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Published: June 21st 2006
Koh Chang Ferry
This is the ferry that runs from Laem Ngop to Koh Chang, otherwise known as Koh Chang Ferry, not to be confused with Ferry Koh Chang which links two other points !We're back in Bangkok. We caught the bus from Koh Chang back to Bangkok at 2pm and only pulled into Ekamai Station in Bangkok a couple of hours ago.
The trip from Laem Ngop to Bangkok took us through the lush countryside of Trat, Chanthaburi and Rayong Provinces. These are major fruit growing areas of Thailand and for most of the way the roads were lined with markets selling all manner of exotic fruit. Most in abundance were durians and rambutans (neither of which are our favourites), which were being sold in mountains ! We were also constantly being overtaken by vans and lorries loaded to the gunwales with durians headed for Bangkok. Luckily any smell accompanying them did not find its way into the bus.
Fortunately, the "in-flight" entertainment system was not in operation today so we had a reasonably quiet trip back. Stepping off the bus in Bangkok it felt like we had climbed into a sauna. We figured it would be best to avoid the awful traffic so opted for a mixture of SkyTrain and taxi to get us back to Banglamphu. We didn't have a room booked so essentially fell into the first place we
In-bus Entertainment
What better way to pass a six-hour bus trip than to watch a crazy-looking Thai gameshow on full volume ? Luckily the TV cut out a few minutes after the picture was taken ! At least it wasn't kung-fu... found, which is more or less OK but no more. We intend to be out of Bangkok tomorrow morning so it doesn't really matter much. I'm sure we could have done better but we were very very tired and very very hungry ! Bags down, we headed out to an Indian Restaurant highly recommended by our guide book,
Roti Mataba. It's famous for
mataba, a kind of stuffed Indian savoury pancake. When we found the place it turned out to be barely 3 feet wide, but had a little dining room on the 1st floor with 5 or so tables. The
mataba turned out to be absolutely delicious, and we enjoyed some curry with
roti bread as well. Very tasty. Although being ravenous I ate a bit too fast and I'm now typing with a bit of a tummy ache...
The plan tomorrow is to make our way to the
Southern bus terminal this time, over the river in Thonburi, to catch a bus to Kanchanaburi. This should take us about 3 hours, so not too bad after today's trip. We intend to stay in Kanchanaburi 5 nights, and from there make our way to Lopburi, passing through Suphanburi
Roadside food
Along the roadside between Chanthaburi and Bangkok. Countless small food stalls to cater for the workers in the many factories lining the road (mainly food processing plants). This man is selling "gai yaang" or grilled chicken. Stomach rumbles... and Singburi (we're doing all the
buris - it just means "city" in Thai, coming from Sanskrit as in
Singapore or
Nagpur). After a planned 2 nights in Lopburi we should be able to catch a train directly to the airport, bypassing Bangkok, from where we catch - on the morning of 29th - our flight to Luang Phabang in Laos. If the weather's on our side these next few days should give us the opportunity to do some walking as well as boating on the River Kwai.
I'm completely exhausted so I'm going to bed now. Nighty-night !
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