Heaven on earth with an onion slice...

cheeseburger in paradise
Originally uploaded by Josie R

Ahh... Koh Lanta, it was so hard to leave. One week there cost me barely over $100. That's what a week of lazing about goes for in the south of Thailand. I could have signed up for another week or two I think...

At that price though, it must be said, you do run the risk of encountering little creatures you'd rather not. Creatures like frogs in your open air bathroom (these guys didn't bother me) or bed bugs (yes! so not fun...). But little irritations aside, I can't say enough about how much I loved Koh Lanta, and particularly Bee Bee's Bungalows where I spent 5 of the 8 nights. It's a little bungalow village and probably one of the cutest places I've ever seen. I swam in the sea every day and got more sun than I've had in ages. Had my fill of fruitshakes and fried rice and pad thai and grilled shrimp. Heard enough Jack Johnson to last me for awhile too. A funny... every day, without fail, right around the same time (usually 5:30 ish, an hour or so before sunset), Richard Marx's "Right Here Waiting" would come blasting out of the beachside speakers. This never failed to elicit a giggle from me, and always made me think of my sister, whose 7th grade (6th grade?) boyfriend made her a 60 minute mix tape with just that song repeated over and over and over. If that's not love, I just don't know what is.

I even got to practice a little Thai... one morning as I'm out doing my customary splashing around, one of the Thai bartenders hops in the water. "Sabai dee mai?," he asks. Oooh, oooh, I know this one!! I realize... finally after weeks of being asked this question (basically "are you doing alright?") by Kruh Madri, I *KNOW* the answer. "Sabai dee, ka," I reply. Eyebrows raise. "Sinouk mai?" (Are you having fun?) "Sinouk mak!" (Lots of fun!) "Gin kao rue yang?" (Did you eat already?) "Ka" I respond (this was kind of cheating, but just an easy agreement). "Gin arai?" (What did you eat). "Gin pancake" (ummm, perhaps a cheat again, but whatever.) "Aroi mai?" (Was it delicious?) "Aroi mak!" (Very delicious aka 'my favorite!'). At this point I'm getting cocky... oh yes, Josie talk Thai very well. But I think the bartender realizes he's reached the limits of my vocabulary. He points to his bicep and then points to my arm. "You have very power," he says. Ummm.... thank you? "I am baby, baby," he laments. Yeah, whatever, dude, I get it, my arms are bigger than yours. He then looks pointedly at me... "Do you have the man friend?" My turn for the eyebrow raise. "I have lots of man friends, but I'm here with my girl friends... bye!" I waved as I waded back out of the water.

So I left Lanta behind, and now I'm back in Bangkok, a city I've come to regard as the armpit of SE Asia. It's just sticky and sweaty and dirty and seems to attract a weird mixed-bag of travelers that don't really float my boat, as the saying goes. I'm sure this is a gross over-generalization, but I'm sticking with it for now.

A little more on the budget travel adventure. That whole Southeast Asia on a shoestring thing generally doesn't include air travel, which means I've spent a whole lot of time on buses. The trip down to Koh Lanta was a 36 hour adventure by bus and boat I'd rather not repeat anytime soon. Two nights in a row sleeping on a bus is not fun. Seriously. Fortunately, the destination makes the journey worthwhile, and of course I realize that a long bus-ride to what is essentially a paradise most definitely qualifies as a "luxury problem". The trip back to Bangkok was a breeze by comparison, although it did include (instead of a boat ride) a 3-hour jaunt by minibus to our bus pick-up in Krabi.

Oh, the minibus- one of the myriad joys of traveling on the cheap. There are usually 10-12 passengers jammed into a small van. Sometimes they're quite new and nice (this one was) but more often than not they're shaky, noisy, cramped little things that look as though they might lose a sliding door at the next big bump. They are inevitably driven at breakneck speed. This trip was no disappointment in that regard. Tracey and I had barely thrown our packs in the back when we were lurched backward as the van lept forward on the way to pick up one last passenger. Our driver certainly seemed to be going for speed. As he raced along toward the car ferry, the Canadian girl behind me launched into a tirade about how this guy was the worst. driver. ever. I laughed to myself thinking, oh, you can not have been traveling for long. I promise I didn't turn into one of *those* people (the ones who always have a better story, the scarier driver, the prettier beach, the tastier curry) but I wanted to, I really did.

Anyway, we drove the 2+ hours to Krabi at speeds much higher than those recommended for safety. The soundtrack to our drive was a pulsing techno-dance beat that I think was one track on repeat, although it could have been just one very, very long remix. Our driver, with very slick, very spiky hair, Versace shades and a cigarette tucked behind his ear, seemed somehow urged on by the female vocalist's demands to (and I somehow doubt this little lyrical gem was a kindly reminder from the Thai Post) "lick it before you stick it". And yet, I still managed to doze off for nearly 40 minutes.

So here I am, back in Bangkok, waiting for the folks at the India Visa Service to past a shiny new visa into my passport and I'll be off to New Delhi tomorrow. Can't wait to see what India brings. Just a guess, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say probably not too many cheeseburgers.