So lucky for me, we had a 4-day weekend, which happily turned into a 5-day weekend when I just didnt show up for work on Friday. This turned out to be a wonderful idea, as I was able to run from school to the airport, fly to bangkok, take a bus to the train station, get a train, and overnight it to Trang, a city about 3 hours from the border of Malaysia, way in the South of Thailand. <---- Koh Lanta
Morgan, who you may have heard me talk about, seen pictures, heard of her infamous dancing skills, lives in Trang with her husband Job. I went to see them, and also to go to Koh Lanta, a wonderfully peaceful and laid back island.
The journey itself took about 30 hours from my school to my hostel in Lanta. But once we got there, saw the beach, rented bikes and m
et up with her friend who lives there... it was all worth it. Koh Lanta is a backpacker island, still with the chilled-out atmosphere you come to love in Thailand. During the days, you relax o
n the beach, read, eat, hang out, and at night the beaches become miniature bars, with tables, and large flat platforms set up for sitting and talking with friends.
Morgan's friend Lauren, lives on the island with her Fiance Kwan, who owns a Bamboo Tattoo shop, so we ended up hanging out at the tattoo shop, meeting all his clients (who are some really cool people from all over the world) and cooking food
at his house, and gossiping about the ongoings of the island tourists who hook up with locals,
and locals and locals, and tourists and tourists, etc. Pretty interesting when its a small island, and everyone knows everyone's business.
We spent two nights on the island, then one night back in Trang, where Morgan and Job live. On sunday night we went to Job's village to have dinner with his family, who are more and more excited by how many bowls of rice you eat. I got to three. They also found my dance moves to be insanely hilarious (they're horrendous) but they enjoyed it, and we all had dessert and laughed the night away. The next day was spent lo
unging at Morgan's house, watching all the TV we could, before I had to train, bus, fly, drive back to my house up in Chiang Mai.
All in all it was a great weekend, good to see Morgan (who worked the last summer camp and is my boss for the next summer camp). And meet her friends, husband's family, and island goers. Makes me ready to be a backpacker again. Johanna and Dave, if you're reading. We need to plan a trip.
Other notes. School is almost over. Thank God. The king of Sweden came to our school, he's a patron of scout troupes? I dont know, but I saw him, and snuck into a tour they were leading him, so saw him up close, and the mayor of Chiang Mai, and a really high level security officer appointed by the King.
Other than that, same old, same old.
Gustaf
