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Done with southern Thailand - on to KL
(This repeats a bit from previous entry - sorry!)
After leaving Ko Samui on Wednesday (5th) we had arranged transport to Krabi. We took a boat back to the mainland then a bus to a place called Surat Thani; we arrived at around 12pm to be told we then had to wait 2 hours for the bus to Krabi. Not too pleased as we were told we would arrive in Krabi at 2pm-ish. Anyway, at around 5.30pm we arrived at a travel agent near Krabi bus station and were charged an extra 30 baht to be taken into the city centre. I think it was at this point that we started to realise our general experience in southern Thailand was not great and that people who work in the travel or retail industry just want to make as much money out of you as possible in quite an obvious way.
We found a slightly dingy hotel and made do for 1 night. The following day, Thursday, we headed for the bus station and got a ticket to Trang. Krabi is a jumping off point for getting to Ko Phi Phi which is meant to be stunning but has apparently rather suffered the effects of mass tourism. There are a few other beaches and islands nearby but not liking the vibe we just decided to move on.
Upon our arrival in Trang we were dropped at the bus station. It took us about 20 minutes to establish with various bemused looking locals that it was indeed the bus station and we were in fact in Trang. We were heading to a hostel, which according to our map was 1km away, according to all the tuk-tuk drivers it was anything from 3-6km away. Again, not wanting to be taken advantage of we researched the cost of things and knew we should pay about 20 baht for the journey. Several tuk-tuk drivers were more than happy to take us for 40 baht. One bloke offered us 30 baht but Matt being a man of principle stood his ground and asked for 20 baht. At this point it was hot, humid and the bags were heavy. I just thought for the sake of 15p we should take the ride but Matt was adamant and the guy drove off. So we walked to the hostel. Being slightly peeved I took him up on his offer to carry my backpack too. As it turns out, it wasn't even a kilometre to the place and I felt guilty and horrid as actually when I think about it I completely agree with Matt.
We spent 2 nights in Trang sussing out our next steps. Again, from here there are lots of islands to visit. However, we decided we'd had enough of southern Thailand plus the weather wasn't looking great so on Saturday we took a minivan to a place called Hat Yai, near the Thai / Malay border. We were deposited near-ish to the train station so we trundled there and were told there were no more sleeper tickets to Kuala Lumpur for that day, just sitting tickets, which we didn't fancy for an 18 hour journey. There were, of course, the ubiquitous touts buzzing around more than willing to take our cash and shovel us onto a so called VIP bus. Instead we bought train tickets for the following day (Sunday) and found a guesthouse for the night.
We caught the 14.50 Hat Yai - Kuala Lumpur train . Very interestingly the train was not actually pulled in at a platform, but instead in the middle of the tracks about 50 metres away. The guard beckoned us so we had no choice but to jump onto the track and walk along to the train. It's strange discovering what the norm is in some places. In our sleeper carriage we were 2 of 4 westerners. Our neighbours were Alain and Loan (pronounced Lo-Ann) from Montreal. They spend 6 months every year travelling! Not sure we could manage that although it got us wondering how we could fit 2 months a year in perhaps… Anyway, they're seasoned travellers around these parts and say there is a very noticeable difference between people they come into contact with in southern and northern Thailand. They much prefer visiting northern Thailand. People (taxi drivers and retailers in particular) assume rather wrongly that all tourists have loads of cash and so they will do their best to extract the most from you.
The journey to Kuala Lumpur was OK but the fact that our carriage was next to the engine and our bunks were next to the door which didn't shut properly that led to the engine made for quite a noisy journey. We stopped 40minutes in and disembarked the train (with all our bags) to cross the border into Malaysia. Quickest border crossing to date it took about an hour - record timing! I think we had about 3 hours sleep by the time we pulled into KL Sentral at 6.45am. We decided we would leave our bags in left luggage at the station to spend time searching for a decent hotel. We travelled with Alain and Loan into the centre by monorail. We looked in about 12 hotels and, in the style of a girl spending hours shopping for a dress, we ended up opting for the first one we saw.
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