Family History Tour

Jip’s older brother’s wife suffered an unfortunate motorcycle accident in Jip’s home village. I took the bus down to visit her in the hospital. Jip’s younger brother and his wife had driven there the day before.

The three of us traveled back to Bangkok together. On impulse I bailed out at Petchaburi, about the halfway mark. I knew Jip had gone to middle school there, and through the bus window I’d admired a hilltop palace that’s visible from the main road.

The palace turned out to be a very cool spot—crawling with monkeys, and full of many more attractive buildings than I could see at first. I roamed a couple hours, then decided to head for the nearby coast. Even though I’d never heard of anyone going to this beach, I figured it’s hard to go too far wrong when it comes to the Thai seaside.

But it wasn’t a good sign when the first bit of scenery I came across as I walked along the sand was a dead dog. Things got a little more dubious as I realized that the buses had stopped running and that a hotel I’d been pointed to turned out to be the rent-by-the-hour kind. Jip wasn’t too happy when I called to say I wouldn’t be home till the next day. Frankly, I wasn’t either.

Shortly after a mediocre sunrise the next morning, I left the coast and was home in time to spend most of the afternoon with Jip. When I told her which beach I’d detoured to, she surprised us both by sounding pleased: “My grandmother was born there.” Maybe my instincts aren’t so bad after all.