Thai time

One of the things that Jack and I didn't think about much was the time it would take to travel around this country. Thailand is about the size of the state of Texas, and surprisingly, the roads and the infrastructure are remarkable. At least in the South, the roads are multi-laned and wide, and they seem to be in really good shape.

But man, oh man, it takes what feels like forever to travel even short distances. Part of it may be that the Thais are incredible generous and hospitable. They genuinely don't want you to feel uncomfortable or upset. They like to make you feel optimistic. And the refrain you are most likely to hear is "The bus come 10 minutes!" followed by a beautiful open smile.

Another factor to consider in, what I call, Thai time, is that there are so many methods of transportation. Each have their own set of strengths and weaknesses: the distances they cover, the number of people they can carry, and the time it takes to wait for them. Combined together, it can be a logistical nightmare.

Take, for instance, our travel from Krabi to Ko Samui. The actual distance covered was about 300 km. That's about the time it takes to drive to Kingston and back. Right? : )

We had booked a pickup at 10am. We arrived, optimistically, about 15 mins early. We were told by the smiling desk clerk that the bus was coming at 10am. At 10:05, we asked about the bus, and the same smiling guy told us "10:30!" OK, 10:30.

The car came around 10:40 and we hopped in. The A/C was broken, but 2 out of the 4 windows were working, so we cooled off with the breeze for the 20 minute drive from Ao Nang to Krabi.

When we arrived in a dusty, bus station in Krabi, it was almost 11. We were enthusiastically told that the minivan was due to arrive any moment. A Singha beer, a couple of liters of water, and many roasted cashew nuts later, the minivan arrived. It was 12. We piled in, to an already full van, and settled in for the bumpy 2.5 hour drive to Surat Thani (152 km away).

In Surat Thani, we checked in and got our bus/ferry tickets (little stickers on our t-shirts that said Sa mui). Departure time was leaving 3:30. We were told that we'd be able to catch the 5pm ferry and be in Ko Samui by 6:30! YAY! We grabbed some delicious veggie paenang at a restaurant called Lucky, and took ourselves and our full bellies back to the Island Ferry cafe depot.

Actually on time, we caught the rickshaw bus (two long benches in the back of a little tuk tuk) to the bus terminal. Excitedly, we saw our bus was waiting, and when we tried to get on, we were told that it wasn't quite ready. With big smiles and friendly gestures, we were offered a couple of benches to sit on to wait. We waited a few long hours until the bus was ready to take us the hour to the ferry terminal.

At the ferry terminal, we arrived just in time to see the ferry leave...the next one was at 6:30. We stood and stretched and chatted with some fellow weary travelers heading to the sun and sand. The ferry ride was gorgeous - the moon was almost full and lit the ocean with hypnotic strokes.The water was calm and it felt gorgeous to have the wind in our faces and hair.

We arrived at the Ra Ja pier at 8:30 and waited about a half hour or so for our taxi. It took us about 35 to cross the island and cruise the streets of Chaweng Beach road until we found our bungalow hotel!

A mere 12 hours later, we had arrived!