Welcome To Phuket!

We have just arrived in Phuket, Thailand after what seemed like an eternity! We were up at 5:15 and out the door with the taxi at 6:15 AM - then off to the Friendly Limousine Bus for an hour plus ride to the airport - board the plane and off around 9:45 - The flight was to be 7 hours 15 minutes which is quite a long time with two youngsters! Funniest thing was that since it's Spring Break at the American School - we seemed to know a vast majority of the families getting on board - Sydney found a classmate, Nicholas found a boy he plays with at recess, and we even saw our neighbors get on! We flew on Thai Airlines which is very colorful - Sydney just couldn't decide whether to sit in the purple or magenta seat!

Well, as many of you know, flying just isn't my favorite thing to do. A little over halfway through, I'm thinking how pleasant this flight is, and then suddenly - the plane went into a rogue cloud and starting shaking and creaking and everyone on that plane jumped and started looking around - one man who was apparently in the bathroom RAN back to his seat and we all couldn't figure out what was going on. Now remember how I said that everyone seemed to know one another? Most of the kids had left their parents and were sitting with other children - so lots of panicked moms were tyring to locate their babies! Fortunately, Sydney was sound asleep and Nicholas just told his Daddy that it felt a little like a roller coaster! Thankfully, it ended as quickly as it began - but, unfortunately for me, it was pretty much sweaty palms for the rest of the flight...

OK - so we landed and it was good and we finally made it through passport check - we came out of customs and were immediately met by the taxi patrol - it was almost Hong Kong-esque (I take you Dixieland Hotel!) and we got in one and headed off to the Marriot Resort - The driver was a bit fast - apparently staying in the lanes while driving through a curve is optional in Phuket... - he took us to the wrong place at first - I sort of realized this as we were getting out and got a bit sidetracked with that and the taxi left (this would come back to haunt me in a short time!) - The Marriot Staff were good and took us to the right place which was just a little more up the road - and we checked in and made it to our absolutely BEAUTIFUL room - it's a 2 bedroom place with kitchen, washer/dryer, and HBO! Everything was so nice, I decided I wanted to take a picture of it before we messed everything up... That's when the real fun started...

I quickly realized I had left my camera in the taxi. Plain and simple - it was there. No name, no address on it, in a foreign country. Period. Needless to say - chaos erupted - I ran down to the bell hop and met Joe - who called 3 different companies until he was able to locate the company and driver, who said we "called too late" and that "he didn't have it." Well, Joe told him how it was the driver's responsibility, etc. and sent me off to the airport to file a complaint with the company. I, of course, understand nothing of the conversation with him and the companies, but whatever he said to the driver must have worked because as I am almost to the airport, Joe calls me and says the driver suddenly "found the bag" and is bringing it to the hotel. However, Joe still wants me to go and talk to the taxi company at the airport - my new taxi driving friend, who's name I don't know, drops me off and waits for me - did I mention that I am in a foreign country where I don't know the language, have left my passport at the hotel, and am just talking to people in English as if they understand me???

Fortunately, my friend, Joe, wrote everything down for me - in Thai - and I gave it to the taxi company manager who called the driver and yes, suddenly the camera was on its way back to the airport. I waited a few more minutes when I looked up and saw the guy - yelled out - that's HIM! And he slowly lifted the camera bag - I walked up to the car and took it and looked him straight in the eye and said "Thank you" - he wasn't happy that he had to give it back! But guess he decided that he really had no choice as he probably could have lost his job and from what I've seen of this island so far, tourism is their industry.

My new good taxi driver friend took me back to the hotel - I ran and thanked Joe again - I will be going back to give him a big tip tomorrow - and went back to the room. Needless to say, Chris was beyond amazed that I had it back. We all kissed and made up and decided to start our vacation again. It was then that I looked back at the last few minutes and lost it - Chris said he was very proud of me that I knew enough information to be able to track the guy down - he said he didn't even remember the color of the car!

So we've had dinner and a drink, and now all I hear are the snores of my family - we are a tired bunch! I will sign off now and get on to bed myself - tomorrow will be a day of sun and sand and hopefully and frilly drink with an umbrella in it...