After my parents left me all alone and vulnerable in Phuket I had another messy night in Patong. After a couple of hours of sleep I went to take the boat to phi phi island. At Phi phi island I stumbled upon Mr sloppyhands and Rainman. They were booking a boat trip for the day and with them were Cara the cat from Laos and two new ones, Anna and Kris. I joined them for the ride and we all had a great day. Back on the island the guys had a little surprise waiting. At a restaurant, where guests could muay thai eachother for a bucket of booze, they had a burger challenge. The lads had been waiting for me and now was the time. Who could manage to consume an 800 gram burger, potato wedges, coleslaw and onion rings in 30 minutes? The correct answer is me:D Years of practice finally paid off. None of us felt good the next 20 hours though, but it was worth it.
The next day was new years eve and we spent the day on the beach, relaxing and swimming in the beautiful, warm water. The three girls then came and picked us up after they had gotten themself a bucket each. We went down to the beach for a nice new years eve beach party. With nice music, fireworks and half naked people with body painting, I had my very first warm new years eve celebration. Cara kissed some very handsome guys, but was unfortunaetly not able to remember this the next morning. 2012 started with rain. This didn't bother us much since we spent most of it in bed. We had a last, nice dinner with the girls and then we said good bye. The next day the three amigos went to Hat Yai in the south of Thailand. Unfortunately, bad news had arrived from England and Amir had to go back home. The next morning he left for Kuala Lumpur, leaving the trip to Penang to Rainman and myself. No tears were shed, but a piece of our hearts left that day. At noon the same day James and I boarded the love bus. A minivan filled with gay Malaysians. It took us 10 mins to find out that one was playing for the different team, but after a bus ride of 4 hours we realized that they all were. T-shirts like "Boy boy" in sparkling letters, hand gesters and lisping made Rainman understand he was in heaven.
Penang was a new world to me! Multi cultural life without white people. Chinese, Malayians and Indians living together with some other minorities buzzing around. Colonial architecture mixed with Chinese temples and Mosques. Walking around was a lot of fun and dragon lizards seem to crawl under stilt houses or be coming out of the sewers. The food was great and dirt cheap. It's very practical that everybody speaks English there too. Rainman and I checked into a place called Hotel Noble. The rooms resemble those you see from military hospitals during the war, but we had what we needed. That included all our neighbours beeing old hippies and junkies. They were all friendly however. Even the one old guy that has female breasts and wears a dress. We spent the days going around the town, up penang hill and the national park on the tip of the island. In the national park we saw giant lizards, monkeys, birds and several eagles. After trekking through the jungle 3 hours, we ended up at an awesome lighthouse and we sat up at the top and enjoyed a nice view over the ocean. It was very nice to see the eagles fly together around us. We were supposed to stay a night or two, but ended up being in Penang five nights. I can highly recommend going to this town and enjoy the Malaysian hospitality. The sixth day we left with a minivan for the cameron Highlands.
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111231PhuketPhiPhiIsland?authkey=Gv1sRgCPTquZiz3sqUNQ
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/BurgerChallenge?authkey=Gv1sRgCM6diMzbh4iKcA
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20120106Penang?authkey=Gv1sRgCJOZpcaRycrDLw
2012/01/07
2011/12/31
Bangkok-Phuket
Arriving in Bangkok again was as pleasent as always. The visa line is my favourite part. At Khao san road I met up with mr sloppyhands, Speedy Gonzales and Rainman once again. It was a special day this day. Mr Sloppyhands turned 30 and we were all going out to celebrate. We started out with a humble meal and a crew of seven, the thre mentioned in addition to the swiss and a new british couple. We enjoyed a couple of buckets of vodka redbull and went to the nightclub. Loads of fun the whole night and Anne die gruppenführerin joined us for a very last time before she hit it back to cold europe. Amir partied like a trooper and we were all happy with the result of the night. The next day we had our little "Hangover 2" with the cameras, cleverly deleting some images before they could be shared.
The second day in Bangkok, Nattinatt, a friend of my thai friend Pan from Hong Kong, took me on a private night tour in Bangkok. The third day in Bangkok, the Twits ( Roald Dahl, Herr og fru Dust) arrived. They saw where I lived with Mr Sloppyhands in Khao san road, and they couldn't leave this Indian guest house soon enough. I had booked two nights at a sweet place in Sukhumvit. This was the first part of my two week Xmas holidays with my parents. Trying to show them how my life has been, we were to only stay at hostels. The first day together we checked out the major sightseeings in Bangkok and went on a boat trip in the evening. The next day would be the best we had. Pan showed up the next morning with his car and took us out the bridge on the river Kwai. We got to Kanchanaburi and took the train on the railway of death. We also got to stop at some national parks, museums and a huge temple. We ate loads of good food and had a very nice time. My parents were thrilled and I jumped up a couple of places on the will ranking.
Off to Phuket we went and settled into a hostel close to the beach. We had nice daytips out to the islands around Phuket. In the afternoon we went to the massage studios actually getting massages and not massaaaaages. In the evenings my parents went to bed and I spent time with some of the guys at the hostel. At Patong beach there is always something going on. There is no lack of connect four competition either. The first night in Phuket I spent with a Swede, a German and a Singaporean we can call Bucket. We had a good time dancing among the hookers in one of Patong's discos. The next day Bucket was leaving so lucky her got to spend the day on the beach with me and my parents, killing time until her flight. She made us laugh couple of times, one of which with the comment: "We love Sumatra! They protect us from all natural disasters".
We spent Christmas eve in a swedish restaurant where they were showing the very same disney cartoons we have at home. Eating a good steak at Christmas wasn't a bad idea at all. Relaxing on the beaches all the day and working as a helper for the elderly was good holidays from my holidays. Holding my parents hands while they were jumping in the strong waves at Kata beach, making sure they found the way back home in the evenings, these were my everyday tasks. They went shopping in the streets and I was listening to my pimsleur "learn thai". We had a nice two weeks together and then they left back for cold Norway. I left for phi phi island on the other side, meating up with the crew once again!
