Laurie's World

Well I must say, 1,650 baht well spent. The whole transport from Railay hotel to airport was as seamless and smooth as possible! They scooped us and our bags from the front desk at the SandSea Resort and shuffled us on golf carts to the tractor, that shuffled us to our longtail that then put us right on a Tuk Tuk that took us to our van that drove us in comfort to the airport and right as promised it took one hour for door to door transport! My faith in humanity is restored ❤️

Now this is living!

The sun is shining and the sunrise is gorgeous over the water as we rode to Krabi on the long tail. 

The flight is uneventful even though it was extremely cramped on the airasia flight, but it is so cheap, I guess anything is doable for one hour 55 minutes.

We arrive in Chiang Mai, both bags too! It seems our days of misfortune are behind us…..

After checking into the hotel, Baan Ratchiangsen, our favourite place here, we head out for a bite to eat as we have been up since 5:30am and missed breakfast. We did snag a couple hard boiled eggs and yoghurt from sandsea, but that was HOURS ago…..

We figured we would try the burger place that was put in after Ian and Tee moved out of their place. Arnos.

It was actually pretty darn good for a lunch set Thai burger and at ~200 baht ($6usd) each, it was fairly affordable western food. They made everything from scratch and offered several choices. Curly fries or regular, cheese choices, pop choices, sauce choices. Troy’s burger was a little ridiculous in fact (Tabasco bottle for reference) and once Rachael took the bun off hers and gave to Troy, he had two complete burgers….

Since the weather was cooperating with only some very light cloud cover, we figured we would seize the moment and get a Songtao (covered red truck with two benches in back) to transport us up to DoiSuthep. A visit to this temple provides a spectacular view of the city as it is a 14km drive up a nearby mountain with a gorgeous albeit very busy and touristy temple at the top. We were able to be blessed again by a Buddhist monk, who did not tie the bracelets on us ladies, (he laid them across our wrists). Unlike the last monk who CAREFULLY tied them on without touching us. This monk was not taking any chances…..

The girls put coins in for their birth days again as you can never really have too much good luck  and we rang the bells

and tried to get the gong to hum

all while enjoying the view. The cover ups were really really nice this year. (I’m being sarcastic)

They looked a lot like the hospital gown Rachael wore in Hong Kong 😂😂

Rachael, Anna and Troy all signed the gold cloth that will be used to wrap the pagoda at some point.

We came back down and the ride was about the right length of time to get the 10 minute deluge of rain completed, once that was done, it was done. We didn’t personally experience a single drop! We could not have had better timing. Spent a couple hours chilling at the hotel and Rachael and I visited the laundry across the street as we were all very low on clean clothes. 45 minutes and 45 baht ($1.50 usd) later all our clothes were clean and hung up to dry back at the hotel. 

The big plans for the night were to walk over to Chiang Mai Gate food market, get some supper, (fried chicken here I come), then head over to the Thapae Gate MuayThai boxing stadium to see Riam’s daughter in a boxing match at 9pm. So I’ve been coming here 10 years now and somehow managed to avoid this spectacle, but Riam invited us, and to be polite and supportive, we decided to go.

The first two fights were ‘lady fights’ and Ice’s fight was #2. It was very slow at first but you can tell as soon as they had sized each other up, it got a lot more intense. Ice was KO’d after a punch to the face in round two. So I could tell this was hard for Riam to watch. This was her 10th match and she had won 7 so far, but they knew this was a formidable opponent.

We stayed for one more match after to see a male fight. Then given that it was after 10:30pm, we had been up since 5:30am and the girls had a zip lining excursion booked for the morning, we bowed out. It was an interesting experience, but that box is definitely “checked off” for me!

The girls were up early, had breakfast and went in search of booking themselves a boat tour of the neighboring islands. There is a 400baht parks fee each, plus another 500each for a longtail and they are off. Includes snorkeling gear for one of the four stops and lunch. It doesn’t look like rain, it’s a little breezy, but I think we are in for another beautiful day, hopefully without too much sun. It’s hard to be a sitting duck out in a boat on a super sunny day. 

They had a blast. One of the four islands was closed so their trip consisted of three beautiful islands including Chicken Island (which I had never heard of) it’s an island that if you ‘squint’ at it from afar, looks like a chicken (or a turtle). They snorkeled and while they saw some colourful fish, there wasn’t too too many.

