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  • Day 47 - Highs & Lows

    January 25, 2022 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Jackie tried to wake me at 2.30am to inform me that I was literally pouring with sweat. I could hardly wake up, but I felt trickles of sweat running off my body & head. I slept through to the alarm, whilst Jackie was apparently googling my new symptoms.

    I got a coffee from the German owner & Silly Ninny returned my passport in exchange for the scooter keys. We walked down to the pier & boarded the catamaran at 9am & got what we considered the prime seats on the top deck. At 9.30am sharp, the catamaran pulled out of Koh Tao.

    An hour and a quarter later after a calm crossing, we docked at Thong Sala on Ko Phangan. We never know what to expect, because each time the entry requirements are totally different. On this occasion we were met by 2 police officers with Go-Pros on their helmets who demanded to see our passports, they photographed them with their phones & then took a 2nd photo of each of us holding our passports.

    Jackie had emailed Salad Beach Resort to arrange a pick up, but she hadn’t received a reply & there was no one there to meet us, so we had to resort to using a taxi. We were told it would be 200 Baht each & we had to wait 5 minutes for another boat to come in. Other taxis were full, but it seems we were the only taxi heading north. The driver then told us that because it was just us we would have to pay an extra 100 Baht each, but if he picked up any passengers along the way he would refund the extra money. I advised him that I was extremely unhappy with a volley of choice expletives. He just smiled back at me like a grinning idiot.

    The taxi ride was sedate compared to our last ride, but unsurprisingly enough we didn’t pick up any other fares. Upon arrival at Salad Beach Resort, we were met with a heroes welcome. All the staff came over to welcome us back. Pat told us that our cottage 205 was ready and escorted us over to it. We had previously selected this cottage as being in the best position & Pat was giving it to us at a good discounted price as loyal customers.

    Our cottage is so lovely & fresh with a large bed with white sheets. The balcony is large with a view of the sea and the pool. We were both have high hopes for a relaxing last week & are so glad we had made the decision to return here.

    After unpacking, we took a walk along the beach for a couple of beers at Dubble Duke, before returning at Jackie’s request to Crystal for their toasted rye bread pastrami sandwich we had enjoyed so much last time. When it arrived it was with white bread & when I bit into it the pastrami & bacon were limp. It was just what I didn’t want or need. I removed the offending meat & ate basically a cheese sandwich. I checked the menu intending to complain, but there was no mention of type of bread or crispy bacon etc, so we were left high & dry on that score.

    We sat by the pool during the afternoon & my queasiness returned, as well as a headache from reading with the wrong strength glasses. Jackie left to get me a banana shake & returned to tell me she had seen a laptop in reception. I had also been tracking Swedish Julia all afternoon, because I had seen her using her ‘broken’ computer.

    At 5.30pm, I saw my chance to innocently ask Julia if her computer was fixed. It wasn’t, she could still only access ‘Teams’ on it. We then went to reception & I asked Pat about the laptop Jackie had seen. Apparently it was a laptop lent to the resort, so that they could play music into the restaurant. Pat said I could borrow the laptop but only after the restaurant closed for the night. I explained that I needed to firstly email a link to the computer.

    For the next 45 minutes it was like the blind leading the blind. The laptop was all in Thai & Pat had never sent an email before in her life, but we managed to eventually get the link on to her phone.

    She suggested we return at 7pm, but upon our arrival a group of Scandinavians with unruly kids had just sat down for dinner. We would have to wait, so we ordered dinner. Jackie ordered a lamb mok, a spicy lamb salad & a Chang, whilst I ordered a cheese baguette & a banana shake. I couldn’t face anything else.

    Around 8pm, Pat brought the laptop over & she sent her very 1st email. After several attempts the link appeared on the laptop - hallelujah. I clicked on the laptop & it whirred round, before telling me it couldn’t open it. I tried several more times with the same result. It would seem that the link can’t be opened from Thailand!

    It was definitely a day of highs & lows, unfortunately more lows than highs!

    Song of the Day: High Hopes by Pink Floyd.
    High & Dry by Radiohead.
    Low by REM.
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