Leaving Katha Thani

This morning we left Katha Thani and organised our ride to the Ratchada pier. We called our driver from day 1 who agreed to collect us from the resort and take us to the ferry via Rimtang restaurant for 400 Baht. At reception I was approached by a driver with a black car who asked if we were going to Phi Phi to which I replied no, which I have found is the easiest way to refuse an offer of a ride. After waiting for our driver for about 10 minutes I called him and was told he had arranged fit a friend with a black car to collect us... Fortunately the man with the black car had not gone far and we were able to call him back. Our first stop was the local supermarket for supplies, the usual nappies, wipes etc and some bread to make sandwiches for Charlie. Then we returned to Rimtang restaurant for lunch to avoid having to buy dodgy food at the pier or on the boat. As I sit here at the pier writing this it was definitely a good decision. I should also say that we had earlier booked a ferry ticket and transfer with the resort but decided to cancel it as the transfer was a minibus with no option for stopping to get anything on the way. Thankfully we did as the krusty kebab and burger stands at the pier are certainly not appetizing.

As usual I went a bit crazy at lunch and ordered way too many dishes. For Charlie we got Hokkien noodles with chicken and a common green vegetable that was delicious and crunchy but I don't know what it is but I'm definitely going to find out. Next was pork rib soup with vermicelli rice noodles. Although I am quickly developing a liking for the wide flat rice noodles and Hokkien noodles the rice vermicelli are still my favorite. Tina ordered a traditional Thai noodles with shrimp which was actually Pad Thai. The local Pad Thai is much richer and more sour than we are used to. While very nice I will season it up with some of the sugar provided on all tables next time. Dried chillies, chillies in vinegar, white sugar and fish sauce are provided in a cool variety of holders in every restaurant. You are supposed to season each dish to your personal tastes however we have not felt the need to use them so far. Finally I couldn't resist ordering the shrimp Pad Krapow with runny fried egg and was happy that I did. Obviously I was pretty stuffed by this time but still managed to consume most of it. The shrimp version was delicious and also came with snake beans and sliced long chillies, nice and spicy just as I like it. We enjoyed the mango smoothies so much last time it was the same again all round. They come with large chunks of mango that Charlie loves reaching into your glass with her grotty hands to fish out. Feeling once again totally stuffed we piled back into the car for the trip to the pier which took about 30 minutes in driving rain which started just as we finished lunch. We possibly jinxed ourselves last night by commenting how good the weather had been so far.