Anxious
after my stay in Pattaya, I wanted to go ashore in Ko Samui, a small island in
the south of Thailand. I was suppose to stay on the ship for “In Port Manning”,
a safety measure that ensures that if any emergencies happen on board while we
are docked, we have enough crew on board to handle the emergency. The Ko Samui
port was my turn to stay on the ship. However I was determined to go ashore.
The only way I could possibly get off the ship was if I got someone to stay on
the ship in my stead. I knew my next-door neighbor (who use to be my roommate)
worked late hours and usually slept until the afternoon. I went next door and
knocked. After a few moments, he answered the door in his boxers and his eyes
barely open. He had looked as if I had woken him up and the room being pitch
black confirmed my suspicion. I asked him if he could cover my I.P.M. and he
agreed and then gave me his ID card and he slammed the door and went back to
sleep.
I got onto
the tender boat and slowly cruised to the dock from where the ship was anchored.
Getting onto the dock, I made my way down into the town area. The town was
small and consisted of small shops, restaurants and Thai massage places. I was
looking specifically for a place to get my last Thai lunch for the cruise.
Right off the dock, there was a restaurant advertising free Wifi and Thai food.
I walked in and grabbed a menu.
The menu looked good but I was
wondering if they took US dollar. After asking a few confused employees, I saw
some crew from the ship so I went over their table and asked them and they said
that they did. I looked down at the food they were eating and asked them if
their food was any good. The one girl Robyn looked at me and shook her head.
She said it was not very good and she was very disappointed. That being a deal
breaker for me, I decided to move my business elsewhere in search for a better
place.
I started
walking deeper into the town and figured if I wanted to find a good Thai food
place, It would probably be a little out of the way and also would have Thai
citizens eating there as opposed to old white passengers herding into it. I
walked up to a tiny street that looked about right and hung a right. The street
had a few shops but they seemed to have nobody in them. I finally reached a
place with pots outside under a blue tarp. I looked into it and saw a couple of
Thai people sitting and eating. I thought to my self “This must be the place!”
I walked in and the lady who was there looked shocked that I had walked into
her restaurant. Her friend walked up to me and asked, “Are you here to eat?” I
told her “yes, I am. Do you have a menu?” She told me “No, come over to these
pots and point out what you want.” I walked over to the pots and lifted the
lids to see the food inside. Some of the dishes I recognized while others
looked like death. I picked 3 dishes
that looked safe and I sat down on the bench by the cook. She brought me over a
bowl of rice with my three dishes served on top. She went ahead and made
herself a bowl and sat down with me.
She asked
me my name and I told her Derek and she introduced herself as Jennifer and she started
to chitchat with me. While she was talking, I took my first bite of the green
bean and beef dish. It was really, really, REALLY bad. The beef tasted like day
old fish that was left rotting in the sun. It was served at room temperature
and was really nasty. It was almost nasty enough for me to spit it out but what
kept me from doing so was the woman sitting across from me talking and I
figured I would probably insult her if I started spitting out her friend’s food.
So I sat there, talking to this woman while I shoved massive amounts of that
dish into my mouth so I could hopefully get rid of it in a few painfully swift
swallows.
After
giving up on finishing the dish, I moved on to the coconut curry. This was
actually not half bad. It was still served at room temperature, but was at
least edible. I tried mixing the curry with the green bean and beef dish,
hoping that it would dilute the fishy flavor, but it was no use. The fishy beef
was there to stay. The last dish I got was a chicken and vegetable dish, which
was still served at room temperature but at least more edible than the green
beans and beef.
While I’m
trying to eat all this mediocre food, Jennifer is still talking to me. She
gives me her whole life story on how she use to be in the hotel business but
now owns her own shop here in town. She talks about her trip to Europe and her
family and her friends and her friend’s family and she just goes on and on and
on… Her English was ok, but I only maybe understood 50% of what she was saying.
I just shook my head, smiled and tried to not make a face as I ate more of the fishy
beef.
After we
finished eating I asked what I owed for the meal. She added it up and it came
out to about 55 Baht ($2 ). I pulled out my American money and she told me that
they don’t take US currency. Jennifer was nice enough to pay for my meal and
told me we could go to a bank and exchange my American money for Thai Baht and
I could pay her back then. She suggested that she could show me her store since
it was across the street from the bank. I figured the lady was nice enough; the
least I could do is poke my head into her store for a moment.
