Wednesday 12th February 2014 - 25 Hour Travels

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So yesterday (12th February) I was supposed to be collected from my hotel to go to Kep, an island off the south east coast of Cambodia. I had booked the tickets and my hotel for that night there earlier in the day. Later that night at midnight, I thought why am I going to Kep? I looked at the transport links and there weren't really any that I could use in good time at a cheap price so I decided that I would book a flight for the 13th out of Phnom Penh and into Bangkok and not go to Kep, in order to connect with an overnight train to Champon where I would catch a connecting bus to the port of Lomprayah where I would get onto a catamaran to get to Koh Samui.

At 7.20am the bus did come to collect me but I never got it. I checked out of my hotel, went and had some munch and got "Rory" my tuk tuk driver to take me to the airport. I still had 4 hours to go until my flight departed but it was so hot and I couldn't be bothered to battle with restaurants so when I got to the airport I simply went and sat in the corner and waited for the check in desk to open.

I was flying with Air Asia - They are the Ryanair and Easyjet of Asia and are really good to be fair. The flight was at 5.10pm. By 4.55pm everybody was on the plane already so we left on time and arrived at Don Muang airport in Bangkok bang on 6.20pm. Don Muang is the old airport for Bangkok and is further out so as my train was leaving at 7.30pm I had no time to waste. I ran to passport control, luckily my bag was first to come out on the belt, I ran to the taxi rank and expressed the urgency of which my driver, who spoke no words of English did seem to understand however, he decided that he needed LPG Gas.... I'm not sure if anyone has an LPG car but it takes a lot longer to fill than it does petrol so I was fuming at this point.. I reiterated the urgency again and he got it this time. I'm sure his taxi has never gone so fast, he was doing 90mph most of the way but it smelt like it was going to catch fire... To be fair to him he got me to the train station with 10 mins to spare.

When I got to the train station I managed to get a combined ticket for a sleeping train, bus and ferry connection. It did cost me £49 but in reality that wasn't too bad as that was 1 nights accommodation sorted (The Sleeper Train) and all of my transport to Koh Samui.

The sleeping train was cool. I didn't go 1st class this time which meant I was on the top bunk in a carriage with about 30 other people. Sounds horrible but everyone was really quiet and cool. I made friends with 3 girls from Argentina, Flora, Pipi and Laura. We did have a good few hours on that train and did cause a little chaos. I also made friends with a couple from New Zealand who I ended up spending all of the next day with on the boat etc. The train was delayed for some reason, everyone was on it and it would move and stop and do this for 4 hours. This in turn meant that we all missed that 7am bus. The train got into Champon at 9am. The boat was leaving at 1pm so we all had a little wait.

When the boat finally arrived it was a really nice white catamaran with large blacked out windows and it was massive too. It held 457 people. I managed to get a seat right on the side so I could dangle my feet over the edge (Not into the water though as I was on the second floor). I got told off by one of the crew members for doing this so I had to rein my legs in, wasn't too happy about this. It was a really choppy ride, the seas were strong and people were being sick everywhere. It was awesome... One thing I have found out about myself is how much I love being on a boat/by the water, maybe I need to look into boating when I get back. We stopped at two islands on the way to Koh Samui. First was Koh Tao which has the purest blue waters. Then Koh Phangan which is where most people were heading as there is a full moon party on Saturday and then I arrived at Samui. I had already booked a taxi to pick me up. He took me to Anna Resort where I had pre-booked a detached cottage for £16 quid a night. I arrived and I loved it, its so nice, so clean, quiet and just across the road from the beach. I unpacked, showered as I hadn't had one for about 31 hours, EEWW, and went out for some food at one of the restaurants on the beach. When I got back from the restaurant I went to 7/11 and bought some supplies. Purchased my breakfast (Corn Flakes) for the next 5 days, stocks in water and a bottle of Thai whiskey, its well cheap. I came back and sat on my terrace listening to the crickets and the birds and chilled out. When I got into bed I smiled to myself a lot as I was relaxed and the bed smelt of fresh washing powder which is a smell hard to come by in Asia, I felt like I was in heaven haha! That night I slept so well, and I didn't wake up until around 8am the next day, happy days!

14th February - After my first great night of sleep I got up, had breakfast and got myself sorted for a day of nothingness. I went out at 10am and the sun was just getting hot. I walked the length of the entire beach twice making note of hotels/cottages along or on the beach that I would like to stay on. It turns out that all of them were over my budget apart from one, which I had already enquired about earlier that morning. This place is called King Busch Reggae Beach. When I enquired I didn't book as I wanted to see what else was available. After I had done my research I came back to my cottage and booked Island Hoppers Beach Club on agoda only to get an email confirmation confirming that I had booked for March instead of February. What a knob! I tried to cancel this booking but I was going to be charged $12 if so so I went directly to the hotel and tried to booked with them directly and for him to email agoda to accept confirmation of the date change but it turns out that he was full anyway so it should never had been on the website... Damn! Everything happens for a reason though right... I thought sod it I'll sort something out later and I went and got some food but ended up walking the entire length of the beach again where I stopped off at a different reggae restaurant set in the hillside. They gave me fried banana crisps which were amazing! I walked back, did a spot of sunbathing and came back to my cottage and had a shower. It was about 5.30pm by now. Headed back out down to King Busch and thought I'm not gonna get a place any better that this for £9 a night that offers bamboo cottages smack bang on the beach. Its going to be a little noisy at night and first thing in the morning as the road runs along side the beach and my cottage is next to the road but once I'm up and I open my door I can escape it to the beach and sea. I booked 5 nights there which will take me up to the 21st Feb when Emma and Katie come over from Swindon and we meet at Koh Phangan for the islands Half moon Party.

That night at my cottage, or in the grounds they had flame acts and loud music which was cool, or at least some of it until they started to play major trashy music from Europe and until the police came and shut it down... Apparently it was a religious day and no loud music is allowed to be played. I was glad to be fair as the music was starting to make my ears bleed. I went to bed about 10pm and slept until 3am when I was woken up by a cock roach touching my hand..... GROSSS! Needless to say I killed the bugger but it did freak me out for a while. I woke up at 8.30am to warmth from the sun, singing birds and crickets, it was amazing.

The purpose of this travelling was to try and understand what I want from my life. So far I have learnt and that I definitely need to be by the water and have a boat, regardless of its size and regardless of whether its a river or the sea. I need to be in a warm climate. I need to be away from a city/town but within 30 mins driving distance and that I need to get a European moped license as they are so much more practical that an a car for nipping around. These 4 are 100% of what needs to happen moving forward. These are what are making me happy every single time so that speaks volume to me.

Anyway, enough of the deep meaningful rubbish, I'm getting up now as today I am renting a moped to go and explore Koh Samui. Oh and check out the picture of "WILLLSON".... I love this photo!

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Photos

WILSON
I love the movie Castaway and when I saw this it made me smile!

Comments

[Jason and Vicky]

Hey
Looks like it's going well and you are enjoying yourself, Ashley was very jealous of the ladyboys in Bangkok!