3 more days and I am on the plane back towards Europe. It is just so unreal! I left on the 19th of December..... or 3rd of October......... or a few years ago.....
Maybe the trip never ends... :)
It is 17C, shitty weather in Hanoi, so bad that many of the mice and rats were flooded: its dead animals all around the place. Disgusting! Reminds me of the last stroke I had in KL, when I called Eddy and told him I was going home, this way or the other.
The trip to Halong-bay was awesome; apart from the horrible weather and that we almost suffocated from all the exhaust fume in our room - it was beautiful. And we ended up sleeping in the captain's cabin - so, yes, I keep my mouth shut.
Of course it is nothing else to complain about; its just a moody end of this trip, a week in cool, muddy Hanoi, the see-you-later coming way too quickly, and I am just not sure I want to deal with this again. Up next is a few weeks (?) at home, family and friends, fozelek, turorudi, a nice little addition to the bag of tricks, and a work-kinda-meeting with an old friend around the 20th of April, which probably will end up with me going to the other side of the world, again.....
Thursday, April 07, 2011
Friday, April 01, 2011
South of Vietnam
Okay, I really dont like Hue. As charming and fun and relaxed Hoi An is, this is as crazy, dirty and agressive of a place. Reminds me of the worst part of Cambodia, actually. I ended up listening to my iPod on full volume while walking around, so that I can ignore assholes following me talkingtalkintalking trying to get me on their motorbikes even after I said, rather clearly and loudly NO! I even managed to come accross a local guy who started to hit me shouting 5 dollars 5 dollars - he was a runaway from the closeby mental institute i am sure.
Saigon was so much better than what I expected on the other hand.... It was warm and people were nice and the food was good and Madam Cuc 127 hotel was great and Saigon Tom was just amazing. Saigon Tom is 20, a uni student with 2 brothers, a sister, a housewife-mom, and a motorman-dad...... and he is so much fun.... for the sake of speaking English, i think he would do many things for you. I got his contact details from Dave, and just as agreed, Tom came to pick me up with his bike on the Monday eve and showed me around. Took me to the park to sit on newspapers on the ground and drink iced coffee with the locals, took me to a local restaruant for Pho Bo, and was talking nonstop for 3 hours. Then on Tuesday he drove me around his neighbourhood, took me for a coffee to Cafe -18degreese (no spelling mistake..), introduced me to the family, and then asked for one last beer before I took off.... cheeky, but honest!!! :) If you are in Saigon any time, let me know, he would be greatful to meet anyone with better English than he has! I promise!
From Saigon, I flew to Hoi An (for 25 EUR, with JetStar), or to Da Nang to be exact. From the airport a driver from the Hoi An Hotel Southern picked me up for 16 USD and drove me to the hotel, which is about 45km away from the 3rd biggest city in Vietnam. I loved the place, it was clean and spacious and quiet, with a free hourly shuttle service to the old city area that is about 5 mins away, the beach is about 10.. Wednesday was photo-taking, exploring, eating, and tailor-ing day - I had so much fun, I was even considering staying for an extra day.
But then I didnt, I picked up the dresses I got made, arranged a taxi, and a trainticket to and accomodation in Hue (Waterland is the place I stayed at, honestly, nothing to call home about) and left in the afternoon on Thursday. The train (which is just a little worse than the trains in Hungary...) cost 12 USD and was only half an hour late so took 3 hours (66km on the road), but the ride was so spectacular, somehting similar to the NZ coastal train - I can only recommend to do it and then fly out straight away from Hue. The big thing here is the Imperial city - which is, honestly, after having been in Beijing and Siem Reap, didnt even worth for me to pay the entrance fee. And people are SO arrogant............... okay, i stop it. I fly out in an hour, and deliver the 2 Americans' passports....... dont even ask....... :D
Here are the Hue pics:
Saigon was so much better than what I expected on the other hand.... It was warm and people were nice and the food was good and Madam Cuc 127 hotel was great and Saigon Tom was just amazing. Saigon Tom is 20, a uni student with 2 brothers, a sister, a housewife-mom, and a motorman-dad...... and he is so much fun.... for the sake of speaking English, i think he would do many things for you. I got his contact details from Dave, and just as agreed, Tom came to pick me up with his bike on the Monday eve and showed me around. Took me to the park to sit on newspapers on the ground and drink iced coffee with the locals, took me to a local restaruant for Pho Bo, and was talking nonstop for 3 hours. Then on Tuesday he drove me around his neighbourhood, took me for a coffee to Cafe -18degreese (no spelling mistake..), introduced me to the family, and then asked for one last beer before I took off.... cheeky, but honest!!! :) If you are in Saigon any time, let me know, he would be greatful to meet anyone with better English than he has! I promise!
From Saigon, I flew to Hoi An (for 25 EUR, with JetStar), or to Da Nang to be exact. From the airport a driver from the Hoi An Hotel Southern picked me up for 16 USD and drove me to the hotel, which is about 45km away from the 3rd biggest city in Vietnam. I loved the place, it was clean and spacious and quiet, with a free hourly shuttle service to the old city area that is about 5 mins away, the beach is about 10.. Wednesday was photo-taking, exploring, eating, and tailor-ing day - I had so much fun, I was even considering staying for an extra day.
But then I didnt, I picked up the dresses I got made, arranged a taxi, and a trainticket to and accomodation in Hue (Waterland is the place I stayed at, honestly, nothing to call home about) and left in the afternoon on Thursday. The train (which is just a little worse than the trains in Hungary...) cost 12 USD and was only half an hour late so took 3 hours (66km on the road), but the ride was so spectacular, somehting similar to the NZ coastal train - I can only recommend to do it and then fly out straight away from Hue. The big thing here is the Imperial city - which is, honestly, after having been in Beijing and Siem Reap, didnt even worth for me to pay the entrance fee. And people are SO arrogant............... okay, i stop it. I fly out in an hour, and deliver the 2 Americans' passports....... dont even ask....... :D
Here are the Hue pics:
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Camping at Keri's
The rest of my stay in Taipei was almost as eventful as the first few days. I found a local gym and went for a workout - and ended up hurting myself so badly that I still cannot straighten my left arm without hissing, and its been 5 days today. I did make an attempt to get downtown and see some things, but the weather and the million people on escalators and in metro stops put me off rather quickly, I was back in Keri's house under the blankets with beef-noodle for dinner within 2 hours.
Saturday we planned to sleep in - but due to the sledgehammer next door there was no chance of doing so after 7.30am - it was an early start. In the afternoon came the 3rd attempt to get downtown, we went to the Taipei 101 - but the weather was so shitty we didnt even go up to the tower, but instead, had some haag n dazs, coffee, lunch, and some (expensive) shopping done - god bless Armani and Lancome! ;) On the way home, we managed to make the 10 minute drive to last almost 2 hours, thanks to a crappy GPS, and were so relieved when we finally got home that, we opened a bottle of wine. And then another one. And then finished the leftovers from the night before.... and then it was 11pm, we still havent had any dinner so we went out. To a club. But of course! I had a great time!! :) Probably a lil more alcohol than should have had but didnt do anything outrageous; spoke to a 67yearold taxidriver who was trying to give us recommendations on which club/pub to go to; was amazed how quiet the city was on a Sat. eve; had some midnight sausage; and ended up in a bar that is for 20-year-old locals, with great music being presented by local, up and coming DJs. It was great. And then an American couple showed up next to us, which meant that some of the locals started buying shots (not sure about how these things work, but what I saw was: Americans next to us - and a minute later there were shots in front of me) - so we pulled the plug and ran home. And drank some more and talked until 5am. HA! I havent been up so late since last August. :D
The Saturday eve shanannigens resulted in no more trying to get anywhere - we were invited for lunch by a friend of Keri's family so we had to get up at noon and go and behave and eat (amazing dim sum) but after that, - we went back home, pulled out all the blankets from the 2 bedrooms, turned the TV on, got the icecream out of the fridge, ate beef noodles for dinner again, while it was just pouring outside...... What a great Sunday it was! :)
Here are the photos:
Saturday we planned to sleep in - but due to the sledgehammer next door there was no chance of doing so after 7.30am - it was an early start. In the afternoon came the 3rd attempt to get downtown, we went to the Taipei 101 - but the weather was so shitty we didnt even go up to the tower, but instead, had some haag n dazs, coffee, lunch, and some (expensive) shopping done - god bless Armani and Lancome! ;) On the way home, we managed to make the 10 minute drive to last almost 2 hours, thanks to a crappy GPS, and were so relieved when we finally got home that, we opened a bottle of wine. And then another one. And then finished the leftovers from the night before.... and then it was 11pm, we still havent had any dinner so we went out. To a club. But of course! I had a great time!! :) Probably a lil more alcohol than should have had but didnt do anything outrageous; spoke to a 67yearold taxidriver who was trying to give us recommendations on which club/pub to go to; was amazed how quiet the city was on a Sat. eve; had some midnight sausage; and ended up in a bar that is for 20-year-old locals, with great music being presented by local, up and coming DJs. It was great. And then an American couple showed up next to us, which meant that some of the locals started buying shots (not sure about how these things work, but what I saw was: Americans next to us - and a minute later there were shots in front of me) - so we pulled the plug and ran home. And drank some more and talked until 5am. HA! I havent been up so late since last August. :D
The Saturday eve shanannigens resulted in no more trying to get anywhere - we were invited for lunch by a friend of Keri's family so we had to get up at noon and go and behave and eat (amazing dim sum) but after that, - we went back home, pulled out all the blankets from the 2 bedrooms, turned the TV on, got the icecream out of the fridge, ate beef noodles for dinner again, while it was just pouring outside...... What a great Sunday it was! :)
Here are the photos:
Winter in Taiwan
Yesterday, which was Wednesday afternoon (23rd of March) I landed in Taipei – and within 2 minutes froze to complete hibernation. Man I forgot how winter is like. Me no like, at all!
After the usual, getting some cash out and a local sim card, I took a cab to Keri's office, to an outskirt of Taipei with factories and dodgeness, and was really looking forward for her to finish her meetings and have some time to chat and start to catch up – its been years since we saw each other last, in Beijing it was, in 2006, looooong time ago. She had a treat prepared for me: shopping in IKEA for my own bed, pillows and sheets – hehe! She just moved over (last week actually) from Salt Lake city and so, hadn't even had a spare sheet in her apartment for me to sleep on. So IKEA it was and meatballs for dinner, then back at her place – which is just awesome, in the middle of Taipei (according to the map….) with a rooftop loft and a terrace and the most incredible bathtub I have ever seen in my entire life (see photos in the next post..) - had some wine, messed around with the internet connection (which still doesn't work, at all) and, both passed out – me in my own new bed - around midnight.
I had no plans for today and when I got up, again quite late, with a ridiculous migrane, I was so cold that I decided not to move at all, eat Weetbix with soymilk, drink hot coffee, wrap up in blankets and watch TV the whole day. Still no internet connection though which is not handy, but at least I could help my dear friend with letting her handyman in to fix the washingmachine, lights, loo, dishwasher, put the curtains on, managed the IKEA delivery and now waiting for the IT person to show up and fix cyberspace……….. and I am still cold.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Sunday in Hong Kong was half a day for me: due to the fact that I only went to sleep at 3am - which hasn’t happened in a LONG time - I only got out of bed around noon. By the time I was done with breakfast and emails and Starbucks, it was already 2.30 in the afternoon – I decided to go back to some of the areas Pad took me and, try not to spend all my money I had but do the shopping I wanted to. I finally got the sleeping sack I wanted to buy back in October, wondered into Nine West and couldn’t resist some heels, had an Italian meal at a restaurant I saw the previous day (for 25 EUR, that kinda hurt), an the day flew away in a blink of the eye.
After all the rain and clouds and 15C it was sunny and just beautiful spring weather when I woke up on Monday, 25C, not a single cloud on the sky, so I took my backpack, the sunglasses and headed towards Hong Kong Island. Took me 3 days to get there, but hey. Star Ferry ride there – great views – but what blew my mind away was the seats: you can flip the backrest over and so, decide which way you want to face on the boat. WOW!
Then came the most scenic local bus ride I have ever had: for 2 HKD which is about 18 centEUR, an hour-long ride on the top of a double-decker, through the green hills of the island, overlooking beautiful bays with yachts and mansions and swimming pools and beaches and crazy number of Ferraris and Jags, and overall richland. Add to this Puccini on the iPod and trees in blossoms – and you get it why I was smiling like a lunatic all the way. I bused all the way to Stanley and instead of getting off at the market, decided to stay on for an extra (and final) stop and walk back…. I didn’t….. the busdriver stopped the double-decker on his way back, right next to me, explained that its nothing exciting walking the way I headed, and told me to get back on, he would show me which way to go. Can you believe that? I had a whole double-decker for myself!! :D
The pictures show how amazing this place was - in case you haven’t had the chance to visit this place, yet.
I had lunch at a vegetarian place which Jonathan recommended, for a lot more sensible 7 EUR total, and for dinner, I got an invitation from Norman – Dustin’s friend who owns the apartment I was staying at - to join him and his clients for a steak in the eve. Rock on, crashing someone else’s business dinner, in jeans, flipflops and a t-shirt… that’s how I roll these days…
On my last day the clouds and winter came back – just to piss me off I guess – it was gloomy and cold, just like my mood. Walking up and down, I made friends with Alice and her 3 lil friends, a group of lovely 12-year-olds, doing their homework; filling out a questionnaire and having a photo taken with any willing foreigner they come across. We had a nice chat, exchanged email addresses, took some pics, laughed and all of us went on our own way – I just found it very cute that as shy as these girls are, with their improving English, they do come up to you, smile and make the effort to do a conversation, truly interested in whatever you have to say.
