August
04 2014
Its official, we left home one week ago. Since we left home
we have been on one amazing journey. Here is a little recap of what we have
experienced and learned so far…
Getting to Koh Phangan: MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY TAXING. Ok,
maybe I am being a little dramatic, but it was not a walk in the park… So we
booked our tickets through Delta (thankfully, with all the craziness going on
around the world)
Boarded our first flight from
Hartford to Detroit (duration: 2 hours)
Simple on and off flight. Layover
in Detroit about 1.5 hours, long enough to charge electronics and grab a quick
bite to eat before our next leg.
Boarded
our second flight from Detroit to Tokyo (duration: 13 hours)
Unbelievably long and
uncomfortable flight. Tight seating with little leg room made for a really
taxing flight. Even after taking sleeping pills it was virtually impossible to
stay asleep with how uncomfortable we were. Airline food is pretty horrible as
well I might add. Although the flight attendants were very nice and helpful the
quality of food being served was quite unsettling. Thankfully they did offer
quite a bit of fresh fruit and ice cream J
watching tv shows and movies helped the time go by as well. Once we got to
Tokyo our layover was set to be around 2 hours, but ended up being only about
35 minutes. We had just enough time to freshen up in the restrooms and get in
line to board our next flight.
Boarded
our third and final flight to Bangkok (duration: 6 hours)
After the grueling flight we
survived, this one seemed easy. The food was better (gluten free, and
vegetarian options available). We were lucky enough to be on a pretty empty
flight as well, which meant we got to stretch out and get comfortable finally.
Arriving
in Bangkok almost a day after leaving home….
Finally
we arrived!! Its 11:30 at night (Thailand time) we were exhausted and hungry,
but we made it!! The first thing we did was exchange a little bit of money so
we could find some food and get some nourishment into our bodies, as well as
have money for a taxi. So we made our way to baggage claim with the rest of the
crowds. Before getting our bags we had our passport checked and our pictures
taken by Customs. After getting our bags we realized…. We have no idea where we
are going or how we are going to get there. Luckily there were quite a few tourist
stations willing to help foreigners figure out where to go and what to do.
After talking with a travel guy we decided our best option was to wait it out
for the night and get on the first bus at 6am headed towards the ferry station,
from there the ferry will take us straight to the island. With that decided, we
found a taxi to take us to a place called Koh San Road, which we were told was
“nice place with restaurants still open, you go eat”…
Spending
the night on Koh San Road…
As
we got in our taxi our driver began using his broken English to ask where we
are from and what brought us to Thailand. Once we told him we are from the
states he started chanting “OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA! He a great man yes!” We could
do nothing in our delirium but laugh and agree… After a bit of a ride in the
taxi he pulls over in front of a street that looked more like Mardi Gras than
“a nice place” and helps us out of the taxi with all of our bags. As it turns
out, Koh San Road is known as the “backpackers” road. So here we are jetlagged,
tired, hungry, in a state of complete culture shock, dragging our bags down a
crowded street of partying foreigners, vendors shoving laughing gas and fried
scorpions in our faces, and “lady boys” preying on every available (or
unavailable) man. Complete chaos is the best way to describe it I guess. While we
were fumbling down the road we decided to find a cheap place to stay for the
night until we could catch our bus at 6 am. We saw a place that seemed decent
enough, and headed inside. Once we got upstairs to the “front desk” we saw a
woman sleeping behind the table on the floor, and were greeted by a shirtless
guy holding a crack pipe. He told us it would be 240 Bhat for the night ($8.00)
and helped us up to our room. We decided to head back down to the madness and
see what we could find to eat. We went to the first street vendor we could find
and had them cook us up some pad thai, we scarfed it down, I regret nothing.
Thai food is simply amazing!! We walked around for quite some time before
stopping to eat again, but this time at a beautiful restaurant just off of the
street where all the insanity was going on. Once again, the food did not disappoint.
Finally we were stuffed and ready to rest our bones before the next leg of our
journey.
Link to video of us on Koh San Rd.
The
final stretch…
We
got about 2 hours of rest before we gathered our things and lugged our tired
bodies back down to the streets of Bangkok. Much to my surprise the backpackers
street we were on still had plenty of people out and about. Trust me when I say
I have never seen people as strung out and messed up as I did that morning. So
here we are lugging all of our crap through the streets trying to find where
the heck we are supposed to get bus tickets, when we suddenly spot the bus!
Paul races over to talk to them and figure out how we can get on that bus. He
walked back over to me looking upset and told me that the bus wasn’t going
where we needed it to and we would have to wait until 9pm for the overnight bus.
Before we could walk away the guy ran over to us and yelled “run run run” to
Paul to go to his office and buy the tickets because apparently all of the sudden the bus was
going where we needed it to, but was leaving now! Somehow we got the tickets and
threw our stuff on the bus and left Bangkok. Roughly 7 hours, one gross meal,
and a few shitty attempts at sleeping later, we arrived at the ferry station
that was going to finally get us to Koh Phangan. Drawn out and exhausted, we
boarded the ferry… 5 hours later we arrived J
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-Written by Samantha Abrams
