To Trat

March 6

I left Bill and Chuntee's around 9am this mornign, thinking I would get an early start to Trat. I arrived in Chon Buri (the nearest main town with a bus station) and accidentally got off the saewnthaw too early; lucikly Chuntee had drawn me a fantastic map in english and thai so a very nice guy who was on the truck with me walked me all the way to the bus station and right to the stand where I had to buy the ticket! I can't get over how friendly people are here, it' makes me very concious of my North American tendency to distrust everyone because in my experience so far people here have been fantastic, kind and honest. It's also amazing how much you can communicate with someone with virtually no language in common, even if it takes a lot of charades and slow words.

Unfortunatly the bus for Trat did not leave until 2:30pm (it was only 10am). At first, every productivity-wired nerve in my body screamed out, as it would at home if I had to sit around and WAIT for a bus for 4.5hrs, but then I realized that this is part of the adventure of Asian travel, and also part of the reason I came here in teh first place (to learn to CHILL the bleep out!!) The lady at the ticket stand invited me into her "house" (the room behind the ticket stand) and I watched 2 english movies on tv - Shawshank Redemption and Cold Mountain-(probably the only time I've ever watched movies during the day unless I was deathly ill in highschool or something!) I arrived in Trat around 6pm and got some dinner at the local market, and stayed at a quaint little guesthouse surrounded by the sound of crickets and frogs. REad my book (Life iof Pi) and went to bed around 9pm. Very mellow day!