Considering how my first day consisted only of a bus ride, this entry will be more of my first day in Bangkok.
So first off, I noticed so many more tourists in Bangkok than any other place I'd been to. It was crazy, but you can definitely see how oftheir tourist population were to decrease, it would affect the businesses all over this area, and it has. Everywhere I looked for a room, I was getting discounts of a dollar here or a few dollars there.
The bargaining is a little different out here too. They're mire rigid here. Josie and I were looking around around for patches of flags of the dofferet countries we've been to and most places were selling them for $1 a piece. We got one place to go down to 50 cents, but then decided that it's still too much. We went down to another place and asked for 40 cents and told them that we got offerred 50 at another and they got pissed! "WHY YOU NO BUY!?! WHY YOU NO BUY?!?" I wasn't sure if try meant at their store or the one before, but they were jerks.
Josie went to get a dress and started bargaining. She was saying $6.50 and the lady was saying $6.80, but they lady was being stubborn, so I said "let's go," and that's when they lady agreed to $6.50. Josie gave her $6.80, but the lady wouldn't give her change change back for a while and when we were like, "WTF?" the lady got pissed and gave us our change.
So far, the only nice people I've come across are the two sisters who we bought the boat tickets from the first day.
The street stalls weren't great. The pad thai didn't have a lot of flavor, the spring rolls were average. Although the Thai iced tea at the 7-eleven was pretty good.
The first guesthouse I stayed at had cockroaches in them, and it was pretty damn hot with no air circulation. It had to have been 10 degrees between the inside of my room and the hallway.
So far, the first day in Bangkok wasn't as good as I thought it would be. Better than my first day in Malaysia or Indonesia though. We'll see how the next 3 days go.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Sleeping with Cockroaches
I'm not too picky when it comes to where I'm going to sleep. In the past month, I've slept in the Malaysia airport, a night bus in every country, a bench at a pier in Malaysia, a hangar at the pier in Thailand, the upper deck of an overnight sleeper boat through a crazy thunder storm, a hotel near the Indonesia Surabaya airport with constant planes flying overhead every half-hour, but I wasn't going to put up with tonight.
I didn't mind AC rooms when I shared with Josie because we split the cost, but on my own, I thought I could do fan only rooms to save a few bucks. I don't really mind the heat too much ou there. I figured it's Southeast Asia and it's going to be hot, so just deal with it. But now I know that a hot room comes with bugs. I'm not going to freak out over one tiny cockroach, but I found enough to really piss me off.
I checked into the Orchid House behind Khao San Road and after I showered, repacked, and got comfortable a bit, I started writing my blog and that's when I started seeing little cockroaches on the bed. I figured if it was just one or two, I'd kill them and continue. A little while later, I started seeing baby ones and that's when I didn't want to take it anymore. I had images of going back to Japan with baby cockroaches in my hair and it started to really freak me out so I changed rooms.
I got the room right across the hall. Although it was the same kind of room, this new one was a corner room so I had windows on two walls to let the air circulate better, and this room's ceiling fan wasn't ripped out so I get a nice breeze from all directions. I realized that the guy tried to rip me off when I picked the other room a few hours earlier. I think it's starting to rain, so that should cool the night down a bit.
So far, no bugs in this room ... and tomorrow, after I get back from my trip to the morning market, I'm goin gto find an AC room at a different place. I also had to throw away the silk blanket that Naomi gave me because I used that to cover the cockroach infested bed in the first room. I hope it wasn't expensive.
... yep, I found a cockroach in this room too ... fuck! There's also a bunch of dead ones around the room too. I would never stay here again nor would I recommend it to anyone I know.
I didn't mind AC rooms when I shared with Josie because we split the cost, but on my own, I thought I could do fan only rooms to save a few bucks. I don't really mind the heat too much ou there. I figured it's Southeast Asia and it's going to be hot, so just deal with it. But now I know that a hot room comes with bugs. I'm not going to freak out over one tiny cockroach, but I found enough to really piss me off.
