What to do when luck runs out......

Airports are distracting. To avoid interruption of the sheep herding phenomenon, airports should be altered into concrete blocks consisting of no frills, fancies, or inflated monetary amusement. Case in point: when I should have been sprinting across the main terminal to retrieve my battered luggage from carousal number 2, I was cleverly tricked into trying on hot pink eye shadow, spritzing myself with free Dior perfume and sampling the three new flavors of Bailey's from the duty free counters. Those product placement marketers have been ingeniously trained! Therefore, it was almost a full hour later (while browsing through the Disneyland of Cadbury Chocolates) when I remember that I was indeed flying to Thailand that afternoon and should probably inquire about the check-in procedures. Now, although the availability of purple lip gloss and free martinis are quite easy to come by in Singapore Airport, any information on taking a “budget” flight requires the training of an FBI investigator. Thus, after a kiss goodbye to my China travel buddy, I set out to accomplish this feat.


Upon my directional inquiry, the posh, heavily massacred lady at the Information counter lowered her voice and sympathetically whispered, "it's in the discount airline terminal honey.” She quickly rattled off some directions but her gibberish failed to stick to that important part of my sleep deprived brain. I had to kindly ask her to repeat them...twice. Correct me if I'm wrong but they went something like this. Follow the yellow signs through terminal B to terminal D26 where you need to pick up your luggage. Come back to Assembly Point J21 and follow the red signs - and the swirly pink ones too - through the tunnel and past our State Maximum Security Prison to the escalators. But don't take the escalators. Take the blue marked elevator to the 4th floor and then follow the arrows in the dark basement to the shuttle bus stop. Ask the janitor, whose name is Al by the way, which bus to take. Get off at Location 888, climb the fence and wade through the service drainage pit to the Budget Terminal. You can't miss it!" They don't make it easy for us budget flyers do they?

To follow the above directions included stepping outside of the comfortable, jumper required temperature and into the sweltering humidity of lovely outdoor Singapore. As I was still dressed in "the layered look" from an early morning start in Shanghai, my body had a bit of a shock with experiencing warmth for the first time in two months. Apparently, my post flight, China mattress impaired back was not quick enough to hurdle through the Great Race obstacle course and I had just pulled my luggage the door when the Budget Terminal Shuttle service bus rushed past me, leaving me in a mess of sweaty dust and blatant curses. Then it didn't show up for 30 minutes and I couldn't find Al (if he ever existed)......so I lugged my bags upstairs once again (because we discount passengers don't have access to the luggage trolleys) and asked the front desk if they could alert the bus driver that I was waiting there and ready to go, just in case - you know- if they wanted to slow down long enough for me to toss my bags on and jump in. To all you other budget travellers out there, I share your pain!

Back in Thailand again!!

An hour later and we were taxiing into Krabi airport. Palm trees, beaches, and balmy weather!! Immigration was a bit slow and we waited patiently as they inspected the passports, inspected the passenger, and then inspected the passports again. This had to be the most efficient airport arrival that I had ever experienced. Too bad that the city wasn't as efficient with their public transportation. I was soon through customs and found myself wandering across the black tarmac of the airport parking lot, fuming at the fact that the only way I could get to town was to take a 350 Baht taxi. I disagreed and decided to find my own way to town which was why I found myself standing on the side of the road in the middle of the night. My stubbornness gets me into sticky situations sometimes!! Luckily, a truck pulled up and, low and behold, it was the very same immigration officials that had inspected my passport so intently twenty minutes before. Free rides are every backpackers dream come true. Thanks guys!!

Krabi, a small little town on the west coast of Southern Thailand, is a pleasant haven to spend a couple of days. There are plenty of neighboring beaches for daytime laziness and cheap accommodation for the night. I had been looking forward to the beaches ever since my first blistery cold morning in Beijing. Little did I realize that half of the northern hemisphere felt the same way, which explained the billions of blonde children running around, many without clothes on. Basked out on the beach all day, these families had more supplies with them than Columbus brought to the Americas.....striped beach chairs, baskets full of food and magazines, balls for every type of sport imaginable, enormous blankets, umbrellas, toys suitable for ages 3-19 yrs, CD players, cameras, etc. Whatever happened to an easy day at the beach reading the latest Grisham novel?

