My headphones saved my life

For those of you who have not had the opportunity, nay privilege to travel with me, you may not be aware of my complete and utter disdain for bus travel.  However, many times in our wanderings it is next to impossible to avoid and one must suck it up and climb on board "the dog".  Ok I guess they only call it "the dog" in the USA when referring to the greyhound busses but you get the drift. 

Anyway, after a few days in Bangkok I had decided it was time to make my pilgrimage to Ko Phangan and Ryan’s Mexican restaurant, Ando loco.  After having set the wheels in motion for my Indian visa application I apprehensively relinquished my passport and booked a bus/ferry to the southern islands.  The next day I waited in my hotel lobby waiting to be picked up by my bus, which was a little disconcerting because the street was blocked off for the evening.  But low and behold a gentleman from the bus company did arrive to walk us to our bus.  Once at the bus the boarding shenanigans began, with all the tourists pressing toward the door, and some being told to hold back for I’m not sure what reason, others boarding with no problem.  When finally allowed to board I was seated in the back which at the time didn’t seem terrible although it was obvious that that some of the air conditioning vents were broken.   Not too much later we under way and me and the 3 other people in the back row of the bus realized that we should have asked to move like the one couple who was told to sit there and then asked to be reseated.   15 minutes into our ride it began to get untollerably warm, exceeding the temperature outside the bus, causing me to ponder why I paid extra for an AC coach.  Turns out that most of this additional heat seemed to be generated by the engine reving below our feet and was somehow be vented into the cabin from behind our chairs.  Ah but not to worry, most people we talked to about the busses said to bring long pants and extra shirts because the AC made the cabin cold enough you had to worry about chipped teeth.   Rather these particular seats seemed to have no AC flow, no cooling breeze to fight off the heat venting from behind our seat.  And its not like that cooling air had to go far, the air conditioner was installed right above us, adding to the to the white noise level already at an obnoxious level from the engine.   Moreover, that same air conditioner spent the next 8 hours dripping cold water on the 4 of us.   

That was easily the longest night of the trip so far, my constant sweating and concern about dehydration only interrupted by intermittent moments of sleep. But like all good things, bad things too must come to an end, and we did make it to our connecting ferry the following morning.  But I think I’m going to give credit to my headphones for saving my life just like many times in the computer lab back in school; ok maybe too dramatic, but at least they saved my sanity.