In fact, my train from Varanasi arrived in Kolkata 10 hours late. So I didn’t see much of this city, which seems pretty dilapidated to me. At least I had my beard scraped off my face and got a “modern hairstyle”, so now I look more normal (boring?) again. The flight to Bangkok (after the plane had been standing around for half an hour, I had to change to another one because something was wrong…) catapulted me into a completely different world: everything is so clean, modern. The people are friendlier (how much of the legendary smile is a facade, how much is real?) and incredibly helpful. From Bangkok I immediately took the night bus south, now I’m sitting on a rather quiet (but not exactly lonely) beach in the north of Ko Pha Ngan island (tomorrow is the full moon party). Afterwards, I want to go to Ko Tao Island, known as a diving paradise.