I got the bus from Krabi to a town on the east coast called Surathani another busy concrete city. Surathani is the main departure point for boats to the islands in the south east. Both the bus station and the train station are inconveniently located on the outskirts of town but not together.
I decided to head for Chaiya, a town which was on the map in the Lonely Planet guide but not covered in it, except to mention a near by Wat. For once one of my hunch seems to have paid off. Chaiya is an attractive, small town, with lots of old wooden buildings. There are only a couple of tourists and the people seem to be very friendly. They perhaps aren’t as jaded by tourism as people appear to be in other areas of southern Thailand. I have found a nice hotel (250 baht) near to the train station, where I have booked my ticket for tonight’s sleeper to Bangkok. I may change it until tomorrow if I feel like staying another day.
The main attraction here is Wat Suanmokk which apparently holds 10 day guided meditation classes in English. The girl at the hotel told me that up to 200 people appear at a time for the classes. Its 1500 baht ( 23 pounds) for the 10 days including food, I’m not sure about accommodation. You have to show up on the first of the month to take the classes. They don’t do reservations. I’m off to check out the Wat this afternoon so hopefully I can get more information.
http://www.suanmokkh.org/ret/ret-sm1.htm
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