DIA 34 (19-12-2018): DE AO NANG A KHAO SOK....en google maps 2 horas en nuestra experiencia....una vida

Hoy no madrugamos excesivamente porque el traslado es a las 10.00. La verdad que no hemos preguntado mucho, pero al menos yo interpreté que el traslado lo íbamos a hacer en un taxi privado, como cuando vinimos del aeropuerto, pero parece ser que no iba a ser así.

Desayunamos, intercambiamos correos con la pareja de Utah y con Ritar para el intercambio de fotos, y nos despedimos de Jane. 

Volvemos a hacer las maletas….(he de reconocer que cuando llegue a casa, no voy a echar de menos eso de hacer y deshacer maletas…la verdad) y a las 10.00 viene una minivan a por nosotras. Luego Ritar nos dice que ésta minivan nos llevará a una estación de autobuses, donde cogeremos un autobús más grande. Luego nos dejará en un parada de autobús, donde nos recogerá un suttle del hotel al que vamos (Khao Son Riverside cottages), tras recibir una llamada nuestra. 

La cosa no entrañaba más dificultad, y yo había calculado llegar al mediodía ya que nuestro destino distaba a unas dos horas. 

Cuando nuestra minivan, después de recogernos a nosotras, va a otro hotel para recoger a alguien, pero no recoge a nadie, va a un tercer hotel y no recoge a nadie, va a un cuarto hotel y recoge a una persona y va a un quinto hotel para no recoger a nadie…..empiezo a preocuparme un poco, porque llevamos tres cuartos de hora en la  minivan y no hemos salido de la zona. Vamos a un sexto hotel y recoge a una familia, con lo que ya medio se llena la minivan y vamos a la supuesta “estación de autobuses”. La verdad es que el conductor es bastante maleducado, y no nos dice nada, ni amago de comunicación, pero es que cuando una señora se sienta delante y le dice de poner el aire y él la ignora, la señora ni corta ni perezosa lo conecta ella, y el hombre va y le pega un tortazo en la mano, para indicarle que no le toque el coche…..me quedé alucinada. 

Llegamos a la estación de autobuses y una chica nos dice que nuestro autobús para Khao Son saldrá en unos 40 minutos, que estamos esperando que se llene. 

Mientras tanto otras minivan entran traen más pasajeros, otras se van y finalmente nos llaman a los de Khao Sok. Somos 12 personas con sus 12 maletas respectivamente, y algunas personas como nosotras, las maletas son de tamaño considerable. 

El conductor que es igual de desagradable que el anterior, empieza a aplicar las maletas ( y ya os adelanto que no ha jugado mucho al tetris). Kim intenta ayudarle (ella ha jugado MUCHO y organiza muy bien) pero el hombre no solo no la deja sino que se molesta con ella. 

Yo le dejo que coja mi malea grande y haga con ella lo que quiera, pero la pequeña donde van las cámaras, va a ser que no, porque el trato que le está dando deja mucho que desear. 

El hombre nos manda subir y que dejemos las maletas, obviamente yo no voy a subir sin ver donde va a colocar a mi maleta, y otra familia canadiense idem. 

El hombre se calienta por momentos. Kim sube al bus y me dice que le pase el trolley. Subo y nos sentamos en la parte de atrás. Aunque decir “nos sentamos” no es la exacta descripción.

Como explicar la situación, voy a intentarlo para que os hagáis una idea: en la fila trasera hay 3 asientos, unos de los cuales se pliega para poner todas las maletas encima a modo de torre de pisa. Obviamente para meter todas las maletas, se hace un poco a presión, de modo que invaden parte del segundo asiento. De modo que a Kim y a mi, se nos queda el espacio reducido a un asiento y medio para nosotras dos y nuestras dos mochilas. Kim consigue poner la suya entre sus piernas, lo que implicará ningún movimiento de su tronco inferior durante el trayecto. 

Yo consigo meter mi trasero en el hueco restante, pero tengo dificultades con mis brazos, ya que por la derecha tengo a Kim y por la izquierda la montaña de maletas y mochilas que amenaza aplastarme tras cada curva. 

Y por una vez en la vida que necesito aire acondicionado para soportar esta situación no llega a la parte trasera de la minivan (no dejéis de ver el siguiente video).

Otro señor viene y nos indica que la minivan va a ir directa a Khao Son sin paradas, y que nos dejaran en la parada del autobús, ya que nuestro hotel está dentro de la jungla. 

