Home sweet Beach Home

I found the greatest spot on the island! How do I know this? Because yesterday I did a round the island tour in a longtailboat with some people I met. There is definitely no nicer place on the island.

I arrived at my "resort" two days ago with a taxiboat, which is a longtail boat with different kinds of motors. Some even have an old car motor attached to their boat. It was an interesting ride, but the ocean was very calm, so no comparism to the boat ride I would experience on our round the island snorkeling trip. Met a german on the boat to my place and we two ended up talking people on our beach into this round the island snorkeling trip the next day, ending up with a bunch of guys sharing tables for meals and activities until today, which is nice. Meeting all those different kinds of people with different stories is part of the great experience here, being companions for one or two days and then all move on into different directions.

After deboarding the boat I "checked in" in my beach hut right at the beach. I don't have to explain much how it is there, just look at the pics. I was so tired from my long trip, that I just unpacked and enjoyed the afternoon lying in my hammock. And then it happened! Overtired and distracted I cut my left thumb opening the hut windows. So my first aid pack had its first mission! Recognized that sea water helps healing wounds really fast and unfortunately the thumb didn't help attracting any sharks when snorkeling, what a pity!

Falling asleep and waking up with the sound of the ocean is a great atmosphere, but there are also some slight disadvantages of a great nature place like the one I'm staying at. Because everything is built basic and exposed to nature, there are lots of friends to share life with. I don't won't to bother you with details and I also have my special weapon against intruders. It's called Fritz!

Fritz is my personal hut gecko. He is there when I go to sleep and when I wake up, guards me from his spot up on the ceiling. At night he is gone hunting and I here that he is around, making squick sounds. So everytime I enter the bungalow I say "Hi Fritz" and he looks down to me with his big eye. Yesterday he even came down to me a bit on the wall when I talked to him, but when I got to close he went back up to his spot. I was so tired that I had a great nights sleep the first night, differently the second, when there was a great storm outside and I recognized all the life around my hut. Got mad with Fritz on the first morning already because he was playing gecko games with a little friend, or wanted to eat him, I don't know, and the little one fled into my hut jumping on the floor which woke me up.

To get internet and snorkeling equipment I had to go back to the little island village of Mae Hat, which is a good 30 minutes trek through the jungle and has some great lonely beaches at the side of it to explore. I did it for the second time today to sit here, upload pics and blog. The employees from my resort carry all the food and lots of items needed on cans on their back on that way. They have a great restaurant where I stay and serve fresh meat and fish every day. unfortunately I didn't take a pic of my fish Thai style one night, which was awesome! So after getting my snorkeling stuff and a breakfast I spent all the first day at the beach trying to find people for the snorkeling trip with the longtail and relaxed on the beach. We finally found a German-American couple with sister, so we were five guys to do the trip on the next day.

It was an amazing experience, like being part of an underwater documentary. We went around the whole island and stopped at Ko Nang Yuan beach which connect two islands and is famous for its paradise atmosphere. On our way around the island we just stopped at several bays, sometimes the only ones there and jumped from the boat into the water. I can hardly put in words all the colourfulness of the fish and the corals, just an amazing experience. People here all talk about seeing turtles and riff sharks, highlights I have only heard of so far. On the way home we had very rough sea and skipped shark island, so the biggest fish I have seen so far was a Barracuda. But there are more snorkel hours to come...

Finishing this post my next task will be to find another beach place either at Ao Thian or Ao Tanote, both great beaches and snorkeling places, where I want to stay for three more ights beginning tomorrow and then head back to the mainland starting my Thailand roundtrip. It definitely has some advantages to have a glance at places from the oceanside before booking them...And actually another reason why I am in town is, that our Thai boat driver burned a hole in my daypack when he was smoking while we were snorkeling, so I hope a diving place has some special glue to fix it here, I just put tape on it as a temporary repair...

Arriving Koh Tao

I made it down to Ko Tao!  Here you can see, where I am just sitting, pretty exhausted from my long trip and just organized a place to stay via phone. I will relax at this bungalow resort called Sai Thong Resort the next days. It can only be reached by taxiboat, which I will take after writing this. So you see I didn't book with a travel agent last night at the train station. And it proofed right, go by yourself and you find better places...