I checked into the Orchid House behind Khao San Road and after I showered, repacked, and got comfortable a bit, I started writing my blog and that's when I started seeing little cockroaches on the bed. I figured if it was just one or two, I'd kill them and continue. A little while later, I started seeing baby ones and that's when I didn't want to take it anymore. I had images of going back to Japan with baby cockroaches in my hair and it started to really freak me out so I changed rooms.
I got the room right across the hall. Although it was the same kind of room, this new one was a corner room so I had windows on two walls to let the air circulate better, and this room's ceiling fan wasn't ripped out so I get a nice breeze from all directions. I realized that the guy tried to rip me off when I picked the other room a few hours earlier. I think it's starting to rain, so that should cool the night down a bit.
So far, no bugs in this room ... and tomorrow, after I get back from my trip to the morning market, I'm goin gto find an AC room at a different place. I also had to throw away the silk blanket that Naomi gave me because I used that to cover the cockroach infested bed in the first room. I hope it wasn't expensive.
... yep, I found a cockroach in this room too ... fuck! There's also a bunch of dead ones around the room too. I would never stay here again nor would I recommend it to anyone I know.
Ko Tao to Bangkok (17.5 hours)
Because of all the riots in Bangkok, the government has issued a city-wide curfew. Apparently, no one's allowed out during those times, but they're a little more lenient toward the foreigners (cuz we probably won't follow it anyway). The riots in Bangkok is making diving in Ko Tao a lot busier though, because everyone's trying to get out of Bangkok.
The curfew caused huge problems for us when we tried to find transport back to Bangkok. Initially, we had planned to take a morning boat out of Ko Tao and get to Bangkok around 8:30PM, giving Josie just enough time to get to the airport. Actually, the last airport shuttle was 7:00, so maybe she wouldn't have made it anyway.
Either way, becasue fo the riots, all the morning boats were cancelled, so had to take an overnight sleeper boat, 12 hours after getting to the island! We finished our dive, filled in our divelog, ate dinner, then took a taxi and got to the pier at 9PM. We boarded the boat and went upstairs to the upper deck and to our surprise, there were mats laid out for all the passengers. Because it looked so comfortable, my trust went down, so I used my pack as a pillow (but my neck hated that in the middle of the night).
We met two brothers from Finland. I forgot their names, but it was something like Orle and Larlen, or Orale and Vato, or Orville and Wright. I don't even know how to make fun of a Finnish name. Larlen was doing a six-month study aborad in Malaysia and his brother came to pick him up. The funniest thing was the 10 shades of difference in their tans. Larlen said Finalnd was -15 degrees centigrade (5F) when he left and Malaysia was 35 (95F) when he got there a day later.
We left the pier around 10 in the middle of a huge thunder storm. The boat was rocking like crazy and I had images of the Titanic going down ... only in tropical warm waters, and a boat about a tenth its size. It took about 6 hours to get to Chumpon, but since we hadn't slept very well the past two nights, I slept like a baby the whole way.
The bathroom at the pier was probably the worst one I used since I left Japan (although the porto-potty in Taiwan with the step-by-step instructions with pictures of someone's shit was pretty bad). This squatter came equipped with a bee hive and a colony of mosquitos.
Next, we got in a minivan and they took us to a restaurant to wait for the actual bus that was going to take us back to Bangkok. Thailand is very smart with their waiting areas and bus companies. I mean, I'd prefer waiting at a restaurant over a bus station with nothing to do, but I want it to be my choice, not the bus company's.
The bus came to the restaurant right on schedule, at 7:00AM. Very very reluctantly I decided to put my bag in the luggage storage on the outside, kinda also becasue the driver was yelling at me to. All I have to do is get to Bangkok and I won't have to take anymore long-haul buses, just the 45-minute one to the airport.
The bus started off going really slow and I read stories on the internet that this is usually the point where some guy is in the luggage compartment going through all our stuff. I kept nervously looking outside, but I think the driver was just trying to fill up the bus before heading off. It's crazy, some people stood up the entire 8 hours back to Bangkok. It's hard to give up your seat on a bus that long ... no matter who's standing.
