The last two days have been rough. That’s why sometimes it’s
better to fly than to take the bus. Might have been cheaper too and less of a
ballache, but hey, it was an experience. For better or worse. I bought my ticket
to leave Kuantan (Malaysia) the day before. Booked a VIP bus to Butterworth. From there, I
hoped to catch the train to somewhere in the south of Thailand and make my way
to one of the islands.
The guy said the bus departed at 9:15am so I arrived at 9
and the bus was late, of course. It was the beginning of Chinese New Year so this
was actually expected. We left about an hour later and eventually arrived to
Butterworth at 6:45pm (nearly two hours after the ETA). From there I took the
7:30pm bus to Alor Setar, which was the farthest to the Thai border I could get
without taking a taxi. We arrived around 9pm and I was spent. Doing nothing but
sitting on a bus all day takes the life out of you. Kind of like working in an office. At least I had some good food
along the way.
I got the information I needed about how to proceed to the
border the following morning and then checked out the hotels near the bus
terminal. Not so pretty as you might imagine. Somehow, gauging from their
exterior, I expected more and so I checked out about seven of them, as I do,
until finally content with one, barely. I checked in and realized it was nearly
10:45pm. Fuck me, if I had a traveling companion, they would have killed me.
I hate listening to other people in adjacent hotel rooms.
Fortunately it wasn’t too long before the lady next to me stopped sneezing and
clearing her throat. Oh and I hate sharing bathrooms, but there were no other
options. Well, sure there were for twice the price, but it was still going to be
a shithole with a shithole inside rather than out. Anyway, I proceeded to nearly fill up a 1.5 liter bottle over the
course of the night and drained it into the toilet the following morning. Like having your own bathroom - same same!
The following morning, I missed the local bus by 15 minutes.
Fortunately they came every hour. However, I was given the option to hop on an express bus for RM10 – only RM4 than the local bus and 45 minutes earlier. Let’s
do it. Good for me, good for the driver. The drive from Alor Setar to Changlun
took maybe an hour. From there, it was a taxi to the border, the only option. I
initially hesitated because I was told it was RM10-15 for the ride and the taxi
driver told me RM20. Not a huge difference, but out of principle I waited to
determine if it was the correct price. It was and eventually I was off and at
the Thai border.
The lines weren’t too long fortunately and I gave my
passport to the fat dick with glasses. Without a word he handed it back with an
arrival card. Ah yes, glad they had these on visible display when I approached
immigration. I quickly filled it in, in
red ink because I didn’t have blue or black, but wondering if it would be
rejected by the border official. It didn’t say on the form and yes, it was
rejected. The mask wearing, acne-faced whore inaudibly told me to fill it out
again. What? She took off her mask
and repeated herself, much to my dismay.
I went to the area to fill in the form, inconveniently
located behind the immigration
queues, where black ink was available. I quickly scribbled the information
getting increasingly agitated despite the lines not being unbearably long. I
got back in line behind one dude. He approached the border official and then
out of nowhere, his father comes and hands him the rest of the family’s
passports. Not cool so I motion for the douche to get in line like everyone
else. He said his son was waiting in line for the family. We exchanged angry
words. Fortunately nothing more as the line adjacent only had one person as well. So I moved there.
This time I got through without any hassle and I quickly
proceeded to the 7/11 down the road, purchased a minivan ticket to Hat Yai and
within 15 minutes we were on the road again. Since Hat Yai wasn’t my final
destination, I was to be dropped off at the bus station. It was nice to feel
more alive again, with the hustle and bustle of Thailand providing more stimulation than I’d had in recent days.
The driver failed to tell me we were at the bus station. I
should have been more alert, but having never been there and not being able to
see signs until we were leaving the
station, I just sat there and didn’t say anything until the driver looked at me
later presumably wondering why I was still sitting there. I got off with some
other folks, negotiated the price with a motorbike taxi and went back to the
station. Fun.
I got dropped off a random bus tour operator’s office and
decided on Krabi instead of Surat Thani. In my head, I wanted to see Railay
Beach in Krabi, Koh Phi Phi and then up to Surat Thani and Koh Pha-ngan. It was
9:45am and the minibus and the VIP both departed at 10:30am. Let’s me think. Minibus
or VIP bus? The minibus takes 4 hours and costs 290B and the VIP bus takes 6
hours and costs 350B. Naturally, I chose the minibus.
And I was on the minibus for an hour and a half before we
left Hat Yai. It was timely, I was picked up at 10:30am, but we circled and we
circled and we circled, picking up and/or waiting for passengers to fill up
that bus to capacity. And it was jammed and after we finally got moving, it did
take only four hours to our final destination, Krabi. That was a pain in the
ass, quite literally.
From Krabi, I was hoping to go to Phi Phi, but the final
ferry of the day had already departed. Ok, I’ll go to Railay first, I decided. So after
perhaps thirty minutes of indecision and waiting, those of us going in that
direction hopped on the local bus, me standing off the back and feeling fresh
again with the wind in my face. Eventually, we got to Ao Nang Beach, a much
more happening place than Krabi Town and I was happy to have made that
decision.
From Ao Nang, I was going to take a long-tail boat to Railay
Beach. But I started hearing how expensive it was there and how the neighboring
beach, Ton Sai, was more affordable and Railay was accessible from there. So, I
hesitated at Ton Sai for a second, but stuck to my guns and continued on to
Railay. I shouldn’t have. It was high season and at 7pm at night there was
virtually nothing cheap available. A group of backpackers looking for cheap
accommodation converged after coming up empty on the search for reasonably-priced accommodation and decided to trek back to Ton Sai.
We made our way over some rocks – fortunately it wasn’t high
tide yet and eventually got to Ton Sai. Although the scenery was pretty amazing
on both beaches, I wasn’t exactly digging the vibe. I had met some nice
backpackers, but a beach full of white people in Thailand with overpriced food
and drink isn’t exactly my scene. I don’t really know what my scene is to be
honest.
Eventually and I do mean eventually, I ended up in a tent
for 100B. That’s cheap, really cheap. And it was bare bones, but I was lucky to get it. I had a place to put my shit, a ‘roof’ over my head and a place to shit,
shower and shave. What more do you really need? I only decided on this place
because I realized I didn’t have enough money to afford any of the other
places. I hadn’t gone to the ATM. Doh!
So instead of trekking back to Railay, where there was an
ATM, or taking a long-tail back to Ao Nang, which I would have privately
chartered and wasn’t an option, I opted for the tent. That way I could also get
some dinner and not be a complete pauper for the night. Dinner was good and I had a nice conversation with an Argentinian
couple I met on the boat. The dude at
the bungalows was also really nice so despite a long, seemingly ridiculous day,
it wasn’t that terrible.
I left Ton Sai Beach the following morning. I was content with
my limited time there and went back to the over-touristy Ao Nang, but I was
fine with that. At least there was more action and more normal accommodation
options – not just overpriced bamboo huts. I think I used to be into that, in
the olden days. But still, Ao Nang proved to be difficult as well. After about
an hour in the heat, I finally found some luck in these very reasonably priced bungalows
in which I currently reside.
Now that the heat has subsided some and the sun has gone
down, at 5pm, it is time to hit the beach. I need to wake up and figure out if this
place deserves another night or if I’ll
be on the road again…
*Wrote this a few days ago and finally getting a chance to post now. Currently in Ko Samui - much better than any of the places mentioned above!
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