or so we've been told by every single Thai person who finds out we're Canadian. I guess the Miss Universe pageant is a big thing over here. They keep talking about it . . .
It was mighty hard saying goodbye to the beach. On Thursday, Gregg didn't leave the beach all day. We even ate lunch right there. The beach bumming lifestyle is addictive. Oh, we did see Wolverine again, but couldn't go talk to him because we were getting tattoos. He went walking by with a new girl, his fanny pack secured over his sarong. What a guy!
Our final morning, we both got up early to enjoy a few more hours of sand, sun, and ocean. Gregg sat reading his book and trying to get rid of his sandal tan. I decided to enjoy the quiet and solitude of the early morning by walking down the beach. It was a great idea, but I didn't take into account the partiers who would just be making their way home. A stringy haired Thai guy in his underwear tried to pull my hand to make me go swimming. A slightly drunken "Irishman" who sounded Scottish wouldn't leave alone and tried to impress me by saying he was one of Prince Harry's keepers and that Prince Harry was staying at a nearby dumpy resort with a Thai woman. (I guess I'll have to check out the tabloids for the veracity of his story.) And then there were the gangs of beach dogs and plenty of happy fisherman. I was happy to be back with Gregg so people would leave me alone. We went for one last swim in the beautiful blue waters, packed up the massive mound of stuff we've acquired and headed for the pier and our boat back to the mainland.
Our bus was scheduled for 7:30 and that gave us three hours to kill in the city of Surat Thani, a major transport center for people headed to Samui, Krabi and Phuket. There isn't a whole lot to do in the part of town we found ourselves in. We ate, found the most spacious 7- Eleven in all of Thailand, and ate mangosteens. The bus ride was uneventful except for the movie fiasco. Gregg and I had just been talking about the movie Pearl Harbor and how we didn't like it very much or its two principal actors. And voila, that's the movie that was shown. And furthermore, it was a very poor pirated version. It would skip and stop. The start of the movie was missing. You could hear the audience's laughter. I slept through most of it.
And we awoke back in Bangkok, the crazy city. The bus stopped right by the short cut to our hotel and in the early morning hours, we got to see the topless old ladies who sit in the alley who seem to delight in making us uncomfortable. We went to the famous weekend market (aka Chatachuck or JJ) and were so overwhelmed by the crowds and confined spaces and heat that we really didn't buy much or even see anything we liked. We tried out MBK and bought some jeans. Then it was just Khao San Road and vicinty. The day stuff was closing and then it rained so most of Khao San shut down. It kind of sucked. Maybe tomorrow will be sunny.
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