Cloud of bad luck called 'Always There'

Hello my dear ones!

I have a new permanent companion, my little cloud of bad luck, which sometimes turns into a clumsiness cloud and hovers permanently above me. But don't worry - I see it all positively! :)

Yes, right at the beginning as the cover photo you see the police with me and no, I didn't ask them for fun if we could take a very authentic photo together - although that would have been pretty cool, to be honest. Actually, two days after my wallet was stolen, I was allowed to meet the Thai police. What an honor!! Okay, let me try to tell you more about it - by the way, you can laugh about it and you don't have to feel sorry for me, because I still laugh about it today.

Nicole, by the way, is spelled with only one L (when she saw her misspelled name in my entries, she gave me quite a scolding and I promised her to correct it next time), and I rented a scooter early in the morning on Thursday (February 7th, 2019) because we actually planned to drive to the highest point in Thailand. However, this whole plan quickly fell apart because the people at the scooter rental informed us that it takes 3 hours to get there (and therefore also 3 hours back). Well, we were a bit too late for this whole driving action. So, spontaneous change of plans: we drive to the so-called 'Sticky Waterfall', which was only 1 hour away. We started off quite euphorically and really felt like splashing around in the waterfall, which was dampened shortly afterwards. As soon as we were out of the city center of Chiang Mai, we were stopped by the police - just like all the other tourists. (Just as a side note: There really was no way to pretend that I didn't see the police, as they were blocking the road in the middle and I couldn't even secretly pass by. Turning around was also not an option because then I would have been driving the wrong way and they would have surely chased me) Swearing quietly, but still smiling at the policeman, I stopped and just hoped that he would let me go. That was pretty naive of me, but hope dies last. When he wanted to see my international driver's license, I confidently and calmly gave him my German driver's license. The best part was that they had placed a policeman there who couldn't speak English. He greeted us with the words: 'I'm just learning English and I'm really bad at it, so please be merciful.' Hahaha, funny. They know exactly how to rip off tourists. Anyway, he gave me an eternal, incomprehensible lecture about something (I really didn't understand anything - I'm not even sure if it was English) and at some point I dared to interrupt him and ask what was happening and how I could get out of it. And of course, it was all about money, I already knew that. He wanted 500 baht, and in return, I wanted a receipt. But he tried to talk his way out of it and said that I didn't need a receipt and that's why they didn't have one. Yeah, and that's when you realize how corrupt this whole thing is. I had to sign a list and then take a photo of it - my alleged receipt. When I wanted to give him the money, he shook his head and sent me to his colleague who was standing in the background. But he also didn't want to take the money from me. I had to put the money myself into a file (which served as a privacy shield) between a sheet of A4 paper, so that from the outside, it looked like I was voluntarily giving him the money. Pure corruption, really. Because afterwards, he neatly folded the A4 paper with my money and put it in his pocket. The whole thing was more illegal than me driving the scooter without an international driver's license, but you really can't do anything about it. In itself, it wasn't too bad for me because I always managed to get through. What was really annoying was that 10 minutes later I was stopped again by the police and they wanted another 500 baht. And that was just too much for me. At first, I protested, but when he started yelling at me and being very unfriendly, I was really at the end of my nerves and desperate. Fortunately, I had Nicole with me, for which I am still so grateful. Because Nicole secretly took a picture of me and the policeman (during the first check). So, when I became completely desperate and couldn't protest anymore, she continued and held the picture under his nose and said firmly that I would definitely not pay today. The picture and her convincing tone really helped, but that stupid idiot still said goodbye to me with the words 'I want to see you pay tomorrow'. That was quite a blow and really got to me because it was so unfair, but they still acted as if they were doing me a favor, even though they are idiots and they fleece everyone.

This whole wonderful police action actually briefly dampened the mood, but when we saw the waterfall, everything was forgotten. I'm sorry I don't have a photo for you because we splashed around so much that I thought it would be a bit risky for me to climb the waterfall with my current clumsiness. Because you could really climb up the waterfall as it was "sticky". The rocks were very rough, so you had good grip. So, Nicole and I walked up and down every level three times because it was so much fun. Oh yes, that was really a completely different kind of waterfall because I felt like a little splashing child in a (clean) puddle. When we started our way back, the splash action was not over for me yet because right in front of my eyes, a huge truck suddenly drove onto the road and sprayed water onto the dry, dusty road from the back (similar to a lawn sprinkler). 50 percent of the water landed on the road, and I got the other 50 percent with the scooter. Yay, impromptu shower!! After about 10 minutes, I was able to overtake the truck and wave a thank you. However, scooter riding in general was a bit more tiring this time, but we couldn't quite figure out why. Later, when we were at the viewpoint for the sunset, we found out why. Because at first, you could think it was cloudy, but no, it was pure smoke. The view wasn't really nice, just hazy, so we drove directly back to the hostel. What I found really terrible was that you could feel it when breathing. But you can't just stop breathing. Accordingly, breathing wasn't so much fun that day. I don't really want to know what my lungs look like. The next morning, we had to return the scooters and of course (as it always is), 200 meters before the scooter rental, there was the police again. This time we immediately showed the picture (fortunately, I also had the same things from the day before) and the policeman even apologized and let me go or rather ride (for 200 meters). Otherwise, Nicole and I enjoyed a few relaxed days, mainly in the park or at the night markets. And there, I decided once again to fully use my visa for Thailand and stay for another week, which was really nice because that way I didn't have to say goodbye to Nicole yet. We then drove together to Lampang (where I had already been, but we wanted to visit other things). There we tried to hitchhike because we were too lazy to walk 2 km to the hostel in 38 degrees Celsius, but unfortunately, no one understood our outstretched thumb. Everyone waved at us friendly, but no one ever stopped. So, we ended up walking, which was quite a challenge. But we made it, even though we arrived completely sweaty and felt like crawling at the hostel, but hey: we're not made of sugar. In Lampang, we visited a beautiful lake sacred to the Thais. The water there is so blue and so clear that you could even see the fish from above. And there really was no one there, so we could enjoy this peaceful atmosphere. Just before we wanted to leave, my little cloud of bad luck actually had to make itself known again because a wasp quietly made itself comfortable in the back of my knee and when I tried to get up, it stubbornly inserted its sting. So, later I sat on the scooter with a pretty swollen knee, but at least I got my very own personal souvenir from the 'Emerald Lake'. That day, I actually rode with someone on the back of the scooter for the first time, which was quite an exciting experience. Because as you all know, I'm a bit on the smaller side (which hasn't changed here in Asia - I'm still the same), so driving itself is no problem at all, but when I have to stop, it's always a little trick. Unfortunately, I didn't manage it that skillfully with a person on the back and at every traffic light, I wobbled around, so Nicole eventually put her feet on the ground a bit panicky, just because I almost tipped over every time (but only almost). It was just a slightly wobbly, slightly uncontrolled situation at every traffic light because my feet had to somehow reach the ground first, but hey: at least we didn't have an accident.

