Let’s see, when I last left you we were riding in a bus through a rainstorm on our way to Phuket Town. Well, we finally got there at about 2:30pm. The bummer is that Phuket Town is on the southern end of the island and our little place (the Seaside Cottages) is on the northern end – and Phuket is a large island. Thus, when we got off the bus with empty bellies we were a bit discouraged to realize that we would have to backtrack about an hour. To make it worse, we weren’t sure exactly where the place was, how to get there, or what mode of transportation to use. All we had to go off of was the name in English, which doesn’t mean much to the locals.
Trudging through the rain with our backpacks we attempted to find an eatery recommended by Lonely Planet, but we failed. Starving and a little frustrated by this point, we settled on the first café we found – and we were rewarded with a great meal, the best Thai iced tea that Ashlee has had yet, and an incredibly nice waitress who did her best to help us on our way. After we asked her for directions she walked us next door to a travel kiosk manned by an English speaker. The man there showed us a map, marked off where we wanted to go, called our hotel to let them know we were coming, gave us the hotel’s directions written in Thai, and directed us to the bus stop. We were very impressed with his and the waitress’ kindness – especially considering that neither of them would accept tips for their help.
Heartened a bit with our full bellies and new directions, we set off for the bus stop. Thinking about it now, we should have just paid the exorbitant fare for a personal taxi, but the man at the travel kiosk insisted that doing so was just too expensive. Anyways, with a little more help from some locals, we jumped onto a northbound “bus.” The reason I say “bus” is because it was actually a renovated pickup truck with slat benches and handholds in the bed. Our fellow passengers were mostly students and young women clutching bags of groceries. The students were all immaculately dressed in crisp white shirts, pleated skirts, and black pumps with ribbons in their hair – I was embarrassed at how raggedy and sweaty we must have looked.
Although we must have picked up and dropped off another 20 passengers, we were among the last people to be dropped off over an hour later. We got out when the drive told us, but we did not see a sign for our hotel where we should have. Doing our best to not get discouraged we walked to a small shop across the street. After a little awkward conversation with the shop owner, she graciously let us use her cell phone to call the hotel. The hotel owner – an Englishman – basically told us that we were on the right track, but that the bus driver dropped us off too early. We needed to continue north on the main road for a while longer. Also, the hotel itself is actually 2km west of the main road.
This is about the point when we both wanted to hang our heads and cry a bit. It was just so frustrating. We both had so many “why” questions. Why did we take the bus to Phuket Town? Why didn’t we take a taxi? Why is this place so hard to get to? Why didn’t we just stay in Phuket Town?
We took a moment to collect ourselves and trudged on. We must have looked pathetic however because within about 10 minutes of walking along the main road a Mercedes pulled over and the driver, a small English-speaking Thai man with a toothy grin, pulled over and asked if we needed help. Yes! He looked at our directions and said he knew exactly where to go and that he could give us a lift. Praise the Lord! Inside the car the man was a non-stop chatterbox. It was at this point that we began to take hope that we would actually make it to our hotel.
The man drove us up the road for about 10 minutes – man, that would have been a crappy walk – and he pulled over at a turn-out for our place. We even saw a sign saying “Seaside Cottages!” Unfortunately, our savior couldn’t drive us all the way to the hotel because he had to get to work, but he did flag down a passing car and asked and got them to take us.
There is just something to be said about the kindness we have experienced from the locals: the waitress, the tourist kiosk man, the handful of locals who directed us to the bus stop, the bus driver, our fellow bus passengers who helped us with our bags, the shopkeeper who let us use her phone, and now these two drivers. It got me wondering if there is a reason for their kindness? Do they realize that tourist dollars really support the Thai economy? I like to think that they are nice because of their Buddhist culture and the idea that spreading kindness gives you good karma.
Anyways, after approximately 24 hours of travel, we finally arrived at the Seaside Cottages on Mai Khao Beach. We checked-in with the owner (who doubles as the barkeep and dogwalker), tossed our stuff into our hut (more on that later), grabbed a cold beer, and headed down the water for a swim and a sunset. It was magnificent.
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