Back to Where it All Began

Our next stop was Bangkok again, our starting point for heading south. Returning to Bangkok was somewhat momentous as it marked the end of our loop of the Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. When we first left Bangkok two months ago it was hard to imagine what the journey would be like. Now I'm back, now I have a better idea, and I can hardly believe all the things we've seen and done. Especially after Vietnam and Cambodia, Bangkok was like a huge dose of Western culture - big city, big noises, big prices - everything is big.

The plan was to just stay one night and head south the next day. As our guesthouse from the first visit was full we settled for one next door that while not great was doable for one night. This turned out to be a very long night. Michael got a really bad stomach ache after dinner (that ended up lasting for about 2 days), the room was sweltering, there was no window, we were right off the lobby so there were ringing phones all night, barking dogs - the usual. There was the worst smell that would just not go away. No sheets, no blanket, no toilet paper - no nothing. And, and, the woman who ran the place was not very nice. So it was a long night only to be followed by needing the spend the next 12 hours wandering around Bangkok with Michael sick, waiting for our bus ride south. After getting ourselves out of the hell hole we dropped our bags at the travel agent and spent the afternoon in a park reading and napping and trying to stay cool.

At about 9:30 pm we boarded an overnight bus to Chumphon, about 300 miles south of Bangkok. Somehow we ended up in the very back of the bus surrounded by four very large Swedish women - as Michael said, when do you ever see a large Swedish woman....let alone four of them? So we felt a bit cursed at this point. The bus did show Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith so at least there was some distraction. It was impossible to get comfortable and sleep was pretty difficult, especially as the bus stopped at 2:30 am at a roadside stand so we could shop for 30 minutes.

We arrived at Chumphon at about 5 am just as an enormous thunderstorm was rolling through. They don't let you stay on the bus so you file out and sit by the sea in these wet plastic chairs with very little in the way of covering overhead. Your bags have been dragged out of the bus and dropped in the nearest puddle. At this point it's just comical as there is literally nothing you can do except dig out your raincoat which is of course at the bottom of your pack.



After finding my raincoat I went in search of the bathroom. Upon entering I saw Mr. Frog just sitting on the little ledge, hanging out. I watched him for a minute and then decided, "whatever." When I turned my back I heard a splash and found Mr. Frog doing laps in the toilet. After taking a few pictures I used the little "Thai style" water sprayer to lift him over the edge of the seat - thank god a seat - and out he hopped into the storm.





Finally the rain stopped and we headed on the fast boat to Ko Tao, a ride that takes about two hours. Let's just say these two hours seemed like the longest of my life. I think it was the combination of practically no sleep for two nights, living on oreos and in this case M & M's, and being somewhat stressed from the 36 hours of travel that caused me to spend the entire trip with my head between my knees puking into a little baggie. It was not pretty. There are no pictures.