Three White Shirts and a Virgin?
Wednesday, October 24th, 2007Went to Kanchanaburi with Bob and Kate for a day-trip. This town – close to the Burmese border – was where the infamous ‘bridge over the River Kwai’ was constructed during WW2, using tens of thousands of Allied POWs and Asian slave-laborers. I’ve still to see the movie based on this time, but visiting the town and seeing the bridge and surroundings was in itself a good education. There’s a funky, bizarre museum near the bridge, which has lots of photos of the construction effort – and others of historical figures who had nothing whatsoever to do with the bridge, or WW2 for that matter. Inside the museum there was a rendering of George Washington, not too far from a photo of Japanese General/Prime Minister Tojo. Errrr…..OK. Might as well have a photo of Babe Ruth next to one of Kobayashi-san, the recently-dethroned hot dog eating champion. At least both of them liked eating hot dogs…
There were actually two bridges built over the River Kwai – one was wooden and meant for basic small-scale goods transport, the second was metal and built when it was decided to route a railway over the river, between Thailand and Burma. Both were successfully built – at horrific human cost, of course – and both later destroyed by Allied bombing. 
Great photos of all of this, and some decent text explanations as well. A diverting couple of hours…but probably the coolest part of our visit was, after a surprisingly long walk through the non-descript main drag of Kanchanaburi (broken up by a few cold beers), the ‘Thai-Burmese Railway Centre,’ a newish museum built by a New Zealander (I think) who single-handedly got this place built and up and running. This place floored us – full of graphic photos of the prisoners, pieces of the railway itself, personal letters and effects from the dead…a touching elegy for the lost. Bob had a chance to speak to the founder and apparently he’s quite a fellow. The museum looks out over a cemetery 
housing the remains of Allied and Japanese dead from the war. As for the other Asians who perished, well – they seem to have been tossed into unmarked graves and left to rot. If you’re looking for racism against Asians, look no further than the Japanese – they consider themselves a race apart. Then again, the Thais degrade the Burmese, Filipinos get little respect from Chinese, and so forth. Charming.
Got back to Bangkok that night, full of thoughts about what we’d seen. As Bob said during the day, we live in comparatively easy times – we just can’t imagine the horrors that were commonplace 60 years ago. Anyone who bellyaches about terrorism and al-Qaeda is someone to get far away from – these folks can always find something to wind them up. Be thankful that you’re not working on a bridge in the jungle with a gun pointed at you…
Noticed that several items of clothing were coming apart. Had seen a woman on Soi Rangnam with a sewing machine, working away. Took my stuff down to her – she got to work straightaway and in 10 minutes had repaired all my stuff. She asked for 30 baht – less than a buck. I gave her 50 baht and told her to keep the change. I’d gladly have given her 100 baht, but doing that sort of thing upsets the natural order of things…I’d hate to have her start visibly elevating foreigners over locals and raising her prices out of proportion with the norm. Also, I’m a cheap bastard, and I had a 50 baht note in my pocket. You can decide the reality here, dear readers…
I’ve previously written of my stomach and its powerful desire for specific types of food at different times. Now I felt like a big, American-style salad – I’d had plenty of spicy Thai som tam (papaya salad), which is lovely but I needed some crunchy lettuce right now. Recalled that I’d once visited a Sizzler restaurant in Chiang Mai – found out from Bob that there’s a Sizzler in Bangkok, near Siam Paragon mall. Went there and gorged. Sizzler is well-known for its massive salad bar, and there’s a buffet special day and night. I generally fear buffets – I have little self-control and can hardly walk after the usual lunch buffet – but Sizzler’s is a good deal and you’d be hard-pressed to feel awful even after eating a few plates of salad. That said, it’s not a low-cal affair and I got my money’s worth. As usual…
Friday was looming. On Friday I’d get my passport back, with Indian visa, and then I’d have a few days free before flying to India. What to do, where to go? A rare bit of indecision for me. It was good, actually – I do tend to be too organized and map things out too far ahead. But with visas and such, you sort of need to stay on top of things…now, I was free and clear with visas and could be fairly random. I’d told Bob about my Chiang Mai northwest loop trip in 2006, and that intrigued him…he made up his mind to do the loop, and invited me to join he and Kate. I thought hard about it –
would not have minded reprising that trip at all – but finally decided to check out some new places, as I’ve written before I’ve always short-changed Thailand in favor of other countries like Burma. So got online and booked a flight down south to Krabi, gateway to places like Koh Phi-Phi and Railay Beach. And felt good about my choice, even before heading down there.
