Tomtom's Travel Blog

… und nach Chrissì Ammoudià

An der «Golden Beach» waren die Wellen grösser als Lina. Das machte grossen Respekt.

Mhmm! So fein!!

Und der Sonnenuntergang von unserer Terasse aus.

Lina liebte schon immer das Plantschen im Wasser. Jetzt hat sie auch mit dem Meer Bekanntschaft gemacht und findet es total cool!

Im Schatten, und bei einer kleinen Brise, lässt sich auch die Hitze geniessen.

Hello all

Sorry. My delays are getting worse! I’m more than a month in China now again, but still haven’t reported about my Laos time. So, I’m going to do that now.

The plan was escaping Thailand to the more relaxed life stile in Laos. Escaping from the water battles in the streets during Songkrahn on a boat ride on Mekong river. And this plan worked out fine.

I’ve already been in Laos six years ago. I’ve been warned about the changes in Luang Prabang. I was not sure at all at first, if I wanted to spoil the memories. But then I decided to go there again as I had time enough and as it was on my way to the north anyway. And I was very surprised by the development of this small city.

From Chiang Kong, a town at the Mekong river in the north of Thailand, I set over the border into Laos, to Huai Xai. In Huai Xai the river boats leave to Luang Prabang. There are horribly loud speed boats and a little less loud slow boats doing this trip. Going on the slow boat includes an overnight stay in Pak Beng, a small town half way, which has some guest houses, that live only from the slow boat tourists. But like Luang Prabang, also Pak Beng has been growing quite a lot. Much more options to stay and much more tourist restaurants offering tourist food …
The boat ride itself took around 8 hours each day. Not much to do on the boat, as there is no space to walk around and the seats are not really comfy. But it’s still a good place to talk to other travelers, to read in a book or to listen to your MP3 music. And the scenery is not bad at all!

There were about 25 hostels in Luang Prabang six years ago. Now there are 270 (two hundred seventy)! Can you imagine these changes? All the streets have been sealed, while only the main road was so last time. Souvenir stands are now aligning the main street in the evening, selling the same tourist junk over and over. Dozens of restaurants serving western food. It’s a very touristy place now! It’s famous for it’s many pretty temples, but I doubt that it will remain an Unesco World Heritage much longer, if they do not stop this development. Still you can find nice food in the food stalls and at the food market. One place serves a huge fantastic vegetarian buffet just off the main street for almost no money.
After two days I decided to head to another place I already knew, where I was told that this development hadn’t taken place: Muang Ngoi Neua. A small town, reachable only by boat from Nong Khiaw. No cars at all there. And the town still resembled very much as I remembered it. Maybe some more guest houses and simple restaurants. But still a short dirt main street and the bungalows on stilts overlooking the Nam Ou river.
Some fellow travelers ended up in a different guest house than me. But we decided to explore the environment together, actually all of these sites I’ve already seen before.

But as I always had good memories about these places I wanted to see them again and also found them more or less intact. I was worried a bit, because during the boat trip it became visible, how much forest has been (and still is) burnt down for farming purposes.
At these companions guest house I first time met Xiaoyan. She was having dinner and didn’t show much interest in a chat or so. But the next day communication got easier and we even decided to go for a swim in the river together the next day. During the following days we found out, that we have basically the same traveling plans for the upcoming time. This was spending some more days in northern Laos and crossing into China later. Xiaoyan has been traveling more than seven months in India, Egypt, Ethiopia, Israel and SE-Asia by then and was on her way home to Chengdu. And Chengdu was one of my destinations anyway. So we decided to travel together for a while.

After Muang Ngoi Neua we decided to spend a couple of days in Nong Khiaw, the town, as it lies in a beautiful scenery and some nice walks can be done.

From there we went back to Luang Prabang, enjoying the comforts of a touristy place 🙂 before heading to the much less touristy north.
Only after this I finally started to visit places in Laos, where I haven’t been before. First we took a bus to Luang Nam Tha. This was once more a rather long ride through once more really spectacular sceneries. The following days we explored the environment of this small and very quiet city.

