Very last preparations

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Again I was overwhelmed with Thai friendliness as soon as I got my bicycle back. Even police officers wanted to help me carry it…

Then I bought a SIM package from TRUE with 7GB of 4G traffic, flatrate and cheap calls to Germany. Man, am I disappointed. Only once did my mobile go over Edge – so now I got 7GB and am using Edge. Ridiculous.

After that I had decided to take a taxi, since I did not want to ride from BKK with backpack and saddle bags and the small backpack. The taxi was somewhat expensive, because I had that huge carton – it cost 700 Baht, around 17 EUR. I had booked a small hotel upfront because I did not want to carry the bike from guest house to guest house in Koasan. I showed the driver some map. But Thais cannot read maps. Then I showed him the international phone number – but Thais cannot convert that to a local call. So in the end – after the driver had called 3 other guys – I turned on my Here Navigation software and the driver was really happy 
But – bad luck – the road was completely blocked because of a demonstration of the “yellows” - those who supported the current government. So in the end, we had to drive into a oneway road from the wrong side, pass security guards and finally I could unload in the front of the hotel, the “Pannee Residence” which I can totally recommend. It is just outside of the noisy Koasan road, has clean rooms and a very friendly staff. I did my last shopping that night and checked out a transport for my backpack. I thought that this was no problem in the travel agencies but infact it is. So in the end I found Lomprayah – the run all the fast ferries to Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and the other islands next to it. For 290 Baht, they will ship my backpack to Koh Samui where I will need to pick it up at one of their ferry harbours. As Ao Khanom is pretty close to some ferry landing points, I will manage that somehow. I want to go over Koh Samui anyway.

After that I joined the yellow crowd and made some Pictures. They were totally friendly, I even got free water and I was not afraid for one second. Sure - I would not want to be between yellow and red when they meet, but it seems totally safe to go right through These crowds when you are a foreigner. There was a stage, many LED walls and I "listened" to some of the Speakers, had a dinner (@Christine: Tod Man Pla !!) and wandered around, even talked to a longhair Thai guy.



And now I am ready to start!

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