Emmy in the Rice Paddy: Weekend in Phuket!

This past weekend I traveled to Phuket to visit my friend Dan. Dan graduated from Cornell before I was a student there, so I never knew him in college. However, we had one of the same professors, who connected the two of us by email when he found out that we were both in Thailand (small world). Dan and two of his buddies, Kalet and Randy, rented a beach house in Phuket for a month while they are creating an app. (I don’t think I’m really allowed to say more than that!) The beach house was on the southernmost, less touristy part of the island overlooking Chalong Bay. The house itself was beautiful: It was two stories, and had 3 cozy bedrooms in the basement. You could comfortably fit 6 or 7 people in this house. A pool and beach were walking distance, and the best part of the house was a wraparound porch. I could lounge on this porch all day. The weather wasn’t the best (it rained everyday), but it was still fun to be back in Phuket (Thailand is such a beautiful, diverse country, and I’m reminded of that when I’m in the South), see my friend Dan, and meet new friends.

The whole 3 days I was there, we didn't leave the beach house. Our days were spent walking down the beach to eat pad thai at a nearby hotel, listening to Third Eye Blind music, swimming in the pool, talking about our experiences in Thailand, and drinking Gin & Tonics. Exactly how a vacation should be :)

On the way back from Phuket I flew through Bangkok, spending the night at my friend Nicki’s house before catching a 6am flight on Tuesday morning back to Ubon. My taxi driver on the drive to the airport was from Roi Et province, and he loved speaking a little bit of Laos with me. It was so funny! I went to school Tuesday morning, and let me tell you it wasn’t pretty. (This week has been an exhausting week!) I also realized Tuesday night, about 10 hours after getting off my flight in the morning, that I left my camera on the airplane. I went back to the airport the next morning, sad and sure that my camera/ all the pictures from my trip were gone forever. One of the staff members who cleans the airplane had found my camera and turned it in!!! I still can’t believe it. I am so lucky and grateful! It's not that this would never happen in America, but I think that it would be a lot more rare. Unfortunately, the staff were already long gone so I didn’t get to thank him/ her or give a reward. However, the first thing on my To-Do List this weekend is to write Nok Air a letter explaining to them what happened and how grateful I am! For that reason, these pictures are especially meaningful to me.

Don’t hate me too much ;)