Today we left stunning koh Tao to head back up to Bangkok, right in time for the election on the second of feb. eek! There has been some political unrest (to say the least) in Bangkok for the last month. For the past few years, one family has dominated the elected government, able to fulfill a political agenda by *somehow* being voted into office year after year. Many citizens of Thailand have had enough and began the "shutdown Bangkok, restart Thailand" protest campaign. Protesters blocked many of the major streets in Bangkok, hoping to dissuade many from voting on the second. They hoped to block voting booths, making it an illegal election and demand an unelected people's party to run the govt for a while. I personally don't know enough about the issue to have a strong opinion either way, it's been a fascinating (and sometimes nerve wracking) aspect of our trip.
Anyway. We spent the morning on koh Tao packing and preparing for the next leg of our journey. We needed to get nick some passport photos for the Cambodian visa, plus needed an Internet cafe to print, fax and check some stuff because real life is still somehow happening back in California. Weird.
We took a ferry to Chumphorn, and stayed in a cafe there for a few hours till the train arrived. I really (weirdly enough) enjoyed this little layover. It was fun getting to know our travel companions more and more, and I think somehow the impending end of our trip was somehow pushing us closer and closer. Our self-elected CFO (chief field trip officer)Thomas led us around Chumphorn and we visited a street market and sampled a few local snacks.
That night we had our last night train. We spent a good portion chatting with the others but eventually had to closethe curtains and fall asleep on the last night of the Thailand tour.
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