Thailand Chapter 4 - (still) Koh Chang

As it always happens with plans - most of the time everything turns out differently.

Originally, we planned to stay for a MAXIMUM of 6 days and then move on.
Today is day 8 and we just moved to a new accommodation on the island for another 2 days.

The previous bungalow was awesome.
Who can claim to live in a resort with monkeys... The bed was a dream... We had so much space... The pool was fantastic and always empty... Well, the staff was a bit unmotivated, the food was unappetizing and overpriced... But those were not things we were overly interested in...

There was a gecko living on the outdoor lamp right next to the door... It was always there when we arrived...
Juli is not a big fan of any kind of insects, so her initial relationship with the gecko was rather distant.

Since the gecko was nice and didn't claim to share the interior of the house with us, and Juli often sat on the terrace with it, the coexistence of the two became almost intimate.

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We are quite far from the mood of departure because it is just so nice on Koh Chang, but, of course, we want to explore other islands as well, so we will go to Koh Mak the day after tomorrow.
That is a neighboring island, about 2 hours away, and we are excited to see if the pictures we saw online live up to their promise.
Koh Chang, the second largest island in Thailand, will be exchanged for one of the smallest islands that, if I remember correctly, only has 3 or 4 small mini markets.
There is nothing there.
Well, nothing that we will miss, I think.
Turquoise water, white beaches, many palm trees, few people....
That's the life.
But well.
In the jungle we learned - sometimes the reality has little to do with our expectations.....

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I just killed 3 tiger mosquitoes.
As cool as they look, these little bloodsuckers are dangerous.
I can think of something better than lying in a run-down hospital in the Thai countryside with dengue fever.
So, get rid of the bugs.

Meanwhile, Juli is at the barber getting her hair done.
Well, at least she hopes so.
And me.
Well, mostly her.

I actually shouldn't write this... but: she wants to process the traumatic experience from before and therefore treat herself. ;D

Flashback:
We were chilling at the beach, enjoying life and the fact that there was quite a lot of space between us and other people, when suddenly a guy appeared in front of us.
Late 30s, early 40s, ugly tattoos, holding something in his left hand.
I was to the right of Juli... Juli right next to the guy....
'Can you...!?' and he waved a bottle of sunscreen...
With a smile that was supposed to be charming (ah ah, completely wrong and far off), he pointed at his back.... Another weird crooked grin and then a shrug:
'I am alone'

When it clicked for Juli, everything fell off her face. (also for me, but for different reasons)
Looking for help, she looked at me with an almost panicked look.
'He wants me to apply sunscreen on his back!???'
Shock!!
I couldn't help but laugh so hard it hurt.
Juli, of all people...
Those who know Juli even a little bit know that it was not just overcoming her fear... That was for her the absolutely worst thing that could happen.
The worst-case scenario.
Touching a stranger (and a half-naked one at that).
A stranger (and a half-naked) MAN. 😂
She just can't say no.
Her unwillingness was written all over her face.
But she did it.
She really did it.
And me?
Well, I turned around, pretended to look at my phone and burst out laughing.
And then Juli did it so carefully...😅
With a disgusted face, but still.
I couldn't stop... Really couldn't...
It was just too funny.
When the guy finally left, the last barriers were broken.
I don't even know when was the last time I laughed so much in my life.
I almost guffawed wildly through the world and got really into it. Ah yes.
Tears were flowing.
Seriously.
And Julis disgust, which was still visible on her face minutes later, didn't help.

Only after a swim in the sea, a bottle of disinfectant, and a Chang beer, it slowly got better.

The guy was about 20 meters away from us, and you can imagine that we held our breath every time he moved, somehow looking like he was about to start another round. 😜

While I'm writing this, I have to laugh again.

By the way, Juli is already done with her makeover and I am convinced that no hairdresser in Berlin has ever done her hair as well.
So, there is no other way, from now on she unfortunately has to go to the barber in Thailand once a month......

Of course, I have to go with her, who else should chase away all those nasty tiger mosquitoes!?.....
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It has been 2 days and we are already on the boat that takes us to Koh Mak.
It is not even 10 o'clock and we have been awake for over 4 hours.
The nights in the new accommodation were really terrible.
Normally, I don't have high standards, and before I get to the negative aspects: THE VIEW WAS PHENOMENAL, but guys - the bed!
It was a rubber mat.
About 3 centimeters 'thick'.
So, you basically slept on wood.
Not nice.
Not nice at all.

(We were really spoiled by the previous accommodation... Bring it back!)

