We had quite an adventurous trip back to Bangkok. First leg -
longtail to the mainland and a minibus to Pakse. In classic Lao style, this all
seemed to be rather more complicated than it needed to be. We were the last
(naturally) in our minibus, so Ollie squeezed in the back, while I sat next to
the driver. Whilst I was quite keen on snoozing, the driver kept jabbing me
awake so I could plug his phone into the charger socket for him - every time it
rang, he unplugged it again, and he was a very popular guy, so I was kept busy.
He wasn’t the greatest driver in the world
- he nearly hit a cow that was crossing the road, and then he DID hit a goat -
it seemed to survive though.
We transferred onto our next bus, which
would take us from Pakse to Ubon Ratchathani just over the border to Thailand. I
spent the journey saying my goodbyes to Laos - I felt really quite
emotional, like it was the end of an era.
At the border we had our next adventure -
or rather Ollie became a knight in shining armour once again - a German girl on
our bus had overstayed her visa, and therefore had to pay a $30 fine. Which
would have been fine, had she had any cash. Or had there been an ATM. We pooled
her our leftover kip, but the border guards were very unhelpful - there was an
ATM on the Thai side of the border, but the German girl couldn’t get across to Thailand. Ollie
very kindly ran over to the Thai border, got some cash out and ran back. The
German girl was annoying very calm about the whole thing - I felt like there
should have been more tears and higher stress levels.
Onto our next bus, another overnighter -
pretty comfortable this time, but neither of us were feeling particularly
sleepy after a day of sitting, and every time we did nod off, the lights would
all come on as we arrived at another stop. Most annoying.
We arrived in Bangkok, bleary eyed at 6am
and headed for Soi Rambutri where our favourite guesthouses were - and this was
to be our first mini-separation: I was staying at a slightly higher end
guesthouse as Jules was arriving that day for a visit, whilst Ollie was back at
his old faithful Apple Guesthouse. We agreed to meet for dinner at 7 - which
left about 12 hours APART.
Which was all very odd - like missing my
right hand or something.
I headed out to the airport to meet Jules -
after a good old natter and catch up on the way back to Bangkok, we met up with Ollie and had some
street food and a beer Chang (which DOESN’T poison me). Jet lag was hitting
Jules hard, so she and I headed home at 11 for a very respectable early night.
Next day, Jules and I hit the tailors shops
so she could get sorted with some new suits for work. After shopping and a
massage, it already seemed to be evening, and for my last night with Ollie
(sob). We went for some authentic Thai Mexican food, and hit the frozen
strawberry margaritas hard. Jules then headed off to bed at about midnight,
leaving Ollie and I to have a final drink and a fond farewell. As I was a bit,
ummmm, tired and emotional, I cried absolute buckets, but that man of
stone shared nary a tear. Heartless.
The next day, I girded my shoulders, and
after a little more tailoring, Jules and I headed to the airport for our flight
to Phuket. We saw an amazing thunderstorm as we took off, and imagine my
surprise when I was leafing through the in-flight magazine and saw a picture of
my niece Mo, in an advert for the school.
On arriving at Phuket, we headed down to
Phuket Backpackers - where it all began. I gave ‘our’ dorm a wave, but
unfortunately Jules and I were in a really bad room - it was absolutely boiling
hot & noisy, so we didn’t get a great nights sleep.
Next morning, it was up bright and early to
catch the Ferry to Ko Phi Phi. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and Jules in
particular loved sitting on deck watching the world go by. Unfortunately, this
was without suntan lotion on, and therefore there was some serious burning
involved.
We decided to spend just one night on Phi
Phi, so we found ourselves a hotel & settled down for a strenuous afternoon
of sunbathing followed by a massage on the beach which was gorgeous. After a
spot of dinner at our hotel, we headed over to Ao Ton Sai, the main resort, by
long tail, where I introduced Jules to the beauty of the vodka bucket.
Next day we headed off to Ko Lanta, where
we spent the next three nights. We did have some good intentions about doing
stuff, but somehow we never quite got round to it and ended up sunbathing for 3
days. Oops. We did see the most amazing sunsets though - the best I’ve seen the
whole trip - the sky looked like it was on fire. Absolutely beautiful.
On the Saturday, we decided to head to
Railay Beach - reputedly the most beautiful in Thailand, and I’m inclined to
agree - it’s a lovely stretch of sand surrounded by huge limestone cliffs -
although Railay is on the mainland, it’s effectively an island as it’s only
accessible by boat. We had a relaxing couple of days here, and on our final
night we sat on the beach, watching fireshows and drinking cocktails.
Back to Bangkok
on the Monday, and after some final fittings at the tailors, we managed a
whistlestop tour of some of Bangkok’s
sights before Jules left to get her plane home.
Alone again, for the first time in two
months. It felt quite strange.
I had 3 days in Bangkok, and plenty I
needed to do, dedicating one day to various admin, one to shopping and one for
sightseeing before heading off to Julie & Chris’ for a final goodbye to
them & the kids.
The circle I began on the 5th
November was finishing on the 5th March. A nice symmetry I think.
