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Took a boat from Phi Phi this mornin' with Gary and headed for Krabi where we took a lethal bus to the main bus station at Krabi. Were shuffled rapido fast into a bus which the driver said in illegible English was headed for Takhon Si Tamorrat, the place we wanted to get to...
After being told (we think) in rather strong Thai that there was no room we were promptly ushered into the cargo hold of the bus on the lower deck and sandwiched between two mopeds we think probably belonged to the driver. Cocooned between his alternative mode of transport we found ourself also in amongst his clothes, tower, pots and pans and TV! Looks like the lower deck is his home between long journeys. But for 160 BAHT who can complain about that for a three hour trip. When we eventually made it upstairs and amongst the upper classes we quickly wanted to be back down in the luxury of the cargo hold. We should've taken pictures.
Anyway, on arrival at Tamarrat we quickly deduced that it was way way off the backpacker route. Gawked at by locals and with a complete inability to read anything that now certainly wasn't also translated into legible English text we quickly sat down at a local eatery...well it looked like one, ordered 2 PEPSI (universal) and motion for food. We got our fodder before we'd even asked what was on the menu. Not that we would have understood even if there was one! 5 minutes later our fodder arrived, chicken rice cooked right in front of us for 20BAHT (about 30p) not bad for lunch. Did the trick and without a clue where to go we headed off into town to look for the train station, to book tickets for Bangkok and KL (for Gary) before then searching for accommodation for the night. Decided to use this place as a base for some travels over the next few days.
Writing this just before going to bed, looked like a good call from Gary as the place has a very different vibe about it. We've been here a while now, and walked around a hell of a lot but still not seen one white person, and all people seem to want to do is say hello to us. Maybe we've hit upon a bit of undiscovered Thailand, stopping at a point may travellers don't. And you know what! We quite like it! Especially finding such an awesome hotel for 5 quid a night, blimey, they even open the doors for you every time you go out. After hostels this is quite an amazing thing!
Looking forward to Tuesday. Booked a train ride up to Bangkok from here. 13 hours i the only class of carriage they had left - 3rd class! Don't even think they have air con in there so could get a rather hot amongst the chickens. So if I keel over form bird flu before the next post it's been a good life so far...
Oh one last thing...most random thing happened last night on Phi Phi. Sat at Matt's Joint Grill right next to Kineree House where we were staying last night and I caught sight of this familar face. Lone and behold, after shouting Andrew!!! he turned around, Andy Tasker. Worked with Andy at Barclays in 2006, which was the last time I saw him. two years later, there's the laddie, on Phi Phi..
What a hero:
Though I think he'll be the first to admit. It's not the world's greatest photo!!
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