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Last day in Bangkok was really tough. I couldn't sleep till 3.30am but I had to get up at 9am. I went out to get some ice cofee and fruit for a light breakfast. I got two cans of cofee cos I figured I'd need them to stay awake. Came back to the hotel, had a shower and packed. It took a while because I wanted to squeeze my small backpack into the big one. It felt so heavy again but Iafter I checked out I managed to leave at the hotel for a day for a small fee of 30Baht.
Luggage free I was able to go out a do some sight seeing. However I had lunch first. MOre noodles. After lunch I wasn't able to move. I was sooooo sleepy. I decided to stay in a lounge for abit and relax but it was a trap. I could feel I was falling asleep no matter what. But as I had no room to go back to, I couldn't. So I knew I have to go out. It was 3pm by that time and I my train wasn't leaving till 8pm. I decided to catch an express boat to the Wat Pho, the temple of the reclining Buddha.
It turned out to be a good decision as I managed to wake up a bit. Boat tickets are really cheap, 13-25Baht depending on a boat so money wise it also worked out well.
Wat Pho is really pretty (photos coming up soon) but I think that when you saw one Wat you saw them all. I can't pretend that I'm amazed everytime I visit a new one. They are all alike and Ican't spend too much time in them. Still it was a nice afternoon trip.
When I got back to the hotel I bumped into a friendly Thai guy from Phuket who was manning the internet cafe. We chatted the day before and he advised me to get some food and water prior getting on the train. It turned out to be a very valuable advice as food on the train looked not very apetizing and they seemed to only have beer, no water.
Hw also told me how much a cab to the traing station should cost (80 Baht tops). As the cab drivers in Bangkok ALWAYS try to rip you off it gave me a good starting point for negotiation.
Barganing hard, I managed to get the price down to 90B which was still a good result baring in mind that four drivers rejected my offer. We were stuck in gigantic traffic so I decided to be nice and pay a hundred. The driver wasso pleased that he couldn't stop saying thank you to me. And initally that wanted to charge me 200 Baht which only proves how much they are ripping the unaware tourist off.
I got to the Hua Lamphong station 45 minutes before departure (way too early). The train information guy looked at my ticket and went like : "GO Go Go" so I thought that maybe the train was to leave early. But no. It was almost empty. I found my seat and at that time I was the only person in my carriage which got a bit worried. But I kinda knew that all the westeners gonna arrive a bit later. And indeed they did. The train was full and I had a group of American women on a south east Asia tour all around me. They were loud but fun, and had lots of stories to share.
By that time I was so tired and sleepy that I couldn't wait for train staff to come and make my bed. But it didn't happen till around 9.30-10pm.
While I was waiting patiently and nodding off I noticed a cockroach. A small one. But it gave me an idea what I could expect at night. I was not disappointed.
Finally our bunk beds were made, i climed into mine and realised that I'm not sleepy any more. I listened to my relaxation cd but still no joy. So got out my lovely head torch and decided to read. It was agood idea in principle but unfortunately I saw cockroach going vertical on a wall by my feet. This made me a bit paranoid. How on Earth am I going to sleep with a roach as a room mate? I kept on reading. Then I saw another, smaller one, by the side of my bed. And then all the lights went out. I knew I had two options: panic, scream and run away (but where to?!?) or calm down and just let it be. I did the latter. I kept on reading, went for wee, and than lied down and bravely turned off my headtorch. Full of positive thoughts I eventually fell asleep. Very late again.
They woke us up around 6am even though we were not due in Nong Khai till 8.30am. I open my curtains but stayed in bed till 7.30. Chatted with the American and then eventually at 8.45 I arrived in Nong Khai:)
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