Krabi and Khao Lak

After a 1.5-hour flight from Bangkok, we arrived in Krabi, a city in southern Thailand, at around 8 p.m. Just like in the movies (*yay*), our driver, a friend of our guesthouse owner, was already waiting for us at the airport with a 'Larissa Kölsch' sign. He drove us to our apartment in the middle of nowhere (actually centrally located, but in a rundown neighborhood). Before we collapsed into our double bed with pink Tweety bed sheets (and only one blanket...), we quickly explored the area for something to eat (which ended up being an ice cream from the typical Thai convenience store '7/11').

The next day, without breakfast, we headed to the nearby main road at 10 a.m. According to our host, we were supposed to just stand there and wait for one of the cheap buses to our travel agency. The buses were more like pickups with seats, and it was only the third one that stopped for us after our frantic waving, charging us a hefty tourist premium to take us to our destination.

Finding the travel agency was a similar adventure because no one knew where it was and everyone pointed in a different direction...but we arrived at 11 a.m. on time. However, the Thais don't seem to care much about punctuality because we waited a whopping 3 hours for our van, interrupted by a short transfer to another starting point...during the wait, we got to know a German couple and exchanged stories about Thailand and endured the driver's numerous breaks.

At 5 p.m., we were finally dropped off at our hotel. Unfortunately, our original destination, White Coconut Beach, was closed, so we walked to the nearest beach. There, we enjoyed our first dreamy sunset and had a slightly embarrassing tourist-instagram photo session on a swing right on the beach.

We then found a nice restaurant on the main tourist street where we could finally eat something (breakfast and lunch had only been fruits...). I decided to have spaghetti after spotting a cockroach on the delicious raw fish in the display case :D

Afterwards, I bought an Ocean Bag for the upcoming boat tour for about €8.50 (in Bangkok, it was €14, but later I saw it for €6.50...). This thing is also a loyal companion for the beach!

Despite the air conditioning, I couldn't sleep again...I'm afraid we didn't do justice to this beautiful place with such a short stay, but the next morning, we were off to the next adventure.