One Night in Bangkok.... Koh Tao Confidential vol.8

Greetings faithful fans and followers,

       Now that I've managed with my last posts to purge the blackened sediment from around my heart and give you all a glimpse into the secret world of Koh Tao bowling, it is (finally) time to recount my adventurous journey to Bangkok a few weeks back. Which now, due to the traveling induced sleep deprivation at the time and the 2 weeks that have since past, seems a bit blurry at best.

     Being that I now make 105,000 bht (yes, that's over 3000 dollars) less a month than I did when I lived in Bangkok, my travel style has had to "devolve" along with the contents of my rather empty SCB bank account. I had to go to BKK for some medical appointments that couldn't be postponed or moved so even though I had only started my new job a few weeks earlier, I had to take time off to get my butt off the island and into the big city. Considering my fresh employment I wanted to take as little time off as possible...that being said, it still took 2.5 days. Being that K.Tao is the furthest of the three islands down here, it takes that much longer to get off and unfortunately, the smaller your budget, the longer your trip. Long gone are the days when I used to fly down for the weekend to see Myo and jetset back to Bangkok a day later.

So, I hear you want to go on a ferry ride...

     My budget journey to Bangkok started with a boat ride off the island. Back in my past life as a well paid professional, I used to take the high  speed catamaran which takes about 1.5 hours to the mainland but now that my monthly wage equals what most people spend in a weekend out drinking in Vancouver, I have moved on to the luxury of the night ferry to Surat Thani. This luxury 7 hour trip consists of a 9pm departure aboard a lovely vessel equipped with mats on the floor in an open room. Amenities such as urine covered marine toilets, a cockroach infestation and a crew who will steal all your worldly belongings the minute you fall asleep are included in the price. Of course me being awash in traveling good karma, my particular journey had a few bonus "value added" items thrown in for good measure. Firstly was the fact that after glass flat seas for weeks before (of was it months before) ol' Neptune decided to stir things up a bit and call up a right rocking storm. As the 5pm end of my shift approached, I looked out into Sairee Bay to see dozens of fishing boats tied up to shelter from the storm. As one long-time Big Blue employee commented, "its gonna be one hell of storm, I haven't seen that many boats moored up in ages".  He then followed that comment with a gentle reminder to me that the only boat that ever sinks on the crossing from the islands to the mainland is the night boat and that I'd be lucky if I survived the trip...that is if the boat left at all. 

While everyone else moors up in the bay, the night boat prepares for its death march across the Gulf of Thailand.

    
     Fingers crossed and bag packed I marched down to the local ferry dock at 8pm ready to sink or swim. Even though the winds were howling and the boat was rocking and rolling in the harbour, we were ushered into our luxury accommodations at 9pm sharp. Unlike most of the unseasoned travelers on the boat, I opted to keep my backpack close to me on my mattress as I felt a somewhat uncomfortable sleep was better than waking up to most of my belongings now nestled in the pockets of the boat boys.  Which brings me to the second value added bonus of my trip. 

***** Ladies and gentlemen, if you order now, we'll toss in a drunk, 270lb British man with violent delusions who will fall on you and return from the toilet with no pants on...oh and roll around yelling "Fucking c**t" all night long******

Well, sign me up!

Luxury sailing at rock bottom prices!

     Anyway, I managed to make it to dry land by 4:30am after spending half the night swinging like a pendulum (thank goodness for the seasickness tablets I took out of the first aid kit at work). After our safe arrival on terra firma I was then transported to an office for a 2 hours nap on a plastic picnic chair followed by a 40 minute tuk-tuk ride to the Surat Thani airport. A 1 hour flight to BKK and a 30 minute cab ride later, I was finally at Carrie's house ready to spend 32 glorious hours being poked by doctors and visiting with my friends. 

    Of course the trip was far too short and I spent most of it being exhausted and trying to catch up on the last 6 months over a few beers and a very tasty burrito from Chefs XP. I did manage to get in a good chunk of baby Abigail time (who isn't much of a baby anymore!) Between hospital visits, rushing through the IT mall to buy power cords for work, a small dinner party at Carries and baby swimming lessons my 32 hours flew by and I was on the night train back to the South in a blink of an eye. 

Miss Abigail was very excited to have some swimming lessons with Aunty Joe!

     Speaking of eyes, most of my medical appointment related news was good except for my poor eyes which aren't faring very well in the bright K.Tao sunshine.  Apparently I have a bit of scarring and some loathsome "corneal haze" so I've been ordered to wear sunglasses all the time even at work since my office is semi-outdoors. So yes, I now have a job where I am not required to wear shoes and I get to wear sunglasses all day. That being said, I constantly have coworkers commenting on the killer hangover I must be nursing since most normal people don't wear sunglasses when they are doing data entry.  

     7pm the night after I arrived I boarded the night train with a bag stuffed full of all the things I didn't have room to bring down the first time. 14 hours later I arrived at the Mae Haad pier with enough time to drop off my loaded bags, take a shower and head off to work for another vigorous day at the office.

And the sun sets on another adventurous few days in the land of smiles and endless journeys....

Cheers from trains, planes and tuk-tuks
J