My room was a bit on the funny side too. Not funny ha-ha, but funny in the way that I ask myself why I was paying $12 a night for a room that smelled like mothballs. My "beachside bungalow" resembled an unloved basement. You know the type. The ones that smell odd and have a stream of water running diagonally through the room whose source of origin remains unknown. There was even somebody's discarded laundry in the corner!! I had about two days putting up with the over packed, noisy, and anything but relaxing beaches of Aou Nang and decided to head off the tourist trail for a couple of days. Some girls in my guesthouse decided to join me for a weekend of bicycling and camping along the western coast. At that point, it sounded like a splendid idea and we set off to rent some bikes.

Off roading with a ten speed

"You want cheap cheap or not so cheap?" grinned the toothless, weathered gentlemen at the corner stall. A dilapidated, faded sign boasting "Gode, Reid Bikes!! Many bikes for U!!" rested against his rickety wooden stool and the ground was littered with hundreds of discarded cigarettes buts. He had been there a long time waiting for someone wanting a "gode" bicycle when we came across the elderly chap.

Apparently, the not so cheap variety of rusty ten speeds had "sometimes brakes and sometimes not brakes." I opted for the brakes this time in hopes that I wouldn't find myself careening wildly into the path of an ambitious bus driver. (and the bikes were not reid or red as was so cleverly advertised but lacking any paint at all). We rented tents, packed overnight packs, stocked up on munchies and discovered a crudely drawn map stuck to the wall of a backpacker’s cafe down the street. It highlighted trails leading inward towards the jungle and seemed to be a resourceful guide to campsites along the way.

Sam, Manda and I set off with enthusiasm and spent a wonderful, mosquito filled three days cycling in and out of the jungles, splashing in fresh water pools and laughing at the village kids who weaved in front of our path. Our tent had holes and there was a lot of canned food to eat. Somewhere during the third day of happy go lucky sight-seeing and tuneless whistling, our inspiring off the beaten path trail ride took a wrong turn - literally. Unfortunately, the red marker scribblings that looked so promising in Krabi town now resembled a kindergartener’s cheerful attempt at Picasso. No, we weren’t stranded in the middle of nowhere. We just didn’t quite know where we were. A little village was lurking just through the jungle overgrowth to the right or the left or straight in front of us.

Problems rose when we realized that it getting dark and we were without a safe place to pitch our tent. According to Billy’s A+ artwork we should have been tucked away sweetly in a beachside campsite, eyeing the sky to catch the next falling star. Instead, we were surrounded by thick foliage and an enthusiastic social gathering of buzzing mosquitoes - not an ideal spot for a luxurious night’s accommodation. Luckily, before too much mental damage incurred and we were forced to perform our own season premier of “Lost”, we managed to hitch a ride in the back of a lone pick-up truck. Three bicycles, three filthy girls, two slobbering dogs, five near naked children, one UB40 loving driver ……and a partridge in a pear tree. As it turned out, we were miles away from our destination so we were invited to stay with our driver’s family. After a beautiful dinner, cooked by the missus of the house, the kids decided that a slumber party would be a fun ending to the evening (we didn’t get much say in this subject). They slept outside of the tent and kept us up all night with their giggles, constant questions and endless chatter. Unlike the tired bicyclers, they rose bright and early with the sunshine.

