Another sunny, hot, and humid morning. Today we headed off into Ban Saladan; to try out one of their restaurants for lunch, to do a little banking at an ATM, and to grab a few things at the supermarket. For lunch, we tried out one of the many restaurants on the main road. Similar to much of the food we’ve tried south of Chiang Mai, the lunch was palatable but otherwise unremarkable.

As we stepped out of the restaurant, we spotted this street sign on the main drag…

Parking is only allowed on smooth days?

There are a number of ATM’s scattered throughout Ban Saladan. However, to be safe, the ones we use are attached to known banks; The Siam Commercial Bank and The KTB. The ATM’s for both these banks are on the “Plus” system.

Ban Saladan has many mini-marts but only one larger store that approaches the title, supermarket. This store, while small by North American standards, is absolutely stuffed with merchandise. While in the store, we struck up a conversation with a visitor from Australia. He was just in from Phuket and was stocking up on bottled water… of course, we asked why. He told us about a large rain-storm he experienced while in Phuket; as a result, the power was out in his hotel for 4+ hours. He also informed us about a “big storm” supposedly headed towards Koh Lanta for later in the day. We already had plenty of bottled water back at the bungalow. So, we just picked up some soft drinks and snack foods.

On the way back to the Lanta Pearl Beach Resort, we stopped off at the “Time for Lime – Creative Thai Cooking School” (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g303905-d1223357-Reviews-Time_For_Lime_Creative_Thai_Cooking_School-Ko_Lanta_Krabi_Province.html). We booked our evening cooking class for April 2.

We got back to the resort just as the air became particularly thick and humid. This caused us to collapse into “hammock-mode”. We were relaxing on the veranda, listening to tunes from my iPod when we suddenly noticed the quality of the light in the sky change. That, combined with the heaviness in the air and the Aussie’s storm-warning got us thinking about the possibility of power-outages. In the time we’ve stayed here, this resort has experienced a number of brief brown-outs and resultant power-surges but only two previous power-outages, and then only for a few minutes each time. Important note: we purchased an “international” surge-protected power-bar rated for both 110v and 220v just for our travels and plug our chargers and other electronics into it. Not only does it give an added layer of protection for our high-tech goodies, it also provides those oft-needed extra outlets. Anyway, back to power-outages; being the preparedness-geeks we are, we decided to take a stroll down to the local mini-mart to see if we could pick up a few candles… just in case. Apparently we started off not a moment too soon, as the skies continued to darken and the first few sprinkles started to fall. Obviously the locals are used to power-problems, as even though the mini-mart’s inventory was quite limited, they had plenty of candles for sale.

Once back at the bungalow with our “emergency preparedness supplies” (4 candles, a Snickers Bar, and a bag of cashew nuts), we set to work. A couple of minutes using my trusty S&W Spec Ops knife and two empty water bottles and a candle were transformed into a serviceable makeshift candle-lantern… good thing too… the power went out at about this time.

Our makeshift candle-lantern.

With plenty of cold drinks in the mini-fridge, fully-charged iPod and speaker for tunage, charged-up kindles for reading, and still with a good selection of cigars in my travel humidor – we were well-provisioned for the power-outage.

Enjoying the veranda by candle-light.

The power-outage lasted only about 5 hours; it was a great opportunity to watch the lightning-show and experience the thunder. Unfortunately, the “closeness” in the air was not greatly relieved as there was no dramatic downpour, only sporadic showers. Then, just like it never happened, all the lights blinked back on. Priority-one for us was resetting our air-conditioner, then we turned our surge-protected power bar back on (we turned it off as soon as the power went off).

By this time (about 8:30 PM), we were still only peckish but decided breakfast was a long way off if we didn’t have dinner this evening. We just went down to the resort’s restaurant for a light dinner.

Coffee Bar and Bar areas after the rain.

Once dinner was finished, we went back to the bungalow for more hammock-time on our veranda. Steamy-hot with little to no air movement; a great reason to just kick back, light a cigar, and lose oneself in the music drifting from the iPod.