Funny story w/a lack of photos
I got myself into a bit of a pickle 2 nights ago.
The tour place is also the hostel.
The upper loft. Not a very good picture.
I'm currently couch surfing but I've been hanging out at my friend Shelly's hostel a lot for the last 4 days. Everyone there including the owners thinks this is where I'm staying.
I'm not lying to them because they aren't asking me anything but I'm not telling them that I'm a couch surfer either.
I've booked a few tours with them and I have visited with the staff and used their wifi to make use of my phone since the couch surfing house doesn't have wifi. So the hostel sees a lot of me in between outings with Shelly.
On this particular night, I didn't realize it but the yellow song tails apparently stopped running at 7pm, according to the hostel owner. This was the same time I decided I should head home. Ralph, my couch surfing host at the time, had told me that they stopped at 9pm.
So I called Ralph and told him my issue. I told him I was going to walk to where I get dropped off by the song tails when I come into town. Then I'd cross the highway to get myself pointed in the right direction for his house. I'd look for the song tail
to get me to his place. If I ran into a problem I'd find a phone to call him.
The Thai lady who owns the hostel asked me what my plan was and I told her. She didn't want me walking to the song tail drop off area in the dark. She acted as if we were in a dangerous area, we weren't but it sounds like it's not common for women to walk alone at night.
I told her I had to because my bag was there. I needed my things.
She said that after the elephant trek I signed up for was over she'd have the driver take me to get my bag. The elephant trek was scheduled for the next day.
she didn't really understand why my bag wasn't at the hostel but she didn't ask any questions.
I told her tomorrow wasn't going to work, I needed it tonight so she stopped me at the door and had an employee of hers DRIVE ME 25min out of town to Ralph and Cat's house!
All I really wanted was to go to Ralph's to sleep in my temp. bed and have my belongings with me. But because of the misunderstanding of where I was actually staying, It quickly turned into a mission to get my bag and bring it back to the hostel.
I tried to get out of staying the night at the hostel as I knew it was full.
I told the owner when the driver got me to this house where my bag was he could leave. I'd get a ride back to the hostel when I was packed up and ready. She said no, it would be easier for the driver to wait and bring me back. And that was that.
When we arrived at Ralph and Cat's home, I went inside and explained to them what was happening and that I was staying a night in the hostel but could I come back to their house tomorrow? They said yes, of course, with a laugh.
Back to the fully booked hostel I went. I put my bag in Shelly's dorm room and planned on sleeping in the common area that is a loft above the main street level entrance. I ended up sleeping with Shelly in her twin bed on the top bunk. Thankfully the room was full of very cool backpackers and no one cared and those who did know what was going on, didn't ask.
As Shelly and I were falling asleep she whispered to me, "so what all happened? What was the conversation between you and the hostel that got you here tonight?"
I told her and then she said to me, "they know your not a guest here."
WHAT!?
She said, "I told them when I was ordering our breakfasts for the morning. I asked them if you could still have one even though your not staying here."
I couldn't believe this! I don't think the hostel understood Shelly though. I think she probably just confused them, if anything.
Between 6:30/7 the next morning we were being picked up for the elephant trek. So I needed to be at the hostel early anyways. It actually worked out perfect, just a bit of a hassle that night. I woke up at 5 took my shower and went down stairs to wait for the rest of the elephant group. While I waited the owner came and gave me my free breakfast for booking the trek with them. Yogurt, fruit and mussilie which seems to have become my breakfast of choice during this trip.
The hostel never said a word to me about the night before. I however gave the owner a hug and told her how nice she was.
The end.