We really enjoyed the time spending in our “temporary home” on Phuket meeting old and new friends… Kisses and hugs to ALL of you!!! But finally the time came we had to say good bye and to continue our journey. At one junction on Phuket we stopped beside a car; the guys inside were smiling at us and passing a little fish snack towards us through the window: Now we were sure doing right –back on road again!!!

Due to Kerstin`s ear inflammation which is much better already we had to skip the planned diving course on Ko Tao. No rush is needed so we decided to make a loop over the north mountain area. We chose little streets and just enjoyed the landscapes while passing jungle valleys and small non touristic villages.

When a thunderstorm came close we started to look for a place for the night and get invited to put the tent in front of a ranger station next to a dam allowed to use the bathroom facilities. It was a hot night without rain but nevertheless a good feeling to be back in the nature… and the next morning after a coffee together with the rangers we continued on the road which looked nice. We passed fruit plantations and lovely valleys – slowly direction south. Close to a big lake we found a friendly place to stay in a little hut just before it started to rain.

We were impressed by the open minded and friendly people all over this area as it is not touristic at all and we had to communicate with our little vocabulary, hands and feet. This is what makes traveling so exciting and what it is all about…!

Leaving the mountains we could escape a thunderstorm and once more we crossed the country to the west coast. South of Trang we stopped in a National Park planning to put up our tent at the beach. Suddenly the sky turned black and a strong wind came up from the open sea… even though it was late already we took our things and left to find a more sheltered place. (It was a bit sad and scary that you can still clearly see the impact from the Tsunami of 2004. We saw a lot of broken houses, some of them some hundred meters from the actual coast line.) Finally when it turned dark we reached a little fishing village surrounded by rocks where we got a hut before the rain started. It looks like we have to get used to the “afternoon thunder-showers”…

Finally it was time getting closer to the Malaysian border. Yesterday we arrived in Hat Yai which is about 100 km north of the border. The plan was to stay just for one night, shopping some things… but: 1st we recognized the next day (1. May) will be a holiday in Malaysia and partially as well here in Thailand 2nd we lost a part of our left handle bar. We decided spontaneous in the morning to stay one more day. As most of the shops are closed today it was not easy to find a replacement, but we did! In a small shop and in our spare screws we found what we needed to fix the handlebar for the time being. Kerstin found Henna and was happy to cover her greyish hair – they had hazelnut brown but the result is a deep black! Hmm, first time such dark hair, so do not wonder on the upcoming pictures: it is still Kerstin ;-)

The rest of the day we will research about Malaysia and the border crossing possibilities to Indonesia which seems to be a little bit problematic currently. Anyhow it is still time for us to gather information about that and for the first: Tomorrow we will enter Malaysia!

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