South of Klong Nin

With our traditional morning beach walk behind us it was scooter time! We are beginning to like touring on this bike. Not the most powerful of the beasts but it gets us up most of the hills. At a whopping 35 km average speed, Al Unser I am not, but we do get around and do get to see the sights. This side of the island definitely exceeds the other side in beautiful panoramic vistas, interesting beaches and quaint villages. A long and windy road (sounds like a song) with a lot of hills making our motor chug as we climbed and then idle as we coasted down the other side. Up one hill there was a pull out with several parked bikes and a pickup truck unloading water. Curious as we are we pulled off and parked. There was a steep path leading down to a secluded beach and a shack made out of drift wood advertising itself as a restaurant, like something from a Robinson Crusoe movie.
We stopped at the turn off to the waterfall and elephant tour. There we noticed the elephant station with a mounting platform and an elephant next to it tethered by a chain around his ankle. He was saddle and ready for customers. There were a group of tourists feeding he elephant pineapple and fruit. Sadly he elephant had a very sore looking open wound on his trunk. On e hill behind the platform was another elephant, with two large tusks, feeding on some long large leaves. He grabbed them in his trunk and then would swing his trunk around mashing the leaves. We assumed it was to break them up so they were easier to eat. A few meters up the road was another elephant, enjoying a bath by his handler with a hose.
We weren't interested in riding an elephant as we have heard a lot of stories about them being mistreated.
Back on the bike and we continued along the road. We came across several very scenic viewpoints, stopping to take pictures. At the end of the road was the gate to the National Park. Here it cost 200 baht per person to enter. Marie asked if we whether or not would be able to see much wildlife. The lady said we might be able to see some monkeys, the Macaques. There is a hiking path which is supposed to take an hour to complete the loop. Earlier, Marie had talked to a gal that did the hike and she said there is virtually no wildlife but the area is quite nice. Being the thermometer was again creeping towards 35 C, we opted to head back to one of the viewpoints for a refreshment.
We pulled into the Noonn Sunset Lounge, a restaurant with three separate gazebos perched upon the side of the cliff over looking the sea. The view was stunning and more! The pictures speak for themselves. A refreshing breeze made it easy to sit and enjoy our lunch. It was so relaxing we were reluctant to leave.
A short distance along the road down the hill were two more restaurants, one with several small bamboo gazebos on the edge of the hill and the other made of rustic wood was itself on the edge. The views were equally as breathtaking as the first.