Before we leave Phuket today, we take a songthaew to the beach to swim in the Andaman Sea one last time. It was beautiful, early enough so there weren’t many people and perfect to swim, play around and invent the Dolphin game. We just created jumps, turns and moves a dolphin would make. We goofed around and claimed ourselves, “Official Dolphin” winners, “Forever”. I would hate to lose the standing and have to defend my title in later years.
We’re back at the On-On Hotel with enough time to change, pack our backpacks and check-out of the hotel at noon. We cut it close but made the 12:20 bus to Surat Thani, Thailand. We’re on a bus large enough to put our backpacks underneath, so we only have to carry our day bag.
We drive east 147 miles across the peninsula from the Andaman Sea to the Gulf of Thailand. We drove through the Khlong Phanom and Ta Rom Yen National Parks of lush, gigantic vegetation. We went from a sunny day to clouds to rain. So much rain, we saw rapid flooding on the sides of the road and sadly a car sliding and crashing into a ditch. Three hours into our bus ride we had a bus check. Two army guard officers came on board and checked the passports of the six non-native tourists. I don’t dare make eye contact. No one had any problems and they left the bus. We continued on for another three hours to Surat Thani. The bus drops us off at the top of a hill and tells us to, “walk down there.” When I put my pack on my back, I find out it is soaking wet and water is dripping down my back and legs. What is that smell? Fish. My bag must have been beside frozen fish, thawing or fresh fish juices under the bus. By the time we walk “down there” my clothes are soaked but I’m not dripping anymore.
We’re at the pier which is why we came to Surat Thani, it has a ferry to our destination for this leg of our trip, Koh Tao Island. We buy our ticket for 650 Baht ($20), find a place to eat, watch the sunset, go to Seven-Eleven and board the sleeper boat at 8:30 pm. We board at 8:30 pm but the boat doesn’t leave until 11 pm. That’s okay. We figured out that you can’t just sleep anywhere. You have to match the number on your ticket to the number on the wall. We know it won’t be too crowded and Andy doesn’t want me to sleep right next to him. He wants his space so I move down a number. The next morning we found out everyone could and did have extra space beside them. Everybody but Andy and the guy with the number right beside him, they slept side-by-side!
Before other people come we settle in and before I know it, it’s the middle of the night. Only the middle of the night and I have to use the loo. It’s dark, of course, I have a compact flashlight but I don’t want to wake up other people so I figure out how to walk to the end of the boat to go downstairs. There are long continuous mats down each side of the boat and in the center is a walkway. The center is also the highest part of the ceiling so I can semi-stand up. Too bad this walkway is where most people put their extra bags. I stumble through to the end of the boat holding on to the center beam above my head. Now, I have to go down a treacherous set of steps to a nasty bathroom. You’re just going in the ocean. I had to do that twice that night. In the early morning just before people are stirring a remember having the best sleep ever because I was dreaming I was riding on an elephant and as the elephant was stepping, I’m rocking back and forth on his back but in reality, I was rocking back and forth on the waves. Dreaming of the elephant ride helped not to get sea-sick. After seven hours we dock on Koh Tao Island.
