Overnight Bus Ride | March 14/15

Hey Everybody....

There is so much to type about but I think this crazy overnight bus ride is a great place to start. After wondering around a few streets of Bangkok and seeing an Irish Pub (completely out of place), people selling those crap shirts you find in every tourist location and being bitten by little yippy dogs at the Wat........it was time to jump into a taxi and find our way to the bus station on the other side of town.

In order for us to get there, we first viewed a massive amount of Thai cops wearing pink bandannas...carrying clubs to beat people with during the protest if they get out of line. Hundreds of people wearing red shirts, streets shut down....barb wire and cement barricades setup all over the place....

Before we could even get into a taxi, we had to find one. The so called...concierge at the Buddy Lodge took our bags for a stroll through a very crowded street looking for a taxi to get us out to the bus station. If you can imagine people wondering through the streets, the same smell as the Tenderloin in San Francisco (fresh scent of dogs, dirty people, puke and booze), that is what we were wandering through while the street vendors are selling plastic bags of noodles to the locals.

Our concierge (wearing his red vest) walked us out of this mess and onto a main street where a Thai man started speaking with him as if he was ready to take our bags and run. Because there were 5 gringos and about 200 lbs of bags, he assumed we needed a Taxi. He claimed that he was a Taxi driver and could get us to the bus station for 300 baht. We followed this guy to his 'taxi' that had no official writing on it and looked like a beaten up Honda Civic that had been pieced together with a red door, spare tires and a very small trunk.

........we end up finding a real taxi and going through one crazy ride to the bus station with a few near death misses.....

This overnight bus was decked out with a woman claiming to be the stewardess wearing a 60s uniform (blue vest, yellow hat and a happy smile on her face). We were sitting on the top level of this massive bus getting ready for a 10pm - 6am ride to Mae Sot where my brother has been living for the past year. Becky immediatly pulls out what she calls the 'Sleepy Time' pills. We all pop the pills and get ready for a crazy ride through Thailand all hopped up on sleepy drugs.

Just like in the plane, they wake us up for any food, water or milk. I had to find the bathroom a few times in the middle of the night and come to find out.....the bathroom is a small red closet that has a urinal taped to the wall. There is no way anyone over 200 lbs and above 6 ft could fit into this small closet that you must squeeze yourself into.

During this whole trip, Becky has tucked away our Passports, life bag and everything that matters to us on this trip under her sweatshirt. She looked like a very happy umpa lumpa that just took the sleepy time pills. She was out cold and couldn't be woken up on the entire trip except when our bus driver SLAMMED ON THE BRAKES...and woke everyone up with bags a flying and almost smashing into a truck in front of us while flying down a massive hill.

After 8 hours on this bus we arrived at the Mae Sot bus terminal where everyone woke up ...flew off the bus and started jumping onto these dirt bikes that had been converted to what we now call 'Tuk Tuks'. They look like a wagon connected to a motorcycle. They can hold 3 people comfortablly. So the smart gringos that we are decide that our 200lbs of bags and 5 people can squeeze into one of these. My brother had to hang onto the front with the driver because when he jumped on the back it almost tipped over.

My dad hung onto the bags for dear life and Becky gripped the back of the Tuk Tuk to make sure she wouldn't fly off the back while racing down the highway in pitch black. We don't want to end up in the hospital in our first day in Mae Sot and it seemed with this ride we just might.

Luckily, the Tuk Tuk scotted its way to Brian's home and we were off on our adventure..finally in our first location .....and we still haven't slept in a bed since Hawaii........

The best is yet to come .....

Becky and Andrew