So the last post was from KL... Here's a quick recap of the things happened since:
I met a friend of mine from Finland in KL and we spent a few days in the city before traveling to Langkawi island and spent a couple of days there. We took the night bus towards Langkawi and the final leg was done with a ferry. The bus itself was quite all-right but 7 hours of sitting and arrival in the early hours of the morning didn't make for a good nights sleep. Quick breakfast and on to the ferry, cab to the Langkawi resort area and checking in to a nice hotel. Two persons paying results in air-conditioning and clean bedsheets for the same price as you'd normally pay alone for a crappy bungalow. (50 ringgit or 10 euros for the room, split in two - haggled down from 70).
The beach was quite near and that seemed like a nice place to spend a part of the day in. I was resting in the shadow at first and actually even said that I'm just gonna stay there because I know I would just fall asleep in the sun. Well, failing to take in to consideration the changing position of the sun I was happily dozing and the result was nicely burnt legs and stomach. Now, about a week later, it is starting to be quite normal again but with the amounts of after sun lotion and aloe vera used it would be a small wonder if it didn't heal.
Langkawi was generally a really touristic resort and the only good thing was the surrounding nature that we explored with a scooter. Mainly the small jungle trek around the waterfalls is noteworthy. And actually the waterfalls are really nice, hopefully I will get to post some photos later on.
After couple of days in Langkawi we headed towards Thailand. Ferry to Satun and a bus to Krabi. In the ferry my seat was a bit broken so not a lot of rest there either and in the bus I was quite pissed off because also there my seat was messed up with the reclining seat only reclining and not holding any position. Low blood sugar and everything led me to blast some Children of Bodom on officially hazardous sound pressure levels with my headphones. It did two things: got some of the vitutus out and kept the seat next to me free. I guess my Sennheisers leak out a little bit more audio on max volume than I had realized... But when arriving to the Krabi bus station I was already back to my normal self and ready to head towards the sunny islands of the Andaman sea. She opted for the city life so we parted ways, me heading first to the Krabi beach resorts and taking a ferry on the next day to Ko Phi Phi and finally to Ko Lanta. I spent the night in a shabby and murky bungalow that - according to the owners - was also a rest place for the Madventures crew on their filming of the first season. And surely enough there was Laughing Gecko mentioned in the thank you section of their book. So I guess I am doing at least something right with this travelling stuff. ;)
The bungalow was dim and moist, the mattress felt as if soiled and the mosquito net was hole-ridden. Thankfully it didn't rain because I really wasn't in the mood of finding out whether the roof was waterproof or not. Slept through the night still and the pick-up service I had arranged the night before was almost on time and I made it safely to the ferry. And without more than merely setting a foot on Ko Phi Phi I was already on the ferry to Ko Lanta. Befriended by a nice middle-aged woman I chose the accommodation tempted by the easiness of free transport to the premises. The bungalow was nice and the price okay (150 baht - or about 3 euros - down from 200). The neighbouring couple said that they had been there for three days and saw only a few drops of rain so the start was in deed promising. Took a few kilometers walk to the nearest city and got some money from the ATM. Early night in and refreshed in to a new day.
Except that two days ago the remains of the typhoon Ketsana hit the islands and it was just pouring rain and heavy winds for two days straight. We managed to take a little hike towards the nearby waterfalls (seeing a pattern here?) but it started to become dark and as the jungle was quite heavy it was definitely nice to get out before the darkness fell. Back in the bungalow I noticed two leeches sucking my right leg after wading through the knee-deep river. Just thinking about the leeches being used for medicinal purposes I tried to convince myself that it was actually nice but after ripping the little suckers out I felt more relieved about not having parasites than the healing features of the creatures. Apparently they do something to prevent your blood from congealing as the wounds just kept on bleeding for really long. But they should be relatively harmless and the wound just looks a little bit bruised. So to justify the headline: don't wade in unknown waters.
Yesterday I was mainly just keeping the rain and playing with the two and a half year old daughter of the place owner. Funny how kids are so open and friendly without any financial reason. With adults here you can never be sure...
Today is a nice, sunny day (so far) and apparently the connections to outside world are reopening. Nice, because I have already read all of my travel readings and the book swapping corner in the guest house is mainly filled with German books. I hired a scooter and found out that the island is in deed a small one and the smaller roads are rendered to muddy pathways by the heavy rains. So it's just cruising the main roads and eating in a small roadside stalls. And I'm enjoying every moment of it.
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