And then it was...

Sunday? I think?

Friday was exploring the southern half of Phuket via moped, which is good fun if you don't mind all the people intent on killing you... the day started on a rather dramatic note when I was standing out in front of my guesthouse getting ready for the scooter ride, when suddenly the electrical transformer on the power pole across the street exploded with an almighty BOOM, showering sparks everywhere... obviously in southern Thailand things unexpectedly exploding are not high on the list of stuff anyone wants to be around so it shook everyone up more than a little bit. Once people had stopped running and screaming and the old heart had slowed down a bit, it seemed to make sense to follow up one near-death experience with another, so it was out into the manic Patong traffic to run a couple of errands and find some more beaches. Phuket is indeed a pretty little island, obviously fairly swamped with tourists, travellers, backpackers and holiday makers, but there is still plenty of blue water and white sand. Some of the resorts looked pretty darn good too, for those with money...

Having run into some money-flow issues myself, I decided Friday that it would be prudent to head for Bangkok to try and sort the situation before funds dried up completely, so on Saturday morning I headed for the bus station over in Phuket town with gear in tow, which involved either an expensive taxi (well ok not REALLY expensive but everything's expensive when you have no money) or the cheaper option of the local bus (truck), which I took... this took somewhat longer than anticipated as he plied the streets of Patong at walking pace looking for customers. Once finally at the bus station I used a fairly large portion of my remaining Thai Baht for a ticket, and half an hour later we were heading north. The bus trip was once again the equivalent of some bizarre Thai torture as the obviously suicidal driver carved between lanes and overtook on blind corners while blasting his mix of "Top Fifty Most Annoying Thai Love Ballads" as loud as the speakers could handle... I fought the urge to doze off or throw myself out the doors to take in some nice scenery.

Seven hours later in darkness we rolled into the little town of Chumphon, and with no real idea of what I was doing or where I was going I wandered up the street with my gear in the rough direction I thought something might be in. I found a hotel and considered just getting a room and collapsing for the night, but I was conscious that if I stopped to sleep I would end up riding the day train to Bangkok, meaning I would end up arriving there in the dark with little money and no place to go. So I wandered some more until I found the train station, and sure enough there were night trains available. Rather than taking the next one, which would have seen me arrive in the capital city at 4am, I booked the 23:24 train to arrive in Bangkok around 8.30 in the morning. With now only about 300 Baht in my pocket (NZ$15) I bought a packet of chips and a drink to keep me going and with little else to do after wandering the food stalls looking at things I couldn't afford to eat, I went and sat around the train station for three hours.

Compared to other recent trips the train ride was bliss, I staggered through the narrow carriage with all my stuff, probably waking the other occipants, and crashed onto my bunk, happily a bottom berth this time and therefore wider and easier to get in and out of. I was asleep in minutes and woke only a couple of times before we were almost in Bangkok. I was rather disappointed to have to do the trip in the dark and miss the scenery but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Bangkok train station was rather manic even at 8.30 in the morning, but critically the foreign exchange office I was questing for was not yet open. I wandered around in a daze for some time until I finally woke up properly, and after searching fruitlessly for a bus in the right direction I checked the exchange office again and was finally able to change some $USD for Baht. I bit the bullet and got a taxi into town and thankfully found a guesthouse with a decent room, only there was another two hour wait for it to become available... I sit here now on Sunday afternoon having just had my first shower and meal since Friday, and feeling somewhat more human than I have in a couple of days. The sights and sounds of Bangkok await, I just have to resist the urge to go nap...