The plan was simple: get up early and drive to the next location, about 3 hours of driving. It didn’t quite work out that way though, so we left around 8am and grabbed breakfast at the McDonals near the mall, hoping that maybe the mobile phone shop would be open so we could purchase a band-aid (Read screen protection film) for my smashed phone screen. We had an interesting “Traditional Breakfast”, before heading to the mall.
Unfortunately they were not open, so we decided to hit the road!
… Well, we tried to.
The “free” car park required a ticket to get in and out. For some reason ours did not work, and the security guard who came to check on us was very nice…
…. and not able to speak any English. He checked the ticket, confirmed that it wasn’t working and spoke to us for a while. Eventually he figured out, based on our confused faces, that we had absolutely no clue what he was saying. So he called over a colleague to assist. A few minuted later someone casually strolled up behind us, carrying a large Parasol, and just opened the boom gate. We have no idea if it was us or the ticket, but hey, made it out! 😁
The drive was a beautiful combination of nerve-wracking and chilled, we even passed a Maut station and managed to figure out what we had to pay before getting to the front of the queue. When we got off the main highway we were prepared for poor roads, but besides being very narrow they were in good shape. Sure, an occasional pothole, usually in the towns, but otherwise fine. Stop signs here even tell you which way you are allowed to turn when you meet a one-way street, though that may as well be their only purpose because people really treat them as a “Give way” sign… providing that the person they are giving way to looks like they would smash into them. If there is a gap of something like half a second, why wait? The other person probably won’t hit you, so it’s all good! Pura Vida baby!
Overtaking is a similarly nerve wracking experience, at least one car had to abort about half way past a truck because someone else was coming the other way. Speaking of coming the other way, in corners, trucks own the corner. Just make sure you are OUT of the corner BEFORE a truck coming the other way needs it to make the turn, because they WILL use your lane about 50% of the time.
If you’re a motorbike the rule seems simple: Overtake anywhere, just do it as fast as possible, becuase we all know that reducing the time at risk reduces the risk, right? Speed limits don’t really seem to apply anyway.
But I am getting used to it slowly. If we make it alive, ideally without killing anyone else, I think it will count as a success 😉
To make sure that I didn’t die of a nervous breakdown, Manja had planned in a totally chilled out break at a really pretty church. Even more amazing, though, were the gardens in front of the church, which were cut into all sorts of awesome shapes and figures. From what I gathered, this was a community effort.
When we did arrive, we arrived at an accommodation which seems pretty much like paradise to me. You can walk the propery and get the feeling of being in the Jungle, but you have all the comforts of a hotel all around. Tonight we will be taking it easy and planning the next few days, more than a few of which will definitely include jungles and tours.
During our drive Manja and I discussed our thoughts so far, and currently we are at “would not want to live here, but totally worth visiting if you are a nature fan.” I’ll update you if that changes 😊
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