Tobias is here!

Hello you sweeties,🌴

As I mentioned last time, we rented two scooters in Pai to drive back to Chiang Mai. The drive to Chiang Mai was amazing and we had the most fun pushing our bikes to the limit and shooting along the winding road lying on the bends. Once we arrived in Chiang Mai, we dropped off the scooters and got a ride to our bus station to continue on to Bangkok. The drive took somewhere between eight and ten hours and to be honest, I can't remember the drive right now. Anyway... we arrived safely in Bangkok in the morning and waited to pick Tobias up at the airport in the afternoon. We were as happy as little kids at Christmas when we met Tobias at the airport. As expected, Tobias and I started crying as we all hugged each other. It's crazy how much you can miss your loved ones from home. When you travel, you always feel homesick, but it only really becomes tangible when you have a piece of home in front of you... whatever. We spent the next two days in Bangkok and, just like the first time, were overwhelmed and overwhelmed by the size of this city, the tall buildings, the many people and the complexity of the structure. Funnily enough, we met Lauren again, whom we had met in Pai. Together we went out for hot pot and visited Khaosan Road, which is probably the biggest party street in Bangkok. Our eardrums almost burst as we walked down the street, as every bar and restaurant was playing music so loudly that you couldn't hear yourself talking. Shortly afterwards, Tobias lost his cap, and just an hour later, Julian left his bag with a pair of newly purchased trousers in the tuktuk. Welcome to the Chaos travel group. We spent the second day extending our visa, for which we waited for FOUR hours in an old, rancid shopping center with 200 other people until we were done with all the stuff.

Our next stop was Koh Chang. Yes, you heard right. The island we were on at the very beginning of our trip. Back to our second family. The reunion was wonderful and it felt so good to be in a place we already knew so well. A bit like coming home. We spent almost two weeks in this wonderful, paradisiacal place, where there was even less going on than in January. As the rainy season is slowly starting there, there are fewer tourists and many restaurants are closed. Of course, that didn't stop us from having a great time. We went swimming in the sea, we rode scooters around the island, visited the ghost ferry, got a sunburn or two and visited friends like Jerome and Barrale from the Rocket Lounge with their cats. One of our highlights was our boat trip with Pipu. Like last time, we waited on the beach to be picked up by him. We went to another beach to collect shells, then to a small deserted island where there was a whole abandoned hotel complex. Finally, we went to Salak Phet to see a beautiful waterfall. Of course, we didn't go by boat anymore, but instead in one of the funny side carts attached to the scooters that drive around everywhere here. The heavy rain we had at times also caused the river that we had wanted to swim in in January to fill up. At that time, unfortunately, there was not enough water to swim in, but now it was filling up more and more with ice-cold, crystal-clear water every day. It felt good to escape the sultry heat and let the water carry you away while looking up at the sky. On the way to the river, I also made a new friend. A cute little pig that I (creative as I am) named Piglet. I kept bringing her fruit and a bit of vegetables, and at some point she came running towards me, grunting, when she heard me calling. Our days on Koh Chang were very nice and of course over far too quickly. Saying goodbye to Sheryn and everyone else was hard, but it certainly won't be the last time we're here.

Next stop... Phuket.

Until then 🐑

ลาก่อน