16 May

Sleeping late, we woke up at 09h00, finished up and took the scooter to the other side of the island where we bought tickets for the ferry to Chumporn and a bus to Bangkok. We visited some of the dive shops to look for masks that would fit. Compared to RSA the prices are really good and as we did a course through Simple life divers we were given 10% discount. We ended up buying two really nice masks for R600 a piece. We were even able to buy New BCD's for R 3000, but we decided to leave something for another trip.

With our time running out and having to be at the pier at 14h00, we headed back on the scooter to collect our bags, draw money and I went to the dive shop to have my rescue dives logged. Handing the keys back for the scooter and collecting my passport, we were faced by some problems. We had taken a taxi from the peer to our accommodation for 50 Baht pp, now they wanted 200 Baht pp! Other than that the lady at our accommodation had told me the morning that we could leave our bags without charge. When we wanted to leave she wanted half our daily rate for leaving the bags. Our time was running ou as we had to be at the pier in 10 min and still had to find an affordable lift!

Our first priority was to find transport but most of the people know that you're in a squeeze and will try to use it against you. Luckily I found a lady who was willing to take us for 100 Baht pp, we grabbed our bags and walked. I wasn't about to haggle with her after discussing it the morning and knowing she just wanted to try her luck.

We booked in for the ferry and purchased some take away to sustain us for the 3 ½ hour ferry to Chumporn. On the boat we headed to a room on the top section of the boat where we laid down our bags and settled into the nice chairs the boat had to offer us. No sooner had we settled in than one of the Thai personnel came in and joined us, he turned on the TV and continued to watch a Thai program at excessive volume levels. We stayed a bit but after the program began working on our irritation levels we stood outside to catch a little of the fresh air. Leanne was still feeling a little queasy and her ears were still blocked. At least the sea was flat and chances of sea sickness were limited, friends of ours had made the journey some time back and the sea was particularly stormy resulting in everyone on the boat developing severe sea sickness. We returned later when he left, turned off the TV and slept for a while before returning outside to where many of the other tourists we lying on the deck. Leanne then informed me that the room we were staying in was a VIP room with a cost per guest. I went down and tried to ask 4 crew members whether we had to pay and what it was before I found one who's comment was "Aircon go Boom, you no pay, is okay you stay".

On top of the deck we watched the occasional flying fish leaping from the water flying 40 or so meters before being once more submerged, they should actually have been called gliding fish if you ask me.

At 18h00 we arrived at the Chumporn jetty where a truck with three benches was waiting for us. We squeezed in 26 tourists on the bus and to say the least no one was comfortable. In Chumporn city we were informed that our bus would be 2 hours late. Considering we already had to wait 2 hours and that now being extended to 4 hours is relatively irritating. We walked around the city though a fresh produce market where we saw some prehistoric creatures (crab like) which I had seen on the TV but can't recall their names. Returning from our walk through the shops we had dinner and headed for the 7/11 for water and yogurt (our daily treat).

Back at the agents offices we rejoined the many tourists, some reading, playing cards or sleeping. I watched some movie which was near the end while Leanne continued with her reading, just before Patriot games started, unfortunately the movie had to be cut short due to the bus's untimely arrival. We boarded and started with our journey to Bangkok, another movie, Inkheart, at least it was new, we would have preferred to sleep considering it was a sleeper bus and our ETA was 05h00. The movie continued until just before 01h00 after which we settled in with our blankets to sleep. Just before reaching that long awaited time in dreamland, a blast came from behind followed by a very jerky response by the driver.

A tire had blown in the rear, we continued to drive on at about 40/50 km with the driver showing no urgency to stop. After about 4 km one of the persons seated in the rear got up and went to the driver, we later learned that he had told the driver that there were heavy black smoke and high heat that they could see and feel at the rear. We pulled into a truck stop which I am still surprised about but when we disembarked the heat and smoke were intense. There was no more tire and all that remained were the scarred remains of the tire drum which was no longer useable. They continued pouring water on the drum for 30 minutes before removing the panel above the tire which had been damaged beyond repair. For 3 h they continued to try and remove the drum in order to replace it. We watched outside for a while, but sleep was soon a more interesting thought. We woke up again when the engine started at 04h00 and we once more started on our trip to Bangkok.

At 05h00 the driver woke us all up to inform us that we had reached the one and only stop along the way. We disembarked but unlike 90% of the tourists decided not to go with the rice and something on top special being offered, just a little early for starch for us. We opted for a coconut yogurt and banana's for early morning breakfast before boarding and continuing.