2 days before we leave I receive a message from my friend Evelien. It’s a link to a news message: “4 deaths because of the floods in Thailand.” I’m surprised, floods? In January? In the dry season? How is that possible?
I didn’t even check the weather forecast. I have been in South-East Asia for so many times and January has always been a good month (rain wise). Of course rain is always possible, but floods….?!?! I open the link and it’s true…. IT IS POURING! And exactly in the area where we are going. You’ve got to be kidding me!
To make matters worse there is a news item the next day that a few crocodiles have escaped because of all the water… So suddenly we are checking the local news and the local weather forecast to find out where exactly the problems are. It seems like we are ok and that we are getting away with it…
When we arrive in Thailand it is raining, but when we wake up it’s sunny. The first days we have a shower or more, but only in the evening or at night. No problem, but still strange for the time of the year. It’s the talk of the town.
When we arrive in Koh Lanta, things get “worse”. When Liv wakes up in the afternoon, we rent a scooter. We visit the old town of Koh Lanta and have lunch there. Slowly we see more and more clouds and it’s getting darker by the minute. Before we finish our lunch it starts pouring! It rains like we’ve never see in the Netherlands. It’s the moment I take this photo, which I’ve shared in the previous blog.
It is a beautiful photo.. but we are kind of stuck now. We don’t see ourselves driving back on a scooter with Liv. At moments like this you feel extra vulnerable with a little one. In the end, after waiting for a while, we decide that me and Liv will go back by taxi (which is twice as expensive as the rent we payed for 1 scooter all day) and Denny will follow (later) by scooter.
We just left by taxi and bump into an accident that just happend! A car hit an electricity pole. There is someone in the pouring rain, holding up the pole so traffic can go underneath the wires. Pfff, I’ll be happy when Denny is “home” safe and sound. A little later me and Liv arrive at the hotel and half hour after Denny arrives, completely soaked, but well!
At that moment we can still laugh…
From Koh Lanta we hop to the next island Koh Ngai. Again rain, but not in a way that it causes problems. We leave this island the next day… in the rain… We want to inland and then enjoy the beach “on the other side”. But thing go differently than planned…
When we travel from Trang to Nakhon Si Thammarat is it raining all day. We have a booked a really simple accommodation, because we only want to stay one night to visit a temple. We arrive in the pouring rain (again) and this way our room looks really simple and budget… Of course you can’t expect much for ¢15,-, but there are no facilities at all. Nothing to eat, nobody who can speak English, no WiFi and the rain is still pouring! We try to ask them to call us a cab. We will ask the cab driver to take us to a restaurant and then we will decide what to do.
Our hotel on the outside:
The person on the other side of the line speaks very well English, only I don’t like his message at all… There are no taxi’s driving because of the floods. What?? Already? Floods?!? We are in the area where the crocodiles have escaped (I can only hope they have been caught by now) and the floods were really bad in this area last time. That won’t happen again, will it? I hope not… The temple we wanted to visit is none of my concern right now, if the rain will continu like this we cannot even leave here..
We decide to have a bit to eat first. Everyone who know me, knows that I can’t go without food and I’m really bitchy when I’m hungry. So dress in shorts and on flip flops, two big umbrella’s and Liv in the wrap, we start our search for a restaurant. There is not much in the area, so we end up in some kind of fast-food-pizza-place. Horrible (especially when you know how good you can eat in Thailand), but for now: fine. As long as I can eat something.
When we come back we talk to the cab driver again. He tells me that taxi’s are still not driving… I wish he had no idea what he was talking about, but in front of our hotel is a big parking spot for taxi’s and in the meantime, more and more taxi’s are parking here because they can’t (of won’t) drive anymore.
Ok. I’m starting to panic now.
If taxi’s already decided to stop driving and the rain will not stop, how on earth are we going to leave her? And how are we staying in a hotel without any facilities?
If it would have been just Denny and me, we would have laughed about the whole situation, but now I feel like crying.