Bus across the country

---

Mmmmmm...... a cool breeze blew in our open balcony door all night long.What a nice change from the air-con we have used to cool off. I have to admit that the heat has been pretty demanding and we have caved on not getting air-con rooms.
Its easy to forget the roosters are going to start crowing as soon as the sun hints at rising in the sky. It must have been sunny somewhere cause they serenaded us extra early today.
We quickly got ready and made our way down stairs where our ride was waiting to take us to the bus station. No time for breakfast.

We met an pretty Israeli girl traveling alone. At first we thought she was being indifferent to us or did not speak English but soon determined by her comments and actions she was trying to act tough for some reason. This was not the first time we ran into people doing this. More often than not, the person doing it was a new traveler trying to show they weren't to be messed with. I wonder if I did that when I first traveled? Perhaps I do it still?
Grrrrrr.
She quickly warmed up after a few of my stellar attempts at humor. Or maybe it was Candace's mocking of my poor joke telling. We learnt that she has been traveling for less than a week. It was her first time away from home and she was doing it solo. I have a lot of respect for someone that puts themselves way out there.
The more we spoke, the more insight we got into the tough girl act she put on. She was worried that she might meet a stalker or something along that line. I've never been worried traveling. Partying while traveling, yes but never when I'm traveling. The double standard rule plays out here. I'm a guy and perhaps its just different for guys.
Our trip back to Krabi went by quickly as we exchanged travel stories. Our driver dropped us at a bus circa 1950 which had 6 other tourists on it. One couple was from Australia, two guys, with really bad colds were from Norway and the last couple was from the United States.

I was utterly amazed at the couple from the US. The girl was wearing big sunglasses (reminded me of the ones you see clowns wearing), tank top, short shorts and chunky high heels and was dragging either the biggest suitcase know to man or a small steamer trunk with wheels. To top it off, the suitcase/closet was bright pink. Her boyfriend had the matching black suitcase. I'm guessing first time travelers!?!

I hate to have the air of a snotty backpacker but I could not imagine pulling two huge, if that's even the right word for them, suitcases around any country for an extended period of time. I'll take limited clothes selection and ease of travel every time with my backpack. It was obvious that these two were new to traveling and I felt for them because we have all been there in one way or another. I really wanted to hear how long they were traveling and where they had been and where going. Judging by the size of the suitcases, I figured resort and for 3 months, or 5 changes of clothes per day.

As it turned out, the 6:30 bus did not leave until 7:30 and we sat at the bus station for the hour waiting for the bus to load up. Of course the bus was not one of those fancy tour buses that we had seen speed buy several times now. No, we had the luck of getting one that had a huge hole in the floor and the seats leaned at weird angles. Another public bus ride for us. I don't mean to sound negative about the situation as we actually prefer trying to somewhat experience the local flavor, or as much as tourists can riding on a bus through a country. Regardless, we were with the locals.

The ride out of town and across country even with the exhaust and dust that came up through the floor.. We saw a lot of markets, once again selling everything and everything and watched a diverse group of poeple board the bus. A man and his son hauled on huge bags of rice (a mainstay on every mode of transportation in Thailand), a lady boy and her friend got on and giggled their entire trip, teenage kids with cell phones and especially a lady with her young daughter who freely came and went between the Australians, the US couple and us.
The little girl kept us entertained for about 45 minutes. Trying to snap a decent picture of her big brown eyes proved to be impossible for when she saw the camera, she would smile and then duck. I wish we would have had something to persuade her to stay still. Such a sweetie.

Missing breakfast, we were getting hungry. A middle aged woman overheard us and let us know that the bus would stop enroute and we would be able to buy food from locals that came on the bus.
We passed several roadside stands selling food and with each passing one, I became hungrier and hungrier. Grilled chicken in the morning would be perfectly okay with me but Candace was hoping for something more breakfasty.

I had given up on getting breakfast anytime soon when at our next stop, ladies with baskets and trays came on board. We eagerly bought sticky rice, fruit and some grilled chicken satay with a spicy sauce. As we pulled out from the stop, I had a breakfast fit for a king laid out on our laps. And what better way to wash this all down then with a cold beer I had bought at the bus stop and stashed in my day pack.
We bumped along the road and finally arrived in town.

Our bus unceremoniously dumped us off at another travel agent who said our next bus would be a few minutes. Candace and I figured we would be either stranded at this point or have to buy another ticket to continue on but were quite surprised when an older tour bus pulled up. We boarded and ended up enjoying a short ride to the ferry. I guess our travel agents super deal of 125 baht each to go from Ao nang to Samui was actually going to work!
We boarded the ferry after the passengers coming back to the mainland got off. Although there were now a lot of backpackers there, our little group sat together and chatted about our plans. The Aussies were going to Koh Tao to go visit a friend that worked at a dive shop there. The Norwegians were going to party on Koh Phangan (no full moon party for another ten days though), the Americans had a hotel booked on Chaweng for a week, and our lovely Israeli friend wanted to Ang Thong National Marine park for some lazy days of exploring.

