TRANG, before-and-after

Trang is only one beach destination that I visit only 2 times in my life. And last time was around 5 years ago for few days working so I did not visit any place except stay at hotel for meeting. Now my friend Ms.Aoy updated me that she moved back to her hometown to work there and invited me to visit her. After thinking and imagine how this province changed after 15 years then I booked flight.

22nd August

There are only 5 flights a day to this province, so I booked morning flight as I want to have longer time there. Flight arrived 20 minutes before schedule, and it was a good time to find first breakfast.

I booked room at Rua Rasada Hotel. Rua means boat in Thai, this hotel has unique name and when I arrived then realized that the building is in the boat shape.

I arrived too early so I checked in and left all luggage then go out for lunch

Since they have big group arriving same day with me, so I got room upgrade to the corner.Lucky me!

After lunch and spent time with my laptop at coffee shop near hotel then I came back to hotel and got my key. And here is my room with very nice mountain's view

Around 2pm my friend Aoy came to picked me from hotel to start first day trip in TRANG. She drove the car, and we start heading out from center

She stopped at this shop and suggested me to try

Grilled pork is one of famous menu in Trang which well-known but to go to the right shop should listen to local people :)

Huai Yot is first destination today

One thing I remember for this place and it still same is the forest still green, the water still clean

2 professional local guides took me into the cave while Aoy waiting for me outside as she has problem with narrow area and feel not comfortable in the cave

The first room inside the cave is quite big and look similar with my first time but now the whole room is bright with neon lightings

When I visit this cave first time, we cannot take photo like this because there was only lighting on the head just to see the walkway so I do not have any photo from inside the cave that time. But this time is good to see all clearer and get some nice photos.

From room to another room by boat

Highlight is this one

The rock look like small elephant. My tour guide taught me how to post with this rock, and I go this shot

I think besides of professional for paddling, my tour guide also good photographer even my camera is not that good but at least he knows how to adjust composition of each shot

But the real highlight of this cave is this area where I cannot take any photo because it too dark and I have to lay down on the boat. Because the low ceiling of the cave and for safety then I have to keep all part of my body inside the boat

But the ceiling in this area quite high. The guide points the light to that rock and told me that this is the heart of the dragon. If we touch this rock mean, we touch the dragon heart. And it will bring good thing. Actually, this cave has another name which is Dragon cave. We get in the cave like we get into the dragon body from his tail, and we will go out from his mount. And some Asian people believe that something come out from dragon's mount is a crystal so if we come out from dragon's mount mean we will have good luck

After that we continue to visit amazing place called Wang Thep Taro. Firstly, I thought that place should be something about the spirit or shire. But when we arrived, it was totally difference from my imagination.

Thep Taro is the name of the tree, the herbal tree. The owner growth this tree and each tree have difference smell of their leaf

And besides of grow them, he also collects some root of the tree to build the dragon so there are many dragons made by wood in his garden

We left the garden and return to the city

On the way back, I found they are selling lots of sticky rice in bamboo (this is one of my most favorite Thai snack). Aoy told me that, eating this sticky rice with grilled pork is delicious

But for me, only itself is already delicious

We arrived to another place, the Kan Tang train station

The last station of this line from Bangkok

Only one schedule 

If you leave Bangkok with this train at 8.30pm you will arrive this station at 11.25am. Totally 15 hours

I like the architecture which still showing the classic old style train station

We left the train station and continue to the local market to find some food. 

Near the market, we stopped by at the Chinese shire

Make a wish

And I got this fortune stick :)

At the market, I tried this snack. A crispy pancake with something sweet as topping the name is ar-pong. It finally ends of the day. Aoy sent me back to hotel and when I get into my room I found this view. A beautiful green and mountain sky. 

The room was so nice so after refreshment and check my email then go to bed (quite early)

23rd August

Woke up in the morning with this view

Peaceful, no rain and the sky was so beautiful

I tried this menu for breakfast, this is Khao Yum which mixed by vegetable and sticky rice and many mores. However,the taste is so good

This lovely pink noodle also delicious

But for me, noodle is a must

And snack, Pa Tong Ko. I really want to bring some piece for Aoy (but I did not do) as it is very delicious

All food (that I ate) were so delicious. And I realized their food are 100% Halal 

Aoy took me to a beautiful beach name Had Yao

This is a very beautiful beach

We ordered some drink and sit for few minutes then left

This is our activity today

Taking a long tail boat to see beautiful sand dune

But before starting the tour. We had lunch because Aoy told me there is fisherman village and they have very good seafood with very cheap price

So, we order some dishes

The main ingredient today is crab

We finished all food and ready to start our tour

The sky today is so good

The boat took us to the mangrove forest

Say hi to small orange crab

Aoy doesn't like to be in the photo

Along the way to the sand dune is beautiful

There is a mountain but since it was raining last night so it is not safe to climb up this time

Finally, we arrived at the sand dune

I never seen large sand dune like this one. It is similar size with football field

Lots of calm

Crab

Lots of crab, thousands of crabs

And big crab. They are so beautiful. We spend around 1 hour there to walked around the sand dune

We can see Koh Libong, Koh Nghai and Koh Lanta from there

We left that beautiful scenery and return to to village

On the way back, Aoy took me to another beautiful beach

The road to the beach also beautiful

Name of the beach is Pak Meng, and it really beautiful

And there is a big pier for boat to visit other islands. Next time I will stay some night on some island

We arrived back to city and drove around the city to see some street art

And I like this one the most

The beautiful purpose flower is the flower of Trang and the name is Sri Trang

I think this city is so peaceful

The clock tower during sunset look very nice

I invited Aoy to have dinner with me at hotel to have more time to talk after we did not meet for long time

Aoy staying here so she does not excite with sea food anymore

So, she ordered beef, and I also enjoyed this menu as well

We spent almost 2 hours talking and eating then Aoy left to her home

24th August

Aoy has appointment with her family so I spent my day at hotel with my laptop. And in the evening, I checked with hotel's reception for dinner. She suggests a night market call Ta Lad Klang Muang

The place looks nice; there are lots of food stall

This menu is just THB 100

And this one just THB 50

All food here is cheap and delicious. There are lots of people come to enjoy dinner with family

Even I came alone but also enjoyed my dinner. I left market and return to hotel, it just 5 minutes away from my hotel and I took motorbike

25th August

Today is Monday so Aoy have to go to work and I'm leaving this evening. So, I had small breakfast at hotel

And then again took motorbike to the Dimsum restaurant which hotel recommended

I came alone but many menus look delicious

So, I ordered noodle with clear soup

Noodle is so good

And all menus are so delicious. I know I cannot finish all of them, but it is not a problem as I packed some of them for my lunch at hotel

Before return to hotel, I went to the train station "Trang train station"

I came here once but long time ago

They are a little bit changed

But something still same

Some building still there

But some already changed

I came here again,the souvenir shop which I came last time. They still open and selling same products. The most famous is cake with the small hole in the middle

The reason of the hole in the middle because they still using the old-style frame. I bought some cakes for my friends

My 4 days 3 nights Trang completed with full memories and food and happy to share these memories to all friends

And this is my last menu at Rua Rasada Hotel before going to airport. It called "Mojito Bao Bao", the taste and smell of green mango sticked in my mount and nose. 

Even this trip was slow program but TRANG still in my good memories until next time