Ranong - Bangkok - Delhi

Ko Phayam

From here, everything went pretty quickly and my journey is slowly but surely coming to an end again. The next few days were still packed with exciting experiences.

Ko Phayam to Ranong

Here it was clear from the beginning that I would not leave the island by speedboat. I didn't travel this far just to rush across the sea like a crazy person. At least not when there was an alternative. So in the afternoon, I took the comfortable ferry back to the mainland. I sat here again in the front, in the shade, and let the wind blow in my face. Until I reached Ranong after two hours.

Ranong

This is a city with a fishing port, you can immediately tell when you arrive, it smells like fish. Most people only use it for one night before or after the island, just like me.

Bangkok

The next morning I went to the airport. Okay, I could have taken the bus again here. But I didn't want to, so I took the plane. And thus had more time in Bangkok. Now we come again to the saying 'Never visit a place twice, keep it in good memory from the first time'. But I did it anyway and visited the 'Anurak Guesthouse' again, just like 4 weeks ago when I arrived in Thailand. Back then, I was super satisfied with the place, had a nice room, and everything was beautiful. This time when I arrived, Anurak just said that he was fully booked, even though I had a booking. He offered me a niche with a mattress and a fan in the staircase to the upper floor, I didn't have to pay anything for it, and a room would be available for the second night. I accepted it, and when I had made myself comfortable in the evening around 11 p.m., Anurak came and said that he now had a room available. I took it. However, this room was completely different from the one I had last time. It was very small and shabby, worn out and extremely noisy. Not only the old, hard, isolated, and constantly creaking bed. The noise from outside was also fantastic, as if I were sleeping in the middle of the nearby 3-lane main road. This prompted me to check out the next morning. I found a paradisiacal hostel in Bang Pho, near the Chao Praya River. It was also not too far from the Chatuchak Weekend Market, which I visited again along with China Town.

New Delhi

Yes, then it was unfortunately time to say goodbye to beautiful Thailand. The plan to do this in a deeply relaxed way unfortunately only partially worked out. I had the idea not to take the metro to the airport, but to take the express boat to Khao San Road and from here take bus line S01 to the airport. Everything was fine until I reached Khao San Road, but from here things didn't go according to plan. This bus should never appear here, so I had to take action. Since my cash was pretty much used up, the taxi option was out of the question. I took the express boat again to the 'Rajinee' station and from there I took the metro to the 'Asoke - Makkasan' station. The problem was that time was running out for me. And my backpack was now very heavy. However, I managed to reach the airport on time, but sweaty, which I didn't intend to.

The Indigo plane took off on time, but inside it already felt like being in India at the bazaar. The flight attendants seemed to do their work without a plan, driving their food trolleys around pretty wildly and uncoordinated for two hours. But the passengers behaved more like at the bazaar in Delhi, with instructions to the flight attendants without please and thank you.

A Wild Arrival

The passport control went quickly and smoothly as usual. But then it started, the day was not over yet. First, my SIM card stopped working, as I suspected. Then I had to decide whether to take a taxi or the metro. For some reason, my nerves suddenly got raw. I simply lacked the strength to decide how to reach my accommodation tonight, it was already 9:15 pm. I went to the metro, but something held me back from using it. I would have had to change twice. I walked to the taxi rank, where they quoted me a pretty high price, which I didn't want to pay. Suddenly, I stood here completely powerless and disoriented. I simply didn't want to anymore, no, no, no, not at all, but this was also not an option.

I had internet from the taxi rank and discovered that bus number 06 would take me almost exactly to my accommodation, I liked that. So I walked 1.5 km to the bus stop, where I arrived totally exhausted by now, and had to learn from Mr. Sik (that's what I'm calling him!) that this bus no longer runs today. Mr. Sik was sitting in a parked bus and spoke to me from inside as I passed by. I went in completely annoyed and nearly lost my temper (that's what they say in Asia when someone responds thoughtlessly, annoyed, negatively). Because my response contained the words Fuck and Shit. He took it calmly and spoke to me in a very calming manner, saying that my bus wouldn't run anymore. He got up and led me to another bus that had just arrived. He said that I should take this one to the last stop and from there there's another bus to my destination. He bid me farewell warmly and then said, we'll see each other soon, he would also come back on the bus later! What? How? Oh well, don't think about it.

The bus set off and soon it was driving in the exact opposite direction of where I wanted to go. Outside, all I could see was darkness and no sign of the city. A discussion started between the ticket man and other passengers. No one could say how I should get to my destination. I just let it happen and didn't think about anything! The bus kept driving and driving, for over an hour. And when we had almost completely circled the airport, it gradually started to move in the right direction. And then, I couldn't believe my eyes, Mr. Sik got on the bus again! He sat down next to me and we chatted. He apparently had his own bus company and showed me pictures of himself and his excursions. Finally, after 90 minutes, we arrived at the aforementioned final stop.

I was supposed to follow him, we walked across the street and through the traffic. Until he said somewhere that another bus would actually come here. We stood next to a tuk-tuk, he talked to the driver and then asked me if this tuk-tuk should take me to my doorstep for 150 rupees, I immediately agreed. Mr. Sik gave me his phone number. In case something went wrong, I just had to call him. I thanked him and we said goodbye. After 15 minutes, I arrived at the entrance gate of the secured residential area. I paid the driver and went to the security guard, showing him my address. He picked up his bamboo stick (for the aggressive dogs at night) and took me to my address. Now something else happened, he rang the bell twice on the first floor (it was midnight!) until I realized that we should ring the 2nd floor. Finally, I was received there and fell into a deep sleep, exhausted and very tired!