Sea, Solitude, Fried Rice and a Dog

Not a footprint in sight. Only a few paw prints left behind by the ubiquitous Thai strays.

Just needs a few lace curtains draping over, torches lit and it would the ideal romantic getaway!

Spend your time swinging away and staring out to sea.

The menu we were handed was fairly extensive and very seafood orientated as you might expect so for anyone staying, they'd have plenty to choose from. Meals in Thailand must legally be served on blue plastic plates with cucumber I believe. It's the law!

You will always have time for a game of chess or draughts in the shade of a tree.

And for the kids, a rocking horse!

Simple toilet block and showers which were perhaps surprisingly very clean.

And chill out zone where you could step back in time. Over here, this style of retro design is huge. As Thais never ever throw anything away, old TVs and Radios can be had really cheaply. The old Scotch bottles, not so!

"Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun"....at least the dog doesn't look too angry!

Rather than lapping up to the shore lazily, a stiff sea breeze often pounds the coast where the sand is more the colour of Scarborough than Samui and the skies can be as grey as a battleship.

In many ways, this beach at Thep Sakae reminds me a lot of the desolate Baltic coastline, only the palm trees that fringe the beaches giving it away.

We'd been driving North and the wife had been scanning her camping grpoups on Facebook for places we could possibly camp for a few hours on our runs up and down when she came across this place where you could camp, either in the tent or in the car, right on the beach. BEaches here are all public property but the land adjacent is privately owned, sometimes making access difficult but here, the landowner had set up a simple camping ground, away from the hustle and bustle and miles from the nearest 7/11.

We weren't too far away when she came across it so a short diversion was taken to check it out. To be fair, its a little too far North on the route for us, heading South we'd still have 6 more hours to go when we got up but even so, was worth a look for possible future leisure trips.

10km from the main road, another 1km down a track and we were by the sea with not a soul around. Camping has grown quite popular here in the last few years, but only as a weekend pastime, especially over public holidays so on a Friday afternoon, there was still no one.

It had an abandoned air about it but from FB posts, we knew that not to be the case and I wondered where the owners were. Suddenly, in true Mr. Benn fashion, the shopkeeper appeared an a young couple walked towards us. The intention had just been to check the place out but after asking about costs (just 100b per person per night), we found out they sold food too so we decided we ought to order something out of politeness.

Obviously cooked from scratch based on the time it took to arrive, we just went for some simple fried rice! When there's no one at a place, I always worry about the freshness of the food but in this case, needn't have. It was delicious (though the wife moaned about the prawns being a little overcooked!) and just what we needed to help us on our way. As we ate, the owner was extolling the virtues of the campsite and explaining we could have BBQs, electric hook-up and even rent a portable aircon, which was completely unnecessary. The breeze and the shade from the trees was enough to keep us cool without blowing our lunch away!

It has to be said I was blown away by this place. In a past nomadic, and single life, it's exactly the sort of place I could have pitched and stayed for a few days...weeks...or even months, sat staring out from a tent, a campfire burning and enjoying the solitude, beauty and never ending sounds of the ocean.

Enjoy the pictures, I have of course pinned it in the exact place on the ever wonderful @pinmapple and any questions, you know what to do! I am really trying to present a different face to Thailand as I know that there are millions of posts from here and people must get sick of seeing them!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend and my best wishes to you for the week ahead :-)

@nathen007

For the best experience view this post on Liketu