| |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Bangkok
Ko Samui |
Ko
Pha Ngan |
Ko
Phi Phi |
Chiang
Mai |
Ko
Tao
|
Ayutthaya
Bangkok |
Return
to Thailand |
|
|
25th to 27th of September, Bangkok,
Finally back in Bangkok, after "throwing" myself around
Australia I returned to were it all started. The prophecy
of the old man hadn't come true. I got to the hostel around
1:00 am in the morning and had a very warm welcome. The
guy that opened the door for me got a big grin on his
face when he saw me and said "Oh you are back!!" Where
have you been? Bangkok very hot now, lots of rain! How
true, it had been raining since I got of at the plane
in Bangkok. But I liked the atmosphere, the smell and
even the dirty streets. I felt like I was coming home.
I spend the first day mostly with talking to friends I
had met during my first stay. I also visited the office
of Richly and went to the Swiss Air Tower to get new flight
tickets. At night I went to a very nice Indian restaurant
on Khao San Road called "Himalayan Kitchen". I don't really
like Khao San Road, but this restaurant is definitely
a great spot for Indian food.
I got my slides on the 26th and had to face the fact that
lot's of them where rubbish. When I wrote my first report
for Worldsurface I promised that I would use my camera
till it breaks, I didn't meant that literary at this time,
but my prophecy came true, both, my reflex and my snapshot
camera broke down during my trip. Fortunately I was able
to fix my 25 year old reflex and continue to take pictures,
but the other camera is one of the "hyper modern tiny
little" one and I was not able to repair it. As for the
rest of the day, I had to buy a suitcase and therefor
visited Siam Square like many times before. I have to
admit, Siam Square is my favourite shopping area in Bangkok.
if you shop at areas such as Pat Phong or the Khao San
Road(both very interesting places) the possibility is
very high that you never find this shop or seller again,
making exchanges or complainments nearly impossible. |
|
>Sometimes you travel
weeks around and don't meet anyone from you home country,
and sometimes you meet a bunch of them within one day,
the 27th was one of those days. Out of the sudden there
where four Austrians staying at the hostel. It was quiet
strange for me to use my own language, even my own accent
again. I also made a picture tour through Bangkok. My
favourite bus #53 goes along all major tourist attractions
in Bangkok and I stopped at all of them to take at least
one picture.
28th of September, Ko Samet or Angor Wat?
A big question during my three days in Bangkok was, what
should I do with the time I had left in Thailand? Going
to Cambodia and visit Angkor Wat for some cultural experience
or to Ko Samet, for some drinking experience and relaxing
on the beach? Nine hour on the bus on bad roads or 4 hour
on a bus on highways? A rainy week in Cambodia with the
possibility of washed away roads or almost sunny weather
on Ko Samet? It was honestly a difficult decision, but
I finally made my choice, nice weather and beaches on
Ko Samet (and maybe some drinking experiences.). I will
come back to Thailand, and for sure go to Cambodia and
Angkor Wat the next time. I left Bangkok and a nice girl
from Australia behind, went on the bus and after four
hours arrived in Rayong, a small town next to Ko Samet.
I met three girls a Scottish and a German guy on the bus
and we decided to spend the next few days together. Very
good idea, I don't like being alone and had hardly ever
been alone on my trip. What can I say about the rest of
the day? We got on a ferry which brought us to the little
paradise called Ko Samet. Compared to Bangkok the island
life was really relaxing, sandy beach, funny people, no
traffic, no pollution, no worries! The bungalows we stayed
at where very good, they even offered free toilet paper
(PURE LUXUR in Thailand). Look forward for the rest of
the story! |
|
|
29th of September, Ko Samet
Ko Samet is an island to relax - for sure. Lot's of Thai
and Japanese people come to this island to have vacation,
surprisingly not that much western people. September and
October are definitely the off-season, we where nearly
on our own. Peter, the Scottish guy bought a "new flying
machine" which we used quit often. Wonder what a Thai
flying machine is like? It's pretty much the same then
a American Frisbee ;-) !
We stayed at a place called Ploy Tallay on the Hat Sai
Kaew beach, , a nice "resort" with friendly stuff (I never
found any rude locals in Thailand anyway). Just the music
sucked, they kept playing four CDs over and over again,
so I decided to borrow the "DJ" some of my CDs, which
he highly appreciated.
30th of September to 2nd of October, Beach stories
Johannes lying on the beach for more then 20 minutes?
That's something very rare, usually I spend something
like 20 minutes before I get bored. The four days on Ko
Samet I nearly spend two hours on the beach every day
and cached up a really nice tan. I didn't want to go back
to Austria and look like I spent the last three months
in a office. But I also hiked from our beach to the Ao
Wai beach, which took me about 1,5 hour (one way), where
I found some really secluded bays on the way. Most of
the beaches are separated from each other by huge rocks
and that makes it quiet hard to get from one beach to
the other. But the rocks also saved some beaches from
being conquered by tourists. Beaches that are to small
for being used as an public beach, and the rocks create
and awesome underwater landscape for snorkelling.
