Sat next to me on the flight was a young Vietnamese lady and the conversation opened with her asking me gingerly where in the world I was from. As I had found through my previous trip through Vietnam, as soon as I said I was from England and showed her my passport to see, she seemed to relax almost instantly and the conversation then flowed very easily from then on.
We talked happily for around half an hour whilst eating our in-flight sandwiches that had been lovingly prepared and wrapped in cling film by the airline staff. She asked about my children, I showed her the cat which drew a smile upon her face as she loved cats. She was the proud mummy of a 18 month old boy and showed me a few pictures on her phone of the little fella. I decided to use some of my learned Vietnamese charm and said "he's very handsome" and she proudly beamed back, "Yes, very handsome". After 40 odd years of struggling in the U.K, I may finally be getting the hang of this conversation malarky away from my native land.
It was at this point of the conversation that the plane started to bump and shake violently before plunging us out of the sky. With the plane engines engaged at full thrust to try and force flight and halt the rapid decline, my coffee cup ran off and hid away to my right and the lady instinctively grasped onto the top of my hand that had beaten hers to the seat rest between us. I truly believe that everyone on that flight at that moment thought that our time was up. It felt like an age had passed before the plane gave the impression that it was propelling forward again rather than straight down and this period had been spent in complete silence. No panic, shouting or anything that you might expect. Just absolute terrified silence.
After normal altitude was regained the tannoy stayed quiet, there was nothing from the pilots or cabin crew to reassure anyone else onboard that we were now going to be ok and my heart continued to beat at "drug fuelled rave tent" levels for a couple of hours after. It makes you realise how precarious life can be sometimes and the landing when it came shortly after was met by a collective gasp of relief from all the passengers within. It was obviously great to be back on the ground, but I'm not sure that I will ever get over "Mucho Grande".
The shuttle bus from the airport to Krabi cost 90 baht and took around 25minutes to get us into the town. I then had another 5 minute walk with my bags as I stumbled along dimly lit streets before arriving at the Pak Up hostel where I was booked in for the evening. After checking the room and bed were all clean (it was very), I went downstairs and booked in for another 2 nights before then organising some of my clothes in the storage locker under the beds whilst the room was still empty. It was gone eleven by the time I headed out to find some late night food. The need to eat being from diabetic necessity rather than hunger. My appetite was still in the air at 30,000 feet and my heart was still in my mouth making it difficult to get anything else past it.
The next day I took a little time for reflection, and in the reflection it was clear that I needed a haircut. I asked the lady on reception of a good place to go and after jokingly offering to cut it for me, she pointed me in the direction of a hairdresser just a small distance away. With the stylist dressed in what seemed to be a full length operating gown and facemask I wondered if I had wandered in for the wrong kind of snip and with an absence of a shared verbal understanding, I used a photo of me from before I left the U.K to help explain what I was after. There was no need to worry. She took time and care to make sure that by the time she was finished with me I looked sharp as a pin, which considering the subject she was having to work with was something of a modern day miracle. Price was 100 baht, I gave her 200 which even then she was reluctant to take. I consider a 4 pound haircut something of a bargain, 2 just would have been unacceptable to me.
I wandered around Krabi for a while after, watching boats on the river, wondering why there were statues of apemen holding up traffic lights, looking in shops and drinking a little coffee before I went out to the Big C supermarket located just outside town via taxi, a journey which took about 20 minutes and 20 baht without haggling. Here I picked up a new set of headphones to replace my trusty old pair that I had managed to break the night before. I have found headphones to be one of the most useful bits of kit whilst staying in hostels. I then used the on site food court to get a little late lunch before returning back to the hostel via taxi once again.
The taxi's in Krabi tend to be medium sized pick ups with a padded seat running along the inside on each side and a plastic or canvas cover to protect the passengers in the back. The top end ones also have a tail flap to prevent belongings or small people falling out the back. There are a lot of small people here that need protecting.
By the evening it was clear that the last 7 weeks or so of travel had taken its toll, with my legs in particular in a state of constant dull ache, I decided that now may be the time to endure my first massage at the spa that was joined to the hostel. I spoke to the owner about which one to have being new to it all and she recommended the oil massage rather than the thai, a recommendation I was happy enough with as I had heard from many sources during my time in asia that the thai massages were a little brutal. As it happens the oil massage was brutal also.
I was pushed, prodded, clicked, elbowed and kneaded for the next hour from legs, torso, arms and head, swearwords frequently damned from rushing out by my bitten bottom lip. I wondered exactly what it was that this lady had hated so much about me, however by the time the lady had finished on my shoulders and scalp, I could have just fallen asleep on the spot. absolutely amazing. As I limped off back to my room she said I should be able to walk again properly in 2 days, the next day I was fresh as a 40 year old daisy.
The next couple of days were spent at some of the many glorious beaches, swimming the warm seas and snorkeling over coral reefs in the crystal clear waters. I saw Sid from "finding nemo" amongst many others as I drifted slavishly back on forth on the ocean current, with a few of them raisin up to swim around me. I have now been snorkeling 3 times including my first experience on my fortieth birthday nearly 3 weeks ago, with each experience being better than the previous I'm starting to wonder what I do from here.
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