Gili T —> Koh Pha Ngan
Recently I spent just about 50 hours getting from Gili Trawangan in Lombok, Indonesia, to Koh Pha Ngan, a small island off the southern coast of Thailand. I was coming from the best 10 days in Gili T to do a Worldpackers in Koh Pha Ngan. After my not so good experience in Bali, I’ll admit I was a little hesitant to do another Worldpackers, but I’m SO glad I did! I met the nicest people, the job was easy and as described on the app. I can’t wait to give it a good review so others will do the same as I did. Anyway, back to my travel day. When you’re traveling between places like this and as often as I do, Rome2Rio and 12Go Asia are your best friends. I actually booked my ferry from Gili T to Bali from a man on the side of the street near the pier who had a small stand set up. Sometimes you just have to trust the world a little. It all worked out, but the ferry was considerably longer than I had anticipated because it didn’t go directly from Gili Trawangan to Bali, there was a stop in Gili Air and Gili Meno as well as Lombok. In total, the ferry took about four hours, with an additional two hour taxi ride to get to the accommodation near Denpasar Airport. I checked into Fora Capsule Hostel and was quite glad to be only staying half a night there. I’ve never been to such a cheap hostel that they make you purchase a towel if you want to take a shower.
It was a quick few hours of sleep before I had to get up and leave for the airport to catch my flight from Denpasar to Don Muang Airport in Bangkok, Thailand. I’m glad I woke up at 3:30 am because even though the airport was only a few minutes drive away, it took over 40 minutes to get a taxi at that hour of the morning. Always plan ahead, I suppose. I chilled out at the airport for a while, eating food that was more expensive than New York before boarding the plane. I was so tired I honestly barely remember this flight, I slept most of the time. When I got off, I went directly to customs to get a visa. Or so I thought. Turns out, as a US citizen you don’t need a visa or proof of onward travel if you’re only stayed 30 days in Thailand. I’ve now opted to stay longer, but it’s very easy to just extend your stay. Don’t waste money on onward travel if you don’t have to!
After I got out of the airport, I took a cab 45 minutes down to the bus station to check in for my night bus. Even though it was only noon and the bus wasn’t until 7pm, I hoped to be able to drop off my backpack so I could wander around Bangkok for a bit. That’s exactly what I did. They were very kind. I don’t remember the name of the bus, but I booked it through 12GoAsia. I wandered over to the Grand Palace and took a very interesting tour while doing everything I could to stay awake. I then just hung out in a Starbucks until it was time for my bus. I’m glad I did too, it was the first Starbucks I had since I left the US and it’s the last one I’ll have for the foreseeable future. I’m also quite glad I got McDonald’s. I’m not usually a huge fast food person at all, but sometimes it’s nice to get a taste of home.
At 6pm, I made my way to the night bus. It only ended up leaving at 8, but that was okay. I slept from 8pm until 1am which was perfect. We then had a stop for about 45 minutes and I (still half-asleep) ordered some soup. I’m not kidding when I say this was the best thing I have ever eaten in my life. I don’t even know what it was called, but it was amazing. That would be my last meal on death row. This random soup from a truck stop in Thailand somewhere between Bangkok and Surat Thani.
Unfortunately, because we stopped, I couldn’t sleep pretty much the rest of the night. My one sleeping pill wore off and I was wide awake listening to the 50 year old man next to me snoring like a fog horn. My phone was at 10% and the bus chargers weren’t working, so I was pretty much left to my own thoughts in the dark. We stopped again around 5 in the morning (just as I was dozing off again) and this time I barely even left the bus. I went downstairs and they were serving coffee, but that was the last thing I needed. So I just went back on the bus and tried to sleep again.
Slowly and surely the sky turned pink and the sun began to rise, signaling that we were almost there. I hopped off the bus and onto the ferry, which took about 3 hours from Surat Thani. When I arrived on Koh Pha Ngan, I took a taxi to my accommodation. I’d never taken a scooter with my bags before, but the driver said it was fine, so off we went. Unfortunately, my bed wouldn’t be ready until about 4pm (I got there around 11am) so I wandered off again down the road to a coffee shop, until I could sleep off the last few days.
Honestly I know it sounds so exhausting, but I really thrive on travel days like this. It’s why I do what I do :)
