The Beach

Had time between tests at the hospital, so went to the beach! Met a friendly German in the taxi in a small town called Trat on the Thailand/Cambodia border. We were in one of the pickup taxis (they hold about 10 people in the back of a pick-up truck) and he asked we where I was going. I responded I didn't know (don't have a guide book for Thailand, and had come to Trat on the recommendation of a guy on my flight from India who said that it was the quickest point to the beach from Bangkok), and followed the German to his hostel. We set out to the night market to find some food (love the Thai take on food: everyone must always be hungry, so there's great, cheap street food everywhere), and I confessed I hadn't drunk liquor for months. Since Andorra in July actually. So we proceeded to get smashed off of one bottle of the local rum, SongSang (sp?). It's actually quite good, they give you a bottle, two glasses, a bucket of ice and some cokes, and it feels pretty dandy going down. I managed not to kill myself heading back to the hostel, politely (I hope, I'm not known for my tact when drunk) turned down his offer to travel with me to the beach, and woke up the next morning feeling absolutely horrible. The two hour ferry ride through the remains of Typhoon Lekima didn't help, but the beach resort was heaven. I was the only foreigner there, probably because I found it by climbing into a random taxi after the ferry ride and following this cute Thai couple to their destination.

The Beach Natural Resort www.thebeachkohkood.com/indes.php for pictures. My camera had run out of batteries, and no where to buy more at the hotel, so no pictures of my own.

Was able to bargain for a great beachside hut, and spent most of my time dozing by the waves. Imagine swimming alone in a tropical bay, coconuts behind you bobbing in the surf, before heading up to your thatched beach hut. Though since I had purposely avoided the backpacker party spot, and turned down the German, was surrounded by Thai couples so it was a little lonely. Fell asleep each night to the surf though, and read trashy books left by previous english speaking tourists.