Beaches, Snorkel and Thai Food to the Max

 Nov 20, 2022

Early wake up! I was ready to get up before the sun. I lounged in bed for an hour waiting for some light then got up and enjoyed the day break with a coffee on the deck. It's just instant coffee that comes in the hotel room but it's still nice to have in the morning. We had a chill morning, ate our complimentary breakfast. I had a good Indian breakfast with naan bread, a couple different fillings (one had chick peas, the other not sure, but it was good!) and with yogurt topper and a couple of samosas. Graham had an American fried breakfast which included a hotdog, fried egg and rice. Graham helped my with my breakfast and decided to order the Indian breakfast tomorrow. Both come with a tasty green guava juice and sliced watermelon and pineapple. We looked up some potential good snorkel beaches and headed west/north.

We scootered along some amazingly fancy houses and resorts tucked into the hillside in the jungle, hanging onto the rocks and over looking the ocean. It's the quiet little road just west of us on the long way up to Kamala Beach. We stopped in at Hua beach briefly to see if it could be a potential snorkel spot. Cute little beach off the main road without tourists. But the water didn't look very clear this close to the populated Kamala Beach so we just walked stretched our legs by walking the beach, looking towards Kamala, Haad Laem Sing and Surin beaches and continued on our way. We had planned to walk to Haad Laem Sing Beach first it sounded good, no road access with only a beach scramble to get there from Surin Beach. But further research said there was a massive stair case now built and lots of easy access. We figured we would check it out anyways but turns out the staircase is in a legal battle and closed. We will return with better shoes and do the hike after all to hopefully reach a quiet beach with good snorkelling. For now though, return to the resort for a swim and head off south for a snorkel.

Graham researched a good snorkel beach just south of Patong in front of the Marriott. I couldn't find an actual beach name but there's a little side road we drove to and could park the scooters and head right onto the beach from there. The snorkel access was easy, just walk down the beach to in front of the Marriott and into the reef! It was a bit shallow and had to be careful walking out but once out, it was a good coral reef. Lots of big bright blue clams, funky colourful coral of all shapes, colours and sizes, little and big colourful fish. Many of the fish were familiar to ones we've seen before but the coral had many new cool species. The water was warm, just like swimming in a tropical aquarium. As you neared shore, it was even hotter getting the heat off the rocks and sand. 

Next we scootered to Freedom beach. It has a long staircase down to a beautiful sandy beach... covered in tourists. Everyone was taking their instagram photos, working their angles to get the perfect shot. We sat in the shade and enjoyed a beer, some Tom Yum soup, garlic chicken and corn on the cob and people watched for a bit. On the way back up the stair case we helped out a Belguim guy who drove his bike down a steep path and was having troubles getting it back up. Not good traction with street tires on slick dirt. In no time we scootered back through Patong and after our uphill hike jump straight into the pool. We hung out for a while, I read while Graham looked up a place to eat dinner as he was craving a good cocktail. We went to a resort close by, just on the other side of the hill called the Mala Restaurant. We are still on an early schedule and were there during happy hour, 2 for 1 drinks. We had a couple tasty drinks with the local rum and enjoyed a very good meal. Chicken skewers cook on charcoal with a couple sauces, red curry with duck, cashew stir fried squid and a tasty teriyaki pork belly dish. As usual everything was all fragrant, flourfuol and fantastic! Perfect spice levels in everything, nice after the extra spice last night. Each drink we had was quite the process to make, Graham watched while the bartender carefully concocted each one. I had a Tom Collins with Kaffir leaves and Chilli peppers and a Mojito. The resort had funky buildings, almost like bird nests all connected and propped up in the air. Back to the resort with full bellies and to bed much too early (7:30).