I've a few minutes, because I'm waiting for Tino to get ready... yes always these boys and their hairstyling ;)
So us two, we spent wonderful days on Koh Pah Ngan... THE party island in Thailand. There are the world famous Full and Half Moon Parties, but apparently we arrived shortly after a Half Moon and left again a couple of days before another kind of Moon party, so it wasn't that crowded and we could enjoy some very relaxed beach time... beaches are really really wonderful, white sand and clear blue water... just perfect.
Yesterday we came back to Bangkok and we're staying at Haiki and Ina's, just wonderful. I had a suit made before I left Bangkok so today I went for the second fitting... not perfect, but I hope it will be... at least it was only on suit and not 4+smoking like other people... ;)
so my trip is coming to an end, so I think this will be one of my last entries... I hope you enjoyed reading, but I'm really looking forward to see each and everyone of you asap Kisses
Mittwoch, 16. Dezember 2009
Mittwoch, 9. Dezember 2009
Phnom Penh - Siem Reap - Angkor Wat and around
Just to let you know, the last few days I've been travelling in Cambodia... again a totally different country, and you can see the poverty everywhere... especially the difference between rich and poor (tourism)... Phnom Penh is not the most beautiful city, but it has its charm... and of course I went to the Killing fields and the S21 prison... I could say a lot about it, but it's even more terrifying than Vietnam... so I won't...
Accomodation, though, was 1 Dollar per night, because I shared my room with 3 very nice Australian girls... so very very cheap...
Then I went by bus to Siem Reap, where I met Tino and we went to the Temples of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and around... What can I say, they are one of the most impressive buildings in the world... altough Tino wasn't to happy about it, we watched sunset and sunrise the next they in the area... (and yes we found a club to go out till 2 am, just to get up again at 4:45, but I think it was absolutely worth it... ) of course there are a lot of kids in the temples, to sell you everything, what you can think of... heart breaking
now we're getting ready to fly to Bangkok and further take a bus to Koh Pha Ngan to party apparently... well this is going to be a very interesting experience... ;)
Accomodation, though, was 1 Dollar per night, because I shared my room with 3 very nice Australian girls... so very very cheap...
Then I went by bus to Siem Reap, where I met Tino and we went to the Temples of Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and around... What can I say, they are one of the most impressive buildings in the world... altough Tino wasn't to happy about it, we watched sunset and sunrise the next they in the area... (and yes we found a club to go out till 2 am, just to get up again at 4:45, but I think it was absolutely worth it... ) of course there are a lot of kids in the temples, to sell you everything, what you can think of... heart breaking
now we're getting ready to fly to Bangkok and further take a bus to Koh Pha Ngan to party apparently... well this is going to be a very interesting experience... ;)
Freitag, 4. Dezember 2009
Dalat - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Hello everybody, so I was rather busy the last time, I hope I have a little bit more time today...
Dalat (small city in the mountains) was lovely... there was a lake in the center of the city, and the city was built on a lot of hills, so sometimes it was hard to orientate... but the surroundings were amazing... I was told that the way from Dalat to Saigon is rather painful, because bumpy and curvy, so when one of the easy riders asked me, if he should drive me to Saigon on the back of his motorbike, I was skeptical in the beginning, but he soon convinced me, this is the way to do it ;)... not to mentioned that he found me walking on the street...
It took us 2 days from Dalat to Saigon, with one overnight stay in the National Park Cat Tien... amazing... I think for me it was the best way to get to Saigon, because we had a lot of stops and the showed me so much about vietnamese culture and lifestyle... we met a lot of people and I say a lot of factories (like rice, tea, black pepper....) and a beautiful waterfall in the National Park.
The most astonishing thing, however was to get into Saigon on a motorbike... I don't know how much you know about Saigon, but when I thought Hanoi is busy, I actually had NO idea... Today I was told, here are living 8 mio people and on the streets are 4 mio mopeds/motorbikes (half the population of Austria)... to cross the street is an adventure every single time... and still although it is noisy, dirty and very very busy, I like it even more than Hanoi!!
Yesterday, I walked around - the main Districts are walkable - and I went to the war museum... well that was very heavy, I still have the pictures of the Agent Orange and Napalm victims popping up in my head from time to time... awful, but important to know. Although I have to admit, when it came to the end and they showed all the torture habits, I couldn't stand it anymore and left.