Went out with Bob that night (Wednesday) for a burger. We weren’t too sure where to go, so consulted the Lonely Bible and read about a place called Larry’s Bar, off Sukhumvit Road – sounded solid. Went there – the place had a Hawaiian theme, and specialized in American and Mexican food. Perfect. Split a plate of decent nachos, then Bob had a large juicy burger – I decided to go for the reuben, largely because I’ve only had one other reuben in Asia – at a Jewish deli in Hong Kong. We were both happy with our food – sometimes we Westerners need to feed our face with solid matter like a burger.
After dinner, we went over to Nana Plaza, a collection of seedy girlie bars. I’d only been there once, years ago, and was curious to see how it stacked up against Soi Cowboy and Patpong. Turned out the Nana Plaza was a place full of sound and fury, but not much else. Perhaps the most interesting and odd aspect of Nana was the floor full of ladyboy bars upstairs – Bob picked up his pace smartly as we walked right by these places in search of ‘normal’ bars. There was really only one good bar in Nana, started there and soon returned to it. And then went home at a semi-decent hour to get some rest – I was visiting the old capital city of Ayutthaya all the next day.
Ayutthaya was the capital of the Siamese/Thai people from the 14th-18th centuries – more than 350 years. Rather impressive span. This city, on an island at the confluence of 3 rivers (including the mighty Chao Phraya, which flows down to Bangkok and beyond), was a glittering place that attracted foreign traders, many of whom settled there. But in 1767 the city was attacked, defeated, and razed by the Burmese – an episode which the Thais still seem to hold against their neighbors. Fair enough. The history of Ayutthaya did make me think that the US isn’t out of the water yet, given our recent gaffes. We’re only 230 years old, after all.
I had once seen Ayutthaya, in a sense. I had a business conference in Bangkok years ago, and one evening we all had an after-work dinner cruise up the Chao Phraya, as far as Ayutthaya. From the river you can see several impressive, lighted wats – a good number survived the Burmese pillaging and are major tourist attractions today. But that night I had to schmooze (brown-nose) clients and didn’t have much time to look and gawk at the temples.
Took a minivan from Bangkok’s Victory Monument (commemorating which victory, no one seems to know) to Ayutthaya. Got off, was immediately approached by a tuktuk driver offering a tour around the (dispersed) temples for 200 baht/hour. That sounded pricey – I had only paid 60 to get up to Ayutthaya. So I asked him to take me to the Tourist Center, where I’d get more of a clue. To be honest, I’ve been lazy the past few weeks (well, lazy for me, anyway) and hadn’t done much homework about the layout of the city and how to get around to see everything in a day. So I bought some time and got him to drive me to the Tourist Center. He waited there…I went inside…the woman there had a good map, and showed me that many of the temples were nearby and could be visited by walking for a few hours. Sold. Went out and sent the driver away – he wasn’t happy, but I gave him more than enough for the ride and told him my plan. Plus, the Tourist Center had a couple small museums attached and I wanted to spend time there.
One of these museums – really, a couple rooms – was a history museum, and had some brilliant depictions of what Ayutthaya must have looked like, from some old sketchings done by foreign traders. It must have been an incredible place – full of golden temples, tall palaces, and unceasing commerce. And now it’s almost all gone. There was a photo taken by airplane/copter of the city island today – a few temples left, and the ‘new city’ which has come up all round them is quite modest. Kind of sad – this island once was a major world center, with a population (and wealth) exceeding London’s – and now it’s a dusty ghost surviving largely on tourism and what seems to be an unending stretch of motorcycle and car repair shops. In any event, I was happy I’d spent some time in this building…gave me a perspective that I wouldn’t have had gained from simply walking around and looking at temples (or from reading Lonely Planet, for that matter).
