Khao Sok, Bangkok and the last days

Day 30: Today we are heading to the largest national park in Thailand, Khao Sok. The drive in the van took forever and the driver tortured us with Thai pop music. Worse than German Schlager. On the way, we passed a serious accident. One of the semi-open shared taxis had overturned and many injured people were lying on the road. Thailand has one of the highest traffic fatality rates for a reason. There wasn't much to do that day, but the hostel is good and no bunk beds for a change. The place itself is tiny and very manageable. I met other travelers from before at the hostel. It's raining a lot, and it will continue to rain almost uninterrupted for the next few days. Typhoon Noru brings a lot of rain to Thailand, but we don't feel the typhoon directly here.

Day 31: I booked a 2-day tour with overnight stay in the park. After breakfast, we go, again in the van, to a market to buy some last things and then to the pier. In the middle of the park, there is a very large reservoir and we travel to our accommodation on a longboat. It's floating huts, but they hardly sway. I share my hut with Fabi. There's a group of Germans and after lunch, we all kayak and go swimming. We even discover a few monkeys in the forest. The afternoon tour takes us to a mountain stream that we climbed up with our hands and feet in the water. Partially very steep. Sturdy shoes are recommended and of course completely wet. At first, I was skeptical, but it was a lot of fun. You could even test a vine if you wanted. Unfortunately, there are no pictures of that. After a good dinner, we play Wizzard and drink beer. It was a good day.

Day 32: About the rain. I'm slowly indifferent. It's raining from above, from the side, and there's also water underneath. But with the temperatures, it's okay. We leave early for a boat tour. Because of the rain, there's nothing special to see, so getting up early was not worth it. After a swim and breakfast, we visit a cave. Then we go back to the pier by boat. My poncho pays off here, my backpack stays dry. The rest of the day I spend in vans and buses to get to Bangkok via Surat Thani.

Day 33: I arrived in Bangkok at 4 o'clock in the morning, completely exhausted and way too early. What a mess, so I have to kill time until the hostels open or find a cafe. Good start to the day. I didn't book a hostel and only found one at the second hostel I tried. The hostel is nothing special. I wasn't able to do much that day. I met a Thai girl for street food in the evening. It was quite interesting, she wanted to go for drinks in the Rainbow District in the evening. But I was too tired for that.

Day 34: The last full day. We get up early to catch a train to Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya was the capital of the Thai Empire until the mid-18th century, so there are plenty of temples and ruins. I haven't had much culture on my trip so far. Riding a motorbike taxi through the morning rush hour is not fun. The train costs 15 Baht (37 Baht = 1 Euro), but it also takes 2 hours for 80 km. You can rent bicycles cheaply on-site, and that's how I rode from one temple to the next. If you like old temples, I can only recommend the city. I'm not familiar with the road layout here in Thailand, and it's not exactly a bicycle nation either. And so it happened that I found myself in the completely wrong direction on a 3-lane one-way street. The important thing is to stay calm. In the end, I made it to the train station. In the evening, I spent my last baht on beer with some couch surfers.

Day 35/36: Packing up, taking care of a few things, and then embarking on the long journey to Jena. On the way to the airport, I made a detour to the largest shopping center in Bangkok. I stood out a bit with my backpack and travel clothes, especially since there was a well-known, brightly colored band playing. So many screaming people, terrible. It's strange, this senseless consumption and a strong contrast to the impoverished areas in Thailand. And what you can buy there, German cheap beer for 4 euros. Another 24 hours of travel ahead, goodbye Land of Smiles. Next time, I will travel to a country with a less humid and warm climate. Maybe Peru.