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Published: November 26th 2007
Slow bus to Surat Thani....
But it did have aircon and TV.We left Patong beach for our next destination "Koh Samui" in plenty of time - Or so we thought!!!
Didn't take us long to find a taxi at the right price.
But on the way to Phuket to catch our bus,
we were held up in traffic due to a lorry over turning!!
Arrived at the bus station to be met by the waiting driver of the Surat Thani bus,
who grabbed our backpacks and ushered us straight on board saying he was leaving in two minutes.
It was obvious that the taxi driver had phoned ahead after asking us where we were going. Great we thought, until we discovered it wasn't the express bus that only takes 6 hours...
But the local bus that took nearly 8 hours,
after having to stop at every bus stop along the way......
However, we did enjoy the bus journey.
The scenery turned out to be amazing driving through the jungle,
watching elephants at work and monkeys doing what monkeys do.
Arrived in Surat Thani at almost 6pm,
to be told that the overnight ferry would be leaving at
Limestone rocks
An impressive sight on our way from Phuket...
11pm and wouldn't arrive till 6am.
I knew there was a ferry at 7pm that took 1hr 30mins to cross.
Trouble was we were over an hour away from the ferry port,
which is located the other side of Surat Thani.
So paid well over the odds for a taxi to get us there as fast as he could, through the rush hour traffic.
Spent the journey hanging on for dear life as the driver sped to the ferry port.
We got there with just 2 minutes to spare.
The driver then held out his hand for another 200 baht.
Having already paid over the odds we refused.
So he left leaving our backpacks in a puddle of water.
It was a relief to finally get on board, after the scary edge of the seat journey.
On reaching Koh Samui we were met by the usual high priced taxi drivers.
We plumped for the waiting local bus with several other back packers.
He proceeded to travel clockwise around the island dropping us off at our hotels.
Turned out we were the last two, as we were staying in Lamai Beach.
Now for the close up...
Shame it's taken through a dirty bus window! We finally arrived at the Samui Beach Resort an hour and a half later.
If he'd gone the other way, it would only have taken 20 minutes!
By 10.30pm we were in our bungalow by the sea, listening to the waves.
Turns out that Lamia Beach was the perfect location for us to relax and take time out from our busy schedule.
The beach was quiet and very close to the Grandfather and Grandmother Rocks.
It was only a 10 minute walk up the beach to the local bars, shops and night life.
Pumpkin and his staff at the resort, made us feel really welcomed.
Breakfast was served every morning over looking the sea.
There's also a free bar-b-que every tuesday night with entertainment.
We enjoyed it so much, that we extended our stay by another 3 days.
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Jane
non-member comment
But you're missing snow, fog, rain and cloud!
Well, I'm SHOCKED at the pair of you, messing around with rude rocks... Glad to see you are pretending to enjoy being in a warm, beautiful place! I can send you some frosted spinach if you still want travel spinach... cheers for now! Jane (oooh nooo, the Christmas rush at Oxfam has started!)