The Indo China Adventure (incl Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia) - ourindochina
Iaki and I (Pieter) will be setting off on the adventure of a life time in just under a week! The basic idea of the trip is to have the ultimate and most eventful backpacking experience of our...

Counting down and Planning...
The Hague, Netherlands
There are only a few days left before the two of us meet up in London, from where the we will set off with nothing more than our Packs into the backpack haven of Thailand. The official departure date is Thursday 6 December, arriving in Bangkok at 06:10 on the 7th. Now all that is left is to say our goodbyes, enjoy the luxuries of first world comforts, plan, budget, start malaria courses and gain as much travel know how as possible.
A bit of Background...
The two of us went to High school together back in Natal in South Africa. Since then, as that is quite some time ago, we have seen each other on the rare occasion. Both of us are done with our studies, both highly intellectual business minded men, and are keen for some serious adventure. How this duo was formed was over a reuniting beer in the worldly London suburb of Wimbledon after expressing our desire for something awesome, something that should be done before we were to serious about a career. This in conjunction with looking at some photos of a Cape to Cairo trip, an epic adventure.
So this year, the career minded Iaki has been slaving away at the London commercial sector after changing his mind on the Greek army. So after having written his SIMA examinations just a few days ago cannot wait to let loose and to trek the chartered lands of South East Asia and at the same time hope to catch a record size Mekong Catfish and become a pro photographer.
I have been somewhat of a free spirit this year, working enough to do what I really wanted to do, being travelling. This work has been the opposite of career minded work and has been in the catering/event industry.
After I finished my degree in Cape Town, two friends and I set out to conquer the mother continent on an epic adventure from Cape Town to Cairo. After this we trekked through Eastern Europe, before I somewhat settled (in very loose terms of the word) in Holland, from where I have made countless trips around Europe.
This trip is what I have always wanted to do, and I am really glad that I am now doing it with an excellent travel compadre.
Keep checking back at this site, as it is going to be nothing short of entertaining!
written by  ourindochina on November 29, 2007 from The Hague, Netherlands
from the travel blog: The Indo China Adventure (incl Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia)

Leaving on a Jet plane
Wimbledon, United Kingdom
Packed my bags and ready to go... Finally.
Well we are off tomorrow, it is a 24 hour trip from our house throgh to Bankok customs incl time difference and then our day is only begining as it is going to be 6 in the morning there with our hostel check in only at 12.
Pieter is already sick or getting there from this terrible english weather. However hopefully a bit of sun from the otherside will cure his weakness...
Just joking Judith,( I promise to look after your little boy and carry him when he is down and out). Not much to say cause london is useless as always... But 2 days.
aiii....I love you mommy
written by  ourindochina on December 5, 2007 from Wimbledon, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: The Indo China Adventure (incl Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia)

The Adventure begins!
Bangkok, Thailand
Monday 10 December 2007
Kao San Road - Bangkok
We left the cold and grim London behind on thursday to start our 3 and a half months adventure, and now after being here for only a few days, we both agree that this was one wise decision! We both love this place! Then again, i must admit that it is pretty difficult not to.
The flight here was excellent, with the authentic Thai airways. Starting the trip off on the right note, everything was excellent, until the pilot showed of his landing skills, or rather his lack there of! Both of us felt as if our ears would bleed, and resulted in us being half deaf for the few days that followed. From the airport, we caught a local bus to the center of town, from where together with two aussies, jet lagged and all we had a leisurely walk to kao san road. Which is better known here as the gateway between europe and asia. Which i cannot argue on as I have never seen so many tourists and shops in one place. The strangest thing is that if you wonder just a block or two away from here, the chances of you bumping into a western tourist are slim to none! I really dont understand it.
getting to thailand was a first, as was the jetlag that came with it. Which has resulted in our days being warped completely. The first day here we didnt quite want to get straight to bed, so we hit the streets and wandered aroudn a bit. that lasted till about 15:00, when we decided to have a power nap. From this moment we slept like logs, only to be wide awake again at 04:00. This is when we decided to go and hit some tourist sites... Well, at least walk around a bit. The day was excellent and we had our first too good to be true Tuk Tuk deal. How these work is that they drive you around for a ridiculous cheap price with the condition that they take you to some shops too... (where they get their commision from), so on day one we ordered tailored suits! They are awesome though, but we were suckered into it! Conned if you will, but no harm done, Then once we got to the open market, shich was the initial idea, the only way to get back cheaply was to once again make some shopping stops... This time at the famous jewelers. No more purchases though. The rest of the day was spent meeting fellow travellers and a nighjt out on the town. partying is something that you can do here without boundries! This place is surreal, awesome!
That night we had a bit of a quarrel, and sorted out the unspoken irritations and misunderstandings we had towards each other. Which resulted in a night of serious talk without sleep. However, once we had gotten everything of our chests and and had our "peace pipe" (the cuban cigar we bought at heathrow) we decided that our night shouldnt change our plans for the day. So we bought 2 red bulls each, packed our cameras and set out to the famous floating market at Damnoen Saduak. What we didnt know was to get there we had to bus for 3 hours. But it was well worth it. It turned out to be an excellent day outing, and once back in bangkok, after having tried some local fruits boght on the water, we had a well deserved power nap. That brings us to a chilled evening and a once again chilled out day today. Today is a public holiday, so all embassies etc are closed. We had to alter our itinerary slightly to cater for the vietnamese visa. So the plan now is to do that admin tue and wed, and then head up to sukhothai on thursday. Which is when the real adventure starts.
This place is surreal, the food is awesome (We tried some crickets... they are actualy pretty good, especially with a beer. Next in line are cockroaches, locusts, maggots and well you get the pic) and the amount of lady-boy encounters is scary! Always have to keep your witts about you around here! Bangkok, transforms at nigt with people offering "Ping Pongs shows" and "boom boom" on every corner! Its everything you imagine. The best converstation I have heard so far while wandering down the raod has been between 2 british guys: "I cant believe you told that lady boy that I like her man, thats not cool!! thats not what friends do to each other man. not cool!"
Anyway, that is all for now. Some pics will follow shortly.
written by  ourindochina on December 9, 2007 from Bangkok, Thailand
from the travel blog: The Indo China Adventure (incl Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia)

On to the North!
Sukhothai, Thailand
13 December 2007
Sukhothai - Thailand
Finally the trip has officially started! The transit time in the ever popular and surreal khao san road and surrounding bangkok is behind us, our passport has some vietnamese credibility and we are now officially travelling. We were somewhat sad to leave our little sweatbox as Iaki called our khao san room, but on the other hand also overjoyed with the move on!
The sweatbox
bargain
So yesterday morning we took a rush hour bus up to the Northern bus station aka Moh Chit, and bought our ticket out of Bangkok! Awesome, the bus was awesome, aircon a welcome snack, a free lunch, coffe, refreshments and everythiong else that yur wouldnt expect for a 5 pound 6 hour bus ride. Glorious times, mattie and Jared will know the feeling... like Sudan! The ride flew by and on the way here we met a fellow passenger, a kinda half american half japenese girl, Waki. So upon arrival the three of us went in search of a chilled out place to stay. 5 minutes later we had our bags down and went for a luttle walk about the small town. The first encounter with a bit of a language barrier, so a definite sighn of good times to follow! After a scrumptuous meal at a road side vendor and my first thai rice desert (kinda a layered sweet rice dhow served in banana leaf - interesting) we stocked up on some Leo beer and made our way to the hostel.
Sukhothai Cruising
Up at six, my idea, but well received and we cought a local taxi to the old sukhothai. The initial capital of the former Khmer regime, a collection of temple ruins dating back as far as 1276. We were there with first light and were basically the first visitors of the day. A truly awesome start to the trip. We did tings properly, so hired some bikes and rode around in style (bicycles that is). The place is truly amazing, and we spent the day exploring and checking out ancient temples, buddas, eating, drinking fresh fruit juice and relaxing. Oh and offcourse working my camera overtime, seeing as though, well I could!
Old Suhkothai city
Good times
This place is a truly chilled out village and now the plan is to get up to chiang mai by night bus. The three of us will catch that at around 0130, so tommorow will start exploring chiang mai - another highly rated town.
I also wanna congratulate Soph on your graduation! Sad that I couldnt be there, but so proud of you! I want some photos sent to me! Have a good drive home.
Thats all for now, so happy that the trip is finally underway!
written by  ourindochina on December 13, 2007 from Sukhothai, Thailand

Chiang Mai by night = Dumb ass idea.
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Well, 11:00 on Thurdays night we made our way to the bus station in Sukhothai so that we could have a nice 7 hour relaxing ride to Chiang Mai and wake up refreshed and get out and explore a bit with out waisting a day on the bus. This was not the case, the bus was due to arrive at 1:30 in the morning, it finally arrived at 3:00 and it was so packed we had to stand with another 10 people till about 4:30 before we finally got a seat and tried to get a few hours sleep.
9:30 in the morning and Pieper, Waki(Our new girlfriend from Japan who will travel with us for 3 days and maybe join us 2 months down the line) and myself step of the bus into Chiang mai. Chiang mai is a quite little city much bigger than the sleepy town of Sukhothai and not half as bold and in your face as Bangkok.
Last night was fight night, were we once again were conned but for a small amount which is fine, and it did turn out to be an entertaining evening. We bought tickets for a Mu thai fight which promised to be an intense night of kick boxing with fight line up finishing with a Thai middle weight fighter taking on one of Britains best. The Thai guy 'apparently' pulled out and a canadian stepped in who weight 15kgs more than the brit, so the main fight was more like a one round sparring session with the brit forfiting 'unexpectedly'.
The fight itself was not at all what I expcexted as when the 1st competitors stepped in to the ring I realised that they were 9 years old, so it made you feel a bit dirty watching children beating each other up for your entertainment. However the next fight was 2 12 year olds and though these guys were kids I think I would proberbly last a minute in the ring with one of them.
Pieper and Waki decided the brutal sport was quite a romantic evening so the 2 of them were wispering sweet nothings to eachover while I was sitting with our new acquintances betting and cheering on one little kid after another.
This morning Waki headed on her own to do some Trekking and Pieper and myself went to 'Thailand best cooking course' and we were even promised a Certificate which is great cause I can put that on my C.V. Cooking was pretty damn simple with an easy to use recipe book so the 1 day course is enough to be able to cook, Thai style. Pieper and I were the only 2 in in the class so we got a lot of individual attention from the Thai shef which was good as I think Pieper must have been struggling cause he insistead on us sharing most of our meals.
We ate like king and had a 7 course meal all for 10 pounds so it has been a pretty 2 evenful days.
Tommorow morning we head of into the Jungle for our elephant riding,trecking and rafting. Please can you guys send Pieper your support as I think he is very nervous of the elephants.
aiii
written by  ourindochina on December 15, 2007 from Chiang Mai, Thailand

