Bangkok to Ko Tao (16 hours)

We got off the bus from Siem Reap at 5:30 in Bangkok and bought a bus/ferry ticket for Ko Tao that left at 6:00PM. Basically we'd been travelling from 8:00AM one day and we wouldn't be done until 10:00AM the next day. It's going to be the longest stretch of transport yet, but mostely AC buses, so it wouldn't be that bad.

I still don't trust my pack in the storage compartment on the outside of the bus, so I have it on the floor in the 1-foot space in front of my seat. It's not comfortable, but at least it's safe. I couldn't recline my seat, though, and I think the girl in front of me couldn't either. I guess I'll stow my bag from now on because I felt kinda bad for her.


They played a movie with Antonio Banderas and Morgan Freeman for the first two hours. I don't know what it was, but it was pretty good. Even as a bad guy, Morgan Freeman seems like God. .... it was called Thick as Thieves.

After the movie, I knocked out until about 2AM when the bus dropped us off at the pier. This place was much better than waiting for the boat to Tioman in Malaysia. They had a small hangar-like area with tatami mats and leather pillows for us to sleep in. Maybe it was to accomodate the foreigners because there were about 30 of us. I knocked out, but woke up to a stinging pain on my toes because I had gotten bit by something. I've been bitten by a whole lot of bugs on this trip, but these guys really hurt. Anyway, we got up around 6AM and waited another hour for the boat to take off.

I still worry about eating new foods in a new country so I haven't eaten since Cambodia (almost 24 hours), even though they are neighboring countries. I bought a big bag of Chips Ahoy on the boat and I'm hoping that it will last me until after my dive.

The boat was an easy, 3-hour, smooth ride. When we got to Ko Tao, it was beautiful with its crystal clear blue oceans that you can see clearly to the bottom. We got the free taxi service to the dive shop and signed up for 2 fun dives. Then after looking for transport bak to Bangkok, we realized that we had to catch an 11:00PM boat - five hours after we finished our dive. It's going to be a long, long, LONG day.