Let’s try this – here are two pics, first is artist’s depiction of old Ayutthaya, second is the aerial photo of island today. Should at least show some contrasts:
Went to a nearby museum whose names eludes me. Excellent collection of stuff found in the temples. One tiny statue of Buddha was labeled ‘Excavated in 1992 near Mrs. Puchee house.’ The statue was about 500 years old…imagine excavating that from your house’s front lawn. There was a huge map showing how Indian culture spread from Mother India to Southeast Asia – many civilizations owed their foundations to India, including Bagan, Angkor, Ayutthaya (name comes from the Sanskrit Ayodhya, meaning ‘invincible’ or something along those lines), and Borobodur in Java. I hadn’t ever seen a map like that – helped me understand the backgrounds of some of these cultures.
Looking at the dates on the map, I realized that Ayutthaya fell less than 10 years before the start of the American Revolution. Doesn’t pay to be too self-centered – even if you’ve got a lot going on, so does everyone else…
The museum also had a room and displays focused on excavations at one of the nearby temples, Wat Mahathat, back in the 1950s. Apparently one of the pillars at this temple fell, and the Department of Fine Arts was given the green light by the military government to excavate and save precious items before looters stole ‘em. They excavated quite deep, and found a reliquary – this turned out to have 7 layers, and inside the innermost was a Buddha relic, one-third the size of a grain of rice. Wow. This temple was originally dedicated to the idea that this relic was on temple grounds – but that was a long time ago and authorities were apparently amazed that they were able to find the relic. Of course, something that small is pretty hard to feel confident about – I really wonder what might be one-third the size of a rice grain? Not even a fingernail clipping would be that small. But what the hell – it’s still a fantastic story and good for them.
Later on, I visited that very temple and saw this story spelled out again. And as I walked around, I saw a local sharpening his machete on the wat steps – saved him a trip to the local blacksmith, I guess. It’s fine and well to treat your antiquities with kid gloves…but life also goes on and integrating ruins with modern life is OK with me.
Two Thai men going opposite ways bumped into each other in a crowded walkway. One was slightly more at fault – really wasn’t watching where he was going. They both immediately faced each others and gave the ‘wai’ (hands pressed together in gesture of friendliness). That floored me…in the West there would often be some mean looks and threats exchanged, or at the very least a quick ‘sorry’ and ‘no problem.’ There’s something classy and assuring about Asian gestures – wai, bowing, etc.
Good day in Ayutthaya – spent 5-6 hours walking around in the hot sun, seeing most of the key temples and museums. Then hopped on a tuktuk for an hour to see a few outlying wats, before heading to the minivan station for the ride back to Bangkok. Learned quite a bit that day…and took some photos of the city and temples, here are a bunch of the better ones for your perusal:
Next day, did some errands, checked out of Starry Place, and headed to the old airport (Don Meuang) to fly to Krabi. Was taking Nok Air, one of the newish discount carriers. Got to the departures hall – didn’t see my flight on the departures screen. Went to the checkin desk – and saw a sign stating that my flight was delayed nearly 2.5 hours. Ugh. Complained about not getting an email – got a ‘wai’ and apology from the clerk. That was semi-disarming…checked in and decided to make some much-needed progress on the Salman Rushdie book ‘Midnight’s Children’ that I’d been reading for a while, and needed to get through soon.
