We began our journey by taking a taxi from our house to Nontamburi Pier. This proved to be quick and painless. We were soon on a water taxi going downtown. The water taxi is an inexpensive way of travel that many locals use. You cut down on traffic time and there is always a breeze, even on the hottest of days. We quickly hopped off at the Phra Atit Pier while the boat stopped momentarily.
Water Taxi
After a 10 minute walk we made it to Khao San road--the backpacker's mecca. It's a street filled with shopping stalls, hostels, restaurants and Westerners. We went to the specific "travel agent" where Brittany got her train ticket...a scam-free place. The only train tickets left for that night's train were for 1 top bed and 1 bottom bed. Bottom beds are supposed to be better, and a little more expensive, but what can you do? We got the joint train-bus-boat ticket and had a refreshing beverage before making our way to the train station.
We took another taxi from Khao San to Hua Lampong--Bangkok's biggest train station. We were a few hours early so we sat our gear down and sat on the floor, like everyone else. Station guards were constantly walking around the big open-aired room making sure there was an aisle down the center of the mass of people and that no one was laying down or sleeping. They were not afraid to use their whistles.
Train Station
Fifteen minutes before our train was scheduled to leave we grabbed our stuff and made our way to Car 9. The inside of the train car was seafoam green. It looked like it had seen better decades. Leah and I found our seats and realized that when the ticket seller informed us our seats would be together she lied. After assuring a Thai man her ticket was also a bottom bunk she switched spots and sat across from me.
There are huge open windows next to the seats and we were practically an arm's length away from the villages that we passed. Every 25 minutes or so the train stopped to let more passengers on. At each stop local vendors walked down the aisles trying to sell food and drinks before the train took off for the next stop. An oscillating fan propped on the ceiling created the only cool-air flow. It's job was to fight against the heat from the hot train and hotter outside air seeping through the huge open window.
Some pictures of the inside/outside of our train.
Leah at her original seat; the narrow aisle in the middle of the train; big window and our neighbors; one of the stops, so close to the tracks
At 7 PM Leah and I started falling asleep in our train seats. One of the men working in our car came up to us and said, "sleep?" We said yes and, like a magician, he turned our seats into a set of bunk beds. 'Little Legs' over here got the top bunk. As soon as I crawled up to it I had my doubts that I would remain safely there for the rest of the night. Despite the feeling of near-derailment many times throughout the night, my bags and I were safe! They were not optimal sleeping conditions, but I managed to crank out a few 20 minute naps during the night.
Top Bunk! Me and my little legs with all my gear--very comfortable
Bottom Bunk and
Oscillating ceiling fan, while everyone else had the blue curtain closed
Oscillating ceiling fan, while everyone else had the blue curtain closed
At 4:30 AM, eleven train ride hours later, we arrived in Surat Thani. We knew that when we got off the train we needed to find a bus. So, we followed the rest of the backpacking Westerners and waited for 30 minutes for our bus. Eventually we all got on and drove somewhere 20 minutes away that was right on the water. We got pink stickers--signaling our final destination as Ko Phangan. It was about 5:30 AM at this point and we knew our ferry wasn't leaving until 8, so we fell asleep on our bags.
The "Holding Pen" Pier
At 7:30 a whistle blew and we were ushered with the other pink stickers into a double decker bus. Apparently we weren't at the pier yet, just a holding station of sorts. Leah and I boarded the bus, exhausted. I assumed this would be a 15 minute ride, so at minute 45 I got nervous. Leah was convinced we were all being shipped off to forced labor camps while I thought we for sure got on the wrong bus and were headed to either Cambodia or a far southern Thailand vacation destination. The bus ride lasted 1.5 HOURS! Plenty of Lex-freak-out-time.
When we got to the pier it was 9 AM, well past when we were told the ferry would leave. We got on the huge boat and snagged ourselves some seats in a non-crowded area. We waited another 20-30 minutes for more bus loads of people and then set off. The breeze felt great and I could barely feel the sun giving my face and shoulders the severe burns I would later find. After 1.5 hours we docked at Ko Samui briefly. Then another 45 minutes until we got to our island, Ko Phangan! At this point we were told by Brit to find an internet cafe and check email to see where she ended up and how to get there. The journey was almost complete--or so we thought.
