We got up this morning and decided to go to the hot springs that are near by Krabi. AFter breakfast, we asked the guest house lady about the bus to the hot springs, and she told us there was no bus to the hot springs, we had to take a taxi or rent a motorbike. We thought she was full of it, because we had seen lots of busses (buses?) with Hot Springs written on them the previous day, so we stood outside and waited for one. She didn't know what she was talking about! So, we waited, and waited, and waited. Bus after bus went by, none of them to the hot springs. Hmm, I guess she's right. We deduced that maybe the hot spring buses only run on the weekends.
So, a change of plans!! We cancelled our room for tonight and decided to catch the next bus to Bangkok instead, which left at 4:00PM, and arrived in Bangkok at 6:00AM the following morning (14 hour bus trip!) While we waited for the truck to pick us up at the guest house, we did some more laundry, walked around Krabi some more, sat in the guest house and vegged, mailed some postcards, etc.
The "sawngthaew" (the pickup-come-bus service) got to the guest house early, and took us to the bus, and we hopped on. A couple of other Canadian's (Laurie and Darryll) from Bellville, Ontario were sitting right across from us, so we talked a bit, then Court and Laurie decided to hop off and run to the store and get some snacks for the bus trip. They were gone for a few minutes, then the bus driver hopped in, and started driving away. I went up the front of the bus, and tried to get the bus driver to stop, but he wouldn't. I tried to explain that there were two more, they just went into the store, we had to wait, but he wasn't waiting. Finally, I got him to stop a couple of blocks later, and told him we'd go get them, and we'd be right back. So, off Darryl and I ran, and found Court and Laurie a couple of blocks back, wondering where the bus went. We called them our way, and told them to run, the bus was waiting, and we all ran back to the bus, but when we got there, the bus was gone!! Laurie freaked!! All of our stuff was on the bus (everything...money, passport, clothes, credit cards...everything!), and it had left for Bangkok without us!!! She became a total nutcase. Both Laurie and Darryl were scared shitless. They couldn't believe it. Court and I were laughing at the absurdity of the situation. Here we were, stuck in Krabi, with virtually no money, and all of our stuff on the a bus to Bangkok. To Court and I, it was nothing more than an adventure, we both knew we'd eventually get our stuff back, we weren't really worried (and worrying won't help the situation, so why freak about it?)
We walked back to the ticket counter, and talked to the ticket guy, and Laurie started freaking on him, and he kept saying, "Don't worry, everything ok. Everything under control.", but Laurie wouldn't believe it. The bus had left with everything, that's all she knew. It was actually pretty funny. The ticket guy then pointed to a "sawngthaew" that had just pulled up, and told us to get on it, that the "sawngthaew" would take us to the bus, but Laurie still was a nutcase, she just wouldn't believe the guy. We hopped on, and of course, the mini-bus took us to another bus stop where our bus had stopped, and was waiting for more passengers. When we pulled up, the bus driver that had driven away on us, chuckled...he was waiting for us to show up, he knew everything would be ok, it was like it was a joke for him. I laughed along with him, but Darrell wasn't too amused, he tried to ask the driver why he drove away without waiting (the bus driver didn't reply...me and him were having a good laugh about the whole thing).
At this bus terminal, we had to exchange our reciept for a sticker that we stuck to our shirt that indicated our destination. For some reason, the lady behind the desk decided she's stick it go Courtney's boob herself, instead of handing it Courtney. Court walked away laughing that the lady touched her boob.
Oh, I should mention that the bus looked like it was designed in a 70's drug induced frenzy...very colorful patterns!
That was more excitment than we'd had in a long time!!!
Anyway, we had to wait for about 45 minutes for the bus to actually truly leave Krabi, and it took us to another bus stop somewhere (Strattsomethingorother), where we had to change busses. This was about 11:30 at night. We had to wait about an hour for that bus, so we had something to eat, and finally the bus came, and we hopped on.
This bus smelled like piss, and we had to sit right next to the toilet at the back of the bus. Courtney, being the ever resourceful girl she is, stuck toothpaste up her nose, she wouldn't have to smell the piss, instead would just smell minty fresh toothpaste.
When the bus driver was ready to leave, he put it in gear, and stalled it. He started it back up, and tried again, and barely got it going, it jerked along. Once he was out of the bus terminal, he had to make a U-turn in the middle of a busy highway, and he stalled the bus again. He got it going again, then stalled it again! Cars were honking their horns at the bus driver. Finally the bus driver jerked the bus into motion, and he drove about two blocks, then pulled over, and he and the other bus dude got out, tools in hand (flashlight, screwdriver and crowbar), and opened up the trunk of the bus (where the engine was), and started "tinkering" with the engine. The bus kept stalling on them, and made really weird noises when they switched gears. So, these guys were gonna fix it. They "tinkered" for about an hour, then finally finished, and shut the trunk down, and started on the way. They didn't really fix it, every time they switched gears, the tranny would grind loudly.
Too make matter worse, there was an old man sitting across from Courtney who snored really loudly, and made really strange (loud) noises when he slept. I'm sure the guy sitting beside him was appreciating it.
The rest of the bus trip was uneventful, but I am kind of surprised that the bus made it Bangkok, although a little late.
A few other things I remembered throughout the day:
When Court and I rented that motorbike and went to Tha Pom for the day, on the way back, we decided to see how fast we could make the bike go. So, on a straight stretch, I turned her all the way up. WE got up to about 80km/hour, when Courtney started screaming, and yelled, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, my feet are vibrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!", but I kept going! We got to almost 100 Km/hour when slowed it down, but it would've done more. I'm impressed!! BTW, we had helmets in Krabi, and we looked like dorks.
I don't remember if I told you all about Courtney's popsicle in KL. On the day where we got lost, we stopped at little shop and got a snack. Court got a popsicle that she thought was strawberry or something, but it was bean flavoured. She tried to eat it, but it was just too disgusting.
Over and out!
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