Cranked through 150 or so pages while waiting for my flight. Wanted to give the book to Bob before leaving Thailand, so just had a few days to finish it. Was able to re-engage with the book…there was a 2-week period where I had to get through a bunch of magazines sent from the States, so was away from the book then and needed to get back into it. I expect that most of you have not read this book – I urge you to do so. It has to be one of the most intricate and exquisite novels I’ve read…absolutely astonishing, and I shy away from superlatives these days, having read some excellent works and having a pretty high bar. Rushie weaves a magical plot about India’s independence and the following decades through the eyes of the protagonist, a highly engaging and random character who evolves along with the nation (he was born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947 – precisely the moment India gained its independence) and, in his eyes, drives the changes in India through his will and extra-sensory powers. He raises so many seemingly independent themes, then weaves them all together seamlessly as the story unfolds…reminded me of the better comedians (and writers), who all have a theme or message that they may seem to stray from momentarily, but always return home to.
It’s surprising what you can find in a hotel drawer. That’s where I found this book, in the Spring Hotel in Hanoi. I was looking for something to read, noticed this, decided to give it a go, and am pleased I did. I need to be more open to these random bits of life…I’ve gotten much better, but still seem to prefer to create my own reading list, or at least get consumed by all the magazines and books I already have at hand (or in the States). Anyway, I’ve worked my way through most of those, and soon I’ll be in Goa for a few months, and won’t need to worry about lugging reading material around (that is a major consideration).
Reading Midnight’s Children helped me prepare for another plunge into India – I head there in a few days. The book provided a unique look at the thirty years after independence, and insight into the daily lives of Indians – much of which I’ve seen, but it doesn’t hurt to go back over some of the same ground.
Finally got on the flight and flew to Krabi. Read the Bagkok Post en route…was immersed in an article about a scientific study that drew analogies between people’s craving for money and drug addicts’ craving for cocaine. Apparently the brain gives off similar signals and patterns when people learn they’re about to receive a sum of cash and when drug users are about to ingest cocaine. That explains a lot. We must be hard-wired (or at least fully socialized when young) to want/need money. I’ve often spoken against raw greed and money-grubbing, particularly amongst those who have enough to eat and a place to live…but perhaps now I’ll be a bit more generous of spirit and understanding, given the likely biological drivers at play. At least I’ll realize that I’m often hypocritical when it comes to money – after all, I spend plenty of my time thinking through my portfolio and how to grow it, it’s not like I’m above this fray by any means.
Went out that night in Krabi. Nice little city, a few places to go at night. One is a ‘coffee shop’ at the Thai Hotel – basically, a small nightclub with scantily clad singers. If you like one of them, you buy garlands of flowers to place around their neck. Presumably, you can then negotiate to put further things around (and in) them. Reminded me of the Rangoon ‘fashion shows’ which also featured these sorts of garlands. Very Asian…
Hit a couple discos – first, O2. Got a Beer Chang, watched sweaty bodies heaving on the dance floor. Two Thai guys invited me to hang out at their table – I accepted and we talked a bit. The dance remix of “If You’re Going to San Francisco” came on…I think the original was by the Mamas and Papas? I recalled being in Manila and watching bartender Goldie at Ciboney Bar fling bottles around to this song…he was probably the best I’ve ever seen at doing the ‘Cocktail’ (movie) acrobatics with glassware…
I didn’t hang out long…I sensed that the two lads wanted me to buy them (pricey) beers and I wasn’t in the mood. Then went to Crazy Disco – more of a bar, but pleasant enough. Talked to some Thais there too – a small group wanted to practice their English and I obliged, picking up some Thai words in the process. Went to the toilet – asked a guy hanging around where it was. He pointed me towards the back, then followed me. Didn’t think much of it, till he came up behind me and started massaging my shoulders. Ugh…forgot about this, the Asian bathroom attendant thing. And this guy was brutal with the shoulder massage, it hurt so much that I couldn’t piss. I quickly waved him off (with one hand, natch) and then peed in peace. Gave him 10 baht on the way out. Moral: be careful who you ask directions from.
We shared some Sang Som whiskey until the closing bell, then all went for some kuay tiaw (noodle soup) nearby. Nice group of people.
Next morning took a boat to Koh Phi-Phi Don (island). Ninety minute boat ride – stayed up top and took a few photos, some nice karst limestone islets but not as impressive as those at El Nido or Halong Bay. I do feel I’ve seen the karst highlights of the world this trip…and must say that El Nido takes the cake. The issue with El Nido is that it’s not easy to get there…and the tourism infrastructure is about 5% of what Thailand offers. But sometimes that’s precisely what you’re looking for, and I enjoyed my time in El Nido.