The second day in Bangkok, Nattinatt, a friend of my thai friend Pan from Hong Kong, took me on a private night tour in Bangkok. The third day in Bangkok, the Twits ( Roald Dahl, Herr og fru Dust) arrived. They saw where I lived with Mr Sloppyhands in Khao san road, and they couldn't leave this Indian guest house soon enough. I had booked two nights at a sweet place in Sukhumvit. This was the first part of my two week Xmas holidays with my parents. Trying to show them how my life has been, we were to only stay at hostels. The first day together we checked out the major sightseeings in Bangkok and went on a boat trip in the evening. The next day would be the best we had. Pan showed up the next morning with his car and took us out the bridge on the river Kwai. We got to Kanchanaburi and took the train on the railway of death. We also got to stop at some national parks, museums and a huge temple. We ate loads of good food and had a very nice time. My parents were thrilled and I jumped up a couple of places on the will ranking.
Off to Phuket we went and settled into a hostel close to the beach. We had nice daytips out to the islands around Phuket. In the afternoon we went to the massage studios actually getting massages and not massaaaaages. In the evenings my parents went to bed and I spent time with some of the guys at the hostel. At Patong beach there is always something going on. There is no lack of connect four competition either. The first night in Phuket I spent with a Swede, a German and a Singaporean we can call Bucket. We had a good time dancing among the hookers in one of Patong's discos. The next day Bucket was leaving so lucky her got to spend the day on the beach with me and my parents, killing time until her flight. She made us laugh couple of times, one of which with the comment: "We love Sumatra! They protect us from all natural disasters".
We spent Christmas eve in a swedish restaurant where they were showing the very same disney cartoons we have at home. Eating a good steak at Christmas wasn't a bad idea at all. Relaxing on the beaches all the day and working as a helper for the elderly was good holidays from my holidays. Holding my parents hands while they were jumping in the strong waves at Kata beach, making sure they found the way back home in the evenings, these were my everyday tasks. They went shopping in the streets and I was listening to my pimsleur "learn thai". We had a nice two weeks together and then they left back for cold Norway. I left for phi phi island on the other side, meating up with the crew once again!
My tracks have now been updated but the file is so big, it needs to be downloaded and opened in google earth.
2011/12/18
Luang Prabang - Vientiane
Luang Prabang has truly the strangest night life I've encountered so far. Of course we had to go to a country that was officially communistic to find someone with stranger/stricter alcohol laws than Norway. At eleven o'clock the bars in town close and everybody has to take a tuktuk to a night club ten minutes away. James tried to fake an irish-foot-lock to stay ten minutes longer. The club is cool, but for some reason there are barrel tables everywhere, also on the dance floor. This last another hour and then everybody gets thrown out. Where to go? You guessed right, the bowling alley. This is no night bowling, disco bowling or bowling where you get porn on your screen when you get a strike. It's just a regular bowling alley that sells booze and is full of drunken, white monkeys. We went there three times... We also went to a fare in the middle of nowhere. It was out of a horror movie where we were the only guests. We got to shoot with some soft guns and drie bumper cars.
Our group slowly started to split up. Anne was the first to leave for the south. Then Amir headed off to Hanoi. Chris left two days later for the south of Thailand after having missed his first flight due to sleeping. Darlene takes no responisbility. Marie and Lotte also departed. And then One-arm left us. Left were Darlene, James and I. I went bicycling by myself a couple of days and had a tremendous time going through the villages in the outskirts. The people were cheering me like it was tour de France. At one point I stopped outside a school beause all the kids came running to the fence screaming "Sabadee". I replied and they were ecstatic. Laughing and running around me while I took some photos, the kids seemed to have fun seeing a white guy. I remembered I had some Norwegian stickers in my bag and I started handing them out. The kids stumbled over eachother to get them and used them as tattoos in the face. I took a picture of them after my little embassador job and continued my journey to the waterfalls. On my way back I stopped at a random family that seemed to run some kind of local restaurant. At least I ended up eating noodle soup and sticky rice in the living room with the man of the house while the kids were watching the TV. Best soup I've had and it cost me 10 000 kip, rice included. Darlene, James and I went on a last bike trip together and ended up at family's place, eating their fruits and rice. Such parasites we are.
Darlene and I left James in LP and headed for Vang Vieng. The toyota hiace that picked us up was already full, so we sat on the floor and sides inside. It was tight. Luckily it only lasted to the bus station. There we got into another slightly less crowded bus and headed down the curvy roads to VV. It felt like eternity, but we finally got there and checked in at an ok guest house. I liked the owner, Darlene didnt. He was sexist hehe... Vang Vieng is probably the strangest place we've seen. A mixture of nice limestone hills, much like Yangshuo in China, mekong river, shady bars and cafes playing reruns of Friends the entire day. In the river you can go tubing, that is sitting in a tube from the wheel of a tractor, and follow the current of the river. There are multiple bars down the river and they fish you out of the water and give you shots. It was all fun, but too much of Sisqo's shakedown for me. Felt kind of out of place. Lotte was with us again with a young Aussie. We had a nice day together.
