🇹🇭We reach Bangkok on December 24th🎄

We are taking the night train from Nong Khia to Bangkok from December 23rd to 24th, 2023. It's our third trip on a night train. We both have the sleeping places below and the train looks new and beautiful from the inside! When we boarded the train at around 7:30 p.m., the seats hadn't been folded down yet. It wasn't until shortly before 9:30 that the employee came to fold it and we could finally lie down and sleep for a few hours after a long day.

It is early morning and the sun is just rising as we sit on the subway in Bangkok heading towards the city center. We have to get out at Mangkon station. It's too early to check in, so we look for a café. We know the area in Chinatown because we have already stayed here at the Mangkon Hostel in February 2022. I 🙋🏼‍♀️ am even recognized later by the receptionist. We have a coffee in the Amazon Café. Unfortunately, the café next to our accommodation no longer exists. The rooms are empty. We while away the time, then go to the hostel to put down the big backpacks and then go to a shopping mall nearby and admire the colorful Christmas decorations 🎄🌟

Christmas music plays on a continuous loop everywhere, even in the subway station.🎵🎵On the roof of the shopping mall we find a quiet place, a kind of roof terrace with a beautiful view of the city, and we stay there. Later we have some lunch and then go back to the hostel. We are allowed to move into our room earlier than expected. The bed looks so tempting that we have to lie down first. On the evening of the 24th we go for something to eat in Chinatown, near Khao San Road. There's a lot going on on the streets. We lie in bed early and fall asleep early. 😴

We want to spend New Year's Eve on the island of Koh Phayam in Ranong and have already booked accommodation. Our flight to Ranong leaves on 12/26/23, our alarm goes off at 6 a.m. So, German as we are, we make our way to Don Mueang International Airport ahead of schedule. We stand in line at AirAsia and wait our turn. We had no idea at the time that everything would turn out differently as planned 😂

The AirAsia employee calls us, we give her the passports, it takes a moment, then she wants to know the booking number from us. A short time later she looks at us and says: “You booked a flight, right, but on January 26th, 2024 and not today!” I think EVERYTHING fell out of our faces at that moment 😂🙈🤦🏼‍♀️🙈🤦🏼 ‍♀️😂 we just couldn't believe it. And now?! First we walked away from the counter and went to the employee at AirAsia Customer Service. We explained to him what happened and asked about our options. We could have booked a flight on December 30th for hundreds of euros. can rebook or be put on the waiting list for this flight for money, of course with no guarantee that a seat will be available. No, we didn't want any of that. We thanked him and headed to the next café. Chris got us coffee and croissants 🥐 and we don't know whether to laugh or cry. We had just wasted €90 on the flight from Bangkok to Ranong. Extremely annoying. But it doesn't help, now we need a plan B. We look again on the internet for buses in the direction of Ranong and find them. That same evening a bus leaves for Chumphon and we get two seats 🥳🥳 Chris also books us a minivan for the next day to Ranong. 🙂💪🏼 Perfect! Our day was saved. Now we just had to kill time until 7 p.m. because only then did the bus to Chumphon start.

At some point we made our way to the bus station, which is relatively far outside of Bangkok. We were on the road for a good hour. Once you get there, you can guess three times… killing time again. And the bus station was anything but inviting. 😁 We had to bridge a good four hours, the bus left relatively punctually at around 7 p.m. We arrive in Chumphon at three in the morning and after waking up the receptionist we move into our hotel room. We fall into bed completely exhausted and manage to sleep for five hours. The next morning there is a small breakfast at the hotel and we set off for Ranong in the minivan.