Before heading to the island of Koh Tao Alex, Charlotte and I spend a couple of nights in Bangkok near the crazy Kaoh San road. Lined bars, neon signs, street food stands, sun burnt tourists and stalls selling fake designer sunglasses the Kaoh San road is always busy. However walking down it can be a reasonably pleasant experience. The streets are dust, cow and urine free. Touts and stall owners desist after a simple shake of the head and the street food is fresh and veg filled - noodles, spring rolls, fruit kebabs and coconut ice cream (served in an actual coconut).
Knowing that we willl have more time to sight see in the city when we fly out, we spend our time stocking up on things we couldn't get in India - shorts, swimming costumes and beef burgers. - and book a sleeper bus and ferry to get us to Koh Tao, where Alex will stay for two months doing her dive masters and Charlotte and I will stay for a week or so - her doing an open water course and me the advanced course.
Despite the many bus trips I did in India, this is one of the strangest. It is a luxury bus - unlike the ones in India (which weren't really even buses). The chairs recline until they're almost horizontal and have foot and neck rests. There is airconditioning so cold that we are given huge toweled blankets by the 'bus hostess'. We had been told that our ticket includes supper, and at 21:30 we are shown a basket full of unidentifiable rolls. Mine turns out to be 'black bean' but is more like a stale chocolate brioche. Other flavours include 'butter' and 'green custard' , which tastes like seaweed. We are given ten minutes to eat our 'supper' before all the lights are turned off, including our individual spot lights. We take the hint and try, unsucesfully, to go to sleep. Although they look comfortable, the chairs are narrow and, when fully reclined, make an odd angle with with the foot rest, which doesn't rise high enough. I toss and turn for a couple of hours and I'm just about to drift off when I am roused by the bus hostess shouting at me in Thai.
We have pulled up outside a huge, one room service station which contains rows and rows of low shelving stacked with packets of dried fish, sun flower seeds and vac-packed flan. Standing on a chair is a small man with a megaphone calling out what I can only assume are the numbers of the buses arriving and leaving. At one end of the room are round stone tables with curved stone benches. On every table is a lazy-susan holding dishes of eggs, mixed vegetables, dried fish and onions. Each table is set up in exactly the same way, although most of them are empty. We watch, wondering whether it is a resturant or some sort of pre booked meal for a large coach party, but after a while we are beckoned to a table by a Thai woman from our coach. It turns out that this is our dinner - I had given up hope of anything more when the lights went out on the coach and it passed midnight. Waitresses in pink t-shirts ladle out bowls of rice in warm water, rather like unsweetened rice pudding, and the other people at our table start adding the toppings arranged on the lazy susan. The vegetables are covered in butter and delicious, but the dried fish tastes like, well dried fish.
We have another couple of hours on the bus before we are woken again to find we are in the town of Chomphon, three hours early, our bags already on the pavement. It is three in the morning and we are assured that a taxi will turn up at four to take us to the ferry port. There is no one around except a small, scruffy dog who waits on the benches with us and leaps up expectantly whenever a car goes past, as if he is wating for someone. Eventually a man on a moped turns up and opens the waiting room/shop behind us and tells us that the taxi will turn up at 6. We go inside and I once again try, and fail, to get some sleep. At a quarter to six an open sided mini bus with benches in the back pulls up and, barely waiting for our nod in response to the bark of, 'Koh Tao?', our bags are flung in the back by
As the sun rises we drive past bungalows surrounded by palm trees and long grass, before picking up more travellers and then more again until the bags are stacked to the roof. As we get closer to the sea the houses get more and more run down and many of them have boats parked in the driveways. I soon see our 'catamaran' (a trawller done up with plastic seating). But it doesn't matter, I spend the three hour journey to the napping in the sun with the spray in my face, watching the passing islands and flying fish and tying to ignore the groups of burnt teenagers, beer in each hand, heading for the infamous Full Moon Party taking place next week when I will be in bed exhausted from a day of diving and sun bathing. I don't envy them.