Darlene and I went bicycling and hiking around the town. We checked out some interesting caves. Outside one of them we found a cool jew that went in with us. We walked around inside and it was really cool but slightly claustrofobic. Safely outside we went all three on Nir's scooter. It was fun and painful on the dirt roads back to town. The suspension on the bike got some exercise that day. He dropped us off just out of town and we walked the last part. My stomach has been fighting me the last day and during this little walk I had an emergency. Luckily there was a kind of beer garden/guest house there and I ran into it. Turned out it was a maze, but right before touching cloth turned into filling up cloth, I found a toilet and punished it. Meanwhile the owner of the place sent Darlene a small comment, question her IQ since she didn't walk on the boards into the guest house. The sement under it was "wet", but I didn't see anything either since it was quite dark. Darlene, having been fed nice truths about men from me and sexist approaches from our own guest house owner, got the little extra she needed from this guy and she exploded! Full of wrath and fury she ran in wanted to put him in his place! Telling people passing by that his place was shitty and they shouldn't eat there! Leaving the place with an insult that would make a pirate shiver: "I hope your food is bad and you get diarrhea!". While waiting for me outside, still steaming, she admitted to me she wished she'd done a better job insulting him. Leaving the whole place while screaming "An apology would be in order!", I felt more like running than walking. But it made the evening complete and I was laughing and Darlene was not :D
After alot of fun in VV it was time to leave. We went down to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Darlene left immideately with the train and I spent my last kip in the capital on food and spent the evening online fixing a place to stay in Bangkok. When I got back to my guest house I was pleased to see that I still got connection to the cafe's internet. Lying down on my bed, I had a hunch something was wrong and checked under the pillow. My bed was full of ants. I went down and the guy seemed pissed off and bothered and was complaining to himself all the time while changing sheets, like that would solve the problem. The ants were still there and I slept with the lights on and stayed in the other side of the bed. In the morning I tried to get a refund and the guy went mental. Standing there with this crazy guy, acting like a monkey with rabies, I got slightly scared in the end and gave him the key and left. A bad case of ADHD there. Since I left the place 7 in the morning I had alot of time and walked to the airport. Next up: Bangkok again.
Photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111130ChiangMaiLastPhotos?authkey=Gv1sRgCPvhnJfSvJHcsAE
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111204ChiangKongLuangPrabangBirthdayAndParty?authkey=Gv1sRgCMmOy7PjyezQxAE
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111205SlowboatAndLuangPrabang?authkey=Gv1sRgCPjdpt2jmvDzSQ
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111212LuangPrabangPartyKamera?authkey=Gv1sRgCKe6wf_FlYK85gE
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111209LuangPrabang?authkey=Gv1sRgCN-snOWYiO7cew
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111214LuangPrabangVientiane?authkey=Gv1sRgCPfns-XWz5PuSQ
Our group slowly started to split up. Anne was the first to leave for the south. Then Amir headed off to Hanoi. Chris left two days later for the south of Thailand after having missed his first flight due to sleeping. Darlene takes no responisbility. Marie and Lotte also departed. And then One-arm left us. Left were Darlene, James and I. I went bicycling by myself a couple of days and had a tremendous time going through the villages in the outskirts. The people were cheering me like it was tour de France. At one point I stopped outside a school beause all the kids came running to the fence screaming "Sabadee". I replied and they were ecstatic. Laughing and running around me while I took some photos, the kids seemed to have fun seeing a white guy. I remembered I had some Norwegian stickers in my bag and I started handing them out. The kids stumbled over eachother to get them and used them as tattoos in the face. I took a picture of them after my little embassador job and continued my journey to the waterfalls. On my way back I stopped at a random family that seemed to run some kind of local restaurant. At least I ended up eating noodle soup and sticky rice in the living room with the man of the house while the kids were watching the TV. Best soup I've had and it cost me 10 000 kip, rice included. Darlene, James and I went on a last bike trip together and ended up at family's place, eating their fruits and rice. Such parasites we are.
Darlene and I left James in LP and headed for Vang Vieng. The toyota hiace that picked us up was already full, so we sat on the floor and sides inside. It was tight. Luckily it only lasted to the bus station. There we got into another slightly less crowded bus and headed down the curvy roads to VV. It felt like eternity, but we finally got there and checked in at an ok guest house. I liked the owner, Darlene didnt. He was sexist hehe... Vang Vieng is probably the strangest place we've seen. A mixture of nice limestone hills, much like Yangshuo in China, mekong river, shady bars and cafes playing reruns of Friends the entire day. In the river you can go tubing, that is sitting in a tube from the wheel of a tractor, and follow the current of the river. There are multiple bars down the river and they fish you out of the water and give you shots. It was all fun, but too much of Sisqo's shakedown for me. Felt kind of out of place. Lotte was with us again with a young Aussie. We had a nice day together.
Darlene and I went bicycling and hiking around the town. We checked out some interesting caves. Outside one of them we found a cool jew that went in with us. We walked around inside and it was really cool but slightly claustrofobic. Safely outside we went all three on Nir's scooter. It was fun and painful on the dirt roads back to town. The suspension on the bike got some exercise that day. He dropped us off just out of town and we walked the last part. My stomach has been fighting me the last day and during this little walk I had an emergency. Luckily there was a kind of beer garden/guest house there and I ran into it. Turned out it was a maze, but right before touching cloth turned into filling up cloth, I found a toilet and punished it. Meanwhile the owner of the place sent Darlene a small comment, question her IQ since she didn't walk on the boards into the guest house. The sement under it was "wet", but I didn't see anything either since it was quite dark. Darlene, having been fed nice truths about men from me and sexist approaches from our own guest house owner, got the little extra she needed from this guy and she exploded! Full of wrath and fury she ran in wanted to put him in his place! Telling people passing by that his place was shitty and they shouldn't eat there! Leaving the place with an insult that would make a pirate shiver: "I hope your food is bad and you get diarrhea!". While waiting for me outside, still steaming, she admitted to me she wished she'd done a better job insulting him. Leaving the whole place while screaming "An apology would be in order!", I felt more like running than walking. But it made the evening complete and I was laughing and Darlene was not :D
After alot of fun in VV it was time to leave. We went down to Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Darlene left immideately with the train and I spent my last kip in the capital on food and spent the evening online fixing a place to stay in Bangkok. When I got back to my guest house I was pleased to see that I still got connection to the cafe's internet. Lying down on my bed, I had a hunch something was wrong and checked under the pillow. My bed was full of ants. I went down and the guy seemed pissed off and bothered and was complaining to himself all the time while changing sheets, like that would solve the problem. The ants were still there and I slept with the lights on and stayed in the other side of the bed. In the morning I tried to get a refund and the guy went mental. Standing there with this crazy guy, acting like a monkey with rabies, I got slightly scared in the end and gave him the key and left. A bad case of ADHD there. Since I left the place 7 in the morning I had alot of time and walked to the airport. Next up: Bangkok again.
Photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111130ChiangMaiLastPhotos?authkey=Gv1sRgCPvhnJfSvJHcsAE
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111204ChiangKongLuangPrabangBirthdayAndParty?authkey=Gv1sRgCMmOy7PjyezQxAE
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111205SlowboatAndLuangPrabang?authkey=Gv1sRgCPjdpt2jmvDzSQ
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111212LuangPrabangPartyKamera?authkey=Gv1sRgCKe6wf_FlYK85gE
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111209LuangPrabang?authkey=Gv1sRgCN-snOWYiO7cew
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111214LuangPrabangVientiane?authkey=Gv1sRgCPfns-XWz5PuSQ
2011/12/09
Chiang Mai - Luang Prabang
Chiang Mai is by far one of the best place I've been to. Time just seems to disappear in this place. Eating, drinking, massages, going to the night bazaar, spicy night club, boxing matches, there are endless things to do and the weather is great every day. I got some of my christmas presents together and went to a store and asked if they could wrap it for me. After 15 minutes of gesticulating, we finally understood eachother and the old woman started wrapping every pile of presents I had. Of course she did this after a young guy had found precisely the right boxes to put my stuff in so the gifts would be nice and prism shaped. After keeping these two people busy for an hour or more, they charged me 210 baht, roughly 5 euros, paper and ribbons included. Happy as fat guy at McDonald's, with free bigmac coupons, I left the store and thought I had at least gotten 50% of my gifts taken care of. The next evening, our last in Chiang Mai, I took my nice pink bike to the night bazaar to get the last stuff for my family. Close to closing time I had gotten all the last gifts I needed and tried my luck again by asking a woman at the last stand if she knew where I could get it wrapped. Expecting laughter, I wasn't high with hopes, but she brought me to a small post office at the corner. I tried to explain that paper wasn't enough, I would like to have help wrapping the gifts. The woman wistled two girls over from the pizza place across the street and they were up for the job. I was sitting there chatting while these cute girls were wrapping presents, with millimeter precision. Everything was closing around us, it was 12 o' clock, and they were still smiling and were even the first to congratulate me with my 27th birthday. I kept these girls busy an hour or so as well, but in the end I had a full set of perfectly wrapped presents and two new friends in Chiang Mai. What a wicked place! :)
November the 30th I went to the post office early in the morning. I shipped the Xmas presents to Norway and then headed back to the hostel. The team slowly gathered together. Mr Sloppyhands (Amir, the notorious loser of Jenga), Rainman (James, No explanation needed), Christopher Alexander and alwaysOnTimeDarlene. A minivan picked us up and we headed up to Chiang Khong, a border town to Laos. On the way I beat Chris countless times in chess, no wait, I counted, 5-0 was the score. In Chiang Kong we checked into a very basic, but nice and clean guesthouse. We had dinner included in the reservation and then we went out to take a beer. After all, I was 3^3 years old. We found this brilliant pub that was run by an old Belgian bloke. He was so nice and made sure that we had all that we needed. On the bus ride up and in the guest house we had already made some new excellent friends. One-armed Reg, alien-infested Marie, the Argentinians led by Juan, blonde swiss Michele, bday beer Carleigh, Hawaiian, but not so native Bryson and many more. In the bar we had loads of fun, but we lost Amir. He was gone for a good hour or so and we couldn't find him. Luckily he showed up again. Soon after the power went out, or so I thought. Out comes a woman with a birthday cake with loads of sparkling candles and everybody is singing happy birthday. I got a bottle of something which I haven't tried yet. It was a great day.
Getting to Laos by a slow boat, we first had to get some visas in order and then we headed down to the mekong river. Seeing that the slowboat was half full, alot of us thought it would never have enough space for us all. An aussie and a couple of others tried to start a mass demonstration to get an extra boat, but somehow the captain managed to set up more seats all the time. Half way in this funny battle, where people were screaming at eachother, my group entered the boat to make sure at least we had good enough seats. In the end the most stubborn were the last to enter and had to stand haha. The scenery down the river was amazing and we spent the time playing chess and connect four. After a good six hours ride or so we ended up in Pakbeng. A dirty little stopover town, which is basically one road full of guest houses, one bar and loads of husstlers and thieves. Felt like a wild west place, but we had a good time there and nobody I knew lost anything. At the bar we met the swiss and the Argentinian army and had some beers with them. The next day another eight hours were spent on the boat. I crushed most opposition in connect four, although some stabbed back a little. Sloppyhands, facehugger-victim, blondie, speedy-gonzales and chris were some of the ones feeling my cff ( connect four fury).
In Luang Prabang Anne die Gruppenführerin waited for us at the pier and we went to find ourselves a guest house. For breakfast I had some entertainment I've never had before. Two dogs were stuck ass to ass. Somehow they'd managed to end up in this position during intercourse and they walked around like this for fifteen minutes or so before they separeted. It was quite funny to watch. Luang Prabang is a much like Chiang Mai in the sense of being an easy place to relax and let time pass. We were lucky and arrived the week a film festival was held. We watched a documentary about a football team from Laos going to the gothic cup. The film had some stings towards the states for spicying up the country with cluster mines, and at the end of the film, the football team entered the stage and got an applause. Then they invited the American ambassador up to the stage and James got his wide angle lense ready. She was so fat she stood next to the whole team when she was up there. The day after our group went on a kajak and biking trip with a stop at a beautiful waterfall. We had a good time and the new members of the group made it all the more fun. The kajaking part was easy and everybody managed, even the french girls. Did I say everybody? Of course Rainman James managed to capsize.
More to come from Laos later! I got shitty connection so pictures will be added later.
