We spent a week on Mae Rampung beach, not far from
Rayong. We found this guesthouse online Roots
that had great reviews. Once we arrived,
it was closed. The guesthouse was
located just across the street from the beach.
We liked the idea of staying so close to the beach. We picked a different guesthouse next door-
Gee’s Kitchen. All these guesthouses are
old townhouses built under British rule.
The restaurant was on the first floor of each guesthouse with the guest
rooms upstairs.
Our room was on the third floor with a sea view. We were the only guests in Gee’s Kitchen. It was still low season; it sometimes rained. We enjoyed the emptiness, peace and
quiet. We could hear the waves while in
our room. The only problem we had was
that we could not swim in the sea. Every
time we tried, we were itchy all over afterwards and had to take a shower right
away. First, we thought the salt could
be the reason. Then we thought maybe it
was mosquitoes biting us just before and after swimming. Finally, we did some research online to find
out that the sea lice were biting us, which are invisible to a human eye. After that, we only went for a walk on the
beach.
Later we learned that the owner of Roots, who was a
foreigner, disappeared about a year ago.
We talked about the area and Thailand with the retired foreigners who moved
there to live. They also told us that if
a foreigner got into an accident in Thailand, he should not stop and just go
straight to the airport. The foreigners
would always be considered guilty. The
police is corrupt.
The locals see the foreigners as bags of money. I guess they think they should lighten them. I believe we get special prices for
everything. In some restaurants even
menus do not have prices. The seafood
meal cost more than one night in a guesthouse (about 10% of the average Thai
salary). We saw some locals having a
feast in those beach restaurants.
Also, we learned that those restaurants located directly on
the beach are illegal. The beach is a
park, and it belongs to the government.
At least, they are keeping a beach clean: collecting garbage and raking
pine needles.
Another observation was that only women live on that
beach. Where did all the men go? Do they just keep moving from town to town,
leaving their children behind? Every
morning the women, who worked in those guesthouses and restaurants, were getting
dolled up (putting white powder on their faces, painting their nails, etc.). At first, we were not sure why, but later we
learned that some of them were also prostitutes. The prostitution in Thailand is officially
illegal, but as I mentioned the police officers could be bribed.
The daughters of the women did work in the guesthouses,
too. They were cleaning and serving meals. Those foreign retirees were treated like
kings. Most of them had bellies from
sitting and drinking beer. We also saw
some younger white men with the local wives and their children walking around
and eating in the restaurants. There
were probably more mixed families there with the husband actually present.
To travel to Phetchaburi (2 hours south of Bangkok), we
needed to return to Bangkok first. In
the official information of the Rayong bus station, we asked about the big buses
to Bangkok. We were told a week ago that
there was the only one that leaves every morning at 11:30AM. That day we were told that the big bus would
go only at 3PM the next day. We should
take a minibus instead. Another person
told us that the big bus had an accident and the next one would go only at 4PM the
next day. We should take a minibus
instead. Then the same woman told us
that there was a big bus standing in the station ready to leave right
then. It seemed as if she told the
driver how much to charge us. It appears
that these people get kickbacks from the bus drivers, even the official
information straight out lied to us. So
far, getting the information about the bus schedules was the hardest to get. We probably saw more fancy tour buses everywhere,
anyways.
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