11.7.24

A horrible start to the day, my blog has been suspended and I should get a response from their ‘happiness’ department within 24 hours.
I’m devastated. A friend pm’d me and said to be very careful with what I write.
There’s the incident with the monks and the disabled person crying, and I’d put a link to a PETA investigation into accusations of monkey cruelty which didn’t prove any cruelty.
It’s really unnerved me and I’m terrified it could end in a punishment, although I don’t feel there was anything in there that would be taken further.

Bye bye Baan nook cafe. John dried his hair as we left.

We got a grab to Surat Thani train station for our trip to Bangkok. We’d allowed loads of time, the train was in the station and we all got settled in ready to leave at 9am.
Total journey time was 9 hours and 5 minutes. It went so quickly though.
No dramas, only 1 very loud woman on the phone for what seemed ages.
Instead of train announcements we had a lady who shouted out where the next stop was.
She also gave out water and meals, collected the rubbish and cleaned the toilets.
I hope they pay her well, she never stops and she was no spring chicken.

When it came to food orders we were totally ignored, luckily we had lots snacks.
The next time they went around with a list John intercepted them and we ordered iced coffee & iced chocolate.
It was over an hour before they materialised but what a great system and must be a great earner for the suppliers.
I watched a series on Netflix called The Hour. By the end of episode 2 I was wondering why I was bothering and watched a Turkish programme called In Good Hands and started the sequel. If I’d have been at home I would have had a good cry but not appropriate on a train.

The Grab from the train station took ages, we’d forgotten how crazy Bangkok traffic is.

Off to the Pillow and Bread, a hostel and hotel which has great reviews and we liked the name.
Our room is great, we paid an extra 40 baht not to lug cases up to 4th floor. I’d forgotten it was a shared bathroom, but no big deal for one night. Total was around £9 including bread.
The bed was rock hard but had nice pillows.

We went out for a stroll and to find food.
It was around 7pm and places were closing or already closed. We continued to Chatuchak mall as it says it closes at 10pm on google. That was closed too, only a desert cafe and a coffee place were still open and a stall out in the garden. I was grumpy, tired and hungry.
We had seafood pad thai, a really delicious pineapple fried rice and a pitcher of Leo beer from the stall outside.

Anything was welcome by now, I was fed up with dodging pipes, chairs, concrete drain covers and general debris.
We sat under a canopy out of the rain and enjoyed our meals even though there was a bit of a mix up with ordering and 3 incredibly noisy Italians.

Back to our room with a Tuk Tuk, our first on this trip. They’re a lot larger and more comfy than we remembered. John just reminded me it was the Sri Lankan and Indian ones we were thinking of, they were a nightmare experience.

It was only about 9.30pm when we got back. I was hating Bangkok. I’m not a city person.
Fell asleep catching up with Love Island.
Many would think that’s a lucky escape.

Tomorrow we fly to Australia to visit family for 2 weeks. the next episode of this blog will resume on 26th July, when we fly back for a short break in the journey before returning home to Türkiye.