Back in Thailand

The next morning we continued our journey, this time back to Thailand. My plan was to travel from Siem Reap to Krabi in the south of Thailand. To do that, I had to transfer in Bangkok. All in all, it would have taken me about 24 hours. Emphasis on would have. Instead, it took 48 hours. Let me briefly tell you about my disastrous trip... The bus was supposed to leave Siem Reap at 8 o'clock in the morning. That failed right away because the air conditioning was apparently broken and we had to wait for another bus, which then left at 9 o'clock. With the thought in mind that the bus was supposed to arrive in Bangkok at 5 o'clock and the connecting bus would leave at 7.30 o'clock from a different bus station. Upon arrival at the border, they said it would take about 1-2 hours. It took 4 hours and they were pretty shitty. Why? Well, because a room full of hundreds of people without air conditioning with only a few fans can be quite exhausting, especially when it doesn't progress. Sometimes only 3 or 4 of the 8 passport control counters were occupied. I realized that I would barely make it to the second bus, but I still had hope. It was shortly after 3 o'clock when we finally got back on the bus and continued driving. It was still 4 hours to Bangkok. Not included was the traffic jam that you can expect when entering Bangkok. We finally arrived at a quarter to eight. Miles away from the bus station where my second bus was supposed to leave. Now what? There was another German couple on the bus, with whom I occasionally talked and they advised me to just take the next bus (the last one left at 8:40 p.m.). They helped me a little and waited until I took a taxi. So I looked for a taxi driver who then took forever to find his stupid taxi (??) and then wanted 800 Baht (about 22€). Brief explanation, you should never agree on a fixed price with taxi drivers, but always let the meter run, otherwise you will be totally ripped off. I made it clear to him that I would not pay that and after a few discussions I got out again. By now it was almost half past eight and I finally drove to a hostel that dear Heike had recommended to me. Of course they didn't have any beds available and after a hopeless search for something else, I decided to go back and sleep in the garden of the hostel. At least, that's what I thought. At 2 o'clock in the morning, the owner came and organized another hostel for me. In the end, I went to the bus station the next evening and luckily got a seat. What annoys me most about this story is simply that I spent unnecessarily a lot of money. Because I had already booked something for the first night in Krabi that I couldn't cancel anymore. Small spoiler, that wasn't the last time something stupid like this happened to me. But now to Krabi. Krabi is the place to go to visit various islands. So it's not a place where you want to stay for a long time. I ended up staying for 3 nights. On day 1, I took a day trip to Railay Beach. It's still mainland, but can only be reached by boat.

Since I didn't feel like crowded beaches, I climbed from one viewpoint to another. I didn't really like Railay because it's just too crowded and the two beaches aren't really that nice. But it was nice for a day trip. Monkeys are also jumping around here. I didn't want to withhold this picture from you. I think it's great!

On the second day, I finally dared to rent a scooter to drive 1 hour to a hiking trail from where you can hike 4km to a gigantic viewpoint. I had to overcome myself a bit to do this because driving a scooter and navigating at the same time is not that easy, but traveling alone makes you creative ;)

It took me a good hour to get there and I started walking just after 9 o'clock. Even just the way there was more than worth it because it was so beautiful to walk through the jungle and listen to nature.

But it was also damn exhausting! The humidity is much higher here and it went uphill almost continuously for 4km. I arrived at the top around 11 o'clock and was speechless.

The view was simply breathtaking! And guess who I met up there... Right, the German couple - Annika and Dominik - from the bus. What a small world this is, isn't it? Now seriously, we practically saw each other for the first time in Siem Reap, Cambodia and then met again 4 days later on a damn mountain in Krabi. How?? :D It was definitely very cool because we walked back down together and spent the afternoon together and went out to eat in the evening. Our paths separated again the next day (but not for long). I then went to Koh Lanta and two days later I got to know dear Jessica from Friedrichshafen.

We got along great right from the start and spent the next 4 days together. We explored the island by scooter, lay on the beach, watched sunsets, and ate at the food market in the evening.

It was really a very nice time :) On my last day on the island, I also took a cooking class. We cooked 4 Thai dishes. Tom Yam - a soup -; Pad Thai - famous Thai noodle dish -; Cashew Chicken and Green Curry. Really damn delicious!

On the next day, I wanted to travel from Koh Lanta to Koh Tao. That's practically on the other side, in the Gulf of Thailand. However, since there was no more space available, I had to take the night ferry. Big mistake. Warning, here comes the 2nd disastrous journey. I asked in advance when the ferry would arrive and was told 3 hours. I asked several times. 3 hours. So I was supposed to arrive at 1 o'clock in the morning. Well, then I need a hostel with a 24-hour reception. There are almost none... except for overpriced hotels. I asked again to be really sure when I would arrive. 1 o'clock. Well, then I have no choice, I don't want to sleep on the street. So I reluctantly booked a room for 32€. Let's fast forward... At night around one o'clock, I looked at Maps.me (something like Google maps) to see when we would arrive. Oops, not even halfway there yet?? A guy next to me told me that we wouldn't arrive until 6 o'clock in the morning. I fell off the chair (and I was lying down!). 32€ wasted, again!! Juleee I need you!! Everything goes wrong with me when I book these stupid accommodations alone.

But one of the reasons why I wanted to go to Koh Tao was to meet Annika and Dominik again, among other things. They also offered me to sleep in their bungalow because they still had a free bed. They're here with another friend (Ailen) and they have 4 beds. Such lovely people! I spent Monday to Sunday with them and Annika and Dominik showed Ailen and me around the island by scooter. We drove to viewpoints and walked around.

It looked exactly like in the pictures! The colors...

We sweated like crazy and we didn't even walk for long, maybe 20 minutes, and until then I didn't even know that my knees could sweat!

We checked out all the beaches and went snorkeling in Shark Bay. If you're lucky, you can see reef sharks and sometimes even turtles. We were lucky and saw 1 or 2 sharks!

Mega sunset from a mega viewpoint!

Dominik and Annika are two really great people and I'm so glad I met them! We had a wonderful week and I really warmed up to the two of them.

Today is Sunday, February 24th, and I'm staying one more night here and will continue my journey tomorrow evening. I'm going to Malaysia. I'm really looking forward to it because I have cool things planned :)

By the way, I've been traveling alone for a month now and I'm feeling really good! I feel like I've arrived and I'm really enjoying this life here :) With this beautiful closing word, I say see you soon :)