Day 2 Bangkok to Krabi

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March 11, 2015

I slept for a couple of hours and feel much better now. It is 7am and I just ate the free breakfast from the hotel. It was quite good; poached egg, and toast, hotdog, turkey lunch meat, pineapple, sliced tomatoes, and lettuce, orange juice and coffee. It came served on a plate and everyone got the same thing.

It is overcast making the weather a little more tolerable. I went into a 7-11 across the street only to learn that they only accept Thai money, which I neglected to get at the airport last night. I will do that this morning. Everything in the 7-11 looked strange and even the pictures didn't reveal a lot of information about what was inside the packages. I decided to walk around for a bit since my flight to Krabe is not until this afternoon. I made it a block away, where most of the small stores were still closed, but there was a very small street market of venders cooking food and no customers yet.

Very thin dogs seemed to be wandering around everywhere and none of them smaller than a midsize collie. They did not seem to be starving as most of them had no ribs showing but they all seemed to have a case of mange. I was a bit leery to walk by those that were sleeping for fear of startling one of them but they all seemed used to people going by and none of them acted threatening in any way.

I walked back to the hotel and took a shower then left my huge bag of chocolates for the maid, thinking they would melt in my suitcase anyway. I wandered down to the front dest and on my way was approached by a cab driver looking for business. I thought it might be fun to have him drive me around a bit before I headed to the airport. After he asked a few questions I discovered that there are 2 airports going into Bangkok and the one I came in to was not the same one I was flying out of! The one I needed was across town! It would take around an hour to get there!!! Thank goodness that I found out early enough to get there and make the flight! So I got into the cab and headed for the airport. The cars there are driven on the right side instead of the left and the roads are also backwards with their lanes, like England. As we drove I realized that like most foreign countries I have visited that the traffic laws were merely suggestions! They made up lanes where there were none and it was every man for himself! When I arrived at the other airport, it was very small and not nearly as sophisticated as the one I flew into last night. I was sent to 5 different gates to catch my plane because nobody really had any information on which gate it would leave from! I finally, got to the right gate and sat talking to a couple of very nice ladies who did social work. One of them gave me a keychain as a token gift to welcome me to their county. It was very sweet. At 2:45 I finally boarded the plane. It was 45 minutes late and I was soon to find out that is just Thailand and their ways. "My pen rye!" That is of course not how it is spelled but how it is pronounced in English. It means "no problem, don't worry about it, no big deal". We had to get on a bus that took us out to the plane then climb stairs into the plane. I was expecting a puddle jumper but was surprised to see a good size seating room as well as misters blowing above and below the luggage compartment. I had a chance at the airport to email the girls I was to meet in Krabi airport and find out where to go when I arrived. I still have had no answer and am a bit concerned. The plane is now descending and this darn cold has my ears not popping! It feels like my head will burst!



ARRIVAL IN KRABI

This airport is way smaller than the last and finding the girls was not an issue! I walked up while they were all there waiting for me. There is Meghan who is one of the guides. I met her at a three day event in Joshua Tree, California, where she told me about this trip. Then there is 3 girls that I have never met, the first one named Livia is from Brazil but lives in San Diego. She still has a very strong accent and is a bit difficult to understand at times. The other 2 are best friends that go and do everything together since elementary school! They are Shanna and Barb. They are also from San Diego and knew Livia prior to this trip. Im fact, it was Livia that convinced them to come. All the girls are around 20 years younger than me and very friendly. We all got into a van and headed out for a 3 hour journey to where we were to stay our first night. Meghan gave us all welcoming gifts; a bottle of powder that is called Prickly Heat and looks like baby powder but when you put it on it feels hot. It is actually to take the heat out of you and make the weather more tolerable...did I mention it is hot! I mean the kind of heat that you have never felt! The moisture in the air makes it worse and I am afraid to ask but it must be 100 degrees. She also gave us a huge nut, she said with a surprise inside. It was a natural luffa sponge! We ate small bananas and roasted cashews on the way to our destination and drank coconut water.

When we reached our destination, Khuraburi, Thailand the town looks very small and the place we are staying are bungalows with TV and air conditioners! We will double bunk up and the first night my room mate is Shanna. When we arrived we met with our other guide who will be doing all our translating for us. Her name is Nicole and she has lived here for a few years now. She and Meghan met while in the Peace Core together and have been friends ever since. Meghan speaks enough Thai to converse with folks but Nichole is really good with the language and is able to really help us with any conversations that might arise. We walked across the street to a small restaurant with outdoor tables and had dinner. The food is served in sharing bowls and everyone take a small amount from all the bowls served. We had a variety of the most popular local cuisine which of course has rice, fish, vegetables with curry, fruit, and some other things that I am really not sure of. It was all ok but very different and I get the feeling I might be losing weight on this trip!

Later we went down to the beach where we lit up these kite like things, that were lanterns, that carry candles and the heat from the candle makes them rise. You can see them way into the night sky and it is beautiful! I have seen videos from other countries where this is done at festivals and with lots of them at one time. It was a nice way to end our first day together.

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Photos

Meghan
my friend and tour guide

street market
vendor

street market
clothing section

market
breakfast

market
large pots of rice soup

breakfast
sticky rice wrapped and cooked in a banana leaf