But from the beginning. Waited forever in that station hall in Bangkok last night and could hardly stay awake. Some interesting chats with Thai people, who approached me friendly talking to me. A tall man with a big backpack sitting there till late at night taking the last train seemed to be interesting. This was my view in the waiting area. I was sitting behind the monks, who were waiting in their reserved area for monks, posted the pic yesterday. People were preparing the station for some kind of special ceremony for the royal family. And at every train station throughout my trip they had a big portrait of the king and a book, where people could write in. I didn't get what it was all about. And the chats with the Thais were more hands and arms chats than words, so I couldn't ask them...

After my disappointing visit to the travel agent it took me quite a while to figure out where to get a phone card for the old mobile I brought, remember my old "old school communication" post? Only having a phone you don't have to rely on agents here, if you don't want to go to every place in person to ask for a room. Went into a market in the station and bought a so called "happy tourist card" from a girl, that only spoke Thai. Had to go back to the shop and discussed with her with hands and arms again that I needed a sim card, silly me forgot that and just bought a card to reload a prepaid sim card :-). She sent me to a 7 Eleven a block away from the station. Took me several minutes to be brave enough to cross the street, but I did it and got my sim card. Almost tried one of those yummy looking street food spots...

People watching me trying to organize my sim card probably thought I was crazy, running back and forth and always telling the "Taxi, Taxi" shouting guys, "no, I still don't need a taxi". Especially the monks, whi were amazingly resting in theirselves probably didn't understand my hectic. Okay I confess, actually I went to 7 Eleven two times, because it said in my guide, they would have sim cards, but at the first time I didn't ask and instead went into the store of the girl, who sent me back to 7 Eleven to get the sim card. Oh boy!. After this intense shopping I finally deserved my first great Thai dinner. On the first floor of the station they have kind of a food court with original and very good Thai food. Ordered a Red curry and a Tom Yam Gung soup. Soups are served with the main dish over here. Forget all that Thai stuff they sell in the western hemisphere. So many spices and herbs, sweet, sour, spicy, alltogether, a taste explosion in your mouth. It was pretty hot and spicy but I handled it quite well and no signs of regret today. I like eating spicy anyways. Those two dishes and a Coke for 300 Baht and the food was really fresh and good. Can you believe this?

Riding Thai trains really is an experience. Not only that they are amazingly on time at every station, they have food and blanket service and are pretty clean. Booked a seat in second class with AC, there is also a third class and of course the sleeping booths. Caught some sleep, but a lot of the time I improved the english of all the french traveller folks around me, because I don't speak french :-). When not sleeping I spent the time looking outside the window to get a glance at the Thai neighborhoods, cities and landscapes flying by in the dark while we drove south. Even the very local stations were very clean and neat, the only thing I recognized where all those cats and dogs homeless and strayning. Arriving in Chumphon I recognized I wasn't the only one who booked the combination ticket with the Lomprayah Catamaran. Travellers from all different countries waited in a long queue when I got there. But everything worked out well. After a short ride with the bus and a quick one and a half hour ride with the Catamaran we finally arrived Ko Tao. These are the views you have in your mind when you think of Thailand and the movie "The Beach".

Okay, spent enough time on the Internet. Have to search for a Taxi boat that takes me to my personal "The Beach". Will post pics and a short report about hard work relaxing at the beach the next days...

Land of Smile

I'm here! Sitting at Bangkok Hua Lamphong station and waiting for my train down to Chumphon. Bought a combi-ticket and will be picked up by a bus and then transfer to Ko Tao with a catamaran from Chumphon so I'll arrive on the island at 8:45. Gonna stay there and relax at the beaches at least for a week. Will see a travel agent after writing this to find me a nice accomodation, otherwise I have to start looking when I'm there. And I have to get my first real Thai food, I'm getting hungry. While I'm writing this I find the first mosquito flying around my head :-)

I had a great trip and everything worked out well. My Mom and my sister Verena drove me to the airport and she gave me a really thoughtful and emotional present, a figure of St. Christophorus. He will look after me and I glued him on the title of my red notebook. What a great companion!

All the flights with Turkish were on time and I had an amazing time on board. No wonder they are the best European airline. I never had such good food and the service was just amazing. They had bacon and eggs for breakfast!!!, perfect for my first steps in Thailand.

Immigration and baggage claim was so quick and getting the train ticket for the Sky Train also. So I made it to the subway station Phetchaburi very quick, where I had to change for the subway. Changing meant walking along a crowded street and crossing it. Amazing first impressions. While the people here are so orderly and friendly and even line up in a straight queue automatically when the trains arrive the street traffic is just totally aggressive and dangerous chaos, at least it seems like that to a stranger.