One day we also hired a motorbike and took a look at Muang Sing, a town, famous for it’s market, where all the folk of the ethnic tribes in the northern mountains sell their stuff. We missed the market but we still enjoyed the ride very much. We also got caught by rain, but this happens once in a while in such adventures.
Luang Nam Tha actually was the last stopover in Laos, as from there a shuttle bus brought us to the border in a couple of hours, where we crossed into China after traveling together the last 10 days in Laos.
So this time I only spent two weeks in Laos, but with the company of Xiaoyan, these were two great weeks!

During these 10 days we developed a friendship, which today, after 6 more weeks, must be named LOVE. But this will be subject in the next edition of my postings.

Stay tuned!
Thomas

Hello all

Have you missed me? I know I’m far behind schedule with my reports. While these got stuck in Thailand I’m already back in China. And in between I spent a while in Laos.

I guess you all have heard about the terrible earthquake not to far from where I am right now. I’m in Lijiang, only a few hundred kilometers south of Chengdu. But here we didn’t even feel this earthquake, while in some far away places like Vietnam or Thailand they still could feel it. The medias here are full of information, but otherwise life is going on it’s normal way here in Lijiang. I’m probably going to donate my blood in Chengdu in a few days.

So I’ll finally finish the story on Thailand this time.
From Bangkok I went to Nakhon Ratchasima (aka Korat). Korat is not a very special city. But it’s surely a real Thai city. First of all there are only few tourists. So there is no organized minivan or tourist bus that just picks you up from your guest house but you have to travel there by government bus or by train. I went for a bus trip because the train station in Korat is quite far away from the city center. After some hours I arrived at the Korat bus terminal and took a tuktuk to the hotel I selected from the guide book. I decided to go to Korat for its proximity to the temple ruins of Phimai. I paid for two nights for nice cheap room with a beautiful view over the entire city and strolled around the rest of the day, as I planed to visit Phimai the next day. Quite early next morning I took a local bus. It was a very hot day so I only explored the ruined buildings of the main site, skipping the smaller ones spread out around the town. Therefore I was back in Korat rather early and decided to check out the same day and continue to Nang Rong, another place with a couple of Khmer temples nearby. Even I overstayed the checkout time for a couple of hours and already had paid for the second night, the hotel manager paid me back the money without being asked. This was a new and unique experience for me in Thailand. In Nang Rong I found a nice guest house a little outside of town. I rented a motorbike the next day to visit the temples of Phanom Rung and Prasat Hing Muang Tan (see picture below).

Phanom Rung is located on a hill and boosts a beautiful view over the countryside. I’m still addicted to these Khmer temples even I’ve seen so many of them in Ankor.
The next place of my trip was Lopburi. More touristy already, as it is closer to Bangkok and many old Thai ruins a scattered over the entire city. But there is another thing that makes Lopburi very special: hundreds of monkeys. Wherever you go there are some monkeys around. In the trees, on the power wires, on the street. It’s fun to watch them playing and fooling around. I like this place.

From Lopburi I took a train to Nakhon Sawan and from there a bus to Kampeng Phet, which has again an area of old temples and monasteries. After this I visited Sukhothai, one of the most famous sites in Thailand, as this town was the capital of the country for many decades and also houses a lot of temple ruins. In it’s proximity is another important temple site, Sri Satchanatlei, which I had a look at as well of course. I also hired a motorbike one day in Sukhothai to visit Wat Phra That Lampang Luang, a very old and beautiful monastery.
Now, these were many temples in the recent days and so I was happy to get to Chiang Mai, a big city famous for food. I spent some days there, walking around, visiting markets but also still entering the monasteries with their nice temples and stupas. Sometimes it is possible to have a glimpse into the monks everyday life.

