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