Day 11 - loud

11.05.19

The day of onward travel has come. Our friends are flying home from Bangkok the day after tomorrow and Jonna and I take this opportunity to move on as well. Koh Tao is beautiful, but the infrastructure of our beach has demanded a lot from us in the past few days. We pack our things, chill out on the terrace for a bit. Check-out is supposed to be at 10:00 AM, but since we're the only ones at our bungalow resort, we assume they won't be strict about the time. We hand over the key around 11:00 AM - no problem. We walk along the beach to our friends' resort and spend the last few hours there until the taxi arrives.

With our luggage on the truck bed, only three people can fit in the back this time, the other three have to sit in the back seat. We enjoy the last rides up and down the hills and the impressive panorama. Once we arrive at the port, we buy our tickets to Koh Phangan and wait with our friends at their pier. The farewell is harder than expected, we have spent beautiful evenings together, exchanged many stories, and laughed a lot - even though we didn't know each other well, or at all, beforehand, we have built a special bond through the shared time.

We walk to our pier, check in for our ride, and are approached by a backpacker. After 5 minutes of conversation in English, we agree to switch to German - as a first step, you should always ask where the conversation partner is from, in this case: 'Germany'. She shares some tips for Koh Phangan with us, and then our paths separate as she is going to Koh Samui. Some local has brought a rooster on the boat, which asserts its place in the hierarchy of all passengers by occasionally crowing. The 90-minute crossing flies by. We leave the boat and are besieged by dozens of taxi drivers again. We politely decline all the requests and walk from the pier to the city center of Thong Sala. Fortunately, it's Saturday, so there is a market going on, or being set up. We treat ourselves to some chicken skewers and spring rolls from a stand, then we stop at a market hall to have a milkshake and iced tea.

After the last odyssey on Koh Tao, we've carefully considered whether we should walk from the port to our accommodation again, and we've decided FOR it. The way is much more pleasant, without 50-meter inclines, a bit shorter, and there's a lot to see. Along the road to our accommodation, there are plenty of restaurants, supermarkets, and bars. We also really liked our paradisiacal, secluded beach on Koh Tao, but we notice that we prefer a nearby supermarket and the local atmosphere. After a short stop at BigC (similar to Famila), we arrive at our new accommodation: Jungle Homestay.

At first glance, the place seems empty. We ring the small bell at the bar - nothing happens. We call out: 'Hello???' - nothing happens. We ring again and something happens in the bungalow behind the bar. A middle-aged French couple warmly greets us and shows us the way to our accommodation.

We have the upper floor to ourselves. Five meters above the ground, a pleasant breeze is blowing, and the room has its own refrigerator, bathroom, and air conditioning, which can only cool down to 18°C, no more, no less. Now, 18°C may not sound wrong at first thought, but when you ALWAYS have at least 32°C, both during the day and at night, it feels like climbing into a freezer at 18°C. The couple stocks our refrigerator with a large bottle of water and gives us two cups and the key. We unpack our things and install the mosquito net over our bed - after all, it's called 'Jungle Homestay' here. Jonna enters the bathroom and gets a fright - gecko on the wall. And I'm not talking about the small cigarette-sized lizards, but the shoe-sized geckos (The fact that both of these objects are used to describe the size has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that they are right in front of me as I write this!). The bathroom is about 1.5 square meters, which does not contribute to feeling comfortable when a reptile of such size is sitting on the wall. Don't get me wrong; we know that these creatures are completely harmless and somehow cute, we just assumed that the animal wouldn't be able to leave the room and would sit on your shoulder while you shower - we were also concerned about the well-being of the animal (sounds nice when you justify it that way). So, we decide to fulfill the cliché of fussy tourists and ask the two hosts how to remove the small green-brown guest from our accommodation. As expected, they react a bit amused: 'We have them in the kitchen ourselves, they make really funny sounds,' they tell us in broken English. Our concern, as also expected, is not met with great understanding. In the process, we ask if we could have an electric kettle - it is listed on the resort's website as part of the inventory. The two quickly dismantle the electric kettle from the bar and also give us some tea bags, two bowls, spoons and forks, and a glass of instant coffee - incredibly helpful. We use the evening again to make video calls with our family and prepare our noodles while doing so. Until this point, we haven't really encountered the spiciness of Thai food, but these noodles were really something.

All day we have been hearing noises above our ceiling (there is an attic above the top floor). We believe these noises are made by lizards, and since they rarely make noise, we feel safe. But when we go to bed in the evening, we are proven wrong. It seems like a whole family of rats is having a party above us. There is squeaking, scratching, running, cooing, cawing, nibbling, and scratching - it's an opulent orchestra. While Jonna manages to jump into dreamland, even though she also doesn't have a peaceful sleep, sleep is out of the question for me. I manage to doze off a bit between 11:00 PM and 01:00 AM, and from then on, I am wide awake.

- Alex