And this is where I went.

I had actually decided to take this trip at the beginning of July when we found out that there would be a three-day weekend for Mother’s Day (Queen’s birthday). There was also a four-day weekend in August, however, due to me not thinking things through, I made the plans for the shorter weekend instead of the longer. Oh well. It worked out anyhow.

My birthday was the previous weekend and I didn’t do much of anything for it. Better late than never.

Since the wen to Satun would be leaving at 9am on the 11^th, decided to spend the night in Hat Yai instead of going back to Songkhla. Would have had to get up really early on the Saturday and that is not how I wanted to start my vacation. Besides, I wanted to see what Hat Yai was like at night.

Patricia and I left school early at around 1:30pm on the 10^th and caught a tuk-tuk to take us to the Greenview Hotel near the city center. I know, I know. We keep ending up on either Raduthit Road (which is the name of the road that both the school and our mansion are on) or in some place called Greenview. I had booked it through Agoda.com (highly recommended) at the beginning of the week. We were able to get it for 640 for the night ($20.36) split two ways. It had two extra wide twin beds, a good-sized LCD flat-screen TV, and… a bath tub. This is a rarity here and Patricia decided to take advantage. I have not felt the lack of tubs as I have never been a fan. I don’t relish the idea of stewing in my own filth. And I feel like they are a waste of time. I’m not a sit-and-do-nothing type of person. All-in-all, the Greenview was a very good choice. Modern, clean, and the staff were extremely friendly and helpful. Even had doormen and bellhops.

After getting cleaned up and relaxing for a bit, we figured that we wouldn’t wait sushi for dinner time and grabbed a tuk-tuk to take us to Shabushi at Lee Gardens. It was close enough to walk, but it was the hottest part of the day and we both felt that the 20 baht each was worth it to arrive fairly sweat-free. Shabushi is an all-you-can-eat sushi chain. You can sit in a booth or at a bar. Each seat has it’s own Japanese hot pot. You let the waitress know what kind of broth you want. I went with chicken. Pat chose Tom Yum. There is a conveyor belt that carries, pretty much through the entire restaurant, raw or semi-cooked foods on small plates and you pick what you like and drop it in your hot pot. There is also a large sushi and tempura bar. I swear to you, I was in absolute heaven! So much fresh sushi and fresh wasabi and pickled ginger, dumplings and tempura. They give you an hour and 15 minutes to eat as much as you can take. I actually fill up pretty fast on sushi, but I definitely got my money’s worth. Had a small scoop each of vanilla and chocolate ice cream and then went to pay the tab. The grand total (with VAT tax) was 684 baht. That comes to $10.88 a person. I had to do my conversion a second time to make sure I got it right. That’s a steal no matter how you look at it. A pretty fantastic way to start the weekend.

We attempted to see a movie. There was nothing in English but they were showing the new Bourne movie in Thai with subtitles. I was ok to see that, but I guess Pat wasn’t down. Another time maybe.

We were both finished with Lee Gardens at this point. Just wanted to get back to the room and cool off and avail ourselves of the Universal Channel while we could. The only English channel at our mansion is Fox Crime and it gets old after a while. They really should reconsider the shows that they choose to play in syndication. That crime show from 2004 that only lasted half a season? Yeah, maybe there was a reason…

We used the internet and watch TV and relaxed. Around 7pm, I decided I wanted to step out. I knew the basic direction of Lee Gardens. Didn’t really matter if I couldn’t trace my way back. That’s what motorbike taxis are for. It took me under 10 minutes to get to my intended area. I wandered and browsed the stalls. It was really hopping. Some sort of festival was either going on or about to kick off (may have had to do with Mother’s Day). One of the roads had been made into a high street with a stage at one end and there were lots of colored lights hanging down. I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking for, but I did end up finding gifts for my nieces. I won’t say what or how much, since I know they will read this. But lets just say I am very happy with my purchases. Still have about 20 other people to buy Christmas gifts for before December and ship them to the States. I usually do all my shopping online. Not this year.