Jungle Treking and Pai
Pai, Thailand
20 December 2007
Pai - North West Thailand
The visit to the North of Thailand wouldn't have been complete without a decent jungle trek, so after we had fully recovered from the sleepless nights on the bus and the wild party that surrounded the Mauy Thai fight, we decided to visit some of the T.A.T offices and find a bargain. This sounds really easy, but it requires you to have your wits about you, as you have to deal with serious professionals. How it happens is that you get inside and they lure you into a false sense of security by sitting you down and perhaps offering you something to drink. Then before you can do anything they push a photo album into you lap and show you awesome photos and go on to tell you that their trip is better than any other. Making empty promises of private and exclusive tours, yet using exactly the same flyer as their neighbour. Anyway, even though it took us a while, I can proudly say that Iaki and I have become street wise. We saw straight through their scamming minds and got ourselves a bargain!
The trip started with a 9:00 pickup from our hotel, we were the first one in the car, and were jetted around the city slowly picking up the other 11 people. By the time the 10th got in, it was getting mighty cosy and everyone was getting to know each other.
The way North, 13 in the back
We dumped our bags at a locker room and then started the drive up north. The first stop was a market which seemed to only sell deep fried chicken (including heads and feet) and fruit, so everyone had a little snack, only to be awarded lunch once we got to the start of the trek. The group that we were to spend the next few days with was awesome. The breakdown was 2 americans, 2 belgians, 2 aussies, 2 brits (or jerseys) a scot and 2 israelis! So good times were bound to be ahead.
After lunch we were on our way, up what seemed a never ending crisscrossing foot path, making many unnecessary river crossings. The crossings did however make things interesting! The hours flew by, and the scenery got better and better.
Hiking in the jungle
Once we eventually got up to the "rustic" village, we were shown to our awesome bamboo cabin. It was a dorm, with a balcony complete with fire place, yep they had a fireplace on a bamboo hut. Below is a picture of a typical hut, jock pointed out by Iaki =
Jock point
The view from camp
The rest of the day was spent chilling at the cabin and having an awesome meal
Dinner Time
,
The day started early due to the roosters wanting to emphasise their presence, must to the dismay to most of the camp! Getting us up and ready for another day of trekking. The second day was through the propper jungle and we got swim around with some waterfalls! very well received as it was once again a scorther of a day. The evening was eventful as the guides, (namely Jack Sparrow and JJ, got a little carried away with their bamboo bong and started piromaniac antics by blowing methane onto the fire... very entertaining, at least nothing bad happened haha), The last day was the day jampacked with activities.
Awesome
The day started with the elephant rides, something that iaki had been rather sleepless about. It was an awesome experience, with iaki and the elepahnt getting rather close at one stage. I think iaki was sending mixed signals when he was lovingly caressing the elephants neck.
Riding
Haha, iaki's new friend getting too close for comfort
Look how scared one of us looks... fear in the eyes!
Everyone seemed to be having an awesome time, and th eride lasted for about an hour
Elephant Riding at the river
From there they gave us our bright orange life vests and matching helmets and put us onto the rafts. The rafting was somewhat of a let down (fear factor wise), but due to some healthy competition we made the most of it, (got to give it to Aiden and Iaki, you guys beat us to the finish) with our guides getting over excited and wrestling each other from boat to boat.
The crowd was awesome!
The Chiang Mai trekking crew group photo
Once the PVC rafting was over we were placed onto the traditional bamboo rafts, which was way more exciting. They work as a kind of gondola, and have a low balancing ability. So it ended in a lot of spashing and sabotage of each others rafts, an excellent end to the days activity. After lunch we made our way back to Chiang Mai, and all met up again for dinner and a party out on the town.
Last Dinner
Now in Pai, together with the Israelis and the Aussies. It was an interesting bus ride, for 4 hours going up winding little roads with the bus giving it all it had... and making speeds of 20-35 kilometers an hour. The bus was probably 50 years old and def not a fan of hills. Once in the small quaint village of Pai we hired a manly Hogg and rode the afternoon away in the surrounding country side. As some may know, I am not a fan, so Iaki agreed to ride the red devil. It turned out to be an excellent day out, and the plan is to carry on with that today.
Look at the fear in his eyes as he opens up that Throttle
We have booked a bus to get to Chiang Khong tomorrow morning, so we should be in Laos by Saturday.
written by  ourindochina on December 19, 2007 from Pai, Thailand

Passing into IndoChina
Chiang Khong, Thailand
26 December 2007
Luang Prabang, world heritage city, Laos
(For some reason not marked on the google map (thet goes for the whole of laos), so the border will have to do)
Before anything else we would like to wish everyone a very merry christmas! Our christmas has been somewhat... different. There are some father christmas statues around, and there is plenty on offer. But being here in Laos, doesnt quite meet the normal christmas feel. However, it has been one to remember and with the newly aquired gang (Daniel, Nora, Katelyn and Kerry from the Chiang Mai trek, and Eva from Rotterdam) we were far from lonely. We decided to have a christmas dionner of our own, so picked ourselves a little quaint restaurant... the food however, lets just say, didnt land well for the majority. The main reason was the excessive quantities of chilles. The local red wine was also a little different, but on the whole it was a christmas to remember. On christmas day, we went to the renowned waterfalls, which was a visit well worth it! The pools were so blue that they seemed somewhat surreal, and the overall feel of the place was awesopme. The afternoon was ended off with a lazy ly down on the grass in the sun.
But that is christmas, I hope that everyone had an excellent time! Now let me tell you about how we got here. So the last logged account was when we had gotten to the small, somewhat hippie town of Pai. From there we made our way to the North Eastern Border, the border taking us to Laos! The adventure started, for some reason the passing through of borders gets me really excited! All the excitement though allowed me to let my guard down, which resulted in me not doing my pre tasting of food duty properly... so Iaki almost died from little evil shrimps! But luckily before any serious damage was done I realised, provided an allergex, and ate the evil meal. Sorry Iaki, it wont happen again! Iaki survived, but did get a nausea attack, the same possible food poisoning that the israelis had, appartently due to Pai Pork. So finally the general antibiotic came in useful, and iaki's medi kit is being well utilised. Now back in full health!
The indo-China Gateway
So back to the crossing, we crossed the border at Chinag Khong, into Huay Xai, the border from where we caught the two day slow boat down the Mekong. How this works is that Touts will try and scare you by telling you there is only one boat to sell you overpriced tickets. However, we are proud to say that we are now streetwise, and bought our ticlets at the same office as the touts, for the actual price. This whole endevour saved us some cash, a merry christmas meal if you will. So now I guess the score is one to us and one to Thai Tuk Tuk drivers. At this rate we will get our street wise cred back in no time.
The crossing of the border was excellent, it was misty, there were loads of little boats and the visa process was smooth. The only negative thing was that Iaki was sick, and feeling horrid. But Im proud of him, he pulled through and pushed on. Once we got our seats on the back of the slow boat, together with the other 90 or so travellers, and boat two was being loaded up, we realised how slow they were.
Iaki and Daniel feeling under the weather
Not because the boat moves slowly, but because there is absolutely no, none what so ever rush to leave. But after some reversing and some fresh diesel fumes we were on our way, on our way to Luang Prabang. I was loving it. The boat is comfortable, well as comfortable as a plastic\wooden seat can be for 7 hours, but it was cozy. There were Beer lao quarts on sale, which added to the cozyness, and the scenery topped it all off. The whole boat is covered so its cool all day round.
Our cozy vessel
The evening was started with arrival in the spend the night guest house conglomerate known as Pak Beng. All 90 of us got off and strated the trek up the steep dune, at the same time a mob of about 40 touts made their way down intercepting us with laminated guest house adverts like some epic battle. We made it through alive though and after just a 4 minute walk we climbed into a room and dumped the bags. A bargain at EUR1 each. The most classic sales pitch was...
Me: Is there a fan?
Tout: Yes
Me: 2 beds?
Me: Hot shower
Tout: Sure, sure whatever you want
Me: and you say 100 Baht total?
So we took it,
Iaki was pretty dissapointed when he had to endure the icy shower so unexpectedly. But it turned out the whole town only had electricity until 22:30 and except for the $75 per night hotel, not one guest house had hot water.
Pak beng and the boats
So after a fresh start to the day, we got back to the trusty slog by 8:00, to find that today all 120 of us would be on one boat. That was just the way it was, to the dismay of many passengers. The reason was that a swiss couple didnt quite enjoy themselves the day before in the cramped conditions. So they had put down 600 US dollars to buy out the whole boat, a private charter if you will. Pretty awesome for them, but it made our ride a whole lot slower and off course even more cozy. Good times
We arrived at the Luang Prabang docks and started the hostel hunt together with all 120 others. Daniel and I were succesful within 30 minutes, finding ourselves keeper places. So, christmas has been good, and the travelling even better. I would not want to be anywhere else but here right now, Im loving life!
Arrival at Luang Prabang
Monk crossing bamboo bridge
To end the day off, and hopefully just the day the infamous deadly looking man's drink... Lao lao whiskey!
The infamous snake whiskey of Luang Prabang is on the cards for later
written by  ourindochina on December 26, 2007 from Chiang Khong, Thailand

The North and New Years
Nong Khai, Thailand
You know those things we love to see happen to someone but hate it when it happens to you... That is just how I felt on our bus trip to Muang Ngoi Keaw. About 20 of us on the back of an 8 seater truck like tuk tuk driving at 80 km an hour, when I see this black back fly of our roof and smashing along the road behind us when I suddenly notice how familiar it looks. We only managed to get the asshole driver to stop like 100 meters further and I got out and ran to my bag due to the cars behind stopping and showing some keen interest to this gift lying in the middle of the road. Other then getting highly upset with the driver and slightly irritable with Pieper who was trying to get an action shot with his camera of me checking what had been broken in my backpack , all was ok. Sorry Signe when I asked to borrow it I didn't think I would be testing it like this and yes dad I now know why you tell me to always check myself that everything is tied securely to the car and I will be doing that for the rest of the trip.
After a six hour trip on the truck we eventually got to Nong Khiaw and we then caught a boat for an hour and a half to Muang Ngoi Keaw. Small, peaceful fishing village that no roads lead to, so was great to get away from the constant scooter abuse. We had a quite time there with a bit of swimming in the river with Water buffalo, trecking through the jungle and rice fields and exploring caves, all without the help of a guide. The food was pretty good for a small fishing village but the fruit shakes, were quite a shock and no one ordered another after we realised a banana fruit shake was a banana and water...
After that we headed back to Luang prabang and then off to Vang Vieng for a bit of a New Years party. Vang Vieng was once upon a time a peaceful village along the banks of a river. It is now a tourist haven with backpacker on every corner and restaurants playing non-stop reruns of friends.It took us a good few hours to get there and we were going to have a relaxing evening to prepare for our new years party the next day, but things don't always work out as planned. So even though we were all a bit tired we were up and about at 11 and ready to go for our tubing experience. For those of you who don't know Vang Veng is famous for its tube cruise. Which basically means they give you a tractor tube and drive you five kilometers upstream and you then float down stream and stop at bars along the river bank, you can either have a beer there or take it with and carry on floating downstream. One of the best Nerw years ever which kicked of with a Mohitto in a plastic packet, not very practicle but really good. The tubing I thought was going to be relaxing day in the sun but we did spend a decent amount of time fighting off asshole barmen who kept hooking your tube with long bamboo poles and pulling you into there bars to sell you drinks. Some of the bars were pretty plain while other had sound systems of note, volleyball courts, tabletennis and awesome swings that throw you into the river. After a good few hours of volley ball we decided to start heading down stream, by the time we made it back to the start it was six oclock and freezing so we had a bit of a cleanup and we went off to that dodgy bar to have a whisky bucket and celebrate a memorable New Years.
Iaki Vang Vieng
Tubes - Vang Vieng
Iaki and Eva - Vang Vieng
Tubing - Vang Vieng
One of my best ones to date...
written by  ourindochina on January 1, 2008 from Nong Khai, Thailand

My 23rd Birthday
Hanoi, Vietnam
5 January 2008
Hanoi - Vietnam
So after our glorious start to the year in Vang Vieng, which Iaki will aptly inform you about, we left the country of Laos behind us and moved onto the next one. Vietnam is probably the country I was looking forward to most, and thus far I am far from disappointed. To get here we had to prove ourselves though, well we went through a serious character test if you will. Since we are men, and want to travel like men, we bought our bus ticket to Hanoi from a friendly vang vieng travel agent. Sounds good, and to be honest it really wasn't bad at all, the thing that got to, especially iaki was the continual and suttle lies embedded in the sales talk. What they promised was a comfortable "VIP" bus... what we got was a haphazard 31 hour haphazard stop go ride in a well weathered rustic Asian Hyundai monster. It could have been way worse, and as always way better. To be fair though, the bus was pretty empty and we all got some sleep.
blessing the bus - vientiene
So we got to Hanoi! In rush hour. Hanoi is a city of about 4 million people and of those about 2.5 million have a scooter. The city is also pretty small, so this made for one massive mess. There seem to be no rules, and so many scooters that you wouldn't be able to walk across a road if the scooters were waiting for a light change. There is just people on scooters everywhere, but we haven't seen one accident yet! We were discussing that it would probably make one hell of a movie if you unleashed all these into London central...
But, and this will make no sense at all, even though there is utter and complete chaos on the roads, I felt really peaceful in the city. It is relaxing somehow. A place that I look forward to seeing again!
Hanoi street scene
hanoi is also the place where i turned 23! To celebrate I wanted to do what I have never done before or even thought about before. I wanted to eat a snake. It just so happened that Le Mat, a place just out of the city is famous for this "delicacy"! So at around 7 after I had a good chat with Sophs, mam and Aims we got ourselves a Taxi. Really excited we were taken to the little suburb, and started to shop around. Every place has a wide array of them ranging from constrictors to cobra's. The place that we eventually settled on was one that had not only snakes but also a badger, porcupine, cat and who knows what else. We were actually gonna do it! Now getting somewhat nervous realizing what i was about to do we watched as the handler selected a decent seized snake from its cage. What he had settled on, and was fine by me was a medium sized constrictor.
It started with a bit of teasing, and then followed by his assistant holding the head and tail. The snake now stretched in full length above a tin bowl an incision was made alongside the heart. The heart was pulled out and detached. There was now a small beating heart in a ceramic bowl, also the reason why I had the nervous feeling in me. The snake now motionless was once again cut, but now to get the bile out, this was placed alongside the heart. Then after the handler had drained enough blood for 2 decent sized shots we were shown to our table followed by the tray carrying the "snake"
the Heart
The shot
Time to celebrate. Our waiter filled the glass with some rice whiskey, cut open the bile and shared it between iaki and my glass and then took the still throbbing heart and dropped it into my glass. The moment of truth had come. I had a glass of rice whiskey, snake bile and a beating heart in front of me... after a brief toast it was time. It slipped down easily. A rush! Now, thinking it was over, the waiter poored another glass, this time dividing the blood he so cunningly sqeezed from the snake and divided it between Iaki, Nora's and my glass. Another toast and boom! Something I am really glad I did, but wouldn't do again that quickly. Within minutes I was light headed, there is no denying that.
So the drinking part was over... now the feast could begin! We ate like kings, 11 courses!
snake rolls
boiled snake meat
fried meat
liver omlette
I have a photo of each meal, but the PC here is pretty slow so that will come shortly, I also have a video of iaki and I taking the blood shot... Ill try YOUtube it, a classic video!
1. Fried snake fillet
2. Snake Rolls (spring Rolls)
3. snake filled deep fried in basil leaves
4. Spicy mince with rice bead
5. omelet wrapped liver
6. Deep fried snake skin
7. Fried snake fat rice
8. boiled snake meat
9. kidney dumplings
10. soup
11. Green tea and clementines
What a meal, a birthday meal that I will never forget. One of the best things was that Daniel didn't want to eat snake, so he ordered chicken. sounds good right? Well minutes after he ordered they came back up with a hacked up chicken, seemingly uncooked, piled onto a plate garnished with two big black scaly chicken feet. Refusing to eat it he brought it back to be cooked... They returned with a Kernel browned meal, but this time garnished with a deep fried chicken head with a gaping mouth. The chicken, im told was very tasty though! A definitely memorable food day!
Thank you to Iaki, Nora and Daniel for an excellent birthday! It was excellent! Unforgettable!
23rd
Thank you to all of you who sent me messages! Good to hear from all of you! And to the rest of you! I knew you were thinking of me haha!
I hope that everyone has an excellent year!
We are now in Ha Long bay, a brilliant place with thousands of islands. Paradise if you will. Once we get back you will get a full report back.
written by  ourindochina on January 5, 2008 from Hanoi, Vietnam

