Bangkok - Koh Chang Island - Nathan Ratchasina - Na Klang

Bangkok is full of life and we find it a fascinating place with all the street stalls, the smells of different kinds, the crazy traffic, the house temples where the Thai people continue their village like lives, giving offerings and lighting incense sticks. And last but not least – this heavenly food.

It’s rainy season in Thailand and mostly grey, but temperatures still show around 35 degrees. One week on the island of Koh Chang, we enjoy body surfing in the waves and eating all these delicious curries, tom yams and sipping fruit shakes. A joyful visit of a hidden natural swimming hole in the jungle (swimming in the water where also the elephants bathe), with Walter as our guide, was a great experience.

Then it is time to hope on the bike again. For over 1000 kilometers we pedal on the road heading to Vientiane in Laos, altogether 9 pleasurable days through rainforest, rice-, sugarcane and chilli fields. One evening we were experiencing the great kindness of a hospitable, kind Thai family to get invited to a tasteful dinner and sleep in a cozy room while it was raining cats and dogs all night. A great feeling. The rain soaked up the earth and enabled us to camp in the mud. Normally we were camping, protected under a roofs of a monastery, governmental buildings, private house or industrial halls – and once very idyllic, under a bamboo shelter out in the rice fields, together with frogs and snakes. And often we had a great time together with visiting kids, like in Nongkhu with Umaporn and Yannapat and their friends.