While we sat talking, two touts had made their way over. One, a lady wore a TAT card and suggested we use her for booking a ride from the pier to any place on the Island. The other tout, a crafty looking guy with an ear to ear smile suggested we use him but to not mention anything in front of anyone as the taxi cab mafia would catch him. We had heard about the taxi cab mafia and I personally wondered what they would do if we didn't use them.

Of course both touts tried to single us all out to work on us. The rates started at 300 baht per person. My research suggested that we should pay no more than 50 baht. The male tout suggested that I get all my "friends" to use his service and we could ride for 100 baht each. Never one to pass up an opportunity to haggle, we bantered back and forth for the whole ferry ride over price.

During this entire escapade, the other tout would not budge on price and had already signed up the Norwegians. Not wanting to pay anything over 100 baht for the two of us, I rounded up the others and told them if could them a ride for 300 per couple would they come with us. A Thai girl overheard me and she asked that her and her Farang boyfriend be included in our deal. I went back to the the male tout and he agreed to charge them that price and for my hard work he would only charge me 50 baht each. I smiled and said that he was too greedy and that I would not be able to afford a place to stay tonight at that rate. He said he would find me a good place for the night and cheap too. Knowing he would pick a place where he got commission I suggested that he transport us for 25 baht each. He laughed as he lit another cigarette and said that I should have been Thai the way I bargain. He also agreed that we had a deal.

When we landed on Samui, we threw our bags onto the top of a minibus and held on as the driver, who was either drunk, blind and deaf, crazy or a mixture of all four careened down the road oblivious of other cars and people on the street. Several times he came within inches of knocking someone off of their scooter or knocking the mirrors off parked cars. Candace and I, along with everyone in the car cringed with every close call.

We stopped to let the Americans off at their hotel. I couldn't help but pick on the girl before seeing them off. I had hopped out of the van first and when the driver handed down her large suitcase from the top of the van, I hid it at the front of the van, just out of sight. When she got out, a confused look filled her face as she looked for her suitcase up on top. Down came her boyfriends but hers was not to be seen.

When she asked where her suitcase was, I said it must have fallen off as none of the bags were secured down and we had swerved several times on the way there. The look on her face was priceless. I'm sure she tried to fathom 3 weeks without her makeup, high heels and handbags. I could no longer hold it in and burst out laughing pointing out that I had taken her bag.
Thankfully I was able to get back into the minibus before she made it over. Her boyfriend is probably still paying for laughing. I hope they have a great time even with those huge bags.

It was now around 22:30 and the next few guest houses we tried had no vacancy. Our tout was striking out. Candace pulled out the old LP and I suggested Amity Bungalows which was supposed to be a good place. I hate putting my trust into a guide book late at night. Our tout said they were full. Candace figured he didn't get a commission from them and insisted we try. After racing through Chaweng, we made it to Lamai. We started to question our decision to have them take us there when the road we turned onto became so rutted that even going slow tossed us around the minibus. With no light other than the odd porch light, we pulled up to a building. I hopped out with the tout who started to talk to the lady that came out. It was obvious that he was looking for a few bucks but she dismissed him with a wave of her hand. He was not impressed at losing out. Being a man of his word, he wished Candace and I a great time on Samui as he accepted the 50 baht for transporting the two of us.

It sounds like a storm is brewing as the wind sounds like its blowing really hard. And without any real lighting, we can't see on the other side of the open air restaurant. At least the room is really cool. So much for roughing it. We have cable t.v., air-con and a big fluffy comforter.
I'm tired and we're going to bed!

---

Photos

Airconditioned Buses?
Not ours.

Chilling
Local waiting for the inevitable.

Public Bus
Locals with a huge bag of Rice.

Sticky Rice
Roadside sticky rice operation going on

Deep Fried something
I wanted to stop for some food but no such luck!

Garbage Truck
Our first garbage truck in Thailand. We wondered if they even had them with all the garbage we saw piled up everywhere.

Breakfast
We stopped and a gang of ladies boarded the bus selling sticky rice, fresh cut up pineapples and watermelon and chicken skewers. Funny how it all washed down so well with the cold beer we bought before leaving.

New Bus and Driver
The driver had a navigator and a ticket taker to help him get us from Surat Thani to the Ferry.

Amity Bungalows
When we arrived we couldn't see past the beginning of the sidewalk it was so dark

Comments

[Tommii]

That's great
The deep fried something appears to be fried banana. It tastes just good... Please visit my travel blog: www.thailandtravelonline.com