Link to the previous page laos- ….and it continues-e 
27.11.22 Back in Thailand
In the meantime, Thailand had extended the general visa to 45 days, as they are dependent on the additional income from people entering the country after Covid. In the meantime, I had received the news that my dentist appointment, which was scheduled for tomorrow, had been postponed by 14 days. As this disrupted our entire travel plans, I was a bit annoyed, but there was nothing we could do about it. We had only booked the Big Apple for 14 days, as we thought everything would be okay with our teeth. Not so. We could just extend it for another 3 days, then it was fully booked for 4 months. That was a shame, because with the kitchen and living room it was a nice change.
Visit
A great experience for me in December was a visit from Germany. A dear colleague and friend of many years, Birgit, was touring Thailand with her partner and we were able to meet up here in Hua Hin one evening. It was a really great and enjoyable evening where we were able to share our experiences after four and a half years of my absence from Germany. A great highlight and perhaps an idea for other friends to make a detour in our direction!
Jazzfestival
There was also a 2-day jazz festival that we came across by chance. It took place a long way from the beach and the incredible thing was that there was a free shuttle bus. After the first one didn’t show up that we wanted to get on nearby, we took a tuk tuk to the first stop, where some people were also waiting anxiously, the second one didn’t show up either, some people were already leaving and the third one actually came, but we would have missed it too, because it wasn’t marked from the front and the driver obviously didn’t care whether anyone wanted to come or not. That’s the way it is here. If nobody gets in, they just sleep. But a Thai woman came running up and pointed at the vehicle.
There were 3 stages and plenty of food and drink.
On the 2nd day we took the opportunity to go there again and today the vehicles were on time and we went for a nice, quite lonely walk on the beach, where we wouldn’t have gone otherwise.
New accommodation
After waiting in vain for buses, we have now found out at the tourist information office that 3 out of 5 buses have been discontinued „you can take a cab“.
When looking for new accommodation and despite the high season and prices doubling, we were lucky and found a great offer for 4 weeks at a super price. When we wanted to book there directly, the lady made it clear to us that it wasn’t for Christmas and New Year’s Eve, but only for 14 days and that it would cost about 4 times as much. We went back to the website and lo and behold, it still worked out. We got a large room with a big bed, a table with 2 (two) chairs, a large fridge, a view of the mountains (we are on the 7th floor) and enough storage space. Maew from the Big Apple took us there and stayed to help us check in if necessary.
We stuck 2 „pictures“ on the wall, now it doesn’t look so bare anymore, there were no posters or photos to be found, but wrapping paper.
The hotel also has 2 large swimming pools, a fitness room and very tasty food and is almost next to the dentist’s office.
Every few meters on the beach and on bridges, the Japanese stand in the way and take model photos. Now we have imitated them at our swimming pool with a first-class photographer.
Thai Market
After some searching, we found out where the music was suddenly coming from until midnight thanks to Gerhard’s cell phone, which also translates into Thai, that an amusement park was being set up behind the train for 14 days over New Year’s Eve. We don’t go to bed before 12 and pass the time with Scrabble or cards.
Today we set off and went there. It’s a market just for Thais and very garish. The food stalls were of course interesting: mountains of bugs, worms, crabs almost as small as spiders and there we have it again: if they are small, I think iiih, if they are big: aah.
The most interesting thing we encountered on the way was when the beetles were taken out of a large box and filled into plastic bags with a scoop, tied up at the top and people queued up.
And I imagined them crawling out of the pan again and again……. ( and then where….the search begins… )
We weren’t sure about the other things either, someone has to eat the rats and who knows what else, the yuck from our childhood is quite deep-seated, I wanted to try a worm after the beetle, but I’ll probably never manage a whole bag as long as there’s something else.
What I found frightening was a shooting range that had all kinds of guns that looked very real and frightening.
A father was teaching his son how to shoot. He wasn’t aiming at targets, but at people, at photos of people! I couldn’t believe it. It made me dizzy. Nobody here thought anything of it, they just laughed. I realized that war is part of life and that nothing will ever change and we left the market a little shocked.(Unfortunately, this gives the impression that people have considerable problems with their brains. When murder happens, everyone is outraged, but when it comes to state-ordered murder by armies, it seems to be okay. Parents lament the death of their child, but if they are killed in the army because of their upbringing, then it’s okay? …-G. )
Gerhard, however, was taken with a stall selling roast duck meat, having had to do without Christmas poultry for almost 5 years now. So he picked up a portion the next day.
