Saturday March 26th today we got on a bus and headed down the Thailand/ Malaysia penninsula on the eastern side down to Cha-am. It is about 170km south of Bangkok and took three hours and cost 4.50 euro for the two of us. Booked into a lovely hotel overlooking the beach. It was very clean, recently refurbished, it had a hot shower and cable TV. Cha-am is a costal town that is very popular with the Thai's. It gets packed here at the weekend with everyone getting out of Bangkok. As we arrived on a saturday it was busy and on top of that Cha-am was hosting a seafood fair for the weekend. On the main promanade all the local hotels and restuarants had food stands selling everything from lobster to fresh bread, everything was at a very reasonable price.

On Sunday we had a walk around town did some shopping. Being the last night of the fair there was a lot happening in town. We gorged ourselves on tiger prawns and kababs. The entertainment for the night consisted of traditional dancers, local girl bands singing and dancing and some form of beauty pagent.
There was a great buzz and holiday atmosphere. The difference when we left on Monday morning was amazing the town was practically deserted. Althought the beach was just accross the road we did not go for any swim as the beach was thronged and there was a strong on shore breeze blowing all the time. the beach it self was covered with umbrellas and seating and was more layed out for eating a socialising. Locals going for a dip do so the same way as they do in India they don't wear swinsuits they swim fully clothed with what every they happen to be wearing at the time. It is a nice town and the Cha-am Happyhouse where we stayed was really nice, but it's more geared for Thai tourists. We are of Ko Toa next.