Feb 7th was our final day in Bangkok.
Our first task was to secure Overnite Train tix to a city in the south called ‘Surat Thani’. From there we’d bus to Krabi. The plan was to rendevous with my cousin there.
Notes:
-The train was fully booked due to Full Moon (Ko Pha-Ngan’s well known monthly Full Moon party. ‘They’ve become more like a spring break booze fest than a SE Asian Burning Man’ -lonely planet).
We, however, weren’t heading to Full Moon just Surat Thani, a junction town from where ppl could travel to the islands or Krabi.
We were able to get some overnite train tickets in a sleeper car through a travel agent upstairs in the train station.
Satisfied with completing our task, we wandered in search of street vendors in Chinatown, getting a tad bit lost in the process. After grabbing a few chicken skewers and soup, we used our map to navigate our way to the closest water taxi station.
We figured, it would make more sense to fit one more activity in our day before picking up the visas and making our way back to the train station for our 7pm train.
Grand Palace
When we got to the Grand Palace, we wanted another snack. Chicken Pad Thai freshly prepared infront of us was perfect. Now if only dishes could be bigger in Thailand…
The grounds of the Grand Palace, the former royal residence, is amazing! There are huge beautiful temples and statues everywhere you turn. It took us forever to go from one area to the next because there was just so many things to take photos of and the area is massive.
It didn’t help that it was a really hot day to be outside.
The Amazing Race
It was getting late and we had to be back at the Vietnam Embassy by 4:30p.
We grabbed a cab around 3:30p but the traffic was bad. The clock was ticking and we were worried it would be a repeat of the previous day.
The cab driver knew how urgent it was to get there before closing so he suggested we take the skytrain.
We paid him and both of us ran to the station crossing the street and up the stairs.
3 stops to the train stop we needed and it was 15min till closing. In my mind we had already missed it. We planned the exit we’d run to when we got to the stop. My heart was racing.
When the doors opened we made a run for it, as fast as we could down stairs and down the street. All the locals starred at us as we ran.
When I got there we had 1 min left but we made it!!! It really did feel like we completed a leg of the Amazing Race.
We rewarded ourselves w/ croissants afterwards.
Too bad we didn’t have a chance to see Muay Thai at Lumpini boxing stadium. We only had time to rest a bit in the hostel, pick up our bags and go back to the train station.
The subway station was right by our hostel so we were at the train station right on time.
Funny train sign
These black tokens are used for the subway while a ticket is used for the skytrain system.
