Day 14 - An Introduction to Thailand

We bought a ferry/bakkie/bus package deal from our Guesthouse yesterday to get us from the comfort of Zackry's to Trang central bus station in Thailand. The ferry ride over was awesome. We went out onto the deck and sailed with the sea breeze on our cheeks through the famed 99 islands of Langkawi.

At the ferry terminal, we crossed through with ease. We hopped onto our bakkie transfer to the Satun bus station, then waited for about an hour and a half for the bus. Finally the bus arrived and let us on board after some unneccesary faffing. When 'The Fast & The Furious' movie started playing on the TV in front of us shortly after we began our journey; we hoped it wasn't some sort of sign of things to come. We were both filled with dread and excitement. I was sure I had identified the bus conductor as 'The Furious' after the way she herded us onto the bus like dumb cattle. Would the driver be 'The Fast'? Oh Thailand, please be good to us.

Despite our supposed 'fast' driver, the roads were under construction most of the way and I just silently prayed that we'd make it in time to Trang to catch the transfer to the pier for the last boat to Koh Mook at 4 pm. We started our journey at 8 am and we had thought we'd have plenty of time. But after all our delays, we weren't so sure. So I just settled into my seat, put on my iPod, and hoped the music would be a suitable soundtrack to our introduction of Thailand.

A few things amused us along the way; a man boarded our bus with a birdcage housing a beautiful little orange and black bird who chirped cheerfully all the way. I've read that people in Thailand catch birds, put them in cages, and then let tourists pay a few Baht to set them free. It's supposedly good luck. Then later, after the movie ended, the programming moved to a very bad Thai game show with considerably louder music than the movie. This woke the German behind us with a start; he swore loudly in the taal and kicked the chair in front of him. Phil and I had to supress our laughter. I'm pretty sure he felt like an idiot. Oh, the best roadside sighting of the day was an elephant! It was 'parked' in the street between two scooters in front of a mini-mart!

Well, we got to Trang in one piece at about 3 pm and found a travel agent to book tickets to Koh Mook and our first nights' accomodation on the island. At 4 pm, a transfer took us to our boat... a longtail. Our first longtail boat of many in Thailand. It was loud, fairly stable, and seated us and our bags on four planks across the top. I kept thinking that if my bag fell off, there'd be no way it would float or that I would dive in to rescue it! Luckily, we arrived dry and, to be honest, when we caught a glimpse of the beach we were arriving at, it didn't matter anymore!

It is a breath-taking stretch of beach. Small, beautiful, rustic, and certainly charming. This is the life! We hurried to change into our cozzies and swam while the sun was setting behind us. How is it that 2 weeks ago we were spending our days behind desks pushing paper around and now we are doing this!? We are truly blessed.

For dinner, we sampled our very first taste of Thai cuisine. Pad Thai and Thai Red Curry. The only way I can describe the food is to call it fragrant. It smells as amazing as it tastes - sensory overload! After a long day, it was almost theraputic (is that corny?).

Until next time,
Luisa