Koh Phi-Phi was heavily damaged by the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami, but has been almost completely recuilt. As Adrian from Barakuda Divers told me, a huge wave came in at one side of the skinny waist of the island (right in the commercial center), and then another came from the backside, all within 30 seconds. The place was devastated, and 1500 people died.
You wouldn’t know that from a look around…the tourist strip is seriously developed, reminded me of a smaller Boracay. If you go off the beaten path, you do see some rubble and trash, but wasn’t sure how much of that was from the tsunami and how much was the usual rubbish.
I’d heard about Koh Phi-Phi over the years…the adjacent island (Koh Phi-Phi Leh) has the famous Maya Beach, the setting of the Leonardo DiCaprio ‘The Island’. I finally saw this movie at a bar my second night on the island. It was alright…if you’ve been traveling for a while the movie seems off-base and weird. Anyway, the diving around Phi-Phi is excellent, I’d always wanted to try it and I spent my second afternoon out with Barakuda Divers doing a couple dives, one right near Maya Beach.
Lots of macro life in the waters there. Saw a sleeping leopard shark, about 5-6 feet long. Saw 4 stunning cuttlefish, squidlike, propelling themselves around in a playful manner. And saw 4 giant turtles, one nicknamed ‘Stumpy’ because it lacks a flipper – must have gotten munched by a shark or something nasty. Beautiful blue waters…nice and warm…and my air lasted nearly an hour both dives. Great, great afternoon. Divemaster was a good guy from Switzerland…and the only other diver was a German guy who’s also done a lot of diving in the Philippines. Shared stories of Apo Island and other spots. We ran into each other a couple days later on the mainland – he was heading for more dive spots around Ao Nang Beach.
Here are my dive buddies:
And a shot of Maya Beach, made famous by the movie The Island – very secluded and peaceful, even with mobs of tourists trying to get there:
The Rugby World Cup final between England and South Africa was on at 2 a.m. the first night I was on Koh Phi Phi. Loads of rugby-heads were gearing up. I have sometimes deplored the species of English sports fan that descends on Thailand, bringing with them all the ‘comforts’ of home – drunken mayhem, violence, tattoos abounding, huge guts, shaved heads, you name it. On a similar note, I’ve also written at length about my disdain for travelers who hang out watching Friends re-runs in Lao cafes. I suppose I shouldn’t be so hard on these folks…after all, they are getting out there and seeing the world, perhaps not as I’d do it, but they’re at least a work-in-progress. And I suppose that many people travel as much to flee as to find…which is tragic in a sense, but it’s good to have that door open as well. And whether you travel to find or to flee, it’s not bad to be able to take the good bits of home with you – sports, your favorite food (which is hopefully not banana pancakes…), clothing, TV shows, etc. ‘Nuff said.
One reason I didn’t want to stay up to watch the match – I do actually enjoy rugby, from my time in South Africa – is that Game 6 of the Red Sox-Indians baseball series was on at 7 a.m., and that I did plan to watch. Got up early, went over to the Sports Bar, where they have ESPN, and watched Curt Schilling and the boys beat up on the Indians, evening the series at 3 games apiece. Maligned right-fielder JD Drew hit a first inning grand slam, and the game was never close. Even reliever Gagne, who has been awful since we acquired him a couple months ago, pitched an alright 9th inning. Given that the Sox were down 3-1 at one point, I was jazzed…it was now a one-game series and we were playing in Boston. The Comeback Kids (nee the Idiots) were on the verge of another World Series and I didn’t want to miss a thing…
Game 7 was the following morning, same time. Didn’t drink much, and tried to get some sleep so I could again wake early. I did visit Carpe Diem bar, where I had a couple beers and danced with some fun Japanese girls who were clearly relieved to be away from their country/families and were letting their hair down. Things did get a bit hectic when the DJ put on his Whitesnake disc, but I took off soon after to get a bit of rest. Good thing I did – Dad and Ellen phoned me at 6:30 a.m., just to chat. I believe it was the first time they called my mobilephone in over a year, although in their defense I believe they tried one or two times in the past. My alarm was set for 7, so it all came together. Watched the first 3 innings on my laptop – there was a wireless signal, and I have the pay-per-view baseball package. Then, in inning 4, the signal dropped off. I got dressed and ran over to the internet café, where I watched the rest of the game – the Sports Bar was too far to walk, I’d lose an inning for sure.
