Thailand Day 7: Making Friends in a Van (and on a river)

Twelve hours in a van. 12 has stops. It may have been longer. We were supposed to take a train to Kanchanabri but there had been some sort of dangerous incident recently. Instead we took an overnight van ride. I actually did sleep most the way. We only had 5 people per van so it wasn't horrible with spacing. The worst part was two hours in when we stopped for gas and our drivers woke me up to make me get out. I kept saying no but they made me. I probably misunderstood but I'm not a happy person when you wake me up. We arrived at our next spot about 11:30 the next day and other than a few spurts, I slept most of the way.

My body was obviously completely confused because immediately upon walking onto the restaurant porch my migraine aura started. Luckily Josh grabbed my injection quickly and I was able to catch it early enough that it didn't ruin the whole day. We only had gotten three rooms so far. I'm sure the group thought I was nuts when I just crashed on the first bed I saw. They ended up giving me that room after all.

After a nap I thought my body needed some food balance. I hadn't seen where we were at all. While I was sleeping I thought I was imagining swaying. When I got up I realized our room was on a floating dock. Bobby best described it. Kind of like floating trailers. It sounds yucky but thy are pretty cool. Great breezes and tons of wildlife sounds. Über peaceful.

The restaurant is up the hill a tad and has a porch looking out over the water. The space closest to the water is filled with low tables and mats to lounge on. All the food is made here by the staff. It's good homecooked food. I told the staff my stomach hurt so they me a rice and broth soup not on the menu. A little salty and exactly what I needed. That's why I love places like this.

Normally the group doesn't arrive until 5 so we had the rest of the day to ourselves. Josh wanted a massage so we ventured up the road towards town. It is nothing like the past places we came from. Other than a handful of people our group were the only tourists I saw. There were several little inns along the river like ours. My guess is that everyone staying around here is doing so for the excursions like us.

The heat was pretty intense. It probably wasn't the smartest idea for me to be walking in it with my fever. We saw some interesting stuff. A roadside bar to get drunk for 10 baht (30 cents), a dreadlock repair man, a pretty rad rice shop and a used bookstore with the new book on my list - selling for new price, smart business woman.

There were massage parlors everywhere. How would we decide. Rap rap rap! Linda and Brie were sitting right inside the massage studio we were walking by and saw us. They knew we had been wanting to do one so they grabbed us. Linda has been having at least one massage a day so if she says it is a good place I will take her word for it.

After a wee bit of confusion over what we wanted they led us to the back room here four mattresses, the thickness of cheap cribs, were on the floor in a row. They put a waterproof cover over each one and then a sheet and then ordered we undress. I explained I only wanted my upper body and kept my shorts on. Josh did the same and hen they drew some curtains back in front me so no one could see us. It was surprisingly cool and breezy back there.

I'm not a massage expert but I've had quite a few. These ladies were the strongest masseuses I've ever experienced. They spoke no English so josh and I had to get creative with how to tell them when it hurt. (We looked it up with Bobby later). They climbed all over us. Dug their elbows into us. The best part was the head massage part. I may be sore but there can't possibly be any of that migraine tension left. $7. That's how much our best ever, albeit strong and terrifying, cost us. Next we are trying a foot massage.

We came back to the hotel relaxed and vegged out on the porch. This seemed to be what everyone did. We ate early. Watched an amazing sunset right over the river (the trees make it look like Africa to me) and just socialized. Everyone was exhausted and we called it a super early night. Tomorrow is elephants and tigers!