We bid adios to our adopted family and headed back to Krabi town to prepare for Christmas celebrations. Again, we must have risen on the wrong side of the sleeping bags for we were a bit accident prone that day. Several miles down the road, not one, but two, of the bicycles broke within thirty feet of one another. I like to think that I’m an handy sort of girl as I do indeed know the difference between a crescent wrench and a hammer. However, I had no idea how to solve this conundrum so we were left to push our trusty gadgets along the road until help came along……and it certainly did!! A group of young (and incredibly fit) rock climbers happened to drive along the offroad path on their way to the cliffs by the shore. They offered us a ride and backtracked to drop us off by a dusty petrol station where the owner claimed he could “no problem” fix our bikes.

He couldn’t…..at least for several hours so we were left to amuse ourselves at the nearby furniture shop, smack dab in the middle of nowhere. There, we were inundated with offers for quality, homemade woodwork. For about four hours, the poor handyman tried on his best sales skills and charm. However, though I very much admired his ten ton, polished benches and appreciated the fact that I could have the same seating arrangement in either cherry or maple stain, I can’t fathom why the salesman thought we would be good clientele. We kindly took his business cards and agreed to pass them out to “all our friends” in case they too would enjoy a splintery eight piece lawn display.

I thought the day would never end but we finally pedaled our way into Krabi town. After four days of camping and beach combing, my shower was absolutely divine……the cold beer was even better! Christmas came and went without any big hoorahs. The girls and I went out to dinner following an afternoon at the beach - a real sit-down meal instead of regular cheap market food!! Krabi had one Christmas tree and it was a steamy 28 degrees Celsius so I found myself missing cold, snowy Illinois and mom’s Christmas morning cinnamon rolls. Santa must have flown right over Thailand without dropping any presents. Strange…….several people I spoke to had the same problem…….

My luck runs out

Bangkok was my next stop. I wanted to spent a few days shopping in the souvenir capital of Southeast Asia. Good ol’ Bangkok…same as always. I stayed in the same hostel as I did two years ago - the same staff greeted me and claimed that they remembered me from so many months ago (although I’m sure they didn’t.) Unfortunately, I didn’t leave Bangkok with many happy memories, new memories -yes, fond memories - no.

Long story short: I mysteriously became sick and had to spend two days in the lovely Bangkok hospital. What an incredible joy that turned out to be. The day after I was released I tried to treat myself to some market shopping at Chatutuck. One hour into my shopping excursion, my wallet turned up missing which just happened to contain my newly received ATM baht and credit cards. Ever tried to catch a bus in a foreign city without any local currency and tried to explain that your wallet had been stolen? That was an ordeal worthy of a whole season of “Candid Camera.” Having canceled all my credit cards, revisited the ATM and cursed all of the thieving, rude and unjust burglars in the world, I headed out to celebrate a much anticipated New Year’s Eve in downtown Bangkok. Bad idea. I was on my way home two hours later having been smack dab in the middle of several bombings. Sadly, quite a few people were killed and many others were badly injured. Bangkok was in a chaotic mess for the following several days as police cars roamed Kao San Road and blocked off tourist sites.

I quickly left Bangkok and caught a bus back down to the beaches once again. I was on my way back to Australia via Singapore and my flight left from Phuket which just happens to be one of the most disgusting places in Thailand. I didn't have time to catch a ferry to my favorite islands. Koh Phi Phi, Koh Tao and Ko Samui were but fond memories. These islands were experiencing some nasty weather anyway and I didn't want to get stuck and miss my flight. Fortunatly, there were a few other backpackers in my guesthouse who were also waiting for their flight out of Thailand and we spent a few rainy afternoons playing cards and watching corny Thai movies.

Back in Oz

I've been back in Oz for quite a few weeks now. All is well!! My mom is visiting Sydney so we have been busy little bees showing her all of the touristy places, walking along the beaches, and shopping. Pictures of Oz will be on the next blog - soon to come, I promise.

I can't seem to upload any of my Thailand pictures on this computer so I've simply added some of my favorite China photos instead. I'll get that figured out soon as well! Too bad I don't have pictures of the best moments in Thailand. Some hospital pictures would have been fabulous but I couldn't get any of the doctors to pose with me!!

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