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8 Decemeber
Koh Samui > Surat Thani> Krabi > Railay (all by 3.30pm!)
KIM: Up with the crack of the dawn, we were on the main road of Maenam by 6am waiting for a songthaew. We landed up catching a taxi instead. In honesty, we were in two minds about this whole journey. DIY option vs booking it through a travel agent. We realize now, public buses and diy aren't always the best way of doing things. So 80B later each, we arrived at the pier in time for the 7am vehicle ferry to Don Sak. Yes, that blasted pier 68km away from Surat Thani. Right, so 'bus included' we made it to Surat Thani for 230B. Right… so stranded where the bus likes to drop you - outside their mate's shops that sell you a ticket for another bus, the lady refused to tell us where the public bus station was. b****. Anyway, the most charming bunch of school children approached us for a tourism project they were doing. Photographs and questionnaires later, they'd directed us to the bus station (can trust the young ones) and onto our Krabi bound bus (140B - what are we on now, 450B each?) we spent 3 hours in and out of sleep on our way to the Andaman Coast.
The bus driver and his lady friend (the money collector) must've been having a bet about where we were heading as they let all their passengers out at the main bus station, but kept Mark and I aboard and shipped us out to some deserted bus station where the 'travel information' centre man tried to sell us a trip to Koh Lanta… umm, no. So back on another Songthaew (20B) we finally landed up at the Khong Ka long tail pier for long tails to Raileh East. YAY! Another 200B and we pulled into the mangrove swamp of Raileh East (thankfully warned by Kim Laz, we'll be staying on the East for half the cost but soaking up sunshine on the West). Not in the mood to shop around, we saw the sign for Phurit Valley Resort and off we walked (granted, its basically halfway up a mountain) but set in a lovely garden we are enjoying our bungalow at only 650B a night (cold shower only) but its clean and has a balcony (without a view)… it'll do. The sun shines here, so it'll definitely do!
Without hesitation we were checked in and changed and heading down to the beach for a swim. Sunset was beautiful, although the accompanying cocktails were awful, we headed back down over to the East for some dinner. 300g of grilled squid with salad, and a massaman curry with two large beers and unlimited entertainment from the array of he-she's that manage and serve in Lucky restaurant for the bargain price of 320B! Not bad…
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