Monday, January 22, 2007
The Final Post by Eddie Phanichkul
It's been about a month since we first landed in Thailand. It's been a few weeks since we've been home. The stories from day-to-day Thailand will not go unpublished. I decided to start work on a new book called "Two Weeks In Bangkok." Who knows if I'll finish this one, but it'll add to my collection of lengthy essays and novels I may or may not publish one day.
After being in Cheing Mai for a few days, we returned to Bangkok on a sleeping car, which was more comfortable than the first trip, however, we got the top bunk, which was bright and noisy. We spent about a day in Bangkok doing random things, and resting at my Dad's place, then we were on a bush to Koh Samui--except not really.
The bus ride wasn't that comfortable. There were french people having sex behind us, and for some reason, there was a stop in the middle of the night at a half waypoint. This stop had poor bathrooms and hundreds of tourists. We made it to the port at Surat Thani about 6 AM, however, there would be no ferry until 8 AM, and something we weren't aware of.
As we boarded the ferry, we got to observe some foreigners. French, Australian, Japanese. Just a few of the flavors aboard the boat. It was something refreshing, yet disheartening to learn that Koh Samui was more of a tourist island.
I got sick. Sea sick. I decided to go out for a breather and ended up on top of the boat with some French and British gents. We all had our shirts off and the sun light to our backs. It was a warm with light humidity and all I could think about was getting to the island to sit in the sand and watch the ocean.
Our accommodations were pretty nice. We spent the first day relaxing and had dinner at our hotel. I rented a scooter. The next day we took our scooters to see the Monkey Theater were we got to play with baby monkeys and feed snakes and squirrels. This south Thai woman was hitting on me, which made me feel special. I hardly get hit on, but in Thailand, it happened a few times.
We took a ferry to Koh Phangan later for the New Year festivities. On our own for the better part of the afternoon, I called Mary and Jen to see if they wanted to hang out. They were tired so they went back to their hotel rooms to freshen up before the night’s party started. We ended up at both ends of the beach, then ultimately somewhere in the middle. We were only three, but I decided to remedy that situation. I turned around and found some British folk. I decided to befriend them and invite them to join our party, however, it worked the other way around—we ended up joining their party and subsequent adventures.
The next stop was to the Mountain Top Bar, at the north end of the beach. They had some mysterious “happy shake” that cost about $14 dollars. Fabled to have mushrooms in it, the effects were quite mild and the taste was of Coke and backwash. I didn’t have much of it at all. The gang though had a few.
I then met some more Australians and some girls from New York. The high light of my life to find some intellectual women on my trip, however, they seemed to be pretty busy experiencing everything there was to experience about Thailand, so about an hour later, we parted ways.
The girls were writing a book and keeping a travel blog:
http://www.lostgirlsworld.com
We lost the Brits, but found Mary’s group of people. We wandered around some more and I got lost, but found the British for the 2007 countdown.
The next day I took a flight back to Bangkok while Morgan and Brad stayed in town for another day to take the ferry/bus back. I must say, the plane was the best 100 bucks I’ve ever spent. I got back to Bangkok in about an hour.
The next day was my little brother’s birthday party and I helped the kids make some piñatas. I went out later that night and got a tattoo.
My days in Thailand came to an end and I quickly realized I would miss the place, but not too soon. There wasn’t anything for me in Thailand except for family, and growing up in the United States, life held more prospects than family, though my counter-part, and family friend, on one of my last nights there all there was seemed to be family.
I got back to Los Angeles and spent a few days with my new friends, who’ve become a sort of second family.
I lost my job. And now I’m trying to figure out my next adventure.
Photos will follow this post.
After being in Cheing Mai for a few days, we returned to Bangkok on a sleeping car, which was more comfortable than the first trip, however, we got the top bunk, which was bright and noisy. We spent about a day in Bangkok doing random things, and resting at my Dad's place, then we were on a bush to Koh Samui--except not really.
The bus ride wasn't that comfortable. There were french people having sex behind us, and for some reason, there was a stop in the middle of the night at a half waypoint. This stop had poor bathrooms and hundreds of tourists. We made it to the port at Surat Thani about 6 AM, however, there would be no ferry until 8 AM, and something we weren't aware of.
As we boarded the ferry, we got to observe some foreigners. French, Australian, Japanese. Just a few of the flavors aboard the boat. It was something refreshing, yet disheartening to learn that Koh Samui was more of a tourist island.
I got sick. Sea sick. I decided to go out for a breather and ended up on top of the boat with some French and British gents. We all had our shirts off and the sun light to our backs. It was a warm with light humidity and all I could think about was getting to the island to sit in the sand and watch the ocean.
Our accommodations were pretty nice. We spent the first day relaxing and had dinner at our hotel. I rented a scooter. The next day we took our scooters to see the Monkey Theater were we got to play with baby monkeys and feed snakes and squirrels. This south Thai woman was hitting on me, which made me feel special. I hardly get hit on, but in Thailand, it happened a few times.We took a ferry to Koh Phangan later for the New Year festivities. On our own for the better part of the afternoon, I called Mary and Jen to see if they wanted to hang out. They were tired so they went back to their hotel rooms to freshen up before the night’s party started. We ended up at both ends of the beach, then ultimately somewhere in the middle. We were only three, but I decided to remedy that situation. I turned around and found some British folk. I decided to befriend them and invite them to join our party, however, it worked the other way around—we ended up joining their party and subsequent adventures.
The next stop was to the Mountain Top Bar, at the north end of the beach. They had some mysterious “happy shake” that cost about $14 dollars. Fabled to have mushrooms in it, the effects were quite mild and the taste was of Coke and backwash. I didn’t have much of it at all. The gang though had a few.
I then met some more Australians and some girls from New York. The high light of my life to find some intellectual women on my trip, however, they seemed to be pretty busy experiencing everything there was to experience about Thailand, so about an hour later, we parted ways.
The girls were writing a book and keeping a travel blog:
http://www.lostgirlsworld.com
We lost the Brits, but found Mary’s group of people. We wandered around some more and I got lost, but found the British for the 2007 countdown.
The next day I took a flight back to Bangkok while Morgan and Brad stayed in town for another day to take the ferry/bus back. I must say, the plane was the best 100 bucks I’ve ever spent. I got back to Bangkok in about an hour.
The next day was my little brother’s birthday party and I helped the kids make some piñatas. I went out later that night and got a tattoo.
My days in Thailand came to an end and I quickly realized I would miss the place, but not too soon. There wasn’t anything for me in Thailand except for family, and growing up in the United States, life held more prospects than family, though my counter-part, and family friend, on one of my last nights there all there was seemed to be family.
I got back to Los Angeles and spent a few days with my new friends, who’ve become a sort of second family.
I lost my job. And now I’m trying to figure out my next adventure.
Photos will follow this post.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)