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.
No comments:
Post a Comment