A day on the beach

Breakfast beside the hotel pool and we all jumped in the van and headed to Otres beach. To get there we drove down a flooded, corrugated dirt track, lined by some very fragile looking houses.
The beach is defined by shacks of grass roofs; some are for accommodation and others for sheltering tourists or locals waiting to hassle them. We arrived in the middle of a downpour and quickly established ourselves in a shelter. Immediately we were surrounded by offers of massages, hair removal (using cotton) hand woven bracelets and freshly cooked lobsters. The only way to get rid of them was to say “later” to which they would say “you use me later”. The problem with this that when you use someone else later they get all grumpy.
Our area was controlled by a 15 year old girl running the show and getting everyone else upset, but at least she kept the hounds at bay, we later worked out her power base in that she was the owners daughter. Eventually some sort of balance ensued where they left us alone for a while so we could acclimatise. Needless to say however, over the course of the day our wallets and purses progressively got lighter and lighter as the dollars flowed out of them.
The waters of the Gulf were quite angry in the strong wind, although warmer than the rain coming down so we all braved the strong currents and small but powerful waves. The water has the same colour as the other side (Phuket) but not quite as a deep shade of yellow.
The menus are extensive and the resulting food was extremely fresh and fabulous, it was hard to see how such good quality could be produced in seemingly destitute surrounds – so it was a fabulously relaxing day being pampered by the locals. As this beach is so remote it was not crowed with tourists (and the fact that it is the wet season) – it’s a real gem and a shame that the wheels of progress are rapidly rolling towards it. The prediction is in two years it’ll all be bulldozed for expensive resorts. No idea how Paul and Helen discovered the place but we were extremely glad we experienced it before it disappeared.
Back to hotel, swim for kids , kip for some adults, blog for others. Afterwards we went to a five star resort at Sokha for dinner, which was very salubrious and fulfilling, no idea how many locals had been displaced in order to build the place.
Late night drinks at a party street up the road from the hotel was an interesting Insight into the seedy world of the of the tourist night life.