Challenge: don't despair at the bureaucracy…

I sleep long and snooze the alarm clock countless times. The lack of sleep and the really effective blackout curtain ensure that I only get out of bed around noon. First breakfast: fried rice with chicken, served in the bamboo pavilion. The best, most delicious breakfast I've had in a long time…

After that, I make my way to the 'Koh Phangan Charity Foundation (Rescue Squad)', having received a Google location from the embassy. I am greeted with formal friendliness, my personal details are checked, and when I ask where Udo's body is (this place had nothing in common with the antiseptic cold storage rooms of American movies), the gentleman says: “He’s here.” and points to a passage behind him. We leave through the back exit to a sort of extension that contains five - how should I say it respectfully? - oversized coolers, partly richly decorated. In one of them lies Udo, he opens the lid for me, I can sense a body wrapped in cloth, but he is not shown to me (I asked; say what you will - it has always helped me to come to terms with someone’s death if I could see them again)…

Communication is also very bumpy here. We go back, and he shows me a document (on which I can read nothing except Udo's name), and when I ask him for a copy, he nods kindly and disappears - into an office? After a short while, he comes back - empty-handed - and tells me that I need to go to the police now…? I ask him again. A copy, he doesn’t understand me, and I gesture that I would like to take a photo of the document he just showed me. Finally, I get my way and something written down!

At the station (I was at the wrong one first), I queue in the long line of those who were robbed at the FullMoon Party yesterday. Unfortunately, unlike the others, I have no one with me who runs around to get me snacks and drinks. When it’s my turn, I quickly go up a floor to the office (thank goodness I took a photo of the document!). A translator joins us, and the situation is extremely unclear. I’m told that I need a document from the embassy to release the body for burial. The embassy had replied to me days ago that the funeral home would issue a “death certificate”. However, to commission this, the body must be released - which only happens with the embassy’s document…! I feel like I’m going crazy… I try to call my contact at the embassy - which just doesn’t work, as if my call isn’t going through, it’s frustrating. Until I remember to try the relatively newly installed VoIP app (I’m learning so much right now!), and that works. My contact confirms that she can’t provide me with anything in writing and gives me the number of an employee who speaks Thai. In the meantime, the translator has disappeared, and the official reacts very rudely when I try to communicate that someone under this number should clarify the misunderstanding. So I stand helplessly alone in front of his desk while he stares and types concentratedly at his screen for about 20 minutes. Slowly, the room fills up, ultimately 8-9 policemen are bustling around, and I apparently keep getting in the way. But no one else cares about me, I can hear the translator in the next room. The most curious person in the room for me: a man, probably a few years older than me, wearing sunglasses (!), and (unlit) cigarette in the corner of his mouth, the “bad cop” as he is described in books. And the only one who gets something moving: while it’s obvious that I’ve been talked about multiple times already, this time a young uniformed officer addresses me and orders me to come closer. He surprisingly explains in very good English that the police need a corresponding document from the embassy to release the body for burial. I explain to him again that I am not getting a document. At least he agrees to speak with the Thai employee - if I call him. No one answers at that number, in my desperation, I call Ms. F. again, who explains to me that the staff member is already out of the office. I explain the situation to her again, and suddenly it’s all “a misunderstanding” - she will take care of the writing, but not before tomorrow… I get a new appointment with the police, tomorrow at 1 PM - hopefully, I have the thing by then…!

Back home, I ask David about a funeral home. We consult his wife, who spontaneously offers to go with me to the police & then to the temple to discuss the cremation with the “temple lawyer” (?!) What angels I have met!

I call Udo's landlord and tell her that I’m coming over soon. My GPS says 7 minutes, I set off, and find “Koh Phangan Villa Bungalows” directly, but not “Koh Phangan Bungalows”… (can you imagine what happens if you enter this as an internet search?!)

I wander relatively helplessly around the beach, a phone call with the landlord only leads to her repeating “Koh Phangan Bungalows” over and over… I look for the right place, right, left, further into the country from the point Google indicated, without success, but now I have a pretty good overview of the resorts here… back at the beach, I start asking the Thai employees of the numerous kite schools, I keep being sent further, but no one can help me (I had forgotten that it often happens that you are simply sent in some direction before anyone admits they have no idea). Meanwhile, I: hungry, need to pee, thirsty! And no restaurant in sight. Honestly, I don’t remember why I spoke to the three tourists who were comfortably sitting on the beach where I had parked my scooter, an older couple and a man. The older man looked at me and said: “Do you know what?!” He and his wife start to laugh. “But you’re on the completely wrong road!” The two report that they come here regularly, and 22 years ago they were first at the “Koh Phangan Bungalows”, with “Mama Pim”, and that from here they are on the other side of Thongsala…! How big of a coincidence is that?! This time they are staying somewhere else, but they remember the small, old resort with probably extraordinary bungalows very well. I thank and say goodbye, and they ask me if I’m serious about going now. Everyone looks behind me, and really, a spectacular sunset is about to happen! I find a restroom, sit down with my water in front of the three, and we talk: David, Chris (from Canada), and Jörg (from Kassel) marvel at why I am looking for the bungalows, and at some point, David comes over with a small can of beer for me - ice cold…! What a gift from heaven, I’ve met 2 angels again! In the dark, I make my way home and only enjoy the sea and the good food there before falling into bed…