A Rough Journey to Kapas

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It took two days of travel to get from Ko Lanta to KL. The first day of travel went remarkably smoothly. Our flight from Krabi left ahead of schedule and we made it to our hotel in Kuala Lumpur just an hour and ten minutes after landing. Compare this to the last time we flew to KL, when it took two hours just for our bags to show up!





The second day of travel wasn’t so smooth. It all began before we even made it to the airport in KL. Our airport shuttle bus was decidedly dodgy and Scott and I even commented to each other that it was a rust bucket with no suspension to speak of. As it pulled into the airport the engine died right in the middle lane of drop off, holding up all of the traffic. The driver took several attempts to start it before it finally spluttered into life just long enough to make it to the curb. Phew! If the airport shuttle bus had to break down, it picked the perfect spot, or so we thought. We started to climb out but was informed that it was, in fact, the wrong airport. Unbeknownst to us, he’d been dropping at two different airports, and ours was the second drop. Gulp! For the next few minutes we sat tight as the poor stressed out driver tried repeatedly to start the engine but with no luck. When he opened the engine and started to bang around, we decided to get out and make our own way to the other airport. Luckily, the airport was very organized and we soon found our way onto a shuttle train which got us to the correct airport in less than five minutes.



The flight from KL to Kuala Terranganu was a quick 45 minute hop and in no time at all we were landing. It was a tiny airport so we quickly retrieved our bags and walked out. I’m always taken off-guard by the few times I’m in domestic airports. The lack of having to wait in immigration lines is so refreshing!



The last part of the journey was a 30-minute taxi ride to the pier, and then a 15-minute boat ride. At this stage, what could possibly go wrong?



As the taxi dropped us at the pier, we were met by touts asking us to buy boat tickets. We quickly dumped all of our bags on the side of the road and tried to listen to information coming to us about boat times. It turned out there was a 2pm boat, leaving in five minutes. I told Scott to watch the bags as I wanted take Jake and Kyla to use the bathroom first.



Me: “Jake, take off your backpack. Kyla, you too...”



It was at that horrible moment that we all realized simultaneously that Kyla had left her backpack in the taxi, which had since driven away. First though: Bun-Buns! Would Kyla ever be able to sleep again? The annoying thing was that the first thing we usually do when leaving a taxi is take a quick check that we have all of the bags: two big packs, two small packs, one suitcase, and two kids’ backpacks. However, in all of the confusion of thinking there was a boat leaving in five minutes, we’d not done the check this time.



I flung my small pack at Scott and ran off at top speed in the direction the taxi had gone, hoping I could catch up to him like in those cheesy movies. At that moment, the lady trying to sell us the 2pm boat ticket pointed to a parked taxi and said it was that one. I ran up to it and was relieved to recognize the driver. I opened the back door and there was Kyla’s backpack! It was a REALLY close call. I think what saved the day was the fact that the taxi driver had seemed to drop us right in front of a particular boat company and was waiting across the street to see if we bought it, in which case he’d get a kickback for bringing us. I didn’t care. I was too elated to get the backpack back AND a ticket on a boat leaving “now.”



The weather was very windy and we’d noticed a lot of whitecaps on the ocean as we’d driven along the coast. Therefore, we were relieved to be told that the 2pm boat was a big enclosed boat. We didn’t want to risk getting everything wet on a smaller, open-sided boat. By this time, it was 2:11 and the boat was filling up nicely. We’d be on our way in no time. Then, the boat crew started to tinker with the engine and we were all told we had to switch boats. Ugh, we guessed they were switching us to a small boat after falsely selling us a ticket for the big boat. By this time, we’d seen several small boats coming back from the island and the people coming off them were literally soaked from head to toe, as if they’d taken a shower in their clothes. There was no way we wanted to switch to a smaller boat with all of our packs.



As all of the local Malaysian day-tripping tourists piled off, I followed them to check out the new boat, leaving Scott and the kids on the big boat with all of the luggage. As suspected, it was a tiny open-sided boat. I went to tell scott that we’d just have to wait it out until the big boat was fixed, and as I did, it pulled away from the pier. The kids thought that mommy was being left behind and I could hear them screaming in a panic! The boat then proceeded to anchor up in the middle of the harbor and pump the water out of the bottom. From what I could tell, the kids had calmed down and were now just waving at me, but it was too far to tell for sure. I was very aware that I had all of their drinks and snacks with me in my backpack!



As I watched the boat pumping out water in the middle of the bay while holding my husband and kids hostage, I was given the hard sell on the small boat.

“C’mon, you’re on the islands now, not in the city!”

“What, are you afraid or something? Just put a life jacket on!”

I told him I didn’t want all of our bags to get soaked, to which he replied, “A bit of water doesn’t do any harm.” The last time I checked, getting your electronics soaked does a LOT of harm, not to mention all of the kids’ books and diapers!



I was told that the big boat wouldn’t go until maybe 3:30 or 4pm, or maybe never, and had no clue what was being relayed to Scott. After about 20 minutes, I demanded that they take me out to the big boat on one of their small boats so that I could at least see the kids and communicate with Scott. In the end, it all turned out to be a big scam, as we suspected, with the big boat filling up and setting off at 3pm.



As the boat left the shelter of the harbor and headed into the strait, we were instantly tossed and turned by the angry seas. The boat driver had to cut the engine several times as we smacked into big waves, sending the boat reeling from side to side. Water was thrown right over the boat, coming in through cracks around the closed windows and streaming onto the floor like a waterfall. The local day-tripping tourists were screaming in the back as every big wave hit, a mixture of fear and excitement, from what I could tell. Scott and I were quietly nervous, wishing that we’d bothered to unpack the kids’ lifejackets - just in case. Even Jake, my daredevil, had fear in his eyes as he clung to the seat back for dear life. I’m not sure if the journey was the fifteen minutes stated or not, but if felt like a lot longer. I was so glad when we finally got into calmer seas as we approached the Island of Kapas. Grandma and Grandpa had come down onto the beach to welcome us. We’d made it!

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