Boats, beers and buddies

   Once again on our own, we had to rediscover how to travel sans Richard and Denise. They were rough times.

   We set off north by train in the morning of January the 4th for 2 hours to reach Pranburi. we had booked a hotel called the "Cool House."

   The train we had paid 27 baht each for was open carriage, no assigned seats and no ac (boo hoo). It was the milk run, stopping every 30 to 40 minutes for 1 or 2 minutes to discharge some and take on more passengers. Within the first hour of our journey a man helped us negotiate a seat for each of us amongst the local ladies. The ladies were friendly enough to move or place their bags of vegetables or belongings to make room with a smile. The man that helped us walked back past us, which I hadn't noticed until another man made a ruckus behind me. Taking off in a sprint he chased our helper down the car and kicked him in the chest and yelled what I would imagine were choice words in Thai. I will never know what the altercation was about but it made me realize that no matter how skinny, which the running man was, or how smiley, which our helper was, the Thai know how to throw and take a kick. I was reminded that Muay Thai is the national sport. Keep your nose clean.

   All in all the ride was uneventful, but just being amongst and witnessing the mundane travels of the locals was great.

   Upon arriving at the Pranburi station, I called our guest house who were kind enough to pick us up and drive us to our destination town of Pak Nam Pran. The guest house seemed dead. There were only 4 rooms, all very nicely adorned, but the whole time there (2 days) I saw no one else.

   We had chosen this area due to the winds they are supposed to receive and the fact that there are 3 kitesurfing schools along the beach for renting. We had chosen Kite Zone @ The Beach House. After having settled in and changed, we rented a scooter and headed off to make contact with Willy, the manager of the kite school. He immediately put a 14 meter Ozone Catalyst in our hands, and a Crazy Fly ALR on our feet. It was our first kite session in a while and it felt great, once I shook the dust off. Méliane rocked it from the gates.

   The wind died for about 5 days, but we had the taste of it. We weren't going anywhere for a while. We finally, on the 6th, found a room directly at the Beach House where we could be ready for any puff of wind. It didn't come. We bided our time by driving our scooter up and down the beach looking for cheap food and drank way too many beers at the Beach House Bar. During our late nights we had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know some great people around there including the owners of the guest house and bar, and the local foreigners that are just always there.

   During our scooter outings we came across another kite school called Airstylers run by a bloke named Colin. He offered us some catamaran lessons. It was hard to refuse.

   We spent the next 3 days learning (literally) the ropes, maneuvers, and terminology. We had a blast flying around in 30 degree water and nearly no wind. The last day though, the wind was perfect for learning race maneuvers. So we did. And now we have another sport to blow all our money we don't have

(that's not us but it is the only shot of the boat)

   Colin is a super friendly, welcoming guy who had a similar view of wind sports as us. He invited us to his favourite restaurant, hung out and had beers with us and gave us a great incite to a quiet place so close yet so far from the lunacy of Hua Hin 30 kilometers up the road.

   We did manage to get another worthy day of riding in before we left but ended up sacrificing a few days in Bangkok to do so. The day we were to leave there was a call for wind, we answered it. We both had incredible sessions trading a 15 meter Ozone Edge. Awesome kite btw.

   We ended up staying in Pak Nam Pran 9 days and got a real good feel for the place. We understood why people go, and more importantly, why they come back, and in some cases why they never leave. The people are great, the food can be cheap, the beaches are nice and there is never a rush for anything.

   We finished our sojourn in thailand on a high note by staying with a friend from planting, Lisa. We hadn't seen her since we departed the Tolko camp in northern Manitoba in 2007 yet she welcomed us into their home with open arms. We had the pleasure of meeting her husband Charles and their two daughters, Lux and Coco. We stayed there 2 days, which was too short but nonetheless great to touch base and catch up. Thanks for everything!