koh lanta, old town

main street old town

when i arrived in old town i was dropped off at mango house, where the manager (a beautiful thai girl named tan) greeted me. i told her i was there to meet susanna. and she instantly grabbed her cell and gave susanna a call to tell her i had arrived. minutes later susanna arrived to mango house on a motorbike and greeted me with a huge welcoming smile. she told me to hop on to her motorbike. two problems...1)im not tiny and the bike was, and 2)i had my massive pack on my back as well. but needless to say, i made it in one piece to susannas home. on the drive down the main street in old town we past a sign that read 'sun longtail boat tours' she explained that when she moved here, she married a local thai man, and they started a long tail business together. which she still runs. when we arrived at susanna's thai style waterfront home, i was in awe. i could not have ever imagined that when i was in thailand i would have the pleasure of staying in such a beautiful home, right on top of the sea! her house is in the shape of a rectangle and is built on stilts atop the seabed. so when the tide was coming in, i could hear and see the waves crashing beneath the floor boards!

old town market

during my week with susanna i got accustomed to her thai lifestyle. every morning i would go into town and buy a 40cent breakfast from a muslim-thai woman, i also got to test out driving a motorbike for the first time, and driving on the 'wrong' side of the road! and one night susanna's neighbour meow (meow is thai, meaning cat) came over to set up a fishing line for me. it consisted of a washed up old sprite bottle with a bit of twine wrapped around it, with a shrimp secured to the hook at the bottom. that night i caught a fish!!! when i felt a tug at the line i yelped, which meow understood as the universial sign for 'i think i've got something'. he came over and helped me reel in a catfish!!! so needless to say, my stay with susanna was amazing. i even taught her and some locals to shotgun! hhah she was a natural. susanna was another one of those couchsurfers that i knew i would see again. after my stay on koh lanta came to an end, i flew back to bangkok, where kirsten had agreed to let me stay for two days before my flight to...AUSTRALIA!!!