Crazy taxi
We woke up relatively early today as we were catching a bus to Koh Tao this morning. The pair of us checked out of the hostel and nipped across the road to 7/11. Just like the other day, we got some sort of hot breakfast that they warm up for you in their microwave. We then booked a taxi to come and fetch us, then take us to the bus station. I didn’t entirely factor in that it was a Thursday morning, and just like any other city or capital, the traffic was mayhem. From past experience (catching a train to Guiyang), we learned the importance of giving yourself plenty of time. Luckily this lesson paid off and we were able to make it to the bus to Koh Tao in time. Even if it was like real life crazy taxi, dipping in and out of traffic!
Once we had successfully boarded the bus to Koh Tao, we found our seats, they happened to be the front seats. I thought I was in for a nice and relaxing 9-hour journey. How wrong I always am. Some old fellow got on who was eating a burger and was constantly coughing. He also seemed to have a skin condition on his legs, and as my legs on the bus always wide open, it led to some touching. This made me cringe. Once the bus got moving to Koh Tao, I thought I’d move spaces. However, just as I was getting comfortable we stopped to pick some more people up. Of course, I was sitting in someone’s space, so the ticket master made me return to my seat.
Cramped ride
I was pretty cramped for the entire bus journey to Koh Tao, which was only 9 hours long. It was hot, so my leg kept sticking to the guy’s diseased leg, which wasn’t appetising at all. About half way, we had a stop off at a service station where we actually had hot food prepared for us. Our bus ticket came with a meal token, so that was an unexpected bonus. Slowly but surely we made our way there, and people began to disembark. At one point, the guy next to me sat somewhere else, I was very thankful for that (internally).
When we eventually arrived in Chumphon, we were dropped off outside our hostel. So we checked in straight away to go to our room. I must say, it was pretty damn hot in our room. As it was cooler outside, we decided to check out the nearby mall and night market. Whilst we explored the night market, I got chicken on a skewer, as well as 10 very small Thai pancakes, which were nice and sweet! The market wasn’t huge, it was just on one street, but there was a lot of nice stuff there.
After the night market, we walked through the shopping centre and bought a few doughnuts…these were delicious. As we had an early ferry tomorrow morning, we headed back to the hostel quite early. We chilled for a bit before I went for a shower and called it a night.
