Well today we decided to leave Ko Samui and head for the capital, Bangkok. Being nice and organised we had booked our transport in advance and a minibus was to pick us up at 12.30pm to take us to the ferry....well of course when it comes to moving around this country nothing can be straight forward!

 At nearly 1pm we were still standing outside our accommodation, watching other minibuses pick up their passengers, longing for one to pull into us..but no. Tash went back into our accommodation and asked one of the girls who worked there to give the company a call. After ringing various people she informed tash that apparently we had told them the wrong name of the hostel and so they went to a different one and as we werent there they had gone on without us. It was now going to be really pushing it to get to the ferry as it was about a 40min drive there and we had about 20mins! The joke of it was, was that we had purposely spent more on the ticket so they would pick us up!

So we hailed a cab but unfortunately half of them couldnt work out where we wanted to go. Finally a van taxi pulled up and said that he would try and get us there. Slightly more relaxed we set off...at a ridiculously slow pace!!!! He was purposely going at that speed and trying to pick up more people at the same time just so we would pay a lot more. Well I was having none of that, so we got ourselves and our stupidly heavy bags off the taxi. We thought about hailing a normal taxi but decided that they were going to rip us off and that we werent likely to make it anyway. It was time to go back to the lady we had booked it with and get her to sort it out.

We trundled off down the road and finally arrived at the office. Throwing our bags down, we approached the desk. A very sweet girl asked if she could help, but once we started babbling on about the minibus not picking us up she quickly called the other lady...who took her time getting to us. I think she was fiddling with her washing. Priorities and all that.

We told her that the mini bus hadnt collected us and she blamed us for telling her the wrong name of the accommodation...because obviously we would do that, it being so funny and all! After 10mins of arguing (she wasnt going to win this one! I think the fact that she knew that it was her that actually got it wrong helped matters. Ironically, when we booked the trip she told us that she took her job very seriously and had blamed a mix up on price details on the burmese.) she finally said that she would get us bokoed on a 3pm ferry and that all of the same pick-ups along the way would be the same.

We left the office and hopped into another taxi van and went on our way to the ferry port. Well thankfully we left when we did because it took us well over an hour to get there. we seem to pick up every tom d*** and harry! We werent that sure where to get off but I saw the port so asked the guy to stop. Unfortunately we were right up the front  and it was packed right back to the entrance. As we attempted to squeeze our bags down the isle everyone just sat and watched us. No thats fine, dont bother giving us a hand or possibly moving out the way just a tad. The driver then clearly ripped us off but I was in no mood to starting fighting over a few baht. As we struggled to cross the main road, we watched the taxi drive up the road and pull into the port itself. Not quite sure why he didnt bother to mention that he was going there.

We were told to approach the ticket booth and hand them the slip of paper the lady had given us. The girl at the counter just looked at it and told us the we had to pay an extra 180 baht as we had missed the last boat. This was getting a little tideous by this stage. We politely explained that a lady should have contacted her to tell her that we were going to be on this one instead. She didnt look impressed. Finally we got her to ring the office and speak to her. As this was all taking place, the time was rapidly disappearing from us and it was now 2.45pm. A bus pulled up to take everyone down to the boat yet she was still on the phone. We though that if we put out bags on the bus they wouldnt go without us. Thankfully she came out and gave us the tickets. We threw our bags on and took a seat. When we reached the boat we went to grab our bags off the back of the bus but the driver started to pull off. After shouting stop he finally heard us and got out laughing. Not really that funny at this stage. Two minutes later we were sitting on the ferry, excited at the thought that we could sit here for the next 1.5hrs without having to sort out our next move.

Once back on the main land, we were picked up and driven to some random stop. They have a great nack of not actually telling you where they are, so you just have to get off each time to see if this is your stop. We were put straight onto another van and driven to a cafe / tourist office. We were there for an hour so we ordered some pad thai and watched jackass. Finally some old and slightly strange guy picked us up in a mini bus and drove us to yet another random stop in the middle of nowhere. There were quite a few people waiting around. I now know what it feels like to be caught up in human trafficking. After about 45mins we were loaded onto a coach - the final port of transport to Bangkok. It was nice and empty to so had plenty of room to spread out. To make matters even better they were playing Lord of the Rings! Unfortunately as the engine started it was a little quiet to hear it properly but I watched it anyway.

At 1am they told us all to get off as this was the final stop...in fact it was the only stop. So everyone got off and stood around for 30mins munching on crisps etc. Once our 30mins were up, the driver yelled at everyone to get on the bus at once! nice guy. Tash noticed that someone had been fiddling with her rucksack. She had purposely put a blanket over it. Nothing had been taken.

We finally arrived into bangkok at 6am and we quickly got into a taxi and went to our hotel. So nice to get there and be able to get some sleep. Tash discovered a few too many hairs in her bed so just lay down on top of it.

Once we finally got up we both noticed that our main bags had been opened. My padlock had been broken off. This was still with the metal cage over it to protect it. No holding these guys back it would seem! Thankfuly nothing was taken this time (I lost a pair of jeans last time!) Its hard to prevent it from happening because they search them while the bus is moving in the storage area.

Anyway after the rather interesting journey it was great to finally be in the city! We spent the day walking around and just taking it all in. Going to the market tomorrow...15,000 stalls to keep us amused!!