10 THINGS YOU DIDN’T THINK YOU NEEDED BACKPACKING

Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen. – Benajmin Disraeli

Tuesday, January 7, 2014 (DAYS 673 & 674)
Well, yet again, I’ve decided to adjust the outline of my travel blog. I feel that it’s a constant adjustment–an art form–just as with travel, and I hope that you enjoy the new format. Reaching the pinnacle of more than 22-months and almost two-years of backpacking round the world, I feel that there is several items I’m both glad to have purchased prior to leaving, and, in my opinion, are a necessity for backpackers, especially those that are seeking to do any form of extended travel.

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MY RTW PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
Traveling at the height of peak season, especially for the islands in the Gulf of Thailand, today I am fortunate enough to be feeling better enough to travel, but at the same time I didn’t really have the option since I had a flight to catch from Krabi on January 8th to Singapore, and missing this flight would potentially jeopardize my other flight to Bali on the 9th. I say possibly, because I knew that the travel time from Koh Tao to Singapore was quoted as being a 24-hour transit and if worse came to worse it could have possibly been done. Once again, one of the negative or ugly sides of travel is when it becomes necessary to be in transit all day when you are not feeling 100% physically. 

This morning, just after 8:15am, I find myself racing down the main street in the sidecar of a motorbike towards the main pier. My driver is too focused with oncoming traffic and the occasional obstacle that comes out of nowhere to have much of a conversation with me as we often struggle uphill with the puttering sound of his bike’s engine before reaching the top and gathering more speed on the downward end of the hill. It feels almost like a small roller coaster at times, and the cool morning air is refreshing and assists in reviving me from my drowsiness. 

Reaching the pier after the short 10-minute ride, I climb out of the sidecar and take a look at my watch. I have an hour wait before the boat is scheduled to depart at 9:30am. After taking a seat on one of the wooden benches that is fortunate enough to be shaded from the rising heat of the morning sun, I begin looking around for the name of the boat company (Lomprayah) that is handwritten on a small white piece of paper, that is my receipt. Just over my shoulder I notice the company name above two small windows from a wooden shack at the next pier, where already there is a line forming. Quickly grabbing my bag, I had heard rumors that during peak season some of the more untrustworthy travel agencies may attempt to oversell boat tickets, and this made me weary since I stopped at four different agencies the morning before and each of them told me that the 9:30am boats departing Koh Tao for Surat Thani were all booked.

While standing in line, I struck up a conversation with a fellow backpacker from Brazil, Karolle. We also began talking with two other backpackers in front of us that were from Minnesota, both of whom had made the unfortunate mistake of losing track of dates and had missed their previously scheduled departure ticket off the island, which in turn affected missing their five-connecting flights back to the States. When they reached the window counter begging to purchase a boat ticket to the mainland, they were immediately told that it was sold out and sheer panic and frustration overtook them. Grasping more tightly to my white piece of paper, when I handed it over I was thankfully given a proper ticket. I was told that we would transfer boats on Koh Pha Ngan and that’s what the second ticket was for, while the last was the bus ticket for my final destination of Krabi, or as my friend from German, Christophe, and I refer to it as Crappy, because that’s seriously what this town truly is. Once Karolle and I had our tickets we were told to begin queuing up under the awning on the wooden dock, which was lined on each side with narrow wooden benches. Standing there, overlooking the emerald waters down towards Sairee Beach, the natural paradise I’ve been fortunate enough to call home for the past 14-days, was a bittersweet goodbye. 

Selecting seats in the lower air-conditioned main cabin, which can often be the beginning and height of cascading seasickness, I was too tired to care as Karolle and I found two seats together. Once the roaring vibration of the engines began, it was as if I were being rocked to sleep. The next thing I knew we had arrived in Koh Pha Ngan, an hour later at 10:30am. Stumbling from a fatigued-state, I followed the line of people down the aisle towards the front of the boat where I grabbed my backpack through a pile of various forms of luggage and made my way outside where the heat and the humidity hit me like a five-fingers slap to the face.

Finding relief from the heat under the shade of one of the wooden stands on the pier, Karolle and I continued the typical traveler’s conversation of where each of us had been and where we were headed next. I had learned that she had been living in London for the past two-years with an advertising agency and as we were talking, we met an older middle-aged couple from San Francisco that owned a wine vineyard north of San Francisco. The four of us shared a great conversation during our 90-minute wait on the Thong Sala Pier, but before we knew it, the time was approaching 12pm and hordes of people once again began queuing up, this time there was much less organization.

