Escaping the Bang

After 3 days of getting used to the heat, the humidity, the traffic, the noise and the general bustle of Bangkok, we decided to "blow that pop stand" and head for the hills. So after some consulting of the trusty "Lonely Planet Guide" we settled on Phitsanulok (or Philok to the locals).

Well... things are never as easy as they seem! We thought we'd be a little clever and ask the TAT (Thai Tourism Office) to write the direction to the bus station where we were to purchase our tickets. Having a scap piece of paper, with directions written in Thai, in our hands we jumped on the local bus (Number 3) and headed for what we thought was the Bangkok Bus Terminal. When we arrived at Mo Chit we saw a grand structure with lots of traffic and the word "Terminal" written on the side of one building. Ha! Aren't we clever we thought! Wasn't that hard after all! So off we strutted to the nearest ticket booth and asked for 2 tickets to Phitsanulok - departing tomorrow please. The poor lady behind the glass window looked at us in a strange way, spoke something to one of her colleagues (probably something not so flattering) and instructed us that we were at the wrong location. Fortunately for us, she also offered us another scarp piece of paper (written in Thai too) with the correct destination on it. So... the journey continued in a taxi and some 45 minutes later we arrived at another "Bangkok Bus Terminal" - this time out near the International Airport.

Then the next hurdle was encountered.... navigating the hoards of tuk-tuk and taxi drivers offering rides to anywhere you want and the maze of ticket booths with buses heading all over Thailand. Taking it all in our stride we eventually found the correct window (after being directed inside, then outside, then inside, then outside...) and purchased our escape from Bang.

With tickets in hand it was time to haggle on the taxi fare and hit the road for our guest house as the two Thai ladies were waiting to give us our massage.