32 hours to Koh Tao

We wanted to leave Koh Maak, Koh Chang and head south. The option was either by plane or bus. We chose the bus. It was way cheaper - instead we paid in hours.

It took us about 32 hours of being on the road to go from bungalow door to bungalow door. Sometimes we feared for ours lives, sometimes it was exciting and sometimes it was just plain boring.

It was way cheaper - instead we paid in hours.

We started off at 7.30. The taxi that collected us at Monkey Resort to take us to the pier across the island was not on time. It was early. So far, every taxi has been early. We had tickets for a speed boat to take us from Koh Maak to Koh Chang. We were about 30 people on the boat and we sat tight. It was probably for the best, because the boat jumped on the waves and had we not been stuck between each other we would have jumped too.

Once on Koh Chang we had a comfortable taxi to take us to another pier and another ferry that would transport us, some cars and other tourists to the mainland. So far so good.

Our next mode of transport was a bus. A nice comfortable air conditoned bus that when it was full, about 3 hours later, was temporarily inhabited by a bunch of Swedes. The bus trip to Bangkok took about 5 hours and was pretty boring. We had seen the road before and there's really not that much to see. Except for the odd pickupo truck full of pineapples.

It was dark when we got to Bangkok and cars and people everywhere. Just like last time. I think of it as fascinating and find it exciting to walk through food stands and small shops and people eating dinner right on the street. But another 8 hours on the bus down to Champurn were waiting for us and an hour after arrival we had boarded a bus again. This time the bus was old, it was crammed and the ac didn't work. We had a long night ahead of us. Next to me and Kenth were two men who wouldn't stop speaking. By 3 in the morning me and Kenth were told to switch buses and we were driven to some sort of travel center point where we had to await the first ferry that would take us to Koh Tao.

We slept for an hour or two on some rugs on the floor. Not the comfiest of beds but it had to do. By 6 o'clock we woke up by the fans being shut off. Now it was time to get on the bus to be taken to the ferry.

It started to rain once we had boarded the ferry and with it came some hard and big waves. Kenth stared at the horizon almost the whole trip while I finished reading my second book this trip and then fell asleep...

The ferry made it to the island in one piece and now our hunt for a good place to stay started. We got a taxi, got to a beach and were stubborn enough to walk it up and down before settling for a cheap but very simple bungalow at - Simple Life.