The paradise, the paradise and the paradise
(1.3.2013)
I was being picked up
early morning (early like 6am early) from the guesthouse. Funny thing
– the whole guesthouse was sleeping, nobody at the reception and I
hadn't paid my bill yet. I wonder what they would do if I would leave
without paying. I wonder what I would do (how I would get the change)
if I wouldn't have the exact amount of money (meaning, I wouldn't
have bills small enough). By some deus-ex-machina, I had. So I just
left the money with the key at the reception table. I haven't heard
from them yet so I guess they got it.
The minivan taxi was on time as I was the first one to get picked up. We did the usual city-seeing round around and through the town to get the rest of the people and were dropped at a place that could be by no definition be even remotely called bus station, however, so it was. We got out tickets and stickers and waited for the actual bus for a while. And yet again, in no universe by no definition in absolutely no way could be bus apparently older than me be called V.I.P., yet somehow it was. Matter of perspective, I guess.
The minivan taxi was on time as I was the first one to get picked up. We did the usual city-seeing round around and through the town to get the rest of the people and were dropped at a place that could be by no definition be even remotely called bus station, however, so it was. We got out tickets and stickers and waited for the actual bus for a while. And yet again, in no universe by no definition in absolutely no way could be bus apparently older than me be called V.I.P., yet somehow it was. Matter of perspective, I guess.
Luckily, I had the double
seat all for myself and it wasn't long before we were directed from
the bus around the pier to the correct boat. The whole time at the
bus and the whole time at the boat, the sky was clear and the sun was
scorching. Naturally. (But for the first time, it stayed that way for
longer time that just till next morning.)
The chaos at the pier and
at the taxi parking places was quite something. There I also found
out that bitching about other people is obviously really typical for
Czechs as an older couple sitting in the same “taxi” (tho it
turned out later they were in a wrong one) started trashing one girl
that for whatever reason insisted sitting like an idiot (three people
sitting on each side, and she had to stuff herself on the same side
with her boyfriend, which meant five to three people, no need to say
that those five people were almost sitting on top of each other while
the three of us on the other side had plenty of space... idiot). In
other words, they spoke my mind. So we were just happily ranting
together how impossible people are and for a while I felt like home.
And then, after some crazy
driving... FINALLY! The paradise presented itself with the name of Ko
Phangan, Thong Yang Bungalow. Private beach was the magic word and
secret ingredient.
Amazing place, amazing
staff, amazing weather. Finally, it felt like the postcard place I
was waiting for.
And new home came with new
roommates.
(2.3.2013)
I had a list of things I
needed (cash, new bag, snacks) so I decided to get to the closest
place where I could get all these.
First observation of that day was that the romantic idea of walking barefoot on beach a distance longer than 5 seconds of cheesy love song video from the 80's is bullshit. A painful bullshit at that. I don't think I ever developed blisters so quickly as by doing exactly that – walking barefoot on beach and actually trying to cross some distance larger than from the towel to the sea and back. The sandals didn't save it anymore. But well, I could walk.
Second observation was that trying to wash the sand from your sandals by the sea while walking in them doesn't work. It just doesn't. Don't do it. I did and I never again will.
First observation of that day was that the romantic idea of walking barefoot on beach a distance longer than 5 seconds of cheesy love song video from the 80's is bullshit. A painful bullshit at that. I don't think I ever developed blisters so quickly as by doing exactly that – walking barefoot on beach and actually trying to cross some distance larger than from the towel to the sea and back. The sandals didn't save it anymore. But well, I could walk.
Second observation was that trying to wash the sand from your sandals by the sea while walking in them doesn't work. It just doesn't. Don't do it. I did and I never again will.
Third observation –
people learning how to use glides can be dangerous.
So when I finally reached
the point where I would turn right and get on the road, my priorities
were reconsidered and on top of my list, suddenly, was finding a drug
store and getting plasters. Only then I realized I would also need to
wash my feet somewhere. Oh well, never mind, I'll live.
The 7-11 was surrounded by
ATMs so the cash and 'grocery' items on the list were sorted easily.
Oh, milk. Oh, gensei ice tea. But no shop with bags or anything
similar anywhere to be seen. But then again, I'm often blind so the
failure might have been all mine.
The last thing on the list
was finding a local bakery that was supposed to gave one shop nearby
the 7-11. I took the turn towards the 'inland' and I was walking for
only a few minutes when I passed by an elder Thai guy who started
calling after me asking me where I was going. So I told him the name
of the bakery and his reply was (to no surprise to me) that it was
too far and he could give me a ride there. Once again, I don't know
about you people, but I don't consider 1-2km walk 'too far'. So I
refused with my usual 'I like to walk.' and continued. And shortly
before another turn, I passed by a temple.