I just meandered around and found that I had wandered down the road where the Bamboo Bar is. I knew William and Janie would be there so I popped in to say hi. They were right up front. We chatted for a bit and Janie showed me her big slouchy bag that she had picked up in Satun the weekend before when they went to Koh Lipe. Made a mental note: get island purse.

The next morning, we got all repacked and headed for our bus. Grabbed a quick breakfast at McDonald’s and hopped on the wen. Fortunately, they don’t pack these distance runners like they do the commuters. Each person had exactly one seat with room to breath. Sitting behind me was a really nice woman from Switzerland named Teah. She was just back from the Perhentian Islands off the coast of Malaysia where she was getting her dive certification. Before that, she was in Myanmar. She was traveling around southeast Asia for a couple of months before she moves to Toronto. I would put her in her late twenties, early thirties. Similar to me, she just decided to follow her dreams. Has always wanted to live in an English-speaking country and she has friends in Toronto. Saved her money, quit her job. Went on an adventure before she moves. Good for her.

After a while, I put my headphones in and decided to ‘soundtrack’ my journey. Sometimes I like to do that when driving. Think of it like a movie with scenery. Helps the time pass and makes it more enjoyable. This part of my movie was overlaid with a generous helping of Abba, Queen, and Michael Jackson, some MGMT, David Guetta, Alphaville, Journey (appropriate, I thought), and Selena Gomez, a sampling of Benny Benassi and Mt. Eden, a little Gorillaz, with a smattering of Elton John and Justin Timberlake thrown in for good measure. It was actually even more eclectic than that, but that covers the basics.

For my birthday, in addition to a small bottle of Cool Water (yay!), Patricia had given me a stone necklace that she picked up in Malaysia. The man etches messages in Chinese on these smooth, (probably) soapstone pendants. The message was “Don’t dream your life, live your dream.” I fingered the necklace while I stared out the window and admired the lush landscape with the silhouettes of hills behind the mist. The drive to Satun is beautiful, scenic and relaxing.

Side note: reforestation. Thailand seems to have a lot of reforestation going on. When you watch the trees along the highway, you can tell that most of them were purposely planted. Huge groves of them. Some recent, others a really good size. You can see the long, tidy rows as you drive by. Good for you, Thailand.

When we arrived in Satun, we were told that we had about an hour to mill about, get cold drinks, shop, etc. I think they plan it that way…

I browsed the shops and found a big bag like Janie had gotten. Chose an off-white with a blue spiral pattern. At the next shop, I purchased a skirt. Pale green with crocheted embellishments at the waist and a drawstring. A very light, long, flowing skirt. I have been searching all over for something like this. Guess I had to come to the coast.

Finally made our way to the boat and they started loading our luggage. Once you are inside and seated, you can’t really see much except the sky, since the sides are high. When we started moving and getting the breeze, it was great. Before that, we were like a bunch of cattle crammed in for the journey (way more people on this boat than there really should have been), dripping sweat in the still heat. Each bench had two life jackets draped over the back of the seat. Good thing we didn’t need them or it would have been Titanic all over again. After more than an hour, we really started to smell the diesel fumes. Had to breathe through the wide cloth strap of my bag to clear the air. Last thing I wanted was to get a headache while on a boat. Fortunately, we were only about 30 minutes out from our destination.

When we finally arrived in the archipelago, I couldn’t believe how clear the water was. You could see the dark reefs under the perfect, still, turquoise sea. All the long-tail boats were lined up along Sunrise Beach against the snow-white sand. I knew we were going to get wet getting off the boat. There was no pier. It made me laugh to myself because some of the Thai women on this boat were totally dolled up. High heels, jewelry from head to toe. I was wearing a Jersey cotton maxi dress so I wasn’t worried about getting wet. In fact, I quite looked forward to it. The boatmen formed a line from ship to shore and passed the luggage to the beach.