Our starting pitcher, Matsuzaka, pitched a solid 5 innings. I was nervous, given his mediocre recent performances, but he held up in Game 7. Manager Francona removed him at the right time, and put in another Japanese pitcher, Okajima, who has been superb all year and again this game. He pitched two good innings, turning the ball over to closer Papelbon who finished the game. We got plenty of offense, mostly late in the game, from the top of the order – diminutive second baseman Pedroia hit a shocking homer, driving a dagger into the Indians’ hearts, and then we got a few more runs from various sources. Final score: Boston 11, Cleveland 2. Bring on the Rockies in the World Series, baby!
My movements have served me pretty well with regard to the baseball. I was near a TV or internet café for most of the recent series vs. Cleveland…I will be back in Bangkok in front of an ESPN-equipped TV for the first two games of the World Series…then I’ll figure something out in India once there. I don’t plan to miss a thing…
That afternoon I took a ferry over to Railay Beach, a place I’ve long wanted to visit. 
It’s a peninsula with some beautiful beaches and limestone cliffs – good for rock-climbing. I was more in the mood to do some swimming and relaxing, so didn’t book any activities. And I was glad about that, because after getting off the boat in West Railay Beach, I had to march a ways over to East Railay Beach, where the accoms are more reasonable and there’s more of a backpacker vibe. With a heavy pack on my back, and the sun blazing, it felt like a couple miles, but now I know it was probably just a km or so. I had spent a lot on my hotel on Phi Phi and wanted to get back to basics now that I was on the mainland. Islands tend to be rip-offs and the Thais are now quite experienced at fleecing tourists…
Found a good room in East Railay. There’s no beach in this section of the peninsula, it’s a swampy mud flat that’s not easy on the eyes. Sun was setting – took my Petzl headlamp and a few baht and went out to see the area. Ended up walking past the East Railay strip, and entered a winding path along a limestone cliff. Asked a passing tourist where the path led – he answered ‘the best beach around here.’ That was enough for me – I was wearing my swimmers and walked on. After 5 minutes I emerged on a lovely beach – to the left was the cliff, to the right a long sandy strip, 
and behind part of it was an expensive resort called Rayavadee or something like that. Put my stuff down, kicked off my Tevas, and went for a swim. The water was bathwater temperature, a la Goa, and I swam around for a good half-hour, happy to be in the drink and watching the lit-up cliffs (the Thais know how to showcase their assets – whereas in the Philippines it would have been pitch black) in wonder. Good to finally make it down to Railay…
After that, walked over to the ‘highlands’ part of Railay, where there’s a nice little spot called Stone Bar. Had a couple beers there, wandered back to my hotel to take a shower, then went out to get some dinner and another drink or three.
Wandered over to West Railay, where I had gotten off the boat. Had a plate of pad thai at a café there, a couple Beer Changs, and finally walked back to East Railay for a nightcap and sleep. The walk felt like nothing now – must remember to try to lighten my pack soon, probably too many books in there…
Had a couple more beers at Reggae Bar, there was a very good band playing and a good mix of local and farang customers. Railay is a small place, and it seems many of the local hotel and restaurant workers stay in the hotels too – so they’re around at night to party. Chatted with some nice people, listened to some Bob Marley and a few original songs, then called it a night. Didn’t have any plans next day besides sampling the various beaches – was running out of steam from all the travel and wanted to take it easy.
