Getting lost in a Thai forest by night
After walking twice the Way of Saint James (Camino de Santiago) in Spain and Portugal, I know very well that when you start your journey with another person, you accept the challenge of sharing his / her experiences as well. So, I accepted to do this trip with a friend and after a full day on the Ocean visiting the Islands, we decided to build a more adventurous day, walking to see another beach, approximately 4 km away from Patong.
The journey was not easy, as we started walking around midday, after having a late breakfast. And when I say “not easy”, I mean it. I love walking when it’s hot outside, but the 90% of the way was without shadow at all, and we had 38 degrees Celsius, feeling like 45. 😳
We were walking up and down on the mountains, under the heet, but the beautiful scenary was like a fresh breeze helping us to go ahead.
Exhausted, we reached Freedom Beach around 1 pm, after crossing a small and beautiful forest and escalating some rocks to be able to reach the most beautiful part of the beach.
We’ve spent the entire day there, till almost the sunset. The water had an emerald color and was extremely inviting, so the first thing we did was to take a swimm. After so much heet, that bath in the Ocean feeled like a real divine blessing. Later, the palms offered us the perfect shadow and protected us from the hungry sun rays.
While we were walking on the beach, we found this small and cute crab crossing the beach and making his own way towards the shadow.
Around 6 pm, we decided to hit the road back to Patong. Following my friend’s idea, we tried a new path along the forest. We’ve noticed the way was heading in the other direction, but my friend kept hoping the new path will meet the one we did when we arrived at Freedom Beach. The nicest thing was walking bare foot and feeling the dust and the small rocks under your own feet.
At a certain point we were sweting while climbing the mountain and we transformed our bodies into a great luxurious dinner for the mosquitos. Awful feeling! Soon everything was dark around us and the sound of the forest changed into a new song while the leafs starting to move like in a horror movie. We put our shoes on, and proceed quickly towards the light.
Soon we reached the first local houses in the forest, and 20 minutes after we were back on the main road to Patong, walking along with cars, tuk-tuks, motorbike and all kind of local vehicles.
Morale of the day: when you are looking for an adventure, you may find it right over the corner. So, always be careful what you wish for! 😜
To be continued…
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