Going down under......

NO!....I am not talking about travelling to Australia but rather submerging under water and discovering the hidden life of the sea!!
Yes my dear friends I have done something I recommend anyone else to do, scuba diving! 4 days on Koh Tao and I have a certificate to dive 18m deep anywhere in the world! Yeey!
So scuba diving.....it's an adrenaline kick like hell trust me on that, there is no feeling quite like it when you submerge the first time underwater, feel the pressure of the ocean press on you and try to control your breathing! All sounds become distorted and the only thing you can pretty much focus on hearing is just your own breathing! It's a bit freaky to be honest that feeling the first time...I mean there's a lot to understand and know about diving, this is not golf, scuba diving can actually be very life threatening if you don't follow protocol!!!
Take for instance the fact that you are under heavy pressure of the ocean and it compresses air inside you, like I learned you NEVER ever press the red button to inflate your vest causing you to jump up to surface and killing you from decompression sickness or how about exploding your lungs....not very nice!

Well I saw some people falling to panic underneath in the different exercises we did, like the one where you take out your breathing piece and take one big sip of air and rely on that till you find your air piece behind you back or the one where you have to breath through your buddies (we dive in pairs) alternate air breather say in case your air was out! Now people panic, it's natural but not very smart...ehrm.....they don't find the air piece 18 m under water and panic and first thing they think of is "I need to get up" aka bad idea, you'll die! However if you think ahead of what you do everything will go fine!!! Another pain in the A thing is your goggles that will fill up with water from time to time....well you need to take off them underneath and squeeze out the water from them and quickly put them in place again...again some people will, I don't know why panic......Once you master these skills though.....there is beauty of huge proportion to be discovered down there.....

The first time I submerged I closed my eyes cause it was a bit freaky and scary, however opening them just when underneath unveiled another world full of life! I could see 15m down to the bottom and all the thousands of fish swimming around in all colors and exotic corals climbing on to rocks! I mean it is literally like watching a film just that you are there! Sitting on the bottom at 18m I had fish of all kid swim up to me and past my so close I could pet them! Crabs and weird worms sticking out from the sand! Oh man I have never seen anything like it!

So that was my Koh Tao experience, there was 2 days of lazing on the beach of course and doing absolutely nothing....actually learning Thai language, yep got a book and started learning...and it's manageable! Now it is off to Malaysia since the Thai visa runs out for me but I will soon return to Thailand and maybe Koh Tao for a another certificate!

Ah decadens and indulgement!

Bangkok.

Decadent.

I could stop writing here but then again I couldn't!! Jeez Bangkok is to die for, shopping, partying and indulging in to the city is what you do!! The city is huge, were talking serious walks to get from one side to another! were talking serious partying in never sleeping bars with dodgy looks everywhere =) I was out last night in Sala Daeng area, which is more known as red light district but no no no no I didn't do the massage parlors it's just that all the clubs are in this are as well! So I met up with 3 lovely girls from Britain and we danced and giggled through the night! I found myself sitting in Burger king at 5 am in the morning together with Chris talking about life and dreams and got to understand that the people and theyre dreams here aren't at all different from ours!!

Khao san road is shit at it's best! Loud, dirty and full of shitty tourists it doesn't even feel like Thailand! And they all loiter around 5 am in the morning drunk.....sad sad sad! So don't stay in that shitty area if you happen to be in town!
I went to the MBK mall on the first day....it's basically a huge and cheap shopping mall with EVERYTHING and this little boy got totally lost in the excitement of shopping!! Hey what can you do!!! =)

Tomorrow we go to Ko Tao and take on a 5 day scuba diving course, diving around corals and exotic fish and just relaxing on the beach and chilling!! http://www.kohtaocoral.com/ is the place we are staying at =)
More on the blog after our scuba experience!

I shot a man in Reno, Just to watch him die.

Well ok, here I was last update just arriving in Laos looking for little James. And now I'm here in little old Bangkok. Nuts, now I have to right two detailed reviews of countries I've visited and all the time I have new things I want to write about.

Laos was quite an experience. I was quite lucky as ten minutes I write on the blog I find my haggard compatriot in arms. Sipping a beer at a nice little bungalow. Well we said our helloes and started telling of our grand adventures to one another. Don Det was very relaxed and chill. I was staying at a bungalow which had Tommy Chong (or rightfully his Laos living equivelent) as a permanent residence. He was a very cool guy and most of my days was just lounging in a hammock next to the mekong or rambling with him. James stayed at another bungalow which coincedentally the owner was a good friend of Tommy Chong.

