Phuket–Yangon
Asia 2016
Tonight we have a flight to Myanmar. At 12 we checked out of the hotel, and we had to return the scooter at 3 p.m. We could have gone to the beach, but the beautiful beaches were quite far away and three hours wouldn’t have been enough, so we just sat in the café by the hotel, ate yogurts bought at the nearby store, and watched the world go by.
Time flew by pretty quickly, so we got on the scooter and rode to Phuket Town to return our two-wheeled friend. Phuket is such an amazing city — everything there is so unclear and confusing, I just can’t remember any landmarks, and every time we arrive there it feels like the first time and we have to look for everything all over again.
That’s how it turned out this time too: we couldn’t find the man we had rented the scooter from, rode back and forth along the streets, but then somehow, by chance, we finally found him. We returned the scooter. Now we had to eat and get to the airport. The bus to the airport left from the bus station, which was about 1.5 km from where we returned the scooter. We set off. At the bus station we found the bus schedule and decided to look for a café. We found one quickly, not far from the station, and they fed us there deliciously and very filling.
Lunch at a café near the bus station
At the appointed time, the minibus arrived, we got in and headed to the airport.
Phuket Airport is probably the busiest of all the airports I’ve been to. Crowds of people were scurrying back and forth, and Russian could be heard everywhere. We checked in, after which we had to stand in a very long line for passport control in a very stuffy room. One girl even felt unwell from the heat and stuffiness — she fainted and fell unconscious to the floor…..
Having tea at Phuket Airport
But after that we were rewarded with a waiting lounge with free cold and hot water. We made tea, got out some cookies, and started waiting — our flight was at midnight. There was free internet here, so time flew by quickly.
We flew to Yangon with a layover in Bangkok. We had to wait 6 hours for the Bangkok-Yangon flight. We arrived in Bangkok at one in the morning; at that time the airport was so quiet, completely deserted. All the shops and cafes were closed, no one was walking around or making noise. Occasionally we came across other people waiting like us; they were sleeping wherever they could — either right on the floor or on the chairs.
We chose a spot near the power outlets. By that time I was feeling worse. After the flight, my ears hurt badly; on top of that, my throat became sore and I started to get a runny nose. I started taking antibiotics.
I bought some water and made myself tea. I slept a little, and Volchy tried to work. And so here we are sitting on the long-awaited Bangkok-Yangon plane…..
