NIGHTBUS TO BANGKOK

With my PADI in my backpack I took the night bus from Krabi to Bangkok to have a couple of days of city life before entering a new country; Vietnam.

The VIP bus had a similar outlook as the one in Burma, you do get used to the loud music or movie till midnight so usually I play my own music or I put my earplugs in.

It feels a bit as a contradiction about the noise they want you to go to sleep asap (dim the lights and music) but the aircon is so low that if feels if you’re in a fridge. The blankets provided aren’t enough so a jumper and socks are needed to keep warm and to catch some sleep. The toilet/food stop is usually in the middle of nowhere with a place which we call in Holland a ‘vreetschuur’ it’s like a big area with very bright lighting which is buzzing with staff and people who only have 15 minutes time to eat. This place had many concrete tables laid with cutlery and was surrounded with little stalls which each offered another dish. So it was just deciding which dish (Pad Thai, noodle soup, stir fried vegetable with tofu etc) and go to the stall and get your plate. After that it was scoffing your food down as your bus was about to leave in 15 min time. After a couple of hours sleep I was abruptly woken up by bus host as we arrived at Bangkok South bus station at 4.20am! After ignoring the taxi drivers I tried to find out if the 156 bus was running to Khao San Road as this was near my hostel. Later on I found out that the 155 was the night bus to my destination and I was lucky that it left after 5 minutes. So I took the 1^st available seat in the bus with all my bags,  after 1 minute a very old Monk showed up and points out that he wants to sit in my seat. I pointed at him that he could take the seat on the other side of the bus but he ignored that and pointed at a sign on the window and then to him. Of course it was in Thais but I did understand that it would say along the lines of “seat for elderly, pregnant women and in this case also monks” So I did move and apologized to the friendly monk and he gave me a big toothless smile in return!

So when my stop came, prompted in time (courtesy of the friendly female bus conductor) so I could hop off, I found my self at a fairly busy road but no idea where to go. So I went to a couple of ‘ladyboys’ who were having a late night or after work snack in one of the outdoor stalls and asked them how to get to my hostel. The next 5 minutes they were very busy talking or more bitching with each other and I could make up from the conversation that they weren’t sure where it exactly was. Then one of them asked me if I could take a tuk-tuk? When I said yes two of them put me in one before discussing directions and tariff with the driver. The tuk-tuk drivers here are famous for their cons (take you everywhere then your destination and asking a lot more money) so when we arrived at the hostel the guy tried to keep an extra 10 bath as a ‘tip’ but I had none of it as I was already charged the tourist, late night and rip off tariff for this short trip.

So now I’m in Bangkok which is very busy and warm. So far I’ve explored The Royal Palace, many temples and Buddha’s, enjoyed the River Phraya, enjoyed two cycle tours and now I’m getting ready for Vietnam on Friday.