Thailand Day 2 - 8


It's 3:23 am here, I've had a few wobbly pops and after a little searching I've found a 24hr internet cafe to finally do a blog post. Somehow I have to write a blog that will encompass the last 7 days and yet still be short enough not to bore anyone nor too long as to scare anyone away from trying to read it. How do you do that? Also, unfortunately, the computers are very slow and the card reader won't work so I can't upload any photos. My writing style is my own though I guess so I figure I'll just write it how it comes out and if people want to read they will. From day 2 in Bangkok till now is has been so hectic and yet so fantastic I want to make sure I don't miss anything. What to include and what to leave out? My brother has had his iPhone 4 with him the whole time, so with WiFi he can just upload whenever he wants which is fantastic for him but frustrating for me. So before I begin a reminder to check out Daves blog as well, ddthailand.wordpress.com.


With the way I left off the last blog it should be no surprise that I was feeling somewhat haggard when I woke up a little late in the day. I really didn't want to acknowledge Dave when he finally roused me and demanded that I get up but I figured I should just start getting used to it. I reluctantly got dressed and in a slight fog we headed off in the direction of Kao San Rd. The only real duty we had that day was to pick up our tickets for the journey south to Koh Samui. Somewhere in the haze of our previous days adventure we had the clarity of mind to arranged for our tickets on the night train down to Surat Thani. When we got to the Sawadee Guest House to pick up our tickets though we were informed that the train was sold out for the next two days and if we wanted to head south we would have to pay for the last available first class tickets on the train leaving that evening. I was a little wary we were being conned but with the wedding in only a few day we couldn't afford to take the risk. We bought the tickets at almost 2000 baht ($75) each and after Dave found a pair of sandals to buy we headed back to our room to pack our things. We took a Tuk Tuk over to the Lamphong train station and with a little time to spare we had a nice big lunch of KFC. Luckily for us though we headed for our train platform a little early and when we couldn't find our train car decided to ask one of the platform managers for help. Apparently the last guy to offer help had given us the wrong platform number and by a matter of mere minutes before our train left we were in our private little state room. The train ride was mostly at night so obviously there wasn't a whole hell of a lot to see out there. We ate, played games and then around 9pm folded down the beds to relax and read and try to get some sleep. We got a little but only a couple of hours really. The train was supposed to get to Surat Thani by 4:30am but by 5:30am we were still on the move and getting worried. The train steward had told us that he would come knock on our door with about 20 minutes left before our stop but when I went to check on the guy he was still asleep in his little quarters. I wasn't the only one wondering what was happening though because there were also a couple Thai people looking out the doors of there cabins checking to see what was going on. Finally one of them went to wake the steward and ask him when we would be arriving. It was then that we found out we would be two hours late and that he would still come and inform us before the train arrived. When we finally did arrive at around 7am we were almost immediately transferred onto one of the most horrid buses I've ever been on. The back door stair well was permanently closed off and had been turned into a repository for old pop cans and whatever else people felt like tossing down there. There was only Dave and I and four Japanese girls on the bus. One had on a shirt that said "State of Frolida" which we thought was funny. As the bus driver pulled away he turned on the air conditioner and it spat out some dusty, foggy weird shit which we all tried to shy away from but really, where could we go. So we headed off on a stinky, loud somewhat dangerous looking bus towards the pier and the ferry to Koh Samui.

There is one thing that always seems to happen to me here and you would think that by now I would learn. Whenever I go on my first ferry trip from the mainland to Koh Samui I always head for the upper deck to find a nice place to lie down and relax. Well with the boat cruising along and the wind blowing over the water feeling wonderful against the heat of the day I always block out the fact that the sun is just beating down on us. So naturally I burnt to a crisp. At least I got it out of the way early on I guess. The ferry ride is a little over an hour and the taxi van into Chaweng is another 30 - 40 minutes. We decided that we would just get dropped off near Chaweng, head for the beach and then check into whatever Bungalows it looks like we can afford. Luckily for us we didn't have to look long. After walking for about half a mile down the beautiful white sand beach with our big ol' backpacks we found the Marine Bungalows. 500 Baht ($9 each) a night for a shared room by the beach and just off the main tourist section of Chaweng. We were there and we were loving it... We dropped our gear in the room, rented mopeds from the front desk for 200baht each ($6:50) and spent the rest of the day just looking around Chaweng and trying to track down the FC Villa.

I'll leave off there for now cause it's getting late and quite frankly my buzz has worn off and I need to sleep. Tomorrow I'll try to find a better computer where I can update some more and although two of our cameras have broken so far we have some great pictures I would like upload and share. Off to bed for me so goodnight from Samui.