At night I always went out with fellow travellers, we
had discovered a nice bar at the next beach and partied
every day there.
Talking about fellow travellers, I always asked people
what they think about Austrian people, and one of the
most common answers I got was that they think that we
listen to David Haselhoff (the guy from Baywatch and Knight
Rider) music all the time .You know what? That's only
particularly true, about ten years he was quiet successful
and gave a lot of concerts in Germany and Austria. But
his days as an popstar in my home country are long over,
maybe some Austrians still have dust-covered CDs of him
in their collection, but NO one listens to his music now
a days. At least no one I know. And by the way, I've met
Scottish people that are not stingy, Germans that are
funny and not disciplined at all and last but not least
Irish people that are poor in drinking games (just joking!). |
|
 3rd
of October
The last day had come, the last day of being Global Reporter,
my last day in Thailand, my last day away from the place
I call home.
I had woken up early, it was strange to open my eyes and
knowing that it would be the last time in Thailand. This
morning, I met Zad, a guy from London. We decided to have
breakfast and found a nice bakery in the neighbourhood
that served excellent tea and cookies. We started to talk
about movies and decided to watch the movie Suriyothai
a movie about a Thai woman that fought against the Burmese
invasion. Kind of a female Braveheart. I thought it would
be a nice way to finish my stay in Thailand. I am a movie
buff and if its about Thailand - why not?
I first had to go to Richly because they had called the
hostel to tell them that something was wrong with my flight.
I was a bit confused because the flight wasn't even booked
with Richly. But about eight weeks ago, after I had been
robbed, the travel agency was in contact with Swissair
trying to find out how I could get replacement tickets.
Somehow Swissair had kept the number of Richly and phoned
them that morning. I hadn't even booked my accommodation
with Richly, but they knew where I was staying and phoned
me. That's what I call a excellent service, big compliments
to both companies, Swissair and Richly!
I got the news that Swissair had gone bankrupt at a tailor.
I chatted with the shop owner and told him that I was
flying with Swissair and he answered: "Don't you
know, Swissair went bankrupt yesterday, all planes are
grounded!". I knew right then that he wasn't lying,
but for some reasons I started laughing. I made a few
jokes about how I would walk home and promised him to
come back if I wouldn't leave Bangkok that night and buy
a suit.
It was impossible to reach Swissair for nearly 1,5 hours,
but I finally decided to try it one last time before I
would go to their office personal. Before I dialled the
number I told my self that everything was going to be
fine and that I would fly home that night. And someone
answered the phone! I asked what I was supposed to do
and the guy on the other end of the line first told me
that he didn't know and that I had to issue a new ticket.
Finally he said 'I'm going to book you on another flight',
you leave at 12:30 am on the 4th of October, go to the
Swissair Check-in counter and you will get new airline
tickets. He also told me that I couldn't fly straight
from Zurich to Vienna, and that I had to fly via 'Brkrwrrr'
to Vienna. Unfortunately I don't know a city in Europe
with that name... So all I knew about my flight from Zurich
to Vienna was that I couldn't go straight and I would
stop in a city that starts with B. We have plenty of city's
in Europe that start with B, starting with Bruessel, Berlin
and on to Belgrad. But I wasn't worried at all, I knew
everything was going to be fine. You definitely can call
me an Optimist.
Well, but here is the rest of the day/story! Zad and I
went to Siam Square to watch Suriyothai, but unfortunately
there was only one screening that day, this one was in
Thai and also to late for us. We thought about watching
another movie, but finally decided to explore the city
instead. We went to the railway station by bus and walk
to Chinatown were we found a small Chinese market. I alsmost
felt like in a Jackie Chan movie and started looking for
some well dressed gangsters in their Mercedes and Jackie,
jumping from one roof to the other.
We continued our walk and ended up at the "Tha Ratchawang"
pier were we took the ferry up to Phra Sumane Port. The
Phra Sumane Port is an old fortress, a huge white building
with a nice gardens surrounding it. A great spot to escape
from the nosy streets of Bangkok. The big walls of the
fortress keep away the sound of the traffic and the trees
and grass create a nice smell. We finished our trip at
Khao San Road, the Mecca for Thailand-backpackers. We
both agreed that it was an excellent idea to skip the
cinema, and explore the city instead.
I should have been worrying about my flight, but instead
I was discussing religion and politic with Zad the whole
day, the idea that I might not would leave Thailand that
night didn't really bothered me at all. Zad was an Moslem
and gave me an excellent insight to his religion.
Travelling changed the way I think about people in this
world, all major religions or atheistic, I was able to
have great conversations and a heck of fun with those
people
My day ended at the airport, with no problems at the check-in
counter and - for the first time on my trip, they didn't
forget my request for vegetarian food.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bangkok
Ko Samui |
Ko
Pha Ngan |
Ko
Phi Phi |
Chiang
Mai |
Ko
Tao
|
Ayutthaya
Bangkok |
Return
to Thailand |
|
|
|
