Breakfast time, I slept rather well and I obviously missed the sunrise. Oh well... I swallow a pad see ew, not the best I have ever had but rather pleasant anyway. Nothing beats a dish with crispy fried garlic, spicy chilies and fresh lime juice!
I check out from the resort, it is the Thai holiday and the resort is full for tonight. I will move a few hundred meters inland to the Phayam Sport bungalow resort. The guys are super nice, the place is clean, but the location is not so great.
I return to meet the guys in charge of the place, too bad for me there are no bikes available on the island. But I can wait for a taxi at the intersection near the convenience store. It is the low season on Ko Phayam, most restaurants and shops are already closed, but it also is the Thai holiday. There seem to be a big hippy community around here, but everything is closed. At the intersection I meet a local family, a mother with her children and grandmother. Both the adults are just chilling in their hammocks and chewing betel nuts. The children look very dirty and making sand castles with cold ashes. Strange sight. I buy a few sweet stuff from the convenience store, and then proceed to the taxi sign. I wait for a couple of minutes, I let the family know that I need a taxi. The mother sends the kids around, "taxi coming, sit here with us". Cool, I put my sweaty butt on the chair, eh everybody is sweaty here, it's just how it is.
The taxi is here to drive me to the Buffalo bay. We ride on the tiny road, I cringe everytime the bike gets to close to the side of the road and of other bikers. Finally we arrive at destination. I pay the driver, damn he doesn't have enough cash to the bill I have. Luckily, an old lady, in a poor shape, helps us. I thank her and offer her a few cigarettes, she happily accepts. She seems to be picking up old plastic bottles from the beach.
Here I am at Buffalo bay, it looks alright, although there is nothing to brag about. Most restaurants are closed. I stop at the Buffalo Bay Resort for a fruit shake and a tasty plate of salsa wih taco chips. Refreshing. I finish my food and walk to the other side of the beach and to the mangrove. The tide is now low and the water pretty far from the beach.
I decide to walk back to the other side of the island, four or five kilometers, I'm not exactly sure but I have time on my hands. It is hot but the road is protected from the sun by the trees. I stop a minute to find something from my bag, when I hear "You walk fast, you are fast". It is Dieter from Germany, a very tall man, he has got a hippy vibe in him. He had seen me walking on the beach back at Buffalo Bay, he took a shortcut but I was apparently faster than he was. We get along straight away, and walk together the remaining kilometers. He is surprised as to why I am walking and not riding a motorbike like all the others, "well I love walking". It is true, I love walking, it gives me time to think and to observe my surroundings. He agrees with me, he has been walking alone to explore the island aswell. It is quite uncommon in Thailand, where people have such a big trust into their motorbikes.
We stop a few times to take a break, we talk about cakes and other foods. he even describes to me how he ate a delicious mango cheesecake... damn though life when most restaurants are closed. ;)
At the beach restaurant, we enjoy a feast of prawns, papaya salad and fries. Someone ends up a bit tipsy (it wasn't me, for once). One of the girls with who I shared the taxi back in Ranong is here, we chat and kid around all together.
We will spend most of the night of the beach, talking, looking at the stars and listening to the hundreds of crabs roaming all around us on the beach. Dieter walks with me back to my bungalow, I'm glad because I would have been a bit scared to do so all alone in the pitch black night. The dogs greet us. We plan to meet up again tomorrow at 11. We will walk to a cool spot that Dieter had discovered some days ago.
I feel lucky, one of the dogs is sleeping on my porch, guarding my bungalow. There are a few big wasps flying in my room, nevermind, I'm already asleep.
Accommodation: Phayam Sports Bungalow
