Bangkok to Phuket

A lot has happened during our trip these last few days!  We took an overnight train to Surat Thani and then transferred to a bus that just arrived in Phuket.  The train was an interesting experience, but let me start where I left off in Bangkok!

On Friday we met Oam, a friend of my close family friend, who lives in Bangkok.  We went out to a Thai food ‘American diner’ (think Elvis Presley) in Siam Square that was pretty yummy.  Oam was really friendly and teaches science at a university in Bangkok.  After dinner we got Thai cell phones!  If anyone wants to call me my Thai number is 0845380523 FYI.  Having Oam there to do the translating made the whole process super easy.  The phones are ‘pay as you go’ and you can recharge them at any of the millions of 7-11’s throughout Thailand.  Later that night we met a couple of Belgian guys named Michael and Haag.  As it turns out, Haag knows Jeannine and Guido, friends of my grandparents that live in Ghent- talk about a small world!

On Saturday Jenny, Haag, Michael and I met Oam at the Chatuchak weekend market in Bangkok.  This was the biggest market I have ever seen in my entire life.  You could literally buy ANYTHING you wanted here.  Well almost anything, apparently, because Jenny couldn’t find a coin purse she liked (Jenny says there were just too many choices she couldn’t decide).  The prices were good- I got a couple of nice button down dress shirts for $5 each and some genuine leather belts for the same price.  After that it was off to pick up our tailored things from MBK and then to the train station to catch our train.

I know you probably think all we have been doing is shopping, and yeah, you’re right.  Our rationale is that we have a lot of time in Thailand and can always go back to Bangkok and see the famous Wats (temples) eventually.  We needed nice teacher clothes and had to buy them.  I think that’s a pretty good excuse- plus everything is cheapo.

On the train we sat next to a lady named Gnat (Thais love nicknames) and a school boy named Grit whom we talked to and practiced Thai.  Thai people seem to appreciate farangs (foreigners) that attempt to speak Thai since it is a hard language to learn.  We also bought beer that was equally shared by the train server who seemed to consider us her best friends ever.  Our seats on the train were called “2^nd class no air conditioning sleepers”.  The seated folded out into beds that were actually quite comfortable.  I slept pretty well even considering I woke up about 8 times during the night when the train would screech to a stop.   

The 12 hour train ride was then followed by a 5 hour bus ride from Surat Thani to the Phuket province.  It was actually much longer than this because we took a shuttle from the bus stop into the city by a driver who had no idea where he was going.  This situation Thais would consider ‘Mai pben rai’ which loosely translates to ‘nevermind’, as in, it is not a big deal.  So now we are in lovely Phuket!  Southern Thailand is much greener than Bangkok and I like it a lot more.  It is rainy season down here and it has been raining on and off since we arrived.       

 Time to jump in the swimming pool!  The beaches here have really rough waves because of storms so this is the best we can do for now.  More to come later!

-Andrew