halong bay
Cat Ba, Vietnam
The island view
So on a lighter note from the hefty birthday meal we left early in the morning to go on a trip to what lonely planet makes out to be paradise, Halong Bay. We were picked up by the bus right in front of our hotel door, and once the bus was done fighting its way through the scooter filled streets we were on our 4 hour way to the notorious islands. The group in the bus was diverse ranging from young to old and from one day trips to our 3 day 2 night cruise. It turned out that halong bay, as we kinda guessed is far from an exclusive get away, but it was beautiful. Wer realised the lack of exclusivity when we initially arrived at the harbour and there were literally thousands of tourists coming out of a mess of tour busses and coaches. We were assigned a spot and kindly requested to wait while our enfglish speaking guide went and got the tickets and whatever else he needed. So the group started to mingle a bit.
Moments later we were regrouped and headed for the boat. Sadly the sky was grey, solid grey. The trip started with a lunch and then the engines roared up and got us on our way out of the portg and towards the "majestic" cave.
Well.... the cave.... It was big, but when they light a cave up like a casino, place plaster walkways that are meant to look natural and authentic and put fountains in strategic places, I get somewhat skeptical. This and the fact that we had to walk in a continual line of a few hundred people. It was like being in disney world. We all had an excellent laugh though, especially when we realised most people took the fountains as natural springs! We were sure that within two years you will be welcomed into the cave with the roaring start of eye of the tiger and there will smoke machines and lazers lighting the vast spaces overhead. Thankfully that was the lowest point of the trip and it got progressively better.
From the cave we headed to cat ba island to drop of the 2 day one night folk and the day trippers and we were left with the awesome group that spent the night on the boat.
The boat group
The evening was grande and was filled with some good food the remainder of the bottle of birthday Jameson and star filled skies. At the crack of dawn the kayaks were made ready and it was off to an excellent start! having some difficulty lifting the crew out of bed I decided to watch the sunset solo and go out on the kayak. An amazing morning. The others got up soon afterwards and as you can see have excellent team synnergy. Nora and Iaki are unstoppable!
kayaking in the morning
kayaking in the morning, look at that flawless synnergy
After the scrumptious breakfast of bread, jam and egg we headed for the main island in the archipelago, Cat ba island. Upon arrival we were coaxed into a minivan and scooter to the town. But before we could get to lunch or anything else for that matter, the van stopped and we were to start the hike. The walk was cool, and took us up to one of the high peaks overlooking the whole island. A definite good view point. Below is the victorious shot of the peak...
Iaki and Nora on the victory climb atop cat ba peak
Then down and after another drive in the minivan we were shown to the Cat Ba harbour Inn hotel, give n our keys and shown to our onsuite 3rd level rooms! Great times. A 2 star lunch and then the afternoon off to enjoy the town. I cought up on some writing, Iaki on a scooter ride, Nora on a bike ride and Daniel had his first scooter lesson. An overall good afternoon!
Iaki in his pink helmet looking as hardcore as he can
The sunset was spectacular, and since most people live on their boats and require water taxis the harbour is a non stop hub of activity. A really cool town.
The harbour port
Motion on the water
water taxi
After a grande sleep, it was time once again to cram into the taxi and head back to the boat.
Daniel on our floating cruizer
Iaki the pro
This time with a new posse we headed for the small fishing village and were shown some caves... once again for a small forced "contribution" but hey, all is fair. This is where i saw my first concrete boat, yes concrete with a brick house on it. Bizarre is the word that came to mind! After a chilled cruise back to halong harbour we were treated to a great lunch and then it was back on the bus to the overpopulated but strangely realxing city of Hanoi where I am now.
written by  ourindochina on January 7, 2008 from Cat Ba, Vietnam

The DMZ
Hue, Vietnam
11 January 2008
Hue - Vietnam
So, while sitting in a little local, what seemd to be business man cafe here in Hue, sipping my iced saigon coffee while being stared at by overjoyed locals. I thought i sould update the trip report.
We left the city of Hanoi behind us and invested in an open bus ticket. what that ticket entitles us to is to get to Saigon with as many stop offs as we like, as long as we get there withinb two months. Well seeina as though our visa only has another 20 odd days that should be far from a problem. So the first stop we settled on was Hue. Hue is on the narrowest strip of Vietnam, and is famous for the perfume river, the imperial city and the rich war history sights. So that gave us our agenda.
Once we arrived in the town, and off the 14 hour bus ride we were immediatly approached by the brochure armed touts. Coaxed into the minivan and whisked to their little hotel. Suited us just fine. The hotel looked quaint, and after climbing 9 flights of stairs to our room it was hard to turn down the offer. They really have some tactfull tactics around here. Sorted out the luggage, showered and off to the Hue streets.
The first port of call was the majestic imperial city. daniel had gone to meet up with his maria, so it was the three of us that went to go see the place where the emporer once ruled. The 2.5 square kilometer enclosure has endured some serious american abuse during the war, but still stands proud and well renovated. A very majestic place, Iaki and I let loose on the photos. I agree with Walter, and think that Iaki should upload his photos for this entry and show the world just how his 10 Pound flower lense hood impacts his photo abilities... so this one is for Iaki.
Signs in Hue
Since the day was still young after we had explored the city realms we decided the pagoda was on the cards. We met up with daniel just outside the Imperial city gates and enjoyed a Huda beer while discussing the plan of action. The plan we came up with was to catch a dragon boat down river and check the pagoda in style... and so we did. A perfume river cruise, some peanuts, a beer, pagoda and a sunset, what more could we ask for?? An excellent first day in Hue!
The traditional dragon boat
Since all these places are all about orgabised tours we decided that we should join in on one and book a demilatised Zone tour, so Daniel and I approached our reception to enquire. Sadly it was fully booked, but he did have a shorter and more expensive tour on offer. Since we are now street wise, we took to the streets and found exactly what we wanted, hassle free. The next moring was to start with a 05:15 wake up call. So an early night was on the cards, right after we were educated in the art of takkie... An israeli game that is basically Uno, they just thought of a different name for well.... Uno, and added an extra special card. Since we were told the exceptions to rules as and when the israeli team saw fit, it was inevitable that iaki and I didnt win... but hey... we sure showed them!
The waking up at the crack of dawn ended up being somewhat unnecesary much to the dismay of Nora, who is not really a morning person. But by 0715 we were on our way, on what was to be a 12 hour culture and history lesson. The first stop was breakfast and judging from the stomach growling filled bus that meal was well overdue. But by 0900 we pulled into a little cafe and were treated to a well deserved meal. Back onto the bus and greeted by our tour guide named Hi, we were educated as to the North Vietnamese soldiers fighting the South, the Vietcong in their civilian clothing ambushing the south, and the American occupations through out. The continual properganda that was heard throughout the battles was broadcasted through the loudspeakers,some of which still stand today. The effects of the agent orange and napalm are also very clearfrom the bare topped mountains surrounding the DMZ zones.
Since the vietnamese have been controlled for most of history, they didnt really have any desire to savour the american occupancy posts... so as soon as they got the chance all the memories were bulldozed down, armory sold for scrap metal and all that could be erased, erased. So most of the sites we visited were backed by stories of how they were and required us to imagine them. I dont blame them! The really cool part of the trip though were the Vietcong tunnels. An intricate maze of tunnels, leading to the beach and mountains, incorporating bomb shelters, maternity wards, meeting rooms and a series of housing. These tunnels housed hundreds of people during the war, and most of the people now live in villages surrounding the tunnels. Some of the tunnels went as deep as 26 meters. Very impressive.
The shells
After the tunnels we sepent most of the day in the bus being told about the war and stopping at picture points, like the rock pile, the start of the ho chi minh trail, and the old Ta Con base. Which is where we say a HU-1E chopper.
The Hu-1E
Since we have the open bus ticket we decided that we should move onto the next place, so have decided to head to Hoi An, on the 1400 bus today. making last night the last night in Hue. Hue is a quiet town, not quite as cool as hanoi, way more relaxed atmosphere over here.
written by  ourindochina on January 10, 2008 from Hue, Vietnam

