Bangkok & Train, Saturday, November 14, 2009

Up at 8:30, stretched and showered. Read some more and backed up my photos and diary. About 9:45 I walked to the nearest cafe on the main road and had a bowl of soup, with wide noodles, some veggies and several kinds of meat: beef, chicken and fish, for 40B. I planned on getting on the internet at the Coffee Art, but they weren't open. I checked back later,and they didn't open all day. When I first came down the street, I saw a young man on a stretcher who was quickly carried off in the ambulance. A car had knocked down his scooter at the intersection. He looked good, so hope it wasn't serious, and hope it wasn't anyone connected with the Coffee Art shop.

After the soup I was still hungry, so I went into a 7-11 and bought a liter of vegetable and fruit juice, for 43B. Didn't notice it was only 40% juice til after I bought. It was very sweet. Probably had sugar added. The ingredients list was in Thai. I also stopped at a second cafe to buy their toasted rice cookies, 3 five cookie packages, and some jam in small crackers, for 30B total.
Trish called about 10:30 and we had a nice talk. She was able to attend the concert where our neighbor, Georgina, sang.

A little later in the morning I walked down to Big C and bought a six pack of Pepsi, a liter of OJ, a bag of green curry with chicken, 2 little bags of rice, a bag of creme cookies, and a small tray of cooked noodles, for 174B. I ate the noodles first, along with some rice cookies and crackers.
About noon the thunder started, then the rain came down heavy for 20 minutes or so. Within an hour the rain had stopped.

I called a friend recommended by the singer in Bill's combo. Her name is Bovie and she owns or works at the Ocean View Resort in Ko Phangan. She said the weather is expected to be calm for the next 4 days. Monsoon rains are normal in November. She also recommended the boat I took, and the name of a resort on Ko Tao.

About 1 I called Roger to ask about the DVD player. He didn't know what was wrong. Later in the afternoon I watched 'Gathering Storm' and just read the subtitles. Later, I was able to get the settings right for 'The Taking of Pelham 123' and was able to hear it in English.

After noon the washers were free, so a washed a load, for 20B. I hung the clothes all over Roger's apartment and kept the fan running.

Oye, Bill and Ben, 2, now known as Elf by his family because of his elfin ears, came in for a short visit, before Bill had to go to work. Oye wanted to know what I can eat because her family wants to make something for me when I visit. I don't want them to go out of their way. I told Bill I might take the train to Chumphon tonight. They run only at night.

I ate the green curry and one bag of rice, and a Pepsi for dinner, and watched the 2 movies. Then I packed enough for the trip and closed my suitcase, and left it in Roger's apartment. He isn't expected to be there before I leave Thailand.

I left about 6 and got into a bus which was stalled in heavy traffic, and paid the 7B fare. I expected light traffic because there should be very little commute on Saturday, but I had forgotten that people go out on Saturday night. The traffic in the other direction was moving fine. Took nearly an hour to get down to the next street, Sukhumvit. The ticket taker asked where I was going. She said 'fourteen' and held up 4 fingers. She looked in the next lane and motioned for me to get on that bus. It was a number 40, and the ticket taker said 'yes' when I asked if they were going to the train station. I paid the 14B fare. The traffic was mostly stopped. Most of the passengers got off and walked, although others got on. After another hour, with very little progress, I got off at a BTS station. It was the Asok station, the transfer point for the MTS. So I kept walking down to the subway and took the 20 minute ride to the huge Hua Lamphong Train Terminal. The next train to Chumphon was at 10:50, almost 2.5 hours away. I knew the train was after 10, but didn't want to wait til the last minute to arrive and possibly find the seats sold out. The agent showed me a pamphlet advertising a joint ticket. One price for travel to Ko Tao, which is where I wanted to go. The joint ticket cost 1030B, about the same as buying separate tickets, for the train, bus and boat, but the convenience was enough reason to buy there.

While waiting I had a Burberry shake, for 20B. Tasted good. Mostly chopped ice.
The train left within 4 minutes of the departure time. I had both seats the entire trip. The sleeper car must have been full because I wasn't offered that ticket. The AC was too cold. I had 2 blankets. I used one for a cover and the other for a cushion, because the seats are hard plastic.I couldn't stretch out, so I slept very little. Had to keep moving around to avoid cramping.

So my outlay for today is 1378B, $41, plus some baht deducted from my MTS card.