Once aboard the four of us decided to sit on the second-level of the boat outside, but soon the heat was too much for the couple from California and as Karolle and I sat there we met another girl from Holland and restarted the traveler’s conversation. Our next stop was the island of Koh Samui, but thankfully we did not have to change boats but were only dropping off and picking up new passengers. At this point the heat was becoming overbearing and we decided to head inside to the air-conditioned cabin for the remaining one-hour trip to the mainland port town of Surat Thani. The sea seemed to be a bit more tumultuous on this last leg of the journey, which created the perfect sleeping environment once again. For those that tend to have envious romanticizing notions of extended travel, let me assure you that in spite of the photos we, or I, post from often exotic places around the world, often the journey to reach these locations is an exhausting experience all together. And, not being fully healthy certainly does not help the situation. Since, I knew it would be a long travel day I have chosen not to eat much since I am unsure how often I will be near a toilet–again the unglamorous side of travel.

Several double-decker buses and minibuses were waiting at the pier in Surat Thani when our boat arrived, and once Karolle received her bag she wisely saved seats for us on the bus bound for Krabi. As we pulled away just after 2:15pm, I noticed that there were about 10 other people that were left behind because the bus was full, and it’s sad, but I was just glad not to be one of them. Little did I know that one of those poor saps would end up not only at the same hostel as myself, not only in the same dorm as myself, but in the bed across from myself. Later, we had a good laugh about it, and as I got to know Atar, who was born in Israel and at the age of 10 moved to Miami where he grew up, learned that he had quite the extensive travel past including currently owning a hostel in Barcelona, Spain. 

Prior to reaching Pak Up Hostel, one of the best hostels in one of the worst locations unfortunately, our bus dropped us about 15-minutes short of Krabi town center and tried selling many people on the additional transportation of 50THB ($1.51), but I knew better and convinced Karolle and our new Dutch friend that we could flag down one of the pickup trucks that the locals use for 20THB ($0.60) and not just to the town center but to the pier where they had booked a guesthouse. Overall the joint ticket from Koh Tao to Krabi cost 900THB ($27.21) and included a tuk tuk ride to the pier, two boats, and about a three-hour bus trip from the east coast of Thailand to the west.  

After indulging in a much needed shower, I was gathering up my backpack trying to organize it in such a way that I would be traveling to Bali with only my smaller backpack, since my friend Rommel has been kind enough to allow me to leave my larger backpacker at his apartment, since I will be staying with him for a week upon returning from the southern hemisphere. My apologies for grammatical errors, but I’m attempting to write this at 2:21am, while sitting in the Singapore airport, as I am just exhausted with a bit of insomnia, and would love to get this posted before flying out. Anyways, as I had the entire contents of my life spread out on the floor and my bed, I began striking up conversations with my other dorm mates. In typical fashion we had a nice rounded international group that represented two guys from Spain, Atar from Israel or the US or Spain all depending on what you might consider the answer to where are you from to be, there was Chris from England who had family roots from Jamaica, and our lone female was from France. Later we realized we had a very conversational group, when we found ourselves discussing a variety of international topics on the empty rooftop of the hostel until 2am. I think my favorite story of the night was when Atar was telling us that just recently he saw in the news that the tensions between Israel and Iran were continuing to flare up, and that same day he was on a beach where he had met a girl from Iran and how they were laughing at how others would view the two of them in conversation and how sad it is to see the divisions that get created and spawn absolute hatred for another group of people.

The next morning was a bit of a struggle to wake up at 10am, I know that sounds luxurious to most, but once again when you are getting periods of sleep in increments as opposed to entire night’s rest, it begins to wear on you. After organizing my transportation through the hostel to the airport for 120THB ($3.62), which I know I could have done for much cheaper utilizing local transportation, however when you are on a specific timetable such as a flight, local transportation can often burn you because you never know how many prior stops or delays may occur before reaching your destination. The minibus arrived at 1pm providing me enough time to grab some lunch in town before arriving at Krabi International Airport 35-minutes later, where along the way I had a nice chat with a middle-aged woman from Ireland that was currently living in Perth, Australia and was on the last few days of her two-week holiday where she planned to finish it visiting friends that live in Singapore. Checking in with Tiger Air, a budge airline, I was allotted 15kg (33lbs) for my checked luggage, but unfortunately was over this limit as I placed my bag on the scale. The woman at the counter was kind enough to ask one of the other crew members to bring my bag back and allow me to reduce the weight as opposed to trying to charge me 750THB ($22.67), which was a bit of a challenge but finally was able to add more to my carry-on backpack and got just within the 15kg limit. After clearing customs and receiving my proper exit stamp from Thailand, I was glad that our flight was on schedule and departed at 3:30pm. The 90-minute flights versus the 24-plus hour journey overland that included two border crossings, certainly felt like a great choice as we touched down in Singapore just after 6:25pm, where I promptly made my way to my friend Rommel’s apartment to drop off my larger backpack with his roommate Christian near the Simei station for only S$1.80 ($1.41) each way from Changi Aiport. Whew, even though it was a short ride on the MRT, I am looking forward to exploring country number 31 for me, but it will have to wait, as I am hoping to enjoy my time in Bali and celebrate my birthday both in Indonesia and also in the southern hemisphere where toilets flush backgrounds. Yes, at 3am sitting in an airport as an old guy sleeping barefoot next to me snoring away, I am easily amused.