Now the last month of the semester abroad is officially about to begin and we can look back on a fantastic last month in which we often felt like kings.
After I had lectures four times a week for the first few months (Design course) and thus finished one subject earlier than most others (Management & Journalism course), I had time for a ten-day excursion at the end of October.
So I tried to do all the work orders of the university, which are often group work, as fast as possible.
When this was done, we booked a night train (not very comfortable but cheap) and a ferry to Koh Phangan. Here we visited the notorious Fullmoonparty, which took place under full moonlight on the beach. The island has also a lot to offer, as we found out during several exploration tours with a scooter. The Bottlebeach is absolutely recommendable, but it is not easy to reach. After 3 days on Koh Phangan, which were completely sufficient, we continued seamlessly to Koh Phi Phi, another very touristy island.
There we booked a snorkeling tour to the surrounding, uninhabited islands, which are known to have been the locations of some famous movies. The best decision was to do the tour as a small group (in this case 5 people) with an independent inhabitant of the island on a small longboat. Our captain took us to more remote places to snorkel and managed it in such a way that we could also enjoy the much visited places like the „blue lagoon“ almost on our own. Apart from the fact that longboats do less harm to the environment than speedboats with at least 20 men, it was much more relaxed and independent. Despite the amazing experiences on the islands, I was happy to return to Bangkok in the Nonsi-residence – which now feels like my second home after these three months – and simply spend a quiet evening with my roommate on the balcony and listen to the tropical birdsongs that you can hear so well from there.
I was also experienced a lot this month culturally. I visited temples in Bangkok like Wat Pho and Wat Arun, went to the floatingmarket one day, did a rivercruise on the Chao Phraya. Furthermore, I rode for the first time the BTS, the Skytrain. A wonderful opportunity to see a lot of the city at a very reasonable price.
The final highlight of the month was that on Halloween we could visit the Mahanakhon, Thailand’s highest building, for free and watch the city lying at our feet. On normal days this costs up to 20 Euro.
Now November begins, the last month with lecture time and we have some work to do and learn for the university. Nevertheless, our to-do list is still long, because you can experience so much here. So we try to use every moment as best we can and don’t waste a second.
See you for an update next month!
