Sunday night, just like the
Wednesday before, I arrived to the Bangkok international airport to pick up
another member of our travel crew: my youngest sister, Jennifer. Caroline and I were still exhausted from our
previous night’s adventure on Khao San Road with friends from our hostel, and
were unfortunately not enthusiastic Bangkok liaisons when Jennifer
arrived. We were thrilled to see her,
but also excited for an early bedtime of 2 AM.
We had already decided that we
would wake up early Monday morning, and take a Bangkok triple threat of
transportation - SkyTrain, metro, and bus - to visit the kingdom’s old capital,
Ayutthaya, which is about an hour outside of the city. Afterwards we planned to return to the
hostel, shower, pack our belongings and catch an overnight train to southern
Thailand to begin our beach portion of the trip.
That was the plan.
Enter: South East Asian
Shenanigans.
We woke up “on time” at 7 AM, and
after a quick group census we decided that “a few more minutes” of sleep would
be fine. After getting dressed, eating
breakfast, and finally getting out the door the clock read 10 AM, a much more
humane hour for such adventures. We got
to Ayutthaya around 12:15 PM and promptly began haggling the nearest driver for
a two-hour tour of the ancient ruins.
After settling on a price, we were off.
We visited Ayutthaya Historical
Park, Wat Yai Chaya Mongkol (The Temple of Auspicious Victory), and Wat
Chaiwatthanaram, Wat Phra Mahthat that were important locations when the capitol
resided here many generations ago. Although
they were all impressive, they ranged in levels of preservation which made
appreiciating them difficult at times.
At one point we were staring at a small boulder that they said used to
be shaped like a meditating Buddha…hmm, okay…?
Touring the city for two hours in
the scorching sun quickly exhausted us, and we were ready to leave and catch
our minibus back to Bangkok. Our driver
dropped us off at a train station in Ayutthaya where we realized that the only
train was not going to leave there for another hour and a half – that
definitely was not part of our plan. We
quickly ran out and found our driver enjoying an ice cold Coke with his new
earnings still warm from our purses, and asked him to take us to the minibuses
– a crisis was closely averted.
After what seemed like forever in
the minibus, presumably because the airflow was minimal to non-existent, we
arrived at Victory Monument in Bangkok. We
then headed to our hostel where we showered, packed, and ate dinner. Our train wasn’t going to leave for another
two hours, so we relaxed and leisurely prepared for our departure. We should have known better.
When we arrived at the train
station we learned that there were “no tickets for train”, “today bus gone”,
and “only tomorrow” – there was no way to get to Surat Thani tonight. Great!
This was definitely not part
of our plan.
Thankfully, all of the buddhas we
paid tribute to earlier in the day came through for us and got us the last
three tickets on a bus for farangs
(always a good sign…) and we arrived in Krabi Province in no time. From there, we got a boat to Koh Pu since Koh
Phi Phi sounded too touristy for the post-Bangkok bliss we were searching for
on the Andaman Sea. To be honest, there are too many islands to choose from & I'm sure we could have found paradise amongst many of them!
Like my time in Koh Ta Kiev back in
March, the perfect days in our island paradise melted together. Each morning we would wake up and trade the
comfort of our bungalow for the comfort of our hammocks where we could listen
to the waves crashing against the sand.
Our
days at Luboahut were spent alternating between lounging on the beach and passing endless
hours swinging under the shaded trees, which afforded us a magnificent view of
the open water. Luckily for us, the entire side of the island
was in “low season”, which meant we only had to share it with two other
individuals…not too shabby!
It was an incredible few days, and
our biggest concern was when we should leave for our next island
adventure. We opted to leave early
Saturday morning and catch a bus, taxi, and overnight ferry to Koh Tao, which
is a famous island located on the opposite side of the country in the Gulf of
Thailand and known for their scuba diving and party scene. Let the festivities begin!
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