Buses, Ferries and Automobiles

We left our hotel at 6:00 this morning to make our way to our next destination, Ban Krut. Getting there has turned out to be a fairly complicated process.

The first thing we did was book our rail tickets from Surat Thani train station to Ban Krut through a travel agent. Strangely, no one we spoke to on Samui seemed to have ever heard of Ban Krut. The travel agent actually tried to sell us a ticket to Hua Hin, a larger city about 140 kms north of Ban Krut and suggested we bus back down. Fortunately we knew the train stops in Ban Krut on the way to Hua Hin and, in the end, she got us our booking on the 10:40 train.

Samui is an island and so one must ferry to the mainland before going anywhere. The ferry leaves on the hour from Nathong pier, about 25 kilometers from our hotel. To ensure we got to the pier in plenty of time to buy our tickets for the 7:00 am ferry, we booked a 6:00 taxi through the hotel.

The ferry ride to Donsak pier takes ninety minutes which, if it arrives on schedule, will get us there at 8:30 and leave us two hours to make our train.

Of course, the ferry docked about ten minutes late, so we rushed into the station and learned there is no means of transport to the train station. The clerk suggested we bus into Surat Thani town and take a taxi to the train station. So we bought bus tickets to take us the 69 kms into town. According to Google maps, we should arrive by 10:15. The pressure is definitely on.

This is beginning to feel like an episode of the Amazing Race. I want to be screaming at the bus driver, "Fast, fast! Go fast, fast!"

Please don't make me eat monkey brains when I get to town.

Our coach arrived at the bus station at 10:00, but we still had to make our way to the train. Of course, we had no idea how far that might be and, in keeping with Murphy's law, my offline maps app I downloaded stopped working. The dispatcher at the bus station told us we have to hurry if we want to make our train and offered to provide us with a taxi for 400 baht, which we thought was outrageous (even though we didn't know where we were going). In the end, we negotiated a tuktuk ride for 300 baht, which got us to our train with 15 minutes to spare.

The train pulled out of Surat Thani at 10:42 with an estimated arrival in Ban Krut of 2:19. The coach was comfortable enough and very well air conditioned, except for the loo, whose window was wide open. Good for ventilation, but a little strange to have the wind blowing in your face as you go about your business.

Unlike our national airline that doesn't even serve peanuts on a cross-Canada flight, every passenger was given a hot meal of rice, spicy mackerel and stir fried chicken. Ok, not much there for us vegans, but the thought was nice.

Despite Thai Rail's reputation for unreliability, we arrived in Ban Krut at 2:21, only two minutes behind schedule. Shortly after we got off the train a motorcycle with a large side car pulled into the station's parking lot and brought us to our hotel for only 60 baht.

After checking in and unpacking we explored the surrounding a little and had dinner at a restaurant just in front of our hotel. Unfortunately, the view was much better than the food, but I'm certain we'll find some hidden treasures before we move on to Rayong.

All in all it was a pretty good slow travel day and we're both looking forward to exploring the town in more depth tomorrow.Leia mais