Pienso para mis adentros, bueno son solo dos horas….vamos a poner música y esperar que esto pase rápido. kim empieza a bromear, que se está empezando a sentir como una sardina enlatada, pero que no le queda claro si en aceite, en agua en su jugo natural….empezamos a reírnos, porque la situación no deja de ser cómica. 

Y tras escasos 10 minutos de carrera hacemos la primera parada a repostar…50 minutos más tarde, hacemos una segunda parada. El conductor a duras penas nos dice “30 minutos- comida”. De modo que entendemos que tenemos que bajar de la minivan (tarea que no va a ser nada fácil, ya que primero tengo que quitar mi trolley del pasillo que está encima de otra mochila y después dar una gacheto-zancada para saltar los obstáculos y poder salir. 

Realmente se agradece volver a recomponer mi cuerpecito, aunque sea media hora. 

Al rato volvemos a la lata de sardinas y una hora más tarde para en medio de la carretera y nos dice que es la parada para Khao Son Riversade Cottage. Rápidamente repetimos la operación “salida de la lata de sardinas” y cuando estoy fuera, miro a mi alrededor….”¿parada?”, pero si nos han soltado en medio de la carretera….Tanto Kim como yo seguimos algo alucinadas, pero nada en comparación con la familia canadiense. 

Movemos nuestras maletas al otro lado de la carretera y llamo al hotel para solicitar la recogida y les indico que además de nosotras dos hay 3 adultos más. 

A los pocos minutos llega una pick up…el hombre empieza a cargar el equipaje en la parte trasera y entran en el asiento trasero, en el que caben 3 personas, y una cuarta en la parte delantera…..de modo que Kim decide ir atrás con las maletas….al menos aquí puede respirar aire fresco.

Tras este traslado llegamos finalmente a nuestro destino a las 15.00. Hacemos el Check-in y nos preguntan cual va a ser nuestro nuevo destino y si necesitamos traslado. Le decimos que si, cuando nos pregunta si queremos una minivan compartida o uno privado, casi sin mirarnos, ambas respondemos a la vez, que privado por favor…..

Nos ofertan actividades para esa tarde, como un masaje o un kayak por el río, pero le solicito el safari nocturno en el parque nacional (que para algo hemos venido a un parque nacional). La familia canadiense me pregunta sobre el safari nocturno ya que a ellos no se lo han ofrecido, y le comento que cuando estuve mirando hoteles, antes de hacer la reserva, era una de las actividades que podíamos hacer.

Así que decidimos comer primero y descansar un poco antes del safari 

Los "spring rolls" y el "Pat Thai" se están convirtiendo en nuestros básicos...

Y como hoy nos lo merecemos, decidimos pecar un poco , ya que hoy tenemos la opción.

A la hora acordada vamos a la recepción. Allí un señor nos lleva a la entrada del parque nacional que está al final de una carretera repleta de comercios, bares, y guest houses. 

Una vez nos presentan a nuestro guía, pagamos la entrada al parque (300 THB) y empieza la excurisón. Vemos sobre todo insectos, pero ahora os pongo unas fotitos...

Day 15, 19-12-2018: Transfer to Khao Sok …… sardine style.

We have a taxi at 10:00 this morning, so more than enough time to have a relaxing breakfast, say good-byes, and put the finishing touches on the packing. We are transferring to an eco-tourism lodge in the jungle for the night just outside of Khao Sok National Park.

The mini-bus pulls up on time and Ritar has them pull around the side so we can easily load our bags. IN the bags go, byes and hugs to Ritar and Bancha, then we are on our way for part ….. whatever part number we are on …. Adventure. Ritar tells us this is the transfer to the big bus at the station and then we will be taking a big bus to the Khao Sok (town) bus station where we are to call the lodge once there for the free transfer to the lodge. And so, begins this part!!

We are the only ones in the mini-bus at this time. We may have it to ourselves!! No, wait, we stop at a hotel …… nope, no new riders. We drive on. Stop at another hotel ……. No new riders – interesting. Normally, the driver has a list of hotels and people to pick up so why are we stopping and not picking up new riders?? Drive some more (we are still in Ao Nang) ….. stop at a hotel ….. pick up 1 rider. Drive some more ….. stop at a hotel …… can you guess?? No riders! Drive about a block ….. stop at hotel ….. fill the mini-bus!! Now, what would we have done if we would have had people at all the other stops?? Mini-bus is now full with no real A/C working. There is a lady sitting in the front passenger seat asks the driver to please put in some A/C as her friends are very hot in the back of the bus. He ignores her. She asks again. He again does nothing. She reaches over to turn on the A/C ….. he slaps her hand away! She tells him to turn on the A/C for the passengers or she will as it is too hot in the mini-bus. He does nothing.

