It's all about ME !!!

The last 2 days have had a theme and it's ME !! After being "budget" travelling for a long time I decided to SPLURGE at the end! He he, a lot of people around me know how hard it is for me to SPLURGE!! I'll always have to justify my spendings (specially when I'm buying things).

Anyway yesterday I decided to go shopping !! And there is a lot of shopping in Bangkok. I did spend a big part of the day in malls, but did not do much shopping. I simply did not need anything or could not justify to myself that I needed it. So typical me!! In one of the malls was a whole floor with only gadget shops. Mobile phones, MP3 players, cameras and etc. etc. After walking around there for a while I do admit that I felt tempted to buy a new phone. But then why, my phone is only 2 1/2 years old and works fine. But since I had decided to SPLURGE today.... I pimped-up my phone. Bought a new battery and cover, and it felt like I had a new one!

Today was day 2 in splurging and I did so much better. Went to a spa and had a good massage, facial, manicure etc. etc. And it felt sooo gooood !!

p.s. I decided to stay in a nice hotel. Yes, sir. Double bed, air-con and balcony in a very new guesthouse. All for about 650 Bath = 20$. I'm really living large !! :o) He he

"You're the first person I meet from Iceland"

I don't know how many times I've heard this sentence in this trip. (Wish I had counted). I then usually tell them, that it might have something to do with that there are only 300.000 of us. "Is that all, wow that's really really tiny. You must know everybody". Usually followed by: "I've always wanted to go, but heard it's sooo expensive" !! I've ofcourse sold Iceland as something you have to see :o) and Copenhagen, as a city you have to visit !!

p.s. On my previous travels I've met so many people that know BJORK and that she's from Iceland. And that's about the only thing they know about Iceland. Many not even sure where it is in the world. This time around it's Sigur-Ros that most people talk about and know.

Bye bye SE-Asia

Back in Bangkok now after a long trip from Laos !! I really enjoyed Laos. The landscape is beautiful and the people friendly. It is so relaxed compared to the rest of SE-Asia.

Can't believe that my trip is almost over !! This has just been such an experience. I've been so lucky and met so many nice & inspiring people.

I'm arriving in CPH on the 10th of June. Will be in Iceland from the 14th - 21st of June!!! Looking forward to see family & friends !!

p.s. I just uploaded photos from Vietnam & Laos

Don Kong or Don Kon

Early next morning we where off to Don Kong, the biggest Island of the 4000 Islands. First we took a tuc-tuc to the main road where we had to flag down a bus going further south. Our host said we should just stop any car and ask if they where going to Don Kong. We only had to wait 5 minutes before we got a lift. On the bus were 2 other tourist so that was a good sign. Anyway after 2 1/2 hours we where there.....at Don KON not Don KONG!!! Turned out that our Lao pronunciation was not better than that !!

We decided just to go to the nearest Island then, which is Don Det. It's a small Island that only has electricity between 18:30 and 21:30. Just a little paradise, but tourism is definitely getting there. We stayed in a nice bungalow with a beautiful view . It was so hot and no breeze at all!! The next day I said goodbye to Eva as she was off to Cambodia !! Later same day I started my journey back to Bangkok.

Champasak and Wat Phou

Champasak is a very very small town, the only thing to do in Champasak is to visit Wat Phou. It's an old Khmer temple. The setting for the temple is amazing. We went there the same day that we arrived and it was so peaceful. Almost nobody there. Eva had been sick for a few days so we decided to take it easy. There was a bunch of fun and interesting people staying at our guesthouse so we had a good evening there. The plan is to head further down south to the 4000 Islands.

Vang Vieng

Is a town that has just grown around backpackers that hang out there. Almost all the restaurants are TV restaurants where you can lie down and watch TV while you eat and Friends is what you see. The main attraction is to go tubing on the river. You get a tube and float down the river between bars that have been set up. Each bar has a swing that you can swing on. Basically this is a good way to get very drunk. The landscape is beautiful. You can also go kayaking and caving. I decided to do a tour that combined all of this together. Had a chilled out time. Next stop was Vientiane where I met up with Eva again and we flew down to Pakse in the south of Laos.

