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Do we pay by night or by hour?
Entry 54 of 70 | show all | print this entry |
Travelling by (fan) bus in the april hot season, is a hot and sticky affair. In case I haven't mentioned it a hundred times already, temperatures by midday climb well above the 40 degrees centigrade at this time of year. Overcrowded buses, with standing room only - well, we were lucky, after about an hour and a half, some seats became available - and after a bit a steady trickle of sweat starts running down arms, neck, back, legs, everywhere. You really look forward to a place where you can shed your clothes and take a nice cool shower.
Today, we wanted to get from Kamphaeng Phet to Kanchanaburi in the south, probably just under 500 kilometres, but by bus this is a journey of about 9 hours, requiring two changeovers. First from Kampheng Phet to Nakon Sawan, then from Nakon Sawan to Suphanburi, and the final 90 kilometres to Kanhanaburi. Always a challenge when your Thai reading and comprehension skills are somewhat rusty. But persistent questioning usually reaps a reward.
But today we weren't lucky. We didn't quite make it in time to catch the final bus from Suphanburi, so for the first time in ages I was stranded in a place that isn't mentioned (at all) in the Lonely Planet. So no helpful map for orientation, no recommendations for hotels, nothing. Leaving the luggage with Nanda, and Nanda in the pleasant and intoxicating company of the local drunk and a couple of friendly stray dogs, I set out in search of a place to stay for the night, and found the Mind Hotel, conveniently just around the corner from the bus station.
I just couldn't shake off the feeling though that this is a hotel that has two types of rates, hourly and nightly. Not that I've ever been to one (Mum's reading!), but even though we got a double room with two beds (which must be inappropriate if you want to pay for say an hour or two, but hey, what do I know, cause I've never been to one of these places before - Mum's reading), the lighting was somewhat imaginative, and the hotel proprietors seem overly protective by keeping the plastic on the mattresses. Nuff said, I would think. The two ladyboys at the front desk were very friendly though and thanks to one of them ("Bus Kanchanabuli Led!"), we recognised the red Kanchanaburi-bound bus immediately as it was ready to swing past us, so we flagged it down, and just minutes after we'd left the hotel, we were en route to Kanchanaburi. Life is good.
Can't wait to have a beer when we get to Kanchanaburi though.
Cheers!
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