We really wanted to get out of Bangkok… Together with a fellow German student, we decided to leave Bangkok for now. I had a good time here for 5 weeks, she for 3 weeks. But Bangkok has shown us everything that is possible for now. Especially because of the restrictions there is a lot not to do as well. This made it less attractive for us to stay here. We shared the same dream, to study on an island. So, let’s do everything we can to make that dream come true!
We decided to go to Ko Phangan, in our opinion the most beautiful island in Thailand. But before we could go, we wanted to arrange our visa expansion, because you must do it, the first time, in person in Bangkok. Friday we would do that, so we could travel on Sunday. It had escaped our notice that you can only do the expansion from day 45 that you are in Thailand. That Friday was my “day 43. Since she arrived two weeks after me, it was not possible to stay in Bangkok until then. Okay, it was possible, but we had absolutely no desire to do so. We decided to travel that Tuesday. On Monday, I was able to successfully arrange my visa expansion. We would then go back to Bangkok in November for her expansion. But that’s convenient! Because this way we can start exploring the North of Thailand.
Cab 1
Because the train must make a 12-hour journey from Bangkok to Surat Thani, the train leaves at 5am every time. I don’t know if this has to do with the curfew, which doesn’t allow night trains to run or if they don’t run in the evening at all. Will never find out. To make sure we were on time we managed to book a cab via Grab at 4am. The friendly man was already there at 10 to 4, which made us think two things. 1. Is this gentleman allowed to go out during the curfew where no one can go out. 2. Shit, we must hurry because per 5 minutes you will pay extra. My alarm clock was at 03:30, I thought I could take it easy since everything was already packed. But there are still things you overlook …
Train
Three quarters of an hour before departure we arrived at the station. Since we booked the tickets online, we were able to walk right on over to the train. I didn’t know what to expect in terms of train travel and comfort. But this was not what I expected. 1. After 2 hours I was already getting butt pain, the benches are comfortable at first, but this changed quickly (the benches were also made for Thai people, so I didn’t know where to put my legs). 2. Somehow, I had managed to fall asleep. But at every station, there is catering that offers their food outside. Rice with chicken, rice with pork, various fruits, water, coke. All kinds of everything. Seemed like I had fallen asleep in a food market, because these people are shouting! Anything just to sell their consumption. But so, this disrupted my beauty sleep. And once I’m awake, I can’t fall back asleep… 3. Still a positive point, nature. How green it is. From cattle breeding to palm trees, from banana plantations to mountains that fill the horizon. 4. The advantage of this train is that all the windows were open. The weather was nice, no rain, so no reason to close the windows. In terms of ventilation it was fine. But why do we have to turn on the ceiling fans? First, it consumes unnecessary energy, since the windows are open. But the ticking that came from those fans was not nice. And because I sleep light I had, pretty much the whole trip, my headphones on, which has Noise Cancelling. But there’s nothing like screaming salesmen walking through your carriage….
Cab 2
Arriving at ‘Surat Thani’ station we first had some registration stuff to do. After we got through this, cabs were offered immediately. Kind of like salesmen in the train, but with cabs. We chose a male as if it were a meat inspection and went to his cab. What I learned in Thailand is that it is normal to argue about price. Which, in my opinion, is unusual in the Netherlands. The friendly man first offered 1600 bath (41 euros) for a one-and-a-half-hour ride. In Thai terms, this is a lot, so were able to agree on a price of 1200 bath (31 euros). Arriving at our resort, the man still wanted to get 100 bath more, but we said, “We agreed on 1200 bath, so that’s what you’ll get.” It felt very unnatural not to give that 100 bath and walk away while he was waiting, but an agreed price is an agreed price. Nothing more, nothing less. By the way, we arrived in the evening and left early in the morning, so we have no idea what the resort is like.
Ferry
So, the ferry, the last means of transportation to Ko Phangan. 05:00 it left from ‘Donsak Pier’. This was said to us by the contact person. So, at 04:15 we headed for the pier, because it was a 10-minute walk and we also had to do a PCR test. Arrived there, completely empty, no lights, no one on the street (maybe that makes sense at 4:30 in the morning). But then we knew that this is not the place we needed to be… We knew that there was another pier, this was 30 minutes’ walk from our resort. This pier was called ‘Raja Ferry Port Donsak’. But, as already mentioned, lady said ‘Donsak pier’, so we went to ‘Donsak pier’. I think 101% of all people would make the same choice. But we were so wrong and would miss the ferry due to time. When we arrived at the sign-in area for the cargo transport, a man came up to us. He worked there and took us, one by one, to the sign-in area for visitors. So, the 15 minutes we had to walk according to Google Maps were well made up. Felt like a real tourist though, with a backpack taller and heavier than me on the scooter. Miraculously, no blowout and in time for the ferry.
It was dark and rainy when we left, and it was bright and rainy when we arrived. We were hoping for a beautiful sunrise, but the sky was gray everywhere. At 7:30 we arrived. We had finally made it. Our dream of taking classes from a tropical island would finally be fulfilled.
