Dec 24...Are we there yet?

Watching our train go by...
Originally uploaded by kuckibaboo.

Up at 5 am and it's a clear sunny day. Segga picks us up at 5:30 as promised and we're back at the train station in a flash. When we get out of the car we realize that it's a Sega. Segga drives a Sega. Unreal. Segga turns out to be a genuinely caring fellow. We board our train and it's Pringles for breakfast. The train is pretty noisy but it's decently clean and it's moving so that's good enough for us. We pass thru the last bit of Malaysia and we're in Thailand by 10 am. Immigration once again is a breeze and we change a bit of money and buy some real food and juice and are on our way again. Once in Thailand the farming quickly changes from palm and coconut to rubber. Endless rows of rubber trees make their way into the distance. We arrive in Hat Yai at 11:30 am and decide it's time for lunch. We also decide we're gonna try to get air tickets for our return trip to KL so we don't have to do the boat, van, bus, train, donkey thing ever again. Sean calls out the first travel agent we see and we head in and manage to get tickets from Phuket to KL for 2600 Baht (that about 68 US$). Cool. After a quick lunch for Sean and 'Quel at KFC and a round of espresso and animal crackers we make our way into town, arrange to take a van to Surat Thani (which is where we have to catch the boat to take us to Koh Samui, our final destination for this leg). So we're crammed in a van that has 12 seats but should really only fit about 9 seats. But once again it's moving so we're ok. Moving very fast actually, faster than the bus in KL and faster than anyone would ever dream of driving in Japan. It's best to keep our eyes closed. The good news is, after an hour delay in Hat Yai we arrive in Surat Thani about 30 minutes early! As soon as we step out of the van we're ushered into an office where there's a large smiling Thai woman sitting at a desk with a cat on it that is more than happy to make our travel arrangements for the rest of our lives. Again, we're tired and hungry and it's getting dark. I have a "good feeling" about this woman so I barter for a hotel room with dinner and breakfast included, transportation there and the boat to Koh Samui. It came to 1800 Baht for the 3 of us (about 50 US$). The hotel was really nice, better than we had expected, very clean, pretty styley, AC, nice bathroom, comfy beds and our room had it's very on gecko so no mosquito's!