Koh Samui...

For our 2 days in Koh Samui, we had one goal - to do absolutely nothing! And that's exactly what we did. We spent most of our time at the beach and eating :).

One evening, we went to a night market to buy some souvenirs. Coincidentally, we came across a restaurant owned by a German emigrant who Kristina from Goodbye Deutschland knew. His name is Thommy Welz from Rostock, if that rings a bell. I didn't know him, but Kristina told me his story and it really touched me and left me speechless.

Let me try to summarize it briefly:

Thommy's father immigrated to Thailand to fulfill his dream of owning a German restaurant. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but he got into some trouble and was supposed to spend 2 years in a Thai prison. In order to continue his father's dream, Thommy and his father decided that he would take over the business during those two years. He had absolutely no desire to stay in Thailand, but he did it for the sake of his father. After the two years, it turned out that Thommy's father received a lifelong ban from entering Thailand. Any normal father, or at least any father who wants the best for his children, would have said in that moment that it's okay and that the son should do whatever makes him happy. In this case, that would have been going back home. But what did Thommy's father do? He pressured him, talked about how much money had been invested in the restaurant, how it was his dream, and so on. Thommy couldn't bring himself to go back to Germany. So now he's stuck there, feeling completely unhappy. You can immediately see it in him that he's not happy. We asked him about everything, including his love life, and even there - this guy, in his late 20s, is so unhappy with his whole life! He admits that he's not happy with his Thai girlfriend, she asks him for 500€ for her relatives, 1000€ for herself, and so on. But for some reason, he's unable to end it all, go back to Germany, and finally live the life that makes him happy, not his father!

In any case, we decided to have dinner at the restaurant and Thommy greeted us right away. He sat down with us and we had a long conversation with him. A young man, unhappy with a woman who takes his money, living in a country where he doesn't want to live, and all because of his father. I don't understand how someone can throw their life away like that and live so unhappily. I told him exactly that, and he couldn't really say much about it because I think he knows how foolish it is, but he just can't get out of the situation that easily. How can a father allow such a thing? How can a father not say, 'Son, sell the place and come back home!' when he realizes that his own son is not happy?

The 2 days of relaxation flew by and our last evening together in Thailand was already here. Chaos broke out in our bungalow! We unpacked our backpacks completely and the room looked just as messy. But with good music, we did it all with a smile on our faces. Kristina tried to fit her souvenirs in and I gave her a whole pile of clothes that I no longer needed and souvenirs that could already go home. As always, everything somehow fit and I was very happy that I could make some space in my backpack.

The next morning, Kristina flew from Koh Samui to Phuket and then straight home. For me, it was back to the mainland by speedboat and then a 5-hour bus ride to Krabi.

We kept the goodbye brief! Nevertheless, it was just as sad and tearful. My dear favorite neighbor Kristina: Thank you so, so much for being there. It was a super beautiful time and it felt so good to have someone familiar by my side. I'm already looking forward to having breakfast together on Siebekingstraße and to hugging you when I come home!

So now I continued alone...off to Krabi.