Boat arrives at 4.30 in Surat Thani and we all pile off. Vicky heads to her minivan and I make my way over to the waiting area for my company. About 100 white people here, just being shipped off to various areas of the country. After a little wait I am bundled in to a tuk tuk and brought to the travel agents in the town. They have a large waiting area and it is not long before someone comes up and asks me where I am going and then writes me a ticket for the bus. I am pleased to report that no one else is going in this direction, I really have picked a good one here. Another tuk tuk to the station where I am told to wait by the minivan. There had been some talk about my potentially having to pay more because of the size of my rucksack, this is a complete joke because I'm pretty sure that my rucksack is standard size. Once I get dropped to the station the tuk tuk driver goes to talk to the minivan driver and then comes to tell me that I don't have to pay anything extra. Good stuff, it is too early and I am too tired to be getting in to a discussion about it. As usual, we have to wait until the minivan is full, so it was scheduled to leave at 7, but I think it is closer to 8 by the time we get away. I have a great seat in the back, between a Thai girl and crates of mangos. Sure it's only a short trip, 5 hours or so.
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The Thai girl beside me talks to me shortly after we get moving. Her English is not too bad, it is good to get to talk to a local Thai person, I have not had the opportunity to yet. It makes the journey pass quickly and she is very friendly and chatty. When we arrive in Trang I am asked where I want to go, bus station for me. I get there and of course don't really have a plan, I just know the name of a guest house and I have read that there are no taxis or tuk tuks that come out the bus station. So I just gear up and get ready to head to the shopping centre that I saw on the way in when I called across the forecourt and there we have a songthraew. Great. I ask about my guest house and the girl says she knows it. I ask the price and I am told 12bht, now this sounds a bit too cheap to me and so I question their understanding. The guy points to the side of the van, and right enough, there it is 12bht. I like this place already. It's about 4km in to town, but we stop and pick up some more people on the way and so it takes a little longer. Then it becomes clear that the driver doesn't know where my guest house is and so she stops at a travel agents who says it is just a short walk and so I get off. She starts asking me what my plans are, of course I have no idea and so I ask her what I can do, knowing that she will try and push some tours on me, but at least I will have an idea of what I can be at. She mentions about going to the islands off the coast and that this is what most people do. So I gather some information and then head to my hostel. It's a homely kind of place, there is an elderly woman who is being fed as I walk in, bit weird. I get to look at the room and it is basic enough, but it will do for me.
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The wifi isn't working in the hostel which is a bit of a pain and so I can't do any research on these islands. There is a night market tonight and so I head down to it, not far from my hostel. Great selection of food and crafts, I sample many things including some good old yakatori, made me reminiscent of my Japan days. It seems so long ago that I was there in Osaka enjoying my squid balls. Of course these are not as good, but very tasty none the less. I jump in to a coffee shop to grab an americano before heading back to my hostel for an early night.