Long transfers, lazy days

We decided to travel from Bangkok to Koh Samui via the overnight sleeper train, which departed at 8.30pm. We had a little hesitation, especially as by the time we booked it there were no separate (first class) cabins available, which meant we'd be out there with the hoi polloi. Once we got on the train we were pleasantly surprised with the setup, which offered enough privacy and comfort to keep us happy - although you wouldn't want to be any taller than James' 170 cm if you fancied stretching your legs out fully. Once strapped into our beds, we didn't reemerge until about 6.30 the next morning, ready for our (nominal) 7.15 arrival.

The train was a little late, but we got off at Surat Thani to find spruikers for a bus/ferry combo to Koh Samui as we got off. We randomly picked one and had time for a coffee before getting on the bus for the hour long ride to the ferry over to the island. Waiting on the ferry we managed to spot one of the local (apparently pink, we couldn't tell) dolphins splashing around near the dock, with the tempting view of the islands on the horizon. After a 90 minute ferry ride and locating a local tuk-tuk, we arrived at the selected resort - tired from an interrupted night's sleep on the train.

There are a host of things to do and see on Koh Samui - apparently. We didn't leave the resort! There was a decent restaurant, a nice beach with shade and a good little swimming pool. Given the amount of moving we'd done in the lead up we decided that lazy was the name of the game and we spent the next 2.5 days sitting around reading, sleeping and drinking cocktails. It was great. The highlight was heading down to the (west facing) beach for sunset each evening, with the second evening providing one of the better photos of the trip.

Departure from Koh Samui saw us with a 15 hour transfer to Penang - with a taxi, then ferry, then van, then another van, a border crossing followed by more time in the van. While a long day, it wasn't terrible with relatively comfortable seats in the vans, plenty of chances to get out and stretch our legs, and the border crossing went smoothly enough. 

The biggest drama was arriving late into Georgetown and desperately wanting some dinner at 9pm on a Sunday night. Our hotel host pointed us in the direction of the local party street, where we found a nice little Indian restaurant to finish off the day before collapsing into bed.