Coming Home

It was a long way driving back to Sukhothai from the south. And, especially compared to what all had happend before, it was rather uneventful. From Muang Thai, we'd spent a whole day driving on the slow but scenic route number 4 and made it to Chumpon in the evening where we checked in at a decent hotel. The women had no intention of leaving the room for a meal as they wanted to watch the news all night to follow the political changes going through the country. By now, the airports had been seized and international flights were cut off. That was being used to pressure the government and force a new government to be formed. It was uncertain at the time, when flight schedules would return to normal and wether Tommi would be able to leave the country as well as wether my parents would be able to take their flight to visit us. The three brothers of us went out to grab a meal and have a short walk around town after we'd sat in the car all day. Then we retired to our rooms for a good night's rest.

The next morning started with a quick breakfast, fried eggs and ham, even orange juice of some sort. We decided we'd want to spend the coming night at home, in Sukhothai. So it was another day of driving. The first stop was at Cha-Am, the kings bathing resort, to have lunch. The next stop, just after nightfall, was the Bangkok Bus Terminal. We had been going in the pickup truck of the brother of Tuk's, but he needed his car back. So we'd exchange it for the little Honda again, but that wouldn't be able to carry all the luggage and six persons, not to mention the two dogs we would have to pick up at Bangkok. So it was decided that the three men would take the bus to Sukhothai while the women could spend the night in Bangkok an follow the next day.

We were just unloading our bags from the truck when Tuk told us there was a change in plan. Her brother Tae had called and changed his mind in our favour. We put our bags back in the truck while Tuk was on the phone with about every member of the family to inform them of the change as well as to organize the collection of the dogs.

From the bus station to the house of Tuk's sister we had to crawl through thick Bangkok traffic. It took more than two hours for less than five kilometers, a torture for some of us after the long drive up from the south. We kept the visit at the house as short as possible. We didn't want to spent the night, we all sought to be finally home.

We arrived at the house half past two in the morning. It was home and it felt home and there was no other place in the world at the moment that could give that feeling. This was how much I'd already gotten accustomed to that place in that provincial town in Central Thailand. There was my room, there was my bed, and it didn't matter that the room was a mess at the moment with nowhere to step after my brother Tommi had added his belongings to the already cram-full room. And it didn't matter either that the mattress of the cheap sleep sofa was only thin three-folded foam on the floor and far from the beds I had slept on the past two nights. Even though borrowed for my time here, it was my room, it was my bed, it was my home.

The plan was to spent the night and the next before going on another week's trip to the north or east, just the three brothers. So the next day we used for preparations. We checked the Jimmy, bought a tarp as rain protection for the one who'd sit in the back and for our bags, and there was a dozen other things that wanted to be taken care of before we were good to leave. Before we knew it, the day had passed. Gop's husband had arrived during the day to take her back home and at night Lucie came to the house for a visit. We spent the evening chatting and finally settled to watch a movie before going to sleep.

The next morning everyone appeared to be as lazy as one could be. There was not a trace of enthusiams for the trip. Andrew had a bit of paperwork left for the morning he couldn't get himself to do. I was slow to get out of bed and it still felt like early morning when I dropped Lucie at the bus terminal where she left for a business trip to Bangkok. When I returned to the house, none of us seemed to care about leaving and therefore we ended up spending a lazy day hanging around the house. We had enough time and it appeared we all needed to take a deep breath before taking off again.