We arrive at the “bus station”. This is in quotes because it is more like an open-air covered patio with people milling around smartly with luggage. You can get some ice cream, junk food, pay 5THB to pee, smoke, etc. We are met by a lady with a clip board. She starts to get people organized. We ask if we are going to have the same mini-bus and driver because he was very rude and the A/C did not seem to work. She assures us we have a much better ride and driver to Khao Sok. 

We are given our “tickets” – a small sticker with “SOK” written on it and stuck to our shirt. Awesome system! Especially, when the sticker does not do its job and stick to Cris’s shirt (slight breeze came and took it away and gave it to a shrub). Cris was able to secure a second “ticket” and so we now wait. And wait we do. They try to get us to move into the covered patio but there is a slight breeze and we are standing in the shade with our bags. We do not want to move the bags up the stairs and we will not leave the bags so we are good – besides it is actually hotter under the cover because of the mass of the people. We wait …… and more mini-buses arrive and drop more people. We continue to wait. No big buses in view ….. yet. 

Buses start arriving and different destinations are called – let me rephrase that – mini-buses start arriving. One town after another are called and people start to leave for their new places. Thought we were told that we were going in a larger bus but a mini-bus can easily work if we do not have many people in it. Finally, we hear “SOK!! SOK!! SOK!!” They have called for us. We look at the lady and are directed to a mini-bus. We gather our bags and head over ….. and so does many other people. The driver is standing at the back. Now, we are traveling with a large suitcase each due to our diving gear, a trolley each, and a smallish backpack. We look around and see many large bags as well as some large backpacks as well as trolleys and other bags. The driver starts to load the smaller bags. Someone speaks up and says that there are larger bags that need to go too. Cris and I move to the front with our bags and I say “Anymore large bags? We need the large bags up front so they can be loaded.” 3 more large suitcases appear as well as the 2 large backpacks and a large duffel or 2. The driver looks utterly confused at all the bags and all the people. He tells us to get in the bus. “Nope. Not until the bags get on will we get in the bus. Bags first to make sure they get on.” Now, the driver starts to look upset at me. He starts to pull off the smaller bags and starts to put the larger bags on (now that is thinking). Smaller bags are stuffed under this seat and under that seat. My bags go on, Cris’s suitcase is stored, all the large bags are stored and now the smaller bags and the backpacks are placed. No ….. wait …… work more on the packing, take a large bag out. Driver is getting upset now. Yells for us to get in the bus. My bags are secured so I get on. There are “2” seats in the back but they are quickly being taken over by the luggage. I do a quick count of seats and of the number of people outside – just enough seats if the back truly remains for 2 people. There is so much stuff in the way and literally 4in for an aisle. I mention something to the driver. He looks at me and tells me to sit in the back. I tell him I cannot get through. He says to sit in the back again. I say okay and start to climb over the seat – really wanted to tell him that I am just a fat fucking American who cannot fit through the 4in aisle but do not as that just might raise some more tension. So, I literally start climbing over the seats to get to the back of the “bus”. The driver sees me and yells “Not cool! Not cool!” I tell him that no it is not cool for me to climb over the seats but what choice do I have as he wants me to sit in the back of the bus and I am unable to fit through the opening (use hand gesture to show size of opening). The driver again tells me to sit in the back and not climb over the seat. Again, I tell him that I cannot fit through the opening so either I climb over or the opening needs to become wider. He climbs into the bus, moves a seat back forward, says how uncool it was of me to attempt to climb over the seats and threatens to kick me off the bus. I once again explain that I could not fit through the opening. I now have maybe 6in of an opening. I somehow manage to squeeze my ample American ass through the opening and place it on the seat. By the way: there were other people already on the bus and none of them decided to sit in the back. Bus starts to fill with people. Cris gets on, sees me in the back, sighs, brings her trolley back – no room here for the trolley. She will figure something out as it has her camera for the diving part of the trip and she wishes to protect it. She manages to squeeze into the seat. I am plastered up against the side and window; she is plastered up against the luggage. Good thing we are friends or this could get interesting. More people get on. There is more placement of bags under seats. There is a lady to promptly sits up front. The driver opens her door and starts to place a bag at her feet. She gets pissed and gets out. Has someone from the back get in the front seat and she sits in the lone sit by the sliding door and step down. The driver places a bag by her feet. She voices her objections: “I do not want anything at my feet!! That is why I am sitting here and not up front!! Why do I need to have something at my feet??” Now, remember that Cris and I are sharing an approximate 1.5 width seat for what is suppose to be a 2+ hour ride and this lady is bitching about having her own seat with a bag by her feet!! I almost offered up our seat for her as we do not have anything at our feet (except for the bags that are under the seat in front of us). I am good (rarity I know) and do not say anything. Just before we leave, another bus station worker gets into the mini-bus and starts to arrange the drop-offs. We have a French party (lady who does not want things by her feet and 3 others) going to the Holiday Inn – the bus will drop them at the hotel as it is on the way into town. Everybody else (that would be 8 other people) are offered to be dropped at the bus station in Khao Sok or for only 50THB per person, they will drive out of their way to drop us “deep into the jungle” at our hotel. Cris and I are booked at the Riverside Cottages, which has a free shuttle. There are 3 others, family from Canada, who are also booked at the cottages, so we all decline the hotel drop off service. They push; Cris is adamant about her NO.