Unfortunately, my calf swelled quite a bit in the next few days due to the wasp sting, but thanks to secret remedies from home, I survived it. But to still cool the sting, I bought a kind of cooling pad, which is actually for the head of small children in the heat. I then stuck the cooling pad on my calf. As a result, I attracted all the attention because all the locals laughed at me and wanted to make me understand that I was using it wrong. That was quite funny because they pointed to the pad and the head using pantomime. In response, I just smiled politely because I didn't really want to start pantomiming a bee. Explaining the whole story through pantomime was a bit too complicated for me. So, I felt a bit like the Queen every time someone pointed at my leg. "Smile and wave"! Our next and last stop was the city of Sukhothai, which I really wanted to see because there is the Historical Park and I wanted to go to Thailand because of those pictures. There, we stayed in a pretty simple hostel, which could be noticed, especially in the beds, which felt like a wave roof. Quite interesting actually, because it was actually my first very uncomfortable night. But I even got used to that, even though it was really very wavy. It felt like sleeping on an asparagus field. It's always interesting how quickly you can get used to the weirdest things. Nicole and I visited the Historical Park together by bike so that it would be less strenuous. Although we were there already at 8 o'clock in the morning, it was already incredibly hot and there were swarms of tourist groups. So, it was quite tiring and not really nice because it felt like there was a huge crowd in every photo. That kind of took away the magic for me, but it was still nice to admire the remains of the former Kingdom of Sukhothai. After about 2 hours, we biked everything and didn't really know what to do next because we thought it would take much longer. So, we later took a shared taxi back to the actual city. The shared taxi was a combination of an old boat with the front attached to it, which was simply the driver's cabin of an old car. It's really a miracle that this thing can even drive. Because actually, only the front window reminded me of a car. The rest was a boat. I really have to say that the Thais are very creative here. I would never come up with something like this, but it's really practical because many people can ride along.

And then, after about three weeks, Nicole and I finally parted ways. Because she wanted to go to Myanmar and I wanted to go to Chiang Rai and from there to Laos. So, this time we really had to say a final goodbye to each other because we won't see each other again until at least sometime in Germany. It was quite tough to get on the bus then. But it's still nice to know that we will definitely see each other again in Germany.

So, I arrived in Chiang Rai after a 9-hour bus ride and immediately met another backpacker (Debora) in the hostel who has exactly the same plan as me. So, the next day we visited the city together and went to the White Temple first, which was really very impressive. After 3 months, the temples are slowly not that exciting anymore and I don't visit all of them anymore, but this one was really different and special. Especially with the sun, the white color was emphasized. It was really very very beautiful. We also visited the 'Black House', which was a quite crazy old museum. There was even a crocodile lying on the table (just the skin and the head). That was kind of odd, but at the same time interesting. And we also drove to the surrounding villages of Chiang Rai, because there are many tea plantations directly on the mountainside. The drive was really nice and super interesting. And yes, so quickly the last day in Thailand was over. That's really crazy. I've been in Laos for a few days now, but I'll write about that in the next entry, because otherwise it would be a bit too long. So, I was able to conclude Thailand well. Oh yes, my dear ones, you don't have to worry about the little cloud of bad luck because I see it all very positively. Without my streak of bad luck, I would only have half as much to tell, and hopefully you will have as much to laugh about as I do. I'm definitely doing very well here and I'm really looking forward to being able to explore Laos now, because I know it's going to be pretty nice, even with my clumsiness cloud. After spending a very relaxed time in Thailand, I am now ready to travel around again and get to know a new country. I hope my little stories of bad luck brighten your day a bit or maybe you'll burst out laughing - that would make me happy. Hugs and see you soon!

PS: I'm having some small problems with my laptop right now, so a few remaining pictures will follow later. But fortunately, I have this wonderful police picture on my phone!