The day’s destination was the Peak on Hong Kong Island, it was just so cold and windy I couldn’t quite enjoy it. On my way back home some magic happened and the weather cleared up, and, at 8pm I finally managed to watch the Light Orchestra – a laser-lightshow with music over the night HKG skyline.
After all the rain and clouds and 15C it was sunny and just beautiful spring weather when I woke up on Monday, 25C, not a single cloud on the sky, so I took my backpack, the sunglasses and headed towards Hong Kong Island. Took me 3 days to get there, but hey. Star Ferry ride there – great views – but what blew my mind away was the seats: you can flip the backrest over and so, decide which way you want to face on the boat. WOW!
Then came the most scenic local bus ride I have ever had: for 2 HKD which is about 18 centEUR, an hour-long ride on the top of a double-decker, through the green hills of the island, overlooking beautiful bays with yachts and mansions and swimming pools and beaches and crazy number of Ferraris and Jags, and overall richland. Add to this Puccini on the iPod and trees in blossoms – and you get it why I was smiling like a lunatic all the way. I bused all the way to Stanley and instead of getting off at the market, decided to stay on for an extra (and final) stop and walk back…. I didn’t….. the busdriver stopped the double-decker on his way back, right next to me, explained that its nothing exciting walking the way I headed, and told me to get back on, he would show me which way to go. Can you believe that? I had a whole double-decker for myself!! :D
The pictures show how amazing this place was - in case you haven’t had the chance to visit this place, yet.
I had lunch at a vegetarian place which Jonathan recommended, for a lot more sensible 7 EUR total, and for dinner, I got an invitation from Norman – Dustin’s friend who owns the apartment I was staying at - to join him and his clients for a steak in the eve. Rock on, crashing someone else’s business dinner, in jeans, flipflops and a t-shirt… that’s how I roll these days…
On my last day the clouds and winter came back – just to piss me off I guess – it was gloomy and cold, just like my mood. Walking up and down, I made friends with Alice and her 3 lil friends, a group of lovely 12-year-olds, doing their homework; filling out a questionnaire and having a photo taken with any willing foreigner they come across. We had a nice chat, exchanged email addresses, took some pics, laughed and all of us went on our own way – I just found it very cute that as shy as these girls are, with their improving English, they do come up to you, smile and make the effort to do a conversation, truly interested in whatever you have to say.
The day’s destination was the Peak on Hong Kong Island, it was just so cold and windy I couldn’t quite enjoy it. On my way back home some magic happened and the weather cleared up, and, at 8pm I finally managed to watch the Light Orchestra – a laser-lightshow with music over the night HKG skyline.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Hong Kong shocker
It is 11:48pm – night 2 in Hong Kong, and I am about to go out and watch England playing Ireland in an hour….
So, about 20 minutes ago, while I was getting out of the bathroom, the door to the apartment opened and walked in Jonathan with his two huge bags, utterly shocked, face red, a typical British man in his late 40s, a colleague of the owner of the place, staying until next Friday - apparently.
Last week I was told, by Norman, a friend of Dustin’s – and one of the largest helmet manufacturers existing, as it turns out - that I would have his company’s apartment for myself for the time I am here, no worries, everyone is out of town for the next few weeks… aha…
I am not sure which one of us had the bigger shock, Jonathan or me…. But, regardless, after we both got our heart-rate back to normal and had a good laugh, he convinced me to go watch the game and have a few beers – so I thought, why not, its Saturday eve in the end, and noone sleeps here before 3am anyway.
Wondering what other surprises I will come accross / or will come accross me…
The first one was the apartment, or rather, the building and the immediate surroundings of it: hookers downstairs, half pigs on hooks on the first floor at the fire exit of the Jade restaurant’s kitchen, or, the fact that 1 of the 2 elevators due to the Chinese superstition that number 4 is unlucky, just does not stop on the 4th floor (where the apartment is).
Hong Kong itself is completely overwhelming but in a good way: it is just like you’d imagine after seeing it on movies. Lights, colors, herds of people doing shopping at midnight, restaurants serving duck with their heads on the plate too, Starbucks and McD in every block of buildings, goods for sale from China – everything, I mean EVERYTHING you need you may find. Even super Star Wars edition Adidas sneakers!! In my size too!
On the first day, Pad Lee, a former colleague from DHL picked me up after I had breakfast – with a tourist map, an Octopus card (for public transportation), a reservation at a local restaurant for lunch, a big smile, plans for every minute of the afternoon, and one to meet his wife and son for dinner at a FANTASTICALLY AMZINGLY AWESOME teriyaki restaurant just off the Ladies market. I was blown away by the kindness of this man. Dustin, thanks – yet again – for another great friend of yours! :)
So, about 20 minutes ago, while I was getting out of the bathroom, the door to the apartment opened and walked in Jonathan with his two huge bags, utterly shocked, face red, a typical British man in his late 40s, a colleague of the owner of the place, staying until next Friday - apparently.
Last week I was told, by Norman, a friend of Dustin’s – and one of the largest helmet manufacturers existing, as it turns out - that I would have his company’s apartment for myself for the time I am here, no worries, everyone is out of town for the next few weeks… aha…
I am not sure which one of us had the bigger shock, Jonathan or me…. But, regardless, after we both got our heart-rate back to normal and had a good laugh, he convinced me to go watch the game and have a few beers – so I thought, why not, its Saturday eve in the end, and noone sleeps here before 3am anyway.
Wondering what other surprises I will come accross / or will come accross me…
The first one was the apartment, or rather, the building and the immediate surroundings of it: hookers downstairs, half pigs on hooks on the first floor at the fire exit of the Jade restaurant’s kitchen, or, the fact that 1 of the 2 elevators due to the Chinese superstition that number 4 is unlucky, just does not stop on the 4th floor (where the apartment is).
Hong Kong itself is completely overwhelming but in a good way: it is just like you’d imagine after seeing it on movies. Lights, colors, herds of people doing shopping at midnight, restaurants serving duck with their heads on the plate too, Starbucks and McD in every block of buildings, goods for sale from China – everything, I mean EVERYTHING you need you may find. Even super Star Wars edition Adidas sneakers!! In my size too!
On the first day, Pad Lee, a former colleague from DHL picked me up after I had breakfast – with a tourist map, an Octopus card (for public transportation), a reservation at a local restaurant for lunch, a big smile, plans for every minute of the afternoon, and one to meet his wife and son for dinner at a FANTASTICALLY AMZINGLY AWESOME teriyaki restaurant just off the Ladies market. I was blown away by the kindness of this man. Dustin, thanks – yet again – for another great friend of yours! :)
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Phuket, round 2
The January training sessions and the time we spent at Mama's were so sweet, that the week after we left Phuket we already talked about coming back here for a few weeks.. So we did. Landed on the 26th of February and were not picked up by the cab Mama arranged - well, one of the hickups that just happen here. We spent the Sunday with moving bungalows, unpacking, doing the first shopping run for the essentials such as the ant-traps, fruits and veggies and bottles of V8, spent time talking with the crew at Mama's - it was really nice to be back!
Monday we both stareted training, me doing yoga, the crazy bodyfit and some krabi krabong, Dave jumped straight into muay thai after the first - and VERY different - yoga session in the morning. Simon simply went mad during the few weeks we were away, not really sure what happened, but we stopped going to yoga after the second class. It was just not a place either of us wanted to be any longer.
Well, apart from this - nothing else happened at all! :) Great time, great weather, continuous laughs, good food, pooltime, dinners at Tony's and Fatty's, training every day, Starbucks and Stardust, movie nights, many massage sessions with Pong, reading Mr Nice, planning the near future - oh, and my 30th birthday, nice and sweet and simple, no drama just tons of rain; and then a day diving later that week with a few of the boys from the bodyfit class. 3 weeks gone.
On Thursday, Dave leaves for Vietnam and I leave for Hong Kong on Friday. Then I will visit my dear friend Keri in Taiwan next week before heading to Saigon for a few, then meeting Dave in Hanoi in the beginning of April. ....as the plans go.
I am superexcited to go to Hong Kong and to see Keri - not so much about Vietnam itself but I know it will be just awesome to see the smiley face again after 2 weeks apart. Not really sure how it will be after we say goodbye and head off to two different continents afterwards though......... well, such is life, isnt it.
Monday we both stareted training, me doing yoga, the crazy bodyfit and some krabi krabong, Dave jumped straight into muay thai after the first - and VERY different - yoga session in the morning. Simon simply went mad during the few weeks we were away, not really sure what happened, but we stopped going to yoga after the second class. It was just not a place either of us wanted to be any longer.
Well, apart from this - nothing else happened at all! :) Great time, great weather, continuous laughs, good food, pooltime, dinners at Tony's and Fatty's, training every day, Starbucks and Stardust, movie nights, many massage sessions with Pong, reading Mr Nice, planning the near future - oh, and my 30th birthday, nice and sweet and simple, no drama just tons of rain; and then a day diving later that week with a few of the boys from the bodyfit class. 3 weeks gone.
On Thursday, Dave leaves for Vietnam and I leave for Hong Kong on Friday. Then I will visit my dear friend Keri in Taiwan next week before heading to Saigon for a few, then meeting Dave in Hanoi in the beginning of April. ....as the plans go.
I am superexcited to go to Hong Kong and to see Keri - not so much about Vietnam itself but I know it will be just awesome to see the smiley face again after 2 weeks apart. Not really sure how it will be after we say goodbye and head off to two different continents afterwards though......... well, such is life, isnt it.
Thursday, March 03, 2011
Visa run to Mai Sai, Myanmar
Unless you get your visa in advance, you only get a 14-day visa when entering Thailand; and the 500 TBH/day fine is a bit too much when you are planning to overstay your time by a few weeks. To solve most traveller's visa issues, there are visa-runs, operated by different companies, usually using mini-vans to the Thai-Burma/Laos/Cambodian borders; it costs 700 THB (from Chiang Mai), takes about 11 hours - and you get to go to another country for as long as 2 hours, to get your stamp in the passport on the way back. Hell I was not looking forward to this ride.
Leaving at 7am, being picked up an hour later, sitting on the bus for 4 hours, we arrived to the northest part of Thailand, to the Mai Sai border of Myanmar shortly after midday.
We had until 2pm to get back to the bus. Crossing the border is easy, you pay 500 THB and exchange your passport (literally) for an "Entry card", that is supposedly containing some data from your passport, unless the lady at the immigration office is completely ignorant and doesnt give a flying fart on the info she puts into her computer..... I tell you its not a nice feeling to be without identity and have a "false" one on top of all; the 2 hours without my passport only brought those sour memories back from the exact same weekend last year, when all my stuff was stolen from Karl's car and the mess that followed during that eve..... grrrr.
Funny it was when right on the "other side" I bumped into Ariel, the girl who I bought my Thai mobile from a week or so ago. Small world it is!
Walking a few minutes away from the hyenas trying to get you to go for a ride with them, I saw one guy from the minibus having some food - I joined him hoping to see/eat/find something interesting - and I surely did. The ginger chicken I ordered (and paid 100 THB for) was carrot and pork soaking in oil, but the tea-leaf salad my lunch companion was having didnt look or taste any better either. One thing I found amazing: the commune-lighters, hanging from the ceiling on chains above every table.. check out the pics below!
At the border crossing back to Thailand, after having had to photocopy half of my passport and provide the usual 2 passport photos, I was be-sistered with a Latvian girl (same country same country the immigration officers assured us), but the rest of it was rather eventless. The drive back was long, but the landscape was something I will never forget: winding hill-roads, padi fields, jungle, amazing little villages, sunset - aaaaaaa I am going back there, once I have the bike licence done..... Ya, I made some plans for the future. I will start to send my CV out soon and look for a part-time project - unless something great and grand and exciting with loads of money and options to move around lands in my lap - and do massage/yoga in the rest of the time. As for the next few weeks, it is Phuket until the 17/18th of March, then 2 weeks somewhere before meeting Dave one last time before he heads over to Australia and I head back home in mid April.
Oh and one more thing: I am more and more convinced with every day, that I am, and I am the most fortunate person in the world, spending months of summer laughing and laughing, and have the chance and possibility to train, eat well, sunbathe, swim in the ocean, AND do all this with the best company one could wish for herself.. :)
Leaving at 7am, being picked up an hour later, sitting on the bus for 4 hours, we arrived to the northest part of Thailand, to the Mai Sai border of Myanmar shortly after midday.
We had until 2pm to get back to the bus. Crossing the border is easy, you pay 500 THB and exchange your passport (literally) for an "Entry card", that is supposedly containing some data from your passport, unless the lady at the immigration office is completely ignorant and doesnt give a flying fart on the info she puts into her computer..... I tell you its not a nice feeling to be without identity and have a "false" one on top of all; the 2 hours without my passport only brought those sour memories back from the exact same weekend last year, when all my stuff was stolen from Karl's car and the mess that followed during that eve..... grrrr.
Funny it was when right on the "other side" I bumped into Ariel, the girl who I bought my Thai mobile from a week or so ago. Small world it is!
Walking a few minutes away from the hyenas trying to get you to go for a ride with them, I saw one guy from the minibus having some food - I joined him hoping to see/eat/find something interesting - and I surely did. The ginger chicken I ordered (and paid 100 THB for) was carrot and pork soaking in oil, but the tea-leaf salad my lunch companion was having didnt look or taste any better either. One thing I found amazing: the commune-lighters, hanging from the ceiling on chains above every table.. check out the pics below!
