From Prachuap Khiri Khan to Chumphon

Today is Monday, the 05.11. and we continue our journey to Chumphon. We get up early to visit the Morning Market. So far, we have only made it to the night market. In the morning, you can find all the things you would buy at our supermarket: fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and seafood. Some are sold on the street, some in a market hall, where you shouldn't look too closely. By the way, that's where I had the most delicious noodle soup so far!

Our host calls a tuktuk for us and we will be picked up at 12 o'clock. Actually, the older man is supposed to take us to the minibus station. At least that's what the Thai hostess arranged. Unfortunately, he takes us to the regular bus station and even demands four times the price! So, it turns out that not everyone in Thailand is friendly. Since we do not want to miss the bus, we give the jerk his money (only a few euros) and walk fully packed, once again in the midday heat, to the right bus station. The minibus is about to leave. So, we arrive just in time and there are two seats available. However, the bus is really mini and I can hardly get my legs between the seats. Luckily, the journey only takes 2-3 hours.
In Chumphon, reality hits us. Until now, we always had super nice and clean accommodations in beautiful cities. Chumphon is, excuse my language, a rather shabby place and our hotel fits in perfectly. The first room they give us has so many stains in all shades of yellow and brown on the sheets that I immediately turn around and leave. In the process, I catch a glimpse of the toilet seat, and it's clear: 'I'm not sleeping here.' The new room we get without any discussion looks better. Clean is the wrong word here too, but definitely better than the first room. Now I just need a nose clip for the smell... You can see that the city is visited by tourists solely to quickly continue to Koh Tao. I would call it a functional working city.

Near our hotel, we find a night market where we can eat well. However, you really have to watch out for all the scooters, as the stalls are facing the street and the scooters drive right in front of the stalls. A drive-in, so to speak. But the food is as delicious as always and cheap :)
Since the portions at the street stalls are always relatively small, we go to a Thai-style all you can eat restaurant in the evening. There are only raw ingredients (fish, seafood, meat, and a little bit of vegetables) and you get two grills on the table. One is a regular grill with a grill grate and the other is a half-round metal dome with a trough into which water is poured, resulting in a broth afterwards. We observe the Thais at the neighboring tables to see how it works here. For most of the raw dishes, I can't say what they are. We try them all, but I veto some of them. For example, who knows how long an unrefrigerated mussel has to be grilled before it can be eaten without hesitation? We certainly don't. Nevertheless, there is still plenty left :) Spicy chicken wings, giant prawns, crab meat, quail eggs, whole fish, and lots of unidentifiable things.

Ink came out of the squid when frying it :-O

The whole fish was soooo good