Got up the next morning and read a few pages of Midnight’s Children. The further I got into the book, and the closer to the end, the more I enjoyed it. Took a while for all the plot elements and characters to synthesize, but Rushdie did it masterfully and I think I’ll be compelled to pick up his other books while in India. He’s one of the best writers I’ve had the fortune to come across…
At one point I was thinking through the contents of my pack, specifically my wardrobe (if you want to call it that). I realized I hadn’t seen a couple of my nicer shirts in a few days…and I had just done some laundry on Phi Phi (the hotel did it). I wondered if I had left the items with Bob in Bangkok…nah, I wouldn’t have left those with him. I looked in my dirty laundry bag, but it was nearly empty. Hmmm…where the fuck are those two shirts? I realized they must have gotten lost during laundry on Phi Phi – shit. I don’t have many shirts that qualify as ‘smart’ and these were perhaps the top two. I went down to my hotel’s reception desk and tried to get some help in phoning the hotel back on Phi Phi.
The clerk was willing to help – she asked me for the hotel’s telephone #, which I went and got at the nearby web café. She tried to call – didn’t work. She looked through some hotel brochures and tried another # – still no luck. Now she was stumped…and I was frustrated, probably visibly so. Here I was, no longer on Phi Phi and without proper information (or much leverage), trying to contact someone at my fairly expensive hotel on Phi Phi – you would have thought they’d have working telephones there. I thanked the clerk, and walked 10 feet to the hotel’s travel desk, where the clerk was able to connect with the Phi Phi hotel. But the people on Phi Phi were not that helpful – couldn’t find the shirts, they said. I told them I was certain they were still there – still, nothing. I asked when the manager would be available – 1 p.m., I was told. Fine, I said, and hung up.
I was aggravated – but tried to maintain composure in front of the hotel staff, it’s very uncool to lose your cool. But I felt like lashing out at the dorks on Phi Phi who had single-handedly halved my inventory of shirts, so I sent a complaint email to Lonely Planet and copied the hotel on it. There – that would show them. I had forgotten my own preference for treating revenge as a dish best eaten cold – would it come back to haunt me?
I then parked the issue and walked over to the beautiful beach around the bend for a swim. Stayed there for a couple hours – completely tranquil. Thankfully I’m able to compartmentalize and enjoy myself even when stupid problems arise. But I’m still a corporate type at heart – I’ve got the problem listed and an action plan at the ready. And so at 2 p.m. I rang the Phi Phi hotel again, asked for the manager, and got a fellow who seemed competent and fluent in English. Bingo. Asked him about the shirts…he checked right away, and said he had 3 white shirts there. I described the two I knew were there, he had ‘em…and he also had a Nike singlet, at which point I realized that had been lost too. Whew. I thanked him and asked him to put the shirts on the 3:30 p.m. ferry to Railay. He said sure and that was that.
Or so I thought. I planned to meet the ferry when it pulled in Railay…but an hour beforehand, the manager called me back (thankfully I had a mobile) and told me the seas were too rough, and that the ferry would only be stopping in Ao Nang, some ways off. Ugh. I went to see if there was any way I could get to Ao Nang – there was a longtail boat leaving in 15 minutes, which would stop before Ao Nang, necessitating a songthaew (small bus) ride after that. Annoying, but doable. I started to buy a boat ticket, then heard someone saying that they’d be willing to come along with me. It was the hotel clerk from the morning, the one whom I thought despised me. Anyway…she seemed keen to go for an adventure, and I (while a bit surprised) was happy to have a Thai along with me to smooth the waters. Bought two tickets and set off.
Boat ride was fine…took a few photos, 
got to the stop and waited for the songthaew. That came along after 15 minutes. It took us through Ao Nang town – which was a place I wanted to see, but seemingly didn’t have time this trip, until the case of the missing shirts forced it upon me. Silver lining, methinks. Songthaew took us all the way to the ferry station, and there we waited for the ferry (docked out at sea) to disgorge multitudes of longtails to shore.