One very nice temple, Wat Doi Suthep, is located on a hill with a very nice view.
I stayed in a guest house whit a swimming pool, so I usually had a swim in the hottest time of the day and another in the evening. Like that I had some quite luxury and relaxing days.
Next stop was Chiang Rai, a city closer to the ‹Golden Triangle› the region where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet. This region used to be the main producer of opium years ago. Only in Myanmar this business is still going on. Chiang Rai is the gateway to places like Mae Sai, a border town at the border to Myanmar or to Chiang Saen, at the border to Laos. I stayed a couple of days in all these places, exploring the environment on bicycle or motorbike, before reaching Chiang Kong, my last place in Thailand. Chiang Kong is the border town where tourists can leave to Laos.

The last 10 days in Thailand where very special. Songhkran, the Buddhist new year was going on in these days. As tourist the only thing you experience is getting wet all the time. Splashing water at every one is the main task for many people in all these towns. In the beginning it was quite fun. Especially when kids were throwing water. But after a few days it was enough for me. On day I visited the ‹Opium Museum› in Sop Ruak. I went there by motorbike. Arriving there I was completely soaked and left a trail of water in the museum. It just not possible to avoid getting wet in the streets. I always had to protect my camera from the water but sometimes they threw water from a car passing by and so a couple of times my camera got a splash as well. I was lucky no damage occurred. I got angry a few times. One time I stopped and asked the people not to splash water as I had to travel next day and didn’t want pack wet clothes into my backpack. They signaled me that’s ok. But when I passed them I again got a bucket full of water into my back. I was so pissed off I almost got into a fight, but instead I drove away after a few angry words. A few day it is fun to get wet. But they continue for at least another week. Just to much. This went so far that I didn’t leave the guest house anymore in the afternoon.
Another thing which made me tired of Thailand is the cheating a lying. In Chiang Mai at the bus station, which is out of town a few kilometers (as almost always in these countries) I asked 5 different people where the city bus is leaving. I knew there is such a bus but 5 times I got the answer that there is none. I found it by myself in the end. I
understand that they want make business and bring me there on their tuktuk. But for such a ride they always overcharge so much that I started to avoid tuktuks at all. The city bus brought me close to my guest house for 5 bath while the rates for the tuktuks started at 70 bath up to 120. Normal fare for a tuktuk would be around 25 bath for this distance.
The last couple of weeks in Thailand I didn’t enjoy very much anymore and I even started thinking of going home.

But another way to escape the water splashing was to leave to Laos, as the first two days were spent on a boat to Luang Prabang. And there nobody was bothering me anymore. So I reconsidered and decided to continue at least a for couple of weeks. I’ll write about Laos in another report, probably soon. It will be a rather short report, as I only stayed there a couple of weeks.

Greetings from China
Thomas

Hello friends

It’s over for me now, the beach life! But let’s continue, where I ended last time.

I was heading to the west coast of the peninsula, as on the east coast monsoon wanted not end as it should. I was told by a French girl in Bangkok, that Koh Lipe is paradise. Far in the south, just outside a marine national park. I believed her … Today I’m not sure anymore if she had meant it ironically. After a train ride from Sungai Kolok to Hat Yai, where I had to stay a night before moving on, a minibus brought me to Pak Bara, the harbor where the ferries leave to Koh Lipe. To get to Koh Lipe an expensive ferry ride has to be booked. On arrival, as there is no pier, one is picked up by long tail boats. And there they charge again 50 Bath! Just for comparison: To cross Chao Phraya river in Bangkok, at least twice the distance, one is charged 4 Bath. Anyway. It’s not possible to swim to the beach with the backpack, so everybody is paying. On the island, at the beach I’ve chosen to stay, all the resorts were full. So I wandered to the next bay and after a while I found a bungalow, a little away from the beach, for 500 Bath. A lot for a bamboo construction so basic and old. The beaches are nice, I must agree, but the island was crowded as I had experienced it some

weeks ago on Koh Chang. Food and lodging are expensive and the beaches are loud again. Koh Lipe is very much in trend now and that’s the reason it’s already spoiled. As soon as the tourists come in mass, rip off of them becomes the case. So I left the next day.

Koh Lanta, an island I’ve already been to 15 years ago, was now my target. Last chance. Very sceptically how much further the development might have lead there, I arrived after some boat and minibus transfers. But finally I found these beaches, which were not so ‹hip› at the moment and so they were quiet but still very nice. It seems that Koh Lanta is not changing so fast, as the ‹recently discovered› islands. With a rented motorbike I explored the west coast and decided to stay at the Klong Nin beach.

