You can hate me a little bit...

I found out yesterday that my one and only class for today was canceled. And my first Wednesday class is scheduled for 5pm. Which means.... KO SAMET! After a leisurely breakfast in Ban Phe, I hopped on the ferry. I spent the day as god intended, sitting in a beach chair under an umbrella munching on club sandwitches and som tam, occasionally getting up for a swim. I'm on a bit of a Bill Bryson kick and am currently reading "Down Under" (published in the US as "In a Sunburned Country"). I've also been on a creativity kick so I brought some colored pencils and paper with me and had fun sketching the beach, ocean & sky. Not beautiful by any means, but fun. And that's what counts. I'm having a tremendous amount of fun here in Thailand.

Unfortunately my camera has died. Again. I'm giving up the ghost though, D.N.R. I'll start looking at cameras and maybe next pay day I'll pick one up. Fortunately, I still have some pictures from the last time I hung out in Ban Phe... so I'll share a few of them.

First up, everyone together - She sell sea shells by the sea shore. Yup, the thing I don't quite get is this whole row of shops all has essentially the same merchandise. It seems like you might want to change things up a bit so there's a reason for someone to go into your shop vs. your neighbors. But what do I know about business?

I bought a really pretty necklace at one of these places. It was about $10 which is kind of a lot for Thailand, but I really like it.

Inside one of the other markets. Row after row of dried fish products. That's pretty much it.

I wondered for a long time who shops at these places... they often seemed to be empty when I came by, and I rarely see that many farang out here. But one day, after hearing about the 400th tour bus go by with music blaring I figured it out. Ban Phe and the nearby beaches *are* a tourist destination. Not so much for farang, but for Thai people from Bangkok and inland.


I'm guessing the bus goes to one of the beaches further down the coast, then stops in Ban Phe for everyone to stock up, and then everyone gets right back on the bus to go to the next stop... more than likely the Aquarium, since that's the other place I've seen lots of buses and an inexplicable amount of tourists.

And here are some of the goodies people come from miles around to pick up as souvenirs - dried squid and dried shrimp? Cuttlefish? No idea. In front there are candies, something approaching taffy I'm sure, but for some reason I'm afraid to try it.

That's just the slightest taste of the markets in Ban Phe, but I thought you might enjoy it.

TAG: Code Mango just because... I'm at the beach and the beach is good.