The Ferry at the Actual Pier
The island of Ko Phangan is relatively remote. There are beaches with accommodations around the perimeter of the island, while inland is just mountains and jungles. Our email told us that in order to get where Brit was we had to take a sathorng (pick up truck with benches in the bed of the truck) to the busiest beach, Had Rin, and then take a boat from there to our beach, Had Thien. We were getting ready to throw the towel in, but we had no choice.
We found a sathorng going to Had Rin with two other Western girls. They told the driver in loud English to follow their two guy friends on a motorbike. After 4 minutes the driver stopped following the motorbike and the girls freaked out. They stopped the driver and yelled at him in English he didn't understand. He followed them back to the pier. More confusion ensued. Leah told them that he probably knew where he was going better than the guys on the motorbike. They didn't get it. After a few more misunderstandings it turned out that they were not really going to Had Rin, just somewhere "on the way." Ugh. He followed the guys "their way" and then we finally made our way to Had Rin.
When we got there the boat drivers said we needed to wait for more people. We waited 30 minutes and no one came. We were hot, tired and frustrated!
A man then approached us saying that he could drive us there but we would also need to wait for more people, so it was less expensive for us, and worth his time. At this point we were willing to pay a whole 9 dollars each instead of wait for others so we could be in an air conditioned truck instead of a sunny boat. So, we took him up on his offer.
We got into the back seat of his pickup truck and took off. Along the way we picked up an older Thai woman that our driver seemed to know. Then we got to the interior of the island. Wow. Now I know why people take boats. The roads are not even remotely paved and go almost completely vertical at some points. This was also clearly the first time our driver had ever driven a stick shift (like I should talk...). We were stalled several times mid-mountain, causing us to roll a little bit backwards down the giant hill. I was almost sure we wouldn't make it. The car was rocking back and forth along the washed out roads, what would keep it from just rolling off the side of the mountain? After a solid 20 minutes, rarely going over 5 MPH, the driver stopped and got out. The woman followed. Leah and I stayed in the truck. They came back and explained, with a language barrier struggle, that they couldn't drive on the road anymore because it was too washed out. Now we had to walk 5 more minutes and follow the woman to our bungalows.
view from our truck, top of the mountain; note the flying position of the item hanging from the rear view mirror as we charge the road; where the driver dropped us off, at the top of the mountain
We reluctantly got out into the midday heat. Our Thai woman popped up her sun umbrella, took off her shoes and jogged down the steep "road." The roads are made of loose dirt/sand and are full of holes. That, mixed with the vertical factor, made them very difficult for Leah and I to go down, especially with all of our gear too. And this barefoot woman was
lightly jogging down. Sometimes it looked like she was just floating in the air with her umbrella, kind of like Mary Poppins. We eventually followed suit, took off our shoes, and headed down the mountain. It was not a 5 minute walk. After almost 10 minutes she led us to a narrow path to the jungle, pointed and said "Beam Bungalows"--the name of the place we were staying. Hell no! We were not about to venture into the jungle by ourselves, so she reluctantly joined us. That whole time I couldn't help but have fits of nervous laughter...and then we reached the barbed wire.
Leah following a barefoot Mary Poppins down the mountain; our next obstacle
Yes, a barbed wire fence blocked us off from the rest of our trail. That didn't stop Mary Poppins. She held down the barbed wire and had us climb over it. It was ridiculous. She pointed again to where we were supposed to go and started headed in a different direction. We saw more barbed wire ahead and dragged her along with us. The woman spoke no more than 20 words in English so Leah and I could freely talk out the whole situation together. Leah kept yelling out things like "and now we are entering the lion's den" and my nervous laughter didn't stop.
We continued for 5 more minutes down the mountain through the jungle until we were walking through the backyard of various huts. Mrs. Poppins was chatting back and forth, in Thai, with people in a few of the huts and then stopped. We made it to the bungalows!
We got a key from the Thai bungalow manager, dropped off our things and went to find Brittany at the beach. We guessed the wrong path to the beach, but eventually made our way through a few trees. We saw Brit, waiting for us, and our journey was finished!
Restaurant on the Beach
After it took us more than 24 hours to get there, we were in paradise. Blue clear waters, white sand beaches, banana shakes!
Needless to say, we bought plane tickets for the return to Bangkok.
Also, for those wondering:
TAXI;
WATER TAXI;
WALK;
TAXI;
TRAIN;
BUS;
SIT/WAIT;
BUS;
BOAT;
SATHORNG;
SIT/WAIT;
TRUCK;
MARY POPPINS HIKE;
WE'RE THERE!
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