Tailor Made Hoi An
Hoi An, Vietnam
Just had a massive photo loading session... so here is a quick illustrated story...
The fishing vessel laying out its net
Our deadly catch
Hoi an biking
Nora and Daniel
Nora
Angel rider
14 January 2008
The first rainy day of the trip, the whole town is wrapped in plastic ponchos and the like and im dry and inside watching it all unravel, soon ill need to go for a food run though.
Hoi An - Vietnam
We have been in thsi little silk haven for a few days now, so I figured it would be time for an update. Hoi An is notorious to be the tailor city of Vietnam... you can have ANYTHING made here, anything at all! So the place is swarming with tourists, the place has an excellent vibe! Its not just a shopping and clothing district though, oh no, there is more! beneath the shops and glamour there is also the notorious china beach... which is where the story starts.
Oh, I would really like to make this an illustrated story like the other ones, but the PC that I am using doesn't like my camera, so wont let me upload them. I guess the photos will have to wait and ill try be as descript as I can. For those eagerly awaiting iaki's professional photographs that he promised, i appologise. I guess it can be narrowed down to lack of dedication, shame, or laziness. You take your pick. maybe a comment or two of motivation wil break the young apprentice photographer out of his shell, and get him to share.
Anyway, that aside, back to Hoi An. We arrived here after a 4 hour bus ride from the demilitarised town of Hue, (Pronounced Hhoi). A pleasant ride for sure, excellent views and combined with some good reading it flew by. Once we arrived in the small town of Hoi An, we were driven around in circles for a while (I still don't know why they do this) before we eventually stopped outside the associated hotel. The four of us together with the other passengers were dumped and left to fight of the mob of touts looking for a place to stay. We started to enquire at the various hotels, and even found one with a pool! iakis eyes opened almost as wide as Nora's and I almost felt sorry for the poor guy when we were informed that the hotel was full. No matter, unscaled we carried on our search and turned down a room in the neighbouring hotel. Now more buses arrived and inflation suddenly took its toll. Since there were now three times as many people needing a room, suddenly all room prices skyrocketed, and we were forced to a back alley. Not a bad place, far from it, but not as cool as the ones on the main road. We learn not to be picky anymore and not let greed get the better of us... see we are becoming better people everyday.
We got the room, showered, got the map and went out onto the streets. The first stop was the market, a place of tailors, silk merchandise, wooden arts and food. After we had some good food (iaki may beg to differ here as he somewhat struggled with the spice of his beef curry. So much in fact that he cursed under his breath every time the small flames stopped escaping his mouth - he did finish it though, so respect to him) we bought a bottle of superior rum, well that's what the bottle said anyway and went out in search of a party. Where this search took us was a small bar called King Kong.... a place where there were two Aussies playing pool, free drinks and over the whole span of the night saw about 15 people. We had an excellent time. very chilled, and i guess that the Hoi An rum aided the entertainment factor somewhat. Nora however, didnt get to Dance, sorry Nora. The night trailed when a certain someone wormed his way behind the bar and relieved the barman of his DJ duties. iaki was on fire, at least from the look on his face he was, others may like to call it a party anticlimax. This is where Daniel started the chant which scarred me in my DJ days.... DJ Shit, DJ Shit... lucky for Iaki it never caught on to much, Lucky. After he played hotel California to try and juice up the party vibe, we had to drag him out and call it a night, don't get me wrong though, it was an excellent night.
A groggy morning forced us to do what made the most sense... A beach day! The first beach day of the trip, and it was excellent! Upon arrival at the small secluded palm lined coast we were greeted by overjoyed restaurant hostesses. We had a swim and relaxed. Oh so good! Now all of us have a tan, no more European skins. Nora took it one step too far, and figured that she didn't need any sunscreen, or in her defense was too lazy to get any, which resulted in her complexion now looking somewhat... bright. A great meal of grilled fish, prawns and clams made the beach day even better and ended our afternoon of leisure. Not feeling as energetic as the night before we called it a night early, as Iaki and I were expected at the beach by 7 to go fishing with the locals.
As planned, we were at the mist ridden beach at the crack of dawn and were met, as promised, by a middle aged man wanting to take us on his round basket boat. His name was Rai. The fishing boats that they use, are used for net fishing. Their design baffled me somewhat as the thing is round in shape and rounded at the bottom, has one teak ore and is made of bamboo and resin. We took it out into the calm ocean and Rai started the rowing. A motion not for the queasy, its sorta an up, down, left, right, left, up, down, right motion. Once accustomed to the bouncing we started to deploy the 1000 meters of net! Yep, 1000 meters, these guys dont mess around. The morning was perfect, with the sun rising over the clouds and tens of little boats appearing all around us. Once the whole net was deployed with Rai machining away at the teak, we stopped and waited a while. Then it was time to pull in the net. All the way back to shore. In the ned we caught one small little fish, some crabs and two eel like snake things with mean teeth. A good morning for shure. We scootered back to the hotel to find daniel and Nora still soundly asleep in the room. Much to the excitement of Iaki, as this was the first day that he was up before them, which started a chain of quirky comments. very entertaining!
Once the whole team was assembled we headed out to marble mountain, a place right near Da Nang, where marble carving is the name of the game. I felt lik ei was in Greece, and so did Iaki. The place just had gigantic marble lions, tigers, modern statues and dolphins. Very impressive! We climbed the last standing mountain that hasn't been turned into lions yet, and marvelled at the massive temples and caves that were spread across the various levels of the mountain. After the culture, we scootered away, searching for the infamous China beach. We came to the unanimous conclusion, that China beach is a myth, and we went for the next best thing. The beach just outside of Hoi An, where everybody else goes. A grande day!
But before we called it a day completely we paid yet another visit to the evening market. This is where Iaki bought a freshly cut Durian. Just as some background, a Durian is also referred to as a stink fruit. It sorta looks like a Jack Fruit, but stinks. A lot. So the nice lady at the fruit stand cut it up, put it into an easy to carry box and sent us on our way trailing a smell that somewhat resembles sun warmed and breeding garbage. During the walk home Iaki decided that it would be better to eat it on the way, as eating the grotesque smelling fruit in the room didnt roll so well with Nora, or the rest of us for that matter. So Iaki took the first seed. Then Nora, myself and daniel followed. It definitely tastes better than it smells, but to describe the taste/smell from my first impression: It dries your mouth completely and then replaces the saliva with something that very closely respembles the smell of the juice that collects at the bottom of a garbage bin that has been breeding in the sun shining through your kitchen window for a few days. A fruit that I am happy to have tasted, but won't rush to try agian. iaki managed to pawn the remaining fruit of to some unsuspecting pedestrains and ensured that the smell didnt creep into our room.
This evening we are heading out to Nha Trang, spending another night on the ever comfortable bus. Due to arrive in Nha tang by 05:30 tomorrow. Oh and the rain seems to have stopped and the sun is starting to show presence... guess its breakfast time.
written by  ourindochina on January 13, 2008 from Hoi An, Vietnam

Rainy Days in the ideal Beach Town
Nha Trang, Vietnam
After a long and somewhat sleepless night on another Hahn bus we made it to the gorgeous yet completely saturated and grey Nha Trang. We were greeted, as we are now used to... by a forcefull hotel manager/hostess telling us in decent english what excellent value for money they offer their guests. Just to inform you, when you have spent 13 hours on a bus, it really doesnt matter what they tell you. So we happily listened to all the glamour stories and then put our bags in the room. The room was... roomy, very clean and even had aircon, yep we no longer mess around. Room prices are substantially cheaper when you travel in a pack, so we each had to fork out only USD2,50. Not too shabby!
It was early, and the three manly men, being Iaki, Daniel and I decided to start the day off with a swim in the shorebreak. An excellent start to the day, somewhat cold, but oh so good! Once back to the hotel we bumped into the Aussies whom we had met on the bus on the night before. They were going on an island cruise... We were all somewhat tired, and rightly so. But with hunger for some adventure Daniel and I decided to join them. It was a great morning, and we were picked up from the hotel at 8:30. Judging from the rate that the guy hanging from the door managed to fill the 25 seater bus, Daniela and I knew that it was going to be an excellent day. We had everything, from Bavarians to malaysians to Assies on board. We arrived at the little Nha Trang port and were shown to our yacht... well kinda hybrid tug boat... or transformed tuna fishing boat. Anyway, a party location, Ill refer to it from now by... the cruiser. The cruiser only left once we had packed two bus loads of people on board and the last tout had handed out all his fliers. The fliers we were handed ranged from ipod refills, to indian quisine to a specialised overpriced french hairdresser located in nha trang. Whatever blows your hair back right?
We left the port and were heading out to the islands, when suddenly our MC got hold of the mic. An awesome guys, of whom i forget the name, but he definetly knew how to handle the crowds.
the kareoke improv
He started off with the basic briefing loaded with jokes, and then ended his intro talk with an impromptu karaoke of the titanic theme song, while standing on the bow hunging himself. daniel and I knew, that even though it was raining and was far from beach weather, this day was only gonna get better.
Daniel
After a 45 min cruise and after the first Tiger beer we arrived at the snokle reef. We were all told to get in and had 2 hours to fondle around in the water. The snorkeling was mediocre, as there was only about 3 meters of visibility, so the 2 hours were spent jumping from the second level of the cruiser. Good times for sure.
The lunch menu
The cruiser headed out and went for the second island, this was to be our lunch venue. The boat anchored and the feast was brought out onto the deck. A feast of shrimp, springrolls, calamari, fish, beef, chicken, vegetables, morning glory, rice and noodles. Re-energised and ready for anything... they shood us to the front of the cruiser. They set up a home made drum kit, hooked the whole system up to the onboard sound system... and started the live performance. A drummer, a guitarist and a singer, some local Vietnamese culture. To improve the performance they brought out their secret weapon. dalat's finest vintage... dalat red wine.
dalat's finest
Now when you imagine this wine, down thing of wine... at all. rather think of an alcholic drink somewhat resembling bourbon, but with a far harsher aftertaste. The drink was topped off with a thick, juicy slice of pineapple, yep red wine with pine apple. that shows how high the quality really was. Well, let me just say this... the guys knew what they were doing. Soon the whole boat was singing and clapping along and the party was really getting started. It went from being an island trip to somewhat of a rained out booze cruise. The next stop was a little tourist island, where you had to pay entrance to the beach, could eat, drink and play volleyball. And for those really keen you could paraglide, jetski or ski for a bargain price of USD 10 per km. Needless to say, these activities were far from popular. back onto the boat, and now in more of a storm we went for the last island of the day... the one with the aquarium.
Back on land, we were dropped at the hotel, where we went in search of food and the rest of the posse. back at the room the four of us reunited, exchanged stories and made plans for the night. The plan was to check out a place called why not bar, where the assies (Dave, matt, Paul and Liz), the germasn and anyone else from the cruiser was gonna go. The evening started pretty chilled with some pool and jam jar cocktails. It was time... we needed to go out check out what nha Trang is all about. On our way in we saw a place called 007 discoteque! How could you turn that down, so the 8 of us made our way through the monsoon like rain and were welcomed in. When I say welcomed I mean we were ushered to a table, pushed into a chair and then confronted with a menu shoved in our face well lit up due to the 200 watt maglite illuminating it.
nha trang night club -- Number 1
However, much to the dismay of the lovely waitresses we were somewhat hesitant to order anything as an average drink was on par with our daily budget. So we resorted to breaking it down on the dance floor. The place had lazers and everything, with a smoking DJ. A very unexpected and pleasantly surprsing night. Nora spent most of the night showing off her new dance floor move... entitled the step step... slide. None of us really cought on, but Nora was adament it was gonna change the world. An excellent night experiencing vietnamese culture! That was just day one!
The second day in the gloomy rainy beach town was a chill day. The day was spent watching movies on our DVD player in the room and ended with a night out on the town. We made our way to some of Lonely planets finest and were not dissapointed. The Sailing club is a must. From there we got the early morning bus to the amazing town of Da Lat.
The ride to da lat
written by  ourindochina on January 16, 2008 from Nha Trang, Vietnam