After the turn, I got a
little unsure as I got to an area where the locals seemed to reside.
And then, after I passed several houses, I dog decided to accompany
me for no obvious reason. He was friendly, but not rabid friendly, so
I let him pace next to me and he was happy. But I kept my distance as
I didn't have the time to get my rabid shot before departure, so I
didn't want to risk even getting scratched or anything. You never
know.
(Well, he... I shared some thoughts on that on Facebook later that day. 'What has balls like a guy, pees like a girl and is completely delusional? Thai dogs.')
(Well, he... I shared some thoughts on that on Facebook later that day. 'What has balls like a guy, pees like a girl and is completely delusional? Thai dogs.')
So we were striding along
the road and everything seemed fine. Until we got to another
residence with dogs. They weren't happy about my companion. There was
about three of them against one of him. As much as I love animals
(more than people, but don't tell anyone), I didn't really care. All
I cared was not to get in the middle of them. Because the dogs didn't
have any problem with me, they didn't even remotely growl on me, but
they were going berserk on him.
The situation repeated
itself several times before we finally arrived to the bakery. And to
my disappointment, it only seemed to be the production place where
they actually baked the goods, but no café or restaurant, although
it was marked that way on the map and in the info. One would think I
would learn not to trust official information by now, right?
Oh well, never mind again,
no pie, no cake and no fresh pastry for me then.
So I just kept on walking
and headed back 'home'. Dog still with me. At that point, I decided
it's time for the plasters as my feet were getting really sore, but
what happened. The moment I stopped and put my bags on the ground and
put one sandal off, the lovely fella came to me and started grabbing
my bangs and sandals and carrying them forward. And was quite
insistent.
Alright, so really no
plasters today. And the only reason I decided to buy them was because
I left mine at the bungalow. If I would see this coming, I wouldn't
bother spending the money on them as I only got to the point of using
them after I got back 'home'
So I calmly took all my
things back from the dog (it's not so funny when you don't know how
he might react, but he was really just a nice silly fella) and got
back on the road. After another turn that would lead me back to the
'main' road, we came to another pack of guarding dogs. I kept on
calmly walking, the noises coming from far behind me sounded like
that's it for the dog. The bigger was my surprise (and the facepalm,
to be honest) when a few minutes later he stormed pass me, all happy
he made it and I didn't get lost without him. At that point I was
already begging him (aloud in several languages) to 'GO HOME!' But it
seemed to mean nothing to him and he was still happily leading me
forward and getting restless when I wasn't walking fast enough. I
walked about 10km at that point, all with sore feet, so the thought
“F*ck you, dog.” started slowly creeping on my mind.
Luckily, I found the right
turn back to the beach so I saved myself the awful hill right before
my temporary residence. As annoyed as I was by the time, the look on
the dog's face when he realized we got to the beach and the sea!,
well, it was priceless.
It was shortly before 6pm,
the sun was setting and the low tide created some nice patterns in
the sand.
I don't know if the dog
thought I owed him something for his valiant escort, but as we were
walking on the beach and passing by the other resorts, from each at
least three dogs stormed at him. And all of a sudden, the brave and
valiant dog started hiding behind me. Yes, the last thing I wanted –
to be stuck in the middle of dogs fighting. And once again, because I
had no idea how he might react, I didn't want to kick him to make it
clear to him he wasn't wanted and I wasn't the best choice of
protection. Well, I managed to get away from them somehow. I guess
the point that the dogs would not attack me helped a lot.
So eventually, it was the
dogs at our resort that finally stopped him from following me any
further.
And that is the story of
the little delusional Thai dog who set on a mission to safely get me
home. Silly dog, almost got killed countless times but succeeded at
the end, nevertheless.
I guess I could dedicate
the postcard-kind of sunset we had that evening to him. Silly dog.
(3.-5.2013)
The rest of my time at Ko Phangan I spent by relaxing and resting my
injured feet, so no more walks or hikes as I originally planned.
Also, the good weather lasted for whole three days and then the (real
tropical) rain caught up with me again. So there wasn't much to do
anyway. Aside from taking pictured from my terrace.
I quite fell in love with Ko Phangan and Thong Yang Bungalow also.
They certainly hadn't seen the last of me there. Especially because
it was this little friend that came to say goodbye in the morning.
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