Phits is the pits!

You never know how good you've got it till its gone!

To us "westerners" the meaning of "double room" and "cleanliness" conjure up visions of a standard place for accommodation. Welcome to The LiThai of Phitsanulok! To them these words have a completely different meaning... or maybe its something that gets lost in translation???

The room itself was barely big enough to swing a cat; the "double" bed was a deconstructed queen single - split in half. Consequently Nik got the top half and Si got the box springs! And it didn't stop there. We had the pleasure of entertaining a steady stream of small ants who traipsed across what spare floor space there was.... across the floor in the bedroom... over the TV... and into the bathroom... across the mirror and into the sink. these little buggers even found their way into Nik's toothbrush!

Fortunately for Nik, Si was on hand to squash every ant in sight, flush the toothbrush, check the beds and in the course of filling his duties banged his head on the doorway into the bathroom - not just once, not just twice, not even 3 times - but at least 5 times. What is it with little people??? Who designs or builds a doorway for people 4 foot nothing in height?? Obviously the Thai's!!! So now we had no room to move, ants invading everywhere and a sore head for Si (complete with a row of cranial scars). And to cap the hotel experience off, we arranged for them to do a bag of washing for us (some things were starting to walk on their own accord). Besides paying far too much (200 Baht = US $8) Nik found (much to her distress) that one of her favourite tops had been destroyed by bleach. I mean bleach! What on God's earth (or Buddha's for that matter) were they doing with bleach on a coloured top??? The hotel were quick to show me a sign in English that said... All care but no responsibility. I was just as quick to say 100 Baht, not 200.... and the deal was done.

That's what you get for being "tight"... and other bloggers had commented that this was the "choice" place to stay in town! Are they kidding?? We can only imagine the state of other hotels if The LiThai was the "Mandarin Oriental" of Phitsanulok.

But not everything was that bad! Only the hotel was. Once we got out into the town we experienced some great night markets, bars and restaurants floating on the river, fresh fruit and vegetable markets (Phitsanulok is the junction for a wide range of produce from the north of Thailand) and a few interesting Wat's.

What's a Wat we hear you ask?? Stay tuned... we'll deal with that topic later.

One night while we were sitting at the markets having dinner (grilled fish with chicken feet and cucumber salad) we witnessed and extraordinary event. A stall-keeper (well... more of a tarp owner) dropped several garbage bags of yellow "polo shirts" and the frenzy started. It was like an End of Year Sale... All stock must go!!! Men and women were going crazy for these yellow shirts. Why?? We asked the very same question! It's not like they're very attractive shirts! I mean... they're pale yellow to start with. As it turns out - yellow is the King's colour and Thai's are VERY passionate about their King. So as you stroll through any town in Thailand you'll see many people fitted out in the same yellow polo shirts. All we think is... lucky person who makes them!

Aside from that moment of amusement... Phits was the pits!