After spending half a day running after birds in Ayutthaya, we had a quick lunch at a restaurant close to our hotel and then headed out to catch a minivan that would take us to Bangkok, and would in fact drop us at the Sai Tai Mai Bus Terminal (also known as the Southern Bus Terminal) in Bangkok. From this Terminal, we were to board our night bus to Phuket.
The minivan station was two blocks from our hotel and we were able to reach comfortably even when we were dragging our huge stroller with us. The ticket was 70 Baht per person. For 3 people (they counted our bag as a person too), it came out to 210 Bahts (about 7 USD) in total. The van was comfortable and apart from us there were two more travelers who boarded this van.
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It took us 1.5 hours to reach the Sai Tai Mai bus station and our bus was at 8:30 PM so we had a lot of time on our hands. We dropped our bag at the Left Luggage counter at the Bus station (60 Bahts for a large bag for one day) and headed out. But since it was hot and humid, we only went a short distance towards a river-like waterbody that was visible on the Google Map. However, it turned out to be a canal, so after walking a few metres, we turned back towards the bus stand.
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We were lucky to stumble upon the Sai Tai Mai Center Night Market at the Bus Station, though it was still being set up. We roamed around a little and observed the sun go down and the night market come alive with each passing minute. Though we had been to the night markets at Chiang Mai and Ayutthaya, the unique aspect of this night market was that this was truly meant only for the locals. The prices were cheap and goods were the ones that the locals use in their daily lives.
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Very few shop owners here could converse in English, so we had some difficultly, but in general people were nice and full of smiles. We looked around a little and used this opportunity to taste some good local food. There was a shop that was selling some sort of chicken curry with sticky rice. It was very tasty, and since we had a long bus drive ahead of us, we were glad we could find something good and value-for-money to eat.
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This market is not a good place to buy souvenirs, but if you want to look at clothes, bags, belts, cosmetics, this is a good place, though the ones that appear branded, might actually be counterfeit. You can even purchase some local perfumes if you feel like it, and even buy pets. Apart from the makeshift kiosks, there are some permanent cafes and restaurants here that seemed pretty nice.
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We spent about two hours here and then headed to the platform where our bus would arrive, after collecting our bag from the Left Luggage Counter. We had booked a VIP24 bus and were really looking forward to discovering how comfortable the bus would actually be. It turned out to be a very comfortable bus. We had booked the front two seats on the upper deck of this bus and in front of us was a panoramic view of the city. The seats reclined and each seat had a personal USB mobile charging port.
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In general we were very happy with our day and our choices. By the time our bus ride would end, we would have traveled across 3 cities in Thailand in less than 80 dollars and in the most comfortable way possible. We were also saving hotel charges for one night by travelling in a night bus. We would be reaching Phuket early next morning and could hope to start our day early, owing to the fact that we would be able to sleep in the comfortable bus.
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The bus soon started its long journey towards Phuket. We had walked a lot throughout the day and were too tired to resist sleep. We did not get down when the bus stopped for dinner because our tummies were already full. Moreover, the bus ticket also included one snack box each and that was more than we could consume in our present states. So despite the fact that we wanted to stay awake and enjoy our panoramic view, we quickly drifted off to sleep.
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