The Vietnamese French Alps
Da Lat, Vietnam
The 200 000 people big hilltop city of Da Lat is like no other Vietnamese Town. Way back when the french still had a serious grip on the Vietnamese they made Da Lat their home away from home. The town in set around a lake in a valley surrounded by pine trees. A place which is justifiably a honeymoon town, and commonly reffered to as the French alps of Vietnam. A place not on the original plan, but a place none of regretted visiting.
When we arrived in the hilltop village we were attacked by the locals this time armed with business cards and pointing fingers. We were let loose on a road rimmed with hotels, the choices were endless, so the touts held back on absolutely nothing. We made our pick and got 2 very decent rooms, iaki and I having three beds to choose from. After scouring the streets for some food we ventured to the lake. The place is amazing, a place that rightly pulls in the visitors. A romantic venue without a doubt, the lake has paddle boats, even dolphin shaped ones, there is an abundance of tandem bikes (which i never saw in use) and endless eating spots. The place is great.
Da Lat is also the place where things changed somewhat... the group dynamics took a bit of a turn. I kinda got sidetracked a bit. Let me explain... (Just to clarify I am a bit like a dog clenching a bone when i get an idea in my head...)
On the bus ride to Da Lat I got talking to the adventure seeking Bavarian architect, Markus. He was travelling with a crazy american journalist called Laura. Little did I know, but meeting these two turned the trip on its head for me... In a really good way though.
The first day in dalat, we arrived in the afternoon and took a walk down to the lake. The abundance of buckets and lack of sleep from the last night in Nha Trang was taking its toll on me and in turn barred me from being able to read a map. This caused a long walk around the lake... in the unintended direction. But we did get to see the sun set over the lake and the whole town. Awesome. Daniel and I decided that we would start the next day, after having recharged, with a run around the lake. We were adament, it was gonna happen, at sun rise.
We did, it was excellent. I was set on renting out a bicycle and riding a fair distance to the surrounding waterfalls. Laura had the same idea, and markus was up for anything. However Nora, Iaki and Daniel preffered the motorised idea. So we spent the day on our seperate ways...
This is where the blog takes a turn, as from here on in I was away from the the other three. Even though Iaki, Nora and Daniel did the same things, they were on different days. So here is my story, watch tis space for the other side too.
So I joined Laura and markus in the search for some decent mountain bikes... they had to be around, somewhere among the tandems and abundance of scooters. We found some, but if I had to rate them I would rate them at 4/10, nothing I would want to ride 80km on! So the search continued...
Eventually after another 2 tries and almost caving in for scooters we found one more shop. We got them, three dual suspension bikes... rating 6/10. We paid our USD 2 for the days rent and took off. The plan was to ride South, go to the close waterfall, which is 8km from town and then find the pangora waterfall 44km out of town. The ride down the hill was excellent, breakneck speed, fresh air, dicing scooters, dodging trucks and having blood pumping. Awesome!
We made it to the first waterfall, possibly the most touristic waterfall in the world, although I later learned from Iaki, that they can get worse. Anyway, this one was accessible by roller coaster, yes roller coaster,
rollercoaster
had a real life full kitted out cowboy on a pony (for that perfect photo offcourse), a guy in a bear suit for the same reason, and a small dress room with a wardrobe of local dress which you could rent for that perfect shot. Only in a honeymoon town i guess.
We remounted our bikes, carried on down the steep and adrenaline pumping mountain taking us to the main road. The waterfall we wanted was 40 km away, the road looked flat. We thought about it for a little while, a few seconds to be exact, and went for the horizon. The sun was out, soft breeze, and beautiful clouds all around. This was the life! However, since this all seemed to good to be true, something was bound to happen. And yes... it did.
Laura, who was rigourously peddling away lost her left peddle. Clean off. Lucky for us, we were in vietnam, and there is a bike repair shop every 300 meters. We backtracled and had a really chilled out meachanic look at the problem and fix it. While we had one of the best Pho (Soups) we have had to date, accompanied by a curious family making offerings of green tea and rice wine. An excellent turn of events and filling a craving that we had all been having. Adventure, the unknown and getting to grips with locals.
Peddle fixer
A day off the tourist track. We rode on, and then I was hit with bad luck, my rear tire. While sipping some thick sludgy glorious vietnamese coffee my bike was mended, and once again we were on our way.
The ride
We rode and rode and rode, kinda lost. Eventually we took a turn, and whilst asking for continual directions, we still had absolutely no luck in finding it. My peddle was also slowly giving in, which required a quick fix every 5 km or so. Eventually, while the sun was starting to dip, we decided to listen to the sensible on ein the group... yep, Markus. he suggested we get a lift back to town. A bit of oohing and aaahing and we did it. But we did it well. We made a sign, and hoped for a truck to stop.
The hitch hike back... skills from eastern europe
Instead a killer taxi picked us up. We were in a local rocket, the average speed on a vietnamese road is 40. This thing was redlining at 93, dicing through every gap he could get. It was getting dark, so all we saw were headlights and silhouettes of light less scooters. The horn permanently on, which in vietnam simply means, Im coming. Don't move or change anything about the way you are doing what you're doing, I will work around you. That is a valuable piece of knowledge, as when you hear a hooter and you respond by looking up, you will with 95% certainty be hit. We drove at breakneck speed, overtaking everything that appeared on the horizon, and spending most of the ride on the center of the road. Even locals were shaking theior heads and covering their eyes, which justified Laura's shrieking every time we had another near death experience. It was kinda cool though, the driver with a look that was cold as ice, never flinching.
We got back to dalat, handed in the bikes and made for a well deserved beer. The day had been glorious, we never found the waterfal, but instead had an unforgettable adventure.
The other three spent the day with an easy rider exploring the North, which is what I was gonna be doing the following day.
The second day in Da lat, I once again spent with the crazy american and the bavarian architect. We had hired ourselves a scooter, which markus manned and a free lance easy rider (guide), Yang. The day was to be spent checking out coffee farms, flower farms, silk making, waterfall viewing, taking in the country side and seeing Dalat from the Austrian cable cars strung up on the surrounding mountains. This is what we did, it was yet another excellent day, not as random and adventurous as the preceding day, but excellent noen the less. yang was an excellent guide, having something to add in about everything we saw in great english. We had a glorious day, the weather was once again perfect and Da Lat, well da lat is beautiful.
The day trip out
During lunch, Laura and markus asked Yang what the best way to get to Hoi An would be. He calmly suggested a 5 day motor bike ride through the central vietnamese highlands! Come on! A what, how can you resist that. It would be off the beaten track, non touristy, adventurous spontaneous and glorious. At that point I had absolutely no intention of joining them, but as the day went on, and the wheels in my head started to process this new option I got more and more intrigued. It was a hard decision, no doubt. The Israelis who I had gotten so accustomed and close to couldn't join me due to their 6 feb departure from bangkok, and iaki would be faced with a hard decision. I milled it over and over, and eventually once back in da lat had a long, deep and hard talk with the team. i wanted to go, they didnt. The outcome... They carried on along the original plan and I went on a 5 day highlands trip with my two new travel compadres and will meet up with iaki again once I get to Thailand.
So I am now alone in Saigon, and am gonna make my way accross cambodia and meet the Iaki again in Thailand. In my opinion a bold move, but one for the better. All on good terms. I love you iaki. I hope that your all good, and I will see you again in Thailand for the grande finale of this epic trip.
Noa and Daniel, (Ill actually use your real name for this Nora) :) travelling with you guys has been excellent, it was a blast. Excellent memories, and great times! Nora Im gonna miss your lies about you not being a morning person and about you being 23, your big green eyes and your socked strops! Daniel, its been real, thanks for teaching me the skills in picking out your people, making me enjoy fruit shakes more and filling in on some of my basic general knowledge and the many great dalat "Wine Shots" you endured with me. Sorry the running thing never took off. Im gonna come visit you guys in Israel some time. Fo sho! Enjoy new Zealand, well stay in touch!
written by  ourindochina on January 19, 2008 from Da Lat, Vietnam

The cruise through the central highlands Day 1-3
Kon Tum, Vietnam
So no longer being with the original trio, I am now with laura, an adventure craving crazy American journalist gallivanting the world, and a sensible yet eccentric Bavarian architect being hauled back to Munich for work. Laura and Markus both proved to be an excellent choice to endure the 5 day motor bike adventure through the infamous vietnamese highlands with. Led by our team captain and loyal guide Yang we were set to have the trip of all trips, the adventure of all adventures. The all inclusive, trip from Da Lat to Hoi An, cruising through mountain passes, skimming the Lao border, experiencing non touristic and magnificent waterfalls, and dining like kings. We were ready!
The vehicles consisted of an old school motor bike, manned by Yang, also the bike that two big backpacks strapped to it, Yang's bag, Yang, a passenger and the passengers backpack. Now the bike is just a normal 250CC bike. So only a picture will explain this imposible sounding packing system.
The puncture fixer
The other bike, or hybrid scooter is a better and more accurate description was manned by markus. He was the only westener we saw riding a bike for the full 5 days. Granted we were out of tourist land, but the fact is that he could ride. He had spent 2 months riding in Hanoi, this means he could ride anywhere in the world. He did well. laura and I were the passengers, we would swap daily, as the hybrid bike provided a bit more of an ass thrusting than did the old school motorbike. It was fair, we had packed the bags, the sun was out and we were ready.
Everyday was packed with places to be and things to see, we never ate the same thing twice and yang always had something interesting to share with us. The first day...
We rode the same route we had the day before, passing the blooming coffee farms and passing through the pine forests. The first stop was at a small tea farm, which is where we plucked some fresh green stems to brew for our morning cup. This was getting better and better! My mind was racing with the way things had turned out. I was happy, this was what I had set out for, adventure. I am still happy. This is excellent. Lunch at a trucker stop overlooking the coffee fields and off we went again.
First Lunch
The day flew by, and was filled with excitement. Vietnam is beautiful. Anybody thinking of going here, Go. Its excellent. We arrived at the first base camp as the sun was dipping. An inspirational sunset over the rice paddies to say the least. This was excellent.
First sunset of the bike ride
What followed was a meal accompanied with traditional fermented rice wine. Drunk from a ceramic pot through bamboo straws. It was glorious, tasting like Christmas, cinnamon and nut meg. Unexpectedly, what followed, after a few more beers, some more of yangs rice wine cocktails was.... karaoke. Yep in the middle of a local village, karaoke. We scootered over to a small little house, with a small bare room. 2 couches, two chairs, 2 speakers, an amp, a karaoke box, a TV, a wired and ready to go mic, a book of songs and a crate of warm beer accompanied by big chunks of ice. We were set. That is where day one ends.
karaoke
day two...
The road
The morning was spent in the local village being educated how the local minority people went about their days. Today was a short ride to the small town of Buon ma Thuot. On the ride over there, the weather still beaming rays upon us, a glorious morning, we made various stops.
Cows at dawn
The first was at a brick making factory, then a pottery and at the massive granite rock labeled elephant rock. It being called this, as from the back it looks like a massive crouching elephant. We arrived at the town, and had a glorious lunch, where we made our own clean and crisp vietnamese rice paper wrapped pork spring rolls. Vietnamese quisine is excellent, no doubt about that!
Elephant rock
Once re-energised and ready for anything we remounted the bikes and made our way over to a possible trip highlight. The waterfalls. The best was when we were told to amble down a narrow jungle path and find our way to the secluded lake and small waterfall. It was glorious, we showered, swam chillaxed. An afternoon hard to replace, let alone top.
Markus in the falls
The day got even better when at the next waterfall, we were coaxed over by some locals who invited us to join them for their afternoon snacks. It turned out that the two guys were off duty soldiers and were enjoying the views of the waterfall with their girls. While dining on a bamboo squered roasted chicken and sipping on river cooled Tiger beers. We spent about an hour chilling with them, meeting their commands of the continual down downs and can crushing. Even though we could hardly converse, we found plenty of ways to communicate. This was excellent! Then, laura and I were determined to find the other waterfall, which if we had concentrated on the briefing, would know was right there. But instead the two of us took a long endless hike through the jungle, coming back in the moonlight when we finally decided that we must have missed it. We came to this conclusion when the path veered away from the river and we were left in the dark. haha, stupid, but funny in retrospect. We scootered back to town and dined on frog, eel hot pot and roated rabbit.
Day Three...
Today was to be the longest day, and I had scored a seat on the bike. Yes! Today would be mostly riding as there was 240km to cover and not too much to see along the way. We started off in at a small market, a real market, one with fresh cow and chicken...
Cow
fresh chicken
The day flew by, listening to a killer playlist and taking in the country side. Its amazing how your mind can wonder at times like these!
This is what rice looks like
The place to get to today was Kon Tum. We rode long and hard and made it in to town by dusk. The highlight of the day was sipping a coffee on the side of the road whilst stretched out in a hammock! That follwed by a view of the largest lake in the area.
The view of Pleiku lake
The dinner that night was yet another excellent meal! A barbeque of wild bore, crocodile, deer and wild goat.
2 more days to go!
written by  ourindochina on January 22, 2008 from Kon Tum, Vietnam

The Cruise through the vietnamese central highlands part 2
Hoi An, Vietnam
So the first three days of this mad adventure had beenin full glory of the sun. However, everything changes, so on day four we had to endure the other elements on offer!
The view
It did however start after lunch... so in the morning we got to see the wooden church of Kon Tum in all its majestic woodness and got to play with the little kids in the neighbouring orphanage. Crossed over the bridge and were on our way to what was to be the most scenic day of the trip. We climbed and climbed, and were now nearing the Laos border and were riding on the old Ho Chi Minh trail, as
Oh my time just ran out, and I gotta sort out my trip South... haha, Ill finish this as soon as possible!
So, Im back, the trip to the South has been sorted out, and since been enjoyed too. I have some catching up to do, but all in due time! Now in Phenom Phenn, the capital of Cambodia. But first let me finish of the bike adventure...
So, we were on our bikes riding the day away on our hogs. Yang and Laura at the front and Markus and I following close behind. The weather was still excellent, and we were both listening to a killer playlist on our ipod while enjoying the scenic countrysides around us. Awesome!
We stopped off for a lunch in a small village, a really good one at that. This is also the place where yang brought us the somewhat dauning news... we were getting high up in the highlands... the daunting clouds overhead brought the rain. Lots of it. So, being well prepared, Yang provided us with weather gear, all tucked in we braved the thinck mist clouds. The views were magnificent, white mist with lush green jungle climbing up above it. Winding roads leading us to our destination, the kind of roads that Top Gear loves and that BMW willingly films their advents on. Roads that let the mind wander, this in combination with a great sound track made the weather problem miniscule.
We arrived at the last overnight stop befoer Hoi an... wet. As you would expect, we got our room, had a shower and chilled the rest of the day away. Markus had sorted out his dealings with his clients, and to celebrate treated us to a fine dinner of wild bore, crocodile and wild goaty. Excellent, thank you markus!
Day 5...
The rain was far from gone when we woke up, it had gotten stronger in the least. So it was poncho time! The day was to be a 4 hour ride. SO things were all good. Teh scenery was excellent and after a cup of coffee and a Pho we hit the road once again. Me with markus once again, my bum somehow having adjusted to the hard scooter seat. To spice things up, after an exhilirating ride the inevitable happened... a flat tyre/ Yang, somewhat rushed to catch his truck from Hoi an, thus slightly annoyed kept his cool and got us back on the road within 30 min.
I must admit, as beautiful as day 5 was, I was glad to have arrived in Hoi An once again. the poncho had only done so much... I was soaked, cold and longing for that warm shower to get me back to normal temperature... Glorious! We made it. The best 5 days of the trip.
I left that same night on a bus to arrive 24 hours later in the southern capital of Saigon.
written by  ourindochina on January 24, 2008 from Hoi An, Vietnam