We got in around 3:30PM and my bag was slightly unlatched, but that's happened twice already. I don't know if it just happens by accident, or if someone's trying to get in it. I have locks, zipties, and bungee chords all over my pack, and I tie all the strings together so to actually open it up, you'd have to do a lot of work ... or just simply cut it open.
The curfew caused huge problems for us when we tried to find transport back to Bangkok. Initially, we had planned to take a morning boat out of Ko Tao and get to Bangkok around 8:30PM, giving Josie just enough time to get to the airport. Actually, the last airport shuttle was 7:00, so maybe she wouldn't have made it anyway.
Either way, becasue fo the riots, all the morning boats were cancelled, so had to take an overnight sleeper boat, 12 hours after getting to the island! We finished our dive, filled in our divelog, ate dinner, then took a taxi and got to the pier at 9PM. We boarded the boat and went upstairs to the upper deck and to our surprise, there were mats laid out for all the passengers. Because it looked so comfortable, my trust went down, so I used my pack as a pillow (but my neck hated that in the middle of the night).
We met two brothers from Finland. I forgot their names, but it was something like Orle and Larlen, or Orale and Vato, or Orville and Wright. I don't even know how to make fun of a Finnish name. Larlen was doing a six-month study aborad in Malaysia and his brother came to pick him up. The funniest thing was the 10 shades of difference in their tans. Larlen said Finalnd was -15 degrees centigrade (5F) when he left and Malaysia was 35 (95F) when he got there a day later.
We left the pier around 10 in the middle of a huge thunder storm. The boat was rocking like crazy and I had images of the Titanic going down ... only in tropical warm waters, and a boat about a tenth its size. It took about 6 hours to get to Chumpon, but since we hadn't slept very well the past two nights, I slept like a baby the whole way.
The bathroom at the pier was probably the worst one I used since I left Japan (although the porto-potty in Taiwan with the step-by-step instructions with pictures of someone's shit was pretty bad). This squatter came equipped with a bee hive and a colony of mosquitos.
Next, we got in a minivan and they took us to a restaurant to wait for the actual bus that was going to take us back to Bangkok. Thailand is very smart with their waiting areas and bus companies. I mean, I'd prefer waiting at a restaurant over a bus station with nothing to do, but I want it to be my choice, not the bus company's.
The bus came to the restaurant right on schedule, at 7:00AM. Very very reluctantly I decided to put my bag in the luggage storage on the outside, kinda also becasue the driver was yelling at me to. All I have to do is get to Bangkok and I won't have to take anymore long-haul buses, just the 45-minute one to the airport.
The bus started off going really slow and I read stories on the internet that this is usually the point where some guy is in the luggage compartment going through all our stuff. I kept nervously looking outside, but I think the driver was just trying to fill up the bus before heading off. It's crazy, some people stood up the entire 8 hours back to Bangkok. It's hard to give up your seat on a bus that long ... no matter who's standing.
We got in around 3:30PM and my bag was slightly unlatched, but that's happened twice already. I don't know if it just happens by accident, or if someone's trying to get in it. I have locks, zipties, and bungee chords all over my pack, and I tie all the strings together so to actually open it up, you'd have to do a lot of work ... or just simply cut it open.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Ko Tao Diving
We got to Ko Tao around 10AM this morning and got the free taxi service to Big Blue Divers dive shop. We signed up for 2 fun dives, reserved our ferry/bus back to Bangkok, cooled off for a bit, then got on the boat for our dive at 1:00PM.
The diving on Ko Tao is very different than on Salang Beach in Malaysia. Ko Tao is konwn to be one of the cheapest places to dive in teh world and at $25 a dive and free dorms, it sure seemed like it. Many people we met back in Malaysia got certified at Ko Tao, or did fun dives there. The number of people hanging out at the dive shop, which also had a restaurant, was about the same number of people as the whole population of Salang. There were also a bunch of Japanese people on Ko Tao as well. I met two people from Saitama working on their dive master certification - Kanako and Katsuki.
