Today was a travel day and we fully prepared by paying for another delicious breakfast with Coco hostel (120B each- french toast with bacon and poached eggs and toast with coffee and juice). More than we would usually spend but it was going to be a long day. After packing up and checking out we waited in the restaurant area for our minivan. It was due to arrive at 10am and we saw a minivan with Surat Thani written on it, head passed our hostel one way and then another. We gave it a few more minutes before we asked the hostel staff. They rang the bus company who were apparently running late due to the torrential rain but we think they just forgot to pick us up. We eventually got picked up by a minivan at 11 and whizzed our way to Surat Thani, the only way Thai minivan drivers know how to drive- fast and all over the road. We always feel a bit rough after one no matter how short the journey is. We arrived at Surat Thani train station at 12.50 and we bought our train tickets (3rd class bought on the day) up to Chumphon (34B each). The train was due to depart at 1.20 but it was a local train so they are always delayed by a couple of hours.
This meant that we had time to go and find lunch in a restaurant nearby and to stock up on snacks at 7/11. The train arrived at the predicted 15.20, 2 hours late, and as it was a 3rd class train we just piled on to the nearest carriage. We accidentally ended up in the train guard's carriage so after a few minutes we moved down the train to find different seats. This did mean we ended up with a window that wasn’t fully open but there was still a bit of a breeze once the train got moving. The train was a slow local train, meaning it stopped frequently and there were lots of sellers going up and down the train with food and drinks. The seats were just wooden so after a while it was a bit uncomfortable but generally for the amount of time we were on it and for the money it was very good value. We watched the countryside and small towns pass us by out the window which was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. We actually arrived into Chumphon about 6.30pm having made up a bit of time from the delay and we were pleased it was still light.
From the train station we walked down the main street, passed all the food stalls to find our hotel for the night. We were staying at the Euro Boutique hotel for just 1 night and it was a decent enough room for the money. After a long journey we were ready to stretch our legs and excited to check out the multitude of food stalls lining the main street. We enjoyed Chumphon last time we came to Thailand as the street food there is really good and cheap. We ended up eating towards the top of the street where some of the stalls had tables behind them where we had pork/ chicken with rice and egg for 40B each, yes please! We also found a lady selling small thai pancakes and we waited patiently to put our order in, watching the speed and precision of her work (20 for 20B). They were deliciously sweet. From the stall next door we also picked up some freshly squeezed local orange juice for the morning (10B each). We went back to our hotel after this just to relax for the evening, reading on the balcony and editing videos.
Our plan for the next day was to move to Thung Wua Laen beach where we had booked a nice hotel for Dave’s birthday. We didn’t need to check out of our hotel until 12pm and couldn't check in the next one until 2pm. So the morning was dedicated to wandering around Chumphon to see it in the light and to also see if we could figure out how to get to Thung Wua Laen cheaply. I had seen there were yellow songthaews that travel there but we weren't sure how often or really where from. From looking on maps.me it looked like possibly the market or the train station. We walked around witnessing the chaos of a normal city, which we both enjoyed. We saw a songthaew go past us and also saw one sitting outside the 7/11 next to the fresh market but it didn’t seem to move. We walked around to the train station and were told they didn’t stop there and when we asked in a local tour office the guy confirmed that they were 40B pp, yellow songthaew and go about every hour from by the market. If not a private shuttle/ taxi was going to be about 300/400B. So after heading back to the hotel to check out we grabbed our bags and went to find a songthaew to give it ago.
We hit the jackpot when we got there with a songthaew sitting where it should be which meant we could sit under cover and put our bags down. There was no one else in it and no driver though so we expected to wait for a bit. In the end we waited over 2 hours for it to go and had an ice cream whilst we were waiting. We had turned up just before 12 thinking it would be up to an hour wait but it must have been a lunch break or something, as dead on 2pm we were finally off and were dropped outside our hotel on the beach front 20 minutes later, but we had saved ourselves some money at least!
More from Thung Wua Laen in the next one.
Thanks,
Alex
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