Bus Ride from HELL

Well it wasn't exactly from Hell, it was a lot of fun.
But it wasn't off to a good start because we were supposed to get picked up by a driver to take us to the bus station at 5:00pm. At 4:45pm we went to grab something quick to eat, because we knew that during our 16 hour bus ride we would get a little hungry.
We told them we didnt have much time so , of course, being the sweetest people ever here, were running around and rushing and making sure that it was quick. As we were eating our driver shows up RIGHT on time. They see him and run out to distract him and make sure he waits for us to finish. I swear you guys... they are so sweet and so kind and treat us like princesses. They do anything for us, open doors, carry our bags everywhere, walk us across the street...etc..

Anyways, we get in the car and he takes us to what we thought would be the bus station but its outside of a Thai elementry school. He can't speak any english and keeps saying "cant park, can't park" as in..... "I have to leave cause I cant park here!"
We just stand there, not knowing what to do. Thinking "If we miss our bus, how are we going to make it to Phuket in time to start our classes??" getting all scared.
Then a man walks over from across the street and says "you need bus? to where?"
..."Phuket"
..."come with me"
He takes us across the street, through a back alley, past a market and around a building where we find 3 busses parked and a bunch of backpackers.
We give them our tickets and wait. As we are waiting a girl walks up and is talking to the girl taking the tickets and had a Canadian passport in her hand.
She was from Ottawa and was going to Krabi on the same bus as us.
So we talked to her for a bit and she told us about Chiang Mai (place with the Elephants we want to see) and we told her about Bangkok, since she was sick she missed out on the tourist celebrations.
As we were sitting there, a guy from Ireland named Alan comes and sits with us and he was going to Phuket too. So the 4 of us became "bus buddies" and sat together during our stops and told stories.
Sometime during the 16 hour overnight trip, we stopped at a checkstop on the side of the highway where they sell water, snacks and have a washroom. ( I took a picture of the washroom to gross everyone out. No Toilet Paper, No seat, just squat over a suare ceramic bowl thats on the ground that doesnt flush....and....if you wish... take the bucket of water to splash yourself clean when you are done)

we keep going along and then finally we get to the closest stop to Phuket. Which was the side of the road....not a bus station. Yes, Thats right... The bus doesnt go to Phuket. It stops 4 hours away and goes back. If you want to go to Phuket...you have to pay more money at the nearest bus stop or hire a cab!!!!!!!! :|
So we thought we were gonna be stuck 4 hours away from Phuket and have to hire a cab. But to our rescue a truck pulls up and we pile in the back. Me, Jess, Alan, A girl from the Netherlands, A guy from Italy and a guy from Indonesia. (Ottawa girl got on another bus)
They take our bags and put them On TOP of the trucks roof, and we all sit in the back of it. They drive us to a shuttle bus that is driving to Phuket.
---i know....really really confusing eh? we just went with the flow---

Anyways, this shuttle takes us down to Phuket but takes us the opposite direction of Patong Beach, and takes us to Phuket town, So that we have to pay him 200 baht to go the other way.
Lucky for us we had someone from the Hotel waiting to pick us up in Phuket town so we weren't suckered into paying more.
Everyone we talked to on the bus payed a different price for their bus ticket than us. It was kinad funny going around and finding out how much people payed. Its all about getting them to give you "Discounts" if you are a tourist, they try and get the most they can from you.
But we made it to Phuket town and Ya (guy hired to pick us up) found us and took us back to our WONDERFUL hotel which we stay at during our schooling. Its about a 10 minute walk from Patong Beach and in a safe area. Very touristy. (and it has a toilet with toilet paper!)

Ya was a really really Nice Thai guy that works for the TEFL school and for the Hotel. On the drive to the hotel he asked us if we were hungry and we said we were (because we hadn't eaten in 16 hrs) and he was like "soon we will be at hotel...15 mins" then he says "just one stop for me ok?" and stops at a 7-11. While hes in there Jess and me are trying to guess what hes gonna buy Water?Cigarettes?Coffee?Snack? We didnt know. Then he walks out of the store and gets in, Hands us each a "Strawberry Love Bun" which is a bread that has a chocolatey straberry taste to it, a bottle of cold water and a mango orange juice.
We both tried to hold back our tears cause we thought it was so sweet that he stopped for us. We tried to give him money and he kept saying "mai ben lai, mai ben lai" which means "nevermind".

There is a Reggae Bar across the street, when it cools down a bit we are gonna walk over and check it out.
Jessica is playing dominos with one of the staff here and then she is gonna come on and write the stuff I forgot.
Right now we have two seperate rooms side by side, we are gonna see if we can share one for two months rather than have two rooms for one month. Lets see if they'll let us.

We are learning Thai right now, a guy from England is taking a Thai course and he is teaching us common phrases and the hotel staff is helping him also, as he just started 2 weeks ago. In return, he teaches them english. We hung out with him by the pool and he taught us how to say a few things. He is going to take the TEFL course too, but next month. Hes staying for 8 months and plans to learn Thai and then Teach English. He worked in Postal in Birmingham and got sick of it so decided to come here and Learn Thai. Pretty cool of him!

Lots to read!

Pictures on Facebook for now until we can get the other camera to work on this computer.