Why I Love Thailand (Part II)

We spent our day in Nakhon Si Thammarat exploring Thai wats (Buddhist temples) and sampling southern Thai food. After struggling with signs written in Thai script and employing the Lonely Planet Thai phrasebook to try to find the bus station, we managed to find a shared taxi station that would take us to a town called Khanom where we could hopefully find a beach that looked nice in the guide book. As we were walking up to the ticket window I heard English for the first time all day. Two Swiss girls, very happy to see Westerners, approached us asking if we were going to Nai Phlao beach - we were. They were having a difficult time getting affordable tickets or even communicating to the ticket seller where it was that they were trying to go. With four of us it was much easier to negotiate ticket prices, and I got us all a ride for half the price they were told.

We rode about an hour to the town of Khanom, where we were dropped off and approached by a horde of motorcycle taxi drivers who said they would drive us to the beach for 50 baht each. We tried to negotiate this down, but they pointed to a price list that was all in Thai and insisted that that was the going rate. (We had no way to know, the sign could have said 50 baht to Bangkok, but we can't read Thai) So we hopped on the motorcycles and zoomed down the rural roads to the beautifully isolated and non-touristy Nai Phlao Beach.

We checked into a bungalow just off the beach next to the Swiss girls, and we all went to a beach bar for lunch. After talking to the Swiss girls for a while, we decided that since it was the night of the full moon, we would have our own party on the beach. The famous "full moon party" takes place in Ko Pha Ngan, but we couldn't get out there in time. We walked out to the main road to find somewhere to pick up a few beers for the night, and we were called over to a small restaurant/travel agency by a table of Thais yelling "farang! friends! come sit!"

Assuming they were trying to sell us something, we were a little skeptical, but we sat down at the picnic table with them and they brought us some beers. There was a sign advertising their internet cafe, so I asked if I could use the computer, and the owner (who we later found out was named Patrick) told me I could use the computer in his office. "Friends for free! I can't charge you!" They started offering us rides to places and said they would bring us to the ferry when we had to leave. Now it made sense - they were trying to get us to use their travel agency and taxi services. But than Patrick said he would only charge us for gas. It seemed like these guys were actually just decent, friendly locals.

After some good conversation and a few beers, we asked if they knew of a good restaurant to go to for dinner. They said there was a great seafood place on another beach that they would drive us to if we treated for dinner. Sounded good enough to us, so we set off - Patrick and the Norwegian expat hopped on motorbikes and rode ahead of us, while Patrick's nephew drove a pickup truck with the four of us in the back. The seafood place was closed, so they took us to a restaurant in the main town that belonged to his brother. We sat down at a family-sized plastic picnic table in the middle of the road while they brought us plate after plate of the best Thai food we've had all trip -sweet duck sausages, rice soup, fried noodles, chicken and cashews, Chinese kale, fried rice, and a bunch of dishes I can't even describe. Meanwhile, the beer continued to flow. The owner brought out his son and sat him next to Pieda, one of the Swiss girls, hoping that something would click and she would marry him - no such luck, but it was pretty funny.

The other Swiss girl Mara and I were trying to figure out how much the bill would cost with all that food and all those people, and we were a little worried when the bill came because we did promise to treat them for taking us out. But before we could even ask how much we owed, they grabbed the bill and paid it - to our astonishment and great appreciation. On the way back, the nephew who was driving us in the pickup truck asked us to sit up front with him instead of the back because he was lonely, and even though he couldn't really speak English, wanted us to hang out with him. He started blasting some Thai music, and we all looked at each other surprised because the music was actually pretty great. He taught us the words to our favorite song "Hua Lai Tut", which is an upbeat party song which translates to "Head, Shoulders, and Ass" and we rocked out as we drove to a small cafe on the way back.

The one table at the cafe on the side of the jungle road was occupied by a Russian expat in the mafia, another Russian guy who spoke no English or Thai but decided to stay because he had fallen in love with the two girls who ran the cafe, and a few Thais who gave up their seats for us. We spent the next few hours hanging out with the Russian and Norwegian expats and Patrick's nephew - hearing stories of what it's like to live in Thailand, why the Thais are so crazy, and why they are never leaving. They told us, for example, that all Thais go to school until age 12 only to learn two things - how to love your parents and how to love the king. The Thai kid agreed. It seems pretty easy to love the king judging by the stories they were telling. He mandated that there would be no taxes and that he would fund the country's infrastructure. He built the highways out of his own (vast) pocket. He personally funds the health care system and national education. Other random facts included how killing a pedestrian while driving drunk is not that serious - it's only a 80,000 baht fine (about $4,000). "You were drunk - everybody understand."

We sampled about 10 different, exotic Thai fruits that they continued to bring out to us - including finger sized bananas and tiny apple looking things that are filled with lychee-like fruit. After a great night with our amazing Thai hosts, we went back to the hotel and went to sleep before another ridiculous day of adventures.