I am back!

I was missing the last few days.

Gone to Thailand on a road trip.

Have driven 1,800 km on a smooth journey. For that I thank God. I really do. I am the superstitious type of person who will make a prayer before I embarked on a long journey. Asking that Jesus be with us, no puncture, no police summons, no bumps and no one falling sick.

We did get lost many times but that’s because the maps we used were sponsored maps and those farkers who made them leave out roads where no one paid for. Or worse, they blew up all the locations into large areas, making the maps disproportionate, making us confuse with the distances.

Many things we learned on this five days road trip.

One of them is my ‘I am your mother, so I know it all’ theory. My hubby wanted to please the youngest boy by driving him from one end of Phuket to the other end just for the water park. He was not feeling well. The hubby, i.e. And when that man is not feeling well, even if it is just a little sicky type, he is reallllllyyyyy a very hard to deal with person.

So the older boys were grumbling why we have to drive so far for one miserable water park when we have plenty here in Malaysia. So, mader-know-it-all reminded them, “Hey, remember when you were a kid and we did the same thing for you?” That sort of shut them up because they know it is true.

But before we can reach there, the sicky man got so sick. Yet, he refused to be driven. He said it will make his headache worse. So, we stopped by some roads to let him sleep. Meanwhile, the five of us enjoyed our meals at some stalls. Still he is too sick and wanted Sturgeron.

So, my two older boys and I walked like 1KM to and fro to a drug store (funny that Thailand has pharmacies all over the place, just like 7-11) and oh boy, am I glad they have the brand my sicky big boy wanted. Or else…

Then, we got to the water park and it costs RM145 for adult and RM75 for kid! Go to hell, we are not going to pay for that…And my little boy is such a smart boy. When he saw the entrance fees, he immediately turned his back and said, “let’s go home! What!!! 1,450 baht? That’s crazy!”

So, I know I have a pretty decent, sensible boy there.

Then, more grumblings from the older boys. And mader-know-it-all told them, “You see…in life, you don’t always get what you want. You can try to go the right way, do the right thing but shits happen. So deal with it lah. Since we are here, let’s enjoy other things around lor. Life is like that…”

Our initial plan was to go to Krabi. But we got adventurous and decided to drive further to Phuket. We had always wanted to drive to Phuket and finally we made it. Of course we didn’t drive straight from Penang to Phuket. Instead, we stopped at Krabi for one night. And stayed in Phuket for 2 nights. After that, another one night in Koh Lanta though our planned destination was Sikao or Trang.

We got lost while from Krabi to Trang. We ended up at a pier. The only choice was to turn back 35 KM which means wasted 70KM of driving to find our way around. It was getting dark so we desperately need to stop somewhere or driving at night will be even worse in Thailand.

So, all of us got into the ferry which takes in cars and happily, we sail to an unknown place call Koh Lanta.

We got out of the island the next afternoon, thinking we have plenty of time for the journey to the border. Again, we got lost again and we barely have enough time to reach Wang Prachan. There are two border exits we could take. One is the very jammed and busy one at Bukit Kayu Hitam. The other one is Wang Prachan/Wang Kelian. The Wang Prachan one closed at 6pm Thai time.

It was a terribly exciting drive because we need to beat the clock and yet, cannot drive too fast due to the traffic. We got to the border 20 minutes before it closed. Phew…Or else we need to make another 80 KM journey to the other border.

Overall, it is one adventurous journey because we never book our hotels, never plan our routes, not sure what the place has to offer and yet, we had a good time as a family. As the kids grow, such family trips are going to be lessen due to their schedules and the younger boys schooling. So, whatever free time, we just enjoy each other companies, though most times we were annoyed or annoying each other.

Like I said, Life is like that.