Off to ranong!

I am up at 6am to finish some packing before I head to Ranong. I gather everything up, have the last of yesterday’s fruit salad and the last yoghurt and then drain my ice box of the last of the water, leaving the lid open while I am away. Then over to the main house to ask them to call the taxi company to send a motorcycle to bring me to the village. I have a few too many things to walk the 45min on foot. The guy who ends up arriving, is their delivery man, who I am pretty sure was already, or still drunk. I load my bags and grab my non-recyclable plastics, so I can drop them in the village garbage, and we are off. The guy could barely keep the bike upright, so it was a little nerve wracking. We get about 5 min down the road, and the guy grabs my two plastic bags full of trash, and just whips them to the side of the road, and into a hole that some Burmese workers had made while digging up dirt to patch potholes in the road. “It’s OK, it’s OK”, he tells me. I will more than likely pick them up on my next trip into the village for groceries. We manage to get to the village in one piece. I hop off, pay him, buy my ticket for the boat, and go have coffee and a cinnamon bun for breakfast at a café in the village while I wait until 8:30am when the boat leaves. The food is good, and when the time comes, I head to the pier and eventually onto the boat. The boat is really full. Mainly with Thais, as yesterday was the Koh Phayam cashew festival in the village. Unfortunately, I heard nothing about it and missed checking it out, but it would appear that most of the folks on this boat were heading to Ranong after the celebration. Just as we are about to pull away, this drunk German guy hops onboard. He’s staggering all around and carrying a big piece of ice that he is rubbing all over himself to keep cool. He throws his bags on the pile, and then tries to help others get their bags and other items onto the boat. Just a mess and just a really idiot. All the Thai people are looking at, and talking about him. In the group of Thais on the boat, are a group of kids that must’ve been part of last night’s show. He ends up right in front of them while he’s rubbing himself down with this ice, then starts to flick the body sweat ice water from his hands at the kids while thinking he’s just wildly amusing them. Then to top it off, he rubs his wet hands all of the smallest guys head, which is a big no-no in Thai culture, as the head is the most sacred part of the body. Anyway, this guy is in his own world, but finally sees this old hippy guy get on, who he recognizes, and decides to go sit up on the bow with him. Unfortunately, this only lasts for 15min before he gets too hot and decides to come undercover. Well it’s packed and there are no more seats, so guess where he decides to plant his drunk ass?…. You guessed it, right beside me! I throw on my headphones and just trying to ignore him, which is really tough because he decides to brush his teeth, clean his ears, and pick his teeth with toothpicks into a compact mirror. This of course created a stir. A lot of turkey necking and whispering by the Thais. This continues for about ½ and hour, while he also waves like a manic to other boats and makes “funny” faces to the kids. I do my best to zone out, but after about another 20min, I feel someone grabbing at my shirt sleeve. I turn to the left, and it is this fucking jerk-off. I throw my hands up, and tell him to fuck off, but he tries to tell me how nice my tattoo is. Once again, I tell him to fuck off and not to touch me or he’ll be swimming to Ranong. Thankfully, I had to use the washroom, so I got up and just never went back. I stood by the captain and watched a bunch of ladies playing dominoes/gambling. One of the gals was a lady I see almost everyday in the Cashew Orchards when I take my m. We tried to chat a bit, and what I got from it, was that she was off to Ranong to see her family. Shortly after, the boat pulled in and the freaky German got off, as did I. On the way out of the pier, there was a big commotion, so I turned around to see the drunk from the boat, leaving the washroom without paying the 5baht usage charge. He had no idea what was happening, or just playing stupid, but the Thais from the pier were really pissed. I kept walking, and turned the corner and into Starcrab. Phase one complete. I said hello to the family, checked into my room, took a shower and watched Thai TV for a couple of hours. At 3pm, I headed out and too a songtaew to Kiwi to see Jai and her sisters. I had an order of Massaman Moo(pork) curry w/ rice for lunch and chatted to the ladies until they had to go back to work when a group of Germans, who had been on Koh Phayam, showed up to eat and wait for the night bus to BKK. I stayed for about 2hrs and then took a motorcycle taxi into the centre of town and picked up some of my supply list at a shop. I didn’t bother with Tesco this time, as Lek was not working, and the other sister’s were too busy at the guesthouse to run me up there. I got what I needed and headed back to Starcrab. Along the way, I could see that everyone from Ranong was gathering for another Sunday night showcase, like my last trip in, but it had already rained twice today, so I didn’t bother checking it out, as it looked like it could rain again at any moment. I get back to the guesthouse, unload my stuff and come out to sit with the father on the steps. We chat about hockey, Canadian animals and fish, and a bunch of other cultural differences. He invites me to come and see one of his 3 boats the following morning before he takes me to the pier for my immigration and Visa run. I accept. A car eventually pulls up and these two completely drunk Thai guys fall out. They are his friends from Chumpon, who have come for the night and have rented a room. These guys are WASTED! We all try to talk, but all they really want to do is wake their 3rd friend up, who is sleeping in the room, and get him into town with them. They get the job done, and the 3 of them head off into the Ranong night to who knows where. A little later, a Finnish guy and a VERY attractive Lao girl from Pakse, pull up in a truck. They have just come in on the bus from Krabi, and are spending the night before going to Koh Phayam tomorrow. All 4 of us chat and have a few beers, then the father tells me that there is a big football match on TV at 10pm, and that I should watch it with him. This gets the Finn’s attention as well, so he heads off to shower and I sit with the father inside and use the wi-fi until 10pm. The Finn comes back refreshed, and the 3 of us watch about 30min of the game, before the father gets up to shower. The Lao girl also comes in to look where her dude is(why in hell would he wanna sit and shoot the shit with me, when she was waiting for him?!), so I decide to let the father get on with his night, and grab one more beer to take to my room. I say goodnight to all of them, shower up, and hit the sack at around midnight.