9/16-9/17 – My overnight bus in Bangkok leaked … during monsoon rains

I would be flying to Bangkok, Thailand today, to catch an overnight bus into southern Thailand and on to the island of Koh Tao off the eastern coast of Thailand in the Gulf of Thailand, where I planned to get PADI certified for scuba diving.  I arrived from Kuta to Bali Airport (Ngurah Rai) Denpasar, and went through 3 separate security processes exiting Indonesia including payment of a departure tax but was still early, so killed some time at the airport, waiting for the departure screen to update with my gate number.   Upon boarding the plane, I connected with a European couple sitting in my row and we decided to share a cab together in Bangkok since we were all headed into the famous tourist area Khao San Road.  A Spanish girl linked up with us as well to share the cab.

Khao San Road, even during the daytime, was crazy.  A short street packed with colorful hotels, hostels, restaurants, and shops, with vendor stalls crowding the middle of the street.  The smell of fresh pad thai being cooked by a woman at a food cart for a line of hungry backpackers.  The sounds of tourists talking and hawkers vying for their attention, selling various goods, accommodation  and transportation.  All this in the late afternoon on a weekday – Khao San Road doesn’t really get busy until the evening.  I walked around a bit and then met up with the Spaniard for dinner at a nearby vegetarian restaurant.  From there I went to the Lomprayah bus station, to catch an overnight bus leaving Bangkok late evening and arriving early morning at a ferry station where we would be transferred to Koh Tao.  I met another Spainard, but he didn’t speak much English, so we spent a humorous half hour semi-communicating – him in Spanish and broken English, and me in English and broken Spanish.  As we spoke what had been a light drizzle started to turn into heavy rain.

In the tropics of Thailand they don’t have four seasons, but rather only three — referred to as hot, cool, and wet (and the coastal and southern regions have only two seasons, wet and dry).  The wet, or rainy season, is dominated by the southwest monsoon weather pattern, during which time Thailand rainfall is at its heaviest.  No needless to say, when I refer to “heavy rain” that evening in Bangkok, suffice it to say it was really coming down.  Hard.

Upon boarding the bus, I got to my assigned seat to see I was paired up with … yet another Spaniard!  As we spoke I wiped a drop of water off my leg that had dripped from the ceiling of the bus above my seat.  And then a few seconds later another drop.  And another one.  The bus was leaking.  Not all over mind you.  The double-decker bus must have seated 100 people, but from what I know the only leak on the bus was right above me.  Not the best situation to be on when going into a 8 hour bus ride.   So I only did what I could do.  I got out my raincoat, pulled it over my legs to protect against the drip, and settled in for a long, not too restful night.

I was excited to pull into the ferry terminal, and after watching a beautiful sunset (but wishing I was in a bed sleeping), we hopped on the ferry for a 3 hour trip to Koh Tao.  There I caught a bit more sleep before arriving at Koh Tao.  It was beautiful to see the island initially, rising up above the Gulf with green palm trees and other tropical vegetation, dive shops lining the water front, and colorful dive boats and traditional Thai “longtail” boats moored in the bay.  Disembarking the boat and avoiding the crowd of locals gathered yelling “come here,” “cheap dives,” and “taxi,” I walked along the waterfront towards my dive shop that I had reserved a course with, Master Divers.  The Australians and Europeans running the shop were very friendly, and in no time I had filled out the necessary information and was being introduced to my dive “buddy” Chris, a guy from South Africa I’d be taking the course with.

That afternoon we watched more videos than I care to recall on diving safety, theory, and technique, with a good bit of PADI marketing thrown in as well.  In the evening evening Chris and I went out for dinner with two American he had met in his travels, and upon getting into my hotel room, it was not too long before (despite an evening drop by visit from a large, local resident cockroach) that I fell asleep.

Lessons Learned

• When people travel to foreign countries, they say they want to connect with locals, but really appreciate meeting and connecting with people from their home countries, or at least, those that speak their native language.  I think this must be because people get to know others by finding commonalities, and language or homeland is an easily discovered common trait.  I would imagine that this could be extended beyond travel to foreign countries, to any type of “foreign” experience, whether that be beginning a new hobby or starting a new job
• It is much easier to provide a good experience than a great experience.  In the case of my overnight bus from Bangkok, it was a modern, air-conditioned, double-decker bus with plush reclining seats, and individual reading lights.  Yet it had a rain leak just above my seat.   But if not the rain did not leak above my seat, perhaps something else would have been off for a passenger – a seat that didn’t recline, perhaps, or a light bulb that had burnt out.  It seems like it would be really hard to provide a perfect experience for everyone

When you travel, do you prefer meeting people who are similar to you (e.g. people from your country, a similar profession, etc) or people who are different than you?  Why?