PURGATORY TO PARADISE

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September 12, 2010

After a fitful night of sleep, the train is not very smooth and when is stops the car from behind slams in to the car ahead. It is also not a very quite train. All in all, I would have to give thumbs down to train travel in Thailand until they get newer cars and cleaner cars. If you have ever read the Inferno by Dante, I would compare train travel to about Dante’s description of Purgatory, not horrible but not heaven. But I digress, we after a fitful night of sleep we awoke at 5:30 am. We had about an hour more until we reached our transfer point with the bus. Our breakfast that we ordered the night before arrived. Cold toast and eggs over easy that weren’t cooked completely, yum yum, not edible. We brushed our teeth and took our malaria pills and waited for the train to stop. 😞😞 Two tips here 1) don’t take the train unless you’re on a tight budget 2) if you do take train, don’t order the food bring your own.

We arrived at the train station and started to look for our bus. There were several charter busses but we were actually on a regular bus between the train station and Phuket Town. We were ushered to a waiting area until the bus came. We were informed it was a 4 hour ride, so I called the hotel were we where headed so they would know what time to pick us up at the airport. I don’t have much to say about the bus, except if the train was purgatory; this was one hell of a boat over Jordan to get us to Paradise. The driver drove like a bat out of hell.

The Real Boat to Paradise

We arrived at the bus station in Phuket Town about 20 minutes, early. Even so the car from the hotel was there waiting for us with the sign so we could easily find him. He in fact found us first. He took us from the bus station to the boat pier where we boarded a long tail (called this because the motor is at the end of a long pole.) Earlier, on the bus trip it had rained, but now as we boarded the long tail for the island it was beautiful, clue skies and big fluffy white clouds. The trip by boat took about 1 hour. I was so excited I forgot to put block on, so I am not a little red in the face and forearms. The water was a beautiful green. However, even here in paradise, humans leave their footprint. Every so often you would see a pop can, or tanning lotion bottle floating in the bay. Humans can leave no corner of earth unscarred. However, it is still beautiful here.

It was about 1:30 when we arrived at Koyao Island Resort. We walked from the boat to the beach, yes our feet got wet. We were greeted by several people including the general manager (French/Italian) young man in his thirties (OMG I just called someone in their thirties a young man). We were escorted to the reception area, where they poured water over our feet to clean them. Shoes are not worn in any buildings here, so before every entry is a pot full of water, including our bungalow.

We were given a coconut with coconut juice and did about 3 minutes of checking in, and then they explained the resort, what was included what was not. They are running a very good spa deal so massages are close at hand. We then were taken to our room, our bags were already there. We are the next to the last bungalow on the property. The living room faces the bay (open air living room). The entire bungalow is spacious and luxurious. We have an indoor shower and a garden shower. The garden is completely enclosed and private, with a fountain, birds of paradise and rock garden. The bedroom has a king size bed surrounded by mosquito netting. We have a fully stocked mini bar, with reasonable prices. An entire pint of gin is only 500 bahts. We are both so taken aback by the beauty of the entire resort; it truly is a place you only see on TV. We unpacked and got things arranged. It takes me about 20 minutes before swimsuit is on and I am in the water. It is so warm, warmer than California, warmer than Hawaii. Beautiful warm water. Jerry is still being a Virgo and settling in to the room.

After my swim I shower in the garden shower, dress and head for the bar (not for a drink but internet access) Jerry, stays behind to continue settling in and figure out all of the lights, etc. I spend about two hours at the bar, getting some blogs posted. Jerry finally arrives and we take a stroll around the grounds. Before happy hour (best drink prices in Thailand 200 bahts for 2 drinks from 6 to 7) we stroll off the property to see where the road is, as we walk down the dirt road we see about 7 water buffalo. Four of them are actually lying in the water cooling off. (OH as we boarded the longtail to get here, we saw a couple of monkeys run across the road). We then headed for happy hour. The general manager joined us for a drink and did some smoozing with us. Very nice guy who clearly loves his work. Now, we have not been drinking much on this trip, but since happy hour is such a good deal, wine-thirty (or should I say in Jerry’s case Mai Tai-thirty) has returned. Jerry believes that the Mai Tai’s here are the best he has ever had.

After our drinks we went to the dining room and had dinner, as we listen to the waves wash on to the shore. Dinner was excellent, Thoong Thong (wantons stuffed with prawns), Yum Goong Takrai (spicy prawn salad), Jerry had Phad Med Ma Muang (chicken cashew) and I had Gaeng Panaeng (Paneng curry with chicken). It was actually less than any dinner we had in Bangkok.

When we finished our dinner we strolled back to our bungalow and I changed to take a dip in the pool. Jerry sat by the pool while I enjoyed the water and the stars, so many stars, no city light pollution to interfere. The swim was wonderful, until a bat decided to join me. I do not like flying rats, but they do eat the bugs. We strolled back to our bungalow in paradise are having a drink and I am finishing this entry. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. There are no plans when one is in paradise.

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