To have a change I moved to Klong Jark beach further south four days later.

On Koh Lanta I finally relaxed a lot and got some sun tan. Swimming a lot and enjoying very nice food. The perfect lazy beach life. And every evening a beautiful sunset.

After this I started heading north again. For having plenty of time to visit northern Thailand before crossing into Laos, I decided to do a visa run on the way from Koh Lanta to Bangkok. In Ranong, more or less halfway, this can be done easily. From Ranong it’s possible to cross by
boat into Myanmar, just to reenter Thailand and get 30 days allowance to stay again. While most of the tourist just go there to get the passport stamped, and then run back to the boat immediately, I decided to stay at least some hours and stroll around a bit in Kawthoung, the town on the Burmese side. And it’s like a step of maybe 30 years back.

I enjoyed some great Burmese coffee and strolled around, climbed up a hill to a pagoda and back to the pier. Not many tourists do so and so the Burmese are not to annoyed by them yet. Everyone was smiling at me, kids were waving. What a beautiful day trip!

The same day I boarded a VIP night bus, which brought me to Bangkok in 10 hours. Very comfortable. Plenty of space for the legs. (But still not as convenient as a good night train.) I found a room near Phra Artit, my preferred region, for only 290 Baht, less than 10 Swiss Francs, with private bathroom, not very big but clean and bright. And the guest house sports a rooftop swimming pool as well!

Such places still exist. Very good value! As I had to apply for another China visa, I had to stay a few days again in Bangkok. And again I spent every evening with Steven, having great food and chatting

about his recent holiday in Nepal and my trip. So the time passed by quite fast. Today I picked up my passport. I have to enter China before the 24th of June and I’m allowed to travel there for 90 days, just as I was writing in the application form. Perfect!

Tonight is my last day in Bangkok. Probably for a long time. I’ll travel to Korat (Nakhon Ratchasima) tomorrow, a city a few hours away north east of Bangkok. There I’d like to visit some Khmer temples. A new phase of sight seeing will be launched tomorrow!

Greetings, Thomas

Hi there

Only 17 days ago I entered Malaysia, and now I’m already back in Thailand, where I arrived some days ago.

In Kota Bharu I stayed two days only. It’s a quiet city. It’s mainly the gateway to the east coast and it’s islands or to the jungle railway. The second day I already set off to Wakaf Bharu, the train station, where the trains to Taman Negara National Park leave. According in the guide books a local train leaves in the early morning, around 7:00 AM, and is an adventure by itself. Full of local people and all their goods and slow, stopping at every tiny station on it’s track. The ride should take anything between 8 and 11 hours. But that’s not the case anymore. The service has been ‹improved› very much, probably for us tourists. There’s now an aircon express train doing the stretch in 6 hours. Almost no locals on this train. Windows can not be opened. No adventure at all anymore. There are still local trains, but they leave at very inconvenient times and they do not go all the way down to Jerantut, the town where one has to get off, if heading to Taman Negara. Anyway, the 8 tourists we were had no option anymore and took this train and 5 of us got off in Jerantut, while two got off earlier, heading to the Cameron Highlands and one continued he’s journey to Singapore, another 11 hours.

After a couple of hours we caught a local bus which brought us to Kota Tahan, the village at one of the parks entrances. We checked in a dorm room together in a nice ‹jungle bungalow resort›, which is located a bit outside of the village. The owner was an always smiling gentlemen. In general I’ve found only friendly people in Malaysia. Maybe Malaysia is the real ‹Country of Smiles›? To find a place for dinner was the greatest adventure of the day. But finally we found a very nice floating restaurant on the riverbank. The following day we crossed the river, payed the national park entry fee and set off to our first walk. As we were a little late we decided to do a small track, called ‹Swamp Loop›. I’d now rename it to ‹Leech Loop›.