At the border crossing back to Thailand, after having had to photocopy half of my passport and provide the usual 2 passport photos, I was be-sistered with a Latvian girl (same country same country the immigration officers assured us), but the rest of it was rather eventless. The drive back was long, but the landscape was something I will never forget: winding hill-roads, padi fields, jungle, amazing little villages, sunset - aaaaaaa I am going back there, once I have the bike licence done..... Ya, I made some plans for the future. I will start to send my CV out soon and look for a part-time project - unless something great and grand and exciting with loads of money and options to move around lands in my lap - and do massage/yoga in the rest of the time. As for the next few weeks, it is Phuket until the 17/18th of March, then 2 weeks somewhere before meeting Dave one last time before he heads over to Australia and I head back home in mid April.
Oh and one more thing: I am more and more convinced with every day, that I am, and I am the most fortunate person in the world, spending months of summer laughing and laughing, and have the chance and possibility to train, eat well, sunbathe, swim in the ocean, AND do all this with the best company one could wish for herself.. :)
Wednesday, March 02, 2011
Chiang Mai extension
With my (not) newly found enthusiasm in learning the thai massage and Dave doing the course too, I extended my stay with a week - another 6000 THB (approx. 200 USD) but all the poses learnt thats needed to give a full massage; why not.
Dave arrived after 2 nights spent on overnight trains from Laos and Bangkok - he was pretty happy too for the free night's stay we got from Trudi - she won this at the school on the V-day lucky draw, and decided to give it away to a couple to use up - how very sweet and thoughtful of her! :) In return for the nice gift, I invited her to come to a classical music concert with us on Saturday eve - where I was again re-assured that I didnt like Kodaly at all, where bugs were kamikaze-flying off the ceiling the whole time, and David was misbehaving so much that I was having a sore stomach from all the laughing by the end of the concert.. it was so great to have him there again! After the concert we had a few Jacks, many more hours of laughing and talking and even a dance at the terrace of a restaurant, followed by an awesome 10pm snack at the Jerusalem Falafel restaurant - there was nothing that could have ruined my mood.
I booked a visa-run for myself for the 26th to Burma and also, flights for Phuket for the same day - yaaaay, the swimming pool was again in sight in only a week's time. Dave joining the massage classes meant constant laughs for me - imagine when I start to practice and there is a smiley on one of his toes :D - man I had a brilliant time, I dont think I have ever had nonstop giggles for days not ending! :) We stayed on the rooftop's private room of the school for the week for 350 THB per night, had loads of Starbucks coffee at the nearby Airport Plaza, a manicure and pedicure, went to see another (this time, horrible) Thai movie and even had an awesome dinner on the roof with a bottle of red wine - it was just getting better and better every day!
After the exam on Friday, I was doing the visa-run while Dave took a cooking class; and at midnight the same Saturday we landed in Phuket, not having the taxi waiting for us that Mama was going to arrange for us.. Oh well... we were back and the weather was amazing; hot and sticky, perfect for the coming afternoons by the swimming pool....... :D
Dave arrived after 2 nights spent on overnight trains from Laos and Bangkok - he was pretty happy too for the free night's stay we got from Trudi - she won this at the school on the V-day lucky draw, and decided to give it away to a couple to use up - how very sweet and thoughtful of her! :) In return for the nice gift, I invited her to come to a classical music concert with us on Saturday eve - where I was again re-assured that I didnt like Kodaly at all, where bugs were kamikaze-flying off the ceiling the whole time, and David was misbehaving so much that I was having a sore stomach from all the laughing by the end of the concert.. it was so great to have him there again! After the concert we had a few Jacks, many more hours of laughing and talking and even a dance at the terrace of a restaurant, followed by an awesome 10pm snack at the Jerusalem Falafel restaurant - there was nothing that could have ruined my mood.
I booked a visa-run for myself for the 26th to Burma and also, flights for Phuket for the same day - yaaaay, the swimming pool was again in sight in only a week's time. Dave joining the massage classes meant constant laughs for me - imagine when I start to practice and there is a smiley on one of his toes :D - man I had a brilliant time, I dont think I have ever had nonstop giggles for days not ending! :) We stayed on the rooftop's private room of the school for the week for 350 THB per night, had loads of Starbucks coffee at the nearby Airport Plaza, a manicure and pedicure, went to see another (this time, horrible) Thai movie and even had an awesome dinner on the roof with a bottle of red wine - it was just getting better and better every day!
After the exam on Friday, I was doing the visa-run while Dave took a cooking class; and at midnight the same Saturday we landed in Phuket, not having the taxi waiting for us that Mama was going to arrange for us.. Oh well... we were back and the weather was amazing; hot and sticky, perfect for the coming afternoons by the swimming pool....... :D
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
Thai massage course in Chiang Mai, Thailand
I arrived without much trouble on the 13th of February with one tiny hickup: I only got a 14-day visa for Thailand while I was going to stay for almost a month - I should have applied for a visa in Laos... Oh well.
The Old Medicine Hospital, where I was going to learn thai massage and stay for the coming week or so was a 5 minute drive from the airport, about half an hour away from the old city - I was not thrilled with the concept of having to tuk-tuk everywhere or walk for hours. The accomodation the school was providing was, though entirely free, very basic: a matrass and a curtain for privacy among 10 ladies; from various age-groups and coutnries around the world: American, Colombian, German, Spanish, Italian, Thai, from 24 till 60-years of age.. such an interesting bunch!
After checking in I headed downtown to get some food; not having any sense of directions I asked a white man where to go - he was kind enough to ditch his bicycle and show me how the system of yellow and red pickup trucks worked and took me to Chiang Mai gate. After walking for 5 minutes I was ready to get out of the place I was expecting to be something it simply wasnt; full of old German men and their young Thai girls, schnitzel and drought beer everywhere. I ate at a slightly overpriced vegetarian restaurant called Aum - the food was really good though so I didnt mind paying 3 times as much as I was used to at Mama's.. The Sunday night market was on full blast - I had to make a rather huge effort not to spend all the money I had on me and so, ran away with a cup full of strawberries pretty quickly.
On the way "home" I decided against my common sense and bought a pack of cigaretts - and thats when I met Derek who was going to start the massage course too the following day, we sat down and talked for hours, smoked a few cigs and threw the rest of the pack away. :)
Derek was going to find a muay thai gym on Phuket - and eventually ended up with us in Tiger 2 weeks later - but let me give you the highlights of the Ching Mai stay first..
The class on Monday morning started with a prayer at 9am, followed by a short orientation session; we got our books and introduced ourselves; 24 people from all over the world was going to spend the following week together. During the Mon-Tue-Wed sessions we were going to learn all the poses with a few hours of practice each day, then practice on Thursday all day and do a full-day exam on Friday - it was going to be a busy week, no doubt. Fai and Lida, our teachers were great, there is one thing I am: greatful for their help and competence! My dear practice partner for most of the post-class sessions was Florian, it felt like he was my brother by the end of the week. During the first lunchbreak we figured there was a huge mall within 10 minute walk and an organic food supermarket on the corner - and so 2 weeks later I left the place with 3 more kilos than what I arrived with. Pffff..
Monday evening me, Flo, Derek, Christian and Sonja headed to Miguel's, more for the burritos than for the Couch Surfing meeting where I was going to meet a Ariel with a spare phone she had for me - we had a nice eve with good food and later a long chat on the Reggae bar terrace; nackered by 9pm on Valentine's-night, off to our lonely but noisy beds at the school's dorm.
Most of the days were pretty had work in the end; taking notes and doing the practice the whole day. I guess if it wasnt for the coffees at the supermarket, I am not sure I would have survived the week. In the evenings we went for some food to Chinaman's or to the mall; did post-class sessions until stupid-o-clock every night - but regardless of the exhaustion, I was so very happy to be there! This Thai massage is a great invention, not only for the receiver but for the one who gives the massage too; it is close, touchy, personal, easy, nice, a great excercise, yoga, reiki and meditation at the same time.... by day 2 I decided to stay an extra week and do another course before heading back to Phuket, and also, Dave decided to leave Laos and join too - I was really happy to see him again over the weekend.
Friday after the exam (which, we all passed, needless to say) we were all ready to go out and have a few drinks and a good time - and guess what, it was Buddha day.... this only meant that they were not serving alcohol in most of the pubs/supermarkets - I was personally going mental that I couldnt have the beer I so much deserved.... No beer meant 3 meals for dinner and 2 portions of mango sticky rice - no wonder I put so much weight on during those two weeks in Chiang Mai... After walking around for hours we found a bar with a csocso-table that served alcohol - I was on the long island ice teas beating everyone in fussball in no time. :) It was great, and, Dave was going to arrive at 7am the following morning so, everything was perfect anyway. :)
The Old Medicine Hospital, where I was going to learn thai massage and stay for the coming week or so was a 5 minute drive from the airport, about half an hour away from the old city - I was not thrilled with the concept of having to tuk-tuk everywhere or walk for hours. The accomodation the school was providing was, though entirely free, very basic: a matrass and a curtain for privacy among 10 ladies; from various age-groups and coutnries around the world: American, Colombian, German, Spanish, Italian, Thai, from 24 till 60-years of age.. such an interesting bunch!
After checking in I headed downtown to get some food; not having any sense of directions I asked a white man where to go - he was kind enough to ditch his bicycle and show me how the system of yellow and red pickup trucks worked and took me to Chiang Mai gate. After walking for 5 minutes I was ready to get out of the place I was expecting to be something it simply wasnt; full of old German men and their young Thai girls, schnitzel and drought beer everywhere. I ate at a slightly overpriced vegetarian restaurant called Aum - the food was really good though so I didnt mind paying 3 times as much as I was used to at Mama's.. The Sunday night market was on full blast - I had to make a rather huge effort not to spend all the money I had on me and so, ran away with a cup full of strawberries pretty quickly.
On the way "home" I decided against my common sense and bought a pack of cigaretts - and thats when I met Derek who was going to start the massage course too the following day, we sat down and talked for hours, smoked a few cigs and threw the rest of the pack away. :)
Derek was going to find a muay thai gym on Phuket - and eventually ended up with us in Tiger 2 weeks later - but let me give you the highlights of the Ching Mai stay first..
The class on Monday morning started with a prayer at 9am, followed by a short orientation session; we got our books and introduced ourselves; 24 people from all over the world was going to spend the following week together. During the Mon-Tue-Wed sessions we were going to learn all the poses with a few hours of practice each day, then practice on Thursday all day and do a full-day exam on Friday - it was going to be a busy week, no doubt. Fai and Lida, our teachers were great, there is one thing I am: greatful for their help and competence! My dear practice partner for most of the post-class sessions was Florian, it felt like he was my brother by the end of the week. During the first lunchbreak we figured there was a huge mall within 10 minute walk and an organic food supermarket on the corner - and so 2 weeks later I left the place with 3 more kilos than what I arrived with. Pffff..
Monday evening me, Flo, Derek, Christian and Sonja headed to Miguel's, more for the burritos than for the Couch Surfing meeting where I was going to meet a Ariel with a spare phone she had for me - we had a nice eve with good food and later a long chat on the Reggae bar terrace; nackered by 9pm on Valentine's-night, off to our lonely but noisy beds at the school's dorm.
Most of the days were pretty had work in the end; taking notes and doing the practice the whole day. I guess if it wasnt for the coffees at the supermarket, I am not sure I would have survived the week. In the evenings we went for some food to Chinaman's or to the mall; did post-class sessions until stupid-o-clock every night - but regardless of the exhaustion, I was so very happy to be there! This Thai massage is a great invention, not only for the receiver but for the one who gives the massage too; it is close, touchy, personal, easy, nice, a great excercise, yoga, reiki and meditation at the same time.... by day 2 I decided to stay an extra week and do another course before heading back to Phuket, and also, Dave decided to leave Laos and join too - I was really happy to see him again over the weekend.
Friday after the exam (which, we all passed, needless to say) we were all ready to go out and have a few drinks and a good time - and guess what, it was Buddha day.... this only meant that they were not serving alcohol in most of the pubs/supermarkets - I was personally going mental that I couldnt have the beer I so much deserved.... No beer meant 3 meals for dinner and 2 portions of mango sticky rice - no wonder I put so much weight on during those two weeks in Chiang Mai... After walking around for hours we found a bar with a csocso-table that served alcohol - I was on the long island ice teas beating everyone in fussball in no time. :) It was great, and, Dave was going to arrive at 7am the following morning so, everything was perfect anyway. :)
Monday, February 28, 2011
Luang Prabang, Laos
I found my new favorite place - definitely the one in SE Asia: Luang Prabang. We flew here from Pakse, trying to shorten the travel time from the south of Laos as much as posssible before my Sunday departure for Chiang Mai.
The place we booked for 30 USD per night, Merry Guesthouse 2 was beautiful, really well kept and family-run, a great spot to spend a few days at. Our first meal, the mega-size salads at Lao Lao Garden and the walk through our side of Phu Si (not joking with the name) made me instantly fall in love with the city; it is charming, quiet, beautiful, clean, people are kind and noone wants to rape you for half a dollar - very relaxing! The Friday morning we got our Vietnam visas sorted first, for 510000 kip - those numbers really mess with your conscious for a while. In the afternoon I went for a walk around the city and along the Mekong and met 2 Hungarian guys at one of the temples, had a coffee with them and talked about their adventures in Laos - I was SO happy to speak some Hungarian after such a long time... In the eve we went to see the sunset on Phu Si with Dave and laughed our asses off about the name and, the one Buddha for every day of the week collection halfway up the hill - there was even a little song born out of our madness there.. ;) Then walking along the city we found something else Hungarian: Liza's Icon Bar, with a book on Pecs on the shelf and a bottle of Unicum in the fridge - it was interesting to see part of me right on the other side of the world, in such an interesting setup.