Troy and I did a fair amount of walking this day as walking is really the only time my back doesn’t really hurt. Well I guess laying down too, but can’t do that ALL DAY now can we? Mostly in search of a pharmacy where I was hoping to secure some muscle relaxers. As it turns out there is one pharmacy on the whole of Railay, and despite checking three times throughout the day, it never opened. So I persevere. 

I put three simple things on my list today, ice cream, massage and fruit shake. In no particular order. Not bragging or anything, but I manage to accomplish all three by 3pm, plus a banana pancake ❤️

I decided to get the ‘head, shoulder, back’ massage. Plan is, should any undue twisting/stretching occur that involves the lower back, I will just put a stop to it. It is one of the best back massages I have ever had and bless her heart, when she was done, she noticed a lot of peeling skin (the after effects of not having good sunscreen the first two days here) and she pulled a bunch of it off. Aye yai yai 😳

After chilling by the pool for a bit, we notice the tide is waaaay out and think maybe we can access Tonsai beach via sand rather than the jungle trek the back way like we have attempted twice now with extremely limited success. Sure enough we are able to traverse this rocky terrain despite my lack of proper footwear and we make it over there to see some really advanced rock climbers.

After getting our step count up, we wander over to the walking street for supper again is where most of the restaurants/bars are and we have had pretty good luck there the last two nights finding food food. The first night we ate on east Railay. I thought my meal was good (the pad see ewe) but everyone else was underwhelmed. Since that might we have eaten on the walking street and had quite good food. Indianan night two here and last night at a Thai place that we affectionately refer to as ‘Cactus’ (because it’s always full)

and tonight we decide to eat across the street at ‘Georges’ (because it’s not always full 🤨).

Time to support the underdog. Ok, well it’s our last night here, so not an issue, but if we were to try to eat here again, we would have to be a LOT more specific about our food. Rachael had phadThai (check), Anna had a burger (check), Troy ordered garlic and pepper chicken and Tom Yum rice dish (spicy but mostly a check) and I went rogue and ordered something called Fried macaroni in Penang with bread. Why not! Well I’ll tell you why not. I am not known for eating spicy food. I’m a one ⭐️ girl at the best of times. Troy is a two ⭐️ ⭐️ guy, and could possibly do three 🌟 🌟 🌟 if he had to. Well one bite in, I knew it was too-spicy for me. Troy gave it a try, even he acknowledged it was too much but we traded meals and he ate about half the dish then pushed it off. I ate his meal, still pretty dang spicy, but wi5 water and chapstick I got through it. Anyway, not sure how they serve food this spicy to farang! Maybe it is why they are not busy like Cactus?? 😂😂I’ve never not been able to finish a restaurant meal here. There’s been a couple times I’ve thrown out street food as it wasn’t what it appeared to be. 

Back to hotel as we have a 5:30 am wake up call coming in the morning….we are back to Krabi airport for our 9am flight to Chiang requires a reverse transport of what we went through to get onto Railay. Initially we were going to move to an airport hotel on Thursday PM and overnight close to airport to be there for the early flight, but at the hotel desk, we saw a since for ‘private transport’ to the airport arranged through them. 1,650 baht ($54usd) and it is end to end. Given the disconnect we experienced getting here, and that there would be no tolerance for gaps, waits or other inconveniences if we stayed on Railay Thursday night and attempted to go Friday morning vs Thursday PM, we decided to just go for it. Then we saw signage that it was 400baht per person for that service from a street travel agent anyway, so same same! So we signed up and crossed our fingers.

Stay tuned for how that goes…..

The plan for today was a 1/2 day rock climbing excursion for the girls. They chose a company and prebooked this yesterday with much anticipation. Both Rachael and Anna rock climb at home, but the terrain here takes this sport to a whole new level! It’s why we are here for the most part. Railay is well known for its spectacular rock climbing. It’s just been too rainy and windy the last couple days to do it safely and or comfortably. So today it is. They got up had breakfast and were at the school at 8:50am.

Once they were outfitted and set off to their location, Rachael texted us and we met them there. They were a group of 5. Rachael, Anna, a father and his two young sons (11 & 13). We got there as Anna was starting her first climb, Rachael had already gone but she was belizing for Anna. So lots to see.

At the top their instructor would yell “hit the ring”. It’s how you show YOU MADE IT!

They both completed four challenging climbs before their morning was over. They had an absolute blast and are exhausted tonight…they are considering going again tomorrow however!

