11. Stop: Thailand - Same, same but different

Was it really Southeast Asia if you haven't been to Thailand? Thailand is the ultimate classic among holiday destinations, especially for Europeans, so we wanted to find out what the fascination with Thailand is all about. And how could you start a classic Thailand vacation more clichéd than in a resort in Khao Lak. Since we are a bit tired from traveling, especially in Asia, we booked a whole week in a super new and modern resort by the beach (by the way, an absolute bargain in the low season) and let our souls dangle. Here you really don't miss anything: From the incredibly hospitable Thais in the resort and the whole village, to the hotel's facilities with everything you can imagine (including several huge pools), to the rich breakfast buffet, everything was perfect. So our entry into Thailand was actually like a wellness treatment.

But of course, Khao Lak is also a heavily scarred city. The small town stretches for over 20km along the west coast of southern Thailand directly by the beach. What are we getting at? We still have Christmas 2004 in our memory, when thousands of people in Thailand alone were surprised and killed by a huge tsunami, many of them in Khao Lak. Even after so many years, this catastrophe is still present here: there are memorials and signs for tsunami evacuation routes everywhere. Many sellers hope to attract more customers with large posters printed with their tragic story, and there is nothing left of the traditional wooden huts of the locals. Instead, tin huts or simple stone houses now line the streets between the huge resorts. The fate of the people here, who really lost everything back then, deeply moved us and once again showed us that we are pretty well off with our two backpacks. But life goes on here too, and many new restaurants with cheerful owners and a lively night market lift every mood.

After our wellness treatment, we naturally longed for new experiences and impressions, so we embarked on a somewhat adventurous minivan ride to Ao Nang, a good starting point for exploring the beaches. On the way there, we already noticed the many steep green mountains rising from the ground, and when we arrived, we couldn't help but be absolutely overwhelmed by the tall cliffs right by the sea.

We decided that we absolutely wanted to see where you can do "Deep Water Soloing", a climbing practice where you climb cliffs over the sea without any safety equipment and can jump into the sea. So we took a longboat, a traditional boat in Thailand, to Railay and hiked across the peninsula with its huge caves, steep cliffs, and the shining blue, clear sea. Unfortunately, we didn't see any climbers in action above the sea, but you can imagine that it's possible here. We ourselves preferred to stick to hiking and swimming in the 28°C warm water and will try climbing when we have gained more experience (and calluses, because ouch, these rocks are pretty sharp). However, as a highlight, we were able to watch some southern dusky langurs (or simply monkeys) climbing in the trees in the end, and we were too fascinated to realize that it was not a good idea to stand right under a horde of monkeys - Zap, a huge load of monkey feces narrowly missed us, and we decided that this was a sign that we should make our way back home.

Since we had only been in very touristy areas so far, we wanted to get to know the original Thailand a bit better. On the island of Koh Lanta, tourism is still in its infancy, and you can find many completely abandoned spots and explore villages that are still built in traditional style. We completely fell in love with this island. It may not have the most beautiful beaches in Thailand, but we were always completely alone at our beach paradises and could experience spectacular sunsets. We also enjoyed a hike in the jungle with cave exploration and swimming in a waterfall.

But the most beautiful thing was a small fishing village called "Old Town", which was built on stilts in the sea and immediately transported one into a pirate movie. As a highlight, we even saw dolphins there, which also completely thrilled the fishermen. However, a Chinese lady insisted that they were sharks and repeatedly proclaimed this with the cry "Shark, Shark", which amused us all quite a bit.

As the monsoon is currently raging in western Thailand and we have experienced some really heavy storms and rainfalls, where the roads were sometimes knee-deep flooded, we wanted to move to a more stable weather area and traveled on by bus and ferry to Koh Samui. We spent 12 hours in a non-air-conditioned, packed minivan at 30°C and on a slightly outdated ferry until we finally arrived on the island in the Gulf of Thailand. Here we rented a scooter for €6 per day and were able to explore the island independently. We got stuck once on a hill with the scooter, and Natalie had to push it because we were too heavy for the small engine on the steep slope, but otherwise it worked great. We visited several temples with huge Buddha statues and shrines and felt like Alice in Wonderland in a jungle garden, and hiked to an almost dried-up waterfall.

After 5 days, we (well, especially Natalie) had enough of island life and beach vacations, and we were drawn to northern Thailand. In Chiang Mai, life is really completely different from southern Thailand. It is loud and densely populated, cars, scooters, and tuk-tuks drive everywhere, and instead of relaxing on the beach to find peace, you go to one of the many Buddhist temples scattered throughout the city. We must have seen about 30 temples, which is still only about 10% of the temples in the city. In general, temples in Thailand are much more colorful, pompous, and kitschy than any temples we have seen so far. And something very strange caught our attention: In front of many temples, schools, and also public places, there are huge billboards and whole shrines with the image of the royal family. They still enjoy a high status here, but with the new king, they have lost a lot of their prestige. But now imagine if there were posters of Angela Merkel in front of churches and schools in Germany, how strange would that be?!

All in all, Chiang Mai is one of the most beautiful cities we have visited in Southeast Asia because it has many lovingly designed restaurants and temple complexes, orange-clad monks stroll through the streets, and it is surrounded by the green hills of northern Thailand, where elephants and ancient hill tribes hide.

Of course, a stay in Bangkok also includes getting an overdose of temple visits again, because here are some of the largest temple complexes in Thailand right in the middle of the city. Among other things, we admired the 46m long reclining Buddha and climbed the Golden Mountain with a view over Bangkok together with Natalie's friend Kim. Kim, who has been friends with Natalie since elementary school, is doing her master's degree here and showed us around the city. Especially, we wanted to discover the famous nightlife and had a great time in a bar next to the party street Khao San Road, amusing ourselves about the passing people. Here, you hear conversations about sex tourism, see lots of ladyboys and provocatively dressed women, and wonder how some drunk tourists can still walk. Thailand is indeed a typical Asian country that deals with many things much more liberally and perhaps also more modernly, such as women or homosexuality than its neighboring countries.

However, when we mentioned that we had miraculously survived almost 3 months in Southeast Asia without any health problems, we probably put our luck to the test. Jan promptly got food poisoning and spent 2 days with fever and nausea in bed. But just in time for the flight, he was recovered, and so the Southeast Asia adventure could be concluded.

We are definitely leaving with mixed feelings. Here we had by far the strongest homesickness and at the same time learned the most about ourselves and other cultures. Southeast Asia is completely different from our home or anything we have known so far. We didn't find a single thing that is like at home, not ONE. The houses, the smells, the appearance and character of the people, the traditions, the moral concepts, the hygiene conditions, the food, the landscape, the plants, the animals, everything is different. This means, of course, that everything is exciting, new, and instructive, but also that you often long for something familiar - good thing we have each other.

Therefore, we have decided to embark on new, unfamiliar cultures that are somewhat closer to our familiar environment, namely, first of all, Georgia in the Caucasus.

Song of Thailand's beaches: Three Little Birds - Bob Marley & The Wailers