Saturday morning Dave was feeling a little rough so I took some water and my camera and headed for the countryside to leave him rest in peace for a few hours. Walking through tiny little villages the first thing I saw was a roosterfight, then jungle and pure magic all the way, talked to some friendly locals, saw women making silk textiles, paper, do their usual Saturday morning chores - and took a gazillion pictures:
I had such a great time walking around I could not believe it. You know, when you are just so content that you smile constantly, dont need anything at all, no food or drinks or music or conversations or any stimulation - when you are just there, loving every minute for the sake of being there..... it was that feeling..
And then Sunday morning I left for Chiang Mai, not sure what to expect but ready to go back to school, learn massage and meet new faces; and at the same time already looking forward to be back on Phuket with Dave at Mama's at the end of the month.
The place we booked for 30 USD per night, Merry Guesthouse 2 was beautiful, really well kept and family-run, a great spot to spend a few days at. Our first meal, the mega-size salads at Lao Lao Garden and the walk through our side of Phu Si (not joking with the name) made me instantly fall in love with the city; it is charming, quiet, beautiful, clean, people are kind and noone wants to rape you for half a dollar - very relaxing! The Friday morning we got our Vietnam visas sorted first, for 510000 kip - those numbers really mess with your conscious for a while. In the afternoon I went for a walk around the city and along the Mekong and met 2 Hungarian guys at one of the temples, had a coffee with them and talked about their adventures in Laos - I was SO happy to speak some Hungarian after such a long time... In the eve we went to see the sunset on Phu Si with Dave and laughed our asses off about the name and, the one Buddha for every day of the week collection halfway up the hill - there was even a little song born out of our madness there.. ;) Then walking along the city we found something else Hungarian: Liza's Icon Bar, with a book on Pecs on the shelf and a bottle of Unicum in the fridge - it was interesting to see part of me right on the other side of the world, in such an interesting setup.
Saturday morning Dave was feeling a little rough so I took some water and my camera and headed for the countryside to leave him rest in peace for a few hours. Walking through tiny little villages the first thing I saw was a roosterfight, then jungle and pure magic all the way, talked to some friendly locals, saw women making silk textiles, paper, do their usual Saturday morning chores - and took a gazillion pictures:
I had such a great time walking around I could not believe it. You know, when you are just so content that you smile constantly, dont need anything at all, no food or drinks or music or conversations or any stimulation - when you are just there, loving every minute for the sake of being there..... it was that feeling..
And then Sunday morning I left for Chiang Mai, not sure what to expect but ready to go back to school, learn massage and meet new faces; and at the same time already looking forward to be back on Phuket with Dave at Mama's at the end of the month.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Laos: 4000 islands and Pakse
From Cambodia, we took the only option we found for land transportation to Laos: a bus that left Phnom Phen at 6.45, and was supposed to arrive to the 4000 islands area, the magical place at the south of Loas we only heard good things about, around 4 in the afternoon. We arranged the Lao visas last mintue (very, last minute) at the Lao consulate in Phnom Phen; for which I paid 35 USD while Dave did 55, these including the 10 USD extra pronto fee. The 20 USD bus ride was okay, apart from the fact that the aircon was blowing full-power when it was cool in the morning, and stopped working around midday when it was 35C outside. Oh well, thats just the way things work around here. One scene will never be forgotten from that busride: at the Cambo-Lao border, a lady selling her goods shouting: "something somethiiiiiiiiing", the craziest English phrase I have ever heard in my entire life. We still have massive giggles out of it, months later..... :)
From where the bus dropped us off, a minivan took us to the shores of the Mekong - it was right there when I realized that I left a bag on the big bus, with all my t-shirts and tops inside..... Bummer! Nothing left to be done about it, Dave calmed me down saying: time to make new favorites!
A shaky motor boat, similar to the longtails in Thailand, took us to the biggest of the islands, Don Dhet. I have to say the scenery was absolutely breathtaking; hundreds of these little tiny and slightly bigger islands scattered all over in the Mekong, some with a few people on them but most of them inhabited... Very nice!
The only problem was, we had so high expectations about what was awaiting, that we were probably doomed to be dissapointed by default. There are bars after restaurants after travel agents on Don Dhet, waste everywhere, and fucked up, middle aged Europeans coming down from their various toxicated trips, dirty and smelling like pigs - like a small, run-down version of Phi-Phi where everyone is on drugs. I mean, when asking for some salad at a restaurant, the answer is: "sorry we have absolutely no fresh vegetables today, but I can make you a mushroom shake or an opium tea or a nice joint if you'd like" - thats when I ask for a JD&Coke and find the shortest way out.
So after only one day in "paradise", on Monday we decided to leave and head for Pakse, the closest city with an airport, so that I can at least make my flight in Luang Prabang over the weekend.
The bus ride was again eventful: 2 hours later than the planned departure, there were approx. 20 more people on the bus than seats, which meant that a French-Canadian girl was for instance, was sitting on the deck, back against the front window, right next to the steering wheel......... Yep, good times!
Arriving to Pakse at 4, we checked into the Saigon-Champasak hotel, 100000 kip (10 eur) per night, clean room with hot shower - after the place at Phnom Phen and Don Dhet, I was close to tears when I saw it..
Thats it, I have to admit, I hate shitholes, I do need the hot shower, and I am not doing well among dirty backpackers on drugs all the time. Its so much more to life and travelling that that!
First dinner we had at the closeby Jasmin Indian restaurant (seriously, LP recomendations can be flushed down the toilet in so many occasions, that now I only look at the book when everything else falls to pieces). Right when we sat down walked in Nick and Trent, the two Americans we met on the bus from Phnom Phen....
Shortly the question came up if they saw my bag after we got off by any chance, and so they said they gave it to the bus driver, not having either of our contact detials.
To cut this story short, the BIGGEST surprise of all happened: after going back to the bus stop and asking around for 10 minutes, we found a Cambodian guy who called the busdriver and arranged for that bag to be brought back to Laos the following day, with ALL MY TOPS AND T-SHIRTS INSIDE! I was lost for words. The more so, when I wanted to give 50000 kip (5 EUR) to this guy and he would not take the money...... Unbelieveable, there are some really good people in the world! :)
On Tuesday we booked flights from Pakse to Luang Prabang for Thursday, went shopping to the weirdest shoppingmall ever (with so over-priced shitty clothes, that noone buys anthing there), and reserved a bike for the day after, yes, a proper motorbike for Wednesday, when we would go and search for hidden waterfalls and elephants - ended up having the perfect day in the end. Started with an awesome breakfast at the Kafe Katuad, we left on the bike, drove 220 km, found 2 amazing waterfalls, oxen, little local hidden villages and schools, an adventure meal, smiling faces, a monkey farm, and elephants (whose farts are the loudest and longest of all creatures!); and figured that the elephant ride, though not as bad as camels, requires full scuba-gear with mask and snorkel, or at least a set of clothes you dont mind ditching after the ride........... yuck, it was a snotty experience!
From where the bus dropped us off, a minivan took us to the shores of the Mekong - it was right there when I realized that I left a bag on the big bus, with all my t-shirts and tops inside..... Bummer! Nothing left to be done about it, Dave calmed me down saying: time to make new favorites!
A shaky motor boat, similar to the longtails in Thailand, took us to the biggest of the islands, Don Dhet. I have to say the scenery was absolutely breathtaking; hundreds of these little tiny and slightly bigger islands scattered all over in the Mekong, some with a few people on them but most of them inhabited... Very nice!
The only problem was, we had so high expectations about what was awaiting, that we were probably doomed to be dissapointed by default. There are bars after restaurants after travel agents on Don Dhet, waste everywhere, and fucked up, middle aged Europeans coming down from their various toxicated trips, dirty and smelling like pigs - like a small, run-down version of Phi-Phi where everyone is on drugs. I mean, when asking for some salad at a restaurant, the answer is: "sorry we have absolutely no fresh vegetables today, but I can make you a mushroom shake or an opium tea or a nice joint if you'd like" - thats when I ask for a JD&Coke and find the shortest way out.
So after only one day in "paradise", on Monday we decided to leave and head for Pakse, the closest city with an airport, so that I can at least make my flight in Luang Prabang over the weekend.
The bus ride was again eventful: 2 hours later than the planned departure, there were approx. 20 more people on the bus than seats, which meant that a French-Canadian girl was for instance, was sitting on the deck, back against the front window, right next to the steering wheel......... Yep, good times!
Arriving to Pakse at 4, we checked into the Saigon-Champasak hotel, 100000 kip (10 eur) per night, clean room with hot shower - after the place at Phnom Phen and Don Dhet, I was close to tears when I saw it..
Thats it, I have to admit, I hate shitholes, I do need the hot shower, and I am not doing well among dirty backpackers on drugs all the time. Its so much more to life and travelling that that!
First dinner we had at the closeby Jasmin Indian restaurant (seriously, LP recomendations can be flushed down the toilet in so many occasions, that now I only look at the book when everything else falls to pieces). Right when we sat down walked in Nick and Trent, the two Americans we met on the bus from Phnom Phen....
Shortly the question came up if they saw my bag after we got off by any chance, and so they said they gave it to the bus driver, not having either of our contact detials.
To cut this story short, the BIGGEST surprise of all happened: after going back to the bus stop and asking around for 10 minutes, we found a Cambodian guy who called the busdriver and arranged for that bag to be brought back to Laos the following day, with ALL MY TOPS AND T-SHIRTS INSIDE! I was lost for words. The more so, when I wanted to give 50000 kip (5 EUR) to this guy and he would not take the money...... Unbelieveable, there are some really good people in the world! :)
On Tuesday we booked flights from Pakse to Luang Prabang for Thursday, went shopping to the weirdest shoppingmall ever (with so over-priced shitty clothes, that noone buys anthing there), and reserved a bike for the day after, yes, a proper motorbike for Wednesday, when we would go and search for hidden waterfalls and elephants - ended up having the perfect day in the end. Started with an awesome breakfast at the Kafe Katuad, we left on the bike, drove 220 km, found 2 amazing waterfalls, oxen, little local hidden villages and schools, an adventure meal, smiling faces, a monkey farm, and elephants (whose farts are the loudest and longest of all creatures!); and figured that the elephant ride, though not as bad as camels, requires full scuba-gear with mask and snorkel, or at least a set of clothes you dont mind ditching after the ride........... yuck, it was a snotty experience!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Ko Phi Phi
Though I went diving on Phi Phi last year and I found it so crowded I swore not to go back, it took Dave a minute to convince me to go back there for a weekend with him. I am such a softy.. We booked the round trip with Mama for 1000 THB each, door-to-door (have to mention that 50m down the road, the next guesthouse only charged 750 THB per person, but hey..). Among the many boat companies, we took Phi Phi Cruiser and got soaked on the open deck within the first 10 minutes on the way. The ride was rather pleasant otherwise, with Nick, Brandon and co. from Mama’s too – we were heading towards the same madness. Namely, a boxing ring at the Reggae bar, and free buckets to all who get inside and give a fight a go. So there was Nick the day after with a lovely blackeye… of course.
Phi Phi – if you haven’t been there yet – is all about 3 things: bars/restaurants (best is Calamaro; an expensive and fancy one is Grand Blue where we had our most expensive meal on Thailand for 30 USD; and there is Phi Phi Bakery with apple and coconut muffins, yuuuuuum!), diving (there are about 200 dive shops) and tour-operator offices. We stayed at the Golden Hill Bungalows, was okay for the one night but for 1500 THB I wouldn’t be staying there again if I went back.
Right while looking for the bungalows, we bumped into Naomi, the owner of the SpiderMonkey bar (on Lipe), right at the SpiderMonkey climb shop – the world is small. Based on the great cocktails we had at hers during Christmas, we decided to sign up for a half-a-day adventure with her peeps; snorkeling with sharks, cliff-jumping, Monkey beach, Maya beach, sunset magic around Phi Phi Leh, for 600 THB each, including lunch, pineapples and water, and we had an AMAZING time! She also had some recommendations for food and drinks and places to go to – if you hit Phi Phi or Koh Lipe, make sure you do go and say hello to this amazing lady!
There was one little accident over that Saturday night: while cliff-jumping in the afternoon, the camera that I was holding onto snapped off the wristband and hit me right in between the eyes, and I decided to cure the pain with JD&Coke. Many of it! Practically, we did a pub tour, having a Jack in about 10 of the restaurants. My breakdown in the evening and the hangover that followed on Sunday morning was not pretty, and D's bookstore didn’t come up with the promised magical coffees for curing it either. What helped in the end was the climb up to the island’s Viewpoint in the 40C – a must go and see if you are there and have an hour free -, and the mango shake that we turbo-ed up with coconut milk; that was something to die for!
The week after the Phi Phi adventures was full of new things again: Dave left for Bangkok/Cambodia on Wednesday and I was left at Mama’s with more time on my hands than I honestly asked for… I played with my newest awesome amazing Canadian friend Celine for the most of it, hang with the gang by the pool, got a few massages in the books, went wakeboarding on Friday afternoon, to Fatty’s for that famous (and well praised) steak dinner with Celine, Marko and Steve and, to the BBQ Beatdown at Tiger; watched muay thai fights and simply loved them!
In the end, only 2 days after Dave left I decided to fly after him to Siem Reap. The Thai chapter (1) was coming to an end rapidly and I was en-route to Cambodia through KL, with delayed flights and a night spent at LCCT on the 30th of January.