Saigon!
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City, still very commonly reffered to as Saigon. I arrived a full 24 hours of bus travel, the sun was already down and the streets were buzzing with people. It was clear where I was. The bus stopped off in the main tourist area of Quarter 1, I got my bearings and started the hotel search. The touring was kept to a minimum to my surprise. To be honest I was Knackered!
I checked into a small family hotel, got my room, chilled for a bit and then took to the busy streets of the notorious city. Loads of people, everywhere. So much neon, places to eat, drink and shop. A very cool city, but from first impressions I still prefer Hanoi. The evening was kept short as I needed some recharging!
saigon
A sunny day in saigon! I got up early to check out the sites, first was to be the marklet, get me some Pho (Rice noodle Soup) and just check out the sites a bit. Instead I was intercepted by a cyclo rider. Its kinda like a pram like wheel chair welded to an old city bicycle. I had wanted to try one since I first saw them in vietnam, so I went for it. he was to take me on the city tour! Cool... well, after I realised what I had gotten myself into, I somewhat regretted it. It is so excruciatingly slow! Nice and scenic, but you could walk faster, and if you walk you wouldnt have the continual bumping motion and the stares from all passer byes haha. but hey, I had to try it!
First stop was the american war museum, unfortunately, I had timed my visit together with about 600 toddlers - a school trip. lucky for me Asian kida are pretty disciplined, lining up in grid like formations while being breefed by teachers using megaphones. Interesting.
The museum is a place that can be described in two words. Heavy and Moving. A vast collection of horrific press photos, a recreation of a typical prison, and a host of anti war campaign posters. making you leave with a somewhat uneasy, speechless feeling. especially when my cyclo driver asked me what I thought and then told me he had fought for the South Vietnam over in Hue.
The rest of the ride, still painfully slow took me to the sites of the china town market, a memorial pagoda and a beautiful chinese temple. The trip was over and I was happy to be wandering the streets by foot again!
While wandering around I was approached by a seemingly local guy, we started chatting, and it turned out he was a guitarist at the hard Rock cafe in Kuala lumpur and was in Saigon for his brothers wedding. After an animated chat his wife and him invioted me to join them for lunch at their brothers house. They took me over, we had an excellent malaysian home cooked meal! Content and conversed out they happily took me back to Quarter one, and assured me a free pitcher at the hard rock cafe in KL!
Saigon is an awesome place, I must admit I was there for pretty short, but I was really keen on the Delta!
written by  ourindochina on January 26, 2008 from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

The mekong delta experience
Can Tho, Vietnam
So, its been a while since I updated the blog, but truth be told... i have been looking for a decent place to upload photos... and ive been really busy having an awesome time! But now im in Phenom Phenn, in a small back alley cafe, with peace and time to do as I please... thus giving me ample time to fill you in on my adventures.
The Delta...
From Ho Chi Minh City, where i must admit, was for a miniscule amount of time (but so be it) I joined a 3 day organised tour doen to the Mekong Delta. The trip, was to include a visit to the floating markets, rice production plants, 2 nights at 2 different towns and a whole lot more.
The bus picked me up early, from the small packpackers just off the main Saigon tourist street. I was in a group of about 16, mostly consisting of families with young kids, and a group of 4 middle aged germans. I soon discovered that this meant absolutely nothing, as once our guide started to explan things, it became clear that in our group of 16 there were 6 different sub groups... the one day guys, the 2 day guys, the guys going to cambodia, those not and so on. But for now the trip was heading in the same direction.
At the first pee stop, as it happens around here, we reboarded the bus and were joined by 2 more. These two had been misplaced in the eary morning due to all the hype and were originally placed on a bus going who knows where. Happy to be on the right trip, we got chatting and it turned out that, snap, they were on the same 3 day trip, as I was, with a slight difference on day two, and the fact that they were heading back to saigon on day 3. Anyway, they were Macarena and Marcelo, a couple from Brazil (He from Brazil, she from Chili) who had been travelling around africa, asia and the likes for the last 8 months. We exchanged some travel adventures and boarded our boat to see the infamous floating market. At this stage it was already 10:40...
The delta trip boat start
The water markets start at the crack of dawn, which meant that all we got to see of th einfamous market were the few die hards who were hoping for just one more sail, or just enjoying a siesta before packing up shop. Anyway, the ambiance was cool, and with imagination you could still see the market. We docked at the tourist station, which, much to the germans dismay, the detailed rice paper and rice candy tour started. It was a typical trip, as all others, but did come with tasty smaples. Rice/cocnut candy tastes like toffee, awesome. Also had a shot of snake and burd death juice... it was on offer and hey, "its good for man, makes you strong!"as any asian will tell you.
Back on the boat, with our stomachs rumbling, we were requested to cycle to lunch. It was an 8 minute cycle... yes 8 minutes, how is that fdr marketing. They justify this as good enough to use as a punch line on their adverts! haha. It was fun though, as after lunch we got to ride around a bit if we so desired. The lunch, was pretty. I shared the elephant ear fish spring rolls with Marcelo and Maca, a fun filled meal! DIY spring rolls.
Lunch for kings
Now the group got scrambled, the 2 days and 3 days seperated. We were to be taken to an island not too far away by boat and then from there catch a bus to Can Tho, the place we would have our furst night at. The highlights for the rest of the day were another take at the garbage like durian, this time actually taking a few pieces, and it really isnt so bad. WOuldnt say good, or nice, it it was... OK.
Durian
We arrived at a small hotel, and all got our rooms. Now having been joined with 2 swedish chefs (Daniel and björn) and 4 Australian students (Alex, Noel, jayden and Courtney) and two french MBA students from China (Ane-lise and Dianne). An awesome group! After a dinner of Cobra and frog legs we headed in the search of a local bar... we found one and made a local delicasy... a punch. Good times all around!
Party in chau doc
Day two in the delta proved a lot more like i expected it to be. We got up early and I enjoyed, together with the two chefs, one of my last Phõ's. We assembled, got into the boat and took to the Can Tho market.
the docs
Justifyably the largest one in the whole area. It was excellent! So many people just doing stuff... Photos will do far better here. Just imagine a massive area with just boats all advertising what produce they sell by suspending a sample from a pole towering above the boat. And that every seller sells in bulk.
market
delta
mekong
Rowing on market
mekong delta
water market sales
Melons
So that was day 2. After the market the group scrambled once again and i was sent off with a dutch couple to the town of Chau Doc. Once there it was dark, so made it an early night, to get ready for the last day... the border crossing
Day three, my last day in Vietnam! The day started with a boat trip over to the fish farms of chau doc. Very pretty floating villages and ended with a muslim village, before we headed off to the border. It had been a very quiet boat up until this point. When I got back onto the boat from the muslim minority village, 4 brits had suddenly appeared (Jo, Jo, Stu and kerri). Turned out that they had been travelling through China and Vietnam and were going to Phnom Phenn too. An awesome bunch, we chilled as we watched the last buts of vietnamese country side pass by. We got vto the border flawlessly, and went through after a relaxed lunch.
The cambodian border, down in the delta must be the most chilled out border in the world! Or at least its the most relaxed border I have ever seen. There was a badminton court, music, people sitting around eating and drinking. The only sighn of it being a border was the small sign saying passport checking. We were in cambodia and I liked it already!
The rest of the ride was going well until the engine started squeeling like a hurt anumal, we headed for the east bank, and moored. The technical team got their hands dirty, while we continued to chill as we were, while an untrigued group of village folk gathered around. We ended being towed to the docs, and from there cought an old school and insanely bumpy ride to the capital of cambodia!
the broken down boat
the break down repair attempt with stu and jo chilling
The break down audience
written by  ourindochina on January 27, 2008 from Can Tho, Vietnam

The Cambodian capital
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
The Capital of Cambodia, a place with some serious history. The city itself has a really good vibe. Once we arrived from our long day of travel the 5 of us (the four brits and I) together with our luggage into a normal sized tuc tuc. Impressive no? We were on our way to #9 hostel on the lake side. A place that turne dout to be full, but was recommended on high authority by Ane-lise. We were only dissapointed for a second as #10 guesthouse did have rooms, and as you guessed, that was right next door. Settled and got a beer downstairs. A joyfull evenening. When Jo and I went to scour the streets for some food, we ran into Becky, an Australian marketing guru who had just arrived from Singapore. Once we got back from our scrumptuous meal she had joined the group and we were making plans for the following day.
I had planned to take it easy for day one in Phnom Phenn. So I did. Since the others had overstayed their bedtime by a few hours the vening before, and were far from awake at 7:30. It was Becky who was the first on the hotel deck. I was figuring out how to go about my walk , and Becky with some tips hapily decided to join me. We walked for miles, an awesome walk. Seeing the 26 meter high mound, the museum, the palace (not the inside though), the river and the central market. Which was probably the cleanest market I had ever seen, and even though there was a lot of meat and fish, didnt smell... at all! Really cool.
Brutal pig meat
Awesome
Snouty
The evening was spent watching the Killing fileds Flick and a visit to the #9 deck.
Day two was the sightseeing day, and unlike normal sightseeing trips. This one would be a heavy one to process. The killing fields and the S21 prison are hard to process. The skulls and faces of all those killed by the Khmer Rouge genocide are hard to describe. It leaves you speechless.
On a lighter note though and possibly immoral in some way, day two was also the day that I fulfilled my long time boyish need to fire the gun of all guns. The gun that has changed the world in more ways than any other. the Kalishnykov 47. The tuk tuk driver took us to the gun range, a place where if you lose your guard you will be throwing grenades and firing RPGs into a field. So many temptations to fight off. But I had my mind set on the AK-47, and was then tempted into a Colt .45 hand gun. The hand gun was a bit of a dissapointment, its like a brick that kicks back after it fired. But the AK... wow, that was awesome. I got 25 rounds and managed to hit the target a fair amount of times. The power and the sparks that a squeeze of the trigger create is mesmorizing. Its easy to imagine why men get the way they do in violent situations. The power trip that an AK creates is phenominal. My heart now racing I had emptied a whole clip, and it felt good! So, I have now fired the gun of all guns, the AK-47. I thought of you Jared, I know how much you would have wanted to be in my shoes! I missed you man! Your Etiopia adventure went through my mind a lot that day!
The ubfamous AK, soon to be fired by me
The AK Clip
That night while all of us were sitting around sharing gun stories. Jo had shot the M16, the other Jo and Stu the AK, Kerri a handgun, the Austrians from Vang Vieng suddenly turned up! Its a small world here in Asia! This was to be my last night in Phnom Phen, as the next day I wanted to go either North to Kratie or South to the Beach. I eventually decided at 23:52 and booked a ticket... South.
written by  ourindochina on January 29, 2008 from Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Cambodian Food Paradise
Kampot, Cambodia
So as I mentioned in the last report, I had made an impulse decision to go south rather than North. The initial idea was to go to Kratie, but after listening to numerous reports from people that had just arrived from there with average ratings, I decided to rather check out the cambodian coastline. This, and the mention of some hardy travellers bearing a newspaper cut out on Bokor national park, mentioning how you could see the french ruins being eaten up by jungle vegetation...
The bus would pick me up at 7:30, I was ready, and got onto the bus heading for Kampot. Not knowing what to expect, except for the 5 hour trip. I decided to sleep a bit, which sounds easy, but on cambodian roads is far more difficult than it sounds. I did get some though, but would wake up everytime my bum lifted off the seat. In order to get to Kampot we first needed to pass through Kep. Kep is on the coast, and kampot is 25km from it, but has a river. We got to Kampot and while searching for a hotel I met Marianne, a dutch logistics manager who after doing some volunteer work in thailand is spending the rest of the year trekking around. We got ourselves each a "$4 no window room" as depicted below...
A $4 no window room
Once settled we had planned to meet up for lunch and plan a day out to Bokor for ourselves as this town was far from tourist polluted and thus low on the trip offers. It was back to DIY travel, awesome. To our surprise though, we were informed that Bokor national park had been bought out by an expat and was being renovated to its original glory. What this meant is that it was closed to the public. Oh. We said.
After getting re-confirmation on the peculiar news from the Kampot tourist authority we came up with a contingency. We read that there were caves, we would rent out bikes and spend the day exploring. That was V1.1 of the contingency. After lunch, we walked the town, and there really isnt much else to do. Kampot is a town. A town with a river, very little people and the place one goes to to see Bokor... if that is closed you sit and read a book. So we did. Now V2.1 was being fabricated... what if we rent bikes, ride to the caves and then go to Kep, swim and cool off and then cycle back. A day of activuty, bound to be good!
Dinner time, V3.1 was thought up. Cycle to the caves, then get a taxi/bus/hitch hike to Kep and chill on th ebeach and spend the night there, getting a bus to Phnom Phenn from there.
We had breakfast at 7, so be on our way by 8. Ready for the ride, we came up with V4.1 thsi was the final solution, and proved to be the ultimate solution. Here it comes,
Get a tuk tuk to the caves, check them, then get that same tuk tuk to carry on one way to Kep, check in, get a sea food lunch and either chill on Rabbit island and relax or just on Kep beach. It was glorious, a day that unquestionably makes it to the top 10 days of the trip.
We arrived in Kep after having seen the caves, they were fun rather then impressive. A whole mob of kid tour guides provided endless entertainment and got us to crawl, climb and jump from on boulder to another in the darkness of the cave. After seeing the first 2 we decided it was time for Kep. We got back into our Tuk tuk and started the htel search. kep is expensive, but after some negotuations we found ourselves a room. Straight to the beach, a small man made beach, very picturesque, very chilled.
Along the beach were a whole lot of fish stalls, we dug in! Starting with some barbequed calamari, then a grilled fish on a stick. Then all glory came out when a kilo of fresh crabs made its way to us. Glorious! I think I ate 3 kilos of Crab that day. Oma, I thought of you! I loved it, so fresh, so good, good company and all on a glorious day in the sun, on the beach!
paradise lunch in Kep
Marianne
It got even better when we got invited by a cambodian family to have lunch with them. This was now turning into a 2 hour crab eating day. W got offered cambodian stout and had a good chat. Marlene and her son Jamie had moved to Australia a while back and were now visiting the rest of the family back in Cambodia. It was one of those meals that whenever your plate was nearing empty they would refill it for you with food that was oh so good. (Reminded me of our Skopje adventure with Helena Mattie! haha)
The family was off to Bokor, which according to thyem was stil open, so we went back to the beach.
An awesome and welcomed change from the busy city life! A place well worth a visit. Top 10 for sure.
paradise food
written by  ourindochina on February 2, 2008 from Kampot, Cambodia

