Vanpooling in Thailand

Wednesday we made our way to Koh Samet. It was, as expected, an interesting journey. One that consisted of one "minibus" (IMB, much like Blue Lightning, actually!) transferring us to another one, in which our fellow travel mates consisted of the following:

-- A man in his early forties from Pensacola (whose sons supposedly made up the Motown records' band The Boys (anyone heard of them?)... He now travels every couple of months to Shanghai and Bangkok for god knows what. Oh and he later, during a discussion on the things PATH works on, divulged to us and the rest of the van that he had a women's condom in his bag...). Uh, yeah....
-- An angry American man (supposedly from Hawai'i... But I found that hard to believe given his temperament) traveling with his tiny Asian wife who spoke no English and their 2month baby. When we got to the ferry we got to witness the height of his anger when several 4-letter expletives flew from his mouth upon seeing the quality of our floating accommodation.
-- Two German men who were apparently heading to Cambodia and had a slight (ok maybe 2-hour long) panic attack when their language barrier with our Thai driver made it fantastically difficult to get any reassurance that this van would in fact continue on to Cambodia.
-- A mid-twenties girl in the front seat that didn't say a single word the entire 3 hour trip
-- A man and a woman, who we assumed - based on the fact that they were passed out on each other, waking up only to make out every so often - were a couple. About 2 hours into the drive, when they had had enough sleep I guess, they woke up and started talking, or rather trying to talk. She was British or Australian and I have no idea where he was from, but he spoke little to no English. Clearly they had just met.
-- And, finally, in the back row with Megan and me, were seemingly the only 2 other somewhat normal people: Andy and Lina, who also had just met (he from Germany, she from Korea). The circumstances of their meeting were quite entertaining actually: they were both out at a club in Bangkok three nights ago. She, after having a little too much to drink and wearing heels, managed to trip up a flight of stairs, bruising both knees and cutting open her mouth to the point where an ambulance was called. Andy helped her out the door only to find that the "ambulance" was a woman police officer driving a motorbike. So like any gentleman would do (or so I hear) he got on the bike behind the driver and Lina (neither having anything to hold onto) and the sped through Bangkok to a Thai hospital where reportedly 2 highschool-aged girls stitched her up and sent them on their way. All, by the way, for 800 Baht (a little less than $30).

Yes,one could say this van heading to the Koh Samet ferry (and then onto the Cambodian border, don't worry, guys!!) was much like the vanpool I used to take from Queen Anne to Olympia each day: we had lots of character.

Upon arrival at the ferry dock we were escorted to the boat that would be transporting us to the island. Sadly I do not have an iSara photo of this, but when you do see it in the compilation post-trip, you might understand Mr. Angry's need to use the f-word a few times. We however embraced our inner-adventurer and hopped on alongside the cases and cases of liquor being loaded on to the boat.