November the 30th I went to the post office early in the morning. I shipped the Xmas presents to Norway and then headed back to the hostel. The team slowly gathered together. Mr Sloppyhands (Amir, the notorious loser of Jenga), Rainman (James, No explanation needed), Christopher Alexander and alwaysOnTimeDarlene. A minivan picked us up and we headed up to Chiang Khong, a border town to Laos. On the way I beat Chris countless times in chess, no wait, I counted, 5-0 was the score. In Chiang Kong we checked into a very basic, but nice and clean guesthouse. We had dinner included in the reservation and then we went out to take a beer. After all, I was 3^3 years old. We found this brilliant pub that was run by an old Belgian bloke. He was so nice and made sure that we had all that we needed. On the bus ride up and in the guest house we had already made some new excellent friends. One-armed Reg, alien-infested Marie, the Argentinians led by Juan, blonde swiss Michele, bday beer Carleigh, Hawaiian, but not so native Bryson and many more. In the bar we had loads of fun, but we lost Amir. He was gone for a good hour or so and we couldn't find him. Luckily he showed up again. Soon after the power went out, or so I thought. Out comes a woman with a birthday cake with loads of sparkling candles and everybody is singing happy birthday. I got a bottle of something which I haven't tried yet. It was a great day.
Getting to Laos by a slow boat, we first had to get some visas in order and then we headed down to the mekong river. Seeing that the slowboat was half full, alot of us thought it would never have enough space for us all. An aussie and a couple of others tried to start a mass demonstration to get an extra boat, but somehow the captain managed to set up more seats all the time. Half way in this funny battle, where people were screaming at eachother, my group entered the boat to make sure at least we had good enough seats. In the end the most stubborn were the last to enter and had to stand haha. The scenery down the river was amazing and we spent the time playing chess and connect four. After a good six hours ride or so we ended up in Pakbeng. A dirty little stopover town, which is basically one road full of guest houses, one bar and loads of husstlers and thieves. Felt like a wild west place, but we had a good time there and nobody I knew lost anything. At the bar we met the swiss and the Argentinian army and had some beers with them. The next day another eight hours were spent on the boat. I crushed most opposition in connect four, although some stabbed back a little. Sloppyhands, facehugger-victim, blondie, speedy-gonzales and chris were some of the ones feeling my cff ( connect four fury).
In Luang Prabang Anne die Gruppenführerin waited for us at the pier and we went to find ourselves a guest house. For breakfast I had some entertainment I've never had before. Two dogs were stuck ass to ass. Somehow they'd managed to end up in this position during intercourse and they walked around like this for fifteen minutes or so before they separeted. It was quite funny to watch. Luang Prabang is a much like Chiang Mai in the sense of being an easy place to relax and let time pass. We were lucky and arrived the week a film festival was held. We watched a documentary about a football team from Laos going to the gothic cup. The film had some stings towards the states for spicying up the country with cluster mines, and at the end of the film, the football team entered the stage and got an applause. Then they invited the American ambassador up to the stage and James got his wide angle lense ready. She was so fat she stood next to the whole team when she was up there. The day after our group went on a kajak and biking trip with a stop at a beautiful waterfall. We had a good time and the new members of the group made it all the more fun. The kajaking part was easy and everybody managed, even the french girls. Did I say everybody? Of course Rainman James managed to capsize.
More to come from Laos later! I got shitty connection so pictures will be added later.
2011/11/27
Chiang Mai - Mae Hong Son
I woke up in my hostel and went down for breakfast. I stumbled over an American bloke called Chris who was going bungee jumping. Two hours later we were in the car on our way to the site. The 50 meters tall lift seemed pretty scary, but brave as we were, we jumped and survived to tell the tale. It tickled alot in the belly and the feeling the first two seconds is hard to describe. Well back at the hostel we enjoyed some beers and called it a night. The next day we went mountain biking with a brit called James. The three of us went up in the hills and had loads of fun. In the evening Chris and I needed some food. Thinking we walked into a restaurant, we accidently joined a big family dinner. They fed us and taught us Thai checkers. Sitting there, losing all the time, we finally got our victory when we played together against an eight year old kid. We were in ecstacy. The next couple of days we spent playing chess and biking around the town on the hostel's bikes. Needless to say, I got the pink one.
Amir, a friend of James, showed up from India and we had an awesome biking trip in the hills again. The sceneary up here in the north is great, and the temperature is like a great Norwegian summer. Finishing the day with some thai boxing matches was nice. The days in Chiang Mai passed with biking, eating and playing chess. James, Amir and I flew to Mae Hong Son and checked into a dodgy guesthouse with an odd host. After reading some reviews on tripadvisor and speaking to some locals, it turned out that he's an English pervert that likes young boys. Apparently he got dumped by his 17 year old thai boyfriend and after that his guest house has been in decline. After a night in this creepy place, Darlene and Chris arrived on their scooters from Chiang Mai. The five of us, now a steady group that is also going to Laos together, found a lady to take us trekking in the jungle.
Early in the morning we got up and packed our stuff after yet another creepy night at pedoclive's place. We got to store our stuff in a room which reeked from catpiss. The trekking woman, named Shan, picked us up and in her car she had also brought a German looking for some more "space". The whole group sat up in the car and went off to the border of the jungle. We took a boat over the river to get to the start of the trek. The guide's brother and dog also joined us and together we formed an excellent team that would traverse this area next to Burma. We walked through thick jungle and the guide chopped the way through with her machete. Big spiders and rivercrossings were daily parts of our journey. The first day we had lunch and swam in a waterfall which was loads of fun. In the evening the guide prepared a meal for us. We waited five hours... but it tasted delicously. She made sticky rice in bamboo and mugs and spoons, candle light holders and plates, everything was made out of bamboo. It was very cool. Also, small, black, poisonous scorpions walked around us, but Shan threw them away with her chopsticks. In the night I had to walk maybe 15 meters alone up a small creek to get palm leaves to sleep on. It was quite scary beeing in the pitch black with a headlight there. We crawled up a steep cliff and went into a cave to cave in for the night. There was a wasp nest there, but it seemed empty. Nobody slept well, but in the morning everybody was ready for a new go.
