As already indicated, in Koh Lipe we decided to treat ourselves once more. We had been thinking about visiting Angkor Wat for a while and somehow it seemed like a nice change to the whole island before we left Bangkok. Accordingly, we booked for the 05.01. a flight from Phuket to Siem Reap, earlier would have been much too expensive due to the Christmas season. Now the question came to us as we bridge the two days off. The actual idea spontaneously to do a diving course in Koh Lanta, we (or mainly Tobi) had to give up very quickly, because spontaneously there was nothing due to the holiday season. Since Koh Lanta did not have so much to offer anymore, we decided to spend two more nights on the island of Koh Phi Phi, which is known as a party stronghold. Practically, that is practically exactly in the middle between Koh Lanta and Phuket.
Said, done – with the ferry we are from Koh Lanta in less than an hour on the island and made during the ferry even a really good deal for the onward journey to Phuket or to the local airport (that the bargain save us a lot of trouble Of course we would not have known at this point …). Koh Phi Phi reminds us a bit of Koh Lipe, if you are ready to hide the crowds of tourists a bit, you can definitely enjoy the island. It has beautiful and sometimes less frequented smaller beaches. In the evening, the little place but really transformed into a single party, but also here you can find with some persistence beautiful and local restaurants with great food.
On the second day we climb the two viewpoints with the unusual names “View Point 1” and “View Point 2” and hike to two remote beaches until we hear the news about the approaching tropical storm Pabuk and its effects on the ferry traffic to and from Phuket reached. Somehow we are attracting these natural disasters lately …
Unfortunately, it is already too late to catch the last ferry on this day. Therefore, we can only hope that the various tour operators with their statement “Big Ferry should be fine” right. Nevertheless, we decide to take the early ferry at 9:00 instead of 14:30 as scheduled. That should give us enough buffer for the flight the following morning at 6:00 o’clock …
And then we stand at 8:00 in the morning at the harbor and it comes as feared: a huge mass of tourists in long lines at the pier, everywhere employees with the same sentence “No ferry to Phuket today, only Krabi”. Oh great. Krabi is exactly in the opposite direction, almost next to Koh Lanta, where we just came from. But good, if we want to catch the flight the next morning, we have no choice and the employee sends us to the pier to exchange our ticket to Phuket directly with our ferry operator in one to Krabi. The nice lady regulates that also within 5 minutes completely uncomplicatedly and puts us on the ferry to Krabi at 10:30 o’clock. Although we do not get a new ticket, which seems weird, but it is not the first time that something happens to us. And if the processes are mostly (or actually always) completely opaque, works out in Asia, according to experience, what is promised and we just keep calm. We can not change anything now anyway.
So we have time to watch the sometimes abstruse scenes at the pier. One ferry at a time is packed with tourists and, in our opinion, completely overcrowded to Krabi. The first boat is actually at 9:00, but the first ferry leaves at 8:30, the second at 8:45 and it continues in 20-minute intervals. Employees are verbally abused because the 10:30 ferry is too late for their afternoon flight (“You’re fucking kidding me” is still one of the nicer phrases). It is shuffled and jostled to get on the next ferry, we feel a bit reminiscent of disaster movies. And we sit there waiting for us to get our tickets. It is already 9:15 clock, until the jetty slowly but surely begins to empty and we try again to get the nice lady our new tickets. So she tells us smoothly: Phuket is released, we should get on the next ferry. We can not quite believe it yet, but we make our way to the footbridge with a larger group of other people. First, we will not be left on the boat due to the non-existent ticket, but after a sprint back to the nice lady it means we get the ticket on the boat. When we are back, the “bouncer” disappeared without a trace.
After we have another three (!!!) times – including luggage – change the ferry, this actually sets (with only one hour delay) at 10:00 and goes to Phuket. At this time, the pier is deserted and at least 5-6 ferries to Krabi. So we are sitting on the only ferry to Phuket this morning and later we learn that from 14:00 clock all ferry service is set. As you can see again, patience pays off in the end. 
Once in Phuket, we take the first minibus directly to our hotel at the airport. The city itself is said to be full of tourists, we refrain from that, pass the afternoon rather in the nearby National Park on the beach and watch as the clouds are getting denser. Always in the hope that our flight can start the next morning, the storm is announced from the evening for Phuket. On our beach trip we are unexpectedly accompanied by a full slender beagle. As we walk on the main road at the airport, he meets us, turns around and then follows us on several (main) roads to the beach and later back again. Some amused looks are certain and even at dinner he does not get bored and he waits patiently for us. Shortly thereafter, we lose sight of him at a 7/11, but he really sweetened the afternoon for us.
Around midnight it starts to rain, but even if the way to the airport is a bit wet, our plane lifts off all worries at 6:00. The start is a bit bumpy, but not nearly as bad as the landing in “Irma” last year. 1 1/2 hours later we are already at the finish, Siem Reap or more precisely Angkor Wat. Let’s see if it was all the excitement