Budget: 1800B/$60; Spent: 2195B/$73
We got moving this morning around 11am and quickly made our way over to a nearby restaurant for some decent eggs, toast, coffee, and juice. We then hopped on the taxi to Au Nang, hoping to get a couple hours of beach time in before we were supposed to meet up with Shirley and Lesley for the picnic at Railay Beach.
We ended up buying a cheap beach mat for $3 from a man walking around with them on the beach. It was quite convenient, actually. We then hung out on the beach for about two hours, playing with a frisbee, which we also bought from a guy walking along the beach, and just enjoying the nice warm, Thai water.
Shirley and Lesley had told us the name of the hotel they were staying at, but when we asked a local in a nearby shop, we learned that their hotel is about 5 km away from where we were. This was somewhat disheartening for us, and, feeling very lazy, we contemplated not meeting up with them, since yesterday they had basically left it up to us whether we would join them or not. Anyway, after thinking about it for a minute, we decided that we would regret not meeting up with them, so we packed up our stuff and headed to the main road to find a taxi.
It turned out that their hotel really wasn't that far away from where we were, although it would have been quite a walk. The taxi took about 5 minutes and we saw them almost as soon as we arrived. They were organizing things on the beach. They were happy to see us and told us that they had organized a ride to and from Railay and also just finished ordering some food for a picnic as well. They were so cute.
It's funny because we were very surprised that they liked us at all. We were very antisocial on the tour yesterday because of how angry and bitter we were at the whole experience, but for whatever reason they liked us. Now, that horrible tour had united us with two really lovely ladies that wanted to just have a good time with us. It was a nice turn of events!
• Went to buy another bottle of wine at nearby shop… bought a $10 bottle of Thai white wine
• Sat in Luna restaurant waiting all together for late lunch they ordered to be prepared. Restaurant was right on the beach across from their nice resort in Aunang. They got a bag full of ice to keep our wine cold.
• Hopped on boat they negotiated a price on (1500B) which is kind of expensive, but it seems money isn’t too much of a concern for these ladies.
• Got splashed on a bit on the ride there.
• Found a nice spot under the shade of some pretty trees.
• Railay is a beautiful beach
• The ladies brought 4 glasses for the wine. Turned out a lot of the food they ordered was missing so there really wasn’t a lot for all of us. They insisted we eat it all since they had just finished eating a big meal a couple hours ago
• They also refused to take any money for the food
• We chatted about so many things. We learned they both were or were in the process of getting divorces
• They had lots in common. Their sons went to school together and they both had young grandchildren. Both had been cheated on by their husbands. They opened up to us a lot and though it was heavy at times we laughed a lot! Lesley's husband was working overseas in Dubai 3 weeks on and off and she learned after over 30 years of marriage and 2 children he had another life in Dubai. She didn’t want to go into the details of how she found out but apparently he had a long term girlfriend in Dubai. She was visibly heart-broken about it. She talked about how she had always been completely faithful but when she found out she took his American Express card and spent $40K on jewellery, new bedroom, new carpeting and sent him the bill.
Shirley is hilarious!! Her husband cheated too. She stayed with him for the kids. They built an incredibly successful business in meat handling training and have grown their empire of real-estate properties and small businesses since. We had no idea she was so wealthy. She never flaunted it but it came about in conversation. She was incredibly humble inspite of the success and very kind and down-to-earth. Late in her marriage she ended up sleeping with a 35 year-old hottie and once they got separated she continued seeing him, even though he had a 21-year-old girlfriend! They were basically our parents’ age but it felt like we were hanging out with our friends.
• Every 30 mins or so Lesley would go in the water to cool off. After eating all 4 of us went in with our glasses of wine in hand. We waded in the beautiful warm water of Railay for a couple hours talking and laughing. I asked the 2 of them what advice they would give Jeff and I to make sure we lasted and they both agreed that we need to be each other’s best friends. That when kids come along it is vital to a marriage to make alone time for each other. Shirley said we needed to grow with each other. She then told us about her son, a dentist, who is in the middle of getting a divorce as well. They have a 2 year-old daughter and she said that the girl stopped growing while her son continued. Her son had been depressed for quite some time and was suicidal. All the stress for them both was part of the reason they decided to go on the trip to Thailand in the first place.
• At about 6:30pm as sun was setting we decided to find our boat and head back
• We took some fun pics in the boat and decided to grab some dinner when we got back
• We had dinner at Luna the place across the street from their hotel.
• Shirley ended up buying a huge bottle of wine and then proceeded to insist we pay for nothing for the day. We pleaded to let us give some money but they both refused. They simply told us to pay it forward. We’ll have to find a way to do that. Incredibly generous of them.
• We proceeded to drink the entire large bottle of wine over dinner and we chatted some more about personal things. Things that have scarred us. It will no doubt go down in my books as one of the most random human connections in my life. It was wonderful and I will never forget these ladies.
• We hugged and said our goodbyes but not before taking one last picture together. We took down their info in case we’re ever in Australia and so perhaps we can keep in touch
• Jeff and I walked the 5 kms back to the other side of Aunang to grab our taxi home.
• We got back and showered and went to bed.
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