5th Travel Day - From noon onwards
Published: 14.05.2019
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Day 14 - fast|
<p>14.05.2019</p><p>After another very restful night, today we finally have a scooter ride ahead of us. From everyone we have spoken to so far, before and during the trip, we received the tip, no, the instruction, to definitely rent a scooter. So we get up particularly early today - 09:00 a.m. - and ask our camp hosts where the best place to rent a scooter is and where we should go with it. After a short exchange including a map, 'Papa' drives us to the scooter rental - they are just sweet! We negotiate with the landlady to reduce the price to 650 baht (18€) for 3 days and off we go! Wrong, first fiddle with the helmet for 10 minutes until it fits on my thick skull; but now let's go! Wrong, first get instructions from the landlady on how to start the engine. As if that wasn't embarrassing enough, she pushes our means of transportation to the correct side of the road for safety reasons - I can read her thoughts, they are not nice! After a turbulent start, I quickly get the hang of it - maybe I took the wrong side of the road once or twice when turning, but it wasn't that bad. We stop at a gas station where the next humiliation awaits us. The gas station attendant asks about the gas cap: 'yes, uhm, gas cap, good question'. The man takes the key, turns it in the lock to the correct position and presses a switch - the seat pops open and reveals the gas tank; aha! Should we fill it up, we ask ourselves and then say 'Not full, only 200 baht'. The gas station attendant laughs, fills the tank full for 120 baht: 'Oops, awkward' Nevermind, we continue to our first destination, namely a bar with a view, and what a view it is.</p><figure><img src='/uploads/4968a240-7858-11e9-9962-e9eb1f316065.jpg_large.jpg' alt /><figcaption></figcaption></figure><p><br /></p><p>After the bar, we continue with various ups and downs until we arrive at a small idyllic beach after passing a few monkeys. It is the most beautiful beach of our trip so far. The palm trees hang their crowns over the turquoise water, which lies almost mirror-smooth in the bay. Only a few very beautiful beach bars lie in the shade-providing green, otherwise the spot is relatively undeveloped. Therefore, we share the approximately 300 meter long bay with only a handful of other people.</p><figure><img src='/uploads/8d7454d0-7857-11e9-9962-e9eb1f316065.jpg_large.jpg' alt /><figcaption></figcaption></figure><p><br /></p><figure><img src='/uploads/9dd216f0-7857-11e9-9962-e9eb1f316065.jpg_large.jpg' alt /><figcaption></figcaption></figure><p><br /></p><figure><img src='/uploads/4c9f3c30-7858-11e9-9962-e9eb1f316065.jpg_large.jpg' alt /><figcaption></figcaption></figure><p><br /></p><p>After resting there for a while and 'refreshing' ourselves in the incredibly warm water, we continue with our scooter. After visiting 3 more beaches and finding them nice but not as beautiful as the first one, we stop at a second hand store on the way back to town. Jonna, who was allowed to bring a few 'wrongly packed' clothes from our friend Simon back home on Koh Tao, has replenished her quota with a straw hat, a dress and a bikini top (3€ all together).</p><p>We make our way to our accommodation to recharge our energy before dinner - a scooter ride is quite exciting. We planned to eat our way through the food stalls at a night market. But as we are on our way there, we are literally driving towards a black wall. It flashes and thunders in front of us and for the very first time, cooler air is blowing through the trees. We decide not to challenge our luck and instead look for a restaurant with a solid roof over our heads. We choose a Thai all-you-can-eat buffet for 5.50€ per person. There, we get a round grill in the middle of our table, which can be filled with water on the sides (for cooking vegetables and noodles) and in the middle with meat and fish.</p><figure><img src='/uploads/9dd6b560-7858-11e9-9962-e9eb1f316065.jpg_large.jpg' alt /><figcaption></figcaption></figure><p><br /></p><p>After about an hour, our intuition proves us right and a thunderstorm starts, like I haven't seen in a very, very long time (@ Sören & Maxi: No, it doesn't compare to the thunderstorm at With Full Force). The tables on the street are cleared and the tarps over the sidewalks are tightened. Some lightning strikes just a few hundred meters away from us, causing the cutlery and dishes to shake a little. Some tourists take photos of themselves in the rain and celebrate the downpour; the locals are startled by the thunder but otherwise remain quite calm. After more than two hours, we are both completely stuffed and the rain has subsided enough to be able to drive home - it's only 1.5 km away. So we get on the scooter and the combination of light rain, cooler air, and the wind as we drive makes us feel cold for the first time since the start of the trip.</p><p><br /></p><p>- Alex</p>
07.-12.05.2019 # Samoa, Upolu
24.5 *yawn*
