PKK - Ao Manao Beach (Wing 5)

Right let's get this out of the way first up. The pork from last night! Hmmm. At 2am I thought Sarah might have been right as I didn't feel very well. However, some of it might have been psycological. By 3am I was back to sleep and woke up feeling better but far from perfect. Well enough to have another free breakfast so that was good. 

After breakfast we packed our togs and towels and went almost right next door to hire some bikes. Kermit bikes were 50 Bhat and mountain bikes were 100 Bhat. We weren't going far or off road so the Kermit bikes were fine. We headed along the beach from our hotel to the South and then through the entrance gate to the Wing 5 Air Force Base. I expected them to stop us and check out passports but instead they simply waved us through. In the middle of the base there is a beautiful beach called Ao Manao. To get to the beach you cycle through the main base grounds and across the runway! At the beach there are hundreds of beach chairs alongside the beach and a number of small shops. After exploring the full end to end of the beach by road we stopped and rented a beach chair each with umbrellas for shade, 20 Bhat per chair, just over a dollar. 

The sea breeze had yet to come up and the tide was in so we enjoyed a lovely calm swim. The water was very shallow, not even to waist height, and the temperature was great. Warm but still refreshing after our 5-6km bike ride. We spent the next couple of hours lounging on our chairs, swimming, and reading. Sarah had spotted a smoothie stall on our ride so she headed off to get some refreshments as we had only packed water in our bags. She came back with yet another mango smoothie, a sprite, and two small canisters of Pringles. 

Just after midday we packed up and biked back to the hotel and went down past Monkey Hill to see the next beach along. There were lots of monkey's beside the road which meant Sarah kept pedaling and did not stop. Past Monkey Hill we found another long beach bay area, a few small shops and another seawall similar to the one in front of our hotel. There was not much activity here just a few locals enjoying the day. Our total ride was 15km so a worthwhile $2.6 each for the bike hire. We are now back at the hotel having a swim, sitting by the pool, and enjoying the Chang's we purchased two days ago.