Nick meets Surat Thani

(Holly) I'm back. And this time, not alone. For many reasons this post may add extra intrigue as my fiancé and I account on our adventure beyond Phuket.

(Nick) Hi there. Interesting weather this blog is having. Reminds me of that rainy day in Phuket. Actually from what I saw every day is rainy in Phuket. Fair warning. We are trying to blog together with separate post for the places we went. Not many pictures from our time in Phuket. But we found each other!

Also learned that it is possible to survive a rainstorm on a rented motorscooter while driving on the funny side of the road. Also learned that if you are trying to explore a foreign city during that rainstorm it helps to have a map and be able to read the road signs… But we made it to the bus station.

(Holly) So it happened, Sunday evening we left a rainy Phuket for a quiet, yet normal Surat Thani. The city welcomed it's new visitor in the early evening.

(Nick) Ok. Holly may say Surat Thani was normal. But for me things were anything but normal. This was place felt different from everything I had known before. Holly had the lead and I was doing my best to keep up.

(Holly) Moments after our megabus ride, we jumped a tuk tuk and set off for Ban Sai Tong, my residential area. Upon arrival I gave him some time to drop his luggage, 1 giant suitcase (large enough to hold 30-40 large gouda wheels) and a small carry-on. At the time I was unaware of its contents.

I was about to give my motorbike a shot with my first handsome passenger. Success? I think yes. I even had a helmet for the chap. First stop, Sunday night floating market near the Tapee River.

"I want to try one of those." - Nick

(Nick) Yep There’s jello in that coffee. Squishy yet satisfying. It would have been tough to finish on the back of a motorbike so I made sure that we finished it before moving on.

(Holly) The black grass jelly drink buffet. Pictured above: raisins, lychee, coconut, dates, and black grass jellies. It's an iced sweetened coconut-based milk drink.

(Nick) Didn't really feel like jet lag had thrown my schedule off that much but flipping the schedule ahead twelve hours does kind of trick some of the senses. I was up plenty early Monday morning and ready to check out Joy School in person.

I did not however have any idea how to find my normal cup of coffee. Holly’s not much for the black drink and so we set off with yogurt and oatmeal alone. Luckily the non - Holly teachers at Joy School are less caffeine averse than my dear beloved and they were quick to make a run to the corner coffee shop to fuel the tank for a hot week ahead. Or at least until they could fire up the air conditioner at 10 o’clock.

After a quiet morning in the office and an hour of helping Holly inspire the next generation of little Thai’s to learn our native tongue Holly and I hopped back on the moped ((Holly says) “It’s not a moped)) for our second trip to the river area. On the menu were several Vietnamese dishes served at a pleasant little restaurant near the river. I won’t pretend that I have the skill of describing food the way Holly does but it was tasty. Some things were crunchy. Mostly vegetables. In comparison to the US where restaurants might place bread or chips and salsa on the table right after you sit down Thai’s place large plates of fresh vegetables. Fresh cut cucumbers along with leafy Thai greens seem to be the staples. After our fresh lunch with friendly company we headed back to Joy.

I can’t really say that I ever got used to riding on the back of Holly’s bike. The physics of it worked out but I just had a feeling that I was going to throw the poor girl off balance and into a mess of wild Surat traffic just by breathing wrong. Maybe it was her SoDakie background but she handled that bike like a pro. 

Video - Night Ride through Surat

I think I threw Holly off a bit not knowing any of the ins and outs of a day in Thailand. She did after all have to explain the ins and outs of using toilet paper to me… But deciding where to go for dinner was tough. Me having no idea what the options were. And Holly overloaded with places that she wanted to take me left us struggling for a few moments occasionally. But on Monday night she guided us to Begin Bar.

(Holly) Fried fish with green mango salad (the most amazing salad, my taste buds dance every time). The salad is much more than meets the eye. You are to pour it over the fish as you eat. It's tangy and spicy with tart mango, roasted peanuts, lime juice, shallots, chilies, and a pinch of sugar.

(Holly) Tom Ka Gai - A tangy, spicy, chicken coconut soup, yum (It too makes the buds dance).

(Nick) In the US I would compare it to a high end sports bar. The food was delicious. Holly knew what to order, though they had to find someone who spoke a bit of English to figure out what we were about.

Beer was served on ice and with it’s own ice bucket. (The ice is to put in your glass… Not to cool the bottle) Being a sports bar type of place and being that the main sport in the rest of the world is football a.k.a soccer. That’s what was on the TVs around the bar. Also our waitress was OUR waitress. She stood near our table and anything we needed she got. Mostly this meant refilling our/ my glass. And I don’t think she spoke any English. I think it was the most attentive service I have ever received at a restaurant and though it was a little uncomfortable at first, it was pleasant. It also had the effect of making it feel like a very expensive restaurant. Holly paid so I’m not sure how much it actually was but it’s amazing how far a dollar goes in Thailand.