The first site was a place called Laem Thiene. It took about 45 minutes to get there and we got a quick briefing along the way from our dive master, Tom. I've heard a few times that the first time after you get open water certified is the hardest because you're so worried about getting everything right, like hooking up your regulator correctly, making sure your air is on and that there's enough for your dive, what you do if your air fails, making sure you have your suit on before you enter the water ... but it wasn't so bad. Tom was really cool and patient and reminded us a lot about everything we forgot.
When we got in the water, the visibility wasn't very good becasue it had rained a few days before and there were small particles in the coean everywhere, but when we got close enough to the coral, you forget and it's just awesome again. We saw most of the same fish as we did in Malaysia, but Tom had different signs for some fo the fish. At one point, he motioned swinging a bseball bat. Josie really wanted to see a turtle, so I thought it was a sign for a homerun and that he had found a turtle. It turned out that he found a "batfish."
The best part of these dives was swimming through small caves. That was so COOL! There would be a small, pitch-black cave at the bottom of a wall of coral and as we approached it, a faint glow from the opening on the other side would light our way and then we'd emerge out on the other side at the bottom of a funnel of coral. It was crazy becasue these opening were sometimes just barely wide enough to pass through so you'd often hear the *KLANK* of your air tank hit the top of the cave. We had about 60 minutes of bottom time for the first dive.
Since that last dive, I've managed to control my breathing a lot better (maybe because I'm not sick this time) and maintain my neutral bouyancy a lot better too, although I did smack into a wall of coral a few times. I think they key is to exhale slowly. I thin kthe manual says that on every other page. I also tried streamlining myself by holding my elbows like I'm cradling myself after seeing something really horrible. I saw Mazlan at Fisherman's and Tom here at Big Blue do it, so I figured I'd give it a shot. It's not as easy as it looks when you're only 6 inches away from the seafloor and are desperately trying not to hit it.
The second dive was at a place called Green Rock. It's a small pile of rocks with more swin-through caves, but even narrower. All the other boat dives I've done were the big-step water entry, but this time I did a front flip entry. It's a 3/4 front flip where you land on your tank so it breaks the water before you do. I bet it must have loked totally awesome ... and pretty clumbsy too.
This dive's visibility was much better than the first dive. On this dive, we saw a moral eel hiding under a rock. Tom grabbed my BCD (scuba vest) and dragged me in. I didn't see it at first, but then these white eyes just stared, glowing in the dark and the eel's form started taking shape. We also saw this thing called a "crown of Thorns," which is a type of starfish that secretes an acidic solution that destroys coral as it moves across it.
When our dive is done, we have to ascend and stay at about 5 meters from the surface for 3 minutes in order to get rid of excess nirogen in our lungs to avoid decompression sickness ... I think. This was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Five meters above us was the light from the surface, as far as we could see around us and below us was this crystal clear blue turquoise with sunlight rays gently swaying back and forth. In the middle of all this were 8 divers just hovering around for 3 minutes perfectly level. It's an amazing thing to see. After surafcing, we realized that we had drifted from the exit point and had to swim 10 minutes back to the boat.
On the way back to shore, I was talking to Katsuki and heard more about his dive master training. Apparently, his plan is to get certified and then maybe open his own shop in Okinawa ... perhaps I'll go join him.
Initially, we'd plan to crash for a night and take the morning ferry back to Bangkok, but there were no morning boats becasue the government had issued a city-wide curfew and morning bus/boat would get us back after. So we took the 10PM night boat back to the mainland. I rinsed off in the outdoor shower, filled out my divelog, had dinner, then took the taxi back to the pier. Now it's it's a 16-hour journey back to Bangkok.
The diving on Ko Tao is very different than on Salang Beach in Malaysia. Ko Tao is konwn to be one of the cheapest places to dive in teh world and at $25 a dive and free dorms, it sure seemed like it. Many people we met back in Malaysia got certified at Ko Tao, or did fun dives there. The number of people hanging out at the dive shop, which also had a restaurant, was about the same number of people as the whole population of Salang. There were also a bunch of Japanese people on Ko Tao as well. I met two people from Saitama working on their dive master certification - Kanako and Katsuki.