I’ve been wandering in jungles then and now and I knew there are leeches. I even experienced having one on my leg some 14 years ago in the very same national park, just on a different entrance (Lake Kenir). Then I didn’t only find it, when I removed my shoes. It was thick and full and fell off by itself. … and became fish food in the very same moment. But the amount of leeches on this track was just amazing. All concentration was put on the shoes. Every few meters there were a few leeches already stick on them and crawling their way further up to the ankles. I was lucky and got them all off in no time. I’ve also been wearing good walking boots, which made it difficult for them to get in. But two of the ladies in our group were less successful. Can you imagine the drama in the jungle? The scenes looked like Indian rain dances sometimes. Finally we encountered that the loop is not a loop but was a dead end path and so we had to go back the same way. Running, jumping, dancing, just not stopping, so no leeches could climb up upon us, we got back to the national park camp. The two ladies had 3 or 4 leeches on every foot and everything was red of blood.

The others of us were more lucky! Insect repellent helped to get the leeches off the legs and feet. But the bleeding did not stop for a while because the leeches inject some stuff that keeps the blood liquid. This was now the first adventure for some of us, an experience for the rest.

The next day we set of again, but better prepared. Applying insect repellent to the shoes should help. As things were going slow again in my group, I set of earlier with Gin, a Japanese gentlemen, to walk to the target of the second day, which was a ‹canopy walk›. To get there a hike of a couple of kilometers was necessarily. But I haven’t seen not even one leech on this path. The canopy walk was nice. Some 40 meters above ground on narrow, hanging and swinging bridges we had a glimpse at the jungle from a different angle.

© Masanori Nakayama

Animals, of course, were none visible. They’ve escaped the touristy regions already a long time before. Gin and me were very lucky to spot a family of boars and a deer from an lookout on the way to the canopy walk. Except some nice birds and some squirrels that’s it then for me about wild life …
On the way back we climbed a hill and descended on the other side. Just when we arrived our domicile it started to rain. Heavily! Monsoon! My four room mates arrived some time later, completely wet. What a mess. This stuff was never going to dry anymore! My cloths were wet as well, but from sweating. Still we set off to another walk the next day. To a cave and a local village of ‹orang asli›, which means ‹original people›. They live a very simple life in very simple huts. No water and no electricity. But they have mobile phones as well … Maybe somewhere they have a generator. At least those villagers, that live close to the tourist tracks. We were caught by rain again, but that’s how it is there. It’s a ‹Rain Forest›. It was another day with some leeches, but not so many as on the first walk.

While my room mates left to Kuala Lumpur the next day I stayed one more day just strolling around and reading.
One more story I have for this place: The five of us lived in a dorm with 3 bunk beds. I was using a lower bed, the one above me was free. Mosquito nets were mounted to the ceiling so they cover the entire bunk bed, protecting both guests. The second day we were joined by a French traveler which then occupied the bed above mine. In the evening, when everyone prepared for going to bed, the guy above me started to nestle around. Eventually he had finished and we were ready to turn off the light. So I waited for him to close the mosquito net. But this didn’t happen. When I noticed a mosquito flying around, I mentioned it and I got his answer:’So what?›. This made me suspicious and I got out of bed to find, that he had set up his own mosquito net. In a way, that made it impossible to close the big one, which would protect me as well. So I told him, that his solution doesn’t work for me and he replied, that I have a problem then! Can you believe this arrogance? It explained him, that he’s causing this problem, that the original ‹installation› was ok as it worked the night before and as it works for the other people in the room as well. I told him, that I’ve never experienced such a behaving of another traveler before. I even called him an asshole. So he told me not to get to nervous, got off, dismounted the original mosquito net from the ceiling and started to remount it just in my lower bunk. Of course the net was made to cover the entire bunk bed, so the installation ‹inside› was not very easy and finally he finished and installed some kind of mosquito cage for me. This was rather small of course and I could not avoid to get in contact with the net all the time. This allowed the mosquitos to try to bite me, but I was lucky and there were not so many of them. This guy left the next day. Of course he left it to me to restore the original setup. When I called him an a.. the others got aware of what was going on, but didn’t show much reaction. Only the following day only they confirmed me, that in their eyes he also really was …

