Hello from Phuket

We spent the day before yesterday in Bangkok, trying to work out some travel plans. As we have mentioned in previous posts, we have been exploring different places to replace Madagascar on our itinerary. Some kind and resourceful friends have been working on our going to South Africa and Lesotho. Things are looking promising there, so we set out to change our tickets before we left Bangkok. We took a taxi to the Delta Airlines ticket office in Bangkok, but found the building to be vacant. Luckily there was a nice travel agent nearby who gave us directions to office's new location. We expected that making any changes to the tickets would require a lot of time. Agents are not used to seeing itineraries this complex. The last time we changed our tickets, it took a team of agents about two days to get things worked out.
We were sad to find out that there were no flights leaving out of Bangkok on route to S. Africa. We tried all sorts of different airlines and routings, to no avail. Luckily, the agent was willing to explore options with us. She suggested that we could fly out of Singapore, through Paris on our way to Johannesburg. She mentioned that we should be able to fly from Bangkok to Singapore for $25 each or so. Just before we had to leave to catch our bus to Phuket, our new tickets were finished. We were very appreciative of the ticket agent's efforts, and were well aware of the rules she had to break to make things happen. Here I am with our new tickets, and new friend.

We will be leaving Singapore on the 15th of March, Arriving in Johannesburg on the 17th of March. We are looking at taking a train from Chiang Mai, Thailand to Singapore. This would give us the opportunity to stop in Malaysia for a day or two before spending a couple of days in Singapore.

We had paid "VIP Bus" tickets to take us from Bangkok to Phuket. After all of the scams we have had to endure around here, we were skeptical that a VIP bus would actually show up to pick us up. Fortunately, at around 7:15, we boarded a bus similar to the one in the brochures. It was a beautiful bus. Two floors, complete with a TV, bathroom, and huge windows. We were content, feeling as if our money had been well spent. It was about an eleven hour ride from Bangkok to Surat Thani, where we were to stop. The ride went by fairly quickly, even though the road was really bumpy. Larissa slept more than I did. In the wee hours of the morning, I was thinking back to the claims of the brochure and tour agent "80% reclining seats." I thought about how that would be calculated. I assumed that an 80% reclined seat must be one that is reclined 80% of the radial distance from a seat that is completely upright, to a seat that is completely horizontal. Thus, the seat wound have to be at an angle of 18 degrees from horizontal. While these seats did recline more than most, I was convinced that it was not to 80%. I new that I could figure out the exact percentage, but thought I'd better wait until morning. As it turns out, I never got the chance to gather this important information.
When we arrived in Surat Thani, we were told that it would be about an hour until another bus arrived to take us on to Phuket. An hour later, it was not a bus that came to pick us up, but a pickup truck. With 13 tourists in the back of the truck, we took about a 20 minute ride to our next stop, where a real bus was to meet us. About a thirty minutes later, a minibus far too small to accomodate all of us showed up. They put as much of the luggage as possible in the back of the van, and the rest was strapped on top. Even though we were frustrated, we were being calm and patient, keeping sight of the possibiblity of our arriving in Phuket soon.
About 2 hours later, the transmission went out on the van. The driver recruited a couple of mechanics, or at least people dressed like mechanics to come assess the situation. I guess the driver had friends in the area, as it wasn't long until a pickup truck showed up to take us to a restaurant. Here is Larissa, still smiling, and the only girl who sat in back. For some reason, they figured that a restaurant would be all that was needed to keep us content. What about getting to Phuket? I thought. I had gotten sick the day before, and by this point I didn't have a voice. I probably would have complained more, but I could only produce raspy whispers. The pickup truck ride was enjoyable, but terrifying. One guy almost fell of as the irresposible driver took a corner to fast.
We waited at the restaurant for about an hour, until an even smaller minivan showed up. This one had no roof rack, so we were required to hold our luggage on our laps. No one complained. After a few cramped, hot, and sweaty hours, we arrived on the island of Phuket. The driver told us that we would be stopping at the tour agency so that they could figure out which buses to put people on to get them to our final destination. After our patience had been tested all day, we were in no mood for what was to come. A friendly tour agent invited us to sit down, asking us where we would like to go. Larissa said that we were headed to Patong Beach. He proceeded to try to sell us a hotel, and a bus ticket to get there. I was furious. After all of this, there was no apology, but an attempt to get more money out of us. We had actually paid for a bus to take us all the way to Phuket, but we were instead taken to a travel agency, far enough from town so that we had to rely on their transporation. I have scarcely ever been more frustrated. All I could do was whisper in Larissa's ear what I wanted to be said. We were not the only ones that were angry, actually a mini riot broke out among our group of travellers. We convinced the agency to drop us off at the bus station, so that we could arrange transportation from there.

Eventually, we got to Patong beach. Some kind and generous friends had arranged for us to use their timeshare here. We were lucky that something became available, as this is Thailand's tourism high season. The hotel is the tallest building in Phuket. We are enjoying our corner room on the 7th floor. It has floor to ceiling windows, and two balconies. The view of the Andaman Sea is beautiful. This is a definite upgrade from what we have gotten used to the past few weeks. We have a mini kitchen, a separate living room, and Satellite TV complete with the FoxNews channel. Larissa was thrilled to be able to dry her hair for only the second time since leaving home. "Jason look, I am pretty," she said as she pranced into the living room.

There is a lot to do here, but things are expensive, so we will probably just do a lot of chillin' on the beach. We do plan to go scuba diving at least one day, but we are hoping to do some research into the best dive sites before we go out. We will be here until the 24th, at which point we plan to go to Ko Tao. Ko Tao is a small island in the gulf of Thailand. In order to get there, we will need to take a bus from here to Surat Thani, and then a boat ride to Ko Samui, and then another boat from Ko Samui to Ko Tao. Ko Tao is known for its' proximity to some great dive sites.