Home Afloat

By Kai

And…we have left Bangkok! After a heated debate over whether to take a two hour plane ride or an uncomfortable, middle-of-the-night, sitting-up 12 hour bus ride, (no-brainer, if you ask me) we made the journey to our next stop, by, thankfully, plane. The only catch; our sleeping arrangements were made under the assumption that we would be spending the night on the bus, leaving us a day with nowhere to sleep.

We spent a while haggling with a truck driver uselessly and took an hour drive to a tiny little townlet with a total of five buildings. There we waited in the sweltering sun, waiting while we figured out what to do, (on the upside, at least it convinced Mom to get us ice cream) sweating and beginning to melt into the ground from pure exhaustion, when Dad finally found a good place.

Immediately, everything changed. We entered an air-conditioned complex and sat down to four great dishes while waiting for our boat. This place for some reason was alone in having strong, cool breezes just outside the window, despite the fact that it was just a tiny ways away from where we had just been standing.

We waited a little longer in the wonderful air-conditioned restaurant, then got on a personal boat and sailed away. The boat had enough breeze to keep us cool, and we relaxed as we were transported through magnificent vistas to our next home.

The floating house was fairly nice, and more importantly, just the right temperature, a blend of cool breeze and hot sun. There was amazing food and a lake that was perfect and warm. We went kayaking and swam, and just laid around and played card games. It was amazing. I tried to convince Mom to book a few more weeks of it for the unplanned month we had at the end of the trip. 

Then disaster struck. Huge boats filled with tourists pulled up to the docks. People poured into the dining area. We were told that we weren’t allowed to use the kayak. When we tried to swim we weren’t allowed to do that either. A man with a loud speaker came up and started shouting “Boataboataboataboat!” for whatever reason. Loud kayak races started. The tourists filled the dining area, delaying our lunch. Our wonderful day wilted.

Then the tourists packed up and left, returning our perfect home to it’s previous peace. We spent a little while longer there, then left again. Hopefully we can go back later at a time with no tourists.