6 months in Thailand having fun doesn’t prepare you for ‘responsibility’. Karen and her friend Billy were coming over. They were landing in Koh Samui and could we just find them some accommodation? No problem!
We went over early hired a jeep and spent a day combing the island. Too quiet, too noisy, too expensive, too cheap, proper toilet but cold shower, lovely view but what will they do in the evening? We finally settled on a place called ‘Eden’ in a quiet garden but on a road where there were lots of bars and restaurants. 
Eden - Karen and Billy's bungalow through the trees.
Eden was in Bo Phut, a quieter bay along from Lamai beach which was very busy. Not much petrol left but enough to get to the airport and pick them up the next day. We set off in the afternoon, well before they were due to land.
“That’s funny the petrol gauge hasn’t moved off red”. 100 yards up the road it started to splutter and we finally coasted to a spot near the main road. What a good job we left early. We walked up the road to a little garage “Hah hah, falang ran out of gasoline?” I bought three bottles of gasoline and borrowed a funnel promising to return the empties and the funnel. Still plenty of time. Unfortunately the arrival of a ferry at ‘Big Buddha’ beach along with major roadworks at the junction outside the ferry port and ‘leaving off time’ resulted in a Thai style traffic jam. By Thai style I mean that it was every man for himself. No sign of a policeman or traffic lights, cars were just all over the place but everyone (apart from me) seemed to be quite laid back about it. Imagine cars converging from three directions onto a junction which had been reduced to half a lane which meant that to turn left you needed to do a three point turn whilst all the cars from the other two directions waited for you! We made it through with less time now to get there, but we should still do it and we would have if….we hadn’t driven straight past the airport! How do you drive past an airport and not notice it? When there are no signs and the airport is just a collection of rickety wooden huts! We eventually realised but by the time we got back Karen and Billy were waiting so our little idea of holding up a notice (like taxi drivers do) at the arrivals gate saying ‘Drug Couriers’ didn’t come off. We drove back, taking our turn to do the three point turn and settled in to ‘Eden’. Next morning I got up early with Sue to return the Jeep whilst Karen and Billy slept.“That’s funny the petrol gauge hasn’t moved off red”. 100 yards up the road it started to splutter and we finally coasted to exactly the same spot near the main road! How strange I thought, well, at least we know which way to walk. Notice how calmly I accepted this situation, 6 months in Thailand has taught me patience. “Hah, haha hah!! Falang run out of gasoline? Sorry no have, garage run out of gasoline!” Oh, what a lark, Sue was overjoyed. So we walked back (past the jeep) to another little garage bought 2 litres of gasoline and borrowed a funnel which was handily kept on a hook right next to an even handier piece of clear plastic tubing, ideal for siphoning. I expect those cynics amongst you are already way ahead (just like the flat tyre episode) but it wasn’t until that point that I thought, “Some B…… is siphoning my gasoline, in fact I am probably in the process of buying it back!”
2 days in Koh Samui was enough, Billy had visions of laying in a hammock on a deserted beach, so on with the back packs and off to Koh Phangan on the ferry from 'Big Buddha' beach. Nowhere booked but heh, let's just go, it will be an adventure!
(l-r) Billy, Karen, Sue and me.
No comments:
Post a Comment