Phi Phi – if you haven’t been there yet – is all about 3 things: bars/restaurants (best is Calamaro; an expensive and fancy one is Grand Blue where we had our most expensive meal on Thailand for 30 USD; and there is Phi Phi Bakery with apple and coconut muffins, yuuuuuum!), diving (there are about 200 dive shops) and tour-operator offices. We stayed at the Golden Hill Bungalows, was okay for the one night but for 1500 THB I wouldn’t be staying there again if I went back.
Right while looking for the bungalows, we bumped into Naomi, the owner of the SpiderMonkey bar (on Lipe), right at the SpiderMonkey climb shop – the world is small. Based on the great cocktails we had at hers during Christmas, we decided to sign up for a half-a-day adventure with her peeps; snorkeling with sharks, cliff-jumping, Monkey beach, Maya beach, sunset magic around Phi Phi Leh, for 600 THB each, including lunch, pineapples and water, and we had an AMAZING time! She also had some recommendations for food and drinks and places to go to – if you hit Phi Phi or Koh Lipe, make sure you do go and say hello to this amazing lady!
There was one little accident over that Saturday night: while cliff-jumping in the afternoon, the camera that I was holding onto snapped off the wristband and hit me right in between the eyes, and I decided to cure the pain with JD&Coke. Many of it! Practically, we did a pub tour, having a Jack in about 10 of the restaurants. My breakdown in the evening and the hangover that followed on Sunday morning was not pretty, and D's bookstore didn’t come up with the promised magical coffees for curing it either. What helped in the end was the climb up to the island’s Viewpoint in the 40C – a must go and see if you are there and have an hour free -, and the mango shake that we turbo-ed up with coconut milk; that was something to die for!
The week after the Phi Phi adventures was full of new things again: Dave left for Bangkok/Cambodia on Wednesday and I was left at Mama’s with more time on my hands than I honestly asked for… I played with my newest awesome amazing Canadian friend Celine for the most of it, hang with the gang by the pool, got a few massages in the books, went wakeboarding on Friday afternoon, to Fatty’s for that famous (and well praised) steak dinner with Celine, Marko and Steve and, to the BBQ Beatdown at Tiger; watched muay thai fights and simply loved them!
In the end, only 2 days after Dave left I decided to fly after him to Siem Reap. The Thai chapter (1) was coming to an end rapidly and I was en-route to Cambodia through KL, with delayed flights and a night spent at LCCT on the 30th of January.
January, the month of contentmen
January was the month of contentment. Staying at the Forest Bungalows, the days started with a 7am yoga class with Simon, Tiger’s resident yogi, followed by, from the second day onwards with Randy’s body fit madness. The initial idea was, that I would go to the yoga classes and find a place where I would learn how to thai-massage – unfortunately/or not, the latter has not happened yet. Instead, on day 2, I decided to try out the body fit – and found myself on the south tip of Phuket, with a bunch of bulls, running up and down the stairs and the hill with a truck tire above my head… Needless to say, I was immediately hooked.
So, morning yoga, then bodyfit every day, followed by the best hours of the day by the pool at Mama’s, reading, sunbathing, drinking coconuts, eating amazing food, watching TV in the evenings or Firefly from Dave’s computer, going to bed at 9pm, sleep well, get up early in the morning and do it all over again – I had the time of my life.
Over the first weekend we went to check out the beaches on the south end and had a quest to find Haag n Dazs later, after our Saturday evening date with Dave went pearshaped: the restaurant we wanted to go to (recommended by LP and TripAdvisor) was closed down, and there was not a single movie in the cinema in English in Phuket town… We had such a chilled time though, there was nothing that could kick me out of balance… At least that’s what I thought. And then came the Wednesday, 12th of January, when in the evening I decided to (try to) ride the scooter the 50m to the drop-off spot – and I crashed it…. Wearing a mini skirt and tanktop, even though I was not going anywhere close to fast, I destroyed my right side: 5, palm-sized bruises became the decoration for the next few weeks. Dave cleaned me up so I didn’t have to go to the hospital (thank god – and him – that he had the guts and all the best ever prepared first-aid kit), but man I looked messy. The repair cost me 3300 THB, approx. 100 USD which could have been a lot worse, but this was just annoying next to the fact that, for the following week, I could not sleep apart from on my back, I was in pain; I couldn’t go to yoga or workout, there was no swimming, no sunbathing – I was just a miserable chicken, with the most ridiculous scooter-crashing story ever: ya, crashed it sober, in the carpark, in front of the bungalow…. AUCH!
The following day I had a reservation for a cooking class (expensive, 1700 THB for a day, but so good I went back 2 days later), and so I did suck it up and went. Bo, from Iceland was helping me with moving around; the day after the accident I was a proper mess. On the Friday the same week, Dave had to do a visa run to Myanmar, and with having the whole day to spend in bed, I started to plan the rest of my Asia-trip – and didn’t get far…
Doomed to be around the house for the most of it, I started to make friends with the people hanging around at Mama’s, most of them training at Tiger, girls and boys from all parts of the world. By the week after the accident, I managed to get my bruises heal up nicely enough so that I could go back to training, and by the end of the month I got myself into a better shape than ever before – I was pretty impressed with myself to be honest. We had another movie date with Dave which was special because we went to see a Thai movie with English subtitles, something to be remembered; it was hilarious! Well, this was the life both me and Dave are now planning to go back to for a while; a truly great time at an awesome spot and great people around. Here are the pics, check them out!
So, morning yoga, then bodyfit every day, followed by the best hours of the day by the pool at Mama’s, reading, sunbathing, drinking coconuts, eating amazing food, watching TV in the evenings or Firefly from Dave’s computer, going to bed at 9pm, sleep well, get up early in the morning and do it all over again – I had the time of my life.
Over the first weekend we went to check out the beaches on the south end and had a quest to find Haag n Dazs later, after our Saturday evening date with Dave went pearshaped: the restaurant we wanted to go to (recommended by LP and TripAdvisor) was closed down, and there was not a single movie in the cinema in English in Phuket town… We had such a chilled time though, there was nothing that could kick me out of balance… At least that’s what I thought. And then came the Wednesday, 12th of January, when in the evening I decided to (try to) ride the scooter the 50m to the drop-off spot – and I crashed it…. Wearing a mini skirt and tanktop, even though I was not going anywhere close to fast, I destroyed my right side: 5, palm-sized bruises became the decoration for the next few weeks. Dave cleaned me up so I didn’t have to go to the hospital (thank god – and him – that he had the guts and all the best ever prepared first-aid kit), but man I looked messy. The repair cost me 3300 THB, approx. 100 USD which could have been a lot worse, but this was just annoying next to the fact that, for the following week, I could not sleep apart from on my back, I was in pain; I couldn’t go to yoga or workout, there was no swimming, no sunbathing – I was just a miserable chicken, with the most ridiculous scooter-crashing story ever: ya, crashed it sober, in the carpark, in front of the bungalow…. AUCH!
The following day I had a reservation for a cooking class (expensive, 1700 THB for a day, but so good I went back 2 days later), and so I did suck it up and went. Bo, from Iceland was helping me with moving around; the day after the accident I was a proper mess. On the Friday the same week, Dave had to do a visa run to Myanmar, and with having the whole day to spend in bed, I started to plan the rest of my Asia-trip – and didn’t get far…
Doomed to be around the house for the most of it, I started to make friends with the people hanging around at Mama’s, most of them training at Tiger, girls and boys from all parts of the world. By the week after the accident, I managed to get my bruises heal up nicely enough so that I could go back to training, and by the end of the month I got myself into a better shape than ever before – I was pretty impressed with myself to be honest. We had another movie date with Dave which was special because we went to see a Thai movie with English subtitles, something to be remembered; it was hilarious! Well, this was the life both me and Dave are now planning to go back to for a while; a truly great time at an awesome spot and great people around. Here are the pics, check them out!
Monday, February 07, 2011
Transit
After a day of recovery on Ko Phangan - which consisted of laughing at the spray-painted dogs having the time of their lives, watching the afterparty still going at 2pm, doing a few food-runs and getting soaked in the new year rain – we kissed good bye to our two new friends and left the party island on the 2nd of January. Initially, we had a reservation for a boat-bus combo ride, that was supposed to take us all the way to Phuket, but because of some mess with the tickets, we also had to have a 3 hour stopover at the Surat Thani bus station, 10km from the city, no ATM or cash left in our pockets for a proper meal…. After the whole day of travel we finally got to the Gypsy Room around midnight– where the ladies apologized and put us back to the dorm; they messed up our reservation again. I was furious….
On the first Monday of the new year, no longer over-impressed with the Gypsy Room ladies – what concerns me anyway.., we took all our stuff and headed down to Chalong – the part of the island where Dave found a muay thai camp he was planning to train at for the month of January and accommodation at a close-by guesthouse. It was a good half an hour drive through places I have not seen before and the anxiety of the unknown was only growing with every minute.
We (Dave) checked into the Tiger camp, and once done with the admin stuff, Mama came to pick us up and take us to the Forest Bungalows, where we would be staying for the month.
The deal was great: 300 EUR for the two of us for the month, including breakfast; wifi in the room, the place is 10 min walk from Tiger, about 20 mins on a scooter from the closest (nice) beach, 10 mins from a huge shoppingmall; it has a nice swimmingpool, an attached restaurant that clearly serves the best thai food either of us have tasted with variety that keeps you happy for a week without wanting to go anywhere else, and when you do go elsewhere you just swear you wouldn’t make the mistake again…… And the staff…… apart from Mama there is Oil, smiling at the reception, Choo serving food, Maui, nr. 1 candidate for everyone’s babysitter / housekeeper, Man the 16 year old kid from Burma who prepares the shakes and other yummy drinks for everyone, and Pong, this angel who is my moms age, doesn’t speak much English, but apart from serving food does thai massage…….. Thai massage to die for, for 4,5 EUR an hour…. Unbelievable!
So, we settled down, ready to start new adventures – though at that point, I clearly had no idea on what I was going to be doing for the whole month..
On the first Monday of the new year, no longer over-impressed with the Gypsy Room ladies – what concerns me anyway.., we took all our stuff and headed down to Chalong – the part of the island where Dave found a muay thai camp he was planning to train at for the month of January and accommodation at a close-by guesthouse. It was a good half an hour drive through places I have not seen before and the anxiety of the unknown was only growing with every minute.
We (Dave) checked into the Tiger camp, and once done with the admin stuff, Mama came to pick us up and take us to the Forest Bungalows, where we would be staying for the month.
The deal was great: 300 EUR for the two of us for the month, including breakfast; wifi in the room, the place is 10 min walk from Tiger, about 20 mins on a scooter from the closest (nice) beach, 10 mins from a huge shoppingmall; it has a nice swimmingpool, an attached restaurant that clearly serves the best thai food either of us have tasted with variety that keeps you happy for a week without wanting to go anywhere else, and when you do go elsewhere you just swear you wouldn’t make the mistake again…… And the staff…… apart from Mama there is Oil, smiling at the reception, Choo serving food, Maui, nr. 1 candidate for everyone’s babysitter / housekeeper, Man the 16 year old kid from Burma who prepares the shakes and other yummy drinks for everyone, and Pong, this angel who is my moms age, doesn’t speak much English, but apart from serving food does thai massage…….. Thai massage to die for, for 4,5 EUR an hour…. Unbelievable!
So, we settled down, ready to start new adventures – though at that point, I clearly had no idea on what I was going to be doing for the whole month..
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Back to the very end of 2010
From Surat Thani we headed to Koh Tao on the 30th of December, to see if we can cancel our reservation at the Freedom Beach Resort for the 31st and 1st.. We had the boat tickets all the way to Tao anyway, neither of us had been on that island yet, so we thought, why not go and check it out. Needless to say, we could not change the booking - 100 eur down the drain. Regardless, and after quite a number of banana daiquires at the Paprika restaurant, we decided to leave Turtle Island and the breathtaking view from the room, and head towards the zoo on Ko Phangan on the morning of the 31st........
The boat was delayed due to the crazy sea conditions - I have to admit, I was a lil scared when we were horizontal on the massive waves, but we made it, just in time to start drinking for the party. Our accomodation, that bungalow reserved by Wes and Daniel was at the Fairyland Resort - based on the name and the initial prices for the room Wes shared with us, I was dead sure it would be a massive gay resort with a huge jacuzzi and things one dont necessary wanting to see - but it was just one of the many on the full moon beach; the epicenter of the celebrations for the night. But of course! We couldnt have had a better spot for watching the madness throughout the night and in the morning, the morning after.
As the drinking (meaning, buckets, of course, SE Asia style, the backpacker's way of getting absolutely shitfaced in the shortest period of time, cheapest way, with a - usually - disgusting mix of alcohol..) started right after lunch at the balcony of room 105. By 7pm I was ready for a nap - yes, I made the big mistake.... A few hours later when the boys woke me, I was many hours behind their bubbling mood; I was not looking forward to see how that evening would end.... I was unnecessarily worried in the end: apart from the half an hour around midnight that we spent on the beach - among tens of thousands of drunk/high kids, mindblowing music, sea, fireworks and mushroomshakes - I have to say the evening was rather calm; the few trips to the Kangaroo Bar guaranteed the early night in, the earplugs the 10 hour sleep; the last night of the year ended without any disaster...... :)
The boat was delayed due to the crazy sea conditions - I have to admit, I was a lil scared when we were horizontal on the massive waves, but we made it, just in time to start drinking for the party. Our accomodation, that bungalow reserved by Wes and Daniel was at the Fairyland Resort - based on the name and the initial prices for the room Wes shared with us, I was dead sure it would be a massive gay resort with a huge jacuzzi and things one dont necessary wanting to see - but it was just one of the many on the full moon beach; the epicenter of the celebrations for the night. But of course! We couldnt have had a better spot for watching the madness throughout the night and in the morning, the morning after.
