Synchronicities and decisions
Just had a crazy 28-hr trip from Pai. i took the last seat of a 9am minibus to Chiang Mai. On the bus i met a thai business man who told me about a cheap flight to bangkok he was catching that afternoon. He then got on his mobile phone and organised me a ticket – i was to pay on arrival at the airport. When we arrived at the airport, the ticket was apparently already “paid in cash” – and who am i to argue – so i got on a free flight to bangkok. At the other end this man had his driver take me directly to the train station, he gave me his business card, and that was that. Amazing!
At the train station i walked straight on a sleeper train to Surat Thani, then a bus to the pier, then a 3hr nauseating boat ride to the island of Ko Pha Ngan and finally – finally – i had arrived at 1pm the day after my departure from Pai.
The accommodation places were full or overpriced so i had to drag my pack
from place to place in the full midday sun (hungry, tired, hot, and withdrawing from caffeine – not pretty). i ended up in a cheap bungalow on the sunset side of the island, the water was calm and other islands in view on the horizon as i swam at dusk. Unfortunately the other backpackers were intent on disrupting the peace, one in particular was an aging but threatening sexual menace, so i moved hostels the next day to the sunrise side.
On the way i met two other australian girls, both travelling alone, one from my home suburb of newtown even. We got some amazing bungalows on a private beach, perched on a cliff between two bays, at haad tien.
Today we rented a jeep and went on a bushwacking mission around the island with me in the driver’s seat. We finally found a place to snorkel the coral reefs – which was murky and i saw little more than sand-coloured rocks. We got lost on the way back, it was dark and there were no landmarks. By the time we got to the pier it was too late to get to our bungalows (only accessible by long-boat,
and long-boats stop at 5.30pm, electricity at 10pm, so pretty isolated place).
So we were in the party centre Haad Rin for the night which was a totally
different experience – dvds playing in every cafe – and freely available espresso – a hideous western early twenties farang vibe.
i decided today, after lots of moonlit hammock contemplation, that i am going to stay in thailand for another 3 months or so, and leave europe for sunnier skies next year. this will give me time to do laos, cambodia, vietnam, maybe even india and nepal. so yeah, big decision, but you just gotta go with the flow.
Tags: Thailand
Jyai