Today, for the first time in my life, I rented a scooter. Yes, for the first time in my life. I’ve ridden on the back many, many times, but never had I been on one alone as the solo driver. Today, I broke that spell!

I’ll admit that I was a bit nervous at first; so I took it slow and easy. And then, I surprised myself by how quickly I took to it. It was F U N!!!

The main reason I rented it (for a whopping 150BHT for 24-hours, remember, $1=30BHT about, I spent 160 and 70 BHT on gas . . . ) was to go see this wat, or temple. It’s called Wat Tum Sua (and many other names too with similar yet different spellings).

When reading about Krabi, I read about beaches, boat rides, the movie “The Beach,” rock climbing . . . and this wat on the hill. It was said to be a pilgrimage site for many. To me it looked like a fascinating place to visit. But first I had to find it! I allowed myself to meander along the road heading out from Ao Nang beach area and came across some spectacular views of big ole rocks just sticking up out of the water. After I found my way to some pier and realized that I had no idea where I was, I decided it was time to get focused. Fortunately for me, there was a really nice Thai couple at the pier with their baby. She was singing lullabies, and he was fishing. And for a double dose of fortunate-ness, he spoke English (and very well at that). “Can you please show me where I am?” I asked. “Right here,” he said pointing at a peninsula well off my “desired” route. (Why the quotemarks? Because I must have really wanted to go there, or I would’t have!)

“And how to head towards the Krabi airport?”

“A right and another right,” he replied.

At that point, I realized that I knew where I was, or at least that I recognized the roads I’d gone past . . . And with that I was off. Ready to make my way to the wat.

But first, mother nature decided that a orange fanta break would be a good thing. And how did she let me know? With a downpour of rain. I found the perfect place to wait it out just before I was even a little bit wet. As I sat there, I watched a man on a scooter come rolling up with a little kid in tow. To my amazement, he was stopping there to get fuel. In the same vein as a rolling cart to cook up some Thai grinds, there was a little booth I hadn’t noticed (right where I’d parked my scooter), with a variety of bottles hanging down. Yep, inside was some fuel. As I sat and sipped my orange fanta, I watched the kind clerk open this one and that one and send a mix to his da kine. I also watched a tabby cat take a bath. And while this was happening, a little Thai boy was watching me. Maybe he’d never seen a farang (foreigner) before; he was certainly intrigued by me.

Okay den, at this rate, we’ll never get to the wat!

Suffice it to say that I mosied on down the road and found the wat–past the main town and then left on a fairly remote road northwest of the airport. But first, before I climbed up those 1,200 and a lot more steps, I realized that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast (and it was 3:15 p.m.). I drove right up to this open-air kitchen/restaurant sort of place where 2 young boys were playing pool, asked if there was any food to be served, and waited as they round up the cook! It ended up being a very nice woman who stir-fried up a wonderful mess of veggies (seasoned perfectly, they were very tasty) with some white rice. I enjoyed my lunch while I watched a dog !saddle up beside me and proceed to take a nap. Meanwhile, the kids kept playing pool. And as I ate, watched and listened, I heard the roar of elephants down the road. A very typical afternoon in Thailand. : )

“But did you ever make it to the wat?” you ask.

“Yep, I did.”

And wow, were there ever a LOT of steps to the top. It took 32-minutes to go up (and 22 to come down). I hung out there for over a half-hour and took a zillion pictures. Since I don’t have my computer here with me, I’ll have to wait to post them. But in the meantime, I found a shot on-line of part of the view at the top.

“What do you mean by part?”

Well, there was a lot more to see than that! It was so beautiful . . . in the rugged Thai kind of way. The actual wat was beautiful, but like most places here in Thailand, they’re surrounded by an assortment of this and that (yep, matches the theme of my glob very nicely, if you please : ).

I most thoroughly enjoyed myself.

: )

And then, as I listened to the rumble from the elephants far, far below, the sky decided to join in. Taking this as a sign that it was time to leave, I headed down the kazillion steps–just in time to take cover at the base. After a short wait (and enough time to down my cold water : ), it slowed enough for me to feel comfortable to head on.

And like a local (okay, maybe a very, very “green” local), I merged with traffic, (*) squoze between various vehicles, and (**) helied on back to my pad–after a few more detours. : ) Yep, I’m hooked on the scooter kind of travel–so much fun!!!

So, just a few days ago I said that I wouldn’t write anything for a while. Okay, I lied. I wrote lots and lots.

And am I smiling?

I think you can figure that one out all on your own.

And with that, I’m signing off and heading on to bed!

-sj

p.s. and happy anniversay to the total solar eclipse we saw aboard the SS Constitution in 1991 on this day . . . wow, 20-years ago!

! A great adventure, love your exuberance! I got a kick out of the dog that “saddled” up–presumably to be ridden out of there at full gallop! “Sidled up” I knew was what you meant–love those inadvertent jokes!
Take care,
Wil

(*) squoze

[edit] English

[edit] Verb

squoze

[edit] See also

• squeezed (standard form)

(**) from Hawaii . . .