After arriving at Hua Lamphong station I enjoyed the first impressions there for a while. It is not very easy just standing around looking, because every minute somebody else wants to sell you tickets, a trip or food. After needing some time to check it out I finally booked my combi-train-ticket at an official Thai railway counter. Attached some images of what I see here.

Okay, have to go...hungry!

On my way

Here it is: The day I was waiting for for a long time. Will be on my way to Cologne Airport in a few minutes and then flying to Bangkok via Istanbul with Turkish Airlines. Everything fits in my backpack perfectly and the daypack, that can be separated from the mainpack is just great. The main pack has this great travel and rain cover attached, so no worries about my backpack getting damaged checking it. You can see it on the second picture.

How am I feeling? Interesting, strange, tense. Lots of excitement, looking forward to the great experience, but uncertainty too. But I´m well prepared and will relax as soon as I´m on the plane and after my first steps in Thailand I´m sure. Wanted to buy a train ticket to go down the gulf coast to Surat Thani over night to be at the beaches the next morning. But it didn´t work from here, so I will try to take the Sky Train from Bangkok Airport into the city, then find the central station and hope to get a ticket for a sleeping booth to go down there over night. Otherwise I will have to stay a night in Bangkok and travel Saturday. The next days I will be on the beaches of Ko Phangan and Ko Tao to calm down and relax. Just hope that I can motivate myself to leave them again :-). My plan is to go up the gulf coast after it step by step and do the northeast of Thailand including a jungle trek before I will meet Ellen in Bangkok on August 17.

On my way! The next time I´ll write it will be from Asia...

Packing

Three days left. So I started assorting all my things on my packing list this morning. Here we go: bathing shorts (most important!), FlipFlops, long and short shirts outdoor and nicer ones for the city (if you can call them nice at all :-), will buy some nice clothes in Bangkok probably), trekking pants and shorts, outdoor jacket and longsleeve for AC trips and cold nights, trekking socks and underwear, all the stuff from my first aid kit and washbag, plastic bags to protect from humidity, nails for the mosquito net, all my trekking gear I blogged about earlier, sun protection with hat, sunglasses and sunscreen, mosquito protection with net and deet, trecking knife, mobile, camera, documents, maglite etc.. Can you believe it is all on this picture?

Still some stuff missing. Need trekking sandals, scotch tape and drawstring, so off I go for the last shopping tour at the outdoor shops...

Food experiments

My Asia prep camp moved to Berlin, where I attend the last MBA class before summer break. My travel guide is with me in my every day backpack of course. Monday morning I went to the Thai embassy to get my visa. I blogged earlier about my phone call and it really worked out well. It only took me five minutes to give the very friendly embassy employee my visa application form and other documents and the money. Will get it back on Thursday. Perfect! The trip though took me about an hour, because the Thai embassy in Berlin is in the south of the city, far away from the centre in a very nice residential area.

At mealtime I recognize my Asia awareness getting bigger and I focus on Asia food much more. Berlin is a great place to get Asian food and so I try eating with chopsticks and enjoy spicy meals. If there was time for food school I maybe would attend it. The chopstick usage is not nearly looking professional, as you can see on the pic that shows me trying on Sushi for lunch. But there won´t be much Sushi in Thailand anyway. The chopsticks worked better with the spiciest meal on a Thai restaurant menu at dinner. At least I transferred some rice and veggies in my tummy. And as long as I get something in my tummy everything is fine, even if it takes hours :-). Had a Mai Thai with it for drink, a great taste experience, the sweetness of the drink and the spicy food. Now it really wasn´t the first time I had Asian food. I just focus on things that sound more original and spicier and haven´t eaten much with chopsticks before, because knife and fork are just easier. The taste of the food eating it the traditional way is very different, probably there isn´t much alltogether and mixed in your mouth :-).

One week to go before I board the plane. My MBA class mates made me a little paper plane, so I can day dream about my upcoming trip in class. Changed my plans for the first days and now have a more definite route for the first weeks, will blog about that later...

More Equipment

 Back in Germany on a rainy day, perfect for shopping at the outlet center of globetrotter. Had two great hours of exploring, chatting and consulting with one of the nice salesmen, all with their own outdoor and traveller experience. Found some great deals, but especially I found some very useful and handy items I still needed from my packing list. I now just need a few more items and then I will have everything assorted.

