Day 14, Phuket to P P Islasnds

Another early day, but we were determined not to over sleep again. We couldn’t, the ferryboat just would not wait. So we said good bye to Phuket, as we packed into a van of other tourist on the same ten step program. Being that we were just packed on top of each other, I was nervous about our luggage. A man of little English threw it up on the top of the van with little care, and then tied them down with a half assed attitude.

At the dock, we were color coded and tagged like cattle again. A director shouted “you go first line, first boat, you go other boat, you go there.” It was confusing, but we just followed the other cows with same stickers on their shirts. In the ferry it was more of the same. Over the loud speakers, a booming yet crackling voice demanded out instructions of what to do and where to go. No one could understand, so we all just stuck to our seats. Our itinerary said that we would be going snorkeling, so we were eager to get this part over with. More instructions rattled from the poor speakers with the same reaction: cattle in the headlights. When it seemed like hours had passed, we were instructed to get off the boat and transfer. We didn’t want to transfer, we had arrived at our destination, and were not ready to go on to the next part of our travels. After making a stink about what our itinerary said, finally someone got it and allowed us to stay. We were then directed to go meet our guide to the hotel. But what about the snorkeling? Had we missed something? I hoped not because I was in need of lunch, lunch that was to be provided on the day trip. No snorkeling, no lunch, just grab your bags and follow me please. Only 12:00, we couldn’t check in to our hotel for a few more hours. That’s when my low blood sugar combined with paying for a day that we didn’t get and all the confusion, made me foam at the mouth. We found lunch seaside, as well as too much sun and not enough water. I was glad to finally get into my room and wash off the sand and the frustration.