The next logical thing to do is travel to Luang Prabang, venturing into Laos by way of 15 hour van ride or four hour bus ride plus two days on a boat. Hmmm.
We brainstorm. What sounds nice? We’ve been in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Pai. We have time- we’re not expected back in the US until July for my sister’s wedding. We’re closest to Laos, and after Laos we’d go to Cambodia, and then we’d venture to Vietnam; That’s the best route to the beaches in the south.
Ohhhh the beachessssss. We close our eyes, envision where we want to be in a week, and it’s not in a land-locked country. The beach it is. In two minutes we’ve completely changed our travel plans for the next few months. Krabi, we’re coming for you.
Chiang Mai--> Bangkok --> Krabi
Chiang Mai--> Bangkok --> Krabi
The new plan is to head to southern Thailand, flying into Krabi. In two weeks we'll fly very south to Indonesia, get to Bali and stay for a few weeks. After that we'll make our way back up through Malaysia. (Of course, this is all tentative.) And just like that we book an overnight train back to Bangkok. Heck yes, we got a train ticket ($25 each)! It leaves at 4PM and arrives at 6AM.
We kill time by getting $6, one-hour leg rubs. We don’t deserve them, I know, but it feels good to be bad.
We get to the train station easy-peasy. We find our bunk and share a “room” with two chinese girls. The train is pretty clean and the beds are surprisingly padded.
We grab some nasty train food and watch the sunset through the window. There’s not a lot to do on the train. We retire to our beds and read until about 9PM when the French next door stop yapping. Then all is quiet and everyone starts to sleep.
12AM- Boop, boop. Boop, boop. Bing bong. The Chinese girl laying across from Ian is... texting? With sound effects and keyboard clicks turned way up? Huh?! 2AM- The railway worker on the other side of our compartment starts playing a phone game, replete with 8-bit explosion noises. What?! Asian cultures be loving their phone sounds. It’s totes the norm, and I’m totes annoyed...
Overall the train was a great way to travel. It arrives on time without a hiccup. It’s 6AM and we get a taxi to hotel iCheckInn, near the no-vacancy Atlanta. At a stop light the cab driver CLEANS HIS EARS WITH A TOOTHPICK. I watch in horror and he gets chunks of wax off of the toothpick, rolls it into little balls and wipes it on his change in his middle console. This happens at every traffic light. The fare was 91Baht and Ian gave him 100. Nine waxy coins later, we’re at the hotel.
It’s about 7AM and we can’t check in until 2PM. We’ve gotten pretty good at killing time at this point. At 10AM I’ve done all I can to stay put. I leave Ian with the bags and go to a mall to get a haircut.
The haircut is 280 baht ($9) and they keep pushing 2,000 baht products on me. I keep saying no, lying that I’m allergic, but they keep pushing. “You hair so dry I show you” and then she maliciously tugs at my curls, breaking the hair to show me. I say “OK, thank you but I only want the haircut." The lady brings me more products and I decline, restating that I could die because of an allergic reaction. She’s not buying it. She holds an open vial of serum above my head and says “I’m just gonna put this treatment on, only 1,000 baht more” and I have to sternly say “Don’t you dare” with an evil-eye. That’s when she begrudgingly gives me a cut, spitefully cutting it shorter than I had asked. She gave me a nice four-inch “trim”, all the while loudly talking smack about my thriftiness.
Whatever! I look fly with my $9 cut. I text Ian to meet me for lunch. He puts the bags in the room and we decide to go to our Michelin-rated pork dumpling spot.
I walk there and run into Laura and Beno! WHAT ARE THE ODDS? They flew into Bangkok from the islands that morning. We trained in from Chiang Mai that morning. Crazy luck that we ran into each other! They are staying in one of the top-rated hotels in Bangkok, a total splurge. They invite us to dinner at their hotel. Since they have a kitchen, they’re going to cook for us. Dinner party!
Night rolls around and we meet at Laura and Beno's hotel, the Oriental Residence. It's about a 15 minute walk from our place. We tell the receptionist we're here to see them and she calls up. So fancy.
They are amazing hosts! Their rooms is spectacular and offers amazing views. The bathroom has a vanity. It's beautiful. We have beer and chips and dip. We go for a swim in their pool. Then we have garlic bread and carbonara. Laura is an amazing cook. They have us try Swiss chocolate (I pocket some) and Beno makes dessert: ice-cream with sweet raspberries on top. We stay for like five hours just hanging out and talking about America, Switzerland, our families and good youtube videos. It was a legit double-date and a relief to feel out of Asia for a moment. They are my favorite.
(LifeProTip: Don't put Swiss chocolate in your pocket.)
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