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Today the aim is to get back to Bangkok so I was up at 7am and ready to roll after 3.5 hours sleep.
First mission getting to Phuket town; first I had to walk to outskirts of Patong Beach and flag down a Songtheaw this took quiet a while but eventually I got one. Arriving into Phuket town I asked about 6 people where abouts bus station was and was given 6 different answers, after an hour wondering around I hopped in a taxi bus and they dropped me at station 5km out of town. Arriving to Station the bus booking ladies greeted me with Bangkok full no bus no bus I asked around but all buses were full - s*** what to do now? I new the train station at Surat Thani went to Bangkok so I booked the first bus leaving - unfortunately they didn't tell me that just that bus ride alone would take another 6 hours before even starting the 12.5 hour train ride. The bus ride was terrible, the seats weren't bolted in and the bus almost fell apart twice! Now to make things worse I have to get from Surat Thani town to Train station - this seemed quite straightforward but turned into another 1.5 hour mission. I am incredibly tired, hungry and constantly being met by rude and arrogant Thai people - today is the first day of 2013 and it is my testing day! Turns out there are no seats left on train just standing room - deep breaths 'this too shall pass'!
And so it began the longest and most uncomfortable train rude of my life. At first I just took a seat but it soon became clear that I really had a standing ticket and the worst thing - there is absolutely no where to stand on the train little alone sit. I made my way to the end of the train and kind of hung out the back carriage. I have to be honest and say most of the Thai people had a sense of satisfaction seeing me without a seat and in uncomfort - quite a few people yelled at me for accidentally sitting in their seats. At this point I am feeling very vulnerable and alone and unfortunately the true side of these Thai people became apparent. Having said that though I did meet a few wonderful Thai people down the back of the train who I shared a bottle of Wiskey with and a few strange foods - even though we could not understand each others language we laughed and made the most of the terrible situation. Amazingly I met another foreigner from Denmark and spent the rest of the night chatting with him.
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