After they were done, we met over at the TewLay bar which is a hangout spot on the water on east Railay, they have awesome seating with hammocks etc. fruit shakes and some mango with sticky rice. Yes, that’s a little deck built out on the branch of a tree. Wasn’t feeling like I was going to make it out given the super sketchy handrail. Troy made it out just fine. I’ll blame my inadequate footwear.

Yip, there we are hammock’ing (is that a thing??) Once done, we were relaxed and ready to head back to the hotel pool. Which we did, until the girls decided a massage was in order. Rough life they are living over here eh??

Supper at the Railay Family restaurant included chicken with cashew nut, spring rolls, onion rings (why not?) and fried pepper chicken, we were all tired and ready for shower and bed.

I think I’ve got it figured out! Blog without pics is boring 😉

enjoy….

I’ll take a day like today over 100 days like last week! While it started off rainy and windy, we were able to have a delicious breakfast and leisurely start to the day. We went for a walk on east Railay and decided to stop for a massage when the rains picked up and we were without umbrella. Rachael got head neck & back massage, Anna and I had footies and Troy went for Thai massage. Four/four were excellent and our faith in massage is restored!🎉🎉

Somehow the the passage of an hour did not make the rains go away. They in fact seemed more vigorous. We did see the Thai crime scene (GET IT??) all it’s missing is a chalk outline…..

The girls spent most of the afternoon on the beach, overcast but warm so they relaxed and are happy. I mostly relaxed on the couch in my room, trying to get my back sorted!

We also saw this Coug’s flag here in Hippy bar in Railay Beach, Krabi, Thailand. Cougars really are everywhere! I think I’m going to start traveling with Canada flags to pass out to restaurants and bars here so we get represented. The Canada flag in this bar was about 5”x7” 🙄

The one thing I have said before and still believe to be true is that we’ve never been really ripped off or left behind, or forgotten here in Thailand. Today was no exception despite some frustrations in getting from Phi Phi to Railay. Seemed like a good idea to ‘island hop’ when we planned this all out in the spring. Phuket to phi phi by ferry, then phi phi to Krabi by ferry, then Krabi to Railay via longtail then Railay back to Krabi, then Krabi to Chiang Mai via airplane.

We woke to heavy rains for the first time today. We got to the ferry with the assistance of a hotel staff member and his trusty cart. But this time, Rachael walked with us instead of getting the ride.  😂😂

They wrapped up all our bags in individual plastic bags which would turn out to be a huge lifesaver as we moved through our day and travels. The ferry left right on time at 9 am and arrived in Krabi around 10:45am. It drizzled the entire way, but winds were inconsequential and the rain not a concern. We docked and after the scrum involved in retrieving our two large bags that the crew put in storage along with everyone else’s large bags, we walked in on the long pier to land. There were super cute monkeys along the rail as we came in. But we know not to approach etc. just fun to see. Anna looks to her left and as she has become a decent weather observer, says “I think there’s rain coming-do you see that!”  Yes indeed I can see that black dumping cloud coming straight at us. 😳 By the time we reach the ferry building, it is coming down full dump. We walk 150 feet through the building, and by the time we come out the other side, it’s pouring so much we probably couldn’t see 50 feet in front of us! My how quickly things change….

We had bought through tickets to Railay on the ferry and I assumed we would get on a longtail at the same pier we got off the ferry at. Um, nope! We have to get in a minivan and ride lord knows where. But we get in and are just glad to be out of the torrential downpour. I learned something as Troy googled the exact meaning of ‘monsoon’ after Rachael asked about it. And I am not alone in the misuse of this term apparently. I will no longer refer to ‘monsoon rain’ as a descriptor when we get washed away like this. I will call it ‘torrential downpour’.  The driver is working on filling his van, and as it turns out it takes a while and we didn’t think anything of the until the next phase of the journey. (More coming on that).  The rest of the van is apparently going to the airport, but I get assurance WE are going to the longtail pier. “Yes yes, don’t worry” they tell me.

