Suratthani

We arrived in Suratthani two hours late, predictably, after a restless night (Sara slept fine, but the stopping-and-starting of the train, and the squeaky revolving fan whining and chirruping in the ceiling next to me irritated me so much I couldn't get to sleep). We'd decided on the journey that we didn't want to go to Phuket as originally planned, but rather to Khao Lak, from where we could do a trip to the Similan Islands. We explained this to the staff of the waiting joint-ticket buses (Bangkok travel agents arrange onward transport from the train). “Wait here,” he told us, and immediately turned to a more straightforward passenger. We tried another member of staff. “Ah, you have to go to office, maybee you have to pay money more”. So we got on the bus to go to the office, and on the way explained a further three times that we had tickets to Phuket but wished to change them.

When we got to the office, we were issued new tickets, and told to wait. A songtaew arrived and took us into the town, to another office, where we waited 40 minutes. Then a public bus arrived... and drove us back to the train station, two hours after we'd left! From there we were finally on our way to Khao Lak.

Khao Lak was virtually flattened in the Tsunami (though it seems to have recovered well), and as we near the town we pass blue signs showing a huge wave poised to engulf a running stick figure, with the words TSUNAMI EVACUATION ROUTE.

We checked into a room at Banana Bunglalows, and finally relaxed. 22 hours of travel is tiring.