Our trip started out a little grimly, with a two-night stay in the provincial capital of Trat. Here is the grand entrance to the Meung Trat Hotel, which Prae and I thought looked rather like the police station. The rooms were of a similar caliber, but with a/c and a bathroom (complete with squatting style toilet that you flush with a pan of water) at less than $10 a night, it fit into our budget. And it happened to be the most luxurious accommodation in town.
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Trat is a small city of about 25,000 residents.
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Prae buys a bunch of rak gam fruit, which is covered by a spiny husk and tastes like a Sweet Tart.
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We find refuge from the Songkran revelers, who throw water and talcum powder on each other on the street during the Thai new year celebration, in a great bar, where you can recline while having a beer.
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Prae and I rode with a truckload of uncomfortable pineapples bound for Koh Kood Resort.
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Our travels took us from Trat to Khlong Yai, a tiny fishing port in the narrow strip of Thailand between the Gulf of Thailand and Cambodia. At the port where we were to meet our boat to the island of Koh Kood, fishermen readied their boats for another trip to sea.
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Aboard the boat to Koh Kood, Prae gets in a bit of reading and eats dried squid in one of its myriad forms.
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I have my own form of seafood snack as well: goldfish crackers.
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Our resort on Koh Kood is on a remote part of the island, accessible only by boat.
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About 20 bungalows are built on stilts over the water.
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An afternoon shower greeted us on our arrival. Just before the rain began, we had been swimming and saw a waterspout in the distance.
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Prae on the ladder to our bungalow.
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At low tide, our bungalow was left high and dry, buy at nighttime, the water would come in and the wind would come up, and we'd be lulled to sleep by the sound of waves.
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In a town on Koh Kood, a seaside villa has all the amentities -- including satellite TV.
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The boardwalk needs a little work.
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Here was a new dish for both of us: Frangipani tempura. Tastes like chicken.
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