Adventures In Transit

From Surat Thani/P...

And then there were 4...We said goodbye to Keith around half 12 today - he was flying from Samui to BKK, and then back to SF (I need to visit him and his family). We then got onto our van which took us to a pier about 30minutes away from our hotel. From the pier, we were ushered onto a bus, then a ferry, and about 90minutes later, back on the bus when the ferry arrived at Donsak in Surat Thani.

4 hours after we left our hotel, we arrived at the Surat Thani train station - very basic and very late-70s in it's flavour and colour, and not in a good way. We had about 6 hours to kill and that led to a vain hunt for a nice little deli or cafe or just some place to rest and chill out somewhere near the train station. In the end, we jumped into a taxi and headed towards Surat Thani's city centre.

I'm writing this from the Diamond Plaza Hotel - the nicest we could find from Mike's guide book - where we've checked in, showered, had a super-spicy dinner, marvelled at the hotel's dated decor, and now have another hour or so to kill before heading back to catch our train to Butterworth. Maureen, Mike & Stephen are getting some shut-eye. The room is quiet except for the sound of Stephen's blocked-nose breathing and my typing...

I'm feeling a bit physically drained and I've come to appreciate what little pills can do to help me sleep. I'm also feeling a bit emotionally drained from this wonderful experiment of letting go and letting things happen as they do.

I think I'm gonna learn how to ride a bike next...