Its Not Where Your Going, But How You Get There

Wow, I have had an experience of a life time. As some of you know this past week my university, and most of china, was closed for the celebration of the Chinese new year. The holiday happened to fall out in the middle of the week leaving me with a 10 day break Thursday- Sunday. I booked a plane ticket with some new friends to Thailand and boy was it fun. We managed to save a few bucks traveling out of nearby Macao instead of Hong Kong International. We took the metro to the ferry and the ferry for an hour to Macao. Then a taxi and we were at the airport. The three hour flight landed in Bangkok and after another taxi we had made it to our first destination. Little did I know what was in store for me. This pattern of travel continued all week. It was truly eye-opening for me to see so many modes of travel. We used taxis and buses and ferries and trains. It wasn't what I was used to but it was fun. In Bangkok they have these small three wheel trikes that are called Tuk-Tuks and they drive crazily around the city all day and night. We didn't take them because most of the drivers were very unreasonable about fares, being that we were tourists, although locals seemed to use them for everything. The taxis were great and reminded me of Israel, always driving fast and crazy trying to deliver us to our destination as fast as possible. After our stay in Bangkok we had bought train tickets down south. The train left at 7 pm and arrived on the southern coastline at 5 in the morning. We didn't book the private cabins but we grabbed the last few second class tickets which had sleeping accommodations. On our way to the train we got stuck in stand still traffic and after 3o minutes of waiting, having only moved 30 feet, we got out of the taxi in the middle of the street and began to move by foot. After getting lost we tried another taxi which managed to get us there with 10 minutes to spare. The train was shady to say the least, but none of us were expecting much and we knew it was reliable. The inside looked dirty and old and I questioned our choice but when the attendant came around and prepared all of the beds both top and bottom with freshly sealed blankets,sheets, and pillows, I felt much more comfortable. The beds weren't big, but the train was a fine temperature and we were excited to get down south. The beaches were calling our name, but we still had a few more modes of transportation. The taxi now became converted pickups with a back cabin and bench seating for 8. It actually wasn't bad and the wonderfully warm air was great as we drove to the ferry to get to the island of Koh Samui. After the 2 hour ferry we were there. Our stay was short lived, for we had plans to go to another nearby island named Koh Phangan were we had herd of a wonderful beach. Another ferry and taxi got us 95% of the way there, but the last leg was a bit to much for our taxi. A man with a pickup truck met us on the side of the road and after letting half the air out of his tires we were on our way up and down the hills on the dirt road to bungalow covered beach, some of us sat in the back. And then on the way back from this island we took the same Pickup and ferry but from the mainland we booked an overnight bus rather than the train which was a few hours shorter and a bit more convenient for our flight back to Macao which we then had to take the taxi to the ferry and the metro back to school Anywho, maybe for the first time ever I really enjoyed the travel. It really wasn't about getting somewhere, we played tons of scrabble and ate at many different restaurants along the way, we really experienced the culture of Thailand while seeing many interesting parts of the country. I enjoyed me days spent with my traveling friends greatly and am looking forward to using slower more relaxed travel options like these in the future. Most of the time spent traveling was listening to music, reading, and talking, memories to last a life time. More to come about the other aspects of my trip to Thailand.