Katrin travelling (again;-)

I extended my stay in Koh Jum as the island was really lovely. Very green due to the daily rain and very friendly people. This part of Thailand is mainly Muslim. 

I had a hut with sea view in the middle of trees where some monkeys lived. I didn't see them every day but one day, they jumped on my roof and ended up sitting on my balcony ;-)

I had a bicycle for 2 days and explored the island whose northern part is named Koh Puh. I was very lucky as these 2 days it didn't rain during the day. The next day however, it didn't stop and I spent the day in my hammock watching German TV.

Overall Koh Jum was really relaxing. 

The coach to Krabi left very early and at only 10.30 am I arrived, walking 120 m and I made it to my accomodation. The owner, a Thai lady, was sooo nice and welcoming. My room was ready 10 minutes later and after a bit of resting, I explored the town and had lunch.

Krabi has a quite chilled atmosphere, I really liked it there. In the evening, I wanted to go to the night market but the owner crossed my way and told me, the weekend market was much better and gave me a ride. 

I had some food, a delicious pancake and coconut ice cream and then it started to rain.

It was very hot during the day and I feel it is even hotter today. I am now on the ferry to Koh Jum/Jam (pronounced like "jump" ;-) and again have a sticker with my destination on my shirt ;-) As the boat stops at different islands, this makes it easier for them, I guess but it feels very touristy.

As far as I understood, it stops twice next to Koh Jum and the accomodations send a longtail boat to pick their guests up. 

 Met the first cockroach on the ferry already but hoping for a minimum of bugs once arrived in my hut. 

Krabi hat eine entspannte Atmosphäre und so herzlich bin ich bisher in keiner Unterkunft begrüsst worden 😊
Heute abend geht es zum night market, und ab morgen noch mal Robinson-Feeling auf Koh Jum, auch so ein "Geheimtipp" 😎 Wieder eine Hütte im Dschungel mit Meerblick und wahrscheinlich wieder massenhaft tierischen Mitbewohnern 😉 Wenn ich davon genug oder kein Bargeld mehr habe, geht es weiter nach Malaysia.

.....die Resorts schicken jeweils Longtail-Boote zur Fähre um ihre Gäste einzusammeln.  Anschliessend Fußmarsch übern Strand, dann eine Fahrt mit einer Art Bike-taxi mit Anhänger, auf dem steilen Feldweg musste ich dann absteigen und laufen, während mein Gepäck weiter fuhr und auf halber Strecke wechselte der Fahrer auf ein normales Motorbike.... Das Paradies ist eben nicht um die Ecke 😉

Alleine die Aussicht aufs Meer und der frische Wind waren die Anreise wert. Es war irre heiss auf dem Festland. Die Anlage ist mitten in die Bäume gebaut - auf die Affen solle ich acht geben, wurde mir gesagt. 😉 Hängematte auf dem Balkon - was will ich mehr ?! 😎

Visiting Khao Sok Nationalpark was really worth it. In addition to the lake tour, I went on a jungle hike by myself today and only a couple of meters from the beginning of the trail, I almost ran into 4 monkeys. Wow! :-)

Tomorrow, I will take a bus to Krabi and the day after the ferry to Koh Jum. 

A really complicated trip by speedboat, bus which was quite slow picking up people from the street all the time, and after 1 hour waiting, another bus up to Khao Sok Nationalpark.

Today, I came back from an over night trip to Cheow Lan lake where I spent the night in a floating bungalow. I went with 24 other people, mostly Dutch ;-). We could swim, kajak and went to an evening and morning safari. The sunrise was amazing. After breakfast, we hiked 4 km in the jungle which was very muddy. Fortunately, they had shoes to rent. There was the option of going into a cave but I prefered not to get completely wet ;-)

After lunch, we took a boat and a bus back to the center of the National park and I am going to stay another 2 nights here before going South to another island. 

Khao Sok is one of the wettest regions in Thailand and it rains at least once a day really heavily.

Eine sehr umständlich Anreise für nur knapp 200 km: Speedboat, Taxifahrt mit ein paar Franzosen, fast 90 Minuten warten und dann eine 3-stündige Busfahrt Richtung Süden, ständig hat der Bus am Straßenrand Leute aufgegabelt, umsteigen und 1 Stunde warten, dann weiter mit dem Ziel Khao Sok Nationalpark; 739 km² groß, beansprucht er den ältesten Regenwald der Welt für sich (dasselbe tun Australien und Malaysia 😉) darüber hinaus Kalksteinfelsen, ein Stausee und eine üppige Flora und Fauna ..... und Regen bei laut Wetter-App gefühlten 38 Grad....
 der NP soll noch ein "Geheimtipp" sein  - kann ich mir bei Thailand zwar nicht vorstellen, aber ich bin seeehr gespannt!! Das letzte Stück der Fahrt war jedenfalls schon mal vielversprechend: der Nebel hing mystisch über dem sattgrünen Regenwald 😃

Meine Hütte ist der pure Luxus: großes Bad, warmes Wasser, keinerlei Getier in Sicht und ein bequemes Bett 😊 Dschungel-Sound inklusive!

