Day 203 : Koh Pa Ngan to Bangkok

• Took a ferry back to the mainland. Choppy seas and a full, tall and narrow ferry made for an interesting crossing and it rook some time to disembark safely – you had to wait for a gap in the chop and then 4 or 5 people would be ushered along the gangplank to the jetty in the few seconds that it was stable!
• Took an uncomfortable bus to Surat Thani train station – overcrowded as usual. Just when you think there is nowhere left for anybody to sit, they always manage to squeeze another 10 people on, often sitting in the aisle or 3 or 4 people on two seats!
• Train station is in the middle of nowhere and we arrived about 5 hours early (we gave ourselves lots of contingency time as our experience so far has been that we might arrive several hours later than promised by the bus company). Parked ourselves in a cafe for a few hours before catching our overnight train to Bangkok.
• Overnight train was fun – it’s arranged so you have two seats facing one another and they fold together to form a bottom bunk at night. The top bunk folds down from the ceiling and curtains give you privacy from the aisle. A man comes around and makes up the bunks with mattresses / linen.