Saturday, August 24, 2019

An Unfortunate - Fortunate beginning to our Holiday


Fortunately, we all woke up and we're ready on time
Unfortunately, there were no Grab (taxi) cars available

Fortunately, we had a friend willing to help us out
Unfortunately, that made us late for the ferry

Fortunately, we could run and managed to catch the ferry
Unfortunately, Jasmin's suitcase bruised her ankle numerous times while running

Fortunately, we got the komuter train tickets easily
Unfortunately, it was not all the way to the border so we had to switch trains

Fortunately, we had enough snacks with us for lunch while we waited for our second train
Unfortunately, we more or less ate them all so we had none left supper

Fortunately,we got on the right train and had great seats
Unfortunately, we only had 1/2 hour at the border to go through immigration and get the next train (our third)

Fortunately, the train was late so there was plenty of time to go through Immigration
Unfortunately, our tickets had been wrongly booked so we couldn't stay on the Thai train

Fortunately, the conductor took us off and tried to rebook for us at Hat Yai
Unfortunately, the trains were all full for that day

Fortunately, there was a hotel right there to ask about buses
Unfortunately, the staff sent us to the wrong bus station

Fortunately, mom's broken Thai was enough to get the problem understood
Unfortunately, they tried to get us to pay way too much for a transfer to the right bus station

Fortunately, dad has a Thai SIM in his phone so we could use Grab
Unfortunately, by the time we got there the bus we were told about was gone

Fortunately, a man listening told us another one was leaving soon
Unfortunately, it cost as much as the train 

Fortunately, we managed to get a hold of the person arranging the taxi from the train station to our retreat center
Unfortunately, we didn't know when we would arrive by bus in order to book a new one.

Fortunately, the double decker bus had a bathroom and usb ports so we could keep the phone charged
Unfortunately, the bathroom was filthy

Fortunately, the journey was quiet and smooth
Unfortunately, sleep was not as easy on the bus as on the expected sleeper train

Fortunately, we all got some sleep
Unfortunately, the bus wasn't actually going to Hua Hin (where we were supposed to meet the taxi)

Fortunately, the bus stopped as it was going by Hua Hin, so we asked about our stop.
Unfortunately, the driver didn't speak any English

Fortunately, mom understood enough Thai to know we had to get off the bus because it wasn't going where we wanted anymore
Unfortunately, we got dropped off on the side of the highway

Fortunately, there was a gas station nearby
Unfortunately, the bus almost drove off with dad

Fortunately, dad got out via the emergency exit
Unfortunately, we had to cross the busy highway

Fortunately, dad had enough load on his phone to call the retreat center for help
Unfortunately, we had to wait an hour for a taxi

Fortunately, we were close enough to a 711 to get some food
Unfortunately, Jasmin bonked her ankle AGAIN

Fortunately, we found a washroom
Unfortunately, it had no water

Fortunately, the taxi driver found us easily
Unfortunately, we still had an hour's drive to get to our retreat center

Fortunately, we made it
Unfortunately, we were a few hours later than usual

Fortunately, it was before lunch so we didn't have to go looking for food again
Fortunately, it was as peaceful an oasis as we remembered
Fortunately, Aiden had lots of new friends there to play with

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