We do end up at another shelter area on the side of the road where we are told to “wait”. The driver drops us and our bags off, then drives away. The new guy standing there tells me he doesn’t know how long we have to wait as he “isn’t a longtail boat driver”. Yup got it! Didn’t think you were actually…..after 15 minutes another guy comes get us and walks us over to waiting area by pier and tells us, no word of a lie, “we can’t go to Railay until there are minimum 8 people”. We are only four people and as I look around and up and down the streets, there not 4 more people in the entire area! It’s pouring and there’s not a soul in sight. He insists that the boat won’t go until there are 8 people, despite our protestations about the fact that we had paid a premium price for this transfer to the people in the ferry. He did say we could pay 400 more baht and he would just take us. Pfffft! You can imagine how I reacted to that! So there’s no way we were the only people on that ferry going to Railay, so this is where the wait at the ferry terminal comes in. All the other vans must have gotten  away first, and filled the long tails and took off already. We were just minutes too late…..anyway, After about 30 more minutes, he managed to recruit one more passenger on the street. The longtail driver proposed if that guy paid an extra 50 baht and each of us paid an extra 50 baht, he would just go now. SIGH!! I buck up, and off we go.

The 5th passenger (Alex) is from CA and asks Anna and Rachael if they are in high school 😂😂😂. Rachael quickly corrects him that she is a university graduate, but now they both think he’s a gigantic knob. They used a different word, but I’ll go with my word for now. He proceeds to give ME advice on how to deal with sunburn and where they should for entertainment in Chiang Mai, where the developments are on Railay, as well as all kinds of other things we already know. We tried to explain we are very familiar with the area but he was just one of those people that has A LOT OF KNOWLEDGE TO SHARE! He also just graduated from university and is traveling alone for a few weeks to celebrate his accomplishment. But let’s just say this, I’m not taking travel advice from a guy with a scraped scabbed and scarred face arm and hand as well as a broken collarbone and that spend three days in a Chiang Mai hospital after admitting to driving like an idiot on his motorbike in Pai and wiping out and becoming unconscious multiple times. 

The girls were NOT IMPRESSED. I’m proud of them. 

We got to Railay and are staying at the SandSea resort on west Railay. It’s really nice, but the weather was rainy, windy and unpleasant all day. The girls and I went out and explored a bit before supper. Watched some rock climbing and played in the ocean over by Princess cave.

The girls assured me they wanted to stay far away from the cave filled with thousands of phallic symbols left there by worshippers praying for fertility. Also happy to hear this!

Supper down on east Railay. First pad see ewe gai of the trip for me! Didn’t disappoint. Yum. Plus Troy enjoying a Honey Monkey 🐒 

Woke up bright and early (as one would expect from someone who had slept the better part of the last 16 hours). Everyone up and ready for breakfast by 7:30am! Breakfast here at the P.P. Casita was very good! And everyone felt up to eating. They had the usual fruit, toast, cereal stuff, coffee tea etc and they were making eggs to order. They had real bacon and ham and they even made potatoes for us! Great start to the day and the fourth day in a row we awoke to beautiful sun (and the accompanying heat).

After breakfast we set out to hike up to the viewpoint. ‘Twas quite the set of stairs to get up there but the view was phenomenal. 

We met a couple up there that asked me to take their photo. I took couple and then when giving them their phone back I say to let me know if you want more. They smiled and moved on. They spoke English and appeared to have no accent. About 10 minutes later they came back and asked me to take another. They says they wanted a ‘kissing picture’ as they were on their honeymoon. So I leapt right up off my  rock to assist in creating this photographic memory for them, and tweaked something in my lower back. Grimace ensuing I got them their beautiful pictures and then just had to ask where they are from. Small world….SEATTLE! I knew they sounded normal. They had come through Phuket to phi phi, tomorrow going to Ralay for a couple days then going to Chiang mai. This is exactly our travel plans!! The world just got a little smaller yet!! They spoke about taking the ferry and getting through right before the 3 boats sank as part of the storm on Thursday. 

Sooooo, back to the lower back thing……apparently not going to fix itself?!?! I hobbled over to a chair in the restaurant and tried to relax. No small feat, but I knew relief lay at the bottom of the mountain in the form of ibuprofen! We just hung out for an hour or so probably then it was time to head down. All’s well that ends well (I think I’ve said that a lot in the last 6 days). But we did get down just fine and I got my ibuprofen and then we all got in the pool! It sure was hot today. After bobbing around in the pool we got out and went out for lunch. We were set on going to a restaurant we passed yesterday called Anna’s Restaurant! How could we not??  I had pad Thai and the girls both had Tom Kha and Troy had a burger (??). He said it was good. Actually all the food was good! I told our server that Anna’s name was Anna. So maybe it was her restaurant….ha ha. My humour….he then told us that Anna was a child that died in the tsunami. Her photo was on the wall. A really beautiful child actually. Her father and a brother also died and another brother and the mother went a different way and had lived. But they named restaurant after Anna. Stories of that tsunami always surface when we come to the beach areas.  😞

We walked down to the ferry terminal and explored some beach areas where all the longtails gather. Then headed back to the hotel-you guesses it, back in the pool! You see how the day is progressing.

