We lathered on the sunscreen & ate 7/11 breakfast while it soaked in. First stop: to play in the ocean. This was the earliest we'd been in the water & the waves were mild. We still splashed around. Rode the waves. Pretended to be mermaids. We tried to enjoy every last possible moment in the ocean. Chris wanted photos of me in my pink goggles. I'm glad we're already married-because I sure am a site for sore eyes in them!!
We packed up our packs & sat on the porch while we waited for our transportation. It was the BEST way to end our time in Ko Lanta-sitting outside, listening to the waves crash along the shore, drinking a Coke & playing cribbage. (We were all caught up on our blog posts at that time.)
We got inside our travel van which was posh-meaning nothing was broken! This was the highest concentration of tourists we'd seen on the island. This nice 12 passenger van took us to Krabi town where we then were to get another over night bus to Bangkok. Krabi is a port town & central location for many islands. We like it because the city has a sense of humor-who doesn't love a good pun?!
We were also able to see some of the karats that make up the landscape in this area-but not on our specific Khlong Nin beach.
We had lunch at a little cafe across from the water-as we were caught in a downpour. I had sweet & sour chicken (which really was both sweet & sour-different than the American version) and Chris had something with beef. The big adventure was trying jackfruit. They were just alright in my opinion.
We spent the afternoon in the little kitch cafe, using wifi as we waited out the rain & for our next bus to Bangkok. At 4pm we headed back to the tourist office to get on the overnight bus.
A posh 10 seater van pulled up (I could see the cream leather seats) for Bangkok a little after 4pm. All the other tourists at the tourist office got on the that luxury van, but we were told to wait. But we're going to Bangkok I protested. Yes, yes. You take another bus.
At 4:45 we got in a decrepit van. The AC wasn't working. The front seat was broken-the driver drove like a bat out of hell. We stopped at 3 other hotels around town, picking up additional tourists. We were then dropped off at an established shelter in the middle of no where. We were told to wait for the bus to Bangkok. As the hours passed, more & more tourist groups joined. We were each given stickers to wear, stating our final destination.
We threw up "3" for our 3rd bus. As we say there we played cribbage and charged our cell phones. A huge double decker bus came & unloaded. The shelter was full. It was 6:30pm. They started calling destinations. Suddenly they called Bangkok-we handed over our luggage & got on the bus. I was simply thankful Chris & I had seats together.
At this point I ask Chris about his cell phone which had been charging. He left it on the table. He was able to get off the bus and THANK YOU JESUS retrieve his cell phone. This was one of those moments where we are reminded in the midst of everything we plan-God is in control. That was the first time I've ever asked Chris if he had his cell. And he was able to retrieve it.
We were in this bus until 9:30 when we stopped. Thankfully another passenger got off to ask-Bangkok was supposed to transfer to another bus. Thankfully this 4th & final bus was nicer than the 3rd. The seats reckoned & there was a working bathroom on board. We still were concerned that we were on a tourist bus as opposed to a government bus (tourist buses often have thefts out of bags while the luggage is on board), we settled into a night slumber. Correction-I'd been sleeping since 6:30pm when I took my motion sickness tablets. I ❤️ Dramamine.
Chris reported that we stopped again at 10:30. I just heard a slew of passengers get on. We stopped again at 1:30am for a 40 minute meal break. I wasn't hungry-I wanted more sleep. These seats were not as nice as the sleepers in Vietnam big better than I was anticipating (I may still have been lamenting the posh bus that left at 4pm). The positive was that our bus left later-meaning we'd arrive into Bangkok at a more reasonable hour. It's a 12 hour ride from Krabi and we had anticipated a 4am arrival. I was fine with a 6:30am arrival-finding our guesthouse in the day light & better chance of an early check in.
Again-I slept. Turning from side to side as one does when sleeping up against the window on a bus. My legs were cramped-but even more I was tired and continued to sleep. Chris woke around 6:30 as we sat in Bangkok traffic until after 7am. We safely retrieved our luggage & walked to our guesthouse. Thank you google maps. And it turns out I'm duplicating what Chris is writing. My chore is complete!! Continue reading on Chris' Bangkok post....
(That's what happens when you're behind in posting!!)
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