A Sangthaew Of Our Own

You've been in Thailand awhile when you become indignant about the price of a $15 taxi. In Thai terms, it's practically scandalous – although if you were trying to get uptown in Manhattan, you'd be grateful to come in so low and it would be impossible to get a ride to LAX for anywhere near that price. But once you've gotten used to dinner for five costing the same amount, it's a bitter pill to swallow.

Nonetheless, that's the going rate to take a sangthaew (covered pickup track with benches in the back commonly used for both in shared, bus-route type format as well as private taxis almost everywhere outside of Bangkok and Chiang Mai) from our house to the nearby town of Nangthong. Emily looked shocked when I translated the price and equally so when I was fine with it. After all, it is a 25 minute ride and the driver then has to return, likely without passengers. – plus we're in a tourist area and the sangthaew drivers are not regulated like metro metered taxis. It's just what the market bears – and I have an appreciation for microeconomics. That said, there is an upside to the situation.

It turns out a sangthaew driver from our area would rather wait in town for us to return – for however many hours – than to shuttle back to base and let some other sangthaew driver make the return money. Apparently, a 1,000 Baht day is a good one, so why try to hustle for more work? So this afternoon, Emily and I enjoyed having our own private driver – albeit in a less than luxurious sangthaew.

But whatever that sangthaew cost and whether or not we had a driver, Emily and I were ready to get on and be whisked away. Our morning had been one of those mornings of simultaneous ecstasy and terrorism that only a parent fully understands. Our children were thrilled to be in Khao Lak, to eat breakfast on the patio of our beautiful house, to swim in the beautiful pool after breakfast and to go to the gorgeous white sand beach at the end of our road. At the same time, they were intermittently whiny, demanding, stubborn and tested us constantly. At one point Ailyn demanded that we leave the restaurant we went to for lunch because there was nothing there she liked (which wasn't true) and Sennen was struck on a question repeat loop to which a Viet Cong torture expert would have taken his hat off.

In short, it was the best of mornings, it was the worst of mornings. There was drinking juice out of whole coconuts and swimming in warm water at the beach and crying over fried rice. There was even some continued lamentation over Mr. Panya, the Bangkok shuttle van driver who Emily and I find neutral at best.

So it was that we decided to drop Matheus and the kids back at the house after lunch for some swimming; and for Emily and I to go into town to arrange a boat trip for tomorrow, pickup a few forgotten grocery items, drop off some laundry with a service and get the general lay of the land. We did mostly mundane things, but it was a fantastic few hours. Compared to last year's time on Ko Chang, Nangthong is a sleepy town that caters to foreign tourists (especially German and French), but in a calm, organized way. It remains largely pretty and has surprisingly few young backpackers – learning more to the mid to high-end travelers of our age and up. Lots of families vacationing at beachside resorts, lots of quiet and the most upscale supermarket imaginable in a beach town. The town itself is a marker of where we are in our life – not the backpackers we once were.

What we discovered walking around were some beautiful beaches and resorts that would allow us to use their nicely laid out lounge chair/day bed facilities while enjoying the beach – seeding our plans for later in the week. But most importantly, we shopped around and selected a boat trip to take us to nearby Phang Nga Bay – home of "James Bond Island" – aka the hideout of Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) in The Man With the Golden Gun which I'm sure inspired considerable tourism to Thailand in 1974 as it depicted the limestone scale cliffs and islands that jut out of the green waters of Southern Thailand. This is the scenery Emily wanted to experience in this year's trip and what brought us to this region. being taken around on a speed boat, visiting the islands and caves of the area -and then subsequently being able to swim and have some beach time in secluded locations sounded like the ideal choice for our family.

Moreover, if it's good enough of an assassin, second to none and his friend Herve Villechaize, it's good enough for us.

Once done with our errands and exploration, our sangthaew driver took Emily and I took an outdoor market full of local street food vendors where we stocked up for another one of our "street food feast" dinners which the kids have come to enjoy. Sennen learned to love Khao Mok Gai – chicken cooked in a yellow, biryani-like rice with incredible, aromatic spices. But that didn't stop him from appreciating about eight other dishes including his ever-favored sticky rice.

Given our tour operator will be sending a van for us at 6:30 am, we pushed to get the kids to bed early to be ready for a great boat and water day – which was the highlight of last year's trip. And besides, here in quiet Khao Lak, night time is a calm, quiet time anyway. As the kids happily explain, we're here to "cha yen yen" (chill like iced tea) and be "sabai sabai" (very relaxed). It takes some reminding, but we're getting there….