The last stop before the journey home

פֿאַרעפֿנטלעכט: 08.05.2018

[by Franzi] One last time we had breakfast on Koh Phangan with a view of the sea and checked out. Shortly afterwards, a pick-up truck arrived. On the way to the port in Thong Sala, we stopped at a few hotels and picked up more travelers. When we arrived at the harbor, we had to wait again.

On a large parking lot right at the harbor, we then observed something extremely strange for us: locals were cheering on some birds in cages. The birds were hung up in cages in two rows. The locals stood in two teams in front of the bird cages and cheered on the animals. The referee stopped the time and blew his whistle once at the start and end. At the final whistle, one team always rejoiced, but we're still not quite sure why exactly they were happy. It was somehow funny to watch and passed the time at the harbor.

When our destination was finally announced, we boarded the ferry. Some passengers got off, but many got back on. On the way, the ferry made a stop in Koh Samui to drop off and pick up passengers. The ferry ride was very calm and after almost 4 hours, we had solid ground under our feet again. Depending on the destination, we were divided into buses and drove another 3 hours by bus to the train station in Surat Thani, where we had to wait another 3 hours for our train to depart. So we sat in a small café right at the train station, had something to drink and eat, and continued watching our series.

*Train station in Surat Thani*

Not long before the train departure, we walked to the platform. We waited and waited, but for a while, no train came and there was no announcement. After a while, a train was finally announced, we didn't understand anything except "Bangkok" and assumed that it was our train. But when the train arrived, we were a bit confused: It had a completely different train number than stated on our ticket and it wasn't a sleeper train. We asked the station staff and were told that our train would be the next one to come. Actually, the next train number matched the one stated on our ticket and we got on the right carriage to look for our beds. We stowed our luggage and made ourselves comfortable. The beds turned out to be more comfortable than expected. In contrast to the night bus, the night train has proper mattresses (although quite thin) and pillows with a curtain in front of each bunk. With a little delay, the train finally departed towards Bangkok.

A train at the train station — *Train station in Surat Thani*

Not long before the train departure, we walked to the platform. We waited and waited, but for a while, no train came and there was no announcement. After a while, a train was finally announced, we didn't understand anything except "Bangkok" and assumed that it was our train. But when the train arrived, we were a bit confused: It had a completely different train number than stated on our ticket and it wasn't a sleeper train. We asked the station staff and were told that our train would be the next one to come. Actually, the next train number matched the one stated on our ticket and we got on the right carriage to look for our beds. We stowed our luggage and made ourselves comfortable. The beds turned out to be more comfortable than expected. In contrast to the night bus, the night train has proper mattresses (although quite thin) and pillows with a curtain in front of each bunk. With a little delay, the train finally departed towards Bangkok.

Luggage rack in the train — *The sleeper train from the inside*

We had already checked beforehand how to get to our hotel and went in search of the Skytrain, which we couldn't find. We had to realize that there was no Skytrain here, only the Underground - we must have looked up something wrong, or read it wrong. We took the Underground for 3 stops and then switched to the Skytrain, which we took for another 2 stops. Hungry, we set off for the hotel. On the way, we took a little break in a café to have something to eat (150 Baht per person = 3.95€). At the same time, we took the opportunity to check in for our flight back to Frankfurt using the free Wi-Fi. Strengthened, we walked the remaining 15 minutes to the hotel. We turned into the street and clothes were being offered everywhere, almost like in a market. Somewhat overwhelmed by that, we kept walking, but the entrance to the hotel was not easy to find. It was located between all the stands and there were a few steps down. Then you had to take an elevator to the 6th floor, where the reception was located.