The Coconut Slaughter

Hello friends. :)

According to the weather forecast, it was supposed to rain continuously for the next few days that we wanted to spend on Koh Phangan. That brings true joy. After running in the pouring rain in the evening to quickly buy some comfort food, our cookie-filled optimism returned and we hoped that the weather frog simply had no clue about his job. And indeed: the next day, when we went for a leisurely breakfast at 1 pm, the rain had no desire to continue and gave us a break until the evening. We took advantage of this rain break to run errands and wander through the town. Relatively satisfied and exhausted, we sat on the beach in the evening and were almost hit by a coconut when we were about to walk back to our bungalow. It sounds very dramatic, but it was really close. Spontaneously, we took the freshly landed coconut with us and decided to slaughter it while singing the coconut song loudly and unanimously ('Where's the coconut, where's the coconut, who stole the coconut?'). Armed with a small pocket knife, we started the process. First, we randomly sawed the coconut, which didn't really work. So we needed a well-thought-out plan. After discussing for a long time how to position the saw, how much force to use, and how precisely the shell had to be broken, we finally saw the coconut after about an hour! But well, that was only the coconut. With the help of the corkscrew on the pocket knife, we were at least able to quench our thirst with fresh coconut water after all the effort. Lea, who gained new strength from the coconut water, was not satisfied yet and struggled with the coconut shell and the pocket knife saw. After about half an hour or a little longer, thanks to Lea, we were able to enjoy the delicious, fresh coconut meat. Very tired, we fell into bed and were so exhausted from the coconut slaughter the next day that we had a wonderfully relaxed day on the beach. So we exposed our bellies to the sun, read to each other, and simply lived in the moment.

For our last day, we wanted some variety and decided to rent scooters. So we went to the scooter rental relatively early (11 am). However, when they heard that we had no experience at all, they didn't want to rent us a scooter and emphasized 'it's too dangerous!'. That made us think for a whole 2 seconds, but then we simply went to the next scooter rental 50 meters away. Fortunately, they didn't ask us if we had experience and therefore didn't notice that we had never been on a scooter before, so we inconspicuously pushed it (yes, we really PUSHED our scooter) into a small alley to practice there. Unfortunately, we had to google how exactly a motor scooter starts. In retrospect, all of this sounds pretty dumb, embarrassing, and thoughtless (to be honest, the whole thing was very thoughtless), but at the same time, it was also a very cool and funny action. Because after a short practice, we really enjoyed it and ventured onto the road, where it is interestingly left-hand traffic in Thailand. However, you get used to it relatively quickly and even though small mistakes happen from time to time, we didn't have an accident and got around well. We occasionally stopped at beautiful spots, lay on different beaches, and stopped somewhere in the middle of nowhere to have something to eat. Unfortunately, on the way back, we didn't consider that it gets pitch dark in Thailand within 30 minutes, so we had to navigate our way back in the dark. But we managed it calmly and could fall into bed tired but satisfied in the evening. Because the next day (13th November) we had to pack our backpacks again and say goodbye to Koh Phangan, looking forward to Koh Samui, where we have now arrived safely. But more about that in the next blog post. Take care until then! :)

PS: For those of you who plan to hold a little coconut ritual at home, please listen to this song out loud.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwfPbkED4HI