03.21.06
Leaving The Tropical Beach
3/21/06 12:34 PM, Koh Samui
I am checked out of the Chewang Pearl Cabana and wasting time on the strip waiting for my flight out. Right now I am sitting at the Curry Pot Indian Restaurant where I have ordered a five-piece meal for 200 Baht. I am not sure how they will prepare everything since the island has lost power again, but they seem confident they can fulfill my order. I guess there are advantages to coal fired ovens and gas stoves. Still, don’t they need a blender for the Mango Lassi?
After a long day of diving and a beer I fell asleep early last night and rather than figure out the time and go out again when I woke up I just rolled over and kept sleeping. The sleep was interrupted at one time by eurotrash yelling at each other so they could carry a conversation across opposite ends of the hotel area and at another by high-pitched squealing. I think I found out what the cause of the squealing was this morning when a five-inch cockroach scurried out from under one of my bags.
From this point the adventure travels become a lot less adventure and a lot more travel. I booked a new flight directly out of Samui airport but found all the morning flights on the 22nd were full so I had to book to leave this evening. I will arrive in Bangkok around 8pm and intend on finding a hotel near the airport since I have to be back by 2pm tomorrow to fly to Hong Kong. Coincidentally I arrive in Hong Kong again at 8pm and have to again be at the airport by 2pm to fly out to Los Angeles. The hotel I booked in Hong Kong is about 5 miles from the airport and promises to be ‘Conveniently located in the heart of the shopping, dining and entertainment district’. I am hoping this is true as I would hate to just sit in my hotel for a day.
P.S. That is one damned tasty Mango Lassi.
2:50 PM
Back at the Pearl Cabana and ocean side with a book on my lap and a Banana Daiquiri on the table (it was either that or the Piña Colada given the setting). The waves washing ashore make a beautiful concert with the bamboo wind chimes. I have about an hour and a half before my ride to the airport and intend to spend it doing not a damned thing. I figure this is my last hour of tropical beach paradise and it should be used appropriately.
I just booked a room at a hotel near the Bangkok airport. I paid more than I have for any room in Thailand thus far, but when I calculated the cost of getting to/from the airport plus the peace of mind of knowing I have somewhere to stay I decided it was worth it. I am curious to see what the area around the airport is like, if it is not interesting tomorrow may very well be spent watching TV and writing (I am working on a few non-chronological special reports on Thailand.
On the way back from the travel agent I realized why power keeps failing around here. There were workers clearing vines that had overgrown a construction area and dragged power lines down. Along the power lines you could see all kinds of improvised splices as businesses had just cut insulation on lines to bring power down. I wonder if the workers yanking on the lines will all make it without getting electrocuted.