A tired arrival and lots of sunshine

"We have fantastic weather and around 30°C - I wish you a great stay or a safe onward journey!" That's how the pilot said goodbye to us when we landed in Bangkok at half past three in the morning after an 11-hour flight. 30°C....in the middle of the night...and we were wearing hoodies and long pants. One step outside the airport confirmed that the pilot wasn't exaggerating. So we took off our hoodies and headed towards Koh Sichang with a slightly disoriented taxi driver. Koh Sichang seemed unfamiliar to him, so about 90 km and over 1.5 hours later, we arrived at a long pier teeming with life: fishermen loaded their wares, cars drove past each other with a distance of only a few millimeters, and people were bustling everywhere. And we were in the midst of it all. At the end of the pier, a small boat was waiting for us, which took us and about 50 other people, as well as several packages (including a drum set and numerous fishing rods), to Koh Sichang. By now we were exhausted (Tobi didn't want to sleep ;)), starving, and carrying loads of stuff, and 45 minutes later we arrived and were already awaited by our host in a tuk-tuk, which we gladly got into. We didn't really have a plan of where to go after the boat tour ("Oh, we'll figure it out somehow"). The ride went through a small village, just as you imagine Thailand: small shops everywhere, street food, children riding scooters, and many, many stray dogs. When we arrived at our hotel, we were welcomed by our host's wife and could finally rest. Since our bungalow wasn't ready yet (it was not even 8:00 in the morning), we hopped on the offered bicycles and explored the island a bit (well, actually just 200 meters of road in one direction) and came across a great view (see Picture 2). This bay is simply inviting for a walk and to linger...which (well, Chantall) gave us a sunburn right away...after all, the sunscreen was safely buried somewhere deep in the backpack. But hey, at least no more pallor :P

Finally, at around 12 o'clock, we were able to move into our bungalow, which is really beautiful. Happy about the air conditioning, we took a little nap (6 hours still count as a little, we agree). We probably would have slept longer if hunger hadn't driven us. Based on a recommendation from our host, we ate at a small local restaurant that offered fish (see photos above). Super delicious! And a lot. After a whole perch, onion rings, and some shrimp, we rolled back into our bungalow.

We took it a bit slower the next day and went to the most famous beach here, Tham Phang Beach, despite the many clouds...on bicycles...at 30°C...yes, we really needed a swim afterwards. The beach is really beautiful and not too crowded. The water has a perfect temperature between a bathtub and lukewarm rain, and for the next two hours, we just drifted on a floating tube on the water. Thanks to the clouds, it was really comfortable. Around 6:30 pm it gets dark pretty quickly here, and we and our high-tech bikes made our way to find something to eat. This time our noses led us to a small hot pot restaurant. Due to language barriers, it was a bit difficult to place an order, we really had no idea what we would get, but we just ate happily. But our conclusion is: super tasty and much too much for us. After a nice walk back to our bungalow, this time with wild boars as special guests, we are now comfortably sitting on the veranda and enjoying the mild evening with the chirping of crickets, cool iced tea, and good music...can it get any better? :) (...well, according to Chantall, all mosquitoes could disappear or eat someone else (glance @Tobi)!)

Best regards to Germany

Tobias and Chantall