Today I went on a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels, where the Vietcong hid from the Americans... very touristy but still very impressive... you could walk (well kind of... it's more crawling) in the tunnels... but you shouldn't be claustrophobic...
tomorrow I'm leaving for Phnom Penh in Cambodia... very exciting again ;)
xxx
Dalat (small city in the mountains) was lovely... there was a lake in the center of the city, and the city was built on a lot of hills, so sometimes it was hard to orientate... but the surroundings were amazing... I was told that the way from Dalat to Saigon is rather painful, because bumpy and curvy, so when one of the easy riders asked me, if he should drive me to Saigon on the back of his motorbike, I was skeptical in the beginning, but he soon convinced me, this is the way to do it ;)... not to mentioned that he found me walking on the street...
It took us 2 days from Dalat to Saigon, with one overnight stay in the National Park Cat Tien... amazing... I think for me it was the best way to get to Saigon, because we had a lot of stops and the showed me so much about vietnamese culture and lifestyle... we met a lot of people and I say a lot of factories (like rice, tea, black pepper....) and a beautiful waterfall in the National Park.
The most astonishing thing, however was to get into Saigon on a motorbike... I don't know how much you know about Saigon, but when I thought Hanoi is busy, I actually had NO idea... Today I was told, here are living 8 mio people and on the streets are 4 mio mopeds/motorbikes (half the population of Austria)... to cross the street is an adventure every single time... and still although it is noisy, dirty and very very busy, I like it even more than Hanoi!!
Yesterday, I walked around - the main Districts are walkable - and I went to the war museum... well that was very heavy, I still have the pictures of the Agent Orange and Napalm victims popping up in my head from time to time... awful, but important to know. Although I have to admit, when it came to the end and they showed all the torture habits, I couldn't stand it anymore and left.
Today I went on a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels, where the Vietcong hid from the Americans... very touristy but still very impressive... you could walk (well kind of... it's more crawling) in the tunnels... but you shouldn't be claustrophobic...
tomorrow I'm leaving for Phnom Penh in Cambodia... very exciting again ;)
xxx
Sonntag, 29. November 2009
Hanoi - Hue - Hoi An - Dalat
Hello Motorbike.... well, If I get a coin for everytime I've heard that I'd be rich now (although I'm travelling...) so this will be rather short... I'm on my way south, I've been in Hue so far, which is a nice city, has a citadel in a citadel in a citadel... but Hoi An is much nicer, it has a river and it is only five kilometers to the beach... oh yes, and I drove a moped for the first time... well at the beginning I was rather stressed, but in the end I enjoyed it...
today I came to Dalat, which is a beautiful city in the mountains... maybe do some trekking or something... byebye....
today I came to Dalat, which is a beautiful city in the mountains... maybe do some trekking or something... byebye....
Sonntag, 22. November 2009
Hanoi
Xin chao! I've arrived in Hanoi a couple of days ago and this city is just crazy... very noisy and busy, but it has its own kind of charme... it has this little lake (Hoan Kiem) in the center of the old quarter which is lovely...
so when I arrived at the hostel, the girls of my room told me to come with them to the snake village... I didn't really know what to expect, so of course I said yes... when we went there, at first we could touch snakes and play with them, and then they offered us to kill them and cut out the heart... well... of course I didn't kill them, but they boys loved it... and then everybody could try some snake (tastes like chicken ....) and get drunk on snakewine (?) ... it was quite a weird experience...
the next day I went walking in the city and visited the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (where you actually can see embalmed Ho Chi Minh - bizarre) and the Literature Temple. I like Hanoi, it's nice and if there weren't so many motorbikes it would be walkable... but when crossing the street everytime you risk your life... amazing...
then I tried to organize a trip to Halong Bay by myself... I met a danish girl, Rikke who joined me... that was quite an experience... first we took a local bus which took ages there and we were kind of an attraction as the only foreigners...
then Halong City was quite empty (apparently low season, because it's rather cold as well), but then we found someone who offered us a tour, which sounded quite nice in the beginning, a boat for ourselves, we saw caves (beautiful), but then we had two wait 2 hours in the dark to get to our hotel, and the next day we were supposed to do some trekking... well we did but there was a lot of driving involved as well... so it took as ages to get there and to get to hanoi again... very exhausting.... originally, my plan was to get to sapa today, but unfortunately I don't feel so good, so I'm going to stay one night more in Hanoi, and leave for Hue tomorrow...
