on our second morning together, BB and i decided to take another half-day trip suggested by the tuk-tuk driver. we were going to the elephant village and khaotakiab temple. but before hitting the road again, we liked to go to the beach first..
i like beach in the morning and was looking forward to it every time when i was a kid when dad came to visit me at auntie's house.. he always brought my sis and i out to the beach on a saturday morning at the end of each month.. i guess that's why i've turned into a beach bum.. it's your fault, dad!
BB and i got up at 6.00 am. it was my idea and sorry to get you out of bed this early. i just wanted to watch sunrise.. i can't do it when i am in hatyai and i just had 2 morning left here.. i knew you would forgive me after you go back to your normal life in chilly weather in your country and you think back.. yeah, i am glad she dragged me out so early to watch the gorgeous sunrise.. ;]
BB seemed like a sleepy head in the morning, while i was wide awake and ready for the first light of the day.. we walked on the quiet road toward the beach, not talking much. i guess BB still needed a little bit more time to wake himself up..
luckily when we were there, the sun was still not so up from the horizon. it lazily showed the orange-ish light on the line where the sky met the sea.. yeah, we were there in time to just sit and watch them. i was so happy that i brought my camera with me.. it seemed like we were among the first few sun worshipers there.. we had the beach and the sun to ourselves!! ..
we lied down on our sarongs talking and waiting for the water to get a little bit warmer. BB looked like he was going to nod off every minute.. after the sun shone for a while, i tested the water and got ready to walk into it slowly.. BB decided not to join me.. he said not today.. okay, so the dolphin had to play alone this morning.. you can't say that tomorrow.. i thought to myself.. however, thanks for coming out with me..
i soaked up with the sun and the salty water until the sun got so strong and my dark skin couldn't go any darker.. we decided to walk back to the hotel and got ready for breakfast..
the driver picked us up at the same place as yesterday. we headed to the elephant village to get there before 10.30 am for an elephant show. upon getting there, we decided to just ride the elephant. it was my third time and i was still longing to do it again.. the elephant we were riding was female named 'nong noi'.
she was playful, hungry so often, liked the shade and didn't enjoy a long walk alone.. while we were riding her, she stopped sideway to eat and refused to move on unless she wanted to.. when she walked past water, she stopped by to bath herself and sometimes she sprayed the water up to us too.. once, she was under a shade, she stood still for a minute enjoying her life under the shade.. and she seemed like to stop under every shade we passed.. the mahout both begged and forced her to move on. he begged her like she was his lover and they were kind of cute couple.. i told him not to force her to walk if she didn't want to as we were not in a hurry.. he said that she wouldn't be like this if she had a company. it seemed like she didn't want to walk alone in the baking sun. she prefered companies as we human do..
the view was like we were in a cowboy movie with desert and dry mountain and the hot bright sun shone above our heads..
riding with the mahout for a while, we were asked by him if we liked to ride the elephant.. i tell you what i was going to ask him the same question. not hesitating, i moved to the neck of nongnoi slowly after giving my camera to the mahout. it felt like i was falling down everytime nongnoi move her legs. but a while later, i got used to it. then, it was time for BB to try..
the sun was straight to our head and baking us but we didn't care at all. the fun and experience were so worth it.. my dark and burnt skin will heal but the experience won't come every single day.. which one you wanna pick??
inside the elephant village (it's more like an animal farm as there were other kinds of animals too.), a female mahout rode an elephant past us. she looked so natural and comfortable with the elephant she was riding. i couldn't help staring at her for a while. i wish i ride this natually..
after the ride, we were given a complimentary coconut juice and fresh and sour pineapple.
chilling out and cooling down from staying an hour in the sun, we moved to the second place, khao takiab temple.. gosh, seeing the ladders, i wanted to cry. my legs were still sore from walking at khao wang yesterday.. but giving up and not climbing them was not me at all. i walked and ran the high stairs, with a long-legged farang tagging and walking slowly behind me..
