Just takin’ it easy

Posted under Deja vu Asia 2010

We left our nice hotel in Kata and moved to Bang Tao beach area. The main reason is that it is much closer to the airport. (More on that later) It is also very quiet. like a lot of Thailand, we have been here before, and stayed at the same hotel, called the Kris Resort. New last year and quite nice. The area is north of Patong and part of the area most devastated by the tsunami, but it is difficult to tell now, as it has all been rebuilt. The town proper is quite some distance from the resort area and so does not lend itself well to those who shop. Speaking of she who shops, I fear that she is possibly coming down with some blighted disease, for she has refrained from purchasing to excess, and in fact we have yet to send even one parcel home. With the exception of a few shirts, well that and a few scarves, she remains without purchases. I trust that this will remedy itself once we get to Bali, as I am certain that there must be a cure for this malady.

Like I mentioned, Bang Tao is quite laid back, and as I was trying my best to blend in, sitting on the deck doing nothing, I noticed some of the locals hard at work. This was in a rather large field next to our hotel, and the work crew comprised of three men and a monkey, or perhaps four men, one of whom was quite short and very hairy. Now the “short hairy one” was tied to a long rope, and was sent up the coconut trees to harvest the coconuts. He was really quite selective and upon removing the chosen coconut from the tree, would wing it down in the area of the three other fellows, one of whom would collect the coconut and throw it in a cart attached to a motorcycle. Or perhaps  the hairy guy was trying to hit the other three, but a coconut is big enough to see coming. The rope on the main worker guy was, I assume, a means to encourage him to come back down from the tree on demand. It would also prevent him from sitting in the treetop laughing and presenting the finger to those still on the ground. When you think that this was a thriving enterprise with at least three and one half employees, the only one who appeared to be working had a big responsibility in that all their livelihoods rested on his shoulders. Sort of like government work.

Now I did mention that we moved, partially to be closer to the airport. Our flight to Bali left at 8:50 AM, and as it is considered an international flight we were expected to be there two hours prior. Even with our closer proximity to the airport, we are still a good half hour away, so that makes our hotel departure in the neighborhood of 6:00 AM. Now even with a “flash face” from the magic face case that would still mean a “open your eyes, its morning” time of about 5:00 AM. Well we made arrangements for a wake up call for 5:00 AM and a taxi at 6:00, and then promptly went to sleep, and slept, and slept until 6:00 AM when we were informed that our taxi was waiting. It seems that our wake up call must have gone to the wrong room, so now we are scrambling. At 6:20, we are checking out and getting into our “new taxi” and on the way to the airport. But this is Thailand, panic is not that necessary. We cleared customs and all that stuff, and still made our flight. Next stop Kuala Lumpur, and then Bali, — but that is another blog.