The first site was a place called Laem Thiene. It took about 45 minutes to get there and we got a quick briefing along the way from our dive master, Tom. I've heard a few times that the first time after you get open water certified is the hardest because you're so worried about getting everything right, like hooking up your regulator correctly, making sure your air is on and that there's enough for your dive, what you do if your air fails, making sure you have your suit on before you enter the water ... but it wasn't so bad. Tom was really cool and patient and reminded us a lot about everything we forgot.
When we got in the water, the visibility wasn't very good becasue it had rained a few days before and there were small particles in the coean everywhere, but when we got close enough to the coral, you forget and it's just awesome again. We saw most of the same fish as we did in Malaysia, but Tom had different signs for some fo the fish. At one point, he motioned swinging a bseball bat. Josie really wanted to see a turtle, so I thought it was a sign for a homerun and that he had found a turtle. It turned out that he found a "batfish."
The best part of these dives was swimming through small caves. That was so COOL! There would be a small, pitch-black cave at the bottom of a wall of coral and as we approached it, a faint glow from the opening on the other side would light our way and then we'd emerge out on the other side at the bottom of a funnel of coral. It was crazy becasue these opening were sometimes just barely wide enough to pass through so you'd often hear the *KLANK* of your air tank hit the top of the cave. We had about 60 minutes of bottom time for the first dive.
Since that last dive, I've managed to control my breathing a lot better (maybe because I'm not sick this time) and maintain my neutral bouyancy a lot better too, although I did smack into a wall of coral a few times. I think they key is to exhale slowly. I thin kthe manual says that on every other page. I also tried streamlining myself by holding my elbows like I'm cradling myself after seeing something really horrible. I saw Mazlan at Fisherman's and Tom here at Big Blue do it, so I figured I'd give it a shot. It's not as easy as it looks when you're only 6 inches away from the seafloor and are desperately trying not to hit it.
The second dive was at a place called Green Rock. It's a small pile of rocks with more swin-through caves, but even narrower. All the other boat dives I've done were the big-step water entry, but this time I did a front flip entry. It's a 3/4 front flip where you land on your tank so it breaks the water before you do. I bet it must have loked totally awesome ... and pretty clumbsy too.
This dive's visibility was much better than the first dive. On this dive, we saw a moral eel hiding under a rock. Tom grabbed my BCD (scuba vest) and dragged me in. I didn't see it at first, but then these white eyes just stared, glowing in the dark and the eel's form started taking shape. We also saw this thing called a "crown of Thorns," which is a type of starfish that secretes an acidic solution that destroys coral as it moves across it.
When our dive is done, we have to ascend and stay at about 5 meters from the surface for 3 minutes in order to get rid of excess nirogen in our lungs to avoid decompression sickness ... I think. This was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. Five meters above us was the light from the surface, as far as we could see around us and below us was this crystal clear blue turquoise with sunlight rays gently swaying back and forth. In the middle of all this were 8 divers just hovering around for 3 minutes perfectly level. It's an amazing thing to see. After surafcing, we realized that we had drifted from the exit point and had to swim 10 minutes back to the boat.
On the way back to shore, I was talking to Katsuki and heard more about his dive master training. Apparently, his plan is to get certified and then maybe open his own shop in Okinawa ... perhaps I'll go join him.
Initially, we'd plan to crash for a night and take the morning ferry back to Bangkok, but there were no morning boats becasue the government had issued a city-wide curfew and morning bus/boat would get us back after. So we took the 10PM night boat back to the mainland. I rinsed off in the outdoor shower, filled out my divelog, had dinner, then took the taxi back to the pier. Now it's it's a 16-hour journey back to Bangkok.
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.
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.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Siem Reap to Bangkok (9.5 hours)
From all the reading I did, the land borders between Cambodia and Thailand are supposed to be the part where I'm supposed to watch out for the most. The road from Siem Reap to the border is supposed to be a very bumpy, move you to your bowels type of ride and at the border, lines are so long, you might as well have lined up at the Siem Reap bus station. Immigration at the corssing have been known to jack up prices for Thai visas as well. I was a bit worried about this day for almost the entire trip.