As the drinking (meaning, buckets, of course, SE Asia style, the backpacker's way of getting absolutely shitfaced in the shortest period of time, cheapest way, with a - usually - disgusting mix of alcohol..) started right after lunch at the balcony of room 105. By 7pm I was ready for a nap - yes, I made the big mistake.... A few hours later when the boys woke me, I was many hours behind their bubbling mood; I was not looking forward to see how that evening would end.... I was unnecessarily worried in the end: apart from the half an hour around midnight that we spent on the beach - among tens of thousands of drunk/high kids, mindblowing music, sea, fireworks and mushroomshakes - I have to say the evening was rather calm; the few trips to the Kangaroo Bar guaranteed the early night in, the earplugs the 10 hour sleep; the last night of the year ended without any disaster...... :)
Saturday, February 05, 2011
Plans for February and Cambodia to start with
I know I know I know, nothing for the past month..... it has been......... busy. Okay, not quite, but everything else was more important than spending too much time in front of the laptop - sorry about that.
I start with the plans first, so that you know where I am, why I am not writing.. ;)
I am currently in Cambodia - wait, let me tell you quickly about it. I dont like it very much, at all. Angkor Wat and the temples are truly amazing and worth all the hassle of travelling over here, but if you ask me: dont waste more time here than necessary.
Something is off in this country, and though the first impression, Siem Reap with all the rip-offs was not helping the good overall picture, after 6 days, including some awesome things - like a cooking class in Phnom Phen at the Frizz restaurant -, I still dont like the country. Looking forward to travel to Laos tomorrow.
So Laos is next, the 4000 islands at the south and then Luang Prabang towards the end of the week. We will most likely part with Dave during the week when I head north, he is in no hurry while I have a reservation for a thai massage course in Chiang Mai, starting the 14th of February! :D wooohoooo!
After the course I will make my way back down to Phuket and Mama's - explanation for the love for that place is coming soon... -, Dave will join towards the end of the month, and during the first week in March we fly to Borneo, to climb Mt. Kinabalu and dive Sipadan for my birthday. What an awesome idea was that, dont you think? :)
The post-Borneo plans are not yet clear, depending on the weather (seriously), my finances and my mood, I will either travel to Vietnam for a few weeks or head back home for a while, and enjoy every moment of the beautiful spring, my bed, company of friends and family, a kelkaposztafozelek and the 3million other things that make me homesick more often than you would think.........
I start with the plans first, so that you know where I am, why I am not writing.. ;)
I am currently in Cambodia - wait, let me tell you quickly about it. I dont like it very much, at all. Angkor Wat and the temples are truly amazing and worth all the hassle of travelling over here, but if you ask me: dont waste more time here than necessary.
Something is off in this country, and though the first impression, Siem Reap with all the rip-offs was not helping the good overall picture, after 6 days, including some awesome things - like a cooking class in Phnom Phen at the Frizz restaurant -, I still dont like the country. Looking forward to travel to Laos tomorrow.
So Laos is next, the 4000 islands at the south and then Luang Prabang towards the end of the week. We will most likely part with Dave during the week when I head north, he is in no hurry while I have a reservation for a thai massage course in Chiang Mai, starting the 14th of February! :D wooohoooo!
After the course I will make my way back down to Phuket and Mama's - explanation for the love for that place is coming soon... -, Dave will join towards the end of the month, and during the first week in March we fly to Borneo, to climb Mt. Kinabalu and dive Sipadan for my birthday. What an awesome idea was that, dont you think? :)
The post-Borneo plans are not yet clear, depending on the weather (seriously), my finances and my mood, I will either travel to Vietnam for a few weeks or head back home for a while, and enjoy every moment of the beautiful spring, my bed, company of friends and family, a kelkaposztafozelek and the 3million other things that make me homesick more often than you would think.........
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Timezones
There is something exciting in the 6 hours time difference thats between the most of us... it is 1.33pm here, I am already done with the workouts for today, had food and a thai massage already, while you are just about to get out of bed or leave for work.. Exciting is that anticipation, me waiting for the responses on my mails to come in, for the bubbles to pop up with chat windows talking about news and olds........ it makes me smile.. :)
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Towards the end of 2010....
From Koh Lipe, we took the tigerlinetravel.com option for 1600 THB each, that is 40 EUR; first a boat (again leaving 2 hours later than scheduled) for Hat Yao Pier, from where a minibus - in a remarcably good shape, brandnew?, with AC and room enough for all of us - took us to Phuket, believe it or not, right to the front of the hostel we were to be staying at. The boatride took about 2.5 hours and the drive another 5 - the last 1.5 of this was driving on Phuket island, a true mess when it comes to traffic.
The hostel, Gypsy Room Backpackers is a 20 min walk from Patong beach, nicely hidden but, SO clean that I still cant believe such a place exists in Asia. Having a little mess with the booking we ended up in the dorm for the first night - photos below, try to believe what you see; clean, nice, good beds, nice staff, and meal options for 50 THB they cook in the kitchen on request - for 10 EUR /night including breakfast, not a bad place at all... ;)
From Phuket after a bit of a mess-up with the bus reservations, we did get to Surat Thani in the end, and right where the bus dropped us off, booked our ferry tickets to Koh Tao (400 baht each), and also the return boat/bus to Phuket (another 750 baht each)... needless to say, we didnt check the invoice - which only mentioned return to Surat Thani - so we lost a few hours on trying to sort ourselves out on the way back... but hey.
Our hotel, the only option mentioned on hostelworld.com, was Grand Thara, more a dodgy looking old hotel with 6 floors than a hostel really... but again, for 10 eur/night for the two of us - I just dont have words to complain.
The hotel being as dodgy as it was, we headed out to find some dinner - Surat Thani is really not a place where you'd want to spend more time than absolutely necessary.... One recommendation came form a sweet little thai girl with braces and hardly any English (regarless, that she was workding at the English language institute...), and so we ended up in the famous (...) Lucky restaurant - packed with locals... while waiting for our table Dave spotted a guy sitting alone at one of the tables, and to cut the long story short, we shortly made friends with Wes: handsome and Australian and a policeman with hillarious stories, from Sydney, heading to Koh Phangan, to meet his mate for NYE.. there was also mentioned a free bungalow for the NY weekend - and so, it was getting rather realistic to head to the fullmoon party in the end.......... :D
Lesson learnt: ALWAYS TALK TO STRANGERS!!!!!! :)
The hostel, Gypsy Room Backpackers is a 20 min walk from Patong beach, nicely hidden but, SO clean that I still cant believe such a place exists in Asia. Having a little mess with the booking we ended up in the dorm for the first night - photos below, try to believe what you see; clean, nice, good beds, nice staff, and meal options for 50 THB they cook in the kitchen on request - for 10 EUR /night including breakfast, not a bad place at all... ;)
From Phuket after a bit of a mess-up with the bus reservations, we did get to Surat Thani in the end, and right where the bus dropped us off, booked our ferry tickets to Koh Tao (400 baht each), and also the return boat/bus to Phuket (another 750 baht each)... needless to say, we didnt check the invoice - which only mentioned return to Surat Thani - so we lost a few hours on trying to sort ourselves out on the way back... but hey.
Our hotel, the only option mentioned on hostelworld.com, was Grand Thara, more a dodgy looking old hotel with 6 floors than a hostel really... but again, for 10 eur/night for the two of us - I just dont have words to complain.
The hotel being as dodgy as it was, we headed out to find some dinner - Surat Thani is really not a place where you'd want to spend more time than absolutely necessary.... One recommendation came form a sweet little thai girl with braces and hardly any English (regarless, that she was workding at the English language institute...), and so we ended up in the famous (...) Lucky restaurant - packed with locals... while waiting for our table Dave spotted a guy sitting alone at one of the tables, and to cut the long story short, we shortly made friends with Wes: handsome and Australian and a policeman with hillarious stories, from Sydney, heading to Koh Phangan, to meet his mate for NYE.. there was also mentioned a free bungalow for the NY weekend - and so, it was getting rather realistic to head to the fullmoon party in the end.......... :D
Lesson learnt: ALWAYS TALK TO STRANGERS!!!!!! :)
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
Geo's happy new year message on FB.... :)
Anyone can slay a dragon, he told me, but try waking up every morning and loving the world all over again. That's what takes a real hero. - B Andreas
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Langkawi and Koh Lipe - this Chistmas climbing to the first spot on the bests'..
On Langkawi we stayed at the Malibest resort, recommended by Viks and Harry, my friend in KL too - it was okay, nothing special but close to the beach and 30 EUR for a night; apart from the huge amount of mozzies we had to deal with it was fine.
After a failed try to get some coffee from Viva Italia in the morning - the "Indian juice" was close to disgusting... - had some nice breakfast at the Tomato place, and then hit the roads of Langkawi on a bike... well, scooter, to be more specific. We cruised to the north side of the island, eventually found the Black Sand beach, had some coconut water at a beautiful spot further up north, ran around, cought a bit of a rainshower to cool down; and then couldnt resist a thai dinner in the eve, even though Thailand was only a day away.
My memories of how far I had to go 2 years ago failed me when planning the morning and we ended up at the pier waaaay to early before the boat departure time - it was an 8.30am departure that we arrived for at 7.45, and we didnt leave until 9.45 - rather annoying.... but then, a few hours later we reached Koh Lipe, and put a smile on both our faces that didnt disappear until we had to leave for Phuket 3 days later.
Here are the some of the photos Dave took - yes I am having my camera with me from now on, too... :) - just so that you know what I am talking about if you havent been on Koh Lipe yet..
Varin Beach resort was home for the 3 days: 1800 THB for a night including breakfast - 45 EUR, a newly built bungalow with AC, clean and sweet, the breakfast nice enough that kept us going until 3-4pm every day.
The beach on this island is exactly what I remembered: the most beautiful of all the places I have been to. Needless to say, it was the company that made these few days absolutely mindblowing, and the island was the second biggest part of it of course: just picture perfect, warm sea so clean its hard to believe, white sand, palmtrees, simply magical. After spending the whole day at the beach, had a few JDandCokes, and then hit another beachbar for a few more on Christmas eve, had a pad thai just because we could, sent a lantern to all of you with our best wishes, swam and snorkelled during the days, walked around, read a book on the porch, watched a movie as part of the afternoon nap, played frisbe on the beach with Ken, 12 year-old from Thailand, had killer longislandiceteas at Naomi's Monkeybar, laughed and laughed some more and hoped the magic would never end.... :D I was really considering just staying there until all my money ran out, but common sense won, left Koh Lipe with Tigerlinetravel.com, heading to Phuket on the 27th...
Next up is Koh Tao for NYE/day and then back to Phuket for January with all kinds of new excitements, such as cooking class and thai massage class and kitesurfing and yoga and beach and sunshine and diving..... aaaaaahhhh so very sweet... :)
After a failed try to get some coffee from Viva Italia in the morning - the "Indian juice" was close to disgusting... - had some nice breakfast at the Tomato place, and then hit the roads of Langkawi on a bike... well, scooter, to be more specific. We cruised to the north side of the island, eventually found the Black Sand beach, had some coconut water at a beautiful spot further up north, ran around, cought a bit of a rainshower to cool down; and then couldnt resist a thai dinner in the eve, even though Thailand was only a day away.
My memories of how far I had to go 2 years ago failed me when planning the morning and we ended up at the pier waaaay to early before the boat departure time - it was an 8.30am departure that we arrived for at 7.45, and we didnt leave until 9.45 - rather annoying.... but then, a few hours later we reached Koh Lipe, and put a smile on both our faces that didnt disappear until we had to leave for Phuket 3 days later.
Here are the some of the photos Dave took - yes I am having my camera with me from now on, too... :) - just so that you know what I am talking about if you havent been on Koh Lipe yet..
Varin Beach resort was home for the 3 days: 1800 THB for a night including breakfast - 45 EUR, a newly built bungalow with AC, clean and sweet, the breakfast nice enough that kept us going until 3-4pm every day.
The beach on this island is exactly what I remembered: the most beautiful of all the places I have been to. Needless to say, it was the company that made these few days absolutely mindblowing, and the island was the second biggest part of it of course: just picture perfect, warm sea so clean its hard to believe, white sand, palmtrees, simply magical. After spending the whole day at the beach, had a few JDandCokes, and then hit another beachbar for a few more on Christmas eve, had a pad thai just because we could, sent a lantern to all of you with our best wishes, swam and snorkelled during the days, walked around, read a book on the porch, watched a movie as part of the afternoon nap, played frisbe on the beach with Ken, 12 year-old from Thailand, had killer longislandiceteas at Naomi's Monkeybar, laughed and laughed some more and hoped the magic would never end.... :D I was really considering just staying there until all my money ran out, but common sense won, left Koh Lipe with Tigerlinetravel.com, heading to Phuket on the 27th...
Next up is Koh Tao for NYE/day and then back to Phuket for January with all kinds of new excitements, such as cooking class and thai massage class and kitesurfing and yoga and beach and sunshine and diving..... aaaaaahhhh so very sweet... :)
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Asia baby - first stop: KL
And another Asia chapter started on the 20th of December, right on my lil brothers birthday: after the painful 18-hour trip - though without any dealys due to snow or airports being closed down etc - landed in KL, safe and sound, ready to enjoy every minute of this..... awesomeness..... :D
My neighbour on the plane this time was Edward Cullen's twin-brother, this scary but in some ways kinda beautiful guy from Ukraine, with whom I had a short, and for him - I am assuming - painful conversation: it all started about 20 minutes after I took my sleepingpill.. I was still trying very hard to make some sense but did not succeed at all... And then needless to say, I only managed a 2 hour nap while he, taking my backup pill, slept the whole way to Kuala.
