So we set off to Hua Hin station after a bit of grub. The only class left was 3rd. It was fine as it was obviously the cheapest. So we braced ourselves for how we were to spend the next 7 hours. I wondered if it would be any better than connex south eastern. The train was delayed by 30 minutes, so no it wasn't any better so far... It actually wasn't as bad as expected. We had a few fights with mosquitoes and other unknown bugs, and then there was the T-Rex that jumped on our train, ripped it apart and roared up to the chilling moon. That was fun. Ok so that part was made up. It was the rather backdated breaks that stopped the train and the random crashing sound made it sound like it was a T-rex. Also the pitch black surroundings gave the whole thing a J Park feel. I got pretty excited about it and know a certain sister who would have done as well :)
But we got there. It's always a bit hit and miss with these journeys as to when to get off. Most of the station signs are just in Thai. We jumped off at the stop we figured was probably the right one. Our guide books had said that from here we were to get a taxi to the bus garage. So some french bloke started hounding us, saying he would take us to the bus garage. He boasted that it had internet access, sofas, drinks etc for while we were waiting. The cost to get there was about quadruple what we'd expected (still cheap in english terms but expensive for thailand). It was 2am at this point and nothing much else around so we bartered him down as much as possible and agreed to be ripped off just to get to this glorious bus garage.
10 minutes later on a tuk tuk thing that kept cutting out, and we arrived. It was at this point that I really started to realise that trusting what people say is just not the done thing. We would have gone there anyway, despite the pesky french guy, but I would have described the 'garage with sofas' more as a 'small room with some plastic garden chairs'... Then phase 2 of being ripped off. The woman selling tickets told us it was about triple what we had expected. We started to wonder if this was in fact the actual bus garage in the guide book but figured it was late, there was nothing else around so we may as well stick with what we had. We got the price down a little and then she buggered off to sleep somewhere. We were left with her sleeping son next to the desk, 2 PCs with internet, and some plastic chairs to get cosy with. Oh and a 4 hour wait for our bus. I decided to brave the toilet, having not been for about 8 hours I was pretty desperate. Now, before embarking on this trip I was aware I'd have to get used to less western type loos and showers and stuff but I just couldn't bring myself to even pull my shorts down in this one. Mainly because I needed both fists to fight the biggest mosquito I've ever seen. I escaped before the attack though. Stephen had the same sort of restling issue. I think Vikki managed it though. Brave brave girl. So I was left still desperate to go. Kimberley and I ventured out in to the night to find a seven 11 (a 24 hr mini mart pretty much on every corner of every street in thailand). 15 minutes later we found one, and they kindly let us use the lovely western loo. After having to buy the loo paper of course. We got a couple of 'chicken' burgers and headed back. The 'chicken' burgers tasted of feet. A few hours later, the bus arrives. We actually nearly missed it as we went for another toilet run. Typical. So we stepped on to the next part of our journey to Phuket. The ticket lady told us it was 3-4 hours...
...7 hours later we arrived at Phuket. However the scenery along the way was really great. And more J Park setting with huge trees and massive leaves and mountains and stuff like that. Without meaning to sound too cheesy, I didn't mind any of the journey as it was all adventure like and you didn't really know what to expect next!! (Apart from more dinosaurs of course).
No comments:
Post a Comment