You will probably never guess what is inside of all those neat and handy packages on the picture, so this is what I found from the left to the right: 1. Rain poncho 2. Sleeping mask 3. Mosquito net for two, there are nets with a bottom, but I just took a net in a pyramide shape you have to hang over your bed on a nail or hook and squeeze it under your mattress or sleeping bag at the bottom 4. A sleeping bag, actually a silk sleeping bag inlet with integrated insect coverage. Took silk rather than cotton, because it better absorbs the humidity and doesn´t has to be dried for long. It will be hot, so I don´t need a warm cover and if, I can wear clothes inside 5. A traveller towel, a really cool item that feels and looks like a leather cloth for your car. It dries quickly and can be used several times. I always wanted to feel like my BMW, what a great experience 6. A traveller pillow, actually this is luxury and extra weight, but I couldn´t not grab one of them from the store shelf, although the salesman was trying hard to persuade me not to :-) 7. some special travel wallets, one that you can hide as a secret pocket so I can separate my cash from important documents 8. a traveller lock and 9. a hard cover for my sunglasses.

Of course I had to check all the items and try them out. So here is a picture of the wizard of Asia. He wants to say congratulations to Air Asia. The company just won the Skytrax Award "World´s best low-cost airline" for the fourth year in a row. Happy to travel with them!

Paradise Beaches

After putting lots of effort and time into evaluating our travel guides and travel reviews on sites like Tripadvisor out of many many options on Koh Samui and Perhentian islands Ellen and I finally found our personal paradise beaches and booked two wonderful resorts. We decided to go for more luxury on Koh Samui and are staying in a Beachfront Bungalow for 4 nights at RajapruekSamuiResort  at the western not so touristic "virgin" coast, where you can experience fantastic sunsets and a great view on the five islands. Although it is pretty lonely there, there are some Thai villages around and great nature sights such as waterfalls, not to speak of possible daily boat trips and activities on the beach. Perfect for a relaxing, romantic getaway.

On Perhentian in Malaysia we decided to go for a traveller experience and are staying at a Robinson Crusoe place called Keranji Beach with huts at a beach you only reach by boat with jungle all around it. Because they don't have a formalized online reservation form we emailed back and forth with Adenan whose email adress we learned from my tourist guide and his nice basic homepage. He really helped us with all our questions and requests very nicely and with great service. Some big professionally organized hotels could learn from this great personal customer service. A really cute and exciting detail we found out by doing intensive research is, that the beach has its personal otter pet Amran, take a look here.

I already talk like I've been to the places I'm describing after all that research and reading. The internet and the great travel guides are really giving you realistic impressions, but I'm looking forward to reporting live. Two weeks from today I will be boarding the plane to Bangkok...

Asia Prep Camp

Where is the best place to prepare for a trip to southeast asia? Right, Washington D.C. of course! Hot, humid, tropical climate with temperatures up to 102 degrees Fahrenheit. As soon as you leave the air-conditioned buildings you are wet like you have just left the shower. Besides the high humidity and the burning sun I also have to take shelter from tropical storms.  Going for a run in this hot, tropical environment in the morning, preventing sunburn, mosquito bites and keeping the water balance of the body up is the best training for asia.

One of my long city jungle walks took me to the Thai embassy right at the waterfront in Georgetown asking for the procedure for a visa. After some surprise on the other side that a German wants to get a Thai visa from the Thai embassy in the US I found out: It's almost the same procedure as in Germany, but I wonder why they only need 48 hours for a visa here, while in Berlin they need one week? They still need to take my passport, so I will have to do it in Germany, hoping for that friendly Thai woman on the phone a couple of days ago in Berlin to reduce the week to five days.

Enjoying a wonderful time with my american girlfriend Ellen here in DC it is also time for some intense planning for the last two weeks of August, when she is coming to see me in asia. It is perfect to give me some frames for my trip. Bangkok, Chiang Mai, the island of Koh Samui in Thailand and Kuala Lumpur, Melaka, Perenthian island in Malaysia and Singapore will be our main travel destinations. To achieve our ambitious travel plans we will use the great flight opportunities offered by Air Asia to fly between the destinations cheap and saving time. Because our time is precious we decided to go to Koh Samui instead of going the Pukhet area due to the ongoing rain season. What we didn't consider was that Bangkok Air built the airport there and has a monopoly on the flights, so they are expensive. But overall, paying 450 dollars per person for six flights around Thailand and Malaysia isn't that bad...So I'm breaking my rules concerning the real Thai experience and basic travelling and they will be broken again looking at some of the wonderful resorts on Koh Samui or Perhentian island we will probably stay in and book in advance...

Over the weekend I will go down to North Carolina with Ellen to prepare at the beach for Asia's beach challenges.