Man with a gun on the bus

I said goodbye to Eva for a few days and headed down to Vang Vieng with a VIP bus. Which is a typical tourist bus, but sometimes you also have some locals. Anyway started out very normal. Again there was something wrong with the bus and they kept repairing it as we went along. All a bit exciting since this part of Laos is very mountainous so you just hope that it's not the breaks.

Anyway across the ail was a local guy and I noticed him because he was quite well dressed. What I did not notice was that he was trying to hide a automatic rifle that he had with him. British couple sitting behind me were just freaking out, when we stopped after a 2 hour ride. What freaked them out was that he was hiding it. A guy from Israel that was on the bus was very cool and he talked to the guy. Turned out that he's in the army and was trying to hide it so the tourist would not be afraid. He then calmed the couple down. For him it's not such a big deal that people carry around guns. I just thought it was funny that I had not noticed a thing.

Nong Khiaw to Luang Prabang

After saying goodbye to Vincent me and Eva headed to Nong Khiaw. It took a lot of patience. First we had to bargain hard to get from Muang Sing because we missed the last scheduled bus. Then it was a 8 hours journey in various vehicles in dubious conditions. The first bus had to be pushed to start, then there was something wrong with the gears and they kept repairing as we went. The next bus broke down as well, but in the end we got to Nong Khiaw. It is a tiny town with high lime stone mountains all around. The next day we took the slow boat down to Luang Prabang. Very scenic ride. Started off with nice weather, then we got a thunder storm and heavy rain and we had to stop because it got to windy for the captain to go through the rapids. But the sun came out again and we had a nice trip down to Luang Prabang

Akha hill tribe - Muang Sing

Did a 3 day trek in the Muang Sing region, to the Akha hill tribe. Muang Sing used to be the biggest opium market in the Golden Triangle. But in the recent year the Lao government has discourage the cultivation of opium that has led to the hill tribes to move to the lowland struggling for there existence and finding to ways of income.

It was just stunning nature and such an amazing experience. We were only 3 people and 2 guides. One Lao-guide and an Akha guide. Both just the lovely !! We did an 8 hour hike the first day where we saw a lot of nature, 3 snakes ( 2 green vipers ) and tried different kind of fruits that we found in the forest. At the end of the first day we arrive in a village. It was so amazing. People live so primitive there compared to what we are used to. No electricity, no running water, chickens, pigs, dogs and ducks everywhere. (We saw our chicken been killed for dinner.) These people are so hardworking, so sweet and friendly. We got to walk around the village and observe and participate in what people where doing. After work everybody went to a little river and shower in ICE cold stream. After dinner we got Lao Lao whiskey and people sang for us and we had such a good time. The next 2 days where also just amazing !!! One of the highlights of my trip !!!

Laos - Luang Prabang

Amazing !! That's the only word I have for it !! I think it's one of the most charming places I've ever been to. Luang Prabang is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's so relaxed !! After other parts of SE-Asia it's like a haven where things are relaxed and no beeping the horn!! Met up with the 2 Canadian girls that I was with in Ha Long Bay. Did sight seeing around the city. Swimming in waterfalls and biking around. Just so nice. Did a one day Slow boat trip up the Mekong as well. On my way up north now to do some trekking to some hill tribes. Travelling with a Spanish girl and a Canadian guy. More details later....

My Ipod

Worst case scenario for me has been to loose my iPod, I love it. It's very personal. I've changed my music a few times. In Sydney when I stayed with my friend Grant I got a lot of good music. In Phnom Penh I visited the "Boom Boom Room" where you could upload music to your iPod and got more good music. So when I realized on my way to the airport from Hanoi that I had left my iPod on the bed in my room at the guesthouse I just froze. Luckily the taxi driver, that spoke no English had a mobile phone and I managed to get him to understand that I needed to phone the guesthouse. Soon as I said I was staying in room 201 and I forgot my iPod on the bed, the girl went "Oh yes, it's here". I went: "OK, I need it, can you send another taxi to the airport with it?" Yes, she could do it but it would cost double or 20$. You do the math, yes still much better than loose your iPod. So I agreed and she called 5 min later to let me know it was on it's way. Happy ending !!! But what really pissed me off is this: I checked out at 11:00. My taxi arrived at 12:00 to take me to the airport. So for an hour I was hanging out at the guesthouse, using the Internet and having breakfast. I met each and every person that was working there. I sat next to the girl that got my room, when she got it, after they cleaned it !! At that point it must have been clear to them that I had forgotten my iPod. Specially since it took about 10 sec for them to recognize it when I called. It just makes me mad, specially since they were all smiling at me when I left. I just can't understand that peopole can be so dishonest. And for me that's just been Vietnam a little bit. Everybody try to scam you. I took a taxi back from a restaurant. I had taken taxi to the restaurant and paid 9000 dong, back it was 14.400 dong on the meter. But the taxi driver tried to charge me 144.000 dong which is a rip off. And when I said no way, I know that that's not the price. He just went: " Oh, sorry". Like it's just OK to try to rip you off. But I got my iPod back and that just made my day, but left me with a bad taste in my mouth about Vietnam.

