Thai_visits.png

This is www.tony-tollitt.com

Page 13

KOH KOOD

(continued)



Our tour of Koh Kood on our rented motorbike continued from Klong Maad village back and past our resort and onwards heading south. There are no roads in the centre of Koh Kood; it's mountainous with thick jungle. Most if the major roads are now surfaced with concrete, but some simply stop abruptly and disintegrate into a sandy track.
We passed an interesting little shack balanced on sticks in an estuary which advertised "Real Coffee". Tempted, we parked up and wobbled down the walkway and indulged. Coffee was OK and I accompanied mine with some chips, well skinny French-fries.

       
  • ABOVE:    The coffee shop on stilts


       

       

  • TOP LEFT:   A typical roadside shop. Note the ever-present pile of coconuts.

  • TOP RIGHT:   Aom resting in the shade with our bike.

  • BOTTOM:   The roads crossing a river bed. Not so much a bridge, but a timber structure on 'sticks' which, apparently, regularly get washed away.


Moving on after our coffees and back into the heat and onto the road, we continued south east across the bottom leg of Koh Kood. We explored roads and tracks at intervals; most ending at either another resort or a sandy beach.
We eventually arrived close to the end of the road. This ended at the south-eastern-most village of Ao Yai.
Ao Yai is yet another fishing village built entirely on wooden stilts. Again, there's evidence of investment in that many of the timber walkways and piles were being replaced by concrete. Several of the houses were being rebuilt but there remains evidence of population decay; younger people moving out into the world outside.... a familiar tale and reminiscent of some of the Hebridean communities back in UK.
Photos of Ao Yai follow:


       

       

       

       

       

       

       


  • LOWER RIGHT:   Aom enjoying (very) fresh oyster and a banana-shake.

  • BOTTOM:   The walkways really were dodgy at times.


On the way back from Ao Yai, the furthest we could get to on a road, we sampled a few tracks into the jungle which eventually ended up at the shoreline. Nearing Shantaa, we happened on a couple of wild pigs strutting about. The big one was a female with a diminutive male (boar) doing his stuff on the seemingly unconcerned sow.

       

ABOVE:   Aom found this swing on a remote bit of beach.


       


ABOVE:  Wild pigs "at it".



Back at Shantaa at around 5pm, both a bit knackered, Aom in particular, who did all the driving whilst I acted as navigator and photographer, was tired.
Both showered and changed it was off for another superb dinner. Food really is excellent here. A couple of relaxing G&T's set us up nicely for sleep time. To finish this page, here's a movie showing part of the road-trip and the roadside houses, shps and eating places.