The numbers in the title are of course only indicative, but they are quite accurate.
My watch recorded 400 km of travel in almost three months. I was the only one who calculated how many steps that would be. Don’t worry, I didn’t count them during my wanderings!
On Monday, I implemented an idea I had a few weeks ago: I walked around the island.
I put 57 kilometers into my hiking shoes, which I bought a year ago. And it wasn’t the first time they proved that we weren’t right for each other. I threw them out in Bali and bought a new one instead. By the end of Monday, I had about ten blisters on my feet.
That’s it for the wounds! My heart was filled with experiences again.
Rain and sunshine
After an hour of sleep, I woke up at dawn so that I could set off on the road at five o’clock. After covering a kilometer and a half, I had to stop at a shop to wait for the terrible rain to stop. While I was waiting, I ate a delicious breakfast.
During the day, I was caught in two short rain showers, so that I was in a place where there was shelter. In the evening – when I didn’t really want to stop – one of the three showers soaked me down to my underwear. It’s November. Despite this, the rain is pleasantly warm. This way, I had the opportunity to experience that I can’t see because of the rain pouring into my eyes, and that salty sweat flowing into my eyes does not cause pleasant feelings.
Apart from these little tantrums of the weather, the sun shone all day. I had sunscreen in my bag, I actually carried it as a burden. So by the end of the day, my skin had become a beautiful boiled crab color.
This hike had a particularly good atmosphere for me because the island seemed familiar to me.
In the first section, I walked through the settlement until the end. At the already familiar immigration office, I turned off the familiar main road onto a road that I had taken the day before, heading towards a great adventure.
I had to walk up to the top of the island. I knew that a very steep, trying section awaited me. I entered the jungle with good feelings. I have seen many forests in my life, but always – and especially here – nature showed a different face.
The expression that I am walking in a jungle has a special magic for me. The unfamiliar and familiar trees reminded me of the most beautiful dreams of my childhood. I almost expected to hear Tarzan’s roar, or to catch a glimpse of Robinson Crusoe in the company of Friday around some bend.
It was strange that no living creatures showed up. I saw a lot of centipedes, a few buffaloes grazing peacefully, and a few birds. I also only saw a beautiful black scorpion on the road. Nothing else wanted to see me today.
On the other hand, I saw live durian trees. I experienced what it was like to cool myself with the water collected on the huge leaves of the trees. I often remembered what it was like to walk barefoot in the forest the day before.
I came across a girl whose scooter had just broken down on the steepest section. Her little girl was on the verge of collapsing, and she was trying desperately to push the scooter uphill. I helped her. I can tell you, such a motorbike is damn heavy. After I ran out of air and we stopped in great effort, I asked her what was wrong with the motorbike. It turned out that it had simply stalled… I asked her to start it and pull the throttle all the way while I held the vehicle. That’s how they were able to leave, and for me the morning exercise was over. In vain! A lot of people jump on motorbikes here, without the right experience…
On the ring road again
After coming down from the mountain, I slowly returned to the familiar ring road and drove home through a residential area. Here I saw many familiar places again. I recalled churches, official buildings, and sections of road I had already seen. I saw Guan Yu again, the little bay where I first bathed in the sea. I bathed on another beach, resting there just before the rain.
Of course, there was something new. Every road shows a different face on foot than when I drive past it in a car or motorbike. For example, I learned that there is a prison on the island.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, more about collecting visual memories. I like to see how people live.
After 102 days, I visited a hairdresser’s shop again. I drank delicious coffee. Since we had arranged dinner with a friend for the evening, I only ate once all day. I satisfied my hunger with a couple of grilled bananas.
Dinner was delicious at the end of the day. After I got home, I did a small walk around the house to make it 57 kilometers. I don’t think I’m the same anymore. I would have walked another 3 kilometers earlier to make it 60.
Summary
Now that I’ve been on the road, I look at this island a little differently.
I came away richer that day. With more water bladders. With a lot of beautiful experiences. With the feeling that “I can still do it.”
As Solzhenitsyn (also) said: today I have collected a lot of things that I can take with me. And you don’t need a backpack for that.
I came here to the faraway island to be closer to myself. I feel like I succeeded. I didn’t look for anything and yet I found a lot of things and a lot of new friends. I didn’t expect anything and I got a lot of things. I made the little mistakes of a novice traveler and I’ve already learned a lot from them.
I’m not saying that I said goodbye to Koh Samui the right way. Because I didn’t want to say goodbye now either. On the one hand, I will definitely come back here, and on the other hand, this island of jungle, scorpion, everything fits in my heart. So I may be leaving now, but I think this island will come with me.
My heart is still full of gratitude…
Buy me a coffee?
If you enjoyed this story, you can buy me a coffee. You don’t have to – but it means a lot and I always turn it into a new adventure.
Buy a coffee for Steve
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Short introduction