The Beach

It was a while ago but I forgot to write about it.

On Friday January 16th, Suzanne and I set off on a 15 hour long bus ride to Rayong. We left at 7 in the morning and only stopped once for dinner until we reached Rayong at 10 pm. It was a lot of sitting... it was a lot of sadness... it was a long long trip in which I finished 3/4 of a book, at least 20 Sudoku puzzles and tried to sleep while the man in the front seat snored like a chainsaw. By the time we got to Rayong we were fed up and tired.. we just wanted to sleep. We needed to meet our friends in Chanthaburi [another bus away] but there was no bus that late so we had to find a hotel to stay at. The first one we saw was our haven.

The next morning we decided to wake up intime for breakfast, but no earlier. At 10 we set off to the bus station to catch a bus to Chanthaburi and a three hour ride on a love bus later we arrived to meet Colin, Chris, Adrian, James, Michael and Clayton. Before heading to the beach we went for lunch and coffee and then the 8 of us piled into a song taew and set off for the beach. On the way we chatted and [in my case] sang musicals. The beach was beautiful, the water wasn't too warm, not too cold - the temperature of a nice swimming pool. We spent the better part of the early evening swimming in the gulf, throwing frisbees and playing catch with a football. We played in the sand and went on a walk along the shoreline. It was wonderful. When we decided it would be a good time to check into a resort we picked one and settled in. A big room with three double mattresses lined up beside each other on a platform. It was Clayton's birthday so we went out to the tiki huts on the sand for dinner and all of us ordered our favourite Thai food. After dinner Suzanne and I made faces in the sand while the boys played soccer with some Thai kids and then Clayton's parents showed up with icecream cake, candy bars and chips. The cake ended up all over Clayton's face and he in turn decided to shove a handful up my nose as his "Birthday buddy". More cake went flying and everyone was covered in icing. After dessert we walked along the beach more, found some blue micro-organisms in the sand that were way too interesting to be sane and then we found haven at the Rasta Bar [a small shop on the beach with a big swing we took turns playing on and bamboo floors]. At midnight everyone wished me a happy birthday and Clayton passed off the "Birthday Wisdom" to me as the first person to give me a hug. I got a hug from everyone - it was a nice feeling.. I have missed hugs. Also, Chris gave me a Thai Raggae CD for my birthday which I really like. When we had had enough of the beach we went back to our room and watched TV while everyone got ready for bed.

Sunday morning we woke up and went for breakfast, then got ready for a big day at the beach. We spent the day making sand castles, lying on the beach, renting inner tubes to play with in the water and going jet skiing. It was my very first time jet skiing and I LOVED IT!! Chris and I shared a jet ski and Suzanne shared with Adrian - at one point the other jet ski was stopped so Chris told me to drive by them and splash them. I got close and slowed down, and then when I sped up again I didn't turn fast enough and bumped into the back of them! They went flying off and had to climb back on, while I decided to let Chris drive. We went all along the shore to an island where we saw a little hut in the side of a cliff face - I wondered what it would be like to live there. In the early afternoon Clayton's parents came to pick us up and brought us back into town. Adrian and Chris had to catch a bus back to Rayong/Pattaya and then the rest of us went to Pizza Hut for dinner. I had been craving pizza for a long time, so it was a great birthday present. We went to the market and bought some movies and then went to Michael's house to watch some movies and spend the night.

Monday we woke up early, went to get coffee and then caught a bus to Korat. The ride wasn't too long; I finished my book and talked to Ashley and the family on the phone. We arrived in Korat at 4 pm and there wasn't a bus to Nakhon Phanom unitl 10 pm so we called some of our exchange student friends Kat and Kaitlyn in Korat and met them at The Mall. I had McDonalds for lunch [first time since I've left home.. I was craving Chicken McNuggets] and then we went to the arcade. We played Guitar Hero [normal version AND whack-a-mole version], Mario Kart Racer, Bumper Boats [like bumper cars but on water.. soooo fun] and then played some Karaoke. We had Swensens for dessert and then went to an internet cafe before heading back to the bus station. We took an overnight bus to Nakhon Phanom and arrived at 5 am, waking up my family when they had to come and unlock the gate.

It was a long, tiring and AMAZING birthday weekend. [I'm a little sad I missed the Bingo party back in Canada though].

"ได้ยินไหม ได้ยินไหม โปรดฟังว่าฉันรักเธอ"