Finally, we start to head off. So much for transferring to a larger bus!! We start going down the road ….. and pull into a petrol station. What am I thinking? Why would they want to fill up the mini-bus before coming to get us when it is easy to just fill up the vehicle with many humans and bags and then drive to the petrol station so we can turn off the now hot and starting to get smelly mini-bus so we can get petrol!!! Must be that American in me thinking and getting me in trouble again.

We fill up and then get on the road. Luckily, I have already pulled out my MP3 player, headphones, and a magazine to read as well as my written log for the trip. Music starts and I attempt to write some. Cris also has her headphones out so she starts to listen to music and closes her eyes. We are in the back of the mini-bus with bad shocks past the rear wheels, so whenever we go over a bump we get the pleasure of feeling it again and again ….. and again as we move up and down and side to side – good thing we do not get car sick!

We ramble on down the road. Cris and I attempt to get pseudo-comfortable, which is pretty much impossible. Neither of us can even stretch one arm out completely. She keeps stretching out her right arm and putting her hand on the seat in front of us, only to get the guy in the seat to turn and glare. She retracts her hand upon the glare, only to attempt again a few minutes later as she continues to try to get comfortable. I am sitting half-assed (literally) on the seat and the other half is pushed up onto the side of the vehicle. As we go around corners, the pile of luggage leans one way or the other, causing us to hold it back in fear of being buried under the pile and left for dead. Now, the question is: What kind of sardines have Cris and I become?? Are we packed into some kind of oil? Or, packed into salty water? 

We continue to ramble on and we continue to do our best to survive the trip when suddenly the mini-bus comes to a halt. The driver turns around as says “30-minute lunch” then proceeds to get out and leave. We were told this was a non-stop trip to Khao Sok and I guess this does not count as a stop as we have no room for anybody else. We have stopped at a pseudo-developed spot with toilets and a few convenience foods and drinks and some kind of buffet. Slowly, people start to pile out and Cris and I find somehow to literally peal ourselves off the vinyl seats away from our luggage pile pillow over all the smaller bags in the “aisle” and suddenly find ourselves able to stand erect. The guy who was sitting in front of us (glaring at Cris’s fingertip invasion) finally saw how we were piled in the back (one of the many people who got on first and did not pick the back seat) and said that everybody should pay us for sitting back there – my response: “Yes. Yes, you should.”

Upon a quick inspection of the choices for refreshment in the food and drink categories, I have decided to attempt to find something in the convenience “store” looking place (like an airy 7-11 without all the choices). The buffet choices look like another attempt to poison me with something and since I have already had that fight in the northern part of the country (if you have forgotten it that is best so no worries if you do not get the reference. I am still trying to forget it). 

Even though these are interesting looking potato chips, I settle on some roasted cashews and almonds and Ritz crackers with fake cheese along with a water and soda. I did not think any of it was worthy of a picture. 

After about 30 minutes, Cris and I make our way back to the mini-bus to find no driver. We elect to wait outside of the vehicle as it does not make sense to put ourselves back into the sardine tin until we absolutely have to do it. 5 minutes go by. 10 minutes go by. Finally, the driver appears. By now, all the passengers have congregated by the mini-bus. The French jump in immediately – makes perfect sense since they are sitting up front!! Everybody else waits for Cris and I to pack ourselves back into our little hole. We are off again. This time the people in the seat in front of us do not give us any bad looks or anything as they have now seen what we are dealing with for all of their comfort.

