World Traveler Part 10: An island in Thailand

Bangkok is amazing and wonderful and beautiful and interesting and full of history and food and shopping and lovely people.

It is.

I can't say it enough.

HOWEVER, despite being totally in love with this city, and having a great time, we still wanted to see more.

Something different. Just for a few days.

Which is how we ended up in a taxi barreling down the highway at 8am, headed for another airport, once again with absolutely 0 advance planning. At least when we left for the airport to go to Thailand, we actually HAD TICKETS. This time, notsomuch. We were going to an airport that mostly provides service for flights within Thailand. We didn't have tickets but we had big plans and I was pretty sure we had enough room on the credit card.

So we were going.

To Phuket, specifically.

I should pause and back up, and say that the reason we did not plan this portion of our trip ahead of time is that we were not 100% sure if we were going to go. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go. And the root of my hesitation was an old nagging worry - 5 years old, to be precise. The last time we had started to plan a trip to Thailand over the holidays, and discussed visiting a beach resort, we had ended up cancelling the entire trip. And that was 2004/2005 Holiday season. 5 years ago.

The year of the tsunami.

I remember settling into bed one night that December of 2005, pissed off that I was at home and not in Thailand, and turning on CNN, and overhearing someone on the TV say something about.......Thailand. That was odd. My ears perked up, because of course we were supposed to be there, and our friends were there, and I was bummed to have missed our chance to be with them, celebrating the holidays.

And then as I put down my magazine and turned up the volume, I caught a glimpse of......something......on the screen.

"Tsunami" crawled across the bottom of the screen.

But really, what were the chances that my friends were affected by the tsunami. Thailand is a big country, They could be ANYWHERE. They were probably in Bangkok, right?

I was awake for hours, on the verge of panic. This was post 9-11, and I felt, eerily, as though I had already been through something like this. On 9-11, I spent hours desperately calling and emailing everyone I knew in NYC, making sure they were all accounted for. And they were. And I was sure this was going to be the same sort of deal - me worrying myself sick, for no reason. Except, I just couldn't let it go.

And the silence from Thailand was deafening.

I emailed. I waited. I called. I waited. And waited. And waited. I found an old picture in an album of my friend and I, and while I waited to hear from her I put it by my bed. I brought it to work. I waited for her to respond, to tell me that of course she was fine. I emailed her husband. I waited.

And then he emailed me back.

She was alive. She was fine. The resort she was staying at was gone.

Gone.

It's not my story to tell, but suffice to say that it was enough to put me off visiting small islands in Thailand. I sure wasn't interested in sitting on the beach. Which is why I just wasn't sure about this trip to Phuket.

Now, looking back, I am so glad that we struck out, explored another part of Thailand. But we had to do it this way - last minute, no real thought or consideration. I refused to think about the tsunami. Which allowed me to just experience the area as it is today - without considering how it was 5 years ago.

It's beautiful.
It's sad.
A lot of it is newly rebuilt.
A lot of people are survivors.

It was a wonderful time, and I will write more about it later, but suffice to say: If you go to Thailand, and you do not head south to the islands, you are missing out on something really important. Go. Live a little - don't waste a moment.

World Traveler Part 9: The Nefarious Trots - What to do when monkeys are actually flying out of your butt

First off - The Nefarious Trots. Best Band Name Ever.

Now back to business: A show of hands - who here plans vacations around meals? I know I am not the only one who makes reservations for lunch while eating breakfast, and has a snack somewhere between times and then goes to two or three different restaurants in the evening - one for drinks, one for dinner, one for dessert - in order to fully experience the cuisine of the region (also, conveniently, my excuse for eating various forms of sweets and fried foods between meals).

When we are traveling, there are a few things that we are constantly concerned with.

-Is it time for a snack?
-Where are we eating next?
-How long do we have to wait to go there?

Our travels in Mexico and now Thailand have taught me one important thing. When traveling abroad, it is completely unecessary to have a reservation in order to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime meal.

Rule One: Fear Not the Roadside Stand
You may think it is the most risky place to eat, but a busy roadside stand will probably have the freshest food around, so don't hesitate ! LIVE A LITTLE ! Thought I really question whether my plate will be cleaner if I wipe it with the toilet paper they provide, I still did not get sick from eating at random carts and shacks on the side of the road.

I did, however, get incredibly, deathly ill following a pretty mediocre meal at a celebrated, much-awarded, highly regarded, uber-expensive restaurant. Which leads me to........
Rule Two: Fancier is Not Necessarily Better
I had this rule verified by another traveling friend, who got deathly ill after eating at a 6 star, internationally reknowned hotel, at the end of a three week trip where she had eaten happily for 3 solid weeks in decidedly questionable culinary locales. But on her last day, she splurged, and ate a high-falutin' meal in some posh restaurant with, you know, running water and refrigeration. Which she will remember forever only because of the horrific flight home that was spent in the airplane lavatory.

We bonded over tales of stomach cramps and hours spent running to the bathroom. The only thing worse then getting one of these food-borne stomach ailments is getting struck down when you are traveling. And being struck down on a plane, or on the back of a truck driving to a small boat with no bathroom (which was my spectacular experience).

I was the kind of sick where I just didn't care anymore. I had no modesty. It was much like giving birth. Horrific cramps, a complete loss of control, sweating, sucking on ice, wishing it was over.

It wasn't just my stomach - my skin ached. The pores on my skin burned as my body tried to flush out whatever the hell I had ingested. We had left town and headed to a very remote island, where we were camping out in a beachfront bungalow, with a view that I enjoyed while I lay quietly, waiting to die. There was a very predictable cycle. I would be horribly sick, make full use of the hose attached to the toilet - which I finally understood and fully appreciated). Then I would shower and stagger out of the bathroom, dizzy and doubled over, to lie in the middle of the bed covered by a mosquito net, whimpering, until I had to run back to the bathroom. Sami gently suggested that we go to the hospital - an idea I shot down because honestly, I couldn't imagine being more then a few feet from a bathroom. A car ride was just not an option. For 36 hours, I was absolutely and completely miserable.

And then, I had a strong cup of black tea, ate some chicken, got on a boat and headed back to civilization. Because for goodness sake, we had dinner reservations.