Adventures By Design

In which the travelers meet Pink, Rebecca, and Tracy.

We finally made it to Koh Lanta. We boarded the train yesterday afternoon and traveled for 15 hours basically due south to the city of Trang. From here we needed to arrange transportation to the island of Koh Lanta. Koh Lanta is about a two hour drive, including two 10 minute ferry rides. Finding transport was easy: our transportation basically found us. Literally as soon as we stepped off the train, an older woman holding a sign with various destinations approached us, asking (in surprisingly good English) where we wanted to go. We told her and she said she could arrange for a minibus for 250 baht each. When we cocked an eyebrow to show that her price was too high (you learn that in Bargaining 101), she just held our gaze and said that everyone has the same standard price. We believed her and she drove us to her guesthouse where she completed the paperwork and we waited for the bus to arrive.

The bus was full—over capacity in fact. A poor Thai girl of about eleven had to sit on her mom’s lap while we raced down the highway and around corners on two wheels. The girl made it about half way before she barfed all over herself, followed by all over the side of the road. For the remainder of the trip, Ric used every self-hypnosis technique he knew to stop from joining the girl’s ranks and to manage his own mutinying belly.

One fantastic thing that happened in the bus was we met three new people: George, the young Scot, Pink, the ex-tour guide and world traveler, and a young Thai man who was returning home from his first year of university (we didn’t catch his name).

Pink was pleasant, intelligent and mature and very nice to talk to. At the end of May she is traveling to Europe, buying a second-hand car, and spending several months exploring France, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. She seems to have friends in every country, and has a very cosmopolitan attitude. She has offered to take us snorkeling with her, as diving is her primary reason for visiting the island. She is trying to log enough hours that she can attain the next level of scuba certification: rescue. We loosely suggested dinner plans for tonight, but we lost track of time and so will have to call her tomorrow.

The reason we lost track of time is because we met two other wonderful people: Rebecca and Tracy (aka Pam and Trudy). These two are in the middle of a round the world tour. They started in their UK home a month or so ago, and flew to South Africa (where they rode ostriches!). Tomorrow they leave Koh Lanta for a few days in Bangkok then off to Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, the Cook Islands, in to Los Angeles, out of New York, and finally returning home. They should be home sometime in October. Like us they have few concrete plans, and joked that they aren’t quite sure how many days they have been in Koh Lanta. They were a lovely pair to spend the afternoon and evening with, and we wish them all the best.

Rebecca and Tracy had become regulars at the restaurant where we met them, and it seems that we are well on our way to that status too. Already Gin has secured poi (firespinning) lessons, and Ric’s helped them move their giant slate pool table. Tomorrow we will likely go back as they have a great patio on the beach where we can lounge about, read our books, and get umbrella drinks while we do it! No wonder Rebecca and Tracy lost track of time.