friends, we stayed at our little house in ban chang, last night. when we got there, there was a vine growing across the porch. it not only grew across the porch, but a tendril had sneaked under the front door, split in two and went clear across the living room floor and was starting to head up the stairs. tok said it was a vegatable we could eat. we've got plenty of it.
this morning, tok got up early, went to the post office and got the old motorbike which had been shipped down here, went to the store and got breakfast, washed the cloths, cleaned the house. and i was still in bed. got my ass up, made coffee, packed a small bag, dressed up and headed for chantiburi. tok wasn't sure about taking the motorbike vers the bus. i was all for it. it's about 150km to chantaburi, maybe more, i never saw the signs till later. took us all day, cause we stopped to eat, stopped for gas, stopped to get some circulation going in my butt, and made a side-trip to goto the aquarium by the ocean in rayong. the aquarium was really nice, they had some giant tank displays, lots of tropical fish, and it only cost 30 baht to go in. less than dollar. we drove along the ocean side for quite a ways, very nice. you really have to pay attention on a motorbike - there's other motorbikes going different speeds, cars, trucks, divots in the road, gravel, dogs, people going the wrong way, cars parked on the motorbike lane, berms where they laid down new asphalt on the road but not on the bike lane and we drive on the left side of the road. all good. then the rain started. that made it interesting. then it got dark. even more interesting.
but we are here. tok knew of a hotel from the days when she used to live here. she lived here for 14 years. her daughter was born here. so she knows the area well. the hotel is 200 baht per night.
6.25$ USD. not real fancy, fan- no aircon, but good for us!
tommorow some sight seeing, fruit festival/fair, visit some (more) of toks relatives, visit a few temples, forts and waterfalls. nice to have a motorbike to get around on. when you take the bus, you're kind of stuck u nless you pay for taxi's, and know just where you want to go.
onward!
Nu