We then headed out to Vientienne and as you read from James was quite boring. It's a city but not a lot to do. luckily we were there for only one day. Then we headed to Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is an interesting little city. the most famous thing being tubing. Where you tube down the river going to many bars along the way and getting yourself pissed. Not the most safest thing alive. Unfortantly that city has that as its reputation so there is only drunken tourists and hardend laos living there. It's a shame to because nearby they have these wonderful mountains and many cool activities to do there. Me and James decided upon going rock-climbing as that sounded as a nice detour.

That was Laos roughly. I do have another story of how we got arrested and had fun with the police but my lawyer says I should refrain from giving out to much detail while the case is still underway...



last bit was a joke

the lawyer bit I mean, we actually did get arrested.

that was fun...

So Laos for our part is coming to and end soon! Tomorrow we step on an exquisitely long journey taking us to the capital of misbehave....Bangkok =)
But still a little on Laos then. We did the 4000 islands and it was great and relaxed as stated before. Then it was of to Pakse which isn't at all special, more like a small french colonial (again the french) city in southern Laos. Nick stayed in Don det.
I had a great time during my 2 days. I hired a motorbike and roamed the Bolauven Plateau by myself in the search for the perfect cup of coffee! See the Bolauven plateau is a huge mountanious area with tons of coffee plantations, jungle and waterfalls! I went on the bike for what seemed like an eternity on a road I didn't know where it led. Well it led me first to a waterfall which was just beautiful!! I mean 200m falling down from the mountains in to the ravine and just sitting there next to it and sipping fresh coffee from a cliff side cafe...oh wow!!

Then it took me even further on this never ending road on my motorbike, I mean I even got to the next country district until I finally found what I was looking for, the Sinoukh coffee plantation, one of the bigger ones. It laid on a beautiful ground with a resort attached to it and some of the most impressive gardens yet I've seen in Laos! Well more coffee there for me of course! Then I realized, darn I need to get back cause my nus is leaving in a few hours and I am 100km away from Pakse!! I drove on about 90km on a 50km road all the way back just jetting through the traffic =)

Well I got back in time to meet up with Nick and the night bus!

Next day we arrived in Vientiane....most boring capital yet in the chapter of our travels. It took us a good 2 h to find a hotel that wasn't A. full or B. trying to extortionate us on the prices! We quickly decided this town wasn't big enough for the both of us and got the heck out of there the next day! I mean Vientiane is quite a clean and friendly city.....just not exciting in any way!

And now we have been residing in Vang Vieng for the past 3 days. It is a small city or town you might call it, surrounded by mountains and the mekong river! We have just chilled and taken it slow! Rock climbing we did as well and this was an awesome experience, hanging 20m up on cliffs above water at times and trying to push on with that last bit of energy to get to the top! Definetely something I will continue on in Thailand!

And now tomorrow it is off to Thailand! Yes the hedonistic capital of Bangkok awaits, where there will be party for a few days and shopping before jetting off to what I have been looking for, for weeks an island with a beach and a bungalow next to it and just laying there for  a week!!

pics my dears!!!

Temples of Angkor

Angkor Wat

Koh tonsay= paradise

My bungalow on Koh tonsay

Angkor

Bayon....magnifigue

Ratanakiri jungle where I was trekking

Guess who....another endangeroud species

Entering new territory....

So I finally crossed to border to Laos! How to do it.....in the back of a 1986 Toyota Camry from hell.....is there any other way to do it!?
Well it was me, Emily from Belgium who I met in Ban Lung and travelled with and a quiet but indespensible Polish couple, all of us cramped in the backseat, with the driver, his kid and wife taking up the front seat! Well it must have been quite a sight for the locals seeing us falang drive up to the border and jumping out =)

4000 islands was the premier destination in Laos for me and after another busride and small boat trip over the Mekong I/we (Emily & me) finally reached it! Now god bless my poor raggedy soul after doing 11 cities in 3 weeks in Cambodia, it needed the rest and so it got! Basically the islands consist of a small town centre and then lined up with simple bungalows and restaurants along the Mekong coast! So I checked into King Kong bungalows, which btw is just an indespensible place on the Don Det island! Come back to that later! So I laid in my hammock on my porch through the week, I ate amazing food (banana pancakes with honey and chocolate for breakfest, what do you think of that!), drank loads of smoothies and beers. read books, bicycled around the island and found gorgeous waterfalls! See what you do at the islands is nothing, in a good way, you do not stress, there is no must and the people are so generous and kind it sweeps you off your feet!
I found myself most nights in a multikulti poker table over at my place, playing with an American, 2 Scotts, 3 Finns, 1 Swede and petite moi! It was good times!