The road twists and turns and goes up and down and changes from pavement to concrete to dirt to construction and back again. I get engrossed in my magazine as I am just trying to survive the trip. Cris listens to music and closes her eyes. Next thing I know, the mini-bus comes to a halt along side the road! The driver yells our hotel name! This does not look like the bus stop!! We are rushed off the mini-bus. Good thing we did not have room to unpack anything so it was easy to put everything back and grab our items. The Canadian family also gets off. We are put off at a “T” intersection with a sign that says “Riverside Cottages 2.5km“. Now, we were told when we rejected the extra charge for direct hotel drop off that we were going to be put off at the Khao Sok bus stop. This does not look like a bus stop (I am sure that Cris has put a picture of it in the blog). And, we were told back in Krabi at that bus station that they were going to drop the people for the Holiday Inn first and then drop everybody else at the bus stop. None of this has happened. I tried to keep myself entertained with my magazine so I do not even know if we have passed the Holiday Inn. I am told that we did pass the hotel. So, now we are all mystified at this point. Cris has purchased a local phone card for her mobile so she calls the hotel (she had to call for the shuttle anyhow). From the half part that I heard, it appears that we are NOT at the bus stop and the hotel says it will take approximately 15 minutes for the driver to get to us and we are to wait. All the while, a tuk tuk has shown up and offered us a free ride to the hotel. The Canadian dad agrees and starts to load up the luggage. I quickly tell him to grab his bags as we are to wait for the actual shuttle driver from the hotel and that they are on the way. For all that do not know, there are many scams that occur in Thailand and one of them is “free” rides from tuk tuks – this guy really needs to read the tourist advisories!! He grabs his luggage upon his wife and daughter’s urging. Cris is off the phone and we decide to cross the street and wait there as it appears slightly safer and there is a covered location where we could possibly wait in the shade.

After a quick 15 minutes (more like 10), a small pickup pulls up and a young man wearing a shirt from the hotel gets out. Now this looks like an official (or as official as it gets in Thailand) pick up. We are 5 adults plus the driver makes 6 for a vehicle that can barely hold 5 and it has a small bed that is almost filled with all the bags.

Someone has to take the bed and I jump right in before anyone can or do anything. They probably all think that I am being really nice but I can assure you it is all in a selfish act. I have had enough being a sardine with no air so taking a 2.5km ride in the bed of the truck with the luggage actually seems rather luxurious to me at this point. The driver is very shocked that I jump right in. I tell him not to lose me please and gives a thumbs up.

I begin to enjoy the feeling of air finally circulating around my body as the truck takes us down the road. Now, just in case you do not remember this little tidbit: the mini-bus said that they could not take us to our hotel because of how deep into the jungle it was located and that the road was in bad condition.

I know I was not paying the best attention on the drive up to Khao Sok but I know that the road did turn to dirt at some point. This road does not appear to be in bad shape. In fact, it appears to be in better shape than the road we were on for the complete trip from Krabi. And the last time I checked, 2.5km is not far enough to be labeled as “deep into” – unless you are talking about a cave or something that you have to hike.

We arrive at the hotel to find the rustic parking lot (still in better condition than that road). I off load myself from the back and stretch out a bit. We have arrived to the beautiful eco-lodge of Riverside Cottages. Check in and shown to our cottage. We have elected to relax for the rest of the afternoon and to take a night safari in the park.

We decide to take an early dinner as we did not really have much of a lunch and the restaurant will be closed when we arrive from the night safari. More Thai food and good coffee. We are entertained during our meal by a small squirrel moving her babies and nest. She tucks each baby, one at a time, under her chin and scampers off to the new location.

Time arrives for us to go to the front desk to join our tour group. We have already discussed my need to travel with different gadgets and it comes in handy again as we need headlamps for this little trip and have packed 2 of them, just in case.

We are the only people from the cottages for the night safari so we have the guide to ourselves. Quick drive to the park, pay the entrance fee, and we are off to explore!! We find many awesome things: poisonous spiders, a small native deer, frogs, a snake, Cicadas just coming out of there shells and their spent shells, beautiful landscapes and many other things. We enjoy our walk and exploration of the park at night.

Back to our little cottage, where get ready for the night.

As we are sleeping in the jungle with no air conditioning, we have to make sure to protect ourselves with the use of the mosquito nets provided by the lodge.