There was a gentleman with a golf cart waiting to ferry us to the Ricci House. It wasn’t terribly far, but Pat brought a rolling suitcase and it was really hot with a million percent humidity (that’s a real thing here). And there are no paved roads. After riding for about three minutes from the beach to the resort, we came upon the Ricci House. It looked just like the pictures (which was a relief). Beautifully kept grounds and semi-private bungalows with porches and chairs. I think it was around 1:30pm or so when we arrived. Pat wanted to go for a swim, as did I, but Pat took off before I did. I changed in to my one-piece (which I must say, I now look fantastic in), put on my new skirt, grabbed my new bag and headed to the beach. Before we came here, I had heard that Sunrise Beach (where we arrived) was the best beach. But before we got on the boat, I heard someone else say that Pattaya Beach was the best. I got directions to Pattaya (on the opposite side of the island) and headed down the walking street to find it.

It’s the low season right now, so lots of places were either closed up (which meant that they had black netting pulled around the front) or they were under renovation. A few places were open for business-as-usual, but not many. When I got to Pattaya Beach, I was glad that I got to see it to compare to Sunrise, but by no means was it better. Sunrise was more or less pristine. Long with a wide beach, pretty clean sand and no garbage floating around. Pattaya was not as nice. Lots of junk washed up on the shore (bottles, shoes, etc.) and plenty of closed businesses lining it. This gave it a more abandoned, lonely feel. I wasn’t feeling it, and the garbage meant I wasn’t going to swim here either.

I retraced my steps and went back the opposite direction to Sunrise. I’m glad I did. I walked for quite a ways along the beach, collecting shells and taking some pictures. Some of the shells were really unique. However, they were occupied. The hermit crabs take all the best shells. I could actually tell that a shell was going to have a crab in it if it was interesting and intact. I wonder if hermit crabs know what shells are pretty…

I did take a dip in the ocean. It was so calm and a great temperature. I understand now why I have been told over and over by students that Samila Beach is not a good place to swim. The water is at least 10-15 degrees warmer at Samila and isn’t as calm. It was an amazing feeling to float in the Adaman Sea. Refreshing and relaxing and peaceful. I just floated on my back with my eyes closed for a while.

Met a woman named Valkie who was originally from Mexico but had lived the past 14 years in Vancouver, BC. She was going to be working in Bangkok. It occurred to me on Sunday before we headed back to the mainland that I should have gotten her contact information. Felt like we would have gotten on really well.

After I browsed the beach for a while, I decided I would head back to the room. Pat came back about the same time and we figured we would cool off and relax for a bit. She met a woman who ran a mini mart just up the path. Pat got a business card for her friend who has a long tail boat and could take me snorkeling. They would provide a mask and snorkel, but no fins. If this was during the high season, I could get snorkel, fins, lunch, water and tour all the islands for the whole day for 650 baht. As this was the low season, I could get a mask and boat for 1,000. Beggars can’t be choosers and it would be like having my own personal guide. Little did I know…

Pat encouraged me to do it. She said she would pass on going with me since she lives near the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and has been snorkeling a million times. Hardly the point.

We flipped on the TV hoping to watch some Universal Channel (or even Fox Crime). The first time you go through the channels, it seems like there are around 36 of them. On the second run through, however, you realize that they are the same 12 channels three times over. And the only English channels are some obscure news station (which is on a loop) and a Christian evangelism channel.

We opted to hit up the Idyllic Hotel for drinks and dinner. It was on the southern end of Sunrise Beach. Had a beach-side infinity pool with an in-water bar. We paddled around and had some pina coladas. Then we dried off and ordered white wine from a box and lobster steamed in garlic and butter.

It was so fantastically fresh and delicious. I will avail myself of their pool and partake of their cuisine, but starting at 2,500 a night, I will NOT be staying at the Idyllic. But I may consider one of the other hotels on the beach.