In hindsight the rest of the week flew by. The markets are simply astounding. Food everywhere. In every color. In every stage of preparation. Live and dead. And just as we were about to head off from one destination to another.

"Hey Holly, come see this." Some beautiful color over a local market near my place.

(Nick) No rain. No warning. Just looked up and there is the biggest most beautiful rainbow hanging there waiting for us. It was a double rainbow actually. Must be something about the Thai air.

Not long after we even found a park. A whole island that is a park to be exact. Although to be honest there are very few parks in Surat Thani from what Holly tells me. Though from what I saw the jungle creeps back into unmaintained or undeveloped spaces quickly in those parts.

Exercise Island was incredibly impressive though. Lots of Thais were out jogging and playing all sorts of games. Also there was a rowing regatta going on right next to us in the river! It was a different side of Surat than I had gotten to see in the last few days. 

And then we saw takrow. Sepak takrow. It’s not a game that many may ever have the skill to play but to watch it in the park was pretty awesome. Spectators for the match included two tall white farang. Two kids chasing down stray balls. An old man. And a dog. But the action was intense. Why don’t you see for yourself...

Sepak Takrow at Koh Lampu - Exercise Island

The view from Koh Lampu (Exercise Island) Bridge over the Tapee River.

(Nick) Not only did we find exciting thai sports to watch but we also found….. dragons! Yep right in the middle of Surat Thani wandering around the streets to the beat of a large and mobile set of drums. I’m thinking that drum set wouldn’t have been out of place on King Kong island. The dragon was pretty tame though. It was actually being used to raise money for the Buddist temple. They had stuffed that particular dragon with about eight working pairs of legs though. And this philanthropic behemoth had no issue going right into peoples shoppes looking for donations. Pretty cool to see.

Tamed dragons in Thailand. I knew I was safe because it was all apart of the Vegetarian fest. Other weeks one should be more wary….


A variety of vegetarian dishes. There were several shops like this set up around the river and downtown area. It was hard to choose where to go. So we picked a few dished from a couple venders, inexpensive and fun.

(Holly) Our lunch. The Chinese Vegetarian Fest had so many of the most amazing looking vegetarian dishes I have ever seen. Delicious too. Picture above: pumpkin dish, mixed vegetable and legume in a pepper sauce, fresh spring rolls with a chili lime sauce, and banana parcels for dessert.


 

The plan for Wednesday evening was to meet two of Holly’s good friends Prom and Koi for dinner. It was an event I was really looking forward to having heard so much about them already. But that’s not all that was on the agenda for the evening.

After work Holly and I collected a few things from 7-11, dropped off our laundry at the roadside laundrymat then hopped back on the motorbike. At that point Holly took us right out of town and into the hills surrounding Surat. The ride took the short side of 15 minutes. The ride up the hill was quiet and jungle-like, with a couple stray dogs to mark the middle of the road for us. The top of the hill was deserted. We got off the bike and I realized why Holly had taken us here. The whole of Surat Thani was laid out in front of us from the islands on the horizon to the lights of the city and all surrounded by the dark green jungle. Can’t even say I saw it coming.

At the lookout point for the sunset, checking out Surat in a new light. And we had the whole view all to ourselves

I kissed a girl. And I liked it.

After coming back into the city from the lookout Holly and I grabbed our laundry… I mentioned it was curbside laundry, right?

And then we headed back to her place for our date with Prom and Koi.

(Holly) Prom, Koi, Nick and I having some food at Chill Out Bar. The food, amazing as usual. Finally, we all could all hang out and have some laughs. And, a little unplanned culture shock, Nick meeting Mr. Hong Thong.

(Nick) Four feet to our left was a long pool four feet wide and twenty feet long which had a small bridge that the waitstaff used. Really cool place. Koi brought a bottle of wine for her and Holly to share. Prom and I worked our way through that bottle of Hong Thong. No lasting damage and we all did manage to make it out of there without falling into that pool I mentioned.

The end of the week was approaching fast. Thursday and Friday even had some full blown sunshine and lot fewer raindrops. I think it’s important to acknowledge the 7-11’s that were apart of everyday in Thailand. It’s the go to place to get yogurt. Or water. Or matches. Or pretty much any other random thing you might need in a day.

Friday morning was all about the excitement of making it through the week in Surat Thani. I had brought Holly a few puzzles for her students in Thailand. One of them was a massive seven foot long puzzle of a construction yard. We brought it in and lit up the world of those kids. I’m pretty sure that at one point or another the entire class was trying to jam there piece into place but for three and four year olds the kids did a great job and eventually we got the whole thing together. The real trick was getting two or three of the little boys to stop standing on it.

Nick being constructive during camp week.

We broke out of there around noon. Holly was excited….

(Holly) The last day of office work, ready for some adventure with my fiancé.
(Nick) Peace. We’re out of here. Let’s go find a jungle to play in!