Ko Phayam

Lam Plai Mat - Bangkok - Ranong - Ko Phayam

If you look at this on the map, you could simply say, I want to go from here, the first one, to here, the last one. Actually quite simple, if it weren't for a slow train ride, an idiotic taxi driver, a hot taxi ride, a long but relaxing night bus ride, long waits, and a nice ferry ride in between. But always slowly, just like my train back to Bangkok.

I felt like I caught the slowest train in Thailand. But that was definitely due to my tense situation. It arrived on time and ran exactly according to schedule, but after about 45 minutes of driving, we stopped at a station. And there we stood, and stood, and stood, for 40 minutes until a freight train from the opposite direction appeared. Okay, perfect, the single track was now clear, euphorically I went back to my seat. However, nothing happened, 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 9 minutes... I looked out to maybe find out what was going on and noticed that we were standing without an engine. It was just reconnecting to the front. Unfortunately, I didn't get any information, I could only guess and it looked like our engine was towing the freight train for the time being. After exactly 60 minutes, we finally started moving again, unfortunately my nerves were already on edge. In Bangkok, I had only 120 minutes to catch my bus as planned. So for the next 6 hours, I could only hope for a miracle. After another 4 hours, we finally left the hilly stretch behind and my train finally started to pick up speed permanently, so we could actually save some time.

Idiotic taxi driver

At 6:20 pm, we arrived at Bangkok 'Doing Moeang' station, and according to Google Maps, with the current traffic calculation, my taxi ride would take about 50 minutes. I had exactly 90 minutes until the scheduled departure of the bus. So I ran through the train station, down the stairs, and realized that I was on the wrong side of the road, but I didn't care at the moment (taxis can also turn around!), so I continued. Here I met the first taxi driver Mr Super smart. He recognized my situation, clearly to my disadvantage, and now named a horrendous price of 1000 baht (27 €), I said no 500 baht (13.50 €), well he said no! I said meter and he just left me standing there, but I left him too of course. He certainly didn't expect that. But I would rather have missed my bus than ride through Bangkok with a crook.

Good taxi driver

Now I ran back up the stairs, by now I was sweating and had a pounding headache, from exhaustion I set in briefly and then ran back down again. Here I met the next taxi driver, he looked at google maps and mentioned traffic jam and long travel time. I replied that it didn't matter for now, I just have to go there, so we drove. By the way, we drove off without talking about a price, and he started the taxi meter...

The ride went surprisingly well and he seemed to do his best. After 50 minutes at 7:29 pm, we arrived at the 'Southern Station' bus station and both of us were visibly happy. We said goodbye with a fist bump. And I paid 260 baht! I sprinted through the bus station and reached my bus 9 minutes before departure.

Pleasant overnight bus ride

I boarded the bus relieved, sat down, and leaned back. The departure was with a 5-minute delay and I had to laugh internally. The journey itself was really pleasant and contrary to my assumption, it wasn't too cold on the bus, which is usually the norm here in Asia. After a while, I must have dozed off. I woke up because suddenly a bright light blinded me. We stood still and there were many other buses next to us. We were at a monstrous rest stop. I got off and felt like I was somewhere in the jungle. Everything was somehow surreal here, it was really a huge modern open building with a toilet that felt like a wellness oasis. The only thing that bothered me was the HUGE sales booth with a constantly screaming annoying female voice from many speakers in the Thai language, which was supposed to encourage quick purchases. Then fortunately we drove on quickly and around 5am we reached Ranong.

Long wait

Since my ferry wasn't scheduled to leave until 10am, it was time to wait. I was already at a jetty, but that was only for speedboats. My comfortable ferry was supposed to leave somewhere else, but the ticket seller gestured to wait here. It got bright and I went to the 7/11 (supermarket) to get some coffee, then I just waited. At 9am I asked again and now they said that a car would come and pick us up at 9:30am. It still hadn't arrived at 9:40am. It came at 9:50am and brought us to the ferry at the last minute. But that could have been solved in a more relaxed way in the last 5 hours.

The ferry

Now it finally went on to the final stage of today's longer journey, and this took 2 hours. Quite comfortably, but with a significant list to the right, this boat primarily serves as a delivery boat for everything that is needed on the island, from water and beer to rice, cement, and other building materials, we sailed across a calm Andaman Sea past Ko Chang Noi to Ko Phayam. Here it was only a 2.5 km walk and I finally reached my destination, completely soaked in sweat.

Ko Phayam

Is a small, beautiful, and peaceful island. Cashew nuts grow everywhere and there are many rubber plantations, plus everything is lush green. It is absolutely suitable for relaxation with its three beautiful beaches. Plus, there are no cars, not yet. There are a few relatively new roads that are gradually being frequented by more and more scooters. One thing is clear, I have never seen so many crazy people in one place. They all seem to have forgotten that there is an invention called a helmet. In my 11 days there, I saw only one couple wearing helmets. The highlight was the five-member Italian family on a scooter, of course also without helmets! But why am I even getting upset, at best you just walked around the island. My first resort was so central that the farthest distance was 3.5 km, which made any vehicle completely unnecessary. The only thing that should disturb my peace here was the one cockroach that I discovered in the bathroom on the 3rd evening. The next evening there were three, and on the 5th evening there were six! I know, I was here in nature, but at some point it becomes uncomfortable. On the 5th night, I woke up because of a loud scream from the neighboring bungalow, and the next day they were demolishing and disinfecting a bungalow. I spontaneously decided to cancel and switch to another resort.

Now I could simply continue to live into the rest of the day here on Ko Phayam, with plenty of time at my favorite beach, 'Buffalo Beach', with a relaxing massage or in one of the many delicious little restaurants.