We made our way back in the direction of Ricci House. Stopped on the way to get some roti (loster doesn’t really fill me up). Then we decided to stop off at one of the beach bars. The guys who worked there spoke really good English. I had myself another pina colada. After a while a man came in who also spoke very good English. We chatted with him and Pat mentioned that I would be going snorkeling the next day. Turns out, he is friends with the guy who is taking me out and he said he may join us. I was actually relieved because I knew that the owner of the boat doesn’t speak English.

I’m not sure what time we ended up back at the room, but I know it wasn’t too late. I wanted to get up early and head to Sunrise Beach to, well, photograph the sunrise. I knew this wouldn’t be a problem because I hadn’t been sleeping very well lately. Waking up numerous times throughout the night. I didn’t want to go to bed too early (which would be anytime before 11pm) since I typically can only sleep about six hours a night. I read and stayed awake as long as I could. I did set an alarm, but I knew I wouldn’t need it. Frequently throughout the night I awoke and thought that it might be time to get up. It never was. I also wasn’t sure that time sunrise actually occurs here. In Songkhla, it’s around 5:45am. On Koh Lipe, I am quite a few hours to the west. After waking up at 4am and only being able to doze off and on, I finally got up and got dressed at about 6am. I grabbed my camera bag and headed out to the beach. It was already so humid that my lenses kept fogging up, glasses and camera. I walked to the north end of Sunrise Beach. It was light (but dim) out and very diffuse. Cloud cover. There was no visible sun. Bummer. I headed around the curve of the beach to see what I could see. Koh Adang loomed as a misty silhouette. The small waves made soft swooshing sounds against the shore. There was a hum every now and then in the distance from the long tail boats out for early fishing. And then…the clouds parted revealing a bright red sun, fairly high already. It cast a long reflection on the water. It was worth getting up early after all.

On my way back to the room around 7:30am (I had to be ready by 9am to go snorkeling), I ran in to Valkie. She was just sitting on the beach enjoying the early morning solitude. We played with some rolly-polly puppies and chatted. Again, I really wish it had occurred to me to get her info…

Pat was up when I got back, enjoying her breakfast. I went to the room and got rinsed off and put on my suit. Put what I felt I would need in my bag, grabbed my camera and lenses and a towel and went to the reception/open dining hall to enjoy my own breakfast. It consisted of two thick slices of toast with butter and jam, one egg, sunny side up, a ‘sausage’ and what I can only guess was some other kind of meat. Somewhat resembled ham? Not sure, but I ate it and passed on the hotdog masquerading as a sausage. Pat had also gotten a plate of watermelon and pineapple (which I did not), but I had forgotten this until later.

I went to the mini mart to meet up with my boat driver/guide. I paid the woman the thousand baht fee and the guy showed up. He escorted me down to the beach. On the way, he asked me where I was from (America) and if I was here alone. I said that I came with a friend but she is doing her own thing. At this point, he put his arm around my waist. At first, I thought he was trying to guide me on the path, like move me over a bit. But then I realized that wasn’t the case. About the point that he asked me to kiss him. Uh, no. He removed his arm and then left me on the beach, telling me to wait there for the boat. I was kind of at a loss as to what was going on. I thought (nay, hoped) that this must be a different guy than the boat owner since I had been told that he spoke no English and this guy did have some English. Then the guy from the night before showed up. His name is Baw. He asked if I had a mask. I said that I had been told I would be provided with one, and a snorkel. He said he would be right back.

The guy came back with the boat and I got on. I was actually really glad that Baw was joining us because this guy had already succeeded in making me uncomfortable. And I don’t get uncomfortable easily. Baw rejoined us with a mask, snorkel AND fins.

On the way to Koh Hin Ngam, we met up with another boat taking out a couple to go snorkeling. Got a mask and snorkel for me… I guess the gear that Baw brought wasn’t for my benefit.

They stopped the boat in one of the reefs and left me to it. The PADI dive course was coming in handy now, because they didn’t give me any instruction on how to clear the snorkel or on clearing the mask underwater. BUT, I already knew these things from the course and got a chance to practice the skills. I had been looking forward to this swim with a certain amount of trepidation. The idea of swimming in the ocean was a little overwhelming. It took me a little while to breathe normally with the snorkel but I eventually calmed myself and took deep, regular breaths.

