PKK (as I'm going to call it from now on, to save on keyboard wear and tear) rests peacefully in a sweeping, horseshoe bay, flanked dramatically by the spectacular karst formations that gave the town that impressive name - city of mountains.
PKK lies at the narrowest point of the Thai egg timer, 100km or so past Hua Hin. We took the train from Bangkok, which at the typically leisurely Thai railways pace takes around 5 hours. Leaving after work on friday, this should have seen us arriving around 11pm, but unfortunately the train was around 2 hours late before it even left Bangkok. Luckily, the people at our chosen accommodation, the charming Sun Beach Guesthouse, were unfazed by our late arrival, and told us not to worry as somebody would happily let us in at any hour - so we relaxed on the train and treated ourselves to dinner in the atmospheric surroundings of the restaurant car.
As our train eventually pulled into town in the small hours of the morning, we were a little concerned that we might have to walk to the guesthouse, so we were pleased to find one of PKK's distinctive motorbike-and-sidecar tuktuks waiting for us. Rather than the usual hustle, the driver calmly finished his snack and then whisked us through the sleeping streets to our accommodation - where as promised the bell summoned a sleepy receptionist who happily checked us in for a comfortable and much-needed night's sleep.
Waking refreshed the next morning, we hired bikes from the guesthouse and set out to explore the town. Now lets be frank here - there's not a great deal to do in PKK. This is a large part of it's appeal, especially as a weekend destination. The main attraction is it's charming, sleepy atmosphere, but there are a just enough sights to see to last a couple of days. The first on our list was the 'monkey mountain', which we discovered by cycling to the north end of the seafront until we reached a small mountain surrounded by monkeys. A large number of these cute but rather feral creatures hang out at the foot of the mountain on the seafront itself, swinging from the tyres hung from the trees, bathing in concrete bathtubs, or just chilling out on the beach wall.
We watched them frolic for a while, until they attempted to steal my bike - by which point it had begun to rain, so we postponed climbing the mountain and sought shelter.
We'd read that the seafood here was spectacular wherever you went, and this proved to be true when we took shelter in the first seafront restaurant we came to and ordered some tasty crab fried rice. By the time we'd savoured it's smoky deliciousness, the rain had subsided and we headed off to climb the mountain. We soon located the bottom of the staircase around the back near the temple, and began our ascent of what is more properly known as Khao Chong Krajok.
A group of tourists had arrived just before us with food for the monkeys, and word of this benevolence had clearly spread fast, as a stampede of the furry fiends rushed down the steps to greet them.
Soon we were surrounded by cheeky faces and grabbing hands, which accompanied us all the way to the monastery at the top of the mountain. Whilst they could be a little aggressive at times, with a few displays of bared teeth now and then, and they're certainly not afraid to get close to people, it was a unique and charming experience, and worth braving for the views from the top.
We came down from the mountain just as the rain decided to come down from the sky, and so we fled back to the Sun Beach to shelter in comfort on the balcony and enjoy the sea view.
Sightseeing and relaxing done, it was time to eat some more. We'd heard about a market on the seafront near the pier, so headed down to check it out.
This turned out to be well worth braving the rain for, with a great selection of street food. Whilst much of it was the same stuff we'd seen elsewhere in Thailand, the quality was amazing, with everything seeming that much fresher and delicious looking than anywhere else we've been - and a few treats that were new to us, like bacon and mushroom kebabs.
After our starters-on-sticks, and a couple of beers on the seafront at the motorcycle club, we headed for dinner at Ma-prow. Everything we'd eaten so far in town had been delicious, but this trumped the lot with one of the tastiest meals we've eaten anywhere. A starter of crisp tangy green mango salad over a perfectly cooked fillet of fish, followed by an amazing rich and creamy crab curry. All in charming surroundings too - highly recommended.
Full of seafood and beer, we slept well, and awoke the next day ready to hit the beach. Whilst PKK's main bay is pretty, it's not really a beach you'd hang out on, so we set off on our trusty bikes to Ao Manao, just south of the town.
Ao Manao is a very unusual beach - it's part of an airforce base. This sounds a lot more off-putting than it really is. You simply enter the base through the entrance at the south end of the town, where a friendly chap in uniform waved us straight through, and on leaving the base are asked to sign a kind of guestbook. No ID is required - the book had a column for passport numbers, but nobody appeared to have filled it in. Passing through the base to the beach makes for a pleasant and interesting bike ride, as you cross the runway and pass by a grounded airplane, a golf course, and various other curiosities.
Eventually you emerge on the road that runs along the back of the beach. Thanks to the unusual location, there's refreshingly little in the way of development here. No high rise hotels or tacky beach bars, just a couple of food courts, some rather basic bathroom/changing facilities, and a few shops.
The food courts sell a wide range of seafood and other goodies, and you can also order from the people manning the deckchairs on the beach, who'll fetch food and drinks for you - or just rent you a chair to relax in for 10 baht.
This is very much a Thai destination, with little of the usual beachside clutter than western tourists expect, and much the better for it. Popular activities include posing for photographs, or swimming with most of your clothes on. It's a great beach for swimming, with a very shallow slope that means you can get quite some distance from the shore without getting out of your depth.
Most of all, though, this is a nice place to relax in a delightfully calm atmosphere - which could also be said of PKK as a whole. There isn't a great deal to do here, but that's rather the point. The sleepy atmosphere is quite beguiling, making this typically Thai seaside town a great place for a weekend escape from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, and you can pretty much explore the whole place in a couple of days. Take the train, bring a book, order some seafood, and relax with a beer while the boats bob up and down in the bay. Just watch out for those monkeys.
Ao Manao is a very unusual beach - it's part of an airforce base. This sounds a lot more off-putting than it really is. You simply enter the base through the entrance at the south end of the town, where a friendly chap in uniform waved us straight through, and on leaving the base are asked to sign a kind of guestbook. No ID is required - the book had a column for passport numbers, but nobody appeared to have filled it in. Passing through the base to the beach makes for a pleasant and interesting bike ride, as you cross the runway and pass by a grounded airplane, a golf course, and various other curiosities.
Eventually you emerge on the road that runs along the back of the beach. Thanks to the unusual location, there's refreshingly little in the way of development here. No high rise hotels or tacky beach bars, just a couple of food courts, some rather basic bathroom/changing facilities, and a few shops.
The food courts sell a wide range of seafood and other goodies, and you can also order from the people manning the deckchairs on the beach, who'll fetch food and drinks for you - or just rent you a chair to relax in for 10 baht.
This is very much a Thai destination, with little of the usual beachside clutter than western tourists expect, and much the better for it. Popular activities include posing for photographs, or swimming with most of your clothes on. It's a great beach for swimming, with a very shallow slope that means you can get quite some distance from the shore without getting out of your depth.
Most of all, though, this is a nice place to relax in a delightfully calm atmosphere - which could also be said of PKK as a whole. There isn't a great deal to do here, but that's rather the point. The sleepy atmosphere is quite beguiling, making this typically Thai seaside town a great place for a weekend escape from the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, and you can pretty much explore the whole place in a couple of days. Take the train, bring a book, order some seafood, and relax with a beer while the boats bob up and down in the bay. Just watch out for those monkeys.
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