Bohemia Bunny

Day 1 - Departure and Arrival

May 18th, 2006 by lynn under Leisure

The Budget Terminal is very bright. The overhead lighting is quite harsh, and the aircrew’s makeup looks terrible in such lighting. The building feels like a giant hangar to which someone just decided to add some counters. Unlike Changi, they don’t pretend that you’re a first-class passenger worthy of star treatment. Don’t get me wrong - it’s a decent terminal, but its cheapness is so blatant I felt as though I was being punished for flying with a low-cost carrier.

Things get better after immigration clearance. There are seats, which were lacking in the public area, and even free Internet terminals (where the boyfriend got held up for a while, reading his football news). Duty-free had no MAC or Stila (boo for me), although for some reason they had Urban Decay and Paris Hilton Perfume.

We sat down within view of the tempting display of the chocolatier, and waited anxiously to find out our boarding gate. Ah, the joys of free seating. Our ticket says you have to board at least 30 minutes before departure, but haha! They only announced the gate 30 minutes before departure anyway. So now I’m confused as to how the system works. We were almost the last in the boarding queue, but the plane wasn’t full so I had a window seat from which to watch the sunrise, and the boyfriend had the back row to lie down on.

I gave a stewardess a bit of a shock by not locking the lavatory door while I was putting in my contact lenses. Luckily for both of us, I was not sitting on the throne. The stewardess had opened the seemingly empty lavatory to spray it with some air freshener.

An uneventful flight was followed by a long queue at immigration, but the immigration officer greeted us with ä½ å¥½ (ni hao) and generally behaved very politely. While they may not be as efficient as Singapore’s immigration, they certainly have a human touch.

A taxi for 600 baht (the standard price) brought us to our hotel, Srisuksant Resort. It was still early - slightly past 9 am local time. Our allocated room had only recently been vacated, so I sat outside on the balcony resting my feet while the chambermaid made up our room. After she left, we were unable to resist the softness of the bed, after our rough night sleeping on plastic Changi chairs, and fell fast asleep.

After several hours and several attempts, we woke up properly and caught a songthaew for the 40-minute ride into town. Deposited in the middle of town, our first order was to secure transport to Ko Lanta, for which the clue given was ‘opposite the Thai Military Bank’. Asking the staff at 7-11 didn’t help, as outside of the tourist area, English is very rarely spoken. We wandered up and down the roads till the boyfriend spotted it along Maharat Soi 6, and we completed our first task.

We bought Pad Thai, skewered chicken and a sweet, warm dessert from a market, then devoured our lunch. The dessert was similar to bubur cha-cha, with mango strips and strange bits of coloured jelly added. Our 2nd order was to find a kayaking tour. I wanted a particular provider that combined 2 tours into one day, making the most of our trip. We were the only ones booked on the trip so we negotiated 20% off the price. The company is called Sea Kayak Krabi and their office is on Maharat Soi 2, although the tours themselves are based in Ao Thalane.

At this point, we were high on ourselves and our good luck in actually managing to do what we set out to do. Another songthaew ride and we were back in our room. We walked to Ao Nang for dinner at Bernie’s Place, because it had a buffet. It’s not gourmet food, but some parts are very delicious. The fry-up dish of potatoes and sausages was so sinful I called it ‘heart attack on a plate’. We got suckered into buying some clothes - I got a top and a wrap skirt, while he got the stereotypical singlet - and we had drinks at JJ’s Bar to justify our sitting and watching the Arsenal-Wigan match.

It was mad exciting, and we made the acquaintance of Nick and Annie from London, who fortunately were also Gunners supporters. It was a tense finale as Henry scored a hattrick and West Ham beat Spurs to give Arsenal fourth place and a possible Champions League spot. Nick bought us both drinks, we had a little chat about where we’d been so far and what was good to see, and then we had to walk the unlighted streets back to our hotel. The bar down the road was blasting ghetto tunes but all was serene in our little slice of Krabi.