Our final morning in Singapore and it was time to get packed up and ready for our flight to Thailand our final destination!!!
Our morning was very nice, omelettes for breakfast, playing with the dog and Paul going to check the tennis courts to see if they were free! Unfortunately they weren’t available……such a shame. Sally had made us a packed lunch for our travels which was fantastic, sandwiches/crisps/fruit/CHOCOLATE.
After saying cheerio to the Harris family and thanking them for a great weekend it was back to the airport.
Once we arrived at the airport we checked our bags in. Everything is automated here which is great and there is no hassle! Becky spotted some scales so we checked the bags and then I jumped on to see how much damaged 6 weeks of eating rice and drinking beer every day had done. It wasn’t great. I won’t say what it was but I will say I’m going on a fitness regime the minute I get back.
Becky was killing some time browsing the duty free when small Asian girl around 10 walked right up to her and just stood staring. She didn’t know what to do, looking at me then back at the girl and it was a very intense staring game she had, examining every bit of her face. Becky looked at me thinking what the #@#*, I just had to laugh and walk away as I couldn’t take it, leaving Becky with this little girl.
There was still time because the airport was so efficient. we took a seat and I clocked a table football so I challenged Becky to a game. She was wanting to write the blog as we were behind a few days (sorry gran there was no internet in the jungle!) But it was first to 3 goals. Turned out to be best of 5 games with 10 goals in each game deciding the winner. It was intense game and even some people stood around us watching, the sweat was dripping off us and it wasn’t even outside! I won the first two games just with Becky making a comeback in both. Her fatal mistake was never moving the goal keeper 🙈 her point was it’s only one person on it so why move it. 😂 On the third game a bet was made. Winner takes all with the loser writing the blog for the day’s missed. I couldn’t resist a bet and knowing I won the last two games I felt confident. However Becky started to use the goalkeeper……I shouldn’t have said anything before and it would have been even more comfortable……I won 10-6. Very close game with some choice words being used on both sides of the table when there was “luck” involved.
The airport here is amazing!!! So posh, even the loo’s could have been fit for photographs but we didn’t want any more funny looks!!!
As we arrived in Krabi the challenge begins. Our job was to get to Surat Thani and get a boat to Koh Tao. It was clear… Bus from Krabi airport to bus station……bus from there to Surat Thani and then get ticket for night ferry to arrive in Koh Tao at 5am. Seems simple. A bit different from the high tech, clean and organised Singapore, the shutter bus our bags just piled up randomly behind the driver
It was pretty simple, we were chucked off the bus as we got into Surat Thani after around 5 hours. Sally’s packed lunch was a lifesaver and was demolished on the bus! We were dropped at some makeshift ticket office for the ferry, we opted to carry on walking and get some legit tickets at the pier. As we walked along the road the bins had all been put out, a rat ran almost across our feet!
At the pier there were lots of street food stalls, even a little theatrical show,
after a walk along the front and a stop for a drink we found the ticket booth immediately next to the boat. The tickets were the same cost as the makeshift booth and she wasn’t budging on the price, we tried to find out what other travellers had paid but they had booked it as part of a package. Once on the boat we couldn’t help but laugh. Sardines was the only word for it, each passenger was allocated a yoga mat sized bed and the boat was full-150passengers. This 8 hour boat journey is going to be horrific. Then we spotted that at the end there were some full sized single beds on the top bunks with their own fans. I went to enquire about these but the lady either didn’t understand me or had no interest.
10 minutes later she came onto the boat and said 2 of the VIP beds were available but they would cost 200baht.for 2.. The best £5 spent all trip! We then started a trend, passengers trying to pay for the last available beds just to bag a decent night’s sleep. The next challenge was trying to brush our teeth, with no sink in board and only 2 holes in the floor toilets we brushed our teeth over the side of the boat!
I slept well, except the fan from the next bed was a bit chilly! David slept for around 2 hours which was an improvement from the sleeper bus.
South East Asia 2019 