With wet shoes and dirty clothes we kept on trekking parallell to the Burmese border. We had loads of fun and we were climbing a big hill. At one point the bushes had grown so thick, Shan stopped and cut a way through. Meanwhile, massive hornets started buzzing around us and we got scared. Amir screaming loudly and starting fighting them, resulted in James being stung in the head and charging forward like a wild pig with a mental look in his eyes. We couldn't stop laughing but also felt a bit sorry for him. At the end of the day we were all safe and sound at a small village hut. It was cosy there and we waited a long time for the food again. This night we slept really well, and we could have a cold shower if we wanted to. Believe it or not, I took one. The last trekking day was nice and not so long. On the way we saw tarantula holes and the Steve Irwin in me decided to lure one out. I used a stick instead of a finger, and I screamed like a girl, but nevertheless I got a spider out and it was really cool. The German, Anne, was taping me. Our dog was always with us and protected us. It started growing on me and its name was Pet. Pretty clever. At the end of the trek we reached a Karen village and saw the long necks. Refugees from Burma that have rings around the necks. Not very unlike the invisible ones I see many guys at home use, although they are attached to a leash. On the way back to Mae Hong Son, the dog was supposed to stay with her husband at the village, but Pet tried all he could to jump into the car to stay with us. It started howling and the husband had to hold it down. When the car started driving, it got loose and ran after us for kilometers on the road. Made us feel like the ending of "Platoon" except the dog didn't get shot.
Back at Mae Hong Son we all enjoyed a couple of relaxing days at a new guest house. Chris lent me his scooter and Darlene and I went to see the blooming flowers a couple of hours drive south. It was beautiful, the whole hills were coloured with different flowers. Apparently it's blooming season now so we were really lucky. After a week at this place we headed back to Chiang Mai and started preparing ourselves for the conquest of Laos!
Photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111112ChiangMaiBungee?authkey=Gv1sRgCOremoLUtqjojwE
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111116ChiangMaiBiking?authkey=Gv1sRgCPWgweOB6uPc2wE
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111118ChiangMaiBoxingAndWaterfalls?authkey=Gv1sRgCIWGle69xsvpOg
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111127MaeHongSon?authkey=Gv1sRgCJjBwOa2sripSQ
Amir, a friend of James, showed up from India and we had an awesome biking trip in the hills again. The sceneary up here in the north is great, and the temperature is like a great Norwegian summer. Finishing the day with some thai boxing matches was nice. The days in Chiang Mai passed with biking, eating and playing chess. James, Amir and I flew to Mae Hong Son and checked into a dodgy guesthouse with an odd host. After reading some reviews on tripadvisor and speaking to some locals, it turned out that he's an English pervert that likes young boys. Apparently he got dumped by his 17 year old thai boyfriend and after that his guest house has been in decline. After a night in this creepy place, Darlene and Chris arrived on their scooters from Chiang Mai. The five of us, now a steady group that is also going to Laos together, found a lady to take us trekking in the jungle.
Early in the morning we got up and packed our stuff after yet another creepy night at pedoclive's place. We got to store our stuff in a room which reeked from catpiss. The trekking woman, named Shan, picked us up and in her car she had also brought a German looking for some more "space". The whole group sat up in the car and went off to the border of the jungle. We took a boat over the river to get to the start of the trek. The guide's brother and dog also joined us and together we formed an excellent team that would traverse this area next to Burma. We walked through thick jungle and the guide chopped the way through with her machete. Big spiders and rivercrossings were daily parts of our journey. The first day we had lunch and swam in a waterfall which was loads of fun. In the evening the guide prepared a meal for us. We waited five hours... but it tasted delicously. She made sticky rice in bamboo and mugs and spoons, candle light holders and plates, everything was made out of bamboo. It was very cool. Also, small, black, poisonous scorpions walked around us, but Shan threw them away with her chopsticks. In the night I had to walk maybe 15 meters alone up a small creek to get palm leaves to sleep on. It was quite scary beeing in the pitch black with a headlight there. We crawled up a steep cliff and went into a cave to cave in for the night. There was a wasp nest there, but it seemed empty. Nobody slept well, but in the morning everybody was ready for a new go.
With wet shoes and dirty clothes we kept on trekking parallell to the Burmese border. We had loads of fun and we were climbing a big hill. At one point the bushes had grown so thick, Shan stopped and cut a way through. Meanwhile, massive hornets started buzzing around us and we got scared. Amir screaming loudly and starting fighting them, resulted in James being stung in the head and charging forward like a wild pig with a mental look in his eyes. We couldn't stop laughing but also felt a bit sorry for him. At the end of the day we were all safe and sound at a small village hut. It was cosy there and we waited a long time for the food again. This night we slept really well, and we could have a cold shower if we wanted to. Believe it or not, I took one. The last trekking day was nice and not so long. On the way we saw tarantula holes and the Steve Irwin in me decided to lure one out. I used a stick instead of a finger, and I screamed like a girl, but nevertheless I got a spider out and it was really cool. The German, Anne, was taping me. Our dog was always with us and protected us. It started growing on me and its name was Pet. Pretty clever. At the end of the trek we reached a Karen village and saw the long necks. Refugees from Burma that have rings around the necks. Not very unlike the invisible ones I see many guys at home use, although they are attached to a leash. On the way back to Mae Hong Son, the dog was supposed to stay with her husband at the village, but Pet tried all he could to jump into the car to stay with us. It started howling and the husband had to hold it down. When the car started driving, it got loose and ran after us for kilometers on the road. Made us feel like the ending of "Platoon" except the dog didn't get shot.
Back at Mae Hong Son we all enjoyed a couple of relaxing days at a new guest house. Chris lent me his scooter and Darlene and I went to see the blooming flowers a couple of hours drive south. It was beautiful, the whole hills were coloured with different flowers. Apparently it's blooming season now so we were really lucky. After a week at this place we headed back to Chiang Mai and started preparing ourselves for the conquest of Laos!
Photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111112ChiangMaiBungee?authkey=Gv1sRgCOremoLUtqjojwE
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111116ChiangMaiBiking?authkey=Gv1sRgCPWgweOB6uPc2wE
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111118ChiangMaiBoxingAndWaterfalls?authkey=Gv1sRgCIWGle69xsvpOg
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111127MaeHongSon?authkey=Gv1sRgCJjBwOa2sripSQ
2011/11/15
Bangkok-Chiang Mai
It was warm in Hong Kong. It was hot in Bangkok. Luckily all cabs have air condition and one of them got me to a nice hostel in the middle of Khao San. My first evening in Bangkok was spent walking a couple of hours and then taking a tuk tuk tour around the city with a funny driver. A tuk tuk is a three-wheeled motor bike with room for passengers in the back. It was great fun. I wasted one more day in a similar way and then I met up with my new tour group at the hotel. Because of flooding, one third of the group had cancelled the trip, so we are only nine plus the guide. There's one couple from Toronto, one from Boston/Peru and one from Ireland. Complemented by a Kiwi girl, a south-african girl and me, the group was ready to go up north with our guide Chai. He's a funny Thai that has a contageus laughter and he laughs alot. The first night together, we all went for supper except for the Americans, they would arrive during the night. The dinner was alot of fun, and the group is full of fun people. Names will become clearer later but for now, let's call the Irish man pirate, south african girl half-breed, Irish girl elephant rider and the kiwi kiwi. With these people I went out after dinner in the search of a pingpong show. We couldn't find anything we found remotly close to safe, so we just strolled the streets instead, looking at junk and into the doors of strip clubs. The kiwi and I had fish clean our feet. That was hilarious! A million small fish ate the dead skin off our feet. Next to us sat two asians speaking broken german with eachother. They were vietnamese and thai and had met eachother while working in Switzerland. Funny situation.
The next day we had a 12 hour bus ride to Sukhotai. That was too long, but due to the flooding, we had to make a detour. Finally arriving at the hotel, the canadian couple and I went for a swim in the pool. The others were all too tired and went to bed. The canadians are really funny and they love animals. Everywhere they go they end up rolling around with the stray dogs and almost bringing them on the bus with us. In Sukhotai we biked around and looked at ruins at the former thai capital. It was great fun and I had my very first coconut. It was good. In the evening we all went for food and drinks. It was great, with live music in a restaurant next to the water. Thailand is a very pretty place. The pirate, who lost his eye in an Irish pub fight in which he won his wife, and I wanted some beers. Together with the canadians, half-breed, kiwi and the elephant rider we crossed the street at our hotel and went into the most random bar I've ever seen. This was something of a residential street and the owner of the bar was a 30 year old tiny thai woman. The guests were 3 local guys and us. As staff she had one other girl and a ladyboy. The owner loved getting drunk with us and when I went for the toilet a kid's head poped out from some curtains. A fourteen year old boy was running around there and it turned out it was the owner's son. Later that night he drove around on a scooter with his mother holding on to him. Happy parenting! Did I mention that they also had a strip pole here? The kiwi and Irish loved that one. On the way back the Irish were eager to ride the white elephant outside our hotel, so we got some great shots. The pirate fell off, but only because the elephant started moving. Good times!
After a tough little morning we had two rigshaws driving us around in a local town, letting us have a look at rice fields, teak factory and locals making different traps. The one driver was quite a character, and having only one tooth did not prevent him from talking alot. He had some awesome sound effects when he was explaining how everything from eals to mice were captured in different bamboo traps. Every trap resulting in "No come back!" for the victim. The elephant rider had a tough day in the heat but from noon and onwards things were better. After this very cool experience we took a second class public bus for 6 hours. That was horrible, but when we finally got there I dragged my sweaty ass to bed and slept well until the next day.
This day we woke up early because it was elephant day! We went to an elephant park and it was really cool, and sometimes slightly sad. Riding elephants and feeding them was very cool. Looking at elephants with blown off feet was not so nice. Chang means elephant and is my thai name. It's also a famous brand of beer here. I got some crap, saving the elephants with my donations, and we headed off to Chiang Rai. From this time on we had private vans which was really great. I tried to teach the half breed, being half German and half English I thought she had the genes in order, chess. It was exhausting and I called it a draw and fell to sleep. We arrived in the evening at the hotel. Our awesome guide, who uses dragon feet crocs, had prepared us for this night. It was cultural exchange night and everyone had to have a show for the others. It was really, really funny and some put alot into it. The Irish took us dancing an Irish wedding dance. The Kiwi danced a mauri dance, with facepainting and all. The canadians had a canadian quiz. I had the toilet-paper game from our annual Xmas parties. Drew was singing a song they always sing in the stadium in Boston. Miss Peru was unfortunately sick after getting milk in her elephant coffee. Not fortunate when you are lactose intolerant. She owes us a show. The half breed had a mimicing show of african animals and at the end we had Chai. He showed us two really funny songs with dances and we all sang and danced to a thai chicken song and a thai elephant song. Shitloads of fun!
The next day we went to the Mekong river and took a speed boat up to Laos. That was cool and some of us got some more things to fill up their suitcases with. We then went to the burmese border and had a peak over to that side. Up here is called the golden triangle between these three countries. It's called so because of all the gold the opium production in area brought in. We went to the opium museum to learn a bit more about this stuff and then it was shopping time. I slept on a bench. In the evening we went to a local restaurant by the river and had food while looking at people sending up lanterns lighting up rockets. It was really cosy.It was the first day of a great festival in Thailand. We went to bed early, because the next day we were going to Chiang Mai and it would be full moon and the main night of the festival!
