Budget: 1800B/$60; Spent: 629B/$21
Today we were finally leaving for Bangkok. It was sad, but I think we both felt it was time to move on. We were leaving behind some good friends, but there is nothing like setting off into the unknown. We knew we'd have other, awesome experiences on our journey and that helped to make our departure from this great city a little easier.
We woke up and packed our things, then we had lunch at the Corner restaurant one last time. As usual, it was pretty good. Afterward, we went back to our guesthouse to do some trip planning. We tried to book our accommodations in Krabi, in southern Thailand, but we had no luck. Sometimes it's really annoying booking accommodations. We can be so picky, and when there are many options we often waste so much time flipping around between them all. That being said, we're often pretty happy with the places we do pick. I'm not sure what the lesson is to learn here...!
We went to go grab coffees from a nearby cafe and it turned out to be a really nice place. It was literally half a block down from our guesthouse and we hadn't even noticed it our entire stay there! It was quite tasty, if a little expensive, but there was free wifi there, so we both surfed the internet and looked up more accommodations in Krabi. At last, we found a place we were both pretty sure about. It's called Gafiyah Guesthouse and it's in Krabi Town. Hopefully it works out, especially considering the effort we put into finding it!
We headed back to our guesthouse when it got close to the time the shuttle would pick us up to take us to our bus. We chatted with Claire while we waited. We added her to Facebook. I think she was somewhat sad to see us go, especially with all the drama around the guesthouse in the past couple days. This only added to our sadness about leaving.
Before we left, we said goodbye to the cats, who were the sweetest things in the world. They were brother and sister and were so lazy. We assume this is because of how hot it is here. These cats are very affectionate though. They have often come up to us and lied down right beside us and slept. It's very sweet. The sister had been very pregnant the entire time we were there and gave birth to three kittens two nights ago. They were so small, but very cute. Apparently the mother has been doing a good job of taking care of them, so that made us happy. Here are some cute cat pictures:
When our shuttle arrived, we hopped in and met the only other person in the shuttle at the time, a man named Miguel. He told us that he was currently working in Pune, India, which is near Mumbai. He works for a non-profit that he and some friends started that helps rural Indians improve their lives. He talked about some of the things he has been doing, and I can't believe the uphill struggle this guy faces on a daily basis. The poverty around the area is intense, and where can he even start to help? He's spent the last six months or so building relationships in the area and he's been encouraging women to use a different technique for cooking, because their current technique apparently often leads to lung cancer. To add to his struggle, his organization has received no funding for the work he's doing, so it's all out of his own pocket. Oddly, he has a Master's Degree in Robotics, of all things. He seems like quite an interesting guy. He had spent yesterday talking with a young monk and they went around visiting some local sites that are off the beaten track. The monk talked openly to him about all the difficulties he faces having chosen that road. The monk was a young man and we learned that people can become monks at any age, or chose not to be a monk at anytime. I guess many people try it out for a time. Monks are very respected in Thailand.
Once we arrived at our bus, we were separated from Miguel, but I got his business card. Maybe one day we'll have some money to donate to his cause. He seemed like a good man doing some really amazing things. It was a pleasure to meet him.
Once again, we had an uncomfortable bus ride. We happened to end up with seats right next to the stairwell so our feet had no where to go. It was another sleepless night.
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