I’d flown into Bangkok from Melbourne a few days before and rested up on the Kao San Road before heading south to hook up with JP for the infamous full moon party at Hat Rin.
I’d picked up a ticket and braced myself for a mammoth 14 hour night bus ride to Surat Thani and the ferries to the party island. The bus tout gathered us all up – a scruffy bunch of travellers and full mooners. Loads of Dutch, Israelis, Americans, French, Germans, Swiss, Canadians and the inevitable Aussies, Kiwis and Brits. One girl immediately stood out. A very loud, rather drunk Yank. All mouth and attitude. I made a mental note to sit as far from here as possible on the bus.
We all hopped aboard and I slipped into a comfortable looking window seat quietly monitoring the noisy American who sat on her own 5 or so rows ahead. Being on my tod the seat next to me remined vacant as more people clambered aboard and stowed their gear.
In the scrum a couple of young English girls realised that there were only single seats left and wanted to sit together. The bolder of the two requested to no one in particular, ‘can anyone move around so we can sit together ?’
No one moved a muscle.
They were left with single seats about 6 rows apart.
I surveyed the scene and soon realised nightmare American woman and I were both sitting next to empty seats.
Shit.
I saw her eyes fall on the seat next to me before blurting out ‘I’ll move so you guys can sit together’.
Shit.
She stood up, quickly gathered her gear and slid into the empty seat next to me.
I shot her a weak grin.
She fussed over her luggage and got comfortable. As the bus pulled into the heavy Bangkok traffic, we got chatting.
She was a waitress from Texas heading south for the beach parties. She’d done Thailand a couple of years before and was back for more.
Her main travelling tip was never to do a long bus journey without a big bottle of the local whiskey.
My heart sank at the thought of her drunk, hungover and slowly dehydrating in the seat next to me !
Appalled, I turned to watch Thailand flash by the window.
The bus weaved in and out of the Bangkok traffic stopping twice to pick up more travellers bound for the southern beaches.
We left the city on the main highway and settled down for a long night on the road. We made good time zipping through small towns, passed endless roadside stalls, shops and factories.
Time passed slowly and my travelling companion soon cracked opened the whiskey.
The smell of alcohol immediately hit me as I politely declined a large slug of the local fire water.
As the hours passed, she progressed through 3 phases:
- drunk and chatty
- drunk and loud
- drunk and incoherent
I stoically endured the first two and settled on feigned sleep as the best coping strategy for the third.
Much to my relief, she passed out after 5 hours.
Just before dawn, the bus pulled into a small cafe and the driver cut the engine.
We emerged bleary eyed not knowing where we were. Questions rippled through the crowd as we discovered we had arrived at Surat Thani, our destination.
The ferries to the islands left from the nearby quay. We hung around drinking tea and smoking cigarettes as the sun came up and the town came to life. Old men on bicycles wearily cycled to work as battered pick ups laden with produce headed for the local market.
More buses and minivans arrived depositing their cargo of western travellers. Some were going south to Krabi, others to Ko Samui and the islands and some on to Malaysia. No one knew which bus they wanted or where the line of minivans were headed.
The van for the ferry port arrived and I hopped aboard and stowed my gear. After a short ride I joined the throng of travellers waiting for the 8am crossing to Ko Pha Ngan.
An ageing single decked boat pulled alongside and we scrambled aboard.
I passed the time chatting to a strikingly blond Swiss lad, before nodding off as the boat churned its way towards Ko Pha Ngan, the party island.
So yeah... 