Halloween at the Beach

Photographs:
1. Pat and Jarmo with their new found idol Rob. Rob worked at the hotel as a driver, but he was also a muay thai boxer, the best fire thrower at our hotel, singer and band member, and he had the "Rob" hair style. Pat and Jarmo were huge fans!
2. Pat and I at sunset on Ko Lanta.
3 and 4. Our Popeye scooter.
5. The interior of our house in Trang.
6 and 7. The Emerald Resort at Ko Lanta and our room.
8. One of the fire shows at Ko Lanta.
9. Johanna and Jarmo, our new Swedish friends, with Pat and me
10. The beach at Ko Lanta.


Saturday, November 1, 2008

Today Keats and I returned from the island of Ko Lanta to Trang. The place where we stayed on the island seemed at first to not be the greatest of places. However after we settled in and checked out some online reviews of other places on the island that included price and also user comments, we decided we were best off where we were. The place was called the Emerald Lanta Resort. I’m pretty sure in Thailand you can just throw the word resort on the end of whatever it is you have to make it seem more appealing to tourists. We ended up staying in the first house that over looked the ocean, which was fine until we found out we were paying about 10 dollars more a night than the people staying 2 houses down from us. When we approached the boss about moving to a cheaper room he ended up just giving us a “secret price” on the condition that we tell no one. I’m pretty sure it was just because they didn’t feel like cleaning two rooms for us. So the room that we were paying 500 baht for (about 15 dollars) one day will now be 2000 baht because high season has just started. It was almost like a switch was flicked that turned the resort into a place where only about 8 people were staying into a place with about 30 all in one day.
The resort ended up being one of the best places I have ever stayed, not so much because of the location but more so because of the staff. The people that work at the resort I think have the best jobs on the planet, at least during the low season. They would hang out with us all day either talking to us about whatever or playing pool with us on their slightly damaged table. Then in the evening they would play soccer on the beach with us and then drink beers with us at the bar after dinner. They then would put on a fire show which consisted of them lighting various things on fire and spinning them around while trying not to light the bar on fire. They are all pretty much a big family that runs a resort and hangs out with each other. I wonder if the little kids that live in the resort realize how rich their lives are. Not in the sense of having tons of money but in the sense that they their lives consist of running around a beach with their brothers laughing and playing all day. Like I said the staff at the resort was really great. I have never been genuinely sad to leave behind people that work at a hotel but they were really great to be around. It was refreshing to be around so many people who are just genuinely happy all the time. The laughter around there is really contagious. It was great to be around so many different types of people, Muslim, Christian, even a few crazy Germans all having a great time together. All in all we had a great time whether that was laying out at the beach, playing pool, or playing cards with our newfound Swedish friends Jarmo and Johanna. However we are now back in Trang to the “real world”. But this world still seems a bit strange and new to me.
On another note we ended up buying a motor scooter today to help us get around town a bit easier. As we are located awkwardly in between everything a scooter was really our only means of transportation. We bought a second hand automatic red motor bike. The best part is there is a picture of Popeye on the seat, so you know its badass. Tonight we took our new purchase for a spin and ate dinner at this little food stand/restaurant for about 2 dollars total (80 baht). Now that we are back to the internet we should be able to post more frequently so they wont all be this long, sorry about that. And I can also obsessively check online to see when Hansbrough’s leg has healed. We’ll be sure to post soon and let you all know how our first day of classes went (which is Monday). Hopefully we will make it through them alright but you never know. Thanks for reading.

Pat