Where: Nathon Pier, Koh Samui to Ranong, Ranong, Thailand
When: 16th March 2018
I wanted to write a post about this experience as I couldn’t find anything definitive on the internet about this journey, from Koh Samui to Ranong, when planning the journey myself, apart from on the website of the place I was journeying to – EcoLogic Resort, more about that in a few posts time. I’m so looking forward to writing about that!
Ranong is the capital of Ranong province and north west from Koh Samui. I booked a ticket from Nathon Pier to Surat Thani town. It was a combined ticket which included the ferry from Koh Samui and a bus from Surat Thani pier to Surat Thani town, which is about an hour and a half away. I used ferrysamui.com, I needed to amend my ticket too and the live chat customer service was very helpful.
I first had to get from Mae Nam to Na Thon, I managed to flag down a nice songthaew who took me for 60 bhat. I then needed to head to the Songserm ticket office to exchange my printed ticket for a ticket, just across the road from the pier. The guys working at the pier are very helpful and directed me across. One tip – listen to these guys! There were numerous tourists who ignored them when they asked people to wait and not walk along the pier yet until told to.
Donsak Pier, Leam Kula, Moo 10, T.Donsak, A.Donsak, Suratthani
The ferry ride was smooth across the beautiful Chumphon Archipelago. We arrived safely into Leam Tuad Pier, Donsak. There were a couple of buses and you can rely on staff to direct you to the correct bus and organise stored luggage appropriately to your destination.
On the bus from Donsak to Surat Thani
At this point I had read an odd review about these buses dropping you in some strange terminal outside Surat Thani town, leaving you to get expensive songthaews to the town itself. As we turned off the motorway and into a yard with rusty buses with no wheels, and one particularly beautiful bus which had vines intertwined beautifully in and out of its windows, I wondered if that was what was happening.
The buses final destination was the airport, so as that pootled off I was left with other tourists wondering what was happening. There are two main bus stations in Surat Thani, and this wasn’t one of them. However, it was just a trasnfer to a songthaew, no extra costs involved and the driver took each one of us to our destination i.e. various hotels and me to Talad Kaset 2 (Mueang Surat Thani District, Surat Thani 84000). This is the long distance bus station, as I understand it, I’ve also seen this written as Surat Thani Transport station, this has regional, air conditioned minibuses, one of which goes to Ranong, about once an hour for 190 bhat and takes about 4 hours.
It’s useful to have your passport handy on the minibus, as near Ranong there are a few border checks due to its close proximity to Myanmar. I eventually arrived in Ranong at the bus station and happily checked in to my hostel – Kiwi Orchid and PL Guesthouse – which was handily, just across the road.
With my limited Thai, not being able to check bus times and several bus stations to choose from, I was a little curious as to how this journey would go, despite my concerns the journey went smoothly and people were eager to help out and point me in the right direction.
The Greedy Herbivore 