Thailand Trip (Day 22)

Day 22:
It was pretty tough waking up today at 7 after the party the night before. We had a quick breakfast and then began to clean up that base. It as a massive project (given the party and the fact that the base is pretty big). The clean up was mostly finished by 9:15 and given the sweltering heat I had the best cold shower of my life. It was sad to leave GVI and all of the good friends that we had made. Goodbyes were exchanged and everyone began to head off to more traveling or their home country. At 11 the local songtaew driver Noi picked Mike and I up and we headed to the junction. We had great luck and as we pulled up a bus to Phukett also arrived and we hopped on! During the entire 2-3 hour ride Thai music/ game shows blared over the television sets, but it was actually so bad that it was funny. I met the lady sitting across from us named "Ae" and chatted with her for a while. She was eager to practice her English and was in the middle of a month long vacation (Ohhh the joys of Thailand).

In Phukett town we arrived without a hotel (popular style here) and began walking the streets. With backpacks (huge) we can't get but a few feet without being approached by someone with a tuk-tuk or room "cheap, cheap." We took the card for a hostel and headed that way. As we walked I noticed a sign at a fairly nice looking hotel that said Phukett Montree Resortel. The word "resortel" (I guess resort and hotel) intrigued us and we went in. We were surprised to hear that the room would be only 650 Bhat and included two breakfasts, AC, and TV! After checking out a room we were sold. We spent the afternoon and evening walking the town and shopping. I am also finding that Thailand is making me very cheap. At lunch I remember thinking "darn this is pricey", since my dish was 100 B and Mike's was 60 B, but then I stopped to remember that 100 Bhat is less than 3 dollars. Thailand! After dinner we headed to a main shopping area and saw a McDonald's. We were intrigued and headed in. They actually have double Big Macs here (I have never seen them anywhere else). SO gross, 4 patties of beef! Along with American favorites they had local McD's flavor, such as spinach pie. We did buy some McFlurries, and Mike a fries. He said they tasted exactly the same. On the way back to the hotel I was thrilled to see a Watson's (Hong Kong based pharmacy) since I have a slight cold. Oddly, it made me feel at home the way McDonald's did! Haha!