The Scenic Route, Again . . .

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My last night in Ko Tao I ended up celebrating the Dutch holiday of Queen's Day until very late in the morning. In fact when I got home I realized I had to wake up in less than three hours, fortunately my watch has three seperate alarms, all of which I set. The next morning I woke up to sun streaming into the room, I rolled blinked a couple of times and reached for my watch with a growing sense of foreboding. There was a reason I was nervous, I had slept through my alarms and had 20 minutes to dress, pack, check out and make it to the ferry that was taking me to the island, Ko Samui, that I was to fly to Singapore from. I packed faster than I had ever to date and headed down to check out, upon reaching into my pocket I reached that didn't have enough Thai Baht and of course the hotel didn't take VISA or US dollars so at a dead sprint I went to a nearby ATM and withdrew funds. I paid for the room and caught a taxi (read: the back of a pickup truck) that got me to the ferry in time, which was conviently 30 minutes late.

I hopped on the ferry to Ko Samui and promptly fell asleep, I was fairly comfortable falling asleep because everybody else around me was going to the same island as me. At one point we stopped briefly and I looked up, but figured it couldn't be Ko Samui because there was no annoucement and nobody else was getting off. After a stretch I began to get nervous because we still hadn't made it to the island and my flight was leaving soon. With a growing sense of dread (a common theme of this particular journey), I asked an employee when we would arrive, he informed me that we would get to Surat Thani at 4:30 pm, Surat Thani is a city on mainland Thailand - I had slept through my stop.

After this realization I began to wonder what to do next. I did the only thing I could, began heading south (although the owner of the boat did offer me a ticket, on a bus owned by him mind you, to Bangkok. While I'm no cartographer, I'm pretty sure that this is the opposite direction of my destination). We arrived in Surat Thani at 4:30 pm and the only ticket south left was a third class train ticket to Hat Yai at 2:00 am. I sat on a train platform for 9 hours, and eventually hopped on the train, a wait which is about as exciting as it sounds.

On the car people were everywhere, laying in the aisle, laying under seats or laying across seats, I was forced to walk down the aisle on the edge of seats to avoid stepping on people. I also quickly realized, that unlike sleeper cars, of all the people I was the only westerner and the only English speak on the car. I found my seat and noticed a gap in the aisle, I shrugged and figure, "when in Rome," and threw my pack down and promptly went to sleep in the aisle, mashed in between several Thais. Travel books recomend traveling like a local to "rub elbows" with people, I can assure you this works, I rubbed elbows, ankles, calves, hips, shoulders got stepped on, etc. with the locals.

Suprisingly, I slept quite well . . . until for some reason everybody in the car woke up at 4:30 am and began walking around. At this point I swung into my uncomfortable seat and tried to sleep. Towards the end of my train ride, I had another growing sense of foreboding when I realized I woudn't be able to make it to Singapore in time for my flight home soley by taking buses and trains. However, at the train station I had borrowed a guidebook from an absolutely charming Danish family, that claimed (the travel book, not the Danes) there were flights from Hat Yai to Singapore, so upon arriving in Hat Yai I made straight to a travel agency. I found out that flights did connect these two cities, but that I would have to wait an hour to find out if seats were available. I wandered off and had breakfast while nervously waiting. Eventually, I found out seats were available, I immediately booked a ticket for the 9:45 pm flight and wondered how to kill 14 hours in Hat Yai.

After wandering the city, I went to the airport about 8 hours early and napped and read. The flight left in time and I arrived in Singapore 8 hours before my flight left for Chicago. I made the flight and the connecting flight in Tokyo. Even after virtually no sleep for three nights, I forced myself to stay awake across the Pacific and eventually made it to Chicago at about 4. I staggered through customs with bloodshot eyes and stumbled into my parents, while mumbling something about being tired and hungry. I the way home we had pizza, then I went home showered and collapsed in bed at 8 pm, waking up 12 hours later with no jet lag.

In sume, one night of celebrating Queen's Day cost me a wasted ticket to Singapore, and instead of two nights in Singapore and a pleasant day of exploring the city I spent: 9 hours in a train station, 5 hours on a third class train, half a day in Hat Yai, 8 hours in an airport, three hours on a plane, and then 8 hours in another airport. Furthermore, my last shower before departure was Sunday night before going out (my 20 minutes Monday morning did not allow time for bathing) and I assumed, incorrectly, that there would be showers in the Singapore airport. So in Hat Yai and Singapore I gave myself a sponge bath at in an airport bathroom (yes indeed, one can wash his or her hair in an airport sink, with patience and a disregard for water up the nose), however, it's still not the same. My profuse apologies for all the passengers stuck next to me on the flight home. The worst part is that the entire ordeal was my fault, and I really have no one to blame (well, maybe the ferry operators should have annouced the stop, but then, I had been in the region for 2 months and should have known better).

Hmmm, 3 weeks later and freshly showered this is all much more humorous than it was at the time.

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