Thailand Part 5 - Out of the frying pan, onto an island (which was still really hot)...

I awoke with a sudden, sharp breath in the dimly sunlit dormitory to the soft clattering sound of fingers on a keyboard. One leg under the sheets, the other hanging half off the bed, I licked my dry lips and blinked as my brain slowly made sense of my surroundings. It's funny that no matter how many strange rooms one may sleep in over the course of one's life, waking up in a strange room is often a bewildering experience.

It was hot, and upon discovering Navid on the other bed across the way, I began to put the pieces together.  Thailand... Phuket... right. It was still hard to believe, even though we'd been traveling around the country for a couple of days. Up on my feet and moving, I felt the cool tile under my feet as they slapped along on the way to the bathroom. I cranked the shower and splashed some water on my face. The hot water and smell of cheap soap were stimulating and I felt the grogginess lifting with the steam of the shower.

Downstairs to the kitchen, it was time for something to eat. Everyone was sleeping in and lounging about quietly, so the place maintained the peace of early morning even in the late morning. I sat on the patio and looked out over the town as I enjoyed my breakfast. Even the town itself, it seemed, was waking up late and just now getting started. I chatted idly with a few of the others from the hostel. Talking about what was next and what to do.

I was joined by Navid and we set to making our plan. After a few minutes of discussion, we came to the conclusion that we had pretty much gotten the full Patong experience, and that there really wasn't much more we could do to improve on the past night without getting into some real trouble. So, it was decided that we would move on to our next destination. If not to see more of the country, at the very least for the sake staying out of trouble.

But I was eager to talk with everyone about everything as my energy started coming back. There was talk of a Thai kick boxing show in town. I'd noted the mobile, truck-side advertisements cruising the streets the day before and was definitely curious about that. Word on the street, however, was that it was too showy and staged for the tourists. Clearly, Navid and I are above such things, so we'd have to wait and see if any opportunities to see a real match would show up.

Navid was eager to get on the move, but we had plenty of time, I assured him. We ought to take a walk and soak up the beauty of Patong a bit before moving on I said. After much idle chat and dilly dallying, we made it out. We scuffled around the sun-beaten streets in our flip flops, muttering and laughing here and there. Navid, bless him, constantly gave me patient reminders that we needed to be going soon. But it was early yet, and there was much to see. Navid picked up a towel, or a tshirt, or something. We wandered around a while longer. Finally, when I could think of no other ways to waste time, I conceded that, yes, maybe it was time we be moving on.

So we gathered our things at the hostel and said our farewells. I had been so charmed with the place that I was a little sad to be going after such a short time there. But, as Navid and I had discussed, it was time to move on. So, it was onward and upward.

We hopped a cab. It was hot, and, as I'd managed to spend plenty of time taking things slow in the earlier hours of the day, it was best that we take the quickest route back to the bus station.  Our cabby was a heavyset, enthusiastic and conversational fellow. Basically, everything a cabby should be. We inched our way through the packed streets of the city center with the windows up and air conditioned cranked, feeling very VIP, as the cabby sat sideways in his seat, talking to us like we were old friends, with one eye on the road, of course.

The streets were unbelievably packed for mid-afternoon on a weekday. I looked over at Navid, who was starting to look a little concerned, yet still patiently agreeable and easygoing.  At this point, however, there wasn't much we could do save enjoy the company of our cabby, who had no problem opening up and letting all his stories and ideas come pouring out. It was energizing to be around someone who was so enthusiastic. He just started talking and started telling us all about his life and all the great things in it. His family, his past, the town, everything you'd need to know about the town. Perhaps that's one of the hidden perks of being a cabby. You've got these short spans of time where you don't have much better to do than talk with strangers. You can tell them whatever the hell you want to. It's not like he was ever going to see us again. Whatever the case, I appreciated the man's openness and sincerity.

As we climbed up to the crest of the hill, traffic started thinning and things started moving a little faster, gradually.  The sun was still shining and things were looking good. In no time, we were at the bus station. Like the last time we were there, we were immediately assailed by hawkers selling bus rides, van rides, car rides, and the like. The van rides definitely sketched me out. No thank you. We were looking for the first legitimate bus to Dongtan, the port town where we'd be taking our boat.

We pushed pass the pushers and through the crowd up to the bus station ticket window. Dongtan. We didn't speak a lick of Thai, but that was all that we needed. Dongtan, please. The woman behind the plexiglass hollered something like, "No more." No more? No more what?

No more busses today? Uhhhh. I looked at Navid. What was it going to be? Was it back to the cab, and back to Patong? We'd already cancelled our stay at the hostel for the night and didn't have anything booked there. We split up to check around the different tour companies to see if anyone had any more busses headed up to Dongtan that night. I wandered around, trying to sift through the English and Thai signs by each ticket window. Were these different companies? One company? How the heck was any of this organized, if at all?

Navid, the sly devil, had another trick up his sleeve. Navid came through the crowd and grabbed my arm. "Let's go man. I found us a ride to Dongtan, but they're leaving in 5 minutes." We were out of options and out of time, so I followed him out of the bus station to a white van parked next to the curb. No decals, no taxi car number, no nothing. Just a white van. A story Navid had been telling me about some friends who had been taken up into the mountains of this region in a white van and robbed at gunpoint flashed to mind. But it was the last ride to Dongtan, and the sky was beginning to darken.

