Trip to Thailand, January 2013
We stopped again later that afternoon for gas and this time the rest stop was much fancier—a coffee chain shop with a roof and walls, a brand-name 7-11, etc.—but still had the same Thai-style toilets as the more fun lunch place. The fancy rest stop did have two outside vendors, though, one selling slices of green mango with a chili-sugar powder to dip them into, and one selling those little coconut milk custardy cakes, filled with corn or scallions, which are cooked apart and then flipped back together. I bought a box of eight of those, and when we hit the rains and realized we couldn’t possibly stop for dinner and even hope to get vaguely close to where we needed to be, I was very glad I had them to eat in the car.
Eventually we realized there was no way whatsoever that we would make our ferry—we would surely find ourselves in Krabi about forty minutes after the last ferry left, and with nowhere to stay, so George and Pat hastily made a reservation for a hotel in Surat Thani, and we pulled in there around 9:00 p.m. George and Pat got a room service dinner and a massage, but I was tired and both Marcus and Sam had been sleeping in the car for the last four hours, so it seemed likely that bed was my only evening plan. Marcus woke up enough to get out of the car and walk up to the room, which was helpful, and then he put on pajamas and watched about half an hour of Dragon Ball Z dubbed into Thai, while I nursed Samantha back down. By 10:00 all three of us were curled up in a twin-sized bed (all the hotel had) and cuddled and asleep.
Three views of the car: Sam driving (this didn't actually happen while we were moving or the car was on, but she loved "driving" on the ferry; Marcus surrounded by toys and snacks, as he was for much of the ride.
Salt farms and a salt stand.
Scenic drive.
A peaceful night in our Surat Thani hotel: sleeping kids, but no pets or smelly fruits.
Monday 12/31, Day 6
I woke up at 3:00 in the morning, wide awake, so I took a bath and messed around with the hotel Wifi on the phone to send some emails and sat up and wrote my trip journal until Samantha woke up at 5:00 and Marcus woke up at 6:00. We all got dressed fast and went out for a walk, just going up and down the main street our hotel was on, but looking at closed stores, closed restaurants, awake chickens, awake roosters, a lot of front-yard shrines, and an ATM. Back at the hotel, we gave George and Pat a wake-up call around 7:15 and then brought out bags to the lobby and went into the dining room for the free breakfast.
This was a mostly-Thai hotel, and we were the only farang I saw there; the breakfast was abundant, economical, and delicious. Marcus ate some plain rice with kecap manis from the condiment bar, orange juice, and ham slices, but I had a good amount of fried rice, topping it with sliced cucumbers, fried shallots, and ground pork. Samantha loved the pork and rice and once again eagerly fed herself. I gave her some congee to finish, and by that time George and Pat had come down and we all met up with one of George’s students’ families—a current nursery school student who’s a month older than Marcus, her mother, and her older cousin, who happened to be one of the middle-school students George and Pat had brought to Boston this past spring and brought over to our house for dinner.
View from our window.
Early-morning explorations in Surat Thani.
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Created: 1/15/13. Last Modified: 1/15/13.