Travelling is not always easy or fun. On social media it looks like it is because that is what we present . . . the fun times and beautiful scenery because who wants to see a picture of crying, yelling or frustration? The last couple of days have been one of those frustrating, annoying, infuriating travel times when you wonder why you are even doing it. It all started good enough . . . . . even with some laughs. We left Bangkok to take a bus to Ranong which is where our live aboard dive trip is out of. Even though it was a 10 hour bus journey, we were amused by the fact that we weren’t allowed to fart in the bathroom!
The bus was even quite comfortable. We were provided with pillows, a blanket resembling a towel, a small bottle of water, and a loose interpretation of a sandwhich.
Just after we passed the narrowest part of Thailand, we stopped and were provided with FREE lunch (so far it has been the best meal we’ve had in Thailand). It did come at the cost of slightly being shunned . . . it was a communal sharing/table situation and no one was willing to sit with the tall white guy and girl (who is possibly Asian, but you can’t quite place her) until a few older ladies were forced by the stafff to sit with us.
And then we arrived in Ranong and this seemingly helpful older driver completely hosed and scammed us by taking us to our hotel which ended up being outside of town (that in itself has been a frustrating experience) and charging us a ridiculous price. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it is so maddening at the time. B-Rod and I have often talked about the pricing tiers – the local price, the foreigner price and the fuck you over price. There’s only really a few times we’ve been tricked into the “fuck you over” price, but . . . . . why? . . . . we’re fine and even willing to pay the foreigner price! And it’s never about the money . . . . . it’s the fact that someone is trying to actively take advantage of you that makes it so maddening and disappointing.
Ranong appears to be a place where people go simply to head over to Myanmar for visa extensions. We have seen very few foreigners and have been given the looks you get when tourists aren’t common in the area. There are good and bad things that come along with that, but we have mostly been experiencing the not so good . . . . . difficulty with communication, difficulty with getting around and just plain frustration all around.
We had to try to find a way into town today (our hotel was unable) to help us get a taxi, so we started walking knowing there might be a possibility that we’d be walking the whole way (1.5 hours), just as it started to rain, we came across a group of Filipinos that live and work in Thailand. They told us to wait with them as they were waiting for transportation to get into town. We found out that they only have one day off per month and were heading into town to basically enjoy their day of freedom. They were super friendly (Filipinos often are!), lots of fun and they helped us to not only put things into perspective but to change the negative feelings that had been starting to build up. On top of this, when we arrived in town, the driver wouldn’t take any money and had given us all a ride for free!
The only problem . . . . they made us regret our decision even more to not go to the Philippines this time around!
To honour our Filipino friends, we tried the Thai desert that looks like it could be similar to halo halo. It was good, but definitely not the same (and nowhere near as good as halo halo! I mean, it didn’t have any beans, no flan on top, no coconut, and not even a single tuber!)
I even managed to smile even though it rained most of the day and I had to wear a jacket! We lucked out again on our way back. We hopped on a truck/ taxi full of locals on huge produce runs, and it took us right where we needed to be, and at a truly local price!
B-Rod chilling on our deck. It’s out of town, it doesn’t have the beach we were expecting, but I guess it is pretty nice!
We’re heading to Koh Phayam (which only has a few places that have 24 hour electricity), and then we’re heading on a boat for the next few days after that. So, we will be off the grid for the next little while.