A handful of backpackers standing next to the van began loading their packs into the trunk. It was just about time for take off. I hesitated for a brief moment. I'd always been taught not to get into white vans with strangers. But, on the other hand, it seemed legit enough. Plus, one of the backpackers we'd be sharing the van with was pretty good-looking. So, hey. Why not give it a shot?

Deep in deep thought

So we threw our packs in the back and hopped in the van, ready to enjoy a few hours of relaxation on the road. We set to talking to our van mates, who actually turned out to be pretty great people to be stuck in a van with for a few hours. They were from Finland, pretty much doing the same kind of thing Navid and I were, traveling around Thailand on their time off and having fun. Like most of the European travelers we'd met so far on our trip, the Finns had the luxury of enjoying a ridiculously long holiday. Navid and I, both on our vacations from our respective teaching jobs, had only one week, which we were accustomed to coming from America, for our trip. We couldn't believe how many people we'd met from other parts of the world that were swinging two week, one month, and even multiple month vacations. America seriously needs to get on that bandwagon. It'd be a good one to ride on.

The friendly Finns

Unlike most of the European travelers we'd met, though, our friends in the van spoke amazingly perfect English. Almost no accent whatsoever, no grammar mistakes, and vocabularies that put most Americans' to shame. And they were great conversationalists as well, fortunately. So, we chatted for a while while they drank their big bottles of beer which they had wisely purchased before we'd left. As they finished their beers and the sun finally went down, everyone settled in for a good nap.

The view

I couldn't really sleep much, so I watched the forests whiz past and daydreamed for a good while. The southern part of Thailand really is pretty beautiful. It's so green. There are huge, forest-covered bluffs here and there. Along the highway, there are countless fruit stands, vegetable stands, and every other kind of stand you could imagine, where people trying to make a living wait knows how long for customers. A while later, I heard rousing behind me as our friends began to wake, and heard muffled talk of a bathroom break, which actually sounded like a pretty good idea. In my daydreaming, I hadn't really noticed, but I had to go pretty bad. Navid was on board too. So we called up to the driver, "Toilet, please." "OK OK" he said and waved up his hand.

Our friendly driver

I hadn't seen any gas stations on the drive. Nor had I seen any other kinds of buildings that might have facilities for us to use. Just fruit stands. We waited for ten minutes, 15, then 20. Perhaps the driver didn't realize the urgency of our request. "Toilet, please." we asked again. "OK OK" he said and gave us another little wave.

We waited another ten minutes or so, and it started to seem that the driver wasn't really interested in pulling over for us at all. In fact, it started to seem like all he was interested in was making good time on his run. Our friends in the back started getting a little irritable, and their tone was growing less and less friendly. I was really starting to wish for the bathroom, too. Like, really. I began to feel glad that Navid and I hadn't gotten any beer for the road like our poor friends in the back.

Finally, a girl in the back shouted, "We need a toilet NOW! We have a man in pain back here!" "OK OK OK" said the driver, sounding resigned, and slammed on the breaks and pulled over right there. That was it? That was all he had to do?! We were all too relieved to be upset about it at the moment and all scrambled out the van door to run into the woods. The sounds of cars flying past and people saying "Oh thank God we pulled over" was all you could hear. And after what might have been about three minutes, I heard Navid calling from the van. I shot back to the van quick as I could and took my seat, relieved. Last thing I wanted was to be stranded on the side of the road in Thailand with no bag.

The rest of the trip proceeded without incident, and we finally reached our destination; the port we'd be catching our next ride at. We said our farewells to our friends and set to finding a ride to Ko Samui. It turned out to be quite easy, fortunately, as there were four big boats with big signs next to them that said things like "Ko Phangan" and "Ko Samui". Hoping we'd still be able to get a ticket, we rushed to the ticket counter, which was a collapsible card table, and asked for two tickets to Ko Samui. It was no problem. In fact, there were tons of tickets still available. Apparently, we weren't the only backpackers that weren't really planning ahead.

Fortunately, we had about an hour before we had to be cooped up in another vessel, so we picked up some Thai chicken pancake things and took a little break. There was a lot of excitement in the air. The dock area was packed with travelers, backpackers, and locals. Turns out there were a lot of people taking the night boats. I sat and enjoyed food and soaked it all up.

The view from my futon

Soon it was time to go, and we headed into the old wooden boat and up the stairs to the top floor to find our seats, or rather, as we found, our futons. The passenger compartment of the boat was one giant open room, lined with mattresses on the floor along each wall. The middle of the boat was essentially a giant cargo space with backpacks strewn about. We found our futons and flopped down. We settled in and started talking with some of our neighbors. Turns out most folk were heading out to the islands for the famed "Full Moon" party, which was actually the same thing we'd been drawn to the islands by. Neither of us really knew much about it, but it seemed like a good destination. It was starting to look like this party might possibly meet, or even exceed, our high hopes.

Some friends

More friends

After chatting, laughing, and playing some word games, it was lights out and time to call it a day. I lay down on my futon and closed my eyes. The boat was quiet except for the creaking of rotating fans and the water washing up against the side of the boat. I felt myself slowly drifting off to the rhythm of the boat's slow rocking. Tomorrow we would wake up at Ko Samui, and it would be a good day.