Ferries, Tuk-Tuks, Busses, and Automobiles.

Half of the days spent traveling are spent, well, traveling. I often forget that getting from A to B might take you to C, D, and Everywhere else.

Leaving Koh Tao was the hardest decision I made during my 23/30 days in Thailand. This decision involved going to the Thai Immigration Offices to get my visa extended from 30 to 60 days; all it took was 1900 Baht = $52 and an hour of jumping through hoops. After two solid weeks on the island, it was exactly what I wanted from a partially sunny beach vacation.

The next adventure was getting to Khao Sok National Park. Known for its jarring mountains erupting from some "Blue ass water," its location did not make it the easiest stopover. The journey was Quoted to take 12 Hours and 15 Minutes, Including an overnight ferry, a transfer, and a Bus ride.

The ferry left at 10 pm, and the first hour was spent discussing the crucial things of life with some Germans, such as why Americans don't travel. Which was an ongoing conversation throughout my travels, but the most informative discoveries came on the stern of this watercraft glassing into the abyss. A quick summary is the cost of education and how it relates to traveling. Comparing my education costs to my fellow German ponderers, one semester of college in the US was the same cost as undergrad, graduate school, and housing for six years of school for most Europeans. This was so foreign to me before traveling, but after meeting a total of 6 Americans through my first six weeks, it started to make sense. I will discuss this cost gap in a later blog with, most likely, different Germans.

As relaxing as sleeping in a room with 80 people in bunk beds can be, adding the element of constant deck lights made for a less than-restful night's sleep. Hearing plenty of horror stories from other travelers about this crossing, my ride was pleasant and lacking in puke, which I will take. We were woken up at 6 AM for the first stop in Surat Thani, a lovely city I hoped never to return to...

Twenty Tuk Tuks waited at the dock, ready to scoop up drowsy-eyed passengers and happily overcharge them to their next destination. My ticket had me shuttled into a tuk-tuk that hopefully reached where I was trying to go. Another theme of transit days: I hope I'm in the right spot, I hope this guy knows where he's going, I hope this bus doesn't smell like pee, and I hope I don't get stranded. These many hopes led our group to a stranger's living room that was dubbed as a bus station, and the hope of a promised bus was fulfilled with a semi-pee-smelling bus to the town of Khao Sok, exactly twelve hours and fifteen minutes later.

Besides the one friend I made at my hostel, the pitstop in the town of Khao Sok was underwhelming. We discovered that we were the only two people staying there, with no staff and around thirty-eight empty bunks. Angel, from Pilar de la Horadada, Spain, was the only thing to come from this town. We talked for a few hours, mixing my limited Spanish and his better English until we returned to our bunk room.

*Spoiler*

Angel is an essential character as he reappears in these tales a month and a half later in another country.