. Maybe one day I’ll find out.