giving pasty new meaning in khao lak

we have arrived at the last stop of our journey. we arrived in khao lak, in southern thailand, last night after a long day of travel from bangkok. we had debated how to get down here, but had both come over with some interest in doing a bit of travel by train (thanks, darjeeling limited). we had as yet avoided it given train travel's mixed-reviews (to put it mildly) in vietnam. we also figured, since we were only going to see bangkok and khao lak, it would be a nice way to see a bit more of the country, even if it was in the form of it passing us by at 100km/hour.

and so we set off by train at 8am yesterday (i wanted to say what day of the week that was, but at this point i have absolutely no idea -- tuesday?) in a 2nd class air-conditioned train. i had high expectations, given rough guide's description of train travel in thailand. it turned out to be just fine, but without any trace of luxury. unless you consider an ample stock of toilet paper in the bathroom a luxury, which on this trip i have started taking it to be. the first curiosity was the size of the train. we had tried to get tickets for the same train on the day prior, but it had sold out. i was kind of surprised, especially because we have not had problems getting lodging or travel reservations elsewhere, so i have taken it to still be the tail-end of the low season. i also thought it was noteworthy that our tickets had us listed as having seats in car 1. it seemed odd that we had bought tickets the day before, yet had ended up with reservations for the first car of the train (i make this out to be some sort of accomplishment)... but when we laid eyes on our train all of it made much more sense. because the train had 2 cars. two cars for an 8.5 hour journey. you would think they would throw a few more cars on that baby on their way to the bank. and they didn't even add cars as we made our way south. so we settled in with the 100 other passengers (if that) and brendan's jerry-rigged tray table that would fall down every time the guy in front of him reclined his chair and prepared to watch thailand roll by.

it was an uneventful trip, and we arrived in surat thani around 5pm. we had little (i.e. no) plans as to how we were then going to make it the distance to khao lak, which is more off the tourist radar than phuket and krabi. b inquired about a bus once we were at the train station, but the last one of the day had left at 3pm. and so we shopped around for a taxi fare, and were surprised to hear that it was a 3 hour drive. the nice thing about thailand is that the fare for a three hour drive is not remarkably more than a fare from the airport to home in seattle. we agreed to pay our older gentle-seeming driver (the kind i have tended to the whole trip -- who cares if their eyesight might be a bit off if they're friendly?) about $60 for the trip. for as long as we had daylight, the drive was beautiful. after rolling into khao lak, we stopped for directions as poseidon bungalows was even more out of the way than we expected. we finally made it around 8pm, and sent our poor driver off with a nice tip to do the whole 3 hour drive back again.

our stay at poseidon is the only part of our trip that has been planned from the beginning. as we made our way to our bungalow in the pitch-black of night, i can't say it was exactly what i was expecting. our bungalow is on the spartan side, particularly after the swanky place we found ourselves at for our four nights in bangkok, and - as we transition from the constant urbanity that is bangkok - the setting is thoroughly nature-entrenched. i lied down on the bed for a quick rest before we headed up to the restaurant for dinner, with brendan in the bathroom giving his feet a quick scrub. no sooner had i taken a deep breath than i hear a loud and forceful squawking noise coming from the bathroom. brendan, channeling his outdoorsy/chrissy field side, casually mentions that some bird appears to have made its home right about our bathroom. and even more casually mentions that there is a large hole in the ceiling right near where the noise is coming from. all of this causes me some alarm, since my interpretation of what he is telling me leads quickly to a vision of a hawk-sized bird prancing into bed with me at any moment. turns out, there is a screen covering the hole (i'm not sure why this fact apparently seemed cosmetic at the outset) which puts me (slightly) more at ease. we go to dinner, with me dodging lizards on the path the whole way. when we're eating, we hear that (now familiar) squawking once again. and as we sit with our curry and tom kha, we have the chance to spy the perpetrator, and it turns out to be a very large lizard. this does not provide much relief, despite brendan's assurance that it must be totally benign. the problem is not any malicious intent of the creature, the problem is that it has made its home in a spot where it can effortlessly scare the bejesus out of my as i take my occaisional leave to the loo.

we settled in to bed with one last squawk from our bungalow-mate and i try make my peace with the nature installment of our trip. if nothing else, it was dead silent (aside from the squawking) compared to our spot in bangkok, so i slept like a log for most of the night. the peace was interrupted only early this morning, as the air was pierced with a sound that seemed not unlike that which would come from a malfunctioning dentist's tool. brendan woke me up to get my thoughts on what it might be. my paranoia kicked in with the idea that it might be the tsunami warning system (khao lak was the worst hit of anywhere in thailand by the tsunami four years ago, and there are signs about evacuation routes everywhere), but then figured we would probably hear more people shuffling about outside if that were the case. he popped in his earplugs and i was tired enough to fall back asleep with the noise ringing in my ears. when we got up this morning, we still heard it and have figured that it is some kind of bird that got the short end of the stick in the evolutionary lottery for bird calls.

waking this morning put our bungalow in perspective. it is literally right above the water, and maybe 100 steps to a beautiful and private beach. suddenly our $20/night is seeming worth every penny and then some. and now i am psychologically prepared for what nighttime trips down the path hold in store, so i'm ready to show those lizards who's boss.

speaking of being psychologically prepared, after a lovely day spent lounging and reading on our beautiful little beach, brendan and i decided to explore the town of khao lak, about 7km up the road. for me, this prospect meant a long but good-for-the-soul walk. for brendan, this idea meant renting a moped and driving into town. i'll let the allusion to potential psychological damage tell you who won. i was clinging to him every inch of the way - the pressure of his helmet was smashing my helmet against my head hard enough to probably leave permanent indentations, i was holding onto him so tightly - while on the mopeds going the other direction, the passenger is nonchalantly/stupidly not holding on at all. but we made it, and i plan to hold on just as tightly on the ride home. we head out tomorrow for a three day snorkel trip to the similan islands, and then will have two more days in khao lak before heading to phuket for our long journey home. the sun is about to set, and we forgot to get the tutorial from the friendly scandinavian lad at poseidon on how to turn on the headlight, so we should be on our way. more soon, with possible tales of encounters with manta rays/barracuda/sharks. but hopefully not. i am hoping to see nothing more than coral and minnows during our three days of snorkeling.