Jill's First 3 Days in Surat Thani

Hi everyone - Swatdeekah! Jan, thanks for your comments. And for all the great tips before I left. I'm glad I arrived safely also. I did have a few anxious moments when I found out the plane to Bankhok was going to be delayed 2 hours leaving Tokyo, and wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get that message to the hostel in Bankhok, so they could tell the driver to come later, but I just did some relaxation breathing and it all worked out.

I am having an amazing time already! I've had more unique & amazingly delicious food in the past 3 days than I've had in the past year! Justin & Aleza are wonderful hosts/vacation planners. Won't go into details of all we've done since I arrived, but I'm writing it all down in the beautiful journal which Jan & Dan gave me. Thanks again for that!

Today we went to Khao Sok National Park, and took a boat ride on the enormous lake. Stopped once for a swim, and once to eat a "picnic lunch" of slightly spicy stir fried vegies & tofu we'd brought with us and fried bananas and fresh fruit we'd bought at a market outside the park. On the way back, a fairly intense rain and wind came up suddenly, so we were all drenched by the time we got back to dock.

The young man on the right is our charming boat driver. The other 2 Americans in the picture are David & Jennifer, 2 of the other teachers at Mathus.

This evening we rode bikes to the night market (my 2nd time riding a bike in Surat Thani traffic, a somewhat scary experience, as Jan & Dan would probably agree, but I managed to survive). Ate food from the stands and then had ice cream at Swensons.

Other food highlights were dinner with the Doctor and other staff at an elegant restaurant, including fried sea bass & seafood curry cooked in a coconut, and fried ginger tofu salad at Good Health.

That's enough for now, going to play ping pong and maybe watch a video that I brought Aleza for her birthday, and then to bed. Tomorrow we're off to the beach at Khanom. Will try to write more soon. Jilly B