so when I arrived at the hostel, the girls of my room told me to come with them to the snake village... I didn't really know what to expect, so of course I said yes... when we went there, at first we could touch snakes and play with them, and then they offered us to kill them and cut out the heart... well... of course I didn't kill them, but they boys loved it... and then everybody could try some snake (tastes like chicken ....) and get drunk on snakewine (?) ... it was quite a weird experience...
the next day I went walking in the city and visited the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum (where you actually can see embalmed Ho Chi Minh - bizarre) and the Literature Temple. I like Hanoi, it's nice and if there weren't so many motorbikes it would be walkable... but when crossing the street everytime you risk your life... amazing...
then I tried to organize a trip to Halong Bay by myself... I met a danish girl, Rikke who joined me... that was quite an experience... first we took a local bus which took ages there and we were kind of an attraction as the only foreigners...
then Halong City was quite empty (apparently low season, because it's rather cold as well), but then we found someone who offered us a tour, which sounded quite nice in the beginning, a boat for ourselves, we saw caves (beautiful), but then we had two wait 2 hours in the dark to get to our hotel, and the next day we were supposed to do some trekking... well we did but there was a lot of driving involved as well... so it took as ages to get there and to get to hanoi again... very exhausting.... originally, my plan was to get to sapa today, but unfortunately I don't feel so good, so I'm going to stay one night more in Hanoi, and leave for Hue tomorrow...
Montag, 16. November 2009
Vientiane II
so here we go, god or buddha gave me some time, so I decided to summarize some of my thoughts... so whoever is not interested in these, is allowed to stop reading now ;)
when I woke up this morning, I was covered in sweat as usual (well I don't like it, if the air condition is on all night, it's loud and I usually wake up in the middle of the night, freezing), and because the window of my room is broken, the shutters are down and I couldn't see outside... my original plan was to head towards Vang Vieng for a one day trip (more to that later) so I packed my backpack with my swimsuite and towel... well as I went outside it was raining and around 20degrees... yes I was pretty suprised, but you probably won't understand what a relieve that was... amazing... yesterday it was about 30 something degrees and really humide... and it's cold season now, I don't understand how they do it in the hot one...
about this one day trip... Vang Vieng is the city in Lao to go tubing down the river (you take a car tire and just float with the stream), it is about 120 km north of Vientiane so I thought, naive as I am, I could just take a bus there in the morning, go tubing and take a bus home in the evening again... so yesterday I wondered around the capital and asked in about 10 (!) different tour agencies if this is possible... I got 10 different answers and most if them included there are no buses to Vientiane in the evening (??) .. well I can tell you that was quite fruststrating, so in the end I decided I would just go there in the morning and hope, that there are buses back... well, skipped that plan, apparently.
The other thing I tried to find was a copy of "The quiet American" by Graham Greene... well that's impossible either at least in english... although I found one in finnish :))) o yes, for everybody who is interested, the book is about the Vietnam war and should be very good.
So today I think I will visit the Lao National Museum because shamefully I have to admit I don't know sooo much about lao history, although it was a part of the Ho Chi Minh Path as well as french colonialisation... well if anybody is interested, I can write more about it after I've learnt something in the museum (hopefully) right now, they have lunch break (like everybody here from 12 to 1 pm)...
Generally I'm reading 2 books about Southeastasia, and I don't know how much you have learnt about the history of these countries, but I think yes we mentioned the Vietnam war, but that's more or less it... because talking about WW II for half a year is much more important (please don't misunderstand, WW II is very very important but there has to be time for other thing's as well)... so a lot to learn here...
well I think I've babbled enough for now, my flight to Hanoi is leaving tomorrow afternoon... quite exciting :) hugs and kisses
when I woke up this morning, I was covered in sweat as usual (well I don't like it, if the air condition is on all night, it's loud and I usually wake up in the middle of the night, freezing), and because the window of my room is broken, the shutters are down and I couldn't see outside... my original plan was to head towards Vang Vieng for a one day trip (more to that later) so I packed my backpack with my swimsuite and towel... well as I went outside it was raining and around 20degrees... yes I was pretty suprised, but you probably won't understand what a relieve that was... amazing... yesterday it was about 30 something degrees and really humide... and it's cold season now, I don't understand how they do it in the hot one...
