19 years of Southeast Asia - the adventure of my life begins (Part 1) 🌴

Hello dear Steemians, in one of my previous posts I told you about how it happened that I landed in Cambodia 10 years ago. But the great adventure of my life began already 9 years before when I spent my first holiday in Thailand with business friends. At that time I liked it so much that I decided to stay there.

Maybe other people will call me a life artist or a knight of fortune, which they are probably right to say. Of course, I had some money in my pocket, but I had no plan what to do in Thailand for earning more. Basically, I was hoping that something would come up that would allow me to finance myself before my money was gone.

And so the things started to go on ...

We spent our vacation in the notorious city of Pattaya at the coast of Thailand. This place is known as a stronghold of sex tourism and if we had spent the whole holiday there, for sure I would have flown back to Germany with the others. The place where I wanted to live was completely different and the exact opposite of this busy party city.

I am talking about the Chang island, about 2 1/2 hours by car in southern direction from Pattaya. During our holiday we went there on a trip of several days, which doesn't want to go out of my mind again. This island offered everything I've always dreamed of.

Me on a tour of the island's interior
(please excuse the poor quality of the picture. This is an old analog photo)

Already the 1-hour crossing from the mainland, with small converted wooden fishing boats, was an adventure. From a distance, the contours of the island look like two gigantic elephant backs, which is why it is called Elephant Island, or, as they say in Thailand, "Koh Chang" (Koh = island + Chang = elephant). I was sitting on one of the hard wooden benches of the boat and I were slain by the fantastic sight.

The mountains covered with dense rainforest, of which the highest is barely 1000 m above sea level, rose majestically out of the sea. I've been traveling a lot before, in the jungle of Central and South America and the Caribbean, but this island has been fascinating me from the very first moment.

Then came the transfer across the mountains, to the other side facing the open sea. This was done with old dented pick-ups, which were converted into taxis with narrow benches on the loading areas. We drove on the only paved road of the island. It had rained before, so the mountains were covered in a haze ... beautiful. When the road, which was still quite new, went downhill again, we reached a fantastic viewpoint.

On the left, the mountains and the green jungle, then a few buildings and the road and then the white sandy beach that merged with the azure blue sea. With the exception of a small village we drove through, some huts along the street and a few bungalows near the coast, there didn't seem to be many people on this island. The place was just perfect for me.

At that time I didn't know that this wish would come true for almost 9 years and that I would marry there and become a father. I also didn't know that I am soon robbed of a big part of my money and that I even end up in prison for a short time.

If you like to read more about my expatriation and witness my adventures on the tropical Chang island, just follow me!