I woke up in the van on top of a hill. It was time to have a look at Chiang Mai from above. The city didn't look special. After check-in at the hotel we went to take a cooking class. Since I want to eat asian food when I get back, I'm paying alot attention to these courses. The food tasted great and it was time to go for the highlight of the evening: the festival. We went to a temple and started lighting up our lanterns. It was loads of fun and the sky was magnificent with full moon, stars and hundreds of red lanterns flying in the air. I liked it alot. But the fun wasn't over yet. Next stop was the river and we all got ourself a floating lotus flower with a candle inside. Going out on a small bridge-thingy with people shooting rockets arund (and at) us, made it feel like a war zone around us. When the ladyboys on the bridge tried to flirt with us, the war didn't seem so scary anymore. We survived and sent our flowers down the river. It was a brilliant night and the Irish and I wanted to walk home. After 15 minutes we decided to take a tuktuk because there was nothing to see on the way. Elephant rider was pleased with the decision, 3 minutes we passed all the clubs with pretty girls outside and she was worried that we would never have gotten home if we were walking.
Trekking was our plan for our last day together. We walked up in the hills and stopped to have some swims in the waterfalls and rivers on the way. It was great fun sliding down a natural water slide, but slightly painful. I would guess someone smacks themselves pretty badly from time to time there. After a nice lunch at the top, we bamboo rafted down the stream to the vans again. We were three on each raft and had loads of fun. Our captain liked to poke Matt in the balls with his stick, and the two captains did what they could to get him in the water. They weren't able to though, cause this guy has Zapp Brannigan's cat-like reflexes and jumped between the rafts. Safely at the end of our little voyage, the guides threw slices of rubber tires on the girls while screaming "snake!". The girls freaked out, we laughed and went home. After a last dinner together, we split up and the group was no more. The pirate cried with his one eye when I left them. I had an excellent time and invited them all to Norway. Who will show up? Probably none...
Next up: enjoying life in Chiang Mai! Includes bungee jumping!
Photos:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111111ChiangMai?authkey=Gv1sRgCOfri9WWyuftfQ
2011/11/03
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is a cool city. We started our stay with a tour to the harbour. Afterwards we ferried over to Hong Kong island and took the cable car up to victoria peak. Sitting at the top, enjoying a beer in the sunset and looking at the view was a good way of ending the China tour. A group of us went out and had a massive party in the streets of Hong Kong. More specifically Lan Kwai Fong for those who know the place. Some videos from that night are hilarious. Once again Marco was there and he is a very good camera man:). The next morning most of the group was gone and I was stuck with myself again. Derek was still in town and together with a couple of Chinese I had met, we went for an all you can eat hot pot night! And we ate a lot! Cause we were hungry pandas! But still some 40 kilo Chinese girl ate more than us and it made me think of a Norwegian fairytale called "Askeladden som kappåt med trollet", foreigners can read the story here:
http://theawesome.me/2011/08/askeladden-som-kappat-med-trollet-translation-to-english/
I got myself a new panasonic camera, TS3, and went out to Macau island to check out asian Vegas and visit Derek who was out there winning poker games. I also played and ended up winning 1000€!!! Just kidding. I lost 1500 HK dollars and was pissed at myself for playing a shitty hand. Except for that, the island was cool. Kind of a mix of mediterranean culture and China. It used to be a portuguese colony. I've enjoyed seeing China mixed with so many other cultures. Back in Hong Kong, I moved to a new hostel that was really nice, but on the ninth floor and without an elevator. I was sleep deprived and loaded with all my luggage when I finally arrived at the top. Sweating and half in a coma I mumbled something and fell to sleep in my bunk bed and slept till five o'clock in the afternoon. I checked in properly after my nap at Tingtong hostel. If you're going to HK, this is the hostel I recommend! :)
At the hostel I met some nice people from all over the world. An Indian girl fed me chili squid and some british had beers with me on the roof. I got contacts in Malaysia and Thailand as well. In HK there isn't that much to really see, which was perfect for me. I just wanted to chill abit. I went to see a temple, stumbling over a small snoopy land on the way. I didn't dare to go in, since there's something sinister about a single male, going into a playground full of kids, with a camera. The main thing in HK was the nightlife. And this weekend was Halloween! We had no idea, but Halloween is massive in HK. And it was celebrated over five days, having it's peak on Saturday. We had an awesome time, dressing up as pandas. The panda hats were even warmer to wear down here in HK. Our belgian friend Johan said something we believe has never been said before: "I'm sweating like a pig! And I'm not even wearing a panda hat!". There were so many excellent costumes, and we were standing there laughing our asses off. -funniest one being a catholic priest. Every now and again the police started pushing the crowd to make sure the whole street party moved in a loop around the block, kind of like a May 17 parade. To avoid being swept away, we hid in a building everytime the cops came. Those were some funny nights.
My last day in Hong Kong I spent on Lantau Island. I took a cool cable car with glass bottom so you coul see down. I had a guided tour through a fishing village and met a nice English lad. We found some hiking trails and I wish I knew about these, cause then I would've checked out this island earlier. Later that night we met up with the belgian friend of mine and had dinner. My last meal in China was a delicious hot pot. I ended the evening in a football stadium, having a beer and watching a strange girl kick a plastic bottle.
China was fantastic and if I would recommend anyone doing one thing before they die, do China!
In China I have
- eaten more vegetables than I've done my entire life
- walked more stairs then I have my entire life
- learned to eat with chop sticks
- learned to count to ten with one hand
- learned to squat
- seen more massive constructions than I've ever seen
- realized I'm pretty tall
- realized Norway might not be the center of the world
- gotten a new favourite cousine
From a massive, nice airport with trains inside and soothing music, I left for Bangkok!
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| 2011-10-25 yangshuo-Hong Kong |
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111102HongKongNyttPanasonicKamera?authkey=Gv1sRgCKC4hbr-y_y7eQ#
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| 2011-11-02 Hong Kong Nytt panasonic kamera |
https://picasaweb.google.com/111895625193387647956/20111030HongKongHalloween?authkey=Gv1sRgCIuVk4ac6uGz9QE#5670602628679229490
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| Fra 2011-10-30 Hong Kong Halloween |
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