Although I wasn't really sure if I still wanted to have another stop over after leaving Australia, Thailand turned out to be not to bad or at least very convenient for me. Arriving in Bangkok I felt at the start again: I didn't know shit, did not even have a rough guide or alike. Of course my flight was delayed and so the bus service to the city was long stopped, when I left the terminal building. I takled myself into the taxi queue and shared a ride with an Irish guy who wanted to go to
Khaosan Road, where I got myself one of the famous beds in a box. That night was rough.
I spent only one day in Bangkok before I jumped on a bus to Chumpon connecting with a ferry to Kho Tao. That is one of the islands in the south, the smallest on the east coast, to be precise. It is also Thailand's Mecca for divers, and as I did my open water padi on the reef I felt that could be the place to go to have another enjoyable week. And so it came!
I was given some background information before by Kay, one of the Australian dive instructors who were on the dive boat with us. He had told me about Kho Tao and one particular diving school, where he had worked before. As prices are the same anywhere, I decided to follow his recommendation and give it a shot. He had also given me some names of friends to say hello to, I felt that could be a good start.
I had spent the complete night on a coach and added another two hours on the ocean when I finally arrived. Immediately (like seemingly everywhere in Thailand) there were Thais surrounding me shouting about their dive resorts and taxi services. Oh, dude ... but I got used to that quickly and so it became fun just having a little chat with every single one. Though they found out I wouldn't give them my money quite fast they still kept on talking, especially asking. I think the Thais are very friendly people!
I got myself a pickup cab to
Big Blue Diving, where I then booked an advanced diving course. That was cool for I had thought about doing it in Australia anyway. Diving is so much fun. First they weren't very confident because of their tight schedules. I was told that I was travelling during
Golden Week , where Japan is closed down and half of the people go to Kho Tao. But finally it worked out and I got and instructor just to myself, Mr James Rickert, who was one of Kay's friends. I think I am not supposed to mention that, but I was his very first student as he, after years of being a dive master, had finished his instructor course recently. Very cool.
Actually the days on Kho Tao went by fast and for Sunday I had booked my journey back. I wanted to spend another day in Bangkok, now that I felt more Thailand ready, besides I thought that having a bit of backup to catch my flight on Monday night wouldn't be too bad either. I arrived in the middle of the night again, around 2am, and checked in to the guest house I had used before. Again feeling way better that time. With a Stefan Loose guide I had bought on my first day in Bangkok I started strolling through town, saw heaps of temples, of course the palace and uncounted numbers of buddha statues. I even took part in one ceremony of a bunch of Buddhists, that was there because of an UN festival. Interesting!
Time went fast and finally it was time to take my backpack and catch the airport bus. I was told to arrive early as the ride was one hour. What I really don't fancy about flyinng is the check in procedure. Two hours for an international flight is not even true any more. If you want to have a decent seat or at least to make sure that they don't try to get you off by offering money, that you have to be there three hours earlier, to get a good position in the queue. Of course there were heaps of x-ray screenings again and the baggage weight gamble doesn't amuse me anymore anyway. As I was at the airport around half eight and the flight started late at 1.20am I had five long hours to do nothing. So boring... I have no clue what I did, but I managed to stay alive/awake.
We had caught up during the flight and arrived in Heathrow, where I had a connecting flight to Franfurt, in time. But the disaster happened: we didn't get a taxi pulling us to the terminal and so I spent a fun time on the runway seeing the my chances fading. I ran to the other terminal, as the special bus for the passengers having connections refused to let me board, only for Italian destinations. What the? After getting pulled out during yet another baggage check I knew I couldn't make it and was really pissed off for a minute or so. At least the lounge seats in London weren't to bad.
I finally arrived in Frankfurt around 1.30pm, my sister was kind enough to pick me up and give me a lift to Karlsruhe. How weird being in Bangkok one day and back in Germany the next. Still, so far I enjoy it.
