Chiang Mai is different before sunrise. One can really appreciate the old city walls and the moat that I assume once served as protection for ancient inhabitants. I enjoyed my time here, doing next to nothing.
I had a sleepless night for a couple of reasons. One was my early flight to Krabi in southern Thailand and being a bit antsy about sleeping through my alarm. The second, and more important reason, mosquitos. I had a wonderful stay at Nat Len guesthouse but every damn night I was attacked by mosquitos regardless of what I did to prevent it. I just couldn’t bear the thought of slathering myself with DEET so I chose to do head-on battle. Only one bite…not bad.
Migi from the guest house drove me to the airport in her tiny, shiny tuk-tuk. She sleeps in the reception area as they often have guests who arrive in the middle of the night. Migi is a renaissance woman of sorts. She used to be a fighter…boxer I think. Her dad made her quit because he was afraid she’d taken one too many shots to the head. She has a physique resembling that of a man, an impressive number of tattoos, and despite having long, dark hair, a number of designs shaven into her head. She is a teddy bear mostly, but I sense it inadvisable to end up in her bad books…
The domestic area of Bangkok airport wasn’t overly busy. My flight to Krabi – changed planes in Bangkok – was uneventful except for the overwhelming number of children on the second leg. Wonder if they’re all heading for my resort…
There are two ferries involved in getting to my resort. It is now 3:45 and I’ve been up for 12 hours and in transit for much of that. Tuk-tuk, two planes, bus to Krabi town, mini van, ferry to Koh Lanta and now another to get to the hotel less than 4 km away. It is so hot in this van that I’m having flashbacks to the Phonsavanh trip, minus the spitting.