One day later I left to Kuantan. Together with Gin I boarded a boat, that brought us halfway back to Jerantut. The rest was spent in a bus. From Jerantut an express bus brought me to Kuantan and a local bus to Chearting the same day. There I arrived at eight in the evening and found a nice bungalow only a 5 minutes walking distance from a nice beach. After the jungle I was looking forward to a few relaxing days at the beach. But it seems that the wet season didn’t want to end. I was swimming just once in the ocean but the rest of the day I was sitting in front of my bungalow or in a restaurant, hiding from the rain. The next day it got worse and the following it was like the first one. I decided to head north again, even skipping the Perhentian Islands, and traveling back to Thailands west coast.

Because of the elections this was not so easy. Many people were traveling. So I didn’t get a ticket for the connecting bus to Kota Bharu in Kuala Terengganu and had to stay there overnight. It’s a very quiet place. I’d say nice but also rather boring. It’s the gateway to some small islands. But with these weather conditions I had no desire to travel on a small boat. Usually monsoon is over by end of February, but nowadays everything is different. So, one day later I was back in Kota Bharu. The next day I took the bus to the border and after crossing into Thailand, again very efficiently, I walked to the train station of Sungai Kolok and bought a ticket to Hat Yai. This now was a real local and real slow train! It took 6 hours to get there, but it was a very interesting and colorful ride! And it seems, that I finally left the clouds behind …

There were some riots near Kuala Terengannu, because of the elections, but when we passed it was all over. I just read it in the newspaper. The only thing I’ve experienced is long delay of the bus (3 hours) and one road closed by the police in a town north of Kuala Terengganu.

Here I’m again in Thailand. Having finally found a beach that really pleases me! But that’s the topic for the next report.

Greetings from Koh Lanta!
Thomas

Hello

Almost a month has passed since my last posting. And in these days I’ve been to rather many places. More than I originally intended, when I planned to have a rest for while.

When I arrived from Cambodia I wanted to stay a week or two on a nice and quiet beach. According to my guide book Koh Chang is such an island. But when I arrived at «Lonely Beach» in the far south of the island, I found that it is not so lonely anymore. First I had troubles to find accomodation, because it was high season anyway. Then I found out that this island has mutated into a party island very much. I rented a motorbike the next day to find out, if there were other beaches more quiet, but I couldn’t find any with bungalows or a guesthouse. There was a nice and not crowded beach whithout loud music, where I spent some hours this and the next day, but then I decided to move further.

Not to far and on the way to Bangkok is Koh Samet. I hopped on a boat and crossed to Koh Samet to find out that this island indeed is quieter but still very crowded. As on Koh Chang the prices were very high. On Koh Samed many beaches are only accessible by boat. Strolling around was therefore a little limited. I spent a few days there, got some sun tan, but as the weather changed I decided rather soon to continue my travel to Bangkok. A german couple, that didn’t want lose to much time on buses asked me to share a taxi for a little money and so I got a fast, comfortable and cheap ride to Bangkok.
In Bangkok I emailed my friend Steven that I’ve arrived and we had dinner together the next evening, and the evening after … He knows some nice places to eat or to have a drink, which not every tourist would find.
I met Steven, a Scottish man, in Myanmar (Burma) some years ago. We then traveled a bit together there and in Thailand. He’s been teaching English in China, Korea and Thailand for some years and right now he does that in Bangkok.
While Steven had to work during the day I strolled around in Bangkok and went to some big department stores. I planned to do a Thai massage course at Wat Pho as well. When I went to the office to inscribe I was treated like an idiot. My questions on how this course looks like etc were not appreciated. I had to fill in a couple of forms and was asked to provide two photos. As I always have a couple of photos in my pocket, I passed them over the desk. The girl then looked annoyed at me and pointed out in a arrogant way, if I can not read that the photos have to be two inches in size. This course is not at all cheap, so expect a little more friendliness and understanding. Now I got angry, took the forms and teared them up in two parts, sayed ‹goodbye› and left. There are similar courses in Chang Mai as well, and if time permitts I might do one there in a few weeks.