More pictures....

New pictures from Cambodia and Vietnam.

Sapa - "You Buy From Me"

Sapa is a small town in the north of Vietnam where a lot of ethnic minority groups live around. It is a mountainous area, full of rice paddies. The typical touristy thing is to go on a hike through the villages around and stay overnight in a home stay. I decided to do that. My group was really nice, all girls around the same age. The women from the villages are really keen sellers and follow you around from the start of the trek to the villages. They speak good English and ask you all kinds of questions that all lead up to: "You buy from me?. Bracelets?" The home stay was fun. We got amazing food and had a good time inventing dance routines and drinking "happy water" aka "rice wine".

I'm taking the night train back to Hanoi tonight. Spending a day in Hanoi and flying to Laos on Saturday. It is weird that my travelling is soon coming to an end.

Ha Long Bay

Ha Long Bay is gorgeous and so much bigger than I had imagined. Did a 3 day trip that was just excellent. Since I'm coming to the end of my travels I decided to take the Deluxe tour to the bay. We stayed on a very nice boat and got awesome meals. My group was really nice. We did some bicycle tours around the national park, kayaking and swimming and there was nobody around us. Which was so nice, it felt like a little paradise.

Rainy season and things

SE-Asia is definitely heading into rainy season. It has started to rain more and more for the last week. And by raining I mean pouring down. It's incredible how much it can rain. Everything floods and the heats dies down for a while. It is so hot and humid here as well. Hope there will be less rain up north. But I'm heading to Hanoi tomorrow.

So far I've enjoyed Vietnam. The border crossing was easy and very civilized and you could see right away that Vietnam is much better off than Cambodia. The houses changed and you could see people wearing the traditional Vietnamese hats. The houses in the city are very narrow and tall. This is due to some tax laws, because they pay taxes I guess according to ground space.

The country is corrupt, like the rest of SE-Asia. The first night we went out was a Saturday night and all the clubs had closed. We could not understand how early they closed, but then found out that the police had just raided the whole area and were pointed out where we could go. Just after we arrived at this bar that had a club upstairs, the police raided the club. Very official officer was writing a fine and there was a lot of making phone calls by the staff. 2 minutes after they left we saw people going up again. So we decided to go up, but the doorman stopped us: "Finished, all finished tonight" he said very loud and then whispered: "5 minutes". Hmm, OK then.
5 minutes later, we tried again. "All finished" he said very loudly again but then pointed us to go up, where the club was in full swing. Bizarre how things work sometimes.

Mekong Delta

Did a 2 day trip down the Mekong River in the Mekong Delta. Our tour-guide was very good and informative. We saw a candy factory, that makes candy out of coconuts. Visited a rice noodle factory and a rice husking factory. All of them where interesting, specially since 2 of them where kind of outdoors and health standards very different to what we are used to in production. Tasted different kind of local fruits and wines (rice and banana wines). Visited the floating market in Can Tho, where people trade with fruits and vegetables. The farmers move their crops down the river on boats and smaller vendors buy from them on the river. Enjoyed trips on small boats up the river. During the war a lot of fighting between USA and Viet Cong took place in this area. Difficult to imaging that now.
I enjoyed the tour, but a lot of the "older" people on our tour were so negative and sure everybody was out to get our money. Sometimes people just have to RELAX !! :o)