The Further Adventures...: Travel Day

Sunday, December 14, was my day to experience Thailand budget travel and compare it to Moroccan budget travel. Note that I say my day, as opposed to my first day, or one of many days – but I get ahead of myself. Come along and experience it with me from the comfort of your computer chair.

After another breakfast of fried pineapple and banana and some final moments on my Jungle Hut balcony, a van picked me up at 9 am for the five-hour trip to Ko Samui, an island in the Gulf of Thailand. That is, when I booked it, the excursions banner said leave 9 am, arrive Ko Samui 1 pm. I arrived in Surat Thani – the town of transfers – and waited. I read parts of my travel books. I had some yummy fried rice. I read an entire magazine. I did crossword puzzles. People dribbled in in other vans, from various locations. So Surat Thani is not only a transfer point but a consolidation point. We then were loaded into a songatheuw – the moral equivalent of a grand taxi. This is a pickup truck with long benches down both sides of the back, fitting as many people as possible (and their luggage – or should I say backpacks?).

We were driven to the center of town, where unloaded, waited, reloaded, and were driven somewhere else. I had a Magnum bar and waited, talking with some folks, including a nice (and cute) Canadian man who, alas, was headed to a different island. We then got onto a bus that was already about half-full and with our group was full. The bus ride took about an hour – I napped – and we got to the ferry at about 3 pm for the 3:30 ferry. The ferry ride was nice – I sat outside and looked at other boats and islands in the gulf (alas – the Canadian man stayed inside to watch “Don’t Mess with the Zohan”). I finally got to Ko Samui in time to see a lovely sunset – could have waited for some public transportation but found a taxi instead, so I could get to my destination before it got too dark. So – my five-hour trip took from 9 am until 6 pm. It wasn’t bad, really – it was an adventure – but one of the first things I did was get on the internet and book a plane to get from Ko Samui to my next stop – I wasn’t in a rush per se, but I didn’t want to spend another day getting from here to there. This was my beach time!