( Our Christmas goose!! So: left bag-soup; middle bag-vegetables; right bag-sauce. and everything nice and sweet…. …-G.)
We were amazed at how big the portion was „Well, we’ll eat two days‘ worth of that“, but slowly the split head appeared, the duck legs, the feet and then it wasn’t so much after all. Well, we’d rather spend expensive money on collagen, the Asians are smarter, they eat it all their lives cheaply and as a delicacy, crispy fried chicken legs as a snack are nothing unusual.
Petra wanted to give me a special present for Christmas – unfortunately I couldn’t really decide which model I wanted, I don’t have one now and am hoping for my birthday….. …-G. )
We extended for another 4 weeks, we can’t get it that cheap anywhere else, my dentist was very relieved after the lab sent the crowns in the wrong color and she is so 100% sure, if I think it’s going to work, she’s not satisfied yet. But it turned out great, I have absolutely no feeling of alienation. It was sometimes annoying, sometimes painful, but the receptionists and Gerhard were so nice and stroked you when it got particularly uncomfortable.
Now I’m just waiting for the bite splint.
Fish meal
We have now got into the habit of going to one of the night markets at the weekend to eat fish, it’s not as tasty anywhere else. It is covered with a thick layer of salt, filled with a bundle of herbs and hung on the inside of a large clay pot with charcoal (?) on the bottom, a lid on top and it cooks there for a while. ( as you can see, it also works with meat. …-G. )
This is served with a packet of noodles (in a plastic bag, how else?) and a lot of salad and herbs in which pieces of fish are rolled up, and 2 sauces, fortunately only one of which is sweet. If it goes well and we don’t forget to take our soy sauce or Chin. Fish sauce, everything is fine. The last few times we’ve even been good enough to remember our plates and cutlery. And it simply tastes better. Even a cocktail tastes much better without a plastic straw.
( I also set off to see where our fish might be from. Quite a large fishing harbor, with restaurants and a wide range of seafood, especially shrimps and mussels of all sizes. …-G. )
Room change
This week we had to change rooms as ours had already been rented out, which was a bit annoying. As the room was only on the other side and otherwise just as furnished, Gerhard only swapped the full drawers for the empty ones. Apart from that, of course, it’s an opportunity to say goodbye to lots of things again and not leave it to the last minute. But it’s so hard, and we’ve just learned through our backpacking trips how happy you can get through life with even less, or even happier.
The only problem is what to get rid of. The idea that it is always better to buy a few new clothes in each country is also cheaper than excess baggage, then you see the incredible mountains of clothes in the desert again, know about the many chemicals in the fabrics, which are perhaps just free of toxins due to a lot of washing (but again in the waste water) and should get rid of them. Unfortunately, the last indigenous people were also taught that walking around naked is bad, and that is the only way to live in an environmentally friendly way in this respect. Then I have to think of the guy from the tourist center again: for God’s sake don’t leave anything here, we have enough of it ourselves. No, he probably didn’t say for God’s sake, but neither did he say for Buddha’s sake.
Now that everything is back under cover, we realize that the view is much nicer, 180° view, the mountains on the right, the sea on the left and sun in the morning with a little sea breeze, over there we only had shade and absolutely no breeze.
Today was my last appointment with the dentist and I’m doing great. At the end, she fulfilled my wish to find out after 6 months who the eyes were that I had only seen the whole time. I’m totally relaxed and I’m sure the doctor is too, but I’ve never experienced anything so precise and exact. Hello, I’m doing really well! Done !!!
Now we have to start thinking about where to leave our things that we are not taking with us on our next backpacking tour. Maew from the Big Apple told us weeks ago that we could leave them at her place, but last time it was just too damp and humid and our luggage had suffered a lot. We could leave it here in the hotel for 4 weeks, but actually 6 weeks might be more relaxed, 4 weeks in Vietnam and 2 weeks for the return journey through Laos. Then a leisurely trip from Bangkok through northern Thailand. If we can find an easy way to store the suitcases in Bangkok.
We have finally found luggage accommodation in Bangkok. They don’t do advance bookings, but they have something available right now and if we book it now, i.e. for 8 weeks, it would work. We have no other choice, but it’s still the best option for us.