Wow. The underwater world is so beautiful and alien. I immediately felt less overwhelmed after putting my face in the water the first time. It becomes less vast when you can see under the surface and are only paying attention to small areas at a time, instead of dwelling on the expanse of the ocean and how massive it is. The reef was beautiful and appeared to be comprised primarily of brain coral. There were so many different varieties of beautiful fish. I could identify some of them. My favorite would have to be the parrot fish. They just went about their colorful business completely unphased by my presence. I could hear them munching on the coral.

I spent about 20 minutes or so paddling around on my own. Then the boat driver (I never did get his name. Honestly, I didn’t want to know it) joined me in the water. He pointed and directed me to follow him further around the curve of the island. At one point he dove deep and brought up a sea cucumber. I touched it, just barely. Really slimy and weird. Then he reached for my hand (I let him hold it but didn’t hold it back). I thought he was trying to tow me since I didn’t have fins and he did. Then we surfaced and he asked me “Boom-boom?”. I adamantly shook my head. Seriously? The audacity. I didn’t let him touch me after that and didn’t really want to have anything to do with him. Just wanted to go back to the boat and move on to the next island. Baw had brought the boat around to meet us so we didn’t have to swim back very far.

Side note: attached or not. A tip for the ladies traveling alone. Regardless of whether you are on your own or not, it may be in your best interest to say that you are with a boyfriend or husband or something like that when asked. I wish I had. I think that it may have kept the overly-forward boat captain at bay. Hind-sight…

Baw took the boat to the point of the island that gave it it’s name. Koh Hin Ngam means “Beautiful Stone Island”. It has a peninsula that is made up entirely of smooth, black stones. It is considered good luck if you can stack 13 of them. So, there were all these rock towers standing around, like some people do to mark a hiking trail back home. Only taller. The sound that the rocks make washing up against each other is absolutely musical. I could have listened to it all day. Once I got to the top of the rock pile, I noticed there was a lot of trash (empty water bottles, food wrappers, shoes…) on the other side of the slope. Baw told me that before the high season starts, there are groups of people who go around to all the islands in the archipelago and do an intense clean up. That’s good to know. It is a national park, after all.

Baw took a picture of me on the rocks and then I went about taking some photos of my own. He stopped me and got an empty water bottle, filled it up and then sprinkled water on the stones I was shooting. It makes them shine and deepens their blackness. Shortly thereafter, we got back in the boat and were off to Koh Yang.

Here, the coral was different that at Koh Hin Ngam. I believe it was elkhorn coral. The fish species seemed to be about the same, though there were more needle fish here than at the previous site. I also think I spotted a blow fish. Not puffed up. I caught sight of him just before he ducked under some coral. I watched for a while, but he didn’t come back out. I looked it up later and think it was a starry puffer fish. But I could be wrong.

I didn’t spend too much time at this site. Next they took me to Koh Rawi. There were quite a few other groups there enjoying lunch. The jungle/forest was pretty close to the beach and most of the groups were sitting around picnic tables in the shade of the trees. I didn’t have any food with me, so I wandered around for a bit. Then someone started pointing in to the trees. I put my glasses on and finally made out what they were looking at. It was a furry animal clinging to the side of a tree, pretty high up. I could really only see it’s head through the foliage, but it was gray with buggy black eyes. They told me the name in Thai, but didn’t know what it would be called in English. A little bit later, they spotted another one in a different tree.

I could see the whole body of that one. It appeared to be a large flying squirrel of some kind (looked it up later, turned out to be a Sunda flying lemur). Someone started throwing rocks at the tree in an attempt to get it to ‘fly’. All it succeeded in doing was scaring it higher up the trunk. After the usual interview from the tourists, I made my way back to my boat and climbed aboard.

