Our Worst Day in Thailand

Saturday - 17 May o8

Sawasdee Ka!

What a freakin day! We are both pissed off to the max and never expected to have such a stuffed up day. We should have stayed that couple of extra days in Jomtien Beach. Rick had a sneaky suspision that we weren't going to get our bus tickets that we paid for from that bloody travel agent who has been stuffing us around, so I thought bugger it I will ring him, so at 7.30am this morning I did. He said he would drop the bus tickets off to us at 9am at the hotel and I told him that we had to get to North Pattaya bus station as the bus left at 10am, so he said I will drop it off at 8.30am so we checked out of our room and waited in the lobby. At 8.45 he rang reception and said to meet him at the bus station in Pattaya and he will give us our tickets then. So we caught a Songteaw to the North Pattaya bus station and I rang him again to say we were there waiting, well he turned up half an hour later and went straight to the ticket office and purchases our tickets. We could have done that ourselves which would have saved us the 120 commission he charged us to book our tickets. What an arsehole!

The bus trip to Bangkok was pretty good and we were at the Southern Bus Terminal in 2 and a half hours. We went to the ticket office and asked to purchased our 1st class air conditioned bus ticket to Hua Hin, twice we asked if it was a 1st class air conditioned bus and both times they assured us it was. We had half an hour to have a toilet stop and get something to eat before our bus left for Hua Hin. The toilet we accomplished the food ended up being a packet of crisps and can of pepsi. We found our bus and low and behold it was a clapped out pile of shit. Air conditioned but still a pile of shit. It was supposed to leave at 1pm and it was to be a 3 hour trip to Hua Hin, it left at 1.30pm so the driver could maximise the amount of people he could cram on the shitbox and he stopped at every bus stop and medium strip he could for the next 5 hours to pile as many people on as he could until they were packed in like sardines and then he turned the air con off. So our 3 hour trip turned into a 5 hour trip and I guess by now you understand my description of the so called bus.

We arrived in Hua Hin around 5.30-6pm and walked through street after street, stopping at hotel after hotel only to find they were all full. By this time we were pretty freaked out and sweating our butts off carrying our backpacks and other gear. We stopped to talk to a nice young Thai/Indian guy and asked him why all the accomodation was booked out and he told us that there is a 3 day festival and as we could see everyone came to Hua Hin for the holiday celebration, he found us a taxi and we had to head 35kms back to Cha Am to try to find somewhere to stay, costing us 400baht for the ride. The taxi driver was really helpful and took us from hotel to hotel in Cha Am which was booked out with the overflow of people that couldn't get accommodation in Hua Hin. By this time it was about 8.30pm and we managed to find one on Cha Am beach, 1000 baht for the night and it is a shithole. Its the worst place I have ever seen in all my travels over the years. The bed is a double that sinks in the middle and has a single bed blanket on it. The towels they supply are two threadbear beach towels that wouldn't dry a flea. The bathroom, if thats what you call it, well we won't go there. Thank god we carry our own toilet paper because theres none supplied. We have cable tv, 100 channels, 1 english speaking channel and the tv is hanging off the wall along with the powerpoint its connected to.

We did get one thing for our 1000 baht and that is free Wi Fi internet, Woo Hoo! Woopy Duck!
And the best thing is they told us if we stay an extra day or two they will only charge us 900 baht per night for the next two nights. How bloody kind of them, but I don't think so, considering the room is probably only worth 250 baht a night (for a dog).

We at least managed to find a decent cafe to grab some dinner, Rick had pizza and I had Fettucine and it wasn't at all bad. With all the stuffing around today it has cost us quite a considerable amount of wasted money. Several lessons have been learned. First buy your bus ticket direct from the bus station, don't use Travel agents, theres no need. Also check that your destination is not during any festival time or other holiday time and if so book ahead for accommodation. And thirdly, don't stay and pay in a shithole like this any longer than you have to.

Tomorrow we are heading back to Hua Hin to the bus station (cos theres not one here) to catch a bus out of here to somewhere south, where to exactly we haven't decided yet, we will have to do some searching on the net tonight. Maybe Chumphorn and then on to Ko Tao or Surat Thani and then on to Koh Samui. Wherever it will be, this time it will be on a 1st class air conditioned bus.

So hopefully the worst of it is over and this will be our last freakin wacked our day on our journey around Thailand. We are a bit wiser and less patient now and certainly not willing to put up with any more wankers. Tomorrow is another day and will be a brighter and better day for sure.

Until then!