We left the
restaurant and it was pouring rain. Jennifer had brought an umbrella so she
handed it to me and I held it over the both of us. It was kind of nice how
trusting she was of me. I also the thought it would be funny if anyone from the
ship saw me walking some 45 year old Thai woman down the streets of Ko Samui
while holding a pink umbrella over the both of us.
She stopped
at a booth where they were selling lotus flower shaped candles. She introduces
me to the old woman behind the booth selling the candles and explains that she
is an old friend of her mothers. She spends her time making the ginger wax from
scratch and she carves each one by hand. She only sets up the booth when the
cruise ship is in town. The other days she stays at home and takes care of her
children and her grand children. She hands me a piece of raw wax that she made
herself and asked me to smell it. I brought the white, formless wax to my nose
and took a deep breath. The wax smelled of ginger and was very pleasant. I
handed it back to her, smiled and told her it smelled very nice. I looked down
at the carvings and each one had a different color and different presentation.
They were very nice but I had no interest in buying one.
I told the
woman thank you and we walked two stores over to Jennifer’s store. She turned
around and exclaimed, “Here it is!” The store was closed and dark inside but I
could still see through the glass doors and see that I looked very nice and
clean. She sold a variety of things such as soaps, candles, woman’s purses and
bags, vases and other things. She pointed across the street at the bank and
said I should exchange my money there and come back and she could show me her
store.
I walked
across the street to the bank and tried to explain to the young teller that I
only wanted to exchange 10 out of the 20 dollar bill that I gave her but I
think she misunderstood and she ended up exchanging the entire 20 dollars.
I went back
to Jennifer’s store where she had opened the door for me and laid a mat down to
take off my sandals and wipe my wet feet on it. After wiping my feet, she sat
me down on a chair and offered me some hot tea. I told her I was fine and I
did’nt really want a cup. She continued to chat with me and while this is going
on, I’m wondering, “What is her angle here? Is she trying to get me to buy
something from her store? Is she trying to mug me or drug me with contaminated
hot tea? Maybe she is just looking for someone to practice her English with.” (Which
by the way didn’t get any better through out the day and I still only
understood half of what she was saying).
She then
asked me why I picked her friends restaurant out of all the places in town. I
made up some lie about how it was one of the first places that I saw walking
off of the pier and it looked good from the outside. She started to ask
questions about the ship and then started to ask if I could get her a
connection to get passengers to come by her store. I told her that I was just a
musician and I had no affiliation with that part of the ship and that If she
wanted to enquire about it, she would have to email someone shore side at
corporate (I sounded pretty official giving that sentence btw).
I started
go get nervous and decided maybe it was time to get a move on. I reached for my
wallet and gave her the 55Baht. She then gave me her business card and told me
next time I’m in Ko Samui, I should email her and she could cook a homemade
Thai meal for me. I told her I would like that and I gave her my business card
from my wallet and she recommended we add each other on Facebook. I walked over
to the door and she asked If I wanted an umbrella. I told her “No Thanks” but
she then told me that she wouldn’t charge me for it so I figured if it was a
free umbrella, why not? She scurries quickly to the back of the store and pulls
out a bright pink umbrella. She opens it up and the writing across the top read
in Thai and she told me that it translates to “I Love Thailand!” I figured it
might just say “I Am a Schmuck” and I wouldn’t know either way. I told her
thank you for the company for the afternoon and told her “See you next time”
I made my
way back to the pier kind of scratching my head wondering. Was she really that
genuinely nice or was it all a set up to get me to her shop? Was she planning
on mugging me? I then maybe realized that maybe not everyone is trying to rip
you off at these cruise ports. Maybe there are still a few people left who just
want to talk to you and make a genuine contact with another human being. Maybe
it’s possible that doing this job has jaded me in a way where I find it
difficult to trust these strangers. I think I need to maybe accept the fact
that sometimes its ok to let your guard down just a little, just enough, where
you can possibly make a new friend.
-DB
 |
| When I got back to my cabin, this was waiting for me on the floor. Looks like more adventures ahead!! |
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