Behind me the placid turquoise waters of the Gulf of Thailand stretched out to jutting limestone islands and a flotilla of small Thai fishing boats bobbing and chuffing in open water.
In front of me, the fishing boat we had rented for the day was anchored close to a perfect, deserted crescent beach. On shore, my travelling companions, Pon Nong and Pon Wat, and the boat crew had made a cooking fire and were brewing up a stew of fresh mussels we had just bought from another boat in the middle of the gulf.
Below me in the water were giant formations of brain coral, the size of cars, around which I had been snorkelling with an entourage of curious exotic fish.
Above, a cliff face wreathed in jungle foliage and home to thousands of swallows climbed to an enormous, perfect blue sky.
This is a piece of paradise -- the gulf coast and islands of Thailand.
Yet few visitors know it or take the time to savour its beauty and charm. They race through on their way to the delights of Thailand's hot tourist beach towns, Phuket and Krabi, on the other coast, the Andaman Sea side of the peninsula.
I was staying in the middle of nowhere in a magically beautiful hotel called the Away Tusita Chumphon resort near a little fishing village called Pak Tako.
The main resort is a complex of elegant, luxurious suites in huts (for lack of a better word) on stilts. Each air-conditioned suite has a roofed terrace that is essentially an outdoor living room.
Some suites have outdoor bathtubs and rain showers (as well as indoor ones, of course), Jacuzzis and private steam rooms.
Raised wooden walkways wander through gardens, pools and patios, over streams and ponds and past fountains, palm trees and torches to connect the huts with the restaurant, bar, spa and other parts of the resort.
A five-minute walk (or two-minute bike ride) down the road is the resort's community of seaside villas, many with their own pools, just steps from the beach and with an unrivaled view of the island-dotted gulf.
Next to the villas is a strange sight -- an abandoned Buddhist spiritual retreat, a three-storey brick fantasy, like Rapunzel's tower, with an interior stairway built around a once-living tree.
As I wandered through the building, a cow watched me through an open window. I thought it was just curious until I realized its tether was caught on a well cover. I untangled the cow and she meandered away across the scrub ground separating the retreat from the beach.
That's Thailand -- it's just part of an ordinary morning walk to be untangling a cow in an abandoned Buddhist retreat overlooking one of the most beautiful seashores in the world.
Now here's the amazing thing. I was the only guest staying in the main Tusita resort complex and a lovely British couple were the only guests in the seaside villas.
My beautiful suite on stilts cost less than $200 a night; the seaside villas cost about twice as much. You can find fine accommodation for far, far less than that in Thailand, but for the beauty and luxury we enjoyed, it was a bargain.
Next door to the Tusita is a modest -- but still clean and air-conditioned -- hotel run by the same owners as the resort. The cost? About $30 a night. But you'll never find it on the Internet.
You'll have enough trouble finding the Away Tusita Chumphon resort. It's not listed in any guide books or online references I've seen. You will find information if you Google "Away Tusita."
The "Chumphon" part is a little confusing. The resort is in Chumphon province but the city of Chumphon is about a half-hour drive north. Likewise, the city of Surat Thani is about an hour and a half south.
Both of those cities have active nightlife, but nothing like Bangkok or Phuket and Krabi.
If you really want to party on the gulf coast, head out to sea. Really.
The islands of Ko Samui and Ko Pha Ngan just off the coast have incredible beaches and diving, plenty of accommodation in all price ranges, bars of every description, and all the other social amenities you'll need.
Ko Pha Ngan is famous for its Full Moon Party. Every full moon -- roughly once a month, in other words -- the beach at Haad Rin draws 10,000-15,000 people for an all-night (and into the next day as well) party with DJs blasting dance music from one end of the beach to the other.
If that isn't enough or your timing isn't right, there are smaller -- but still wild -- Half Moon and No Moon all-night beach parties throughout the month.
A third island, Ko Tao, is quieter but has some of the best diving in the world.
Back on the mainland, the gulf coast offers surprises around every turn.
On the road south to Surat Thani, Pon Nong discovered that the annual dragon boat races were about to take place in the town of Lang Suan.
Lang Suan is the only place in southern Thailand where dragon boat races are held and it was just a fluke that we happened to be there on the right day in October.
We made our way through the carnival atmosphere of a huge outdoor market to join the crowd lining the banks of a river running through the centre of town.
Dozens of gaudily decorated boats, many with male dancers in comic drag costumes, paraded up and down the river. The boats represented neighbourhoods of Lang Suan, nearby villages, businesses, schools, clubs, even local bars and massage parlours. I never figured out the drag dancers but everyone was having a grand old time.
Then the races started -- heats of two long dugout canoes at a time. Each dragon boat is carved from one giant hopea tree and holds 20-25 paddlers.
Again, the dragon boats represent specific communities, organizations and schools. Tens of thousands along the riverbanks cheered -- for their home teams especially, but for other teams as well. A significant amount of money seemed to change hands at the end of each race.
Some of the larger race teams had giant cheerleader squads in bleachers. My favourite was a local university group of several hundred that did the most incredible syncopated dance and hand jive moves for hours on end.
Back on the road, we stopped at a Buddhist monastery which encourages its monks to overcome their earthly bonds and temptations by painting them. There is some truly strange and amazing erotic art on display, but I didn't really understand the painting of an angry man stomping on a guitar-like instrument.
The monastery also has a life-size wax statue in a glass case of the abbot who founded the sanctuary.
Later that same day we found a monkey school I had been hoping to visit in Klong Sai village. There the monkeys are trained for three months to climb coconut trees and twist the stems of the nuts until they (the coconuts, not the monkeys) break free and drop to the ground.
The monkeys' owners pay the Thai equivalent of about $100 for the training. The monkeys then work in coconut plantations climbing trees for 25-30 years while their owners sit on the ground, collecting coconuts.
It may seem like drudgery, but the monkeys at the training school were happy and, hey, they're in Thailand!
Where are you right now? If you're not on the fabulous, undiscovered gulf coast of Thailand, the monkeys have you beat.
MORE INFORMATION
For travel information, visit the Tourism Authority of Thailand at tourismthailand.org. Here's a direct link to the Away Tusita Chumphon resort website: sawadee.com/hotel/chumphon/tusitaresort.
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