This is Thailand y'all...Part 4

I wake up and leave the hotel around 10:00 on Friday morning.  A tuk tuk takes me to the bus station.  An older man comes up with a cart to help with my luggage.  They ask where I’m going.  I’ve been practicing how to say Sakonnakhon and think I say it pretty spot on.  They both just stare at me.  I pull it up on the map and try and show them.  Finally the man with the cart says Bangkok.  No, no Bangkok!!!!  Another man comes over and I say Sakonnakhon again.  He smiles and repeats it and I shake my head.  He says it again slowly – an indication I did not say it correctly and need to repeat him.  But I swear we are saying the exact same thing.  He has me follow him and takes me to a pay station and I buy a ticket for 178 baht for a bus that leaves at 10:50. I make sure my bags get on the bus and hand the gentleman 10 baht.  He shakes his head and says 20 baht.  Whatever dude, take the 20 baht and go on.  I get on the bus and am feeling this isn’t right.  1. This bus is old and will be a long 6 hour ride in this seat.  2. I only paid 178 baht. I thought it was going to be 500-600 baht.  3. It leaves at 10:50.  I was told the bus leaves at 12:20.  So I call my new consultant and she asks to speak to someone sitting around me that speaks Thai.  The bus I was on was not going straight to Sakonnakhon. It’s 10:48 at this point.  So I jump up and get off the bus.  When I’m getting off I tell the driver – getting off…wrong bus.

He is pulling out.  And this is where I absolutely lost it.  My bags with everything I have in Thailand are in the undercarriage of this bus.  That is backing out.  I run over to the side of the bus and start throwing up the doors on the side, all while trying to keep moving backwards with the bus.  I’m also yelling stop the bus. My bags.  A man helps get my suitcase out and I just throw it down on the ground.  I’m pointing at my two other bags and still yelling.  He shuts the door.  Which sends me into more of a panic.  But another man opens one closer to my bags and I grab them and throw them to the ground.   My bags are now out of that awful bus.  But now I’m standing in the middle of this bus station parking lot with my bags all around me, looking like a crazy woman I’m sure.  Definitely not one of my finer moments. 

I collect my bags and am walking over to try and get away from all these people starting at me.  The gentleman that was trying to get me to repeat Sakonnakhon walks up again and points to a sign that is the name of the bus line that leaves at 12:20.  So we walk over there and he’s trying to get me a ticket.  The ticket collector is being a bit of an asshole (in all fairness he had just witnessed what just went down).  I get my consultant back on the phone and she’s talking to him.  At the same time, the other guy is saying ticket.  I’m like I don’t have a ticket.  He says I get you money.  Oh!  You’re going to go get my 178 baht back for the wrong bus ticket. 

I get my phone back and the buses on this line are full for the day.  (But were they really? Or did they just not want the crazy farang on their bus that day…).  I’m standing there trying to figure out what I’ll do next when the guy comes back with my money and motions for me to follow him.  He takes my bags and takes me across the parking lot to another terminal.  He helps get me a ticket that leaves at 11:30 and is 420 baht on the VIP bus.  I’m telling him kap khun khae and wai-ing him the best wai I’ve ever done.  Then I try and hand him 20 baht (which for reference is $0.57…) and he wont’ take it.  Finally I’m about to put it in his shirt pocket he accepts it.  Then he’s gone.  He was saving grace that day!!

I call my consultant one more time and she talks to the ticket agent and confirms this bus will take me straight thru!  It’s a 6 hour ride and the seat is comfy, reclines all the way, I’ve got a plug in at my seat to charge my phone.  And after the morning I’ve had, I’m sure I’ll sleep just fine!!  About 2.5 hours into the ride, we pull over at a rest stop/restaurant area.  I was just going to stay on the bus, but decided I should get off since we still 4ish hours. I'm walking around the convenient store like area and see the bus pulling away. I seriously yelled out (loudly) oh f bomb (sorry mom…)! and was about to start chasing after it. Or something. I really have no idea what I was going to do!! Then I realized the was still empty and the bus driver was just moving away from the entrance because another bus was pulling in...

Luckily, I was able to get back on the bus and relax for the remaining ride.  I got into Sakonnakhon around 6:30 and one of the Thai teachers picked me up at the bus station.  He brought me to my new accommodation (with a flushing toilet!!!) and right away I met two of the other English speaking teachers I’ll be working with.  The guy is from Austin!!!  They’ve both been here going on their 3^rd year.  They took me to the school on Saturday so I could see it and get my books and have shown me around town.  I’ve met two more of the Thai teachers that we are to call Mama – because they are gonna take care of us.  The moment the Thai teacher shook my hand at the bus station I already felt 100 times better than I did in the first town. 

This is really where I’m supposed to be.  And what a hell of a story it was to get here!

/end scene