Night travel is the way to go. Not only does it save you on a night of accommodations, but since you’re sleeping most of the way, it makes the journey fly by.
With this mindset, Dave, Krista and I booked a night ferry from the island of Ko Pangan to east coast port town of Surat Thani. We’d made the reverse trip in a high-speed catamaran a few days before, and it took about an hour and a half. Going back on the night ferry would take us six and a half hour, making me wonder if the ferry is not, in fact, powered by diesel but by a school of mackerel instead.
The ferry itself was a wide, squat boat that very well may have been around since the turn of the last century. With our heavy packs on our backs, we teetered across the narrow gangplank, clinging to the single handrail.
Inside, the ceiling was no more than five and half feet tall – fine for me, but Dave practically had to drag his knuckles on the floor to get around. Thin twin-sized mattresses lined the floor on either side of the center aisle, with several raised cots crammed in to accommodate the most passengers possible. The air was stifling. We were there early, but we knew when the ferry was full, personal space would become nonexistent.
“Oh my God, what have we gotten ourselves into?” we wondered aloud.
Krista sneakily trained the nearby fans to our mattresses and then went to scope out the facilities. She came back horrified and desperate for some hand sanitizer. I quietly vowed not to pee for the remainder of the trip.
As the clocked neared 10 p.m., we were ecstatic to find that there were only a handful of passengers aboard. We happily spread out, and I gluttonously doubled up on pillows. The steward opened the windows, and the fresh air and gentle rocking of the boat quickly sent us to sleep.
At 4:30 a.m., we were all startlingly awakened when all the lights in the cabin flashed back on. We groggily collected out things and disembarked to find a man waiting to take us to our bus terminal. The bus company helped us kill time by showing Jack Ass II, which frankly made me a little embarrassed to be American. And at 6:30 a.m., we got on the bus that would take us to the west coast port town of Krabi.
The sun shone brightly, and we gaped at the dramatic scenery of jagged limestone mountains and palm tree farms. We soon arrived at the ferry terminal, and just after noon, we docked at the picturesque island of Ko Phi Phi, marveling at the crystal clear, aquamarine seas, lush mountainsides and white sand beaches.
But true to form, while the sun shines on our travel days, the rain inevitably comes as soon as the packs are off our backs. We’d hardly finished lunch when the first downpour arrived. But such is the downside of traveling during monsoon season, and we’re sure as hell not gonna let it spoil our fun.
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