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| On the airport Tarmac |
After landing in NST (Nakhon Si Thammarat) and grabbing all of our luggage (my bike included) we finally met JJ face to face. JJ is the man who interviewed us on Skype in February when we decided to embark on this amazing journey. JJ was wearing a tank top and baggy basketball shorts. He immediately apologized for how he was dressed and explained that he just came from a pick up ultimate game with a group of friends. Cool. He then told us that him and his buddies biked through the mountains for 45 km to find a lake that had a nice cliff to dive off. That's cool too. He was very chatty which was to our benefit since we weren't really in the talking mood after so long of a trip. He mentioned that he really only got back into NST a few days ago because when he originally got back, his friends convinced him to jump on a charter boat and take a trip to some islands off the west coast of Thailand for some scuba diving and cave exploration. Okay, I think we are going to like it here.
After loading up his truck, JJ drove us down the main strip to show us the school and some hotel options for the night. We couldn't really see much of anything as we buzzed down the streets because of how incredibly dark the city was. It was very strange. The roads were nice and bright but everything past the roads were not lit up at all. We decided on the Thai Hotel close to the heart of the city. It cost us 550 baht for the "luxury room" which included a fridge, air conditioning and hot water! For those wondering what that would cost in Canadian, it's roughly 19 dollars for the night.
Once settled in our room, Kay and I took a walk to find a place to eat. We had heard of this place called "Rock 99" that offered traditional Thai food and some Western options so we decided to go there. It was probably only a two minute walk from our hotel room. NST is a completely different city at night. The streets are nearly empty, all the stalls have vanished, and the stores at street level have closed their metal gates.
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| Rock 99 |
Rock 99 is a really cool patio restaurant tucked away a block from the main strip. When we walked in there were a few locals finishing off their meals (we have yet to see any westerners other than JJ). We were brought to a table outside and given huge menus. Luckily there were English translations and pictures of most of the food. It was very weird to see "western" food at the beginning of the menu, things like hot dogs, steak and french fries which would definitely be interesting to try. Further on in the menu I saw a page of "Italian" food and I didn't even want to look. Kay said they offered different kinds of pasta and pizza, I'm glad that I'm not able to try any of that! I only wanted some rice since I wasn't very hungry but Kay was feeling more adventurous and ordered a spicy, minced beef dish and a side of rice as well. Not even 30 seconds after ordering, who I assume was the chef walked over to our table and in broken English questioned Kay on whether or not she could handle spicy food, warning that the beef she ordered was very spicy. Kay said that she liked spicy and without giving her much of a chance to change her mind the chef walked back to the kitchen. We're pretty sure all of the talking and laughter going on in the restaurant was directed towards us. "Silly farangs (foreigners) thinking they can handle our spicy food...". As we waited, I saw a few rats running around in the streets. Kay has yet to see them, but I have seen a couple giant cockroach like bugs that move incredibly fast. As a couple of locals left the patio, I saw one of these bugs get stepped on by one of the guys leaving. They walked off and about a minute later, the bug shook itself off and ran away...
Kays dish came and it was looking awesome and as we had guessed, it was impossibly spicy. I only managed a couple of bites before I gave up. Kay was stubborn as usual and finished about half of it before she ran out of rice. We took the rest back to the hotel and it's still sitting in the fridge as Kay and I sit in the lobby waiting for JJ to pick us up.
This morning, Kay and I woke up and ventured into the streets in search of something for breakfast. We were completely taken aback by how transformed the streets were. All of the empty streets were packed with food stalls and people selling everything from shoes to electronics. All of the shops had opened up their storm shutters and went as far as the eye could see into the building. We circled a few blocks and finally found a place that had bananas. We asked for two and instead of giving the bananas to us, they cut them up and put them in a blender. We then realized that we had somehow ordered two banana smoothies. Didn't matter, they were delicious. After that, we found a place that sold all sorts of teas and coffees both iced and hot. We ordered one iced coffee to go. It tasted exactly how we expected it to taste. Which was good. In total, our breakfast cost us 80 baht or 2.80 Canadian. I could get used to this.
Today, we are going to go do some apartment hunting, find a dress belt because I forgot to pack one, and hopefully meet up with a few other English teachers for dinner before we start work for real tomorrow (meetings all day about work).
We are planning on keeping our posts a little shorter than this one, but give us a break, we've been through a lot these passed 3 days of travel and acclimatization.
Kays dish came and it was looking awesome and as we had guessed, it was impossibly spicy. I only managed a couple of bites before I gave up. Kay was stubborn as usual and finished about half of it before she ran out of rice. We took the rest back to the hotel and it's still sitting in the fridge as Kay and I sit in the lobby waiting for JJ to pick us up.
This morning, Kay and I woke up and ventured into the streets in search of something for breakfast. We were completely taken aback by how transformed the streets were. All of the empty streets were packed with food stalls and people selling everything from shoes to electronics. All of the shops had opened up their storm shutters and went as far as the eye could see into the building. We circled a few blocks and finally found a place that had bananas. We asked for two and instead of giving the bananas to us, they cut them up and put them in a blender. We then realized that we had somehow ordered two banana smoothies. Didn't matter, they were delicious. After that, we found a place that sold all sorts of teas and coffees both iced and hot. We ordered one iced coffee to go. It tasted exactly how we expected it to taste. Which was good. In total, our breakfast cost us 80 baht or 2.80 Canadian. I could get used to this.
Today, we are going to go do some apartment hunting, find a dress belt because I forgot to pack one, and hopefully meet up with a few other English teachers for dinner before we start work for real tomorrow (meetings all day about work).
We are planning on keeping our posts a little shorter than this one, but give us a break, we've been through a lot these passed 3 days of travel and acclimatization.
So nice to hear about your adventure in more detail. Brings back nice memories of my time over there! Makes me wish I was coming to visit next week instead of next winter! You won't have time to miss us back here... Looking forward to hearing what school is like once the students arrive :)
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