And:
It was loud.
Really loud.
With walls made of cardboard, no noise was unnoticed.
And there were many noises.
People, music, live performances below us in the restaurant, unidentified animals......

Plus, the WiFi was catastrophic!
My phone and I have a very close relationship.
Maybe there are also people who would say it is my 5th limb... (the latter, of course, complete nonsense...)
But at least being able to google something in the evening should be possible.
But there, I constantly got kicked out of the network.
A disaster.

And:
The balconies there... 🙈
We were in the Fisherman's Village.
It's at the BangBao Pier.
In short: it's like a tiny village built entirely on stilts.
Excursion boats leave from there... ferries.... People work where they live... ..... They sell either fish, small meat snacks, cheap Chinese clothes, typical holiday souvenirs, or excursion tickets.
There are a handful of restaurants and there are a few hostels like ours.
Somehow, it has a special atmosphere and, as I said, it looks beautiful and unique on the outside and the surroundings are amazing... However, many things there are quite old and not safe.
Like the balcony beams and railings.
When we checked out the room and checked the view, a whole wooden beam broke off under Juli.
Suddenly, half of her foot was gone, at least from my perspective...

To be honest, I'm more than happy to have left today and am looking forward to a better bed... that will hopefully come.... :))

Yesterday, on the last day, we were at Long Beach.

It is located on the west side of the island.
We were located at the southernmost tip of the island, right next to it.
Only a piece of land separates us.
However, there are no roads, so we had to go around the entire island once.

So up... Drive around... Down again to the end.

It took a while.
Roughly about 2 hours.
Not counting the breaks.
Sitting on the scooter gets really tiring and sometimes you have to get off because of it.

As the Japanese say (or something like that):
The journey is the destination.
And to some extent, that's true...
I love it.
The narrow roads that go straight through the jungle.
Sometimes they suddenly get really wide, winding along the mountains endlessly.
Then the sounds from the rainforest.
The different smells.
It is quite steep in some places.
Palm trees everywhere.
There is so much to see, no matter where you look.

Oh man. 💚

And the beach.
Wow.
Since, as I said, the way is not easy, fortunately not many people have discovered it yet.
In general, this side of the island is almost completely undeveloped.
There are a few small resorts here and there, but otherwise... we drove for a really long time without encountering a single vehicle coming towards us.
Occasionally, a Thai waved at us.
Oh, and the dogs.
There are dogs everywhere.
Scattered all over the island.
Did I mention that before?
And no, Andrea (if you are reading or being read this), they are not eaten, but treated almost royally.
They lie here all day long in the middle of the streets and paths and don't even look tired when cars or scooters come.
You just have to go around them.
All in all, they look well-groomed and well-fed.
Only in the early morning and late evening you see cats.
The rest of the day, dogs rule the island.

Back to the beach:
So, it's not as long as the one we were at the previous 2 days, but it is completely secluded.
Soft sand lined with palm trees and only light waves in the ocean, we had the free choice of which tropical tree to make ourselves comfortable under.
Later, a few other human beings came, but we drove them away with loud music.....
In the end, we stayed there for a shorter time than it took to get there, but we wanted to do a few things before leaving today and we also plan to come back again. :)

Did I already tell you about the old woman?
No, right?
Before we set off for the beach yesterday, we made a short stop at the 7 eleven at the pier.
We were thirsty.
We needed cola.
Anyway, there is always an old Thai woman there who demands money for parking.
Whether she really does it officially or just pockets the money herself, we don't know, but we always (mostly) pay up and don't think about it.
In any case, we usually leave the key in the ignition.
I mean, we are on an island.
Where would you go with a stolen scooter.
So, off to the supermarket, shopped, back to the scooter.
Key is not there.
Shock.
Shit.
I know for sure that I left it there.

Still, searched everything.
Not there.
What do you do in that moment.
So many thoughts crossed my mind.
You hear so much.
Scooter mafia in Thailand and so on...
I only knew for sure that it would be an expensive thing if a miracle didn't happen.
And the miracle happened.
Guess what!
Exactly...
The old parking lot lady came around the corner at some point, holding the key in her hand.
It was a mix of relief and anger.
I wanted to curse her and thank her at the same time.

In my mind, while contemplating strangling her, we said thank you politely in Thai and left with mixed feelings...

And now I say goodbye.
Koh Mak is waiting to be explored.

Best regards, the 2 island monkeys. 🌴🐒🐵☀️

Just a brief addition:

I realized today that Christmas Eve is in 2 days...

For us, it is completely surreal and as far away as the Milky Way.

At least.

As always, you can find the remaining visual illustrations at the top... 📸 

Okay, seriously goodbye now!