Apparently, all this was a thing of the past. The roads have been redone recently, so our ride was very smooth in our AC bus, and there were no breakdowns. It took about 30 minutes to get through the border and then another 10 to 15 minutes of waiting for our transport to Bangkok. Also, there was no visa fee for tourists who stay for under 30 days.
We were expecting the bus to pick us up on the Thai side of the border, but a pickup truck came and we piled into the back, but I was lucky enough to get the air-conditioned inside. At this point of the trip, if we piad for a bus and got someone to pull us in a little red wagon, whatever. As long as we got to where we wanted to go, that was a goal met.
We only went about 15 minutes and got dropped off at a nearby restaurant where we wanted and a half for our "minibus" to pick us up. I suspect the bus company is in cahoots with the restaurant because it was just long enough to get bored enough to buy some food, but we had packed sandwiches we bought from the Cambodian street vendor that morning, so Josie and I played our usual 2-hour long "Big 2" card game.
Finally, the minibus came. There were 16 seats and ... 13 people. Not the same minibus as Indonesia. Although not the worst ride I've been in, it certainly wasn't the most comfortable either. I sat in the back right corner next to the metal car frame where the tire is. I had to deal with a radiating 100 degrees (37C) burning my leg plus about 6 inches of leg room. Sometimes it felt like we fell off the road with how bumpy the streets were.
We finally got into Bangkok around 5:30PM and then from there, we bought a bus ticket to Ko Tao for 6:00. That gave us 30 minutes to rest after about 10 hours of travel before we had to take off for a 16-hour trip to Ko Tao.
Apparently, all this was a thing of the past. The roads have been redone recently, so our ride was very smooth in our AC bus, and there were no breakdowns. It took about 30 minutes to get through the border and then another 10 to 15 minutes of waiting for our transport to Bangkok. Also, there was no visa fee for tourists who stay for under 30 days.
We were expecting the bus to pick us up on the Thai side of the border, but a pickup truck came and we piled into the back, but I was lucky enough to get the air-conditioned inside. At this point of the trip, if we piad for a bus and got someone to pull us in a little red wagon, whatever. As long as we got to where we wanted to go, that was a goal met.
We only went about 15 minutes and got dropped off at a nearby restaurant where we wanted and a half for our "minibus" to pick us up. I suspect the bus company is in cahoots with the restaurant because it was just long enough to get bored enough to buy some food, but we had packed sandwiches we bought from the Cambodian street vendor that morning, so Josie and I played our usual 2-hour long "Big 2" card game.
Finally, the minibus came. There were 16 seats and ... 13 people. Not the same minibus as Indonesia. Although not the worst ride I've been in, it certainly wasn't the most comfortable either. I sat in the back right corner next to the metal car frame where the tire is. I had to deal with a radiating 100 degrees (37C) burning my leg plus about 6 inches of leg room. Sometimes it felt like we fell off the road with how bumpy the streets were.
We finally got into Bangkok around 5:30PM and then from there, we bought a bus ticket to Ko Tao for 6:00. That gave us 30 minutes to rest after about 10 hours of travel before we had to take off for a 16-hour trip to Ko Tao.
Thailand before going
• There are many mosquitos
(Again, I've seen more in Japan)
• Thailand borders Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia
(Laos border crossings is $20. Cambodia crossings are $0)
• Phuket is a small island off the mainland. It's pronounced poo-ket
(It's pretty far from Bangkok)
• It's always hot there, it only gets wet or dry
(Dude ... it's HOT)
• Mainly buddhists and they don't shake hands, they make a praying gesture
(But I got lots of handshakes)
(Again, I've seen more in Japan)
• Thailand borders Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Malaysia
(Laos border crossings is $20. Cambodia crossings are $0)
• Phuket is a small island off the mainland. It's pronounced poo-ket
(It's pretty far from Bangkok)
• It's always hot there, it only gets wet or dry
(Dude ... it's HOT)
• Mainly buddhists and they don't shake hands, they make a praying gesture
(But I got lots of handshakes)
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