NEWS # 075
Hi everyone!
Next morning, I'm up early and scouring the backpacker magazines. I find a
bus company, called Firefly, that would be delighted to fit my board on and
of course it would be no problem. What a welcome difference from the train.
Unfortunately, the bus was leaving relatively early, so I was unable to give
the people in the train station a piece of my mind. Had the guy said there
was a length restriction, I wouldn't even have considered the train. Such is
life.
I posted another fifteen kilos of stuff home and packed up my kit. Tanja
very kindly gave me a lift to the bus stop and then made me laugh as she
made a big spectacle of driving off, into the distance, wiping her eyes. My
board fitted in nicely and we were off.
I arrived in Sydney at around seven thirty that evening and took the local
train to the airport. And my boards, no problem! I decided to rough it at
the airport, left my bags in storage and crashed out for the night.
Friday morning and I had to check in at 0630. The guy on the counter was a
surfer, gave me a contact number if I was ever over again surfing and
checked all my gear in, no problem. I headed for the duty free and met one
of the guys I'd met in Byron, who was travelling on the same flight. We took
off, bang on time at 0845 and seven and a half hours flying time later,
arrived in Singapore. A couple of hours later and I was on the flight to
Bangkok. The service was excellent, as was the food and I enjoyed Scooby Doo
and Meet the Parents too.
Eventually I arrived in Bangkok. It was about five thirty in the evening,
getting dark and stinking hot.
Wonderful.
I arrive in Bangkok as it's getting dark and try to decide the best way to
get to the city from the airport. Carrying a longboard is not the best
option in Bangkok and I decide to leave my boards in the left luggage
department, for the princely sum of one pound a day (imagine that happening
in London!).
I decide that the bus is the best option and whilst not as quick as a taxi,
it's much cheaper, at about 100 baht (exchange rate is about 65 to the pound)
for the thirty five km journey. It takes about an hour and deposits us in
the Khaosan Road. I have met an Australian couple on the bus and they are
staying at the Royal Hotel. They suggest that I stay there too and tell me
it's relatively cheap.
There is a sort of motorised tricycle called the Tuk-Tuk, in Asia and the
drivers are reputed for ripping people off. As we get off the bus, a driver
offers us a lift to the hotel and says it will cost 70 baht. As we feel it
is close, we decline. He then drops the price to 10 baht - it's just around
the corner! Unfortunately, the price in 1000 baht a night, too much for me
and I get a taxi to Phra Arit Road and go in search of accommodation, which I
find at 120 baht for a double room. It's not the cleanest I've been to but
no worse than South America. I am exhausted after my long flight and I crash
out pretty much straight away.
Seeya,
Halesy