Day 11 - early rising, snorkelling, bon voyage to Ko Tao, 2nd class train travel and hello Bangkok (again!)

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So this is our last blog before returning to Bangkok as started writing it before leaving Ko Tao - we’re both really sad to be heading towards the last leg of our trip, and are in reflective moods. So far we’ve had the most amazing time in Thailand. This is also the first blog from Bangkok as we finished it after we arrived.

Today/yesterday has been a total mix.

We woke super early and were on the beach for 7am – the only people there which was amazing. We then did over an hour’s snorkelling, trying to hunt out some sharks and turtles. We were the only people in the sea (and still on the beach actually) and it was amazing. We saw so much marine life, even more than previously as the fish seemed to be enjoying the lack of people snorkelling around them! We swam really far out and then realised the sea was really choppy and there was a strong current, luckily we’re both pretty strong swimmers! Unfortunately no sharks or turtles were seen, but we did see large crocodile fish, and a large school of fish waiting for a single cleaner fish to clean them amongst lots of other amazing things. The colours at this time in the morning were stunning and we both had an amazing time.

We then had a lounge on the beach, again we were the only people on there for ages, so it felt like our own private beach, which was great.

At 10am we went back to the room to pack and shower, and unfortunately get ready to leave Ko Tao. We then checked out of the hotel and got a taxi ride (4x4) back to the main town. We were quite insistent this time that we were NOT sitting outside on the back of the truck and we were allowed into the air conditioned cabin. One girl was sat outside but after us only driving about 5 feet she complained and came inside!

The main town was great and in a way we wish we had stayed there, the food was cheaper and there was more atmosphere, although the beach was very busy and there was no snorkelling, so we would have missed out on all the amazing stuff we saw. We agreed that in the end it was good that we stayed where we had stayed, but next time we’d be braver and stay more central and travel to isolated places by quad bike.

We enjoyed lunch in a pub called ‘safety stop’. Tom went for a chicken and bacon baguette and fries, whilst Sarah stayed Thai and had a massaman veg curry – the food was gorgeous. We had a bit of a wander around town, indulged in a pancake (which Sarah hoped was like the ones she had in Koh Samui the year before....it wasn’t anywhere near as good). We then stocked up on drinks and a bag of crisps from 7/11 before boarding the catamaran. This one was smaller than the others we had been on and totally full. It was also a really choppy ride, lots of people were feeling sick and there were massive waves splashing up onto the windows. Luckily we managed to sleep for a lot of it, so did not feel ill ourselves.

Upon arriving in Chumphon we had to catch a bus to the train station, we managed to get great seats in the front row upstairs and saw lots of unusual sights along the way, like monkeys being used to get coconuts L and people living in massive mansion type houses, next to others living in rickety old shacks.

Upon arrival at the train station we still had a couple of hours to wait for our train, so we found a bar with a cheap offer on beer – we were sold. Again we had more food, and it was delicious (pad thai and steamed veg in a satay sauce). Before long it was time to go and get our train. We walked to the station and surprise, surprise it was running late. Luckily we weren’t panicking as we knew to expect this, so explored the station (so different to UK train stations), with lots of make shift food stalls selling unusual foods.

Our train was nearly an hour late, and it was a bit of an effort to find our seats/beds when it did arrive! But we soon settled into our bunk beds....again Tom did not fancy our own beds so we squished into one. We actually slept pretty well, which is surprising, as they do not dim the lights at all in 2^nd class. All you have is a pale pink curtain in front of the beds. Also at most stops you stop for 10mins, and sellers get on shouting out what they are selling for you to say if you want to buy any. It’s so odd seeing people selling steaming hot bowls of noodle soup in the middle of the night down an aisle on a sleeper train!

All in all 2^nd class was not turning out to be too bad....until Sarah went to the toilet that is! If you thought they were bad in 1^st class.........on 2^nd class they only had squat toilets. Needless to say you needed to be stationary in a station in order to use them. They stank, but Sarah again turned into resourceful festival girl!

Annoyingly we were awoken at 4.30am by the train attendant who told us we were due into Bangkok at 5.10am, typically we were late into Bangkok so spent ages sat in seats instead of a bed (the attendant insisted on changing it back to seats) and freezing cold as the air con seemed to be turned up to max all of a sudden.

Anyway we were soon back in the hustle and bustle of Bangkok. Upon leaving the station we were accosted by taxi drivers and tuk tuk drivers all trying to rip us off.....we LOVE Bankgok!!

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