Then we decide to get a massage. Four footies ordered up at the place right across the street from our hotel. Troy and Rachael 100% had ladyboys doing their massages, no judgement, but whatever! And according to all of them, I was the only one that got a decent foot massage. I guess they were all watching. I had to pass on the “back” part of my foot massage due to my issues from earlier in the day and as soon as I said that, she wrapped it up and oddly enough everyone else’s was also over. So not sure what was the deal there. When I saw those ladyboys, I was like “those two are gonna get the heck massaged out of their feet” but apparently not. But as we always say even a bad foot massage is better than no foot massage! 😂😂😂

We meander down to what we are affectionately referring to as “the people beach”. We get there and see the source of all the bumping bar music we could hear last night. There are many bars along the beach that seem intent on serving as much nasty combined alcohol and Red Bull mixer as possible in buckets. Buckets are bad juju here. Quite risky for many reasons. There’s one bar/place called Ibiza pool party. It literally a gigantic pool with about 75+ drunk people in it and many more loitering on the deck getting really drunk. Funny point, a sign that says free entrance with a minimum 500 baht purchase. Ummmmm. Now that’s not free is it??? So we are literally standing there watching, marveling and maybe some of us (Rachael) dancing to the beats, when a very drunk mid 20s guy comes storming out the gate, headed straight to the ocean. Staggering swinging his arms…this doesn’t end well we think. He walks straight into the water and we are watching to see who comes to stop him. He seems very angry and is slapping at the water. I’m thinking “where’s the girl?” (These kind of bar escalations always involve a girl). Oh sure enough a big mixed group comes out 30 seconds later. Two guys (hopefully not as plastered) follow him in. But they have some catching up to do as he’s just a bobbing head now. I hear a bar staff member tell someone “it’s ok, very shallow” but I guess he didn’t get the memo that people can drown in one inch of water. And prolly less for a drunk Person. Anyway this is a fascinating drama unfolding right in front of us. Most of the group waits on the beach and right along with us watches the guy beat the snot out of the water and alternate between struggling to resist the friends’ help in coming in and hugging them. Except the two girls in the tiny thongs that waded our far enough to squat down and take a pee break. We saw another girl do it too. I think the bar just sends people out to the ocean rather than supply them a washroom???? Anyway, the skies opened up for a quick downpour (AKA humidity booster) so we headed off for cover. I hope we don’t read about this young man in the news tomorrow. I am much happier to read news about the boys being rescued from the cave in chiang rai. News is saying 6 are out so far!

We had a quick supper at the Indian place by our hotel. I had pizza, Rachael had phadThai and troy and Anna had chicken tikka masala with garlic naan. So I’m sure the kitchen loved that diverse order and I’m also sure it was not actually “an Indian place”!!! Haha

Aye yai yai, where did I leave off? We really thought with the receipt of our bags, we had surpassed the last hurdle of this vacation and it would be free sailing from here on out. We walked to the red chair for supper, (which is our favourite restaurant in Phuket). Had an amazing meal of Thai omelette, morning glory, fried rice in pineapple, dry garlic pork, massaman curry, spicy beef salad, and fruit shakes!

So tasty and the last meal that Rachael and I would enjoy for about 36 hours…..we ate family style, so thinking it was not from that, but we (Rachael and I) woke up in the middle of the night with a pretty severe case of “travelers tummy”. Rachael’s much worse then mine. .. I will leave the gory details out, but suffice it to say, it was really unpleasant. The minivan driver that picked us up to transport us to the ferry at 9:15 am on Saturday stopped at a pharmacy to get her some pills that should help (but only if you keep them down). Then as we neared the ferry terminal, he suggested we take a later ferry and go to the hospital. Oh my gawd, not again. We surely did not need to go to another hospital. Not interested in the south east Asia hospital tour. After some reflecting, and thinking “what are they going to give her for this?” I told him to go on, we would be fine. How much worse could it be? The motion of the ocean not withstanding…..