A day in awe at the majestic Ankor Temples
Siem Reap, Cambodia
5 February 2008, sitting in a small 6 PC internet cafe in a back alley of the buzzing city of Siem reap - Cambodia.
(Photos will follow soon... I still have to sort through them and stuff. Check back in a little while! They should be good.)
Phnom Phen was an excellent place, as was Kep. But now it was off to the place that everyone that comes to Cambodia comes to Cambodia for... one of the new "7 wonders of the world" Ankor Wat. After having met a lot of people coming to Phnom Phen from the west, I had heard a lot of really good stories. Which made my anticipation for a visit to the temples even greater. I booked a bus and left the capital city at 07:45 sharp. The ride to Siem reap is about 6-7 hours so I got comfy. As you do in a bus that takes most of the day. Book and Ipod are the way forward.
Next to me was a guy called Daniel and next to him on the other side of the ilse, two girls (Ilse and Dieuwertje). It turned out they were all dutch, 2 seperate travel parties, but dutch none the less. As I later discovered, Holland must be having some sort of special air fare to Siem reap, as in the last 2 days I have met a disturbingly large amount of dutch people. They are everywhere, around every corner, up every rise. So many in fact that I almost start adressing new people in dutch... and 9 out of 10 reply in dutch too! Amazing, kinda creepy though. Im at a city boasting the world wonder of Ankor wat, and its swarming with my people! I guess we know where the good spots really are! Haha
Anyway, enough of my amazement at the sheer volumes of native Nederlanders and back to the story of Siem Reap. On my delta cruise, Marcelo and Maca had mentioned the possibility of eating deep fried tarantulas in phnom Phen... I was intrigued, and scoured the streets together with Becky, but came up empty handed. A little dissapoited I had put it at the back of my mind, as it seems pretty gross anyway. Well, guess what was on display and sale in their hundreds at the first bus stop of the trip to Seam reap? yep, heaps and heaps... mounds rather of crispy fried, shiny black hairy spiders. I couldnt resist the urge, paid my $0.25 and... well ate, first a leg or two, then a bite of the thorax, leaving the abdomen alone, and finishing on the last few legs. It was another case of mind over matter... It was interesting... OK at best, I wouldn't say... good. Another thing that I can cross of the list. I ate a deep fried big black hairy spider. yep. really not as bad as it sounds. Kinda fishy, crispy, with a strong salty flavour.
The spider
Spider legs
So back onto the bus, with some sour mango to wash out the roaming taste, and off for the last 4 hours of the trip. Daniel, the guy next to me was just done with his studies and was over here for 2.5 months and the two girls were in a similar situation. When we finally arrived at the bus station of Siem Reap... we were, attacked! I have never experienced so many touts. They were in their hundreds, armed with laminated tuc tuc/hotel price sheets. All shouting and offering a ride to anywhere we wanted. Hundreds. I salvaged my bag in all the commotion and while fighting off the commission hungry touts, was saved by Ilse who called me over to their selected tuk tuk (selected... as the driver had proceeded in taking the initiative of loading their luggage on his wagon). We rode to the popular choice guest house - Smileys. A really chilled out place, got my room and then we read up on the best approach to the temples.
Monks at Ankor
Sunset Ankor
We heard that if you buy a ticket after 17:00, you can watch the sunset over Ankor Wat and use the ticket the next day. That is exactly what Ilse, Dieuwertje and I did. The sunset was swarming with people, but due to the sheer size of the place it didnt take anything away. A worldly site! Well deserving of its newly acquired title. We chilled until the sun was all gone and then went in search for a deserving meal. Siem reap, as I mentioned earlier is swarming with travellers (with an abnormal amount of Dutch), so the places to go are suited accordingly. A street of awesome restaurants, bars, clubs and everything else you need to make you feel at home. After a scrumptuous dinner we ambled over to Temple bar, ordered some drinks and did what we probably shouldnt have. getting home rather late, we had only a few hours to rest before the predetermined pickup time by our tuk tuk at 05:00.
sunrise crowds
Sunrise
Ankor wat
Getting up was easier than expected, and there was a brief moment where we almost rented bikes. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but after spending the sunny hot day wandering the temples, with tuk tuk rides in between, there was no regrets. At all. Bikes would have been cool, but not today. The temples are amazing! After watching the sun rise over the Ankor Wat, we rode over to the (in my opinion anyway) even more impressive Ankor Thom. A temple that boasts a massive amount of stone faces, and has the option to climb atop, and wander the maze of tunnels below. Besides the many challenging climbs up to the tops of the temples, all three of us agreed that the tomb raider temple (where they shot part of the movie) was awesome too. The temple, or rather ruin, has massive silver trees growing all over it, with the roots working their way down, through, along and over walls.
To the top
walk way
Bily the tripod at work
Ankor temple
face
Ankor Thom Entrance
Ankor Thom
After 11 hours at the temples, and only having seen the most popular ones we were all "templed out" as they say here. I had a brilliant day, content, happy and exhausted. Much to the disgrace of some, but praise of others, I have decided that one day at the temples has been enough. I saw all I wanted to see, had great weather, watched sun rise and sun set, took ample photos and have some excellent memories. From here, another early start to catch the slow boat through the most scenic water way in Cambodia to the old French colonial town of Batambang.
Illse and Dieuwer at the ne dof a long Temple day in the tuk tuk
written by  ourindochina on February 5, 2008 from Siem Reap, Cambodia

The Infamous Boat trip to Battambang
Pailin, Cambodia
The map doesnt include battambang... I dont know why.
The pickup for the boat was, like the Sunrise trip, at the crack of dawn. I git ushered into the mminivan, and after cramming the little thing full it was off to the boat docks. The bus van was packed, and this was but a taste of what the boat was going to be like. The boat was a typical long boat, like the ones that I had gotten uesed to. Howevere, this one in particular was full... Not that this seemed to matter to the skipper as he simply pointed to the empty roof... So i git on. When the next 12 seater minivan arrived, they did too. It got rather cozy, and was looking to an excellent day! The sun was slowly getting higher and we left the port. The first obstacle was to get the heavily overloaded vessel over the lake... once that was done it was through the small waterways, through villages, farmlands, and countryside, all viewed from the prime and warm seats on the roof.
The boat trip was epic, chilling while we passed through all that Cambodia is about! Little villages, overjoyed waving and swimming kids, frindly folk and farms. Since the boat trip was but a boat trip. A really good one at that, one that lasted 8 and a half hours, there is little i can describe... so some pics will have to do.
The lake view, start of the boat ride
Cane
Floating fishing vessel
The best toilet in the world... a hole in the floor... into the river
Battambang itself is a small town. The town doesnt have too much on offer, but does have some surrounding sites that we (Elizabeth, a spritely Canadian) and I explored. Such as the killing caves, the old ruins of the Khmer period, a temple and a ride on the improv bamboo train. It was a day trip, a decnt one at that!
Elizabeth and guide
Killing Cave
Khmer temple
Incense
cattle
written by  ourindochina on February 6, 2008 from Pailin, Cambodia

The Ko Chang Adventure
Trat, Thailand
Ko Chang was to be my first Thai island, expectations were high and I was looking forward to seeing the sun set over the palm scattered white sand beaches, kayaking with sunrise and just having a general all round merry time... However, I still had to get from battambang, Cambodia to Ko Chang. Thats easy you say! yes, it could be, but... it wasnt. It has been the longest andmost challenging trip I have endured so far.Ists comparible with African travel.
So I was in Battambang, having seen the country side, visited the famous sites, had a traditional massage by the blinde and was ready for the beaches. I must admit I did little, or rather no planning the night before... So was at the reception at 06:00 finding a way to pailin, the southern border with Thailand. This is where I wanted to pass, as it would be the shortest route between where I was and wanted to spend the evening. So I got myslef into a taxi heading for Pailin. The taxi was a corolla, and had 3 local passengers and the stone cold rally driver minded chauffeur. We were off, the clock had struck 07:00 and we were off, onto the dirt roads, working the shocks for all they were worth while we cruised at speeds in excess of 80km. We made it to Pailin within 2 hours and it was comfortable. However... I was now in pailin. pailin, I soon learnt is not on the actual border. I also learnt that i was now the only falang (Asian for white man) in town and every tuk tuk, taxi and scooter rider was eyeing me with anticipation of a scamming deal to get me to the 18km away border post.
I eventually settled for a chilled looking non english speaking guy on a scooter. I climbed on with my mammoth bag on my back and small bag strapped to my chest. Uncomfortable and holding on for my life as we sped over the horrid pot hole infested dirt road overtaking everything he saw ahead of him. 30 minutes later I dismounted and got the blood flow back in my legs. I paid the man and wandered over to the immigration officer. He gave me a good look up and down, then lifted his right hand and pointed at the newly printed sign "All foreigners entering the kingdom must have a valid fligt ticket leaving the kingdom within 30 days of arrival" I had no such thing. I asked how strickt this enforcement was, he agreed to let me try sweet talk the Thai official at the other side of the bridge. No such luck. I was told my best bet was to head to the next checkpoint, Chong. A checkpoint about 60km north, not on my map, and alledgetly offering a possibility for falang in my situation to pass through.
I now had a choice, head back, go the safe route and just go to the falang border of Poipet. Or... go out on a limb, be adverturous and spend the rest of the day trekking to Chong, with the huge possibillity of being rejected again and spending the night in the middle of nowhere. I went for the latter.
I haggled for about 30 min to eventually find a guy wanting to take me to the remote border of chong, which apparently can only be reached by trecherous roads. Roads that would make the 60km journey an endurance trip of no less than 2 hours. I was up for it and so was Dina. Dina was a legendary guy, 23, spoke great english and as I should have guessed when we agreed on the price, hadnever done the trip before. Anyway, after a quick stop at his pad we were on our way.
Dina the man!
The roads lived up to their description with no holding back. They were... crap. So bad infact that I occasionally had to walk so Dina could navigate the scooter through the thick muddy sludge, minding the potholes and puddles,a nd in some parts I was knee high in water. It was an adventure allright. Then it got even better...
Roads were tricky
Roads
We were happily riding along when we suddenly had a flat rear tyre. Lucky for us though we were in a small town, so there was no problem getting it fixed. Chilled, back on our way. However, after about 3km there was a loud bang, a shot of wind on my lower leg and we stopped... The mechanic had gotten too excited when he pumped up the tyre, which in turn coused a blow out! So now, we could either head back or walk on and hope for abother town. Once again we went for the latter. 3km we found yet another place, but they had nothing of the size we needed, back into the sun and soldiering on. The next town we had better luck and the guy could help us. However, it now being around 13:30, meaning we walked a fair distance, the tyre itself had been damaged, and now Dina needed not only a tube, but also a new rear tyre. With the little choice we had, we agreed to the operation, had it done and went on to the border.
Flat
Bike repaid
I treated the legendary to Dina lunch and i headed for the small border. I got stamped out of Cambodia and was told to get my bus ticket? I walked to the office where I was shown to and bought a 4 Euro "bus ticket". A ticket that is really colourful, but does absolutely nothing... at all. It is there to fill the new legislation for falang and allows people in my situation to pass into the kingdom, with a make shift "flight ticket" Awesome, I was in! But, now at a border with no falang and once again in the middle of nowhere (not on my map either) I had to wait for a mini bus. Thethai system goes like this, the minibus leaves when its full, it holds 10 people and I was person 1. One and a half hours later I was on my way to Chantaburi. Now 19:00, there was no way I could get to Ko Chang. It had been a seriously adventurous day and I was glad to have had it! If you ever read this Dina, thanks for your trouble! Ill come visit you at your house if I come to Battambang/Pailin again!
Border into thailand
From Chantaburi Ko chang was easily reached. A chilled airconditioned bus ride a relaxing ferry ride and a taxi ride to the beach side of the island. Everything I had hoped for! Excellent!
On the way to the island i met Michol, a german engineer on aninternship at a co in Rayang. He was heading for the island to meet a friend for the weekend.
On Ko chang I chilled at the beach called Lonely beach, in a seriously laid back resort. read, ate, swam, partied. In the morning, I s\dis what I had been looking forward to the most. Kayaked to a small croppy island just off the main coast. I did this togetherwith the now other three (Michol, manheim and Sisi) An excellent morning, thanks guys!
Ko Chang was a a quick stop, from here I was to meet up woth my old travel compadre again. After some emails we agreed to meet on Ko Samet the next day. And so it went, after 2 chilled nights on Thailands second biggest island I would see good old Iaki again!
written by  ourindochina on February 14, 2008 from Trat, Thailand

