Day 54 - Thursday, April 7 - the journey to Cambodia begins

I woke with a brainstorm.

Screw the flight.

I had a new plan.

I checked out of Palita and caught a noon boat from Thong Sala Pier to Surat Thani (the mainland) with a quick stop at Samui. The more I read about it and the more I hear people talk about Samui, I think I made an excellent decision to scrath it from my itinerary. I arrived in Surat Thani at 4:15PM and waited at the pier until 6:00PM at which time the bus to Bangkok was scheduled to leave. Of course it left at 6:00PM, THAI TIME, a little late. I tried to book a train, but it was sold out. I think with the Thai New Year rapidly approaching, everyone is scrambling to get to their party scene in time. My time on the boat was spent with a few Germans (Chrischan, Serena and Kayla), most of the time sitting on the bow of the boat soaking in the last of the Gulf of Thailand rays. Once at the Pier, Chrischan left us as he was on a different bus to Bangkok and we met Nico and Janis, some more Germans. The 5 of us got prime real estate on the bus and chatted most of the way until it was time to "sleep".

Listen to this deal: If I did the flight thing, I would have to spend 700 baht for my room tonight at Palita, 100 baht for the boat to Samui in the morning, 50 baht for a taxi to the airport, and 3500 baht for the flight to Bangkok.

This way, the whole trip which included the boat to Surat Thani, the overnight bus remember, this also saves a bungalow / hotel expense for the night as well as transports you) was 500 baht. I'm getting very good at being a "budget traveler".

The bus arrived in Bangkok at 4:15AM and I quickly rounded up anyone who needed a place to stay and we (4 of us - me, 2 of the German guys as the girls already had a place booked, and one Italian guy living in Germany) took a cab (not a tuk tuk) to Shanti. I wasn't so sure I needed my "fancy" room with air con being that I was trying to book a bus or plane to Cambodia in a few hours so I took one of the 3 beds in Nico and Janis's (the 2 Germans) room with fan which was 300 baht for the night (100 baht a person).

It was very sad to be off the islands but something very comforting to be back at Shanti.

I'm still deciding on where to stay when I come back to Bangkok next week. I think I may scrath the idea of staying in a nice hotel and just come back here. After all, it's where I started the journey and think it's where I need to end. The only thing a nice hotel will provide is probably a pool and if I get that hot, I can jump into the dirty river with the kids who use it to bathe.

I twisted and turned in my stickiness and eventually fell asleep knowing that my internal alarm clock will wake me up way before any travel "agency" would open. I'm hoping Rochelle, the young girl who runs Shanti's travel center, decides to open at a decent hour as sometimes she decides to sleep in and open at her leisure.