Km 2750: Bangkok

Fasten your seatbelts, cause we are now entering Bangkok, after a crazy drive at 140km/h swinging with the minibus from one lane to another. This city is always on the move. It is familiar enough to feel like a hot version of home, exotic enough to point the adventures ahead, it's out "decompression chamber". Ancient temples in the shadow of spaceage shopping malls, skyscrapers and cool cafes surrounded by simple street stalls, Bangkok is an interchange of the past, present & future.
A very interseting fact that we first found out is that "Bangkok" is just a name for tourists. Thais call their capital "Krung Thep" or City of Angels :), being a short version of the tongue twisting real name of this city. We filmed our Thai friend we she spoke it, because it's incredibly long to write down. You'll see what I am talking about!:))
We got directly on the Khao San Road, a famous backpackers place, crazy enough for us to love it! Good music, funky clothes, weird people & amazing curries...all night long!
The next morning it's time for some sightseeing: the Grand Palace with it's stunning architcture and golden roofs, The Wat Pho( very famous for the  first thai massage school and for the biggest Reclined Buddha in Thailand-46 m long and 15 m high.) then we take the River Express down to the hotel and relax at the pool before getting on a colorful tuk-tuk to the trainstation. We are boarding  on a sleepertrain again, so much better then the one in Vietnam. While waiting for the train, at 6 pm, suddenly the bustling atmosphere from the station is frozen to death, quiet, just one loud speaker starts playing the national anthem. Everybody was standing up, even the last beggar. The King is very appreciated and loved. If you say something bad about the King, you will see Thailand  behind a big, cold wall!

Early in the morning we get to Surat Thani and take an open truck to the Khao Sok National Park, with it's refreshing rainforest, clear streams and swimming holes sitting by limestone cliffs. You' d expect King Kong to show up every minute! It is a very old and well maintained ecosystem. We went off for some wild canoeing down the river, which ended up with a mudfight and swinging in the water from the lyanas. To make the jungleexperience unforgetable we go for an elephant trek, exploring the depths of this amazing  spot on earth.

After the evaporation of the morning mist we start our journey to Phang Nga, another 2 hours by truck, with the warm wind playing in our hair. We take a longtail boat to James Bond Island, a very famous and touristyspot, guess why?:)) after taking some pictures which we tried to make different than the touristy ones,we go for a swim to cool off our heads that started to sizzle from the sunbathing. Back on our  longtail beauty, on our way to the muslim island of Ko Pan Yii. We go for homestay this time in the mayor's house. The houses are on stilts because the tides are very high, every house has a fish trap ( when the tide is high the fish goes in, when it lowers the fish can't get out--> that's how easy it is to get food.:)), they have they own floating mosque, floating football pitch and even a very good football team that played in the league.  Discussions on religion and how these people can be so indoctrinated when they have the most tangible prove of evolution in their backyard: when the tide was low there were hundreds of Mudkeepers under the houses. Mudkeepers are fish with legs, Darwins most relevant proof of how We made our way out of the water and became terestrial beings.The nights without a beer pass very slow, so we go to bed early.

The sun is up, time for a shift. back on the boat, jump on a truck to Krabi and then boat again to take us to the party island of Railay. Rock-climbing, scuba diving, lots of fun in a crappy budget accomodation without Air Con at 35 degrees. Walking around we stumble upon a cave full with wooden d*** :) the Falus is a symbol of fertility and is highly venerated in the Hinduism.
After 2 days of complete relaxation,plenty of drinks and a highly appreciated salad buffet we prepare for a long journey of crossing into Malaysia.
On the long and boring road we think back on Thailand: it is THE destination in SE Asia! A perfect balance between the eastern and western world, foreign yet familiar, adventurous and accessible, rich in culture but cheap to chill out in, Thailand had the right blend for us. Overlanding Asia made us spot the greenest rice paddies glittering in the sun, the turquise Andaman Sea bears a bounty of marine life and impressive caves, the rainforest offers  it's fruit to us: some looked familiar and some were so exotic that they looked like jewels to us( dragon fruit, durians, mangostini).

It might be the saffron robes of the monks travelling in the metro,that we were trying to photograph, it could be the sensous smell of the spices drifting up from a curry or it may be seeing the sun come up over a tropical island, but at some point the Thai experience enters the soul. From here on the hardest part of the trip will be to calculate how long it will be until we come back....