It is said that Thailand is the «country of smiles», but till then I experienced something else. I wanted to meet Silvio again in Bangkok, but what should I do until he arrives from Laos. Steven suggested to go to Kanchanaburi and Sankhlaburi, close to the border of Myanmar.

Kanchanaburi is famous for the Bridge at River Kwai. It is a rather touristy city but sports some nicely located guesthouses overlooking the river. Steven joined me for the weekend and we explored the town and the Erawan waterfalls in a national park some 50 kms in the north on motorbikes. As we are in the dry season the waterfalls were again not so spectacular as they probably are in summer. Still it was a nice climb to the 7th level and we had short swimm as well in one of the pools.

As Steven had to work on monday he traveled back to bangkok on sunday evening, while I continued to Sangkhlaburi the next day. This town is another 4 hours in the northwest of Kanchanaburi and very close to the burmese border. I hired once more a motorbike and explored the environment of Sangkhlaburi. There is a famous pagoda and a temple and the longest wooden bridge of Thailand, crossing a branch of a lake and leading to a mon village. Further away is the Three Pagoda Pass, which is more a boarder town that has three rather tiny pagodas in its main square. The border to Myanmar is closed there. But the ride on the motorbike to this town was very nice.
Even it was not an escape from the tourists, I enjoyed these four days very much! It was very relaxing and the landscapes are very nice in this region. And it was there, where I’ve found the smiling faces again.

A long distance bus brought me back to Bangkok and dropped me off somewhere in the north of the city. A bus terminal, rather far away from the center. In a combination of taxi, skytrain and boat I found back to my hotel. After the bus ride of 8 hours this took me another one.

The next evening Steven again joined me for dinner. And Silvio arrived from Luang Prabang the same night. The following day Silvio and I visited the Royal Palace and Wat Pho. I’ve been to these places already twice some years ago, but they were worth another visit anyway. Only I’ve never seen so many people in the Royal Palace before. It was so crowded! The reason is, that in january the kings sister died and he allowed Thai people to pay their respect to her in the Grand Palace. All Thais were wearing black and white dresses. Wat Pho was quieter. It is a holy, but as well a very touristy place.
While Silvio went on a loooooong shopping trip the day after, I explored Wat Arun together with Steven. We had also a break in the Lumpini Park. They were watering the greens there and it was a funny game to cross a small island without getting to much wet. Finally, my last day in Bangkok we just strolled around, brought Silvio to the airport shuttle and said goodbye. He had to return to Germany.
Myself I took a night bus to Khao Lak, which is further south (200 km north of Phuket) and which is the starting point for scuba diving tours to the Similan islands. Uslae, a friend of mine is friend to the co-owners of the «Sea Dragon Dive Center», so I went there and booked a 3 day/3 night dive trip to these dive sites. As I had not been diving for some years I had to do a refresh course first. The day before leaving to Similan I explored the beaches around Khao Lak a bit and went to a tiny waterfall.

The dive boat was very comfortable and the diving was very nice. The variety of fish was huge but the corals were rather disappointing. I’ve been to the Similans 14 years ago on a sailing trip but went only snorkeling then. But I remeber having seen much more beautiful and colorful corals than I’ve seen on these dives. The group I’ve been diving with was great and so was our dive master. And the food was just absolutely amazing. I ate a lot, as I always was very hungry after a dive.

When entering Thailand I got a 30 days visa only, so I had to move south soon to get out for a short period. I decided to go to Malaysia. A minibus brought me to Hat Yai and a local train to Sungay Kolok at the border the next day. Crossing the boarder was the easiest so far. For
Malaysia it is not even necessairy to fill in an immigration card anymore and I got a 90 days permit without any visa formalities. I’d wish the other countries would follow this example! It makes crossing the border so much more convenient!
I’ve not been to the Taman Negara National Park when I traveled Malaysia 13 and 14 years ago, so I decided to take the jungle train to get there this time. This will be the case tomorrow …