Regardless of the short sleep, I was so excited to see Dave that my good energies got me out of the airport within 20 minutes, and landed at the door of that fabulous hotel room an hour after I touched ground - not a bad effort at all!
The first stroll in the afternoon took us to KLCC and the fav chickenrice shop, then, the second one to Waikiki - god that place changed so much!!! Nothing even slightly resembles to the good old Waikiki bar, its empty and sad, the stuff is ignorant, the drinks are expensive and horrible, not sure I'd want to go back there again. Speaking of empty, it was scary how dead KL was, nothing comparable to the Asian mess I was used to in the past.
The first night with the body-clock-mess was not the best and I only managed a few hours sleep, but spending half of the next day at the hotel pool cured it all.... I thought....
We went to Jln Alor for some char kway tiao and fried stingray for lunch, then to Times Square and convinced Dave to get on the indoor rollercoaster with me - that was AWESOME! I remember trying to get Bernard and everyone else to go with me but it just never happened while living in KL - glad I didnt miss out on it this time. :D it was really cool!
Here are Dave's pics from KL and Langkawi:
Missing out on meeting Sharm and the boys due to their busy schedules, then Nong, my lovely Indonesian massage lady due to some major miscommunication - I was verymuch looking forward to see Jit and meet his son and wife finally. We grabbed some wine and chocolate and took a taxi from KL Sentral to Sunway Pyramids - funny enough, I havent been to that place until now. Jit picked us up with Rahul, had a crazy drive with the 6 year-old wrestling Dave on the back seat, and after some drinks at their lovely home we went for this HUGE chinese dinner: gingeronionchicken, meehoon, sweetandsourpork, friedporkribs, rice, friedveg, x huge bottles of beer and god knows what else - I was ready to die by 11pm when we got back to the hotel.
Well, dieing came a few hours later.... After all the beer and the whiskey at Jit's we finished a bottle fizz and I honestly thought at 4am that I was just having the hangover kicking in... but then the travellers nightmare became reality: the next 5 hours I spent on/around/by the toilet in complete misery... Then, when the antibiotics came back after only 2 sec of contemplating staying within the stomach in the morning, I decided to do pack, get to LCCT, on the plane and find a doc on Langkawi if I didnt get any better. I was in agony. Weak from the "toilet-excercise", lack of sleep and food plus the flying - oh man I was no happy chicken. Survived though, Dave was sweet and patient and took good care of me, and so all the sickness was gone by the morning - lucky enough, had a full day to spend on Langkawi! :)
My neighbour on the plane this time was Edward Cullen's twin-brother, this scary but in some ways kinda beautiful guy from Ukraine, with whom I had a short, and for him - I am assuming - painful conversation: it all started about 20 minutes after I took my sleepingpill.. I was still trying very hard to make some sense but did not succeed at all... And then needless to say, I only managed a 2 hour nap while he, taking my backup pill, slept the whole way to Kuala.
Regardless of the short sleep, I was so excited to see Dave that my good energies got me out of the airport within 20 minutes, and landed at the door of that fabulous hotel room an hour after I touched ground - not a bad effort at all!
The first stroll in the afternoon took us to KLCC and the fav chickenrice shop, then, the second one to Waikiki - god that place changed so much!!! Nothing even slightly resembles to the good old Waikiki bar, its empty and sad, the stuff is ignorant, the drinks are expensive and horrible, not sure I'd want to go back there again. Speaking of empty, it was scary how dead KL was, nothing comparable to the Asian mess I was used to in the past.
The first night with the body-clock-mess was not the best and I only managed a few hours sleep, but spending half of the next day at the hotel pool cured it all.... I thought....
We went to Jln Alor for some char kway tiao and fried stingray for lunch, then to Times Square and convinced Dave to get on the indoor rollercoaster with me - that was AWESOME! I remember trying to get Bernard and everyone else to go with me but it just never happened while living in KL - glad I didnt miss out on it this time. :D it was really cool!
Here are Dave's pics from KL and Langkawi:
Missing out on meeting Sharm and the boys due to their busy schedules, then Nong, my lovely Indonesian massage lady due to some major miscommunication - I was verymuch looking forward to see Jit and meet his son and wife finally. We grabbed some wine and chocolate and took a taxi from KL Sentral to Sunway Pyramids - funny enough, I havent been to that place until now. Jit picked us up with Rahul, had a crazy drive with the 6 year-old wrestling Dave on the back seat, and after some drinks at their lovely home we went for this HUGE chinese dinner: gingeronionchicken, meehoon, sweetandsourpork, friedporkribs, rice, friedveg, x huge bottles of beer and god knows what else - I was ready to die by 11pm when we got back to the hotel.
Well, dieing came a few hours later.... After all the beer and the whiskey at Jit's we finished a bottle fizz and I honestly thought at 4am that I was just having the hangover kicking in... but then the travellers nightmare became reality: the next 5 hours I spent on/around/by the toilet in complete misery... Then, when the antibiotics came back after only 2 sec of contemplating staying within the stomach in the morning, I decided to do pack, get to LCCT, on the plane and find a doc on Langkawi if I didnt get any better. I was in agony. Weak from the "toilet-excercise", lack of sleep and food plus the flying - oh man I was no happy chicken. Survived though, Dave was sweet and patient and took good care of me, and so all the sickness was gone by the morning - lucky enough, had a full day to spend on Langkawi! :)
Thursday, December 09, 2010
happy happy
Last night I was sitting by the beach in a little cafe, watching the sun setting above the sea, enjoying the 18C and fine air - it was magical on its own. I was reading my book, sipping my cafe con leche, and was thinking, how amazingly lucky I am, having everything in my life that makes one happy: the location, the cafe, the huge crepe con nutella, my book, the great past few days of kitesurfing and getting to know some great people; the fact that by now I can have a Spanish conversation without any issues..... Then just now after deciding to skip the last class due to the amazing weather, mi madre espanola bringing me a glass of wine to the terrace while I am waiting for lunch to be ready, enjoying my cigarette and the sunshine (23C, should I mention it); my family and friends looking forward to see me back at home - or to be more specific, a few places around the world - and vica versa; the prospect of having to see Peti, my parents and grandparents, having my mom in Budapest for the coming weekend; Mags and her happiest news; and of course the plans for the next months: to start with, in less than 2 weeks and I will be in paradise, with the best person to be in paradise with... :) QUE BIEN!?! I did have some difficult days with hangovers and way too much than necessary thinking, but I made some decisions that already make my life easier, and I am sure, more than ever before that all will work out perfectly fine, exactly the way it should. There is simply no other option. And either the way is, it will be the best for all of us. :)
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Tarifa
Saturday night, 10pm, in a hostel, Melting Pot in Tarifa - friendly, clean, great location, no complains -, after having some chinese takeaway, among a bunch of OZs, Brits and French, the latter playing instuments in the kitchen, the open fireplace and liter bottles of Cruzcampo keeping us warm, outside wind is blowing with 35knots - its even stronger than it was during the day, when I gave kitesurfing the first try.. :) The morning was particularly painful again - not sure what was I expecing from a Saturday morning, but the 'yeah lets go for one drink, just one' last night, that ended up being about 10, at 4am, dancing in a nearby club like maniacs with Ms England, Rob and Anthony, without any dinner, didnt help at all.
So, what I started saying is, I was just looking at my picasa site and found about 20 pervert fuckers who added me as their favorite, god knows doing what with my pictures. Its disgusting! So, watch out people!
Anyway, looking forward to a whole day on the beach tomorrow, and have to admit, my bed tonight too.... It seems I am indeed getting old!
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
3rd of the Malasemanas
3rd week in Malaga and I dont even have time to do my homework anymore.
As bad as the weekend started off, I was considering flying over to Amsterdam for this coming weekend, just to get out of here. I went out with my lil friends on Friday - needless to say, the hangover that followed was ridiculous... I guess I am getting old too.. I spent most of Saturday in bed in misery, crazy headache, shitty weather, then Justin, my friend who showed up on my doorstep with Dave back in August, called and cancelled our plans for Granada for the Sunday eve, leaving nothing much to look forward to - ajjjj I wasnt happy. Then in the afternoon I put myself together, got on the bus and went to visit Salva and Lorraine who live about an hour away from here. By the time I got there i was ready to die but they had a little surprise for me: an invitation to Salva's sisters house to a proper Spanish family get together. When we arrived at 10.30 (pm), there were still no signes of dinner, but 4 kids were running around like crazy chicken - made me have second thoughts about ever wanting to have kids -, with 6 adults making more noise than a whole school of kids at home, but it was awesome in the end, had such a great time, I was really greatful that I didnt stay in.
Sunday was yoga day: a 5 hour workshop where Marjan, my Dutch friend invited me. I met some great people there: Lori, the instructor with energies out of this universe, Ingrid the hairdresser I am going to pay a visit to tomorrow, Lota the Sweedesh lady living in paradise, and 8 others - it was SO good to be among people with compeltely different origins and lifes and ages but having the similar interests and somewhat the same goals in life...; self realization, love and happyness, ultimately.. Finally the weather cleared up too, after lunch we took Marjan's dogs for a walk to the hills, and then came the best part of the day: the massage therapist angel Marjan offered to treat me before me leaving: I got a 2-hour-long massage. Yaaaaay!! What a lovely day! Topped it off with another nice meal and then Marjan even drove me home - the happy smiling Zsofi was back by the time I got to bed, with absolutely nothing to complain about.
Monday afternoon, after considering the options for the coming long weekend, i decided against Amsterdam and instead, booked a kitesurf course in Tarifa.. woohoo! Then Justin called that they ended up in Malaga with his folks so, I met him in the eve after my salsa class; went dancing again yesterday; arranged a movie and tapas night for tonight; got invited for a salsa eve for tomorrow and finally booked tickets for the Alhambra for the 11th - I literally dont have more than 2 hours free in a row until I leave Spain. Thats how I like things to be. :)
Most exciting of all of course is, the kitesurfing this weekend - though it is not warm at all, I am so much looking forward to it!!! While looking for accomodation I realized how similar it is to when I was working: you have to be at a place at a certain time, so you pull up googlemap, and instead of major airline websites you search on skyscanner, and instead of looking for rooms in the Hilton or Marriott, you go for hostelworld and couchsuring......... - and you can easily take a 0 off from the end of the total costs.. Awesome! :)
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Malaga cont.
On Wednesday morning, day 3 at school, I managed to explain my landlady what I wanted for breakfast – I took it as quite a big achievement; the progress I made in a week would make you all very proud of me... J
Struggling with a nasty cold though for a few days I was my most antisocial self during almost the whole week, and still squeezing in 7-8 hours of studying every day it just got to me on Thursday night. I went for the first run on the playa – what shall I say, 20C, sunset, sea breeze and all those beautiful people, great music on the iPod and my salad and a mango waiting for me at home…. – I had a great exercise and finally slept like a baby afterwards. Then the mission for Friday was, to take down everyone's numbers and convince my lil' classmates to take me out dancing later that night. It took me about 3 minutes – and by the time the A1 group paella started cooking, we had a plan in place: cook the paella, eat the paella, don't go back to school in the afternoon, start drinking latest at 1.30 pm, vamos a la playa, drink some more there, go home to shower and change, meet at 8 for some tapas, go downtown around 10 and don't stop causing trouble until Saturday morning. J It worked out quite well I have to say. The paella was awesome, I was drunk by 1.49pm – for the first time –; got a bit more drunk by the sun was down, had some not so smart conversations, then a bit of food and was downtown as agreed, in an Irish pub (but of course, where else) drinking Guinness and having tequila shots just because, and then went dancing…….. thank god the drinks there were not the cheapest so in the end nothing horribly outrageous happened. The hangover yesterday was a more than painful of course – I haven't been drinking since the leavingparty in Prague, so all the wine and beer and shots were a wee bit harsh on the system. Oh well. Today is run-on-the-beach and go-to-see-Picasso day, with some icecream and sunshine – if only I wasn't alone in bed, it could easily be one of those perfect days..
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Malaga day 1
The first half an hour at my hostess', Paqui's villa in Malaga was a wee bit painful after the previous mess in Morocco and the 40 hours without any sleep, I have to admit. Paqui is a 60 year old sweet lady, a mindblowingly excellent cook, who refuses to cooperate in English at all, no matter how hard you try... Now, with me having absolutely no way to express what I want in Spanish, there were some interesting moments me trying to explain that the reason I needed a washingmachine was not because I didn't have one in Hungary and only managed to bring dirty clothes with me, but that I spent the last week and a half in the air, on the road, on a camel, airport, tent, desert, bus etc……. J But, managed in the end, god bless the hands, with which you can tell whole stories without speaking any common language. So, for 20 eur per day, I get accomodation, breakfast and lunch - needless to say, the food is so good, that one of my newest cuests is to understand whatever Paqui says so that I can take her recipes with me when I leave.
The casa I am staying at is on a street that ends at the beach, 200m from the school (sooo bloody far…), and it is more a villa than a house, beautiful and HUGE! Today while I got lost on the way to school (to be very specific, I had no idea which way I was supposed to go so decided to try my luck and bump into it eventually… it worked!) I saw all kinds of shops nearby, post office, banks, restaurants, amazing parks and gardens, and of course the sea, all of it within 10 mins walking away. One challenge I have with the home: it is rather cold with the single windows and no heating whatsoever. Even though the weather is beautiful: 16-18C, sunshine, blue skies during the day, the 12-14C during the nights is a wee bit cold without any heating or a proper pajama.. Oh well. The center is half an hour walk away and – forgot to say - I have a Japanese flatmate among others (the rest I don't have an inventory of, yet..), and so far I saw two poodles around, too...
