Koh Kood - Caribbean flair

Together with other tourists, we wait on the speedboat, at about 40 degrees Celsius, for some stragglers. As always, the early bird catches the worm, and so we secure a place under the shade. Other latecomers have to endure the journey in the sun.

As the journey begins, a pleasant wind blows around us. We stop at Koh Wai island and drop off 2 tourists who have booked a day trip there. When everyone starts laughing, I also stand up: the two were dropped off on a small, floating pier in the sea and have to pull themselves ashore with a rope :)

We also stop at Koh Mak island and drop off tourists here as well.

We continue to Koh Kood. We pass luxury villas and bungalows with sandbanks in the crystal clear water. Here, too, two guests get off. All other tourists are dropped off at another pier. There, we are distributed into pick-up trucks. They ask us about our resort (it is recommended to book in advance on Koh Kood due to high demand and poorly developed infrastructure). A charming man of European origin with a French accent asks us about our resort. We mention the resort again. He also hands us a flyer - you can book snorkeling courses with him. He points to the back: his phone number is written there, and if needed, we can book through WhatsApp (with the Thai SIM card, you can surf the internet perfectly, but you have no credit for making phone calls).

We don't yet realize that this contact will save our ass later!

After a short ride on the pick-up truck, we are dropped off at the restaurant of our resort. We check in, and a boy drives us and our luggage to our bungalow with a tricycle.

We unpack and unload our things, walk back to the restaurant, get a cold Chang beer, and sit on the balcony of our bungalow. Then we go to the beach, watch the sunset from the sea, and take boasting photos on a swing on the beach. We swim and walk back to our bungalow. I take a shower, and in the bathroom, I notice a penetrating smell of urine. I slowly begin to doubt the accommodation. While Edina showers, I hear squeaking noises and loud rustling from the ceiling of the bungalow. I attribute it to a larger animal, but dismiss it as the countless geckos outside. At the same time, I notice a large hole in the wall. Edina has finished showering, and we walk back to the restaurant: we're hungry.

I order papaya salad again and Edina orders vegetables with cashews and chicken with rice. I also decide to ask the owner if she can show us how to turn on the air conditioner - as we just can't get it to work.

The boy drives us back to our bungalow and tries to work on the air conditioner: without success. Another Thai comes to help and opens the blinds of the air conditioner... many small crawling creatures, from small to medium-sized, come out. I keep myself together. While the two Thais work on the air conditioner, I see something flash past behind the bed in my peripheral vision. I feel uneasy, but at the same time, I remain optimistic and say, 'Oh, I think there was a gecko there.' Edina laughs and sits on the wooden board where our backpacks and our few belongings are. I look at Edina, and suddenly a large, fat, hairy, gray rat runs behind the bed to Edina and hides under the board. Edina doesn't notice any of this, and with clenched teeth, I say, 'Edina... there are rats here.' She doesn't believe me at first. When she realizes that I'm serious, her face turns pale, and she jumps up. I ask the young Thai if we can have an upgrade to one of the villas for an additional 20 euros per night. He tells me that the villas are fully booked from tomorrow.

They leave us alone with a now functioning air conditioner and the rat. We look at each other in disbelief. We don't want to believe it. Again, we walk to the restaurant, where the owners are packing up and ready to leave. I ask for the owner and go to her. I ask her for an upgrade to a villa and tell her that we will naturally pay the extra charge. She smiles at me and explains that the villas are fully booked from tomorrow. Coldly, I tell her that there are rats in our room. She speaks to the young boy in Thai, and once again, we ride with him and his scooter back to our bungalow - equipped with a spray can and a strange rat bomb.

We enter our bungalow, and in broken English, he tells us to pack our things and move to the neighboring bungalow. I grab everything I can carry at once and don't look back.

We move to the neighboring bungalow. There, the Thai sprays rat poison with the spray can. The room is almost impossible to breathe in, and we rush out to our balcony. On the way, I see blood stains on one of the mosquito nets and bed sheets and ants in the bed. And where I dropped my backpack, there is rat feces.

The Thais laugh and say 'Ok'. I ask for whiskey, and they laughingly say 'Good Night' and close the door laughing.

Edina and I stand on our balcony, still having the smell of rat poison in our noses. It's clear to us: we can't and don't want to sleep here. Desperately, we think about how to get out of this situation. We don't have the number of the pick-up taxi service (and there is nothing to find on the internet), and even if we had it, we couldn't make a call. I desperately search for other resorts on Booking.com with good ratings and, at this late hour (10 PM), still open for check-in and with available rooms in our price range. I notice the Seafar Resort: 3 nights for 289 euros with breakfast. Good ratings and good photos. But how do we get there? Abandoned in the middle of nowhere?

Edina has an idea! We write a message to the snorkel guy on WhatsApp. 'Hi there, we are the two girls from the ***** Resort - we need your help, now. Our room has rats, and we need a way out of here. Urgent, S.O.S.'

Silence in our bungalow. We both stare at our phones in a state of shock, and we can almost hear the clock ticking. Sweat runs down our foreheads, and if there were a good moment to start smoking again, it would be now. After 15 minutes, Edina jumps for joy. He replied, and as we soon realize, he calls us. I pick up Edina's phone and talk to Jessie. I hang up happily. Edina looks at me with 5 question marks on her face. 'He's calling us a taxi. We should be at the restaurant in 10 minutes'.

Almost at the speed of light, we throw everything into our bags and leave only a dust cloud behind us.

When we arrive at the restaurant, Jessie calls again. He asks if everything is going smoothly and wishes us a nice vacation. We would love to kiss him right now.

A short time later, the pick-up truck turns the corner. I quickly write a note, 'Hi, we left the bungalow because there are more rats,' and Edina leaves it with the key on a table at the restaurant.

We hop on the pick-up truck and say, 'Seafar Resort, please.' Praying, we sit in the pick-up truck, hoping that the resort has an open check-in and available rooms.

When we arrive, a Thai comes up to us and takes our luggage. I ask, 'Do you have free rooms?'. I only hear 'Yes,' the rest I block out. They ask why we fled, and Edina and I answer in unison: 'Rats.' They laugh.

At check-in, we pay immediately, and I also order 2 beers. The Thais laugh again.

As we inspect our new home, we are relieved: at first glance, everything looks good.

We take another shower, and when Edina unpacks her backpack, she pulls out her supposedly white shirt - which is now suddenly yellow: the rat must have relieved itself in Edina's backpack. After a brief panic attack and 33 curse words, Edina calms down again and throws her shirt in the garbage.

The evening ends with us emptying all our clothes into the laundry bag and lying awake until 2 o'clock in the morning, because we 'hear rats' everywhere...

The next day (this morning), we get up and have a delicious breakfast. The day at the beach can begin... :)