Final stop, Koh Adang. I swam near the beach in the shallow reef. Before, we had been on the sides of the islands that didn’t have the beaches. Here we were on the shoreline. Again, the reef was much different than the other two. I didn’t realize until today how different each reef can be. I had always thought, you see one reef, you’ve seen them all. I misjudged. There were again a lot of brain coral in this area, but also great star coral. And so many giant clams! They kind of freak me out, but at the same time, they fascinate me. Most were imbedded in the coral but some were free-standing. They had the most vibrant blue and purple colors and when I would swim over them, they would close up. None of the ones I saw were more than a foot or so in diameter. I didn’t swim near them. Still was imagining one of the grabbing my hand. Foolish, I know.

I also saw a few blue and pink Linckia starfish, the kind with really long, slender rays. They were pretty much draped over some rocks. I saw a big parrot fish and followed him around for quite a while. It was so great to just let go and relax and enjoy how fortunate I was to get to be a part of this hidden world for a little while.

I lucked out, in that, the boat guy didn’t attempt to swim with me again after the awkward encounter at the first stop. I was able to just enjoy myself. The mask was of poor quality and I frequently had to clear it underwater. I was able to seal it better out of water, but then it would fog up. I had been getting salt water in my sinuses and running down the back of my throat now for about six hours, I could tell that I was going to have a wicked burn, despite the sunblock, and my eyes burned. I think it was time to head back.

I wrapped myself in a towel, put on my sunglasses and hat that Pat had loaned me and relaxed for the trip back. I hadn’t eaten since that morning and I would definitely be making a stop at the cafe on the island that made baguette sandwiches. Baw had brought along some tea biscuits and gave me quite a few of them, which I devoured with delight. I was completely wiped out when I got back. I dragged myself to the room and dropped off my stuff. I was suddenly very hungry. People who know me know that I tend to let myself get over-hungry. This was one of those times. But there were no food shops or restaurants or mini marts on the islands…or the reefs. At the cafe, I ordered a ham, cheese and mustard baguette to-go and grabbed a soda and water at the mini mart. The sandwich was toasted and amazing.

The pain and tightness of the burn was starting to set in but I was just so annihilated. A nap sounded like the best thing in the world, but the touch of heat stroke I had gotten wouldn’t allow me to fall asleep and I couldn’t get very comfortable anyhow. Eventually, I went out in search of aloe. There was a massage parlor next to the cafe and I asked the women sitting outside if they knew where I could get some. She said that she didn’t have any right now, but that if I came back in two hours, she would have it. I can only assume that meant she would be milking the aloe plant herself in order to acquire it. I went back to the room and laid about, drinking water, shifting positions and eating fruity Mentos, while listening to the Christian TV channel. Around 6:30pm, I finally dozed off for about an hour. Patricia had come back before I fell asleep and had also started herself a nap. Actually, she just went to bed and slept straight through until 6:30 the next morning. Twelve hours. I think the last time I slept that long was when I was a teenager. Seriously.

Although I was groggy and just wanted to sleep, I couldn’t stand the idea of trying to sleep and/or make the boat trip back the next day without getting some treatment for my burn. I dressed in loose clothing and went to see a woman about some aloe.

Bless her heart. She had a large pot of it and they ushered me in to the building, set me up on the farthest bed to the back (I was the only one there) and drew the curtains around me. She turned on the fan and I got undressed. She rubbed me down, head to toe, front and back with aloe vera. It was the most amazing relief I have ever felt. This continued for about an hour and a half. I swear that woman used the entire pot on me. She did have a fan oscillating in my direction and that, combined with the continued stimulus on my poor burned skin, caused me to shiver. It’s amazing that I was radiating a hundred degrees from my back but having the chills at the same time. I kept thinking to myself that no matter what this woman charged me, I didn’t care. I would pay her whatever she wanted. I figured it would be around 500 baht or so and I was right. I thanked her profusely and wei-ed her. It was close to 9pm at this point.

