Day 15 - Any Port in a Storm?

Had a good 9 hours sleep so I awoke feeling fresh and vibrant, ready to take on any challenges that presented themselves today.

It was another overcast morning, so we walked down to the port to confirm the last departure of the slow boat on Monday. The times were handwritten on our return ticket but they were not sufficiently clear for us to be certain. We could not afford to miss the last ferry of the day.

I approached the ticket desk and showed the lady our ticket and I politely enquired “Could you confirm the time of the last boat of the day using this ticket?”
She replied “It’s written on the ticket”.
Not impressed, I said “I know that, but it is not clear. Can you confirm it is 4.30pm?”
The rude woman replied “It’s written on the ticket”.
Slightly more agitated, I said “Okay, in that case could you tell me the name of the pier that the boat will take us to?”
She replied “The same pier you got here from”.
Now irate, “I know that, but I want to know the name of it for the taxi driver”.
She again replied, “The same pier you got here from”.

I’d like to say that I smiled and sarcastically thanked her for her help, but I didn’t. I can’t repeat what I said to the horrible unhelpful bitch as I defeatedly stormed off, but rest assured it wasn’t pleasant. Her attitude was enough to make even saintly me grumpy and sweary! This was my first battle of the day which I most definitely lost.

We walked back into town, got some more cash out (there are no ATM’s on Ko Samet) and made enquiries into our transport options to get back to Bangkok Airport. It would seem the only option is a taxi.

We returned to our room, changed then headed to the beach with a banana smoothie each. The was only one free pair of deckchairs on the front row, but a couple too tight to pay for deckchairs were lying in the sand immediately in front of them. I was not in the mood for idiots, so we pulled the deckchairs out and sat down so that our feet were just kicking distance from their heads. They initially bloody mindedly continued to lay at our feet, but eventually they succumbed and moved. It was a personal little battle which I felt we won!

At lunchtime, we went native and bought our lunch from one of the beach sellers. Jackie had grilled chicken pieces and a papaya salad, whilst I had a single pork sausage. Let’s just say it filled a hole and it was an experience, but not one that we will be repeating. In fact the sausage kept repeating on me!

I walked to the beer shop and bought two Changs which were back to 80THB again, to wash lunch down. I later returned to the beer shop and saw the woman who had charged me 90THB, but she didn’t serve me and I walked away with 2 more Changs at 80THB each. For me it was a second battle won.

It was cloudy, but still 30 degrees, for the remainder of the afternoon. The afternoon entertainment was provided by a number of newcomers to the beach to watch, but particularly a clearly well off young teenage Thai girl who had an abundance of beach toys. This included an inflatable red heart shaped kite that took over 2 hours of untangling, assistance from do-gooders and running up and down the beach with it dragging behind to actually get it airborne for less than 10 seconds.

We always say that you still catch it (the sun) through the clouds and Jackie certainly did. We left the beach at 5.30pm with Jackie radiating like a Belisha Beacon. My nose also took a pasting.

After a couple of Hong Thongs, we headed back into Town. Again, there was a long queue outside the Banana Bar, which we have discovered, probably justifyingly is voted on TripAdvisor as the best restaurant on Ko Samet. We continued on to the Ocean Pizza restaurant where Jackie had agreed that I could attempt a whole pizza as I had eaten little more than my pork sausage and a half a packet of sour cream and onion Lays.

No sooner had we arrived at Ocean Pizza, when Jackie had a change of mind and decided that we would now share one pizza and a salad. We shared a homemade pepperoni pizza and a green salad with a couple of dressings. Both were utterly delicious and the staff were again super efficient and attentive. It was a very pleasurable dining experience to end our day.

Song of the Day - Irrelevant Battles by Patrik Fitzgerald.Читать далее