Well I sucked it up and held Rachael’s head, and the bag, for the two hour ferry ride, then when we got here and paid the 20 baht each “environmental fee” to get off the ferry terminal. (AKA extortion). Rachael couldn’t stand up straight and with the bag hanging from her head, was quite a sight. The nice Thai man that was going to help us to the hotel had a rolly-cart for our bags, he adjusted a few things and gestured to Rachael to get in. So she sure did, and he rolled her through the streets of phi phi in his cart. All that we passed stared, a good amount said “look at that girl” and the rest said “is that a dead body?” 

So we got to the P.P. Casita, took at shower and were in bed by 2:30pm. When I say we, I mean Rachael and I. Troy and Anna enjoyed a walk about, some pool time, ice cream and massage then supper. May or may not have been in that order. We were Not to rise until 7:15 am the next morning. 

So if I am blogging from the pool, it must mean I have a swimsuit, and if I have a swim suit it must mean I have a backpack and if I have a backpack it must mean that an airline must have eventually got their S&$T together and delivered said backpack to me! Yes, all the above is true. After multiple (4) trips to the front desk yesterday to check on the possible delivery of our bags, I had lost almost all hope! Several renditions of several stories we had been told, ended up with the final dramatic conclusion of the day being that “our bags were currently on a plane flown by ‘DragonAir’ that was circling the Phuket airport for the last hour being told they couldn’t safely land due to weather”. AND, “Once the plane could land, our bags would be delivered to us”  Ok…..

I’ve never even heard of this ‘DragonAir’. Google tells me it is Cathay Pacific’s budget airline? Great. Another budget airline…..As I’ve now learned, Hong Kong airlines booked us on their budget airline for the Hong Kong to Phuket leg (WHICH apparently IS A TOTALLY DIFFERENT COMPANY) and APPARENTLY they can’t work together to take care of their customers.

Now the one thing I DO believe is that weather might cause problems with planes landing at the Phuket airport tonight. Mid afternoon, after the second disappointing trip of the day to the front desk to check on our bag delivery, we secured ourselves a driver and a red truck to take us on a three stop mini tour of the area, Big Buddha, the southernmost tip of Phuket and the “viewpoint” for 1,200 baht. So after a quick stop at a close by place for some phadThai and fried rice-we were off. Sunny, hot etc etc, a few fluffy clouds, nothing out of the ordinary. Exceptional view from the Big Buddha upon arrival.

It’s a little breezy, that’s about it! Then about 25 minutes after we get there the winds pick up significantly and we see a gigantic dark ominous cloud coming in. We just couldn’t get ourselves off the Big Buddha in time as we get slightly sidetracked by a monk and we wanted to stop for a blessing. So by the time we do that it is full on monsoon with massive torrential waves of rain and wind. So we decide to “wait it out” HA! Here’s that supper time monsoon we told Anna about, but it gives us a few (30) minutes to explore the covered area in more depth than we might otherwise have. And for the girls to find the buddha for their birth ‘day’ and deposit coins for their luck going forward. 

We took a monsoon selfie 🤣

After waiting until the bulk of the rain at least had passed, we decided to make a run for it through the winds, back to our faithful driver who we knew was waiting for us so we could continue on to our next stop.

To be honest I’ve never seen/felt winds like this in my life. We almost got blown away at both of the next two stops but oddly the rain had stopped completely. Just as it always does.

So the point of all this was to share that I kind of believe the story about the plane having to circle the airport due to weather because it really was windy!!

At breakfast this morning, Troy learned (through news?) that 18 flights had been rerouted away from Phuket last night! So eternally grateful DragonAir flight #savethebags2018 was NOT one of them! 

Other points to note: we had our first massages yesterday. My goodness Phuket is expensive! 300 baht ($9.50 USD) each for Troy and Anna’s 2 hour Thai massage and my foot massage, and 200 baht for Rachael’s pedicure. The girls just left for round two of massages today, after hitting the beach and stopping for garlic and pepper chicken.

Anna had also had her first banana pancake. So happy to share that experience. She’s a believer now!

We have our ferry tickets to Kho phi phi and will be picked up at hotel at 9am tomorrow for the next phase of our adventure. Hoping to find the Red Chair tonight. It’s been a few years since we were here and visited our favourite Kata restaurant!  Praying  🙏 it is still there!!!!

TTFN

But if you try sometimes…..YOU GET WHAT YOU NEEEEEEEED!

