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Bus vs. Jungle

Pop quiz, which is worse getting lost in the jungle at dusk or taking two back to back overnight 11+ hour bus rides? This is a harder question than you think. Had I actually stayed the night in the jungle then we might have a clear winner... MIGHT.

Since I had my fill of Koh Phangan with the full moon party and jungle adventure, I decided it was time to head myself north. First stop: Bangkok. Things work a little bit different in Thailand when you want to travel. I think it's because everyone wants a piece of the action and the only way to do that is to have each person, going to the same place, go to a different place. Step one you have to pick a travel agency. This is the easy part because there is at least one probably more on every block. The travel agency will then give you a ticket that you exchange for a sticker at the boat dock.

You'll start the trip together, everyone gets on the same boat off the island. When you reach the mainland, there is a mob of tuk-tuk drivers (motorcycle taxis) waiting. As soon as you grab your bag, you just have to start walking and the taxi drivers come to you. They will read your sticker and put you with a five others in a specific truck. Then the truck takes each person to a different destination, which is another travel agency. Out you get and wait until the next departure in which a taxi picks you up and takes you to a central location, where you see everyone you saw on the boat. Then everyone onto the bus.

My ultimate destination was Chang Mai. However this requires an overnight bus to Bagkok then another overnight bus to Chang Mai.

Overnight Bus 1: This one seemed to be ok, initially. Not real comfortable, and not very easy to sleep but the ac was cranking and they provided each seat a blanket, so that's good. No, actually it isn't. Because when I finally got to Bangkok, had my backpack on and started wandering I noticed I was especially itchy. I lift my shirt to find I had been struck with a localized case of the chicken pox. However, I have already had chicken pox, which leads me to believe that someone mixed up the stray dog's blanket with mine and gave me the blankie with fleas. That's the only thing I can come up with. I'm not sure if it's related but I also got a mystery rash on my legs and felt a bit nauseous all day.

Overnight Bus 2: This one was the opposite of bus 1. We started off really bad, but ended ok. I was the last pickup on this particular bus which means Derek goes to the back of the bus for the available seat...next to the drunk fellow. He seemed harmless enough because he was literally passed out. The first sign of life was Drunk Johny(DJ) shivering in a fetal position. I don't think he noticed every ac vent was open and pointed at him. I being the gentleman I am was more than happy to offer him my blanket. DJ worked extremely hard for the next couple of minutes to do or say something but was never quite able to find the... well any words really. Instead he leaned over into the space between us in the vomit position. Don't worry, thankfully nothing happened. In the end the only real issue was DJ's tendency to stretch and settle his legs deep within my personal bubble. There were a couple other highlights to this trip like the bus driver stopping the bus for about an hour in the streets of Bankok yelling at someone or something. I was a little distracted at the time so I never really found out what was going on there.

I am happy to say I am now in Chang Mai-Northern Thailand. Tomorrow I will give the jungle a second go, except this time on the back of an elephant. Still have about 50 bumps on the right side of my torso (which is sure to impress the ladies at the waterfall swim), and traces of a mystery rash. However, I have my own bed tonight, and decided to go ahead and spend extra $2.50 for room with a hot shower. Needless to say I won't be able to blog for a couple of days, but I might have a story or two when I get back Ele-treckin. Until then...

posted by Travelin' D @ 8:12 AM