Still something new
Unfortunately we have only just made 2 new discoveries. Discovered a restaurant in the old town that serves excellent coffee, which is amazing considering that Thai people don’t drink much coffee but only harvest it for export. The landlord also told us that he buys the coffee directly from the producer and blends it himself until it meets his expectations, which are excellent.
The second is a bakery that bakes great bread, including multigrain breads, the best apple crumble – and lemon pie that’s so addictive I’ve been dreaming about it and can’t wait to hit it again. Luckily, it’s quite far away. The bakery next to the café is fully glazed, so you can watch the boss preparing the dough and see how much knowledge and feeling he puts into his work. Surprisingly, he is neither French nor German, but English.
But there are always curious things to discover, here is a small compilation.
To clarify – the dogs are not dead, they are just sleeping there.
Chinese New Year
Today we were thrown out of bed quite early with firecrackers and lots of smoke and it continued throughout the day. At first we thought that some people had found firecrackers from New Year’s Eve while cleaning up, until I saw the stalls and the pretty Chinese lanterns at the shopping center, which were stretched over the whole thing as a blanket: Chinese New Year, which this year falls on January 22 and is celebrated for 15 days. In China, stores are closed for 6 full days. The Year of the Rabbit begins – Easter Bunny????
Tonight there was a nice little fireworks display and of course it was easy to see from the 7th floor.
After it was a bit loud at night and fireworks went off again long after midnight, it’s almost eerily quiet today.
Temple complex Khao Krailart
We actually didn’t think much would happen, but we decided to make a last-minute trip up a mountain that had been tempting me for a long time, but we didn’t really know whether we could get up there at all.
We set off today. It was great. I am totally thrilled. We took the Green Bus to the end of the line (Affenberg), then turned right towards the mountain. This enclosure is fenced in and you don’t really dare to enter the enclosure. But this time it was Gerhard who didn’t let himself be deterred from bravely walking along the very rough path. Then there was a long old staircase leading upwards, as there was no other way, but we don’t count steps any more. I was lucky because a young woman had just been sent down the freight elevator and I asked with a hand signal if I could go with her. Now I also found out why she immediately agreed. The joke was that she immediately lay down on the floor, she was always so scared, was I not? Nope, I’ve done completely different things. At the top, we were immediately greeted by two broadly smiling workers who probably knew the lady’s fear.
( For me there was only the stairs again, I had to document it! I’m still young – luckily! …-G. )
The whole mountain is dotted with large and small temples and other ancient wooden huts, which in turn are connected by countless staircases and sometimes seem almost like architectural wonders as they are carved between the rocks. You rarely see a monk. Instead, we learn about them from large, new signs (the only new thing here), which we can decipher with our cell phones: Monks‘ toilets, monks‘ showers, monks‘ lounges.
At the top you have a very wide all-round view. I’m definitely going back, I really want to get some photos. Gerhard is not so enthusiastic and also a bit tired of taking photos (he: we’ve been there so often, I: but not here) but is glad that I’m going back with a friend.
Then something amazing happened. We walked around the monkey mountain, along a canal that leads into the sea, where countless colorful fishing boats are anchored. At the harbor, we observed one or two monkeys playing around and looking for food on the boats. Suddenly, lots of monkeys jumped off all the boats, sometimes from a great height, diving headfirst into the water, swimming at breakneck speed to the other shore or diving straight through and running up the rocky hill on the other side. Where one of us couldn’t get one step up. Now I really understand the expression „monkey-like speed“. So, we were totally amazed. Then I remembered that the monkeys all go to sleep at 5 o’clock at the top of the mountain and chase away the people who don’t leave in time by hissing. We had experienced it once. I looked at the clock and it was about 5 to 5. Now I was speechless. How do the monkeys know that? The sun is in a different position every day, they can’t follow it, but then where? ( Well, there are bearded monkeys, Barbary macaques, spider monkeys, howler monkeys – and why not time monkeys. They always know exactly what time it is, or so…. …-G. )
After seeing the first part of AVATAR in Frankfurt many years ago, albeit in 3D, I was naturally also interested in the second part. So I watched the movie with only 4 others in a great cinema in Hua Hin. …G. )
Our feeling – beyond Africa