Hua Hin

 
The bus adventures to and back.
The swim towards the sea.
The compromise. The talks. The cashlessness in "town centre" and beyond.
Nothing was black and white, and even the few photos were lost.

Aranha - Poipet

   

A bit more research would have been sensible but after Weaw put us on the bus and us eventually passing all the casinos in the area, someone had his eyes on us before we reached the "outdoor visa desk" manned by a flirticious officer, and an official guard who lied about the guide's identity. We went on a small excusion to a remote transport terminal and (apparently) scared the taxi driver by being ultra-alert; should have insisted on the "do not talk to any stranger at the border crossing" principle.

Bangkok

 

 
 

Bangkok started with being stranded off the bus in the middle of nowhere at 03h30. I was glad that I wasn't alone. Thai hospitality was re-defined and the wait until 06h00 was somehow, fun. Reunited, we filled out waiting time with (well, I did anyway) "Thai-styled tea" (condensed milk) at a lovely corner cafe, and massage. From the ride along the river, the many temples, the sparkles, the shouting on Khao San Road, the stalls at Chinatown, the famous quest for Hualampong, the haggling with just about everyone, the blast at the Suan Lum Night Bazaar, the drink at the top floor Millennium Hilton in well, our backpackers' clothes, Bangkok was more than memorable (huge Thank You to Weaw!). Running into the (at the time) very chilled out and very camped out protestors, running into Mickey near Siem Square, running on the "skywalks" to try to find Alice in 3D. Oh yes, and the fruit shakes.

Chumpon

where the trip paused with the Danes, and where ボイ boarded

Koh Tao

   
 
   

Ko Tao is a place to go if you dive. If you are a non-diver, you should either be doing your beginner's course (which means, you dive), or you may just risk feeling rather left out (in case you thought the tourist site "Japanese Garden" is really a garden) At least at Hat Sai Ri area, Caucasians outnumbered Asians by far, many of them were evenly tanned, looked like models, talked about things like dive sites, dive shops, dive clean-ups, and your next dive. Some of them had a rude attitude towards me because they thought I was Thai (observing the attitude change was rather sad). Bungalows on the beach is the standard approach, and the sea served as the backtrop for everything including the first breakfast, the sunset drink (while writing dive log and playing with the very cute Lucia), the fire show, the Thai massage, the swing towards the dark ocean, and the many times of lifting my eyelids in front of the turquoise blue. Charlotte and I went through pancakes, fruit shakes, beer, handstands, and the Ko Tao festival - it's great that it didn't end with the motorbike.