Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Trip to Chanthaburi and then onto Koh Chang!

We decided to travel from Khon Kaen to Chanthaburi, spend a night and then grab the ferry to Koh Chang. We had to switch buses in Nakhon Ratchasima and literally the second that we stepped off the first bus we had a Thai guy on our butts asking us where we were heading next. We get a little suspicious of people who are too aggressive since they generally have their own agendas. This guy actually grabbed my backpack and started taking off somewhere so we had no choice but to follow. I wasn't too impressed.

As it turned out, he was actually being incredibly helpful because he took us to the exact bus that we needed to get onto and in the nick of time since it was ready to leave (and there wasn't going to be another one for a number of hours). The only negative side was that I really had to go to the bathroom and there was no time before we set off. Dammit! Luckily I was okay for a few more hours until they stopped for a bathroom break.

We made it to Chanthaburi in one piece and I made friends with a Philippino girl who lives there so she was able to help us find a guesthouse easily and give us a few tips. We spent the evening hanging out and checking out the mall. Apparently Chanthaburi used to sell gems so there were giant fake diamonds all over the bridge and many abandonned jewellry shops littered the streets. We also found the cheapest internet cafe in the world!!! Ten baht for an hour! (This is about 33 cents.)

The next morning we got up bright and early and hiked to the bus station (since we couldn't find a songthaew at that hour). The trip to Koh Chang was smooth and uneventful and when we arrived we decided to go to the Treehouse Guesthouse on Long Beach. More to come...

1 comment:

Carter said...

That must have been so scary---grabbing your backpack!

Good thing you didn't pepper spray him though.