Rygsækrejsen 2015-2016: shuttle

fredag den 29. januar 2016

Koh Lanta here we come

We woke up a bit early which was fine. A short shower and then head out for our 7 AM pick up going to Koh Lanta. The guy arrived at our hotel at 7:20 and the only other passenger turned out to be another Danish guy. We chatted a bit with him as the mini-bus drove around Krabi and picked up another girl who also turned out to be Danish. As the bus made a u-turn we spotted a cafe called "Coffee @ Nyhavn" and a big picture of Nyhavn. Thailand feels a lot closer to home than any of the other places we have been for almost a year.

Then we spent the next couple of hours going to Koh Lanta, stopping a couple of times on the way when our driver had to say hello to some of his friends. We made it to the first ferry, left almost instantly and repeated this on ferry number two as well. Our driver knew "Green Chili Bungalows" so he dropped us off in front of the reception at 10 AM. We were here - as planned - and signed in for our room and went straight for breakfast on the beach. This place is wonderful.

Just as Malene was about to head over and say hello to Katrine and Jeppe, Katrine came walking down the beach. Big hugs, she went back to get Jeppe and Karl and we more or less hung out for the rest of the morning and afternoon. We had a swim in the ocean once we got the keys to our bungalow and met with Katrine and Jeppe for sunset drinks and dinner later. Thai food is such a great thing after many months of less spicy food in South- and Central America. Still slightly jetlagged we headed to bed super happy to finally be here.

All packed and ready to go - again

Fan, Air, HotShower - what more do you need?

On the ferry to Koh Lanta

With Katrine, Jeppe and Karl

Yum, Thai breakfast

And the beer is good too

Buddha is tired

Buddha is back in action

Thai sunsets are approved

fredag den 15. januar 2016

Back to the mainland - Big Corn Island to Managua and onwards to Laguna De Apoyo

We got picked up by the taxi at 6:15, the drive to the airport taking about 6 minutes. Only a tiny taxi so the driver had to do two separate trips to get all of us to the tiny airport. The lady at the hotel told us to be there at 6:30 and we were a bit curious why we had to be there so early but when on a small island do what you are told - or something like that.

At the check in counter the lady behind the desk asked her colleague for 12 boarding cards which we didn't really pay attention to - only that we got boarding cards 1-5. Then we had to wait at the security check for the guy to arrive with the key to the drawer so we could get our receipt for paying our two dollar airport tax. Once we were through security we waited for about 10 minutes and two small planes arrived, off loaded and we were told to board.

12 passengers plus 2 pilots - that was the size of the plane leaving this morning for Managua. We crawled into the plane, got seats right behind the pilots and took off 30 minutes before scheduled departure. All passengers were there so why wait. We love "island time".

The flight to Managua was beautiful, early morning passing over the ocean with a clear view of the reefs, then a bit later hitting the coast of the mainland looking down at the town of Bluefields before crossing the jungle and approaching Managua. We could follow everything that happened on the flight deck and the pilots including them having their banana chips snacks. A very short approach to Managua airport, a nice landing and we were out of the airport in 10 minutes. Frederik and Berit were heading towards Leon and Matilde, Mikkel and Malene towards Laguna De Apoyo with a stopover in Granada to pick up our left luggage at the hostel.

We negotiated a price of USD 30 for a taxi to take us on our small 1½ hour round trip and found our left luggage in Granada before being dropped off in front of the hostel in Laguna Apoyo just before midday. We love this tiny country and the short travel days. We had our room, hung out a bit before lunch and then a swim in the afternoon in the lagoon. It's going to be good to chill out a bit at this place. Maybe a dive and a hike in the next couple of days.