It is 8:50 am and I am currently sitting in the breakfast room waiting for the girls to rise. I’ve been wide awake since 6:35am. I’m impressed with that sleep-in to be honest, I was expecting a 3am awakening, but I guess when you are up until 1:30 am, your body just takes control of the mind. First off, Rachael is well, so that is great news, she has a gigantic egg on her forehead and some scrapes, but is still just as beautiful as ever!

The (mis)adventure saga of 2018 continues when merely on a whim, I approach the gate crew at 7:20 pm yesterday before boarding (finally) our flight to Phuket to have them check to MAKE absolutely SURE our bags are on the plane! When we checked in at 10am, they 100% no doubt assured me that hong kong express airline (I write that down so I NEVER forget) would get our bags from the ‘basement’ and transfer them to our flight with the same baggage claim numbers etc in tact. I felt skeptical, and was quite nervous about this. Not wanting to leave that counter until I laid eyes on them. We were so tired of the same clothes and no toiletries at this point. I felt leaving without a confirmed sighting was risky. As it turns out my rabbit intuition was spot on, bcz low and behold, when the young man who was clearly in charge on the boarding process was stuck on the phone trying to track down two bags from some other airline (also news to us that Hong Kong airlines and hong kong express (that they booked us on) are two different companies. We had been told this multiple times today as we moved around the airport trying to gain access to a lounge to rest in. He sets the phone way from his ear and says to me “are you the people who go to hospital?” I say “yes”. I guess I forgot to tell you yesterday that we are now referred to as “The Ambulance Case”. That was what the customer service agent at Hong Kong airlines said I was to say when we were asking for help going forward, it was written on our meal vouchers (should have taken a pic of that!) and at every juncture of this journey we have heard the people behind the counter say at some point to each other. Anyways, the young man looks at me and I’m sure he is not paid nearly enough to be the deliverer of news like this. “I’m sorry, there has been a miscommunication. Your bags are still in the basement.”  Well if this was a Saturday night live skit, this is where the voice over would have said “ And then she LOST IT!” But knowing full well it wasn’t this kid’s fault, I still kind of ‘lost it’. There was a group of four Americans talking to another gate agent beside me and they even looked uncomfortable watching this nice Canadian girl go off. Given that flight was scheduled to depart in 35 minutes, there was apparently no way they could get my two bags to the plane. “ I am so sorry Mam, it can’t work that way”. I did share my opinion that they had indeed had 10 hours to move my bags, so not really my problem they left it to the last half hour. He assured me there was nothing to be done, but visit the lost baggage desk in Phuket and start a claim. They would have my bags on that same flight the next day, and oh yes of course “Mam your bags will be driven directly to your hotel after they arrive in Phuket at 11pm tomorrow.” That elicited another string of non profanities from me. (Not a public curser). I dejectedly go back to the fam and share the news. Pretty sure Rachael didn’t abstain from foul language at that point. 😳All our patience is shot now…..

Just get me to Thailand and everything will be ok I keep telling myself and the girls. Flight is uneventful and we arrive, sail through customs, and possibly I see a ‘welcome home’ wink from the immigration officer! Or did I imagine that?? I go straight to the baggage issue counter and start to tell my tale to the relaxed chap lounging behind the desk. He leaps up and I see the first sight of light at the end of this tunnel. The Hong Kong staff have indeed been in contact with this office, they have all the paperwork filled out and all I have to do is write down my phone number hotel address and sign. And he even tells me thy are putting my bags on another airline to get them delivered “mid day” instead of midnight! He had full bag descriptions and everything (which brings peace of mind that they actually HAVE my bags in their line of sight). I guess the young gate agent understood my frustrations in Hong Kong???

Last possible hurdle is that I wonder if I still have hotel reservations in Phuket since we never showed up to the first night of our four night stay. I had found an email contact earlier in the day and had sent off a request that they hold our rooms. Once we got our taxi to Kata beach secured and I could log on to email. I see a response that we are all good, they have our rooms waiting! So now I relax, and enjoy the ride. Rooms are great, the girls have a pool access room, which means their balcony opens to private pool access, we are across the walkway from them with a pool front room to a different pool. They have four pools here. Quite a big place. 

So please pray for us that our bags come ‘mid day’. If not then maybe midnight should be the worse case scenario. But at least I’m somewhere that I understand how to get what we need, and we have lovely accommodations while we wait!