Easter Holiday

We have been away from Pattaya since last Thursday on a holiday to the western part of Thailand. The boys have been out of school for a week and half for the Thailand Songkran holiday, it is their New Year, their most celebrated holiday. We wanted to take a vacation that would be all about relaxing and resting rather than running to and fro seeing sites. We flew into Phuket early Thursday the 9th and had about 5 hours until our speed boat departed for the remote island of Phi Phi. We dutifully dropped Mark off at a McDonald's so that he could finish up some work, he had to submit an article for a Chemical publication before he could really relax. While he was finishing that our driver took us to a Go-Kart park and snake farm in Phuket. The snake farm was unlike any I had ever visited before, it was really small and the handlers had numerous scars and one man was missing a finger from performing and handling the snakes. He told us that one of the snakes is so poisonous that if you receive a bite it is better to just cut off the affected area if possible, that his index finger was cut off rather than risk the spread of the venom. Some people are desperate to find a way to make a living in Thailand and I think this was one of those situations.

After retrieving Mark we had a very pleasant lunch on the banks of the Andaman Sea of fresh seafood and Thai food. It was a really great setting with a cool breeze blowing off the water. The waitstaff were so excited that we knew some minimal Thai and weren't just tourists but live in Thailand. They peeled our shrimp and had a special hand washing ceremony after the meal, very gracious.

It was off to the dock next to board our speed boat-but maybe not! That nice breeze at lunch had now turned into a pretty formidable storm and we were stuck waiting in a room by the pier until the storm blew over. After a couple of hours we headed for the speedboat even though I couldn't see much difference in the storm but assumed they knew something we didn't.

We boarded the speed boat with 3 other guests and 3 staff people. Our luggage was placed in plastic bags on the boat and we headed towards our destination. After 45 minutes of intense waves-5-6 ft. swells, the staff instructing us to put our life jackets on, nervous chatter among the green-faced guests, the captain decided to turn around and we would try the following day. We were all relieved it was a little nerve wracking and we were still within the bay, I can't imagine how rough the waters would have been on the open sea. The staff escorted us off the boat and to a hotel in Phuket for the evening, we were all glad to be back on solid ground. We enjoyed the evening playing cards, watching TV and ordering room service. We would try again tomorrow.