We waited there for a while, but it wasn’t bad at all. My new friend was funny and personable (and cute)…the islands and cliffs nearby were quite dramatic…and the fresh sea breeze was positively medicinal. Eventually the final longtail came on shore, and a woman from the ferry company walked over bearing a plastic bag with my 3 lost and now found shirts. Hallelujah!
My friend and I headed back to town, stopping for some pad thai along the way. I had to give her something for her troubles…although it did seem she was just happy to get out of Railay and have some fun. I made fun of nearby tourists with English and Australian accents – I’ve found that Thais have a tough time with those accents, as opposed to the flat American version. She had a good sense of humor – and I was still surprised that she didn’t hate me for my morning semi-tirade. It’s funny…between the morning episode and our 4 p.m. expedition to Ao Nang, I had walked by the front desk 2-3 times, each time feeling the glances of the desk staff and feeling sheepish. I had thought they were giving me the evil eye…and perhaps they were, but in retrospect probably not. They were either feeling sorry for me, or something else.
After eating we walked over to the boat station, in some light rain, and got on a longtail back to Railay. We passed by a couple bays/beaches en route – the one right before West Railay was absolutely stunning, I had never heard of it but there’s a hotel there called Central Hotel and the bay is at least informally known as Central Beach. The reason it’s stunning is that the cliffs are lit at night – it’s like Journey to the Center of the Earth, you really feel like you’re in a massive cavern, the roof of which is too far away to be properly seen. Everyone should experience the feeling of pulling into this bay at night.
Next beach was Railay West – also quite nice, but far less awesome. Got off and walked back to East Railay, taking a ‘secret path’ that my friend knew of. Reached our hotel…she went off to shower and I grabbed a beer and kicked back to plow through more of the Rushdie novel. Fell asleep for an hour…the book was far from boring but I was knackered from the 4-hour journey to fetch the shirts. And I had been talking to my friend incessantly, and that was a bit of a change for me and apparently tiring as well.
Woke up…went to get some food nearby. Ate some khao phat gai (chicken fried rice). Checked email – was pleased to see that the email I’d sent to Lonely Planet blasting the Phi Phi hotel had gotten bounced back from the hotel’s supposed email address (which I got off the hotel’s website). Classic – a hotel which you can hardly phone or email. Anyway, I had gotten my stuff back and my hard feelings were dissipating. We’ll see if Lonely Planet gets back to me – if they do, I will probably tone down or even withdraw my complaint…
Walked over to Reggae Bar for a couple beers. I had to get up early the next morning to head back to Bangkok, so wasn’t planning on a huge night.
But fate will intervene from time to time…I saw my friend at the bar, bought her a drink, bought myself one too, repeated that cycle a few (too many) times. Other hotel staffers were there, as well as the band from the previous night. Lots of shots going round…and a funny mix of Thai and English. I caught enough of it to have some laughs.
Finally pressed ‘abort’ and headed back to my room. It was 2 a.m. and I had to get up at 7. Ugh. And my stuff was all over the room, I had washed off my pack the day before and had been letting it dry completely before re-packing. Laid down and fell asleep quickly…until there was a knock at the door. Uh-oh. Made it to the door – opened it – guess who – my new friend, appropriately drunk and not sleepy. Be careful befriending hotel staff…they know your room number. I let her in…we exchanged pleasantries of a sort…I had one beer in the fridge so we split that. And the next thing I knew, I was waking up, exhausted, solo – then packing my bags, checking out (she was at the front desk, winking at me), and hopping on yet another longtail to the next cove. Got to the airport in a cab, all the while pondering the capricious nature of the previous day’s events. To borrow from the style of Salman Rushdie, here’s a recap:
A man awoke in a small room. He went for his clothes, but found them gone. Cursing, he spent hours trying to find them; he would later find that, in finding lost clothes, other things are also found. And, some time later, did other clothes go missing too? What could be more natural?
People – go get your copy of Midnight’s Children. You’ll see what I mean. If you don’t, I’ll send this evil mannequin to come get you.
Go Red Sox!
Over and out.
mbsloney