Overnight tour zum Cheow Lan Lake, ein riesiger Stausee mitten im Park. Warmes, weiches  Süßwasser, schwimmen, kajaking und Übernachtung in einem der floating Bungalows - deutlich komfortabler als gedacht 😃. Dazu eine night and morning safari mit Affen aus der Entfernung und eine 4 km Wanderung durch den Regenwald. Weniger warm und deutlich weniger Luftfeuchtigkeit als in Indonesien, dafür total matschig.

From Ranong bus station, I took a bike taxi to the pier where it got a bit hectic as the speed boat was supposed to leave in 5 minutes. They told me, tje could not drop me at the beach of my accomodation but at the island's pier and for being dropped off there, I had to come back the next morning. I called the accomodation but their English was very basic and the only thing I got was I should get on that boat. On the boat however, I showed them where I wanted to go and they dropped me on a "floating island" from where a tiny boat which they pulled using some straps, brought me to the beach. Fun!

My hut is very basic, no flushing toilet (but a buket), only cold water, a mattress with a mosquito net on the floor and my room mates are huge ants, spiders, ..... we are only 5 people now as two couples have left. Food is so so, drinks are great but their coffee is disappointing. This was much better when I was on the neighboring island in February but this resort was run by a German/Thai couple and it was known for their good food. Anyways, very Madagascar-like also in this point ;-)

The resort is at the very Southern tip of the island and in the middle of nowhere. I went for a walk during low tide and only met dogs and 2 Thais on a bike.

I am here until Monday and have not decided yet where exactely I will go next. South towards Malaysia ....

2 Std. Minibus-Fahrt als einzige Touri, auch diesmal wurden wir unterwegs angehalten und einige Pässe kontrolliert. Durch die Nähe zu Myanmar arbeiten viele Burmesen hier illegal. Ich sass direkt neben einem - keine schöne Situation; wie privilegiert wir doch mit unserem Pass sind....

Anschliessend wieder mal bike taxi zum Pier, der Fahrer hat meinen Backpack nach vorne genommen, so konnte er zwar nicht mehr so viel sehen, aber der Fahrtwind hätte mich mit dem Gewicht sonst runtergefegt 😉  und dann Hektik, weil das Boot in 5 (thailändischen 😉) Minuten abfahren sollte, allerdings zum Pier und nicht wie gedacht, direkt zum Strand meiner Unterkunft.....dann hat man mich aber doch direkt dort abgesetzt und mit dem Boot rübergezogen 😃

My train was 65 minutes late and in every coach a staff member announced this. As the guy identified me as a tourist, he asked me where I wanted to get off and informed me about the delay in English - so nice!

I walked from the train station to my guesthouse - not that easy in the heat and with 28 kg. 

After I had some food, I was soo tired (bloody jetlag again) that I went back to my room and was too lazy to get up for Loy Krathong again. And of course, at 10 pm I was awake again and until 2 am....

I am on my way to Ranong in a minibus being the only tourist...

After some days in Bangkok, where I slept a lot due to lack of sleep and jetlag, I am now in a train going to Chumphon.

Next to me several other tourists and I asked some German guys to help me lift my bag. We left an hour ago but still seem to be in Bangkok. The city is huuge!

.... nach fast 8 Std. Zugfahrt bin ich in Chumphon, knapp 500 km südlich von Bangkok, angekommen. Warm ist es und dank Jetlag habe ich die meiste Zeit geschlafen.
Mein Zug hatte 65 Minuten Verspätung; da hat sich vorne jemand hingestellt, das verkündet, mich dann als Tourist idenzifiziert, gefragt, wo ich aussteige und mich auf Englisch informiert - sehr nett 😊
Mal sehen wie hier heute abend das Loy Krathong Finale gefeiert wird (wenn ich bis dahin wach bin 😬)

I made it to Bangkok. Super tired and scammed by the lovely taxi driver who did not stop saying he had had too much coffee. I paid almost 3 times more than I should have and he tried to cheat on me changing the 1000 Baht I gave him into 100 and saying I did not pay enough. 

Anyways, at least, immigration was very easy, not even the need to show my train ticket. 

After a couple of hours sleeping, I walked around a bit, ended up at the river, had a mango smoothie, icecream and Pad Thai and return to my hotel as I almost fell asleep while having dinner. Now it is midnight here and I am awake again. Bloody jetlag. 

.... ich glaube, ich werde alt 😉 ich bin nicht nur völlig kaputt hier angekommen, sondern mich hat der Taxifahrer auch noch total abgezockt. 🙈 aber nach ein paar Stunden Schlaf, einer Dusche und einem Mango Smoothie sieht die Welt schon wieder anders aus. 😎