Not All Buses are Equal

It was another day of travel today so it is often hard. Sue had booked the tickets to Bangkok the day before so all we had to do was turn up. When we got there at 7.45am we were the first but unfortunately it wasn't the flashest. In fact much of the trip felt like a hippie trip across India as the bus was out of the 70's. It helps to ask about basic things like, does it stop, what time does it get there, how long does it take or does it have space for luggage?

You can ask but you are likely to get the answer you are looking for rather than the truth. Definitely no toilet or TV, those are reserved for tourist buses full of Asian tour groups. In fact our bus lumbered along just faster than the trucks often being over taken by other buses. This first photo is of the front of the bus with the luggage placed to the ceiling of the the seat I needed to vacate.

The second photo is of the rare of the bus where packs are stacked to the ceiling in a very narrow space behind the rear seats. As you can see it is the backpacker bus. It was surprisingly pleasant however. Naturally we stopped at places where the company got cuts from the shops at odd times.

They are so well organised in Cambodia, all these buses (at least 8) arrive at the same time so all the backpackers are lined up at the departure counters. Hundreds of people waiting for 4 open counters. Thirty minutes later and starting to get tired we moved onto the arrivals queue for Thailand. It was massive. Like you can't believe as it takes a lot longer to be processed for arrivals. Luckily we were fast tracked to the front because we had kids, thank God.

After exiting and walking through the boarder we were gathered like sheep by guides from our bus company. Before exiting the bus we were given a very simple colours and numbered sticker to identify us by. Then as we reappeared through the other side someone else ushered us back into our group and we arrived in dribs and drabs.

Next we were ushered onto mini vans for the rest of the journey. This was nicer as I had a good conversation with a Dutch backpacker. Everything was great until we entered Bangkok and the endless waiting for lights. The van only had one destination Kao san Road, Backpacker heaven. We walked around to our previous guesthouse New Siam 2 and arrived about 6pm. I went to get the two suits I had ordered before returning to get all our luggage. Sue went into the guesthouse with the girls to have some dinner. I returned and asked for a mini van to bring us to our new guesthouse about 5km across the city. You would think this would be easy or that the guesthouse would help. Think again. The guesthouse van was busy and they seemed unable or unwilling to help beyond. One of the many taxis rang a friend with a minivan to take us. He turned up with a station wagon. He was less than keen to take my bike box. I spent about the next 40mins trying to flag one down. The guest house were becoming embarrassed with 5 destitutes outside their place, at  now 7.40pm with masses of luggage.

It was suggested I use a tuk tuk and a taxi. I'm there with 2 people from the guesthouse, 3 taxi drivers and a tuk tuk driver and its all bullshit. I asked for the taxi to be on the meter and was given bullshit from the guesthouse people about grid lock traffic until 10pm. The taxi driver wanted 500Bt and when I mentioned the law (having to use a meter) and police, he walks across the road. It was all a major scam and bullshit. When they know your stuck and vulnerable they go for it.

Luckily a dutch couple had been watching some of the proceedings and asked another taxi if he would take us. He wouldn't use a meter but would do it for 300Bt. Better compromise. So I'm in the tuk tuk and Sue with the kids are in the taxi. I realised that night that most Taxi drivers and tuk tuk drivers can't read. We had a reservation print out with the address in English and Thai. They both got lost and needed local help to find it. Big learning curve for me.

We arrived at the King Royal Garden Inn Hotel at about 8.40pm. The kids coped remarkably well but we are both shot. Its never easy on the travel days and we have learnt to just cope. Don't get any allusions about the name of our hotel. It is very basic but with two separate bedrooms, so we are very content. The wifi works as long as I stay near the door and there is a pool on the roof but watch out for broken tiles. This is more our style. The night manager was a good guy.

I would recommend not going to the New Siam 2 Guesthouse because much of their niceness is just superficial.