Woke up this morning after two hours of sleep following the full moon party. Quickly, everyone packed up the gear that had slowly exploded out of our packs over the last five days, took their last showers for a while, and got on the boat out of town. It was miserably hot, be we all agreed that however bad we felt, it was infinitely better than everyone still in their neons and body paint from last night. After a two hour ferry ride (bless aircon) we were at the port that services Surat Thani, our transfer point to Bangkok, then Chiang Mai. Unbeknownst to us, Surat Thani is actually an hour away from the port, and our ticket price included a bus from the port to the train station. Unfortunately, it also meant that our group had to split up pronto. In many ways, it was a blessing, unexpected and necessarily brief. Suddenly we went from a group back to a pair.
When Kerry and I arrived at the train station, sitting there as though they were expecting us, were Becca and Kyle. They apologized for not meeting us on Koh Phangan, which we balked at, as they clearly had more important things going on (like getting engaged).
We were in different cars, so we didn’t see them on the train, but we got breakfast with them, then said our goodbyes for the time being. That accomplished it was back on the train for another 12 hours, which passed considerably more slowly than the sleeper from Surat Thani. The train attendant even passed out in a pair of seats for a while. But seeing some of the Thai countryside was pretty cool. Reminded me of something between home and Hawaii. Sugarcane, rice, and even some corn. Familiar things. But we were glad once it ended.