i told you what... the view was breathtaking. the wind blew lightly giving you a fresh energy to walk back down again.
before climbing the thin stairs, i saw this big tree with its flowers. asking the lady nearby, i was told that the flower was name 'salah' and brought by the abbot on his religious trip to nepal..
getting down from the top, we walked around taking pictures of monkeys. the monkeys here were quite laidback and intimate to people.. they even sat there still and posed for us..
after walking back from the waterfront part of the temple, we walked to tuk-tuk and got back to town. another plan for a stickily hot afternoon was trying different flavors of ice cream at a locally made italian gelato.
we picked differently and shared. it seemed like i picked the flavors from the west and BB from thai. he chose lemon and coconut and i rum and cappu..
we sat there a bit long, taking photos and chatting until the air-con was comfortably cool and our sweat were drying up.. we were back to life and the energy was surging up again. after being done with ice cream, we were out to the sun-soaked street again. BB wanted to buy used books, so we walked toward the beach. i like bargaining price for him to get the lowest deal. it was like a chance to talk to strangers and practice makes it natural, boy.
after the bookshop, BB wanted to see the chinese shrine on the waterfront. there, we went. it was the last destination before walking back to the hotel for a nap..
you really look like that swede with this cap on.. you've brought me back to the past again and again..
reaching my room, i peeled myself off the sticky top and shorts, jumped into the cold shower and got ready to nap. it was a bliss that i could sleep tight again, even if it was in the afternoon and was just for 2 hours...
we came out to the beach again at 4 pm. i thought to myself that it was still hot outside and i needed more sleep.. why could i told BB to meet at 4.30 or 5 pm?.. i kept asking myself so.. however, we were out into the sun again at 4 pm. ish.
the beach had not so many people as it was monday. so good that it was not so packed. we picked the place and lay our sarongs for a few times, as the wind was blowing trying to test our patience. i resumed my nap again laying next to BB on the beach. i told him to keep talking. i was listening and just closing my eyes..
gosh, it was blissful, quiet and breezy. the wind never stopped blowing. the conversation was going deeper and more comfortable. we seemed like to talk about everything.. i lay there back facing the sky closing my eyes, listening to BB talking. at this time of the day, he seemed wide awake, while i was a sleepy head.. i got up again when the bright blue sky turned pinkish orange.. people were starting to move out of the beach and not many people there now.. i just realized that it was getting dark and we didn't move to the water since we first lied down on our sarongs.. i was just too lazy to get wet this afternoon.. maybe tomorrow morning..
then, again we walked back to the hotel with hungry tummies. took a shower and walked to the night market. today, we were going to try padthai with fresh shrimp and fried mussle.. and yes, BB loved it again..
it was our last night and i was sad already thinking about it. after eating, BB wanted to buy 3 pairs of fishman pants for his psycologists. we went to the shop we saw before and again i started to bargain for lower price, until BB told me.. i am okay with the price, i stopped but i still wanted to keep trying..
tonight, we decided that it was an alcohol free-night. we will go for something soft and i hoped that afterward i would be sleeping better than previous nights.. we wanted to try the restaurants sitting on the waterfront. it was a good view there. the view that we saw nothing at all. it was dark in the nearly sleeping sea but the waves were still lazily crashing on the shore. the sky was ebony tainted with shimmering stars.. not so many of them but there were some for us to look at.. i wish we were at an island.. there will be thousand of them for us to count..
i ordered blended lemon for me and blended papaya for BB and we tried 2 thai dessests. sorry, i forgot their names.. and again, BB enjoyed it.. he seemed like easy to please, huh??
we left for the hotel at 10 pm. the more the nights, the earlier we hit the sack. BB kept yawning while we were sitting there talking. so i told him, we'd better move back to the hotel. he kept saying.. it was okay, we were not in a hurry. we could stay as long as we wanted.. but looking at his light blue eyes through the clear glasses, i saw they were half-shut..
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