From Chumporn to Koh Tao

First of all, CHUMPORN. Makes me giggle too, but we have to get over this!!! 

Thailand is FULL of PORN. Apparently, it's a popular girl's name. There was Tanyaporn Guest House, Pornpiss, Pornthip, and when you seek relief from seeing all that porn, you can get something at the:

But going back to us, and our suffering in the hands of the Thai transport system:

Henri and I learned from the people at the Tourism Agency of Thailand (TAT) office in Prachuap Khiri Khan that there's an ordinary bus to Chumporn at 6am. So we dragged ourselves out before sunrise to the bus stop only to find out that THERE IS STILL NO ORDINARY BUS where people say there will be.

What the H€LL is going on here?

But it didn't stop there. We got on a minivan instead because it was 6.10am and the other options were just as grim: 1) flag buses again on the highway with no assurance we could get a ride 2) take the train the next day. We were pissed that we had to wake up early just to find out we had no choice but to take the mode of transportation we were avoiding all along --- the worst thing was, we could have done this in the afternoon and gotten more sleep, or even visit the Buddha cave not so far away. D@mn you TAT.

And as if the day didn't suck enough, once we got to Chumporn, the ferry woman told us the fare is now 650 instead of the 550 we were told in their adverts. She said it's only 550 if you get the ticket from Bangkok plus the bus. We couldn't believe our ears: we were there, and yet we had to pay MORE than the people coming from Bangkok? That's SO...

Mali is "wrong" in Filipino.

It seemed like the Thais made it frustrating for independent travelers to go around on their own, so that they would buy into package tours and just follow the well-oiled tourist trail.

This story has a happy ending though. We got to Koh Tao, pissed but in one piece. We met a funny old lady who has bungalows in a very good location and she arranged everything to make our lives eassy while we were there. It felt like we had to deserve this, just like we had to deserve Orchha in India. You have to go through the eye of the needle, or so the saying goes.

After an afternoon on the beach, we treated ourselves to western food. Amazing pizza for me and a mouth-watering burger for Henri.

The next day, we went around the island on a scooter and discovered the far-flung beaches on the island.

Without really intending to, we got on Jax Trail and hiked past the different posh resorts, and ended up on a secluded beach.

That night we went to Koh Tao Fest, a once-a-year party with lots of music, booze, and food. It reminded us of Fete de Gigouzac :)

That night we had a visitor...

Bigger than Henri's hand, and makes night noises just as loud as the mister :)