Surprise

Hi,

Today we're down at the other end of Thailand. Our trip had it's own adventure and we discovered that some things are quite different in the south.

I'm surprised I didn't get more mail from you about this song. You really should know this one. This should do it.
"When I wake up early in the morning, lift my head, I'm still yawning. When I'm in the middle of a dream, stay in bed, float upstream." Hint: Like you need one. OK, four guys/Liverpool, from an LP named after something that goes around. What were you doing before you woke up? Oh now I've done it.

Mr. Daku woke us up promptly at 6am this morning. I don't know how he does it. We had our usual morning plus the packing for the trip. Tye drove us to the airport and we flew to Bangkok. We were to leave BKK on a smaller plane for Krabi at 1:30pm. At 1 o'clock we were sitting in the waiting area that our ticket had designated. Then we noticed people exiting a plane at that gate. Hmm. The plane would not be leaving on time. Half an hour later we're still wondering what was happening and then a Thai Airways attendant came over to me and asked if I was going to Krabi. She explained that we were at the wrong gate and rushed us to a waiting van one floor down. They raced us across the runway to our plane. Everyone was on board, except us and our seats were all the way in the back of the plane. Ugh. Our tickets in Chiang Rai had been given the wrong gate number for the second leg of the trip. Nice bit of drama to break up an otherwise easy trip.

Flying south from Bangkok we flew over the Gulf of Thailand. On the west side of the plane we could see the eastern coast of Thailand. We could actually see the bottom of the ocean. Well, the water's very clear and it's not that deep, but it's pretty amazing to see. We also saw some coral reefs. Near the end of the flight the pilot turned the plane to the west and we flew over land and then we saw the Andaman Sea. This is the part of Thailand that draws divers from around the world to its clear, warm waters. We're planning to go snorkeling as soon as we can convince someone to take us out for less than four hours.

The landscape, as seen from the air, is completely different from up north. We saw what looked like plantations growing pineapple. There were many fields with distinct patterns made up of two tones of green. It was as if they had planted dark green bushes on a light green lawn. After landing we waited at the baggage belt. I have to say that I have never seen a neater assemblage of luggage in my life. All the bags were lined up so the handles on the end were facing their waiting owners. Nothing was askew and nothing was on top of anything else. It took longer to get the bags, but I understand why and there wasn't any 'panic' at the belt because someone didn't see their bag until it was gone. Hmm.

At this point I need to tell you that it took a total of two hours 'in the air' to get to Krabi. If you ever come here be sure not to take the shuttle bus from the airport. It took us over an hour to get to our hotel. We stopped to let passengers off, to pick up local riders, and watched while some stood and decided if they really wanted to get off the bus. It was nice to see Krabi town and take in the countryside, but we were ready to start our vacation.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about our hotel and our sunset dinner. Have a Cool Day.

Peace,
Danny


I would love to live like a river flows,
Carried by the surprise
Of its own unfolding
~John O'Donohue

Gettin' Funky, Thai Style
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