Sunday 20 September 2015

Day 332: Back on tracks, part 15

The alarm went off at 5.15am and we were packed and downstairs for our 6am taxi to the airport. After checking in, we went upstairs to the only café in the airport, where we joined the queue of people trying to spend the last of their local cash on some pretty average pastries.

Our flight was pleasantly uneventful and after the plane had landed in Bangkok, and we had gone through the immigration formalities and grabbed our bags, we stood around for a while deciding what to do with ourselves. Our train south to the islands didn't leave until the evening, and we had planned to just go to the station to wait, but it occurred to us that the airport was both air-conditioned and teeming with wifi-enabled cafes, so we opted to stay there instead. We sat in a waiting area for a while and then went next door to Amazon Coffee, where we got coffees for Kate and me, some pastries for the girls and the all-important wifi password. And there we sat for several hours, switching spots when a place on the couch (which had a power outlet adjacent to it) became available (and ordering one more coffee so we wouldn't get thrown out). 


In the meantime, Kate visited a couple of tourist information counters, where she was given conflicting advice about the best way of getting to the train station. She was pointed to the station just outside the airport by one, but also told that she would be better off getting a bus and the subway. When lunchtime rolled around, we headed upstairs to a little restaurant where we had some pretty decent fried rice, red curry and rice noodles. After lunch, we went downstairs and over to the train station. It turned out that there was some truth in both pieces of advice – the train was significantly cheaper and easier than taking the subway and bus, but had we arrived at the wrong time, we would have had to wait for a significant length of time. As it happened, we only had a 25-minute wait and were soon at the main station. We set ourselves up in the waiting area and then Kate and I took turns to check out our dinner options. Kate returned to report that she had found a KFC outlet just outside and a 'food hall' just inside. I checked out the latter, but thought it too grim for words, so went outside and across the street, where there were some cute little restaurants with outdoor seating (and draught beer). We decamped to one of these and while I ordered some pad Thai and a red curry for Kate and me, she took the girls back to the station to get some KFC.





When we had finished Kate and I left the girls in the restaurant while we ran around the corner to a 7-11 to get some snacks. By the time we got back, it was getting near to the time when the train was due to leave, so we went back inside and climbed aboard. This train had a slightly different configuration to any we've been on so far - open plan, with the beds aligned along the carriage in groups of four and a central corridor. The lower beds were formed by sliding the seats down, as in the Burmese train, but these ones slid down rather more effectively. What was also a little different (and most welcome) was the fact that the train attendant came along and made our beds for us.




Adjacent to us was a boisterous Italian family – two adults and three children: two boys and a girl. On talking to them, we discovered that they were supposed to be a party of six, but the other parents, to whom the girl belonged, had been forced to return early when their older child, who wasn't travelling with them, had fallen ill.

We have a very early start tomorrow, so as soon as our beds were made, we got ready for bed, climbed in and drew the curtains. Unfortunately, I had a lot of trouble sleeping – I was in a top bunk and the lights were left on all night and the curtain was on a rail that was close to but not at the ceiling, and hence not very effective at keeping the light out.

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