about this one day trip... Vang Vieng is the city in Lao to go tubing down the river (you take a car tire and just float with the stream), it is about 120 km north of Vientiane so I thought, naive as I am, I could just take a bus there in the morning, go tubing and take a bus home in the evening again... so yesterday I wondered around the capital and asked in about 10 (!) different tour agencies if this is possible... I got 10 different answers and most if them included there are no buses to Vientiane in the evening (??) .. well I can tell you that was quite fruststrating, so in the end I decided I would just go there in the morning and hope, that there are buses back... well, skipped that plan, apparently.
The other thing I tried to find was a copy of "The quiet American" by Graham Greene... well that's impossible either at least in english... although I found one in finnish :))) o yes, for everybody who is interested, the book is about the Vietnam war and should be very good.
So today I think I will visit the Lao National Museum because shamefully I have to admit I don't know sooo much about lao history, although it was a part of the Ho Chi Minh Path as well as french colonialisation... well if anybody is interested, I can write more about it after I've learnt something in the museum (hopefully) right now, they have lunch break (like everybody here from 12 to 1 pm)...
Generally I'm reading 2 books about Southeastasia, and I don't know how much you have learnt about the history of these countries, but I think yes we mentioned the Vietnam war, but that's more or less it... because talking about WW II for half a year is much more important (please don't misunderstand, WW II is very very important but there has to be time for other thing's as well)... so a lot to learn here...
well I think I've babbled enough for now, my flight to Hanoi is leaving tomorrow afternoon... quite exciting :) hugs and kisses
Samstag, 14. November 2009
Chiang Mai - Luang Prabang - Vientiane
sabai dii! well, i know much time passed by after my last post... what can I say I was rather busy (?!) :) I'll try to sum up what happened in the last week or so... as mentioned I took the slow boat from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang... well this boat is really slow, all in all it took me 3 days to get there... the first day I was only taken to Chiang Khong, we stayed there overnight and the next day after ages of passport and visa controls we got on the boat... which of course was a party boat (at least for the British people)... around 1 pm they started to give away free whiskey shots... (only to ease my partens: i didn't drink any whiskey, not even beer)... so the trip with the boat along the Mekong river is beautiful although after 8h on the boat I was rather happy to have good old land under my feet ;) when you get off the boat in Luang Prabang there a hundreds of guys who want you to stay in their guesthouse... I joined a group of english and met 2 girls who also travel alone, so we shared a room in a actually really nice guesthouse... of course this group of maybe 25 people went out that night... it was fun although bizarre, because we ended up in a bowling center...
the next day, we explored the city (which is really nice) and went up Phu Si to see the sunset (beautiful of course, although we weren't the only ones) and after that I went to the night market to buy some presents :)
all the others went out again (now around 40 !! people) but I decided to go to sleep, because I booked a 3 days trip for the next day again...
so the trek was two days of walking and one day of kayaking and it was wonderful... a group of 6 people, we visited some hill tribe villages stayed with the people there and had a lovely guide :)
just the last day I didn't feel to good, I don't know maybe I caught a cold but I don't have any fever, so everything should be ok again soon :) yesterday I took the overnight bus to Vientiane... which was ok, just a little bit bumpy!
So I think I'll stay here for 2 nights if I can get my vietnamese visum straigt away (shouldn't be a problem though)... maybe i'll get some pics online tomorrow... many kisses
the next day, we explored the city (which is really nice) and went up Phu Si to see the sunset (beautiful of course, although we weren't the only ones) and after that I went to the night market to buy some presents :)
all the others went out again (now around 40 !! people) but I decided to go to sleep, because I booked a 3 days trip for the next day again...
so the trek was two days of walking and one day of kayaking and it was wonderful... a group of 6 people, we visited some hill tribe villages stayed with the people there and had a lovely guide :)
just the last day I didn't feel to good, I don't know maybe I caught a cold but I don't have any fever, so everything should be ok again soon :) yesterday I took the overnight bus to Vientiane... which was ok, just a little bit bumpy!
So I think I'll stay here for 2 nights if I can get my vietnamese visum straigt away (shouldn't be a problem though)... maybe i'll get some pics online tomorrow... many kisses
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