First day at school was FUN! I got giggles when I left in the morning with my backpack, a sandwich packed in serviettes, already half an hour late from the official starting time when I got out of the door…. Ooooooooooh good old times – and they are back!
To start the studies, all new students had a shorter or longer conversation with a teacher depending on the level of Spanish each of us had. Then a written test followed, and, guess what! Since I understood almost everything that was said and knew the basics of the grammar, I got a level higher than an absolute beginner! Yaaaaaaaaaay! I was so proud of myself… :D The agreement is, that I do my best to catch up with the others in my class and see in a week if I manage… There are 7 of us on the same Spanish adventure, a Swedish, a Belgian, another Hungarian lady, an American, an Austrian and a French, an interesting mix I have to say. The others all have been learning Spanish for a while, a few months to a year they said – yep, there is a wee bit of catching up to do on my end. There is free wifi in the school and a little café, lessons start at 8.30 and go until 2pm – after which I am back home just in time for lunch..
Next up is a hunt for a pre-paid simcard, then a walk on the beach before it gets dark, and a few hours study before bedtime – I seriously love the fact that I don't have anything else to do than sleep, eat, go to school and study…. Life is still awesome dear friends. J
Morocco
Ending in a proper clusterfuck with my (god damned) easyjet flight and no sleep for 28 hours, the Morocco-trip became almost twice as expensive as expected and I left the country with a rather bitter than sweet taste in my mouth. Apart from the horrible exit, naturally there are some really sweet memories I wouldn't change for anything. The (public) highlights were the desert with the hotel of 1000 stars (I think we saw most of the shining spots and dots, along with half-a-dozen shootingstar-per-hour); the camel ride among endless sand dunes that I only saw on the national geographic before; breathtaking sunsets; the annoying millions of flies; the sweetest pots of tea on earth; the excitement before and the refreshing feeling after the hammam (it's the local spa experience, a must do in Morocco!!), the tasty tajine meals; madness on the main square of Marrakesh; a 15 hour overnight busride that was not at all something I would be missing; the craziest reasons for excessive taxi fares; riad owner with 7 kids; no Rick's in Casablanca; illiterate locals speaking 4-5-6 languages – all in all, an absolutely crazy experience!
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Next few
I left Rishikes today. Almost cried on a few occassions, some of the 'see-you-laters' ended up being a bit more emotional than I thought they would be.. :) How so sweet!
I would love to but cant give you any nice summary of the past month, the feelings and thoughts are a bit mixed in my head right now - I am probably just more tired than anything else... Most of the day was spent in a car again - listening to music after a month, now let me tell you, a true life-changing experience - 8 hours and finally got to Delhi, which is just loud and polluted and I really cant be asked to deal with 12million people at the moment. Tomorrow is the Taj trip and then back to Hunagry for a few days... looking forward, looking forward.
Yep, this is what I was going to tell you: I can be seen, dragged out for beers, meals, etc until next Friday noon, then - VERYSUPERAWESOME lucky me, I am on my way to Morocco......... wooohooo! :)
Then, 4 weeks Malaga, one at home with Mom, and then over to South-East Asia for a while, starting on the 20th of December! :D
...............shall I continue? :P
I would love to but cant give you any nice summary of the past month, the feelings and thoughts are a bit mixed in my head right now - I am probably just more tired than anything else... Most of the day was spent in a car again - listening to music after a month, now let me tell you, a true life-changing experience - 8 hours and finally got to Delhi, which is just loud and polluted and I really cant be asked to deal with 12million people at the moment. Tomorrow is the Taj trip and then back to Hunagry for a few days... looking forward, looking forward.
Yep, this is what I was going to tell you: I can be seen, dragged out for beers, meals, etc until next Friday noon, then - VERYSUPERAWESOME lucky me, I am on my way to Morocco......... wooohooo! :)
Then, 4 weeks Malaga, one at home with Mom, and then over to South-East Asia for a while, starting on the 20th of December! :D
...............shall I continue? :P
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Silence vol.2
The mornings, right after breakfast became the most precious part of the days for me.
By 9am I am done with the first hatha class, meditation, shower and food, the body is awake and well-fed, the mind is calm and well-rested, and until about 10am when the first lecture starts, I have a patch of sunshine in front of my cottage where, like old people do back at home in the villages, I just sit and enjoy - as hilarious as it may sound for some –, the sound of the river, the dozens of different kind of birds going mental and the conversations of the favorite pets.. It is really special.
And, today started with a particularly sweet little surprise and a bigger than usual smile... J
This is the 3rd day of silence, and I came to realize so many more details and patterns all around… nothing superficial just things one wouldn't usually pay attention to.
I also forgot the silence mode once which was kinda funny, I just asked a question in the morning and after I got the answer only realized that I was not supposed to talk. J oh well, all those nice habits we have.
The other thing is, that since I had to finalize my plans in Delhi for the weekend, I couldn't avoid going online to check mails, and of course I got carried away reading all that came in during the last week… which kinda answers D's question – in case D is D as in Miss Comms Director…. - with your job, I am having some challenges imagining any silent days for you…. On a serious note though, what they teach here, is that no matter how long for, it may be an hour at home every now and then, but closing all communication channels and doing cleaning for instance or cooking or meditation, or walking in silence does wonders for everyone. I can only second that from the past month's experiences. Its really nothing much else one can do here but quiet the mind as much as possible and deal with it!
Silence – as it is said – is one of the 5 practices everyone should follow to a certain extent… it just seems to me that, not only for these practices but for all the goals this tradition sets for its followers, one has to be a millionaire and have a full-on life-factory around, that supports all the needs of the individual. I mean, meditation is indeed beneficial and an amazing thing if you can do it, but – in my own personal experience – all together it takes about half a year of hard enough work with oneself, 4-5 hours a day at least, to be able to finally sit in meditation and enjoy it for over an hour. Try to find 4-5 hours every day in your life for half a year, without completely changing your current lifestyle.. I just don't think this is the only way for most of us.
As close as I get to the end of the week I realize how much I love this place and the people. Even in silence, the smiles worth more than any words, the good vibes do get to you no matter how much you are trying to close yourself in. It is indeed a patch of heaven in the crazy chaos around. I am glad to know how to spend "quality time" alone without books or even music; realized that my hips will never be painfree again unless I do exercise every day, I have to admit that I came to feel a special admiration for my washingmachine at home and also, deliberately avoided dishwashing during the past month, and that even though I tried.. - I never ever want to see my legs unshaved again. J
Today, is the last washing day, tomorrow is packing day, Friday is shopping day, Saturday driving day, and Sunday is TajMahal, then the flight back to freezingcold Hungary - -2 this morning??? WHAT?! - for a few days at least. J I am looking forward to see you friends!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Silence
Following a spontaneous breaking the rules, whereby on Sunday night we went out (of the ashram) with Noa, bought a pack of cigarettes and 2 pieces of chocolate each, sat down opposite the ashram entrance and talked about love and the big questions of life in general for hours, she had a great idea: why don't we do the 3 day silence, before I leave at the end of the week?
As the silent Thursdays never ended up being silent (at all), this seemed to be just the perfect idea to finish my stay with.. We also agreed before shutting the mouth that we'd go 'downtown' on Friday in the morning to do my gift-shopping and hunt down some proper food too – Noa still has 3 weeks to go so, hopefully it will help her cravings for a while longer.
After the first half a day – which was not difficult at all, apart from dealing with some of the people not understanding why is the never quiet Hungarian just shaking her head or nodding – there is one thing I am absolutely certain of already: it saves so much energy not to talk, it is fascinating. It was kind of a relief today not having had to explain anything, answer any questions, have the weather talk etc… and while I thought it would make me go nuts having to deal with my thoughts only, the mind is a lot quieter than I ever managed to quiet it down to with any sort of relaxation so far. Lets see how the next two days go.
Himalayas
Another record was broken: 172 km in 11 hours, with 2 half-hour breaks. That makes it 17.2 km/hour – WOW!
The first day of the trip we spent on the road, winding, narrow, literally, half of it washed away by landslides and the monsoon this year. The drops we drove right next to, about 2000m above sea level sometimes made me sweat so badly, that I actually came to appreciate the air-conditioning. Lucky enough the car we travelled with was a really good 4WD, spacious inside and we got the best driver in the region – thanks to him we did not have any issues apart from the exhaustion. It was confirmed again that next to the break, the most important second bit on any car is the horn around here, when the traffic got a bit heavier during midday, you couldn't hear anything else just these ridiculous tunes – made me practice meditation a few times, trying not to go completely mad.
The views where so overwhelming that I could not hold the ears back: huge, I mean HUGE mountains around, waterfalls on every half a mile, the Ganges 2000-2500m below, fog in the valleys below and the sun coming up, godbeams (I like this word.. J) breaking through the clouds……….. Magical!
We had breakfast and lunch at roadside cafés; stopped at the birthplace of the Ganges (Devprayag) where the 2 different colored streams of the Bhagrati and the Alakananda becomes the holy river; stopped at a monument where John had to have a photo taken, after having read the 'The man eating leopard of Rudraprayag' when he was 15; and had to take a 30km detour (2.5 hours) because of a landslide that made the "National Highway" closed. I tell you that 30km of horror was the longest 30km of my life. We reached our destination in the town of Okhimath around 6pm, did some yoga, meditation, had dinner and were out by 9, hoping for the morning to come quicker, for us to be able to set off on our hike and finally, finally see those breathtaking views of the Himalayas.
Day 2's destination was the little lake, Deoria Tal – a holy place of course -, for which we set off from this tiny little village called Sari. We got a local guide there, Umendra – not that we needed him as the treks were pretty obvious, but it was nice to have someone local telling us stories ('us' being, me, Mr Kenguru and Silvia, latter who lives in the ashram and arranged the whole trip – big thanks to her again!!), and someone who had enough common sense to tell us when to turn back to reach the village before the night fell. The lake turned out to be only a 2-hour long hike so we decided to continue towards Chopta, the starting point for the Day 3's hike, which we never reached as, towards 3pm the skies fell down with heavy rain and - "white rain", as our cook later explained, not knowing the word for - snow J, on the higher peaks. The cook by the way did a miracle that night: he put ginger and black pepper into the chai latte – so, I have a new favorite drink dear friends, after all…
On Day 3, we agreed to pick Umendra up at his village at 5am – which meant a bloody early start and still we ran late as I predicted… - so after the hour long drive to Chopta, the following half an hour delay didn't make any difference, and we decided to have a quick breakfast at the start of the trail. It turned out to be the best meal I have had so far in India; nothing special just a paratha, but so tasty… SO tasty!!! It was freezing cold that morning – yes, I did make use of the winter coat finally, and was already looking forward to the sleepingbag I carried all the way along with me, for those 3 nights… anyway.
The hike was with a 1400m altitude difference but gradually going upwards so nothing extremely difficult. I have to admit though that I felt the last 300m after Tungnath on 3800m, it was the classical having had to stop after every 20-25 steps to catch up with the breathing. The weather was clear until Tungnath too where it immediately became overcast – and as unfortunate as we were, we missed out on the best 360' views in the region on Chandrasila peak. We had the csucscsoki (peak choc-bar) but no cigi this time (shocker), and started to head down after we'd been done with the photos; it was really getting cold. On the way back, John and Silvia insisted on doing prayers at the temple on Tungnath but I was too cold (and not excited about the prayers at all to be very honest), so I headed down, absolutely loving the me time and silence; warmed up at the first sunny spot and enjoyed the amazing views of the snow covered peak of Chaukhmba (7200m above sea level, the highest peak that is visible at this part of the world).
Down at our breakfast spot I gave in to the temptations and ordered a cup of Maggi noodles – I don't thin I ever appreciated the plastic food that much before. It was a 10 minute release from curry-overdose, a great thing after a while for my European stomach.. ;) In the afternoon the weather turned into full-on winter, we saw snow slowly covering the mountains around us so we headed back to our base, went for a stroll and saw the Omkreshwar temple in Okimath, had an early dinner, a nice rest, and started to head back to Rishikesh at 9am the following day.
This time the 172 km only took 8 hours, even with making a stop at a cave – another holy spot, me restless to get back to the ashram but J&S has to meditate (I dont blame them, in the end this was their purpose of the trip..), I go along but freak out on the few rats that start to crawl way too close to the spot where I sit, J&S not realizing any of this at all, I run away, and so in the end I promise myself yet again, that noone will ever get me do anything which I am not at least 90% sure of. J
Quick facts: the highest point we were on was 'only' on 4090m not the previously announced 5000+; I learnt that for such hights we would have needed to drive twice the distance from Rishikesh. Unfortunately we still had to spend 2 days in the car and only hiked for another 2, but considering the time constrains of J&S it was not much more I could have done unless setting off on my own. The costs – again because it was not a trip alone – came down to approx. 110 EUR each, including the car, driver, all meals, accommodation, and guide and tips as well. Well worth it, I have to say!
If you need a guide, do contact Umendra Negi, here is his contact details:
trekking guide or tent-accommodation in uttrakhand india
name Umendra singh negi
mobil no 08958647802
09456534062
email umendra.negi100@gmail.com
name Umendra singh negi
mobil no 08958647802
09456534062
email umendra.negi100@gmail.com
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