As usual after a very late night I’m woken up by something. This time it’s the bird song. Most mornings the Myna Birds that nest in the tree outside our bathroom start their mating calls which resemble wolf whistles just before daybreak. These birds are common in Thailand especially outside my window! They pair for life so always in two’s and quite tame, they often appear on our deck and talk to us. They are often kept as pets and will learn to talk mimicking their owners. Joolia stumbled across one in the market the other day and was surprised it answered her when she said hello to it! Other birds we have seen are reef egrets flying above the sea. Aspen was first through our door this morning at 8am smelling of stale booze and still full of bounce, sent by her mother as she was hungry for breakfast and certain people were still sleeping! After everyone is up Gary hears from Dong that he has been and rescued the abandoned truck and guess where he found the missing keys – on the roof of the truck!!!Someone had obviously picked them up nearby and put them there! Or had they been there all the time? After breakfast, massages and a spot of packing. Joolia asked if we would like to accompany them all to Thong Sala and watch the girls jet ski. We all pack up for the day and pile in the now rescued truck and drive like mad things to the dock where the jet skis are collected. Joolia remembers a nearby fisherman’s restaurant where we can wait and watch as Gary Aspen & Logan race the along the coast. They are gone for two full hours so we have a spot of lunch. Roger has a Quack Burger (duck) and we all have delicious salads. The fisherman’s restaurant is very laid back but we are surprised how long our food order takes. Joolia thinks it prudent to pre order Gary, Aspen & Logan three burgers as she knows they will be starving on their return. Two hours later they still haven’t arrived ( apparently busy with Thai style deliveroo take outs) and with the guys really hungry we cancel the order and head along to a Thai food market. On the way Gary stops at a bank to change some English currency and then proceed to the food stall. We wait as Gary collects the food, the girls in the back of the truck with us inside with the air con on. As he jumps out of the truck his cash, which is in the door pocket of the truck falls out onto the road. Gary is oblivious to this as are we until some very kind young Thai stops on his motor bike and picks it up and hands it to us through the window. We are so astonished that he dashed off so quickly we didn’t have time to give him a reward but he was gone…. After the guys had eaten We are taken to another fabulous location to watch the sunset. We take a very narrow windy road, Gary is not sure he remembers the way but eventually we reach the top, again a lot of motor cycles and scooter, not quite as many as the night previous but this time a very rustic bar with lots of atmosphere, very wonky floorboards (you can see the mountains through them) and I am a little nervous when the barman suggests we move seats as it’s slightly unsafe. Two fabulous mojitos later I am less nervous. We are high above the rain forrest so naturally all get bitten and spray the last of the mosquitoes spray and hope for the best. Sadly not as clear as would like to see but very atmospheric and a brilliant last night. We drive home, Gary suggests we have pizzas in our room and do our lateral flow tests and passenger location forms ready for our flights then next evening. When we get to our room I get a text from Bangkok Air saying our flight is cancelled and now rescheduled for 10am the next morning, quickly I realised we would need to pack and leave the room by 6 am to get the boat over to Koh Samui, Gary comes to our room, I started to discuss how we would manage this. It was a hoax! Gary and Aspen cooked it up together….. I could have killed him. I was looking forward to my last day chilling in the sun….
Sunday 2nd January 2022. 29c Sun & Cloud.
This morning it’s still too windy to get the speedboat from our beach to Koh Samui so it’s back to Thong Sala port to pick it up. Dong pops in to tell us he will pick us up at 16.00. After doing our lateral flow tests and waiting for the results we fill in the passenger location forms, hopefully they are correct with all our connections. Finalise packing. Roger settles our room account which is only 1,600 Baht (£35) which was for our bottle of Gin, tonics & beers & daily ice for the whole two weeks plus a few coconuts and some Jack Daniels Roger & Mike had on Christmas night. We did try buying some wine from the local supermarket but it was undrinkable. Joolia has a long massage so Logan and I help no 1 granddaughter pack. Aspen is notoriously unorganised for a bright girl! Gary take charge of checking all info for entry into the different countries we pass through. We have a last few rays on the beach and Valter & Clive pop to say goodbye to us. Hannah the dog Joolia feeds daily with the breakfast sausages which are like frankfurters sprawls at our feet. Roger tips the gardener/waiter 2.500 Baht , he has worked non stop and serves us breakfast, cleans the beach with us, does the gardens, brings us ice or anything we need in our rooms. He is dressed in same poor clothing so I leave him some of Rogers tee shirts. We leave the room maids 1000 Baht each and some toiletries which they are very happy about.
Liquid Tales 