It is long way down to South Thailand, through this narrow corridor where the country is only 20 kilometres (12 miles) wide. I was not sure if we could make all the way on our own. There was not too much time left because of last year’s break and the roundabout route across Cambodia. But again our ambitions helped us. We made 700 kilometres (414 miles) in seven days. We often reached our destination at high noon when we had started at seven in the morning. And on the road we were somehow exotics. There were almost no cyclists in Thailand – except for us. Everyone seems to be able to afford a motorised vehicle even if it’s an old stinky moped. We have not seen one child with a bike. What a difference to Cambodia and Vietnam! But still we are taken seriously as traffic participants.
     High coconut trees are typical for the scenery. It is the time of harvest that brings out huge piles of harvested coconuts. Field workers gave us two gigantic nuts that were filled with milk up to the edge. It turned out to be more than half a litre (more than a pint). They offer the most tropical fruits here: bananas only available in perennials, sweet mangoes, papayas, pineapple, melons, tangerines and other fruits we haven’t seen before. But for lunch I need noodle soup from one of the little kitchens by the roadside. Thinking of Australia we will miss all these traders. But for now Malaysia is the next destination.
     Jutta and Gerhard