After the stormy day we had, we decided to get up in the morning and enjoy the hotel a bit. During breakfast one of the guests celebrated a birthday in an amusing way.
When you watch the video, I recommend listening and putting on MUTE as well...
By the way, if anyone needs a guitar teacher in Kau Lak, I have someone amazing.
Tamar looks to the horizon
After spending the whole morning at the hotel, we decided to go out a bit. I heard that there is a sea turtle rescue center in the area, and we decided to go there. As is the best tradition, we turned on GOOGLE MAPS, put on good music, and drove for half an hour.
And we reached a closed gate.
But one that hasn't been opened in a very long time... well. We continued to drive. I said to myself, we will soon receive an updated route, and indeed he told us to turn left in 500 meters. So we continued to drive
And we arrived at a military base.
No way, I thought to myself and continued driving, turned left and stopped. I checked a hundred times and saw that no matter what I do, he is trying to get me into a military base...
Come on, what could it be? Let's Ask!
We made a U-turn, and arrived at the base gate, where we were greeted by a soldier who did not understand what these tourists wanted from him. I showed him what I was looking for on the map, and he made signs with his hands to go back on the road - and take a left.
Come on, we haven't tried that yet.
Go back about a kilometer, pass by the closed gate again and after a few hundred meters turn left, you guessed it right.
Straight into a military base.
Well, I didn't understand what happened with them, but the soldier gestured for me to come closer. I asked him if I was on the right way to the turtle farm and he mumbled something that sounded between PARKING and PASSPORT, and motioned for me to enter. Really, right after the gate there was a big PARKING sign, so I stopped the car there, and nothing interesting happened.
I assumed he must want to see my passport, so I got out of the car with him and proceeded to the military post (a table in the middle of nowhere with a soldier!) who asked for the passport, then showed me a page in English.
There it was explained that if I want to visit the turtle reserve, I have to leave my passport as a deposit and travel inside the military base (!!!) exactly according to the instructions I will receive.
I nodded my head and then he showed me a map of the base, with a lot of dos and don'ts, but one that more or less explains where the turtles are. I got back in the car without the passport, and we set off, while listening to the navigation software and memorizing the map the soldier showed us. The truth is that it wasn't that complicated because there was signage all along the way at the base.
On the way there, we saw lots of golf carts. At least twenty. I assumed they were using them to move the big base from place to place, but my wife said it was safe for golfing.
I told her there is no way, it's a military base.
Of course, a hundred meters later we arrived at a huge golf course and saw everyone playing there. Just like that.
We continued to the turtles and camped. We visited the complex for about half an hour, which consists of pools of different sizes for different turtles. There we met two volunteers from England who told us what they do (come twice a week to scrub the turtle ponds) and said that the one responsible for the turtles is actually the Thai Navy, which explains the inventions of the rescue center inside the base. As part of their activity, the Corps collects turtles that hatch and leaves them for a week in the coastal area until they hatch. After that, half of them are released into the sea, and the other half comes to the center for about nine months, where they grow stronger and then are released into the wild. This was done in order to increase the sea turtle population in the area.
There is also a tsunami museum in the place which we gave up on visiting.
The entrance fee is NIS 12 for 2 adults, children free. You have to come with a passport. You can't touch the turtles, so don't try because a policeman (or a soldier) will come (or nobody, the truth - but leave and take care of the poor turtles).
We left there and decided on a spontaneous activity, to go visit waterfalls that are in the area. Within a few clicks on GOOGLE MAPS, we left for the NAMTOK SAI RANG waterfalls. They are about a quarter of an hour's drive from the hotel, or 25 minutes in the pouring rain (yes, yes...)
After the visit to the turtle reserve you can say that we are military veterans, so we felt comfortable enough to go to the falls, even if it rained a little, at least at first.
In the picture: trees in the forest from which the rubber was collected (according to foreign sources)
Along the way, two interesting things happened. The first - the rain got stronger and in contrast - the road became more and more suitable for 4x4 vehicles. In the end we found ourselves in the jungle in the middle of nowhere, in the pouring rain, with about 30 meters of road full of rocks and stones in front of us, and on the side - some kind of small restaurant.
Suddenly a man appeared and waved his hands, signaling me to move forward those 30 meters. I drove really slowly because the last thing I wanted was a flat tire in the car. I parked He opened the door and gave us all umbrellas (!!!!).
We asked him where the waterfall was, and he said it was a 2-minute walk inside the forest. in the rain with an umbrella.
We have already arrived, shall we not go?
We have overcome obstacles for the most part
And finally.....
We took a family photo with whoever ran and continued back to the hotel.
The evening was falling and we were looking for a nice restaurant to eat at, so we went to something we found on Google. In retrospect, we were a little sorry that we didn't know the place before. This is a main shopping street in Khao Lak with lots of restaurants.
We parked the car and right next to us we saw 2 women sitting in the doorway of a massage business. It would seem as if they had no work at all. We asked until when they were open and continued looking for a place to eat.
Around the corner, she saw a restaurant called THAI CORNER. There too we found everything we asked for at very reasonable prices.
Pad Thai:
vegetable soup:
We ate, were full and returned to the car, then we saw the 2 women still sitting in the same position and looking at the customers. We looked at the prices but we didn't feel like an hour massage after the meal, we asked if we could do something for just half an hour. They said of course and happily. We went inside a store, not too fancy but meets the expectations. I saw the saleswoman making a small phone call, and within 2 minutes a battalion of masseuses showed up and attacked us and pampered us beyond measure.
It was excellent and we highly recommend LANLA MASSAGE.
We returned to the hotel for final packing before traveling to Phuket the next day.
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