Headed South Hua Hin and Chumphon

My next stop was the beach town of Hua Hin. I took a local bus between Phetchaburi and Hua Hin so there were a lot of stops on the way. The bus was one of the busses with no AC so all the windows are open. Of the busses I have taken in Thailand these are the ones that I prefer for temperature. The down side is they are only used for stopping anytime any one wants to get on or off so it takes a lot longer to get anywhere.

I did not do a lot in Hua Hin other than relax and enjoy the beach a little bit. I did not take a single picture and after a couple of nights I moved on south. My next target was the island of Koh Tao. To reach Koh Tao I had to go through Chumphon to catch a ferry to the island. I went to the bus station in Hua Hin and people behind the counter did not want anything to do with me. I figured I would just have to buy a ticket on the bus. The problem was I did not know which bus was going to Chumphon. This is a really small station so I just asked each bus pointed south if it stopped at Chumphon. Well I say asked but really would just point at the name in the guidebook. I was at the bus station doing this for about an hour and a half before finding a bus and a lot of the busses drivers did not seem like bugging them to asking.

Once on the bus I sort of watched the road signs as we went and was lucky that I saw the sign with Chumphon to the left and got off the bus at the right place. The bus did not go into Chumphon so I started to walk in the direction that the sign pointed and someone came running after me and said they would get a taxi for me. They ask me to wait at their food shop so I got some food. I finished the food and ask to pay and the cost was about 3 times what I have been paying for the same thing. It was still cheap only 1.50 Euro/2 US$ but I felt I had been cheated. That is what I get for not checking the price or paying before eating. They had told me a taxi would be 100 Bhat about 2 Euros/3 US$ but when a motorbike turned up I decided 100 Bhat was too much and since I felt they cheated me on the food I did not want them making another commission off me. I said I would walk to town and they kept saying long ways. I walked maybe 200 meters down the road and a truck pulled up and offered me a ride for free.

They dropped me off in the center of town and it took me a while to find a hotel. I am not sure I would have found it but 2 or 3 people helped me whenever they saw me staring at a road sign and looking at the map in my book. I booked the ferry to Koh Tao from the hotel for the following morning. It was a long hard day for a short trip from Hua Hin to Chumphon. It surprises me how nice some people are and how some other are no help or try and cheat you. Why is it that the bad seem to be the ones that stick in my head?