Wɔatintim: 20.05.2019
Again, we have a rather unspectacular day ahead of us. Due to the Full Moon Party, some guests have stayed in the camp - albeit only for one or two nights. After our morning ritual - Jonna bought two mangoes with sticky rice for breakfast yesterday - we go to the beach around noon. Since I'm not a big fan of mango with rice, I don't have a very big breakfast, so we stop at a small roadside snack bar before the beach, where I order Tom Yum soup with chicken. The owner asks, 'Do you mind if it's spicy?'. 'Not at all!' I answer in my European arrogance. About fifteen minutes and 5 spoons later, I have freed 50% of the napkins from the container on our table to wipe the sweat from my face - No sweat because of the outside temperature. The hostess also provides me with pickled chilies and chili flakes, in case the German potato (me), who thinks she can eat spicy, finds the soup not spicy enough. I decline sniffing. When the noodle soup is almost finished, I have found an eating and slurping technique that allows me to swallow without immediately coughing like a crazy person. Nevertheless, the soup was very tasty (1.40€, 8/10)
Upon arriving at the beach, we first sit in the sun for a while, and then cool off in the water. Directly in front of us stretches a sandbank 50 meters into the sea, which shimmers turquoise in a paradisiacal way. When we take the step into the shallow water, we can hardly believe our feet.
We feel like our feet are burning. In the entire bay, due to the low tide, the water is not deeper than 50 cm. In addition, there is no breeze and there is no cloud in the sky. An internet search later reveals that the water in this bay can sometimes reach a temperature of 38°C. Jonna dares to dive in and immediately regrets it. A hot bathtub at 36°C air temperature is not what we were longing for. So we just wade a little bit through the water and go back to our spot, where we play, listen to music, and rest until the evening.
In the evening, we eat at the same stall as in the afternoon; this time we have sweet and sour with pork (1.40€, 9/10) and fried chicken with rice (1.40€, 6/10) even though Jonna actually ordered something else. As dessert, we also get spring rolls, which are freshly rolled (1.40€, 8/10). The fact that there is a Full Moon Party tonight is proven to us when six very drunk French (or Portuguese?) guys enter the store. They sit down, one of them goes to the supermarket next door and buys beer and Coke there, then takes the drinks to the snack bar and asks the owners (by the way a very sweet, elderly couple) quite rudely for cups and ice. Although there is no sign saying that you cannot consume drinks brought along there, we still find it somehow very disrespectful because you can also buy drinks there. When the guys (almost all shirtless and brightly painted) get louder, we are too ashamed to stay there any longer and make our way home, despite the rain.
- Alex