At the end of July, we had our first official holiday weekend as it was the King’s Birthday. We chose to take a mini-vacation to Krabi in the south of Thailand. The three girls and I were travelling differently; Fidelie and I took a bus on Thursday, while Poppy and Fanny took a flight Friday morning. My four-day vacation began with a bus ride that seemed like it lasted for days! The drive to Bangkok lasted about 10 and a half hours because of three police checkpoints and all the stops it had to make. Once in Bangkok, we had to find a taxi, which was easy enough as the drivers were waiting just outside the bus door. When we got into the taxi and they told us the price (1500 baht) both Fids and I were absolutely baffled! Out of nowhere Fids began negotiating and wasn’t going to take any prisoners. She managed to get the cost lowered to 900 baht. Once again, we found ourselves on a ride that felt like forever… this time it was because of the traffic and we had to drive about 30 minutes away from the bus station to our hotel. At one point I felt like the taxi driver was going the long way as revenge for our price negotiations.
Finally, we arrived at the hotel and headed to our room. The first feeling we have is for the bed! It had been a few weeks since we had the opportunity to sleep in a ‘real’ bed rather than on our mats. As the evening crept up on us we got hungry and went exploring for food. Walking down the dark streets, we eventually came upon a small food market. We searched the food stalls until we each found something to eat. There was one stall that interested me as we walked through once, so on our second walkthrough, I stopped at what I thought was the same stall only to find out that it wasn’t. I ended up getting a shrimp noodle kind of soup. Yet, there was an interesting catch… the soupwasn’t as liquid as it should have been. The texture was more gelatinous and slimier, to be honest. The taste was good but because of the texture, I was quite worried as to how my stomach would react. The main thought going through my mind was ‘when is this going to come back up?’ Fortunately, I can say that I survived the night! The following morning Fids and I had to make our way to the airport to meet Fanny and Poppy who had arrived in Bangkok. At the airport, we found each other and headed to the counter to check-in. The whole process from check-in through security to waiting at the gate was very simple. I think it was one of the fastest times I’ve been through airport security. Our flight took about an hour and a half to reach Krabi. Landing in Krabi, we got off the plane by stairs and got onto a bus that took us to the terminal. Once in the terminal, we made it through and found the shuttle bus that would bring us to our hotel. The shuttle was about a 40-minute drive, most of which was countryside until we got closer to the beach and the gorgeous mountains began to appear. Our hotel was surrounded by trees and gave a very peaceful, Zen and private atmosphere. Once we got settled in, we grabbed a tuk-tuk to the beach. After a long day of travelling, we were finally at the beach! Fanny, Fids and I enjoyed our evening at the beach swimming and taking in the sun and sea air. Within the first five minutes of being in the water, we could tell that it was having a positive effecton our exhausted mental health. As we enjoyed the beach, we were also waiting for Poppy who chose to stay at the airport and wait for Libby. They both joined us eventually for dinner at the beach. Our first day began with pure downpours!!! We felt discouraged but at the same time, the rain wasn’t going to stop us. We had to wait for the rain to slow, as our tuk-tuk driver wasn’t willing to drive in the heavy rain. It finally calmed down long enough for us to get out and head for breakfast while we waited for the rain to stop completely. Once it stopped raining, we made our way down to the beach, as we wanted to take a Long Tail boat to another beach. Unfortunately, the building that sold the tickets was closed due to rough waters, which set us back in our plans for the day. As we began thinking of a ‘Plan B’, a random guy approached us and said he could get us to the beach we wanted, but that he could only do it from another beach. So, making a quick decision, we chose to take up his opportunity and we jumped into his tourist-packed truck. He took us on a 20-minute drive to another beach where the waters were much calmer. After a 15-minute boat ride,we arrived at East Railay Beach. We had the intentions of going to West Beach and when we arrived we were told to follow a path and it would bring us across the peninsula. We took the path that was marked off for West Railay Beach and finally arrived at a beautiful beach with mountains towering behind us. We spent much of the morning and early afternoon there. By lunchtime, we had to make our way back to the East beach to meet up with Poppy and Libby who had just arrived. On our walk to the restaurant, we went through an intersection that had a troop of monkeys hanging around a cellphone tower. We all stayed watching the monkeys until the evening and then continued to the restaurant and then onwards to watch the sunset at the other beach. The most memorable moment of the trip happened on our first evening. As we were watching the sunset, a girl about sixteen years old approached us, nay me and asked if I wanted to buy a flower tiara for one of the girls. I politely declined. But that didn’t sway her, she insisted that I should buy one and I continued to decline. Then, she tells me the story about how she is selling these tiaras to make money for her education. Of course, she has a story to pull at the heartstrings, but I again declined as I began to be filled with guilt. Finally, she makes a deal with me, a game of rock, paper, and scissors. If she would win, then I had to buy one and if I won, she would give me one for free. This should have been my clue that I would get hustled. But instead, I caved and played her game. Well, I can say that a teenage girl has beaten me in rock, paper, and scissors. Staying true to my word, I choose the tiara I liked and offered her my money. This became an obstacle for her, as she had no change for me. She calculated how many she needed to sell in order to have change and then told me she would be back and insisted that I didn’t leave. So, for about an hour, I watched her go up and down the beach selling her tiaras and checking to see I was still there every so often. Finally, she returned to me out of breath and happy to see that I didn’t leave. By this point, I was more than happy to buy a tiara after seeing the effort and motivation she had in getting change for me. After I bought mine, the girls were impressed as well and they each bought one from her and congratulated her on her efforts. For the rest of the trip anytime we were at that beach and she saw us we would wave hello and smile. Our second day, we all went on a four-island excursion. We got to see some beautiful beaches, enjoy some fun snorkeling and see some amazing views. When we were getting onto the boat, our guide was telling us where to sit and I chose to sit behind the girls, as I wanted to take pictures on the side of the boat. Instead, the guide placed me in the front row. I thought this was perfect, as I would have nothing to block my camera… I was mistaken! As we hit open waters, every wave we hit a wall of spray came over the front of the boat and drenched me from head to toe. One of the islands we visited was called Chicken Island because of a rock formation that looked like a chicken head. That night when we got back to our hotel I knew that I had burned but didn’t know to what extent until I took my shower. I looked like a cooked lobster and the heat and pain that came from my burn was brutal. When Monday came around it was time to head home. We flew back to Bangkok and then waited for our flight back to Mae Sot. A short vacation proved to be well needed after our first 2 months of teaching.
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