Wiedersehen nach 25 Jahren

16. June 2024, Sunday
13° 8' 37" N, 100° 54' 53" E


You think our life is only vacation?.

But MOOOMENT! 

After all the weeks in the shipyard, you can hardly speak of a vacation and we have earned a little break from the ship.

For a long time I had planned to visit an old friend I have known for well over 40 years.

It was about time, because the last time we saw each other was in the last millennium! 

1998 or 1999-

Damn long ago!

Heinz lived in Munich and Ibiza at the time and I lived in tranquil Würzburg.

How should I describe him now... bon vivant, playboy, party animal and business genius.

When I met Heinz in 1978, I was 22 and he was 34 years old. 

 

When we met again almost 20 years later and took up the party mode together, our party mood and joie de vivre had not diminished one bit, on the contrary!

When we often jetted off in his private jet to the mother of all party islands, Ibiza, at the end of the 90s, I needed an oxygen tent after 3 days at the latest, while my dear Heinz was just warming up.

It has been 25 years since then and now he no longer lives in Ibiza and Munich, but in Los Angeles and for a few years now also in Pattaya. 

Time to visit him!

Sailing into the Gulf of Bangkok is almost impossible because of the prevailing wind for the next few months and so we got on the plane to visit Heinz and Pattaya.

When we meet again after a quarter of a century, it is as if only a few months have passed. 

He is 80 years old in terms of ID, but 50 in terms of physical fitness and rather under 30 in his head. Still the party animal of the past.

This seems to be his secret recipe against aging, his portrait of Dorian Gray.

 I have been to Thailand several times, but never to Pattaya. 

I have to say I am fascinated by the place and what has become of this small fishing village within a few decades. 

Sure, Pattaya has a reputation and you get the feeling that there are more "approachable ladies" than there are tourists, but this is only one side. 

Pattaya is cheap, it's expensive, it's entertaining, fascinating, poor, rich, everything... except boring.

Freya, Heinz's private assistant and interpreter, came to her hometown Pattaya from Bangkok where she studies to show us night markets, beaches and the best shopping centers. Especially the shopping centers absolutely inspire us and I have never experienced these temples of consumption on my trip around the world. Fantastic!

There is a lot to tell, many old anecdotes dug up and a lot of laughter.

While my life has been far removed from party life since the beginning of this journey, Heinz, who is the same age as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, is almost still the same party animal as before.

I absolutely enjoyed our reunion.

 

I hope that this time there won't be 25 years until the next reunion. ;)