Naturally I dozed off maybe half an hour before we arrived at the bus transfer.
Still, I didn’t know there was going to be a bus transfer…
Our urban leviathan pulled off the freeway and wound through what turned out to be the outskirts of Surat Thani, a coastal town on the western side of the “brain stem” peninsula. It’s here that many people take ferries to Ko Samui, Ko Phangan (home of the legendary full-moon parties) and Kao Tao.
It was about 4 a.m. and still dark, yet many Thais were forced to share the road with our monster of a bus (photo of similar bus). Bicycles and mopeds, in danger of being torn asunder by our bus hopped on curbs or pulled off.
Eventually we stopped across the street from an open-air market/eatery. After producing our ticket stubs, we were hearded on a small bus, about the size of an American minivan and were shuttled not even two blocks to a travel agency – a cubby hole of an office - where we waited for other buses to pull in.
At this point I wasn’t enthusiastic about being in a new place, or a new city. I’d been traveling and had so far accumulated several layers of grime from constant sweat-dry, sweat-dry, sweat-dry cylces. My stomach was still in knots and I was anxious to get to Phuket.
About an hour later, a group of us boarded another of these small buses and we took off for Phuket, a drive that should have taken about an hour and a half, but instead took nearly three hours. Whether it was the fact we crammed nine people and our baggage into this minivan and had exceeded a weight limit, or had anything to do with the driver, but we averaged about 60 kph the whole way, through incredibly dense jungles and under towering limestone rock formations.
Three hours later… Phuket.
If you’ve noticed, I have nearly no pictures from any of these adventures, because my camera was stowed deep in my pack - a mistake I haven’t made since.
Phuket is billed as the Jewel of the Andaman Sea, and there are parts that fit the description, but it’s still a city developing from a third-world fishing and farming island to a world-renowned tourist destination and the growing pains are obvious.
Most apparent is the country’s inability to handle littering or proper waste management. Littering is an epidemic in Thailand, and a friend during training pointed out rather poignantly that in a developing country, an efficient and widespread waste management infrastructure isn’t likely in their top 10 heirarchy of needs list…
The driveway to a five star resort is littered with garbage, uneeded and discarded construction debris. Plastic bags, water bottles and packaging material are strewn everywhere. It’s surprising at first, but it is what it is and there isn’t really anything that can be done, except just trying to limit usage.
Anyhow, we were dropped off at another travel agency and pitched an offer that for 600 baht our driver will take us all the way to our respective resorts/hotels/hostels. I’m sure it wasn’t by accident that the travel agency was relatively no where near anything else, because the location discouraged walking. But 600 baht (nearly 18 USD) was a ridiculous fee to pay and I refused, hoisted my pack and set off, only to be waved back and told 200 baht. Welcome to the Thai negotiation paradigm.
By the time we were on the way to Nai Harn Beach, at the southern tip of Phuket island, I was alone with the driver, and I began to relax with the comfort that I’d soon be there.
We wound through some interesting side roads around bungalows, small houses, shops, restaurants and bars, through some more jungle and around a resivoir, which I knew was close to the resort.
And then there it was… we crested a hill and the brilliant emerald water beyond nearly took my breath away.
We pulled into the hotel and I dashed in with my pack to the reception desk. I had to check in as soon as possible so I could get to that water. I quickly decided that a trip to the ocean beat a trip to the shower. I started the check-in procedure as a young couple about my age strolled up to the desk. I smiled at them and they smiled back. Out of curiousity I asked if they were with the ATI training group and they were! I introduced myselves and was quite relieved to start meeting the people I’d be spending the next three weeks with.
Ryan and Shelley Sobey are from South Africa and freshly married. It turned out their honeymoon was a whirlwind vacation including parts of Africa, Australia and Thailand, before ending up at the reception desk May 9th, introducing themselves to me.
We agreed that a trip to the beach was a tremendous idea and after we settled into our respective rooms, we met at the beach and went for a swim.
That night, we walked up the road and found a nice little spa/bar that happened to have a relatively obscure sports channel and it just so happened they were featuring a live rugby tournament between teams in S. Africa, Australia and New Zealand, so we spent the rest of the night drinking beers and watching rugby.
A great day and a great night in any country.