Hey I met up with my missing partner in crime, Nick, after a few days alone on the island. It was good to meet again and we had some good times laying in hammocks =) Of course he had to loose his cellphone the day we left the island, realizing it just before stepping on the bus and having to go back while I got on the bus to Pakse! I am sure he found his cell again, he left it by the docks =)

This ain't no technoligical breakdown, this is the road to hell

Alrighty, At this very moment I have just lovely Combodia and now first time I'm sitting down in little old Laos. First impression is that it is quite laid back. Im at the southern part at a place called 4000 islands. I'm on an island called Dondet. Which apparently is the biggest backpacker place at these parts. Internet is quite tough to get. but luckily their are one internet cafe here (with slow internet). so again apologies for no pictures (seems like every update I apologise for new reasons).

The bus rides have been quite fun (read: not so). I don't experience as bad as James does (I'm a heavy sleeper) but they are quite taxing on your stamina. Today my bus was delayed for an hour because the door wouldn't open and their key was inside the bus (?). So I sat there for an hour watching them.

My next update I will write about my thoughts about Cambodia. Intrestingly enough I did have an epipheny about two days ago. While sitting on a bustling street all by myself in Siem Riep. Tons of tourists and locals walking by. The two waittresses smiling everytime they walk by me. I realised, I love it here. I fell in love with Cambodia. I don't know why it hit me all of a sudden but their I was sitting and not wanting to leave. But alas, I must continue on and so I did. Knowing full well I will most likely not return for a long while.

Oh well, enough about that now it's off to try to find James here in Loas. All I know is he was on his way to the 4000 islands four days ago. I don't know which and right now I can't access Facebook (our only way to communicate) to leave him a message. Hopefully he is reading this and will write a comment. Otherwise right now I'm living at one of the bungalows at a place called paradise. see ya around

My new year!

So I had a different kind of new year this time and end of the old one! I figured I've had so many crazy party and dinner filled new years, what should I do this time? I mean I am in Cambodia and Asia, I should definetely do something diffrent from home! I admit bubbles and foie gras is lovely but this is rather not the time for that.....
Hmmm of I was to the remote eastern Ratanakiri province of Cambodia, covered in jungle and the red dust roads (if you can call them roads)!
Now getting to this remote place called Ban Lung is not the easiest.....comfort travel is excused away quickly as it is 6h by minibus on the roads from hell!! Oh that is 6h unless the minibus doesn't brake down...of course in the middle of nowhere, 2h away from civilisation by car =) The road is so covered with red dust that all windows must be closed during this travel for it get's everywhere!
Needless to say the bus took 10h to Ban Lung and I arrived completely broken from dust and a cramped position next to a Khmer family, picture a toyota minibus with about 20 people inside and you will get the picture! (it's designed for 10)
Off I was to the jungle the next day with a young french couple I met on the bus! 2 days in the jungle I guessed would be a different enough new year for me, visiting far away hill tribes and sleeping in their village!
Christ was the jungle trek hard at times!! We descended waterfalls and we climbed up them, we crossed rivers and we hiked through thick jungle covered in icky spiders and other creeps! We had lunch next to a waterfall and by the river, oh this scenery was to die for!!! Just like Hollywood! So quiet except the jungle life that surrounded you, miles and miles away from any kind of civilisation!! However I come quickly aware of the fact that A. you are in a remote (real) jungle and B. there are creatures here that you don't have home, having lunch and being surrounded by...and I'm not kidding the biggest, ugliest, ickiest and dangerous spiders I ever saw...and yes they could kill a man by a bite, I'm talking tarantella size now! Man did it scare me.....and then the scorpions.....jeez, we had scorpions running around and ant's big as cherries not to mention snakes and tigers as well!! One part of the trek we descended to a small valley or path you might call it and it was so filled with spiders and their webs I quickly named it spider valley =)
We finally got to the tribal village and spent a night there in their tribe hall, cooking on open fire, drinking local rice wine with the tribes men and sleeping in hammocks. Just hadn't accounted on one thing, that the temperature would drop to nearly 0 degrees in the hills of the jungle!!! Woke up 2 h later in my hammock by shivering! I had only thin as paper pants and a thin shirt on! I rolled myself into a blanket in the bag and to fetal position but I could not sleep more....for the love of god it was so cold!!!!!! I prayed that the sun would go up, but the bloody thing never did!!! Well eventually it did of course, but that was first after turning me in to ice =)

The next morning we continued our trek heading back home and after a good 10h trek we were finally picked up by motorbikes and taken home the last 20km!
So there you have it folk's, my new year 2010 and it was pretty awesome even if it didn't include any bubbley!!!
Now it is time for me to kiss goodbye this beautiful country and tomorrow head for Lao land and the 4000 islands where I will seriously rest my body and soul for they need it!!! First though there is the way of getting there as it involves the same kind of buses and the same road, plus some over corrupted officials at the Lao border and a ferry trip to the islands.....I already feel this can be reason enough for another blog =)

Happy new year dears!