I put on a clean tee-shirt and got in to bed. I turned the a/c down because I was shivering violently. I wish I had taken note of where I put the remote because I woke up around 1am and was no longer cold. Now I was hot and I searched around using my phone as a flashlight and could not, for the life of me, find the remote. I hoped that I would be able to get some sleep, at least. I dozed off and on for the next few hours. Near 5am, I got up to look for the remote again, moved my purse and found it there. Wish I had moved it four hours ago… Got an hour nap in before I was fully awake and had no hope of sleeping any longer. Pat woke up and bustled around, I would guess getting herself sorted for the trip back. I thought about showering before we left, but since I had no more aloe to put on, I opted to leave as-is and not dry my skin out anymore than it already was. After getting everything packed up, I had my breakfast (this time WITH fruit), grabbed my gear, and we headed to the beach to get on the boat. But we had to wait another half an hour (they also didn’t have us on the list, but we had tickets so no worries). I had determined to sit out in the front area of the boat on this trip in order to avoid the fumes.

However, once I got out there and sat for half a second, I realized that the black bench was entirely too hot to sit on, even through my skirt and sitting in direct sun probably wasn’t the best idea for me, even with a hat. I went back inside and sat on the top step, off to the side, directly under the man driving the boat. It was standing room only on this trip back. I don’t think they ever say no to a paying customer. Pat was sitting behind me on a bench with one woman and her baby. I suppose I could have sat there but the look on her face told me that she didn’t really want to be share the space.

About an hour in to the trip, one guy told a man standing behind me to sit down on the step (where I was sitting) so that the boat could go faster? Still not sure what that was about. I moved to the seat between Pat and the mother and tried to get as comfortable as possible for the remainder of the trip. I think I remained in a doze for most of it. It ended up taking two hours to get back. I can’t imagine how long this trip would be on a ferry. I just know that I will never be taking anything but a speedboat from here on out.

The van to take us back was much more comfortable than the one that brought us. The seats were larger and more plush with armrests. I sat in the first row next to the window, which meant that I also had a footrest of sorts behind the driver’s seat. I leaned back and put my feet up and enjoyed the ride.

It only took us an hour and a half to get back to Hat Yai. The man had asked when I got on, where I wanted to be dropped off. I had told him “Wen to Songkhla”. He unloaded us at the stop where I typically pick one up after school. When the van came along, I got on and went to the back where a nice woman offered to hold my backpack on her lap so I could hold my camera bag on mine. Pat, however, had that rolling suitcase. She was able to put it in front of the first row (which is where I have seen many people put luggage before). The passengers had no problems with this but the driver was pitching a fit about the bags being too big and he kept trying to pitch us off. He took her bag out and she put it back in at least two times. Finally, he just got in and started driving. Pat continued calling him names and such and responding to whatever he was saying with her own colorful retorts. He picked up another couple of people and then, at one stop, told her to get off again. When she said she wouldn’t, he told everyone to get off, saying that the a/c was busted. So, the entire load of passengers got off and waited for the next bus. All but Pat. She walked up the road and around the corner and I didn’t know until later that she stopped to get herself a drink and called a taxi. I waited patiently for 10 minutes with the other men and women who had been ousted. Another van, almost empty, came along and happily took us to Songkhla.

It was nearly 2:30pm when I finally trudged up the driveway to the Greenview. I was so happy to be home. The whole ride back (boat and vans) I had been dreaming about my comfortable bed and my fantastic air conditioning. I had been soaked through and cooled off quite a few times that day. I was completely disgusting. The shower made me cry, though. I couldn’t get the water cold, even though I had the water heater actually turned off. It may just have been that I was so hot from the burn that it didn’t feel cold. Even with the pressure low, it was still torture on my skin. I put on some loose clothing after and had a bowl of cereal and got as comfortable as I could in bed. Noi was out of town still in Bangkok and I had no energy to walk down the road to get food. I turned on the TV and napped off and on for a while before finally falling asleep for good. Luckily, on Tuesdays we wear the button-up Batik shirts so I wouldn’t have to struggle in to an ABA polo. Small blessings.

The most exhausting thing I can think of is a vacation.