A 24-hour Journey, With Smelly Feet

19 July

For 1350 Baht, I managed to score taxi-boat-bus-minivan-bus transfer from Hat Rin to Kuala Lumpur - if calculated correctly, that would be some 1000km by land. The travel time was 24 hours that started at 6am.

While the boat was a real sleep-in, the bus to Surat Thani was not - my stomach acted up. Was it all the chicken sandwich at Hat Rin? Or was it an over dose of last night bucket of vodka-Red Bull-orange juice? Either way, my tummy was feeling a revolution that would put the Vietnam War to shame.

That aside, I felt like I (along with a dozen other travellers) felt like we were being hustled by the locals, as we were all transferred by bus, tuktuk, motorbike from one travel agent to another. Everyone had at least two travel-agent-interchange, while I said the whole hello-goodbye-where-the-fuck-are-you-taking-me-now thrice. There was no scam involved, but it was their own way of getting to know tourist and agitating them at the same time. Apparently, with so many tourists in Thailand, they've done this one to perfection.

So finally, minivan to Hat Yai arrived, only to stop 15 minutes in the roadtrip. Our driver spoke no word of English, but he managed to tell us that the van stank of smelly feet. Let's see, 11 persons travelling for 2 weeks, from the beach, 8 hours late in the day...that would lead to the conclusion that WE ALL FRIGGING STANK! The only solution was to douse the whole van with air freshener. At least we all felt Meadow Spring-fresh almost instantly.

We arrived in Hat Yai at 6pm, then transferred to another minivan that will drop us off at Butterworth. Arrived in Butterworth at 11pm to catch the bus to KL. Arrived in KL at 6am. After this bit, the 6-hour bus ride to Baguio should be easy as pie.

NB. The buses are very comfortable though - I personally think that the buses had seats that were wider and reclined more than PAL's Mabuhay class. In all honesty, my bus rides were more comfortable than my plane ride back home.