The trip back to Bangkok was long and arduous. There was a van that picked me up at Joe Mansion and together with another tourist already in the vehicle. This one was a Russian lady also on tour. I was actually expecting a bus to pick me up but it turned out to be a van. As what I will find out, they pool all the passengers from all over Phuket and bring them to a certain spot for the actual bus to pick up.
It took us four hours to get to the drop off point which was a simple hut with a small cafeteria. The van passed through amazing karst scenery which I only last seen in Guangxi in China. It would be great if they could develop this area too. At the cafeteria were several tourists also waiting for the bus. Not everybody was in a talking mood there, I guess each of us was anxious to be able to find a bed to sleep and rest.
Finally a vehicle came but it wasn’t a bus, this was like a small truck with benches on both sides of the truck. Apparently, they would be bringing us to yet another spot for the real pickup where there were even more people waiting. This was getting a bit confusing not to mention fishy. The spot was not that far away, unfortunately, the bus took a really long time to get to the pickup point. There were a lot of insects flying around the pickup area and it was really bothering me. If they were to dump all of us there, they should have at least provided better facilities.
When the bus finally came, chaos ensued since everone was really tired from all that waiting. One of the staff from the bus started directing the human traffic and pointing to people to board one by one. Ones which try to sneak into the bus were sternly reprimanded. It was a bit amusing to see all this since this guy was really serious in controlling the influx of tourists into the bus. Finally it was my turn to board but I got seated at the last row which was probably the worst seat in the bus. Anyway, at least I got a seat.
The bus was nice and spacious with the seats able to recline for a comfortable sleeping position. The bus also comes with its own toilet so there was no need for toilet breaks. The driver did have to take a break though from all that driving, of maybe it was time to change drivers, I wasn’t really sure. I didn’t really get off to stretch at that one stopover because I just wanted to sleep through all of it.
We got to Bangkok on schedule at around four in the morning. The bus was supposed to drop us off at the only place I know in Bangkok – Khao San Road. We beside a major road and off loaded our stuff. We couldn’t get our bearings since this didn’t look anything like Khao San Road at all. No choice, I had to follow all the other tourists hoping the have already been here – which was correct. We were really very near Khao San Road and it was just a matter of crossing the road.
I quickly tried to find a place to stay here, hopefully this won’t be a problem since it was four in the morning. I found this place called Siam Oriental Inn which looked decent enough and it was cheap too at 450 Baht a night. The room was baisc, but it had airconditioning. It was a double room too. One thing I noticed was that it was a little hot in the room, apparently the airconditioning units were all in my side of the building. Fortunately, the airconditioning kicked in and it didn’t feel hot anymore.
The bathroom was another matther since it was the one closest to the heat, but I didn’t plan on staying in the bathroom for long periods of time anyway. After a long day of traveling it was finally time to get a proper rest.
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