Journey to Surat Thani

Our journey from the Monkey Mansion Jungalows to our boat to Koh Samui. This was pretty much a hot, crowded, gross journey. I know, "It's Asia - suck it up." However, i've mostly found the public transportation (other than the speed boats) to be quite nice.

The difference between regular, cramped, hot public transportation and princess-style transportation is peanuts. E.g. The 3-4hr bus between Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai is $10.50 for a (small) step above a school bus or $12.50 for assigned comfy seats, AC, seat pockets with bottled water and a mystery snack. Affordable to a Canadian either way.

Yeah, it's warm and I'm on holiday and should be grateful. I am. But I'm also allowing myself to feel pissy once in awhile.

Or first stop was Khoa Sok has bars with signs such as "Equality Bar", "Chillout Bar" and "Jumamgi".

We started at 8:30am with a small pick-up truck from the Jungalows to Khoa Sok, the nearby town where we would catch our bus. The truck bed was full of luggage and 6 people. I asked the driver if I could sit up front. I'm definitely playing the "age before beauty" card on this trip! 15min logged.

An aside... speaking of the age before beauty thing... I am surprised by all the really big steps here. Stairs and getting in and out of any kind of vehicle requires giant steps, much bigger than our building code in Canada allows. Apparently I need to work out a lot more because that has been a struggle for me. Short legs don't help. Younger people are very gracious and often offer me a hand. Naila and Justin always offer me the easiest place to sit. This trip is the first time I have learned to simply accept that I am usually older than and never as strong as pretty much everyone in the groups I end up in. This was humbling and difficult at first but now I accept that that's just the way it is this time. It's an eye opener though. Hours of waking & biking in the prairies does not make strong legs. (Already planning some better exercise strategies for my return.)

Our bus was actually a van - not unusual. But this one was a crowded hot van. We went from Khoa Sok to Talat in the Koh Samui district. 2hr. It was stuffed so full the AC couldn't keep up.

In Talut they put us in a stuffy cramped room to kill an hour before the next leg. Of course i escaped and went exploring.

Next we were put into a big hot bus from Talat to the piers. 1hr. Gross. Totally packed, no AC and it's 31C outside. People coughing and men taking up more than their share of space (she says as she types on her phone which is against the head of the dude in front who insists on reclining his seat all the way back. He was pretty much sleeping in my lap. I was sure to trample him just a little on my way out of the bus. Petty but rather satisfying 👹).

Five hrs after leaving Monkey Mansion, we got to the Donsak Pier in Surat Thani, where we have to get on a boat for 90min. I wonder how stuffed this one will be?Baca lagi