Addicted To Thailand!

Chapter 3: Thailand

My 4th visit in Thailand started with some trouble getting to Koh Lanta. We arrived at suvarnabhumi airport at around 1pm. We took a train straight to hua lamphong railway station hoping we could catch a night train to the south. But, bad luck, in high season and just 2 days before new years eve all the trains were full. I wasn´t very suprised and so I had a plan b in my pocket. We took a taxi to the southern bus station, I never had any problems getting a bus ticket in the past, so I wasn´t afraid of being stuck in Bangkok. The bus station, and even the road leading to it, was incredibly full. The last 500 meters we had to walk through the traffic jam. At the counter they just told us everything was booked out. I asked for tickets to Trang, Krabi and Surat Thani as well but everything was full! Frustrated, we sat down, no clue what to do next. After half an hour I started one last try and asked for tickets to Phuket. And surprise, it worked out! We got the last two tickets that day for the 7pm night bus. Next morning in Phuket: we took a mini van, and arrived after a 28-hour-journey with taxi-plane-train-taxi-bus-van-2ferries-tuktuk, early afternoon in Lanta.

Yay!!!! finally in Lanta

Koh Lanta is a island 2 hours from krabi town. It´s not as crowded as phuket and the other islands and still keeps it´s own quiet atmosphere. The following are some of my impressions of my favourite island in the world.

klong nin beach - our hot spot until sunset

selfie while riding the pickup truck with nana

magic moments at mong bar

and the typical condition after an hour at mong bar
 - the guy had  hiccups while sleeping

In Germany the barkeeper throws you out of his bar if you are sleeping. 

But at Mong bar it´s hmmm... have a look for yourself:

...our barkeeper

life, as it should be

teasing the crab

new years eve at charley barleys

After a wonderful week we left koh Lanta with some tears in our eyes. We had 7 days left and wanted to see some other places. We booked 2 boat tickets to Railay beach. Railay is part of the mainland but it´s seperated by giant rocks, so you can´t go there overland. It is pretty famous for rock climbing and deep water soloing. You can rent a long tail boat that brings you to the rocks or you just rent a kayak and go there by yourself.

Railay beach

 awesome rocks with 2 climbers in the wall

Kayaking

climbing at beach end

Railay beach - straight forward!

After Railay we did a one night stop in Krabi town before we went back to Bangkok by night train. We found a nice guesthouse and headed to the night food market at the pier. Our fish and curry were pretty good, and we had some vegetables as a side dish - this would become our biggest mistake on our trip. The food poisoning came in the middle of the night, and we spent several hours in the bathroom. In the morning, we were totally dead, dehydrated and weak from the food poisoning, we were not able to stand up. We drank some water, slept and waited to recover. At 11:30 am I was fit enough to leave the room and asked the guesthouse if we could stay in the room for a couple of hours more. However, I was told I'd have to pay for a whole extra day if we wanted to stay longer, so I had no choice but to pay. I went to the pharmacy for some medicine and to 7eleven to get some cakes and snacks. We stayed in bed, took our medicine, drank water and ate some crackers. At 4 pm we felt well enough to leave the room and catch our night train. I was really surprised that we were able to take the train, I could not even imagine leaving the room in the morning. Here are my top 5 tips for food poisoning:

1. let everything go out! stay on the toilet until your bowel and stomach is absolutely empty
2. keep drinking water in tiny drafts, if you have, add electrolytes.
3. take medicine from the local pharmacy, they should know the problems. In my experience, the stuff you can buy at home, like imodium akut, won´t help you. 
4. When you no longer feel nauseous drinking water, start with a few crackers 
5. save your energy and move as little as possible.

We arrived at the train station 3 hours too early + 4 hours delay of the train = estimate waiting time 7 h!
Still weak from food posioning, we were looking for a comfortable place to stay and we found:

a trolley... prepared with boxes, blanket and towel it was quite comfortable

Next day we arrived at noon at Hua Lamphong station, Bangkok. For our last to 2 nights we decided to stay in a nice hotel in sukhumvit district. We checked in at the Continent hotel in the late afternoon, right on time to see the awesome sunset from our hotel room:

from the train station trolley to the highlife in 24h, what an ascent!

I´ve been in Bangkok many times, and so I´ve already seen everything i wanted to see. Being with a girl in Bangkok means of course: shopping, shopping, shopping. Still a bit weak from food poisoning we went to some huge shopping malls like Siam Discovery, Terminal 21 and MBK. In Terminal 21 we found a japanese game said "Taiko no Tatsujin". We got addicted after the first game and played for 2 hours. Sadly I wasn´t able to beat Joanne even once! She may have won the battle but not the war.
Check out the gameplay on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHvfMECCkMs

Taiko no Tatsujin - japanese drum game

Thailand was, like always, a great experience. It was my first time I´ve been there not as a solo traveler and i can recommend it as a couple trip as well as a solo trip. If you plan to go to Thailand, here some useful advices and tips

1. Avoid the (sex) tourist hot spots like Phuket, Koh Samui, Pattaya
2. Be kind and respectful even when tuktuk drivers are pretty annoying. Be stern without embarrassing yourself.
3. Protect the environment and underwater world.
4. Enjoy yummy streetfood but be careful, especially with vegetables..
5. Rent a motorbike and find your own way through thailand.
6. Get many massages
7. And finally: go to Mongbar and enjoy the most delicious brownies in the world