Ok, first things first...apologies for the terrible photo quality of this post. Most of the pictures were taken in the dark or while moving. iPads, as lovely as they are for travel, do not take the best pictures in those conditions.
After about a week in Bangkok, Colin and I decided to take a trip south. It was time for some ocean fun. There are three main options people use to travel long distances: plane, bus, or train. The plane options is the most expensive (yet still relatively cheap compared to other places) and the faster and most comfortable. The bus option is the slowest and the cheapest. It is also the most uncomfortable. We decided to go with the train.
Bangkok's central station.
Our goal was to get to Phuket, the large city that is halfway down the country's southern strip. In order to get there we would have to take the train, about a 13 hour trip, to a town called Surat Thani, then take a bus about 6 hours.
We have done 30+ hour trips on buses in South America. So we weren't too worried about the length of the journey. We were mostly just excited about a new mode of transportation to try here.
We boarded the train and found our second class seats. We chatted with a gentleman from Connecticut for a while as we waited for one of the train employees to come by and transform seats and overhead areas into beds.
We purchased our tickets rather late, so only the top bunks were available. No problem for my 5'2'' frame. Colin was a bit more cramped for space.
I highly recommend this way of travel...especially of you are on a tight budget. It is almost as cheap as the bus, and as it is an overnight trip, you save the cost of a hostel. You travel during the night and are, hopefully, rested to explore the next morning when you arrive at the destination.
Some sights from the train and following bus ride.
Few things bring more relief and happiness than seeing this after a long day and a half of travel. :)
Once we arrived in Phuket we needed to get to the accomodation we had arranged - more on that later. The problem was that the bus station we arrived at was pretty far from the town center. This meant that our initial hour in Phuket was spent trying to find the best way into town. Colin and I try to avoid taking taxis whenever possible. We prefer taking the public buses. This gives us a more authentic experience and helps save money...those taxi fares really add up!
As we were trying to figure out what public bus to take, a car pulled up to the side of the road we were standing by. The driver probably saw our confused faces and took pity on us. She asked us where we were trying to get to and the before we knew it, she had rearranged her family to make space, threw our bags in the back, and pulled back into traffic with two stinky, very grateful backpackers on board.
Ann, we found out to our delight, was her name. She has two young sons. Her parents were visiting her at the time and we were able to smile our hellos and thanks. Ann had taught herself english from a book. She was generous, warm and kind.
She was not sure of the location of the place we were staying, so she drove us to her home first to drop off her sons. We were invited inside, given a cold glass of water, and then entertained by her sons who had suddenly lost their shyness now that we were on their turf. :) We met her partner, a friendly man from Norway, and the two of them figured out the directions and drove us to our accomodation. We were given a card with phone numbers and emails and had to promise to call her if we had any problems at all.
We often hear horror stories from fellow travelers about scams and frustrating interactions. Hey, we have experienced quite a few ourselves. But it is moments like this that remind us that there is love and kindness in so many people. We feel so blessed to have made a friend like Ann.
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