January 07, 2019

Day three – Monday 7th

Another day of wow! This place never stops amazing us. 

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After a night of limited jet lagged sleep by both of us, today we had to scrape our stuff together and pack up our bags. How did we get so much additional stuff in two days.? I managed to buy two pairs of Kalvin Clien (!) classy authentic pants from a street market and Michelle bought two skirts. How come the bags are bulging now..?!

The big plan today was to check out of the hotel, finish our local sight seeing and head south to Phuket. Train and bus booked yesterday so we spent lunchtime online with booking.com, last minute.com and others to book a good rate hotel near Kata beach in Phuket. A quick wander along the river later and then off to the train station. Loving this bartering thing with everyone. Taxi driver says 400 baht. 

I say 200, 

he says 300 

I say 200 

he drives off..! 

So try again.. – eventually get to the station with 2 hours to spare. Bloody incredible place. Massive station, very busy but at 6pm a whistle blows and we all stand and face a picture of The King. .. I resist the temptation to salute. ! We 

This is such an exciting part of the trip. Overnight train to Phuket. Pronounced Puket NOT Fukit which I have been minded to do this week.!

I am now writing this part lying on the bottom bunk on the train heading hundreds of miles due south nearer to the equator. Train is much better than expected. We are in a second class soft bed air conditioned carriage with Michelle having the top bunk ticket and me the bottom. We cheated and are cosying up on the bottom together.. You can imagine us two giggling like school kids inside our little ‘cave’ once the curtains were drawn.

To convert the bedroom from seats a very nice man in a crisp uniform shirt arrived and one by one converted the 20 or so beds in this carriage. You know those ‘Transformers’ that kids have? Transform a car into an aeroplane? Well it’s just like that. …but without the wheels….or the wings..!

  Toilets are a bit shabby but otherwise good. Clean sheets, well looked after and an airline style supper. There are lots of staff who are helpful, speak a little English and make us feel welcome. 

Cost 1700 Baht = £44 roughly.! That’s for both of us overnight with beds for (not sure how many) hundreds of miles. AND we didn’t have to pay for a hotel room. Win win. We recommend this.

It’s far more fun than a plane though sleep is still evading us.