I caught a taxi at 4am to BKK airport. I was worried that I might not find one, but my host assured me it would be easy and less than 200THB. Luckily, I only had to wave down two taxis to find one willing to take me to the airport AND use the meter. I was at the airport in about 20 minutes for 179THB. ( just a little over 5 USD).

I had checked in the night before, which was a good thing since they had changed my flight to bout 20min earlier. Another huge plus to checking in online is that you can usually avoid at least one long line. I went straight to the bag drop. Yes, shocker, I actually checked a bag for this trip. I had bought a large container of sunscreen, a couple small bottles of Mozzie spray (mozzie = Mosquitos) I had originally planned a train journey,so liquids weren’t a concern. Luckily, Bangkok Air has agree checked baggage allowance of 20kg/ about 40lbs. I felt SO STRANGE walking towards major transit without my backpack!!! Strange, but free. I managed to even have a few moments to grab a snack at the BA club, before heading to my gate.

The flight was nice, and the inflight snack was like a large airline meal – very well done and fresh. Once we landed and I got my pack, I went to the minivan service for Lamai. Sometimes you have to wait til they have enough people, but it didn’t take long before we were on our way.

I was the last dropped off, and I waited for a bit for my host to give better directions. I was ready to make other arrangements, when she finally responded. I was only a short walk. The place is very basic, but there is AC, bathroom, and walkable to the beach. I’ll stay here for a few days unless I find a better place on the beach.

I ended up taking a nap. Naps make everything better. The sun shines a little brighter. What would have been a trudge, becomes a stroll. Once I woke, I managed to get going about 2pm. I made the walk to the beach and stopped at the Tesco Lotus – kind of like a Walmart with a Thai style food court. I had some stir fried noodles with veg and chicken. Then finished my walk to the beach. Not too far.

Once I got comfy, a woman stopped by and exfoliated my feet. She started with one foot, said no cost if I didn’t like. She was nice, though she scolded me for not shaving my legs. So, it’s been a couple weeks…eh, I’ll do it tonight. Then she compared our skin colors, and laughed at the prices I paid for my hat and large cloth I’m using to sit on. Then she nodded sagely saying, “you pay farang prices, not Thai prices. Then we negotiated the cost to finish. She did most of one foot, but I felt bad not paying anything So I gave her 100THB, and said thanks, can’t afford the other foot. The price came down from 500 to 120 including both feet. Later she stopped by to tell me to not be on the beach alone after 6:30/7pm since I’m traveling alone. I’ll be taking her advice, and will be looking for a place really close to the beach.

The beach was clearing out about 5:45, so I packed up and headed back in the direction of where I’m staying, and stopped off to get a foot massage. This was the best one yet. I think I had a string dreams, and the massage seemed to last longer than an hour. I’ll be going back to that place.

Then there was pad Thai for dinner!