Knowing that we willl have more time to sight see in the city when we fly out, we spend our time stocking up on things we couldn't get in India - shorts, swimming costumes and beef burgers. - and book a sleeper bus and ferry to get us to Koh Tao, where Alex will stay for two months doing her dive masters and Charlotte and I will stay for a week or so - her doing an open water course and me the advanced course.
Despite the many bus trips I did in India, this is one of the strangest. It is a luxury bus - unlike the ones in India (which weren't really even buses). The chairs recline until they're almost horizontal and have foot and neck rests. There is airconditioning so cold that we are given huge toweled blankets by the 'bus hostess'. We had been told that our ticket includes supper, and at 21:30 we are shown a basket full of unidentifiable rolls. Mine turns out to be 'black bean' but is more like a stale chocolate brioche. Other flavours include 'butter' and 'green custard' , which tastes like seaweed. We are given ten minutes to eat our 'supper' before all the lights are turned off, including our individual spot lights. We take the hint and try, unsucesfully, to go to sleep. Although they look comfortable, the chairs are narrow and, when fully reclined, make an odd angle with with the foot rest, which doesn't rise high enough. I toss and turn for a couple of hours and I'm just about to drift off when I am roused by the bus hostess shouting at me in Thai.
We have pulled up outside a huge, one room service station which contains rows and rows of low shelving stacked with packets of dried fish, sun flower seeds and vac-packed flan. Standing on a chair is a small man with a megaphone calling out what I can only assume are the numbers of the buses arriving and leaving. At one end of the room are round stone tables with curved stone benches. On every table is a lazy-susan holding dishes of eggs, mixed vegetables, dried fish and onions. Each table is set up in exactly the same way, although most of them are empty. We watch, wondering whether it is a resturant or some sort of pre booked meal for a large coach party, but after a while we are beckoned to a table by a Thai woman from our coach. It turns out that this is our dinner - I had given up hope of anything more when the lights went out on the coach and it passed midnight. Waitresses in pink t-shirts ladle out bowls of rice in warm water, rather like unsweetened rice pudding, and the other people at our table start adding the toppings arranged on the lazy susan. The vegetables are covered in butter and delicious, but the dried fish tastes like, well dried fish.
We have another couple of hours on the bus before we are woken again to find we are in the town of Chomphon, three hours early, our bags already on the pavement. It is three in the morning and we are assured that a taxi will turn up at four to take us to the ferry port. There is no one around except a small, scruffy dog who waits on the benches with us and leaps up expectantly whenever a car goes past, as if he is wating for someone. Eventually a man on a moped turns up and opens the waiting room/shop behind us and tells us that the taxi will turn up at 6. We go inside and I once again try, and fail, to get some sleep. At a quarter to six an open sided mini bus with benches in the back pulls up and, barely waiting for our nod in response to the bark of, 'Koh Tao?', our bags are flung in the back by
As the sun rises we drive past bungalows surrounded by palm trees and long grass, before picking up more travellers and then more again until the bags are stacked to the roof. As we get closer to the sea the houses get more and more run down and many of them have boats parked in the driveways. I soon see our 'catamaran' (a trawller done up with plastic seating). But it doesn't matter, I spend the three hour journey to the napping in the sun with the spray in my face, watching the passing islands and flying fish and tying to ignore the groups of burnt teenagers, beer in each hand, heading for the infamous Full Moon Party taking place next week when I will be in bed exhausted from a day of diving and sun bathing. I don't envy them.
Above: Charlotte asleep on the ferry
Above: The view from Big Blue Dive Resort
**Watch this space, more photos to come**
Ha ha - I remember being the only westerner on an overnight bus in Thailand and stopping for a night-time meal just like that - eaten in almost complete silence - very bizarre.
ReplyDeleteLove Helen xx