Ban Krut - Beach Bumming on the East Coast

  Ban Krut, Thailand
Thursday, January 25, 2007

Our train to Ban Krut was a small local train it was expected to be about a seven hour trip. I lost the schedule that listed the stops and could not find another one so I was a bit worried on how we would know when to get off. The stops are not announced and the locals all know where they are going. Ban Krut is a small little town so who knows how long the train would stay there.

At one point we asked the conductor if he could let us know when our stop was coming up. This piqued the curiousity of the bored ladies sitting around us and they all wanted to know where we were going. When we said "Ban Krut" all we got were blank stares and quizzical looks. We assumed that this must be the smallest town ever. No one has heard of it! One lady who spoke a little bit of English and could read Thai written in Latin alphabet took our ticket and studied it. When she read the name her eyes lit up and she said "Ohhhh! Ban Kthluuuud!" to which all the other ladies vigorously nodded their heads and repeated her "Ban Kthluuuud". This is an example of why tonal languages are so incredibly difficult for non-tonal speakers to master. We can't even promounce it even if we are repeating after them! As soon as the ladies knew where we were going they set to work. One asked for the phone number of the hostel and called them on her cell phone to tell them when the train was arriving and that they need to pick us up. This was a huge help since we were coming in late at night. Other ladies shared their peanuts and other snacks with us. It really helped us meet our neighbors. When the stop did arrive they helped us carry our luggage down the aisle and waved goodbye from the door. So much kindness.

When rode to our hostel in the back of the pick up we both marveled at how much the town looks like Tanga, the town in Tanzania where Julius was born and grew up. By 10pm the town was shuttered up and all the hostel residents were already in bed. Just the place we were looking for.

The next morning we got up and came out to see the beach resort in daylight. It was fabulous - spotless and quiet with about six couples our age and up. The beach had white sand and beach loungers. The ocean had big waves which were fun to jump in. We got breakfast included and it was the biggest free breakfasts we had ever had - eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, fruit, coffee and juice. We spent the day how a day at the beach should be spent, laying around in lounge chairs reading. Every few hours we would order a smoothie or a beer, eat Phad Thai and maybe take a nap.

With our new pet

When that got old we would jump in the water a bit to cool off. I mistakenly though that I had put sunscreen on my legs in the morning and ended up with a wicked burn. But besides that it was total relaxation. We even popped a bootleg DVD into the laptop to watch when a tropical storm came in the second day and dropped some heavy rain for a few hours.

We met some of the other couples at the resort, sharing beers with one couple our age from England until late into the night. Some Canadian party girls who were doing an around the world trip at 18 showed up on our last day. I can't imagine traveling the world alone at 18. Weren't we all dingbats at 18, breaking rules and chasing boys? We did feel bad for them when they saw how old and boring the other youth hostel boarders were. They were on their way to Phuket, though and I am sure they found the parties they were looking for there. We went to a temple on the mountaintop nearby with them which was a great temple. It looks brand new and has great views of the beaches below. There were village scenes painted on the walls that we enjoyed, especially the fact that everyone in the village is painted with a smile on their face.

On one of our afternoons we noticed that the couple who came from town to do massages was there. We agreed to get one - you have to try a Thai massage in Thailand, right? We learned quickly the difference between Thai massage and Swedish massage. While Swedish massage is a relaxing experience, Thai massage is a workout! They hold massive amounts of pressure on different pressure points around the body then twist you and turn you like a pretzel while stepping on you or digging elbows and knees into you. Afterwards you feel great but during the ordeal you are trying not to cry Uncle.

We caught a ride to the train station to catch the train back to Bangkok. We were getting off at the final destination so it allowed us to kick back and enjoy the trip.

To see all our Ban Krut photos, visit our Smugmug Page!