Jun 1, 2022 4 min read Posts

Thai trip 2.0

Patong Beach

With some money saved up and after getting a taste of how Thailand could be (My First Solo Trip). I was now ready to take it on full-hearted. Two months were scheduled for traveling and around four months were scheduled for studying Thai.

Before arriving in Phuket I had booked 3-nights in a hotel just next to my school. I was thinking to go around looking for an apartment to rent because it was still high season and the hotel prices were a little over my budget. I met this wonderful travel agency lady that closed her shop for me, put me back on her scooter, and drove me to an apartment complex close by. The price was way cheaper and the size much bigger. But it was a little bit far from the beach and the school. I also had to buy furniture and rent a scooter if I going to live there. So I decide to stay in my one-room hotel room for my whole stay... School next door, 150m to the beach, cleaning of the room every day, I could not make a better decision.

My study time was four hours a day from 13-17 so I just finished in time for a beautiful sunset from the balcony or with friends at the beach. Most of the people studying in the school only came to learn the basics, so after around 2 months I was more or less on my own with a private teacher.

With a starting time of 13:00, I would lie if I told you that I went to bed at 21:00 every night. I saw this trip as a little bit of learning, but most of all a vacation, and to have a lot of fun! So I was totally fine with not being 100% sharp in all my lessons. But I made sure to always show up.

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

When some of my closest friends had a birthday we use to celebrate it for one week, what a way to go. My birthday was coming up and I had met so many wonderful people so I decided to throw a party on the beach in one of the restaurants I use to eat at. We made cocktails from fresh coconuts and ate delicious Thai food with an amazing sunset in the background. I have had many beautiful birthdays, but this one was special.

Some of you probably wondering what I had to do, to keep in shape in this heat. I took Muay-Thai "exercise style" lessons. It was a two-hour lesson early in the morning right on the beachfront. So after a sweaty full-body workout, you could jump right into the ocean. It was a little bit pricy so when my money started to run out I actually gain some weight... But I really loved the setup of the lessons and I try to copy a lot of it to my own exercises.

At the end of my trip, I met a girl that worked in a travel agency and she got us a good deal for a diving session. I had never dived with gear before so I was very excited. With no certification, you can only go down to 12 meters but that was more than enough for me. I am more of a free-diving guy but diving with tubs has its own charm too.

"Traveling is for the brave, to be brave you just need to buy a ticket."

The horror story

One day driving my motorbike a bee got stuck between my forehead and my sunglasses. I got rid of it quite fast, but I got stuck in the finger. Right there and then I was mostly thinking about the pain in my finger but I could feel a small itching coming from my eye.

One eye went red and soon the other one went totally red too. My eyes hurt so much so I just went out at night time with sunglasses and even then the light from poles and stores was terrible. I went to the local hospital first but they more or less just pored a lot of distilled water into my eyes and send me home with some eye drops. When this did not help I went to a private hospital (covered by my insurance).

The next part maybe should be skipped by sensitive readers...

A Nurse pushed my forehead against a hard strap meanwhile the doctor scraped out all the infections in my eyes with a cotton swab or rather say many...

I could see the horror in the nurse's and the doctor's eyes. When blood mixed with white fluid was pouring down my cheeks. The pain and the face I saw in the mirror come and haunt me too sometimes. After a couple of different antibiotics, one revisits, and a couple of weeks of rest. My eyesight was back to normal.