day 171, Bangkok then the bloody bus

Some drunk wanker at quarter to four in the morning decided to whack the whole of the dorm’s light on and made a bit of a noise which was the only blemish on my otherwise fantastic sleep. Had arranged with matt to meet whenever we did, so I got up about half 10, wrote my blog and did a bit of computering researching the place we are going next (phuket). Checked out of the hostel and stashed our bags and headed off for some breakfast at Mr Yim’s. Yesterday while dozing off I had the grand idea of continuing the theme and not eating meat for a while, though in the morning it completely escaped me and I got a chicken baguette which was marvellous, only after I finished it did I realise I went less then an hour while I was conscious before eating meat. It was another tremendous day, the heat was stiffling and we walked to the Dusit palace grounds as our grand palace ticket from yesterday entitled us free entry into the ‘exhibition of the masterpieces’. It was a grand building and inside was, well, masterpieces, all big and gold, from thrones to model boats or exquisite silk embroidery, they gave us an audio guide and it was really interesting, and the building itself was beyond belief. I also had to purchase my first sarrong to get into the place as no shorts allowed and I’m afraid I bloody love it, far too comfy. On the way back we picked up an iced coffee which was fantastic, back to the hostel and out again for a bit of dinner. Ended up back at Ethos, the organic vegetarian place from the other night which was amazing, had a banana coconut shake and spaghetti mixed with pesto and nuts, glorious. Back to the hostel for a cheeky shower ready to catch our bus. At five to six a bloke comes into the hostel shouting “phuket” which is us, we were expecting to get in a taxi as we were told by Nicky to go to the southern bus terminal, though what awaits us is a Tuk Tuk which drives us a bit down the road and drops us off along with some other backpackers. No-one is really sure what is going on and after 10 mins we are told to walk up the road where a series of buses are waiting. We believed we bought 1st class bus ticket (which are more spacious and faster, plus only 5quid more dear) though the bus we boarded was a shit heap, the arm rest had been ripped off, the table wasn’t connected to the leg so when it was leant on it came off plus there was a monster of a man with his little Thai bride who got on after us and within 3 and half minutes of sitting down, not even moving yet he starts snoring like a steam train. There were others in the same situation as us including a Swedish couple of sisters who have been living in Thailand and caught the first class bus down so we weren’t being proper thick. The bus chugged off then stopped again for more people, chugged off then stopped again, then onward and outward. It wasn’t the smoothest ride and I didn’t get any sleep, we stopped off at 12 for a break, then at 2 some people got off so there was a spare couple of seats so I grabbed it and fell into a sweaty hot/cold sleep (as the air con was broke) before being woken at half 6 by the bus driver shouting at everyone to get off the bus. I expected to be in Phuket as we were told the bus takes 12 hours, alas we weren’t. We were at this place called suratthani, got told to sit down and wait, after about 20mins a pick up truck came which we were shepherded into, me, matt and 3 others, to a travel agency where we sat down for two hours. While there we were coerced into spending another 200baht to get from Phuket town to Karon, the beach where we wanted to go, it was around 200-500baht for a taxi considering and he was very adamant it was best for us, so after a bit of negotiating again we had a deal. Around an hour after they said the bus would arrive the 5 of us plus another 4 piled into this pickup truck with all our luggage, to quote Richard key’s we were practically hanging out the back of it, which drove us down the road and into a bus. This then took another 5 hours to reach Phuket, after numerous stops all the while we were cursing fucking Nicky and rueing the floods as to why we couldn’t have got a government bus ticket from the bus terminal which we had wanted. We arrived in Phuket city to transfer to a minibus, got our bags from the coach and I saw that my clips were undone, the zips weren’t how I always leave them and the 2 padlocks I have which is on the double zipper combinations were different to 000 (which I always a little OCD leave them so I can open it in the dark), so some bastard had tried getting into my bag and failed, the cunt. In the minibus for another 16kms, dropped everyone else at Patong ( a party hotspot and an absolute shit-hole, similar to Newquay but a lot bigger) and after emphasising to the bus driver we wanted to go to Karon he finally set off, before having a break for 20minutes parked in an alleyway… 7 minutes drive down the road we arrive in Karon, which is awesome, a lot quieter and generally more attractive, didn’t have anything booked so had a bit of a walk around, the first two were full though the 3rd wasn’t, checked out the room, a twin private room with ensuite and AC near the beach which is clean for 5quid each, we were so tired from a 21hour journey and happy with the price didn’t even bother with a bit of bargaining and bit her hand off, showered, teeth cleaned, fresh clothes and out for fish and chips and a beer, 16:45, first meal of the day and it was fucking grand. Walked down to the beach, beautiful golden fine sand, clear water, the sun setting, rushed back to the hotel, grabbed our cossies and had a dip till it got dark. Emerged refreshed and considerably more happy, and am back in love with Thailand again after not being in love with it or it’s people for 21 hours, looking forward to bed after a walk around to see if can get any better accommodation, more food and a few beers as it’s cooler then Bangkok feel like having a bit of a drink.