... now without Heide

I can continue this blog a little longer - even though Heide has long since returned home and is busy in the office (and thankfully she has already taken care of my fish at home).

After getting up with Heide at 5 in the morning, I of course accompanied her to the airport. Afterwards, I returned to the hotel, also by taxi, because the bus doesn’t run that early.

There, I had another breakfast and was able to explore the island on a scooter. This time I headed north towards the airport and then down the west coast. On the round trip, I made a few shopping stops and mainly went beach hopping.

In the evening, there was delicious star cuisine at an affordable price and some mediocre live music.

On Tuesday, I needed several attempts to catch a bus from Phuket to Khao Lak. The hotel was within walking distance of Bus Terminal 1, near the city center. However, Bus Terminal 2, from where most buses depart, is about three kilometers further north. Meanwhile, modern electric city buses go there, supposedly every 20 minutes - at least in theory. It didn’t work out to arrive there on time. 'Bus in 5 minutes' from a Thai can mean anything.

Well, I’ll just take one from Terminal 1 later. Fat chance. When the ticket counter finally opened, the older gentleman informed me that the scheduled bus at 1 PM wasn’t going today, only the one at 3:30 PM. No way I’m waiting that long. So, I took a city bus to the other terminal. Once there, I quickly found the right counter and to my surprise, the next long-distance bus was leaving just 10 minutes later, taking me to Khao Lak in two hours.

Conclusion once again: even the 'official' bus websites can’t be trusted, the published times at the bus station only partially, and one should always plan enough buffer time and be able to react flexibly. And never lose your good mood, it’s still vacation after all.