Domestic South East Asian Travel

The first leg of travel happened the day before but included a longtail and mini bus to get to Pak Meng. I still needed to get from Pak Meng to the Krabi airport in order to fly to Bangkok, and then off towards Kathmandu after a layover in Mumbai. I needed to take a mini bus to the Trang bus station, and they leave about every hour or hour and a half. I found out how scheduling works while I was waiting a half an hour after my 10 minute walk from where I stayed for the night. A mini bus driver, of an older 12-16 person Toyota van, will arrive, and write on a chalkboard his “bus number” and when he is going to leave. Then people wait. As the rain started right after my arrival to the undercover bus stop, I was really happy I was leaving and I feel like I had perfect timing for weather while on the coast. Unlike when I got to Trang on my way out to Koh Kradan, I was able to stay on the mini bus I took from Pak Meng and was dropped off at the main Trang bus station. As a result, I was fortunate enough to avoid tuk tuk ride in the rain! Once I arrived at the bus station, I again only had to wait a half an hour. Awesome! I had allotted myself up to an hour and a half wait at each of these transfer stations, for a worse case scenario, so it looks like I will just sit around at the airport for a little longer. Not a bad alternative. This bus was much more full than the one I took before. It also leaked. Granted it was raining, but the seat next to me had a continuous drip for over two hours. Once I arrived in Krabi, I grabbed some chicken and sticky rice and was giventhe option to take a motor bike or a taxi to get to the airport. The rain had stopped and I opted for the motorbike because I had not ridden one yet. I realized on the way to the airport, probably not the safest decision. The roads were wet, and we cruised along at between 60-70km/hr, my 21kg bag on my back, I leaned forward evertime we went up a hill to keep a decent center, without a helmet. No worries, the driver had one though. Arriving at the airport, check in for my flight had just started. Not bad! I thought I was going to have a terribly long wait in between flights at the Bangkok airport, but after dropping off a letter in the mail, which I got to the post office 15 minutes before it closed , I only had half an hour to wait before check in. Then I watched a movie! Got to kill time somehow! Getting into the terminal with my layover in Mumbai I witnessed and was subjected to the most intesive airport security. Although I already went through a metal detector and had my bag searched to get into the international terminal, in order to get to my gate, everyone’s bag was checked, and detected with a wand. Every passenger. It was quite surprising. What could we obtain in the 50 feet we walked?! Although, I do understand it is double checking in case something harmful was missed, but still, it was a new experience for sure. Once I arrived in Mumbai, it thoroughly confused people that I had an Indian visa, although I was just flying through this time. It seemed like airports operated all night because I got to where I’d be able to go through security when I found out they they do close down in the middle of the night. I had several hours to kill, without internet. This is really going to mess up my sleep schedule!! Bummer. I must say this is the most difficult flight I’ve taken so far this trip. Plus, I didn’t sleep for more than half an hour incriments, and only a few for that matter while in Mumbai. Anyway, I experienced more thorough security checks while transferring in India than I have ever experience anywhere else!