The thirty-fifth week

Day 241- 247
The little dog is still lying on our porch. And Ivar gave him a name: Hans!

We went to the beach. Hans followed, of course, and bravely sneaked past the other big dogs. The owners of a restaurant chased Hans away, but he waited until we were finished. We lay down in the shade on the beach. So we are Ivar, Hans and I. When Ivar and I went into the water, Hans complained a bit, but then lay down next to our backpacks and looked after them. In the evening, Hans got the leftover rice from dinner. The poor devil was gulping so much that he threw up half of it and ate it again. As a street dog you probably have to be quick, otherwise someone else will eat it. I went out to buy dog food again. Hans accompanied me, but couldn't get past a large pack. I thought I would find him again on the way back. Unfortunately, I didn't. I gave the dog food to a few puppies and smaller dogs. I saved a little for Hans, because I thought the naughty dog was already at the bungalow. But he wasn't there. Hans wasn't there the next day either. So Ivar and I went to Charlie Beach alone and rented a kayak. We used it to go to the Emerald Cave, which you can only visit at low tide. At the entrance to the cave you have to get out of the kayak into the water, swim about 80 meters through the cave and then you come to a bay. This bay is surrounded by steep, high rock walls, which is why you can only get there through the cave. The beach is uncovered, there are a few trees and plants that can cope well with sand and sea water. It is beautiful and, since we were almost alone, wonderfully quiet! Apparently pirates have hidden their treasures here, but we only found monkeys. Since the path into the cave is very wet, there is no photo of the Emerald Cave. The cell phone stayed in the hut. An older Australian couple were also visiting the bay with us. We chatted a bit. They own the catamaran that is moored in front of Charlie Beach. They invited us to visit them. We didn't need to be told twice and drove past the catamaran on the way back. The two of them welcomed us warmly (they got to the catamaran quicker because they have an inflatable boat with a motor) and showed us everything. The man is also a mechanical engineer and so he tinkers around a lot with the boat. So he and Ivar already had something to talk about. In the evening Ivar and I had dinner in the village. Ivar had to buy water. I was afraid that if I went to the shop I would only buy dog food and then I would find Hans again. Of course I had already done some research to see if I could take Hans with me. But he needs the rabies vaccination (which is of course available in Thailand), but to enter Malaysia this vaccination must have been given 1 month ago. For Germany it is even 3 months. As our visa expires in a few days, that doesn't work. Traveling with a dog is a bit more complicated anyway, as some countries require quarantine periods after entry (sometimes up to 3 months!). On the way back to our hut I saw Hans, I think, it was just dark. He was standing with a few dogs who were playing. The next day, on June 5th, we left Koh Muk. Without Hans :(We took a ferry and a minivan to the bus station in Trang. From there we drove on to Hat Yai. That was enough for us for now. We got a hotel and went out to eat. We really enjoyed the air conditioning and did a bit of exercise. Ivar did his yoga, I did my Pilates. We drove to a lookout point in Hat Yai. There was also a planetarium there, which we visited. A lone man opened the door for us and put on a film about the sun, luckily in English.

There was another room with information boards. But they were all in Thai... The man also showed us the large dome in which all the telescopes were. He set up two telescopes for us and pointed them at the sun (there was nothing else to see anyway). You could really see the black spots on the sun and the plasma vortexes around the sun. Very fascinating! Then we left the man alone again and walked down the mountain. At a lake we saw pedal boats. Somehow we got the urge and borrowed a boat! That was great fun!

Later we went to a shopping center. We bought lots of anti-mosquito stuff, T-shirts and new headphones for Ivar.

A T-shirt also stays in Hat Yai. In 2008, when I went backpacking to New Zealand for the first time, my friends designed a T-shirt. I almost always took it with me on my trips. The material is now very thin and the many small holes are now one huge hole. Bye bye, dear T-shirt!!

On June 7th we took the train towards the Malaysian border in the morning. First you have to go to Padang Besar train station. We took an old train.

In Padang Besar we had to get off, get the exit stamp from Thailand, then get the entry stamp for Malaysia. Then we waited for the train to Alor Setar. The Malaysian train was surprisingly modern with air conditioning. Still influenced by the Thai trains, we felt a little removed in this world. In Alor Setar we walked from the train station into the city. First we got money and SIM cards. A taxi took us to our hotel. In the evening we walked around the city a bit. There was a lot of street art to admire.

On June 8th we took a taxi to the Mai Dusun campsite. We will be working here for the next two weeks. We registered on a website called workaway. People who have work and those who are willing to do this work in exchange for room and board can write there. The workawayers Lynn & Lotte (Dutch) and Marlon & Laura (German) are already at the campsite. Marlon greeted us with "Moin". The two are from Hamburg. We moved into our room in the house. There are two rooms in total. Lynn & Lotte are in the other room. Marlon & Laura sleep in the tent. On the ground floor there is a kitchen, bathroom, dining table and five cats (two of which are still kittens). Everything is open plan. Only the rooms and the bathroom have four walls. There is only one wall in the kitchen, that's it. Everything has been lovingly designed by some workawayers. We don't have to work today. First we have to arrive and get to know each other. Mohd, the host, shows us the campsite. There are 2 tents that you can book, a toilet, lots of hammocks and a stream that burbles along peacefully. Lynn and Lotte explained the most important things, at least for us workawayers.