Re-united with Iaki, Island style
Bangkok, Thailand
Spirits were high when Iaki and I google talked, myself on Koh Chang ad Iaki on Koh Samet. We made the arrangements. I would meet Iaki in the afternoon of the following day on white sand beach, Koh Samet. So it went. I got the ferry off the island, booked a bus ticket to Koh Samet and scored when they informed me and one other passenger they were unable to get a minivan, but that they got us a private taxi instead... Sweet! I was at the ferry dock in no time and was soon chilling on a ferry to get to the island of Koh Samet.
Koh Chang
I arrived at around 15:00 and walked the kilometer to the Koh Samet nature reserve entrance where from you get access to the beach. The sand was as white as the name suggests. Awesome! I found the place iaki was staying, got his room number from reception ad wet up to try find him. But as you can imagine whe there is a sunny, blue sky and a warm ocean hugging a white sand beach. Only idiots would spend the day in their room. So I dumped my big bag, took off my shoes and went for a stroll, greek spotting. I walked the length of 4 beaches with no luck, until I went to the room to leave him a note. This is when the bearded, pakistani tanned man showed himself. We hugged. Yes we did! Excellent to see each other again! The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up on stories. This on the beach with a ice cold Beer leo and grande view of the ocean. The beaches here are pretty busy, with a very diverse crowd. In my opinion a better place than Koh Chang. This is far more chilled and really pretty.
Island pier
We spent the night, which started with a fire show, catching up over infamous Thailand cocktail buckets. Needless to say, it was good to see each other again!
firse show on white sand beacj koh samet
In our Sang Som (Thailands finest Whiskey) state we had made the plan to go for a jog at sunrise and the hire a kayak for the day. The jog... didnt happen, but the kayak, well the kayak was excellent. We got ourselves a two man, and had the plan of getting in a trip around the island. First to the lighthouse, then to the small rocky outcrop, then to Ko Chang (A small island just off the coast, not the big one) and then the plan to go all the way around. The island looks kinda like south America, but is only 7km in length. When we got about two thirds of the way we realised that we still had quite a way to go, water was low and the sun was... hot. So we went for the steep shore, and pulled the kayak up the cliff face. Then across to the other side (the island is only 400 meters wide in the south) and back to the familiar, calm, clear sea. A leisurely paddle ended our 7 hour expedition and left us with a well rounded sense of achievement. The rest of the afternoon was spent, once again on the white beach, reading, swimming and chilling. As you do on islands. Camilla, was also lounding on the beach, and she joined us for the rest of the afternoon and well into yet another wild night. Camilla is an Italian bed wife who was on her week break from Pakistan. Basically she delivers little Pakistani babies into the world. An awesome sprightly lady, who managed to prove us wrong every time we thought we were onto something.
Iaki and his pakistani tan
kayak in Ko Samet
manly men
The afternoon slowly turned to evening, and soo the fire show started again. This time Iaki and I were both prepared with our cameras. Camilla and I (iaki is allergic) couldnt resist the offer of crab, so together polished off 6 massive fiery red big ones. Glorious!
Bangkok was next on the cards, so in the mornig the three of us met up to have our last breakfast on the island. Instead of heading straight back to the tourist area of the capital we, or rather iaki, found an awesome alternative. A place called, the fishing farm. As the name suggests, a place where you can catch big fish. Got ourselves a taxi, git a lake side bungalow, Iaki got his kit, and the ext 12 hours would be spent chilling on the porch watching Iaki oull out the lake monsters. The place worked as follows, you hire a bungalow for 12 hours (21:00 - 9:00 or vice versa) and you fish (catch and release). A great place, except for the millions of mosquitos.
Iakis first cast into the lake
The lodges at the fishing camp
Iaki fought the initial beast for about 30 minutes, eventually, after having worked every muscle in his body he defeated the 30 kilo cat fish and netted it out. A hanus creature. Iaki had done it, he could tick... catch a massive Mekong catfish off his list. Even has the photo to prove it, but that will follow shortly as the PC here doesn't like my memory card. Then, while Iaki went to take a leak, I maned the rod. And believe it or not couch myself a mekong catfish too! Yes, not as big and strong as Iakis, but a Mekong catfish none the less. Once again photos will follow! Camilla, although being rather impressed with the manly fishing going on, had no desire to try it herself. Awesome to have you with us!
Mekong bohemith catfish weighing in at a modest 30 kilos
The next morning at 9:00 the fishing session was over and we headed back to the familiar Kao San Road. All three of us were nackered as we hardly managed to squeeze in any sleep between squashing mosquitoes and lyig on the wooded floor. So checked a hotel, and sorted out some admin. Tried to do as little as possible for the day! From bangkok we headed for Koh tao, where we are now... Soon to be licenced open water divers!
written by  ourindochina on February 15, 2008 from Bangkok, Thailand

becoming certfied Advanced Open water Divers...
Ko Tao, Thailand
Iaki and I were reunited and after getting up at 04:30 along the infamous Koh San Road, and by 05:00 were on a bus trying to get those last few hours of sleep in. The sleep story was cut short against our will... this is due to the caring bus hostess slotting the Prince and me into the DVD player and cranking up the volume. Cranking it up so loud that ipod headphones were no match. Iaki and I had no choice but to watch the horrid movie. Once that was over they had yet another keeper... The time did go fast though and we were soon on a monster of a catamaran cruising to the island of Ko Tao!
Iaki was having some trouble as to what he should do... The thing is that he was ready to go home, but also really wanted to go to New Zealand to meet up with the israelis one last time. The decision that he had to make was a difficult one to make. Both with their ups and downs, and the fact that he hadnt eaten for 12 hours and that the sea was rough enough to make the mamoth catamaran rock up, down left and right didnt help much! But we made it over clean, no need for plastic packets like so many people all around us!
Once on Ko Tao we got various diving offers, we discussed things over a well deserved lunch and found a diving class that would offer accomodationa nd that we could do, so that Iaki could get back to bangkok to catch his flight home in time. Easy Divers was the dive shop of choice, we signed up, got issued our homework and were told to meet the following morning. We did! Iaki still not sure what he should do.
The morning session was chilled, when we arrived in the classroom we were introduced to team Sweden! 9 Sweeds! Now I understood what people mean when they say there are a lot of sweeds in Thailand! They are everywhere! The morning got us through the basics of diving by the veteran instructor Jo. The afternoon we were kitted out, and taken aboard the ship. Our first dive!
Awesome, in a really chilled out blue watered bay kneeling down on white sand 2 meters deep we did our basic diving training. Chris, our other instructor, and Jo did their thing. Really chilled out. That is how our days passed... Lectures in the morning and diving in the afternoons. Awesome! Slowly getting addicted to the sport, iaki and I were seriously considering going all the way and going on to become advanced divers! But for now, iaki was planning his trip back to London instead.
We finsihed our 4th official dive, wrote the exam and were now official PADI certified open water divers! reason to celebrate, so after watching our diving video in the irish pub Nelly's we got festive! Team sweden was one party bunch, so the drinks kept pooring and a trip to the popular sairee beach was inevitable! Things got crazy to say the least and Iaki ended the night with some memorabilia...
team Sweden!
Injury Man, now a certified Open water diver getting ready to Party!!
Oh, This was actually a big day as iaki had also changed his ticket once again to stay on to April 10th! So all the more reason for the party night1 It also meant that i would have a diving buddy for the advanced course! Things were good!
early morning... Diving is hard work
team Diver
The next day was a chilled one, a recovery day if you will. getting ready for the advanced course! Dived at night, with sharks and at a depth of 30 meters! Awesome! iaki and I were addicted... although also kinda glad when we finished our 11th dive in a week as our ears were killing us! Got our cards and content and tired made our way to the party island of Koh Pangang... where the full moon was looming!
written by  ourindochina on February 18, 2008 from Ko Tao, Thailand

The adventure goes South
Krabi, Thailand
So... I know it has been a while, it's time for a full on update! So here it comes. I am now in Indonesia, living like a King, staying with Robert and Elvira in their Villa, which kisses the volcanic beach of Lovina, Bali. So all in all life is good!
So the last entry Iaki and I were leaving Koh tao as qualified advanced open water divers and were gearing up for the party of all parties. The infamous Koh Pangang Full Moon party. We had heard rumours that due to a buddist holiday the date had moved from 22 to 24, but we were optimistic. We had our boat tickets and were ready to move off the diving island. The rumours were right, but that didnt mean that the island was quiet... Oh no, in retrospect... It meant that the island was overfull. However, with our optimistic view, we figured that all the accomodation being offered to us at the pier was there to rip us off, and we would be fine just heading down to Haad Rin beach, walking into a little hostel and getting a room... I mean, why not!?
The sign
Haad salad, our first Koh panang beach
This didnt work.
We arrived in Haad Rin to find a town that looks an awful lot like vang Vieng. Thousands of people everywhere all with a party in mind, and the rest all watching friends and family guy reruns. The place was packed to say the least. We wandered the beach, saw the infamous haad rin beach, and it is beautiful! Not just due to the blue sea and white sand, but mainly becasue of what is lazing around on the white sand. We were homeless in paradise. Lucky for us we found 2 canadians and a british girl who had been just as optimisic as us, and were also realising that a txi up north was inevitable. To make a long story brief... We got a joint taxi north after about 2 hours of discussions, got to the town 40km north of Haad Rin (The furthest possible point from the party beach) and got ourselves a very small, basic room. We were set! The only drawback was that it cost 10 times the price of the room to get anywhere on the island. So everything that you did had to be done in packs! The other downside was that the party moved due to a buddist holiday... this laso meant that there was no alchohol for sale, and there was a lack of overall party. So the notorious party island was quiet!
Iaki by this stage had decided that he was heading over to Phuket to see Cherise and I hadn't made up my mind yet. Then while wandering down the sunny beach it hit me. I had made it all the way here and it would be just wrong to leave. So I decided to stay on koh Pangang.
This was therefore the last day that Iaki and I would see each other in Asia that is. The last day of OurIndoChina! It has been awesome Iaki! I am really happy to have had you here with me. The two of us spent the last night of our travel partnership at Haad Rin beach hoping for a party to suddenly break out... But nothing. We met up with Daniel and Bjorn, the two legendary Swedish chefs that I first met in the Mekong Delta and together hoped for a party. But nothing. In the morning iaki and I said our good byes.
Koh Pangang, from the green dot trail viepoint
The next few days I crashed with the two chefs and had no regrets in staying on for the party. The weather turned for the worse but that didnt detract form an awesome party. The night finally came around. The 24th, thousands of people six bars opening onto the beach with blearing party tunes and millions of Samson Buckets on sale. A recipe for success. The party started off and the three of us, even though we lost each other now and then, spent most the night sipping from buckets and kicking up sand as we let loose on the jungle trance/techno beach joints. We ended the party once the sun had risen above the horizon. A glorious sight! At this stage it was about 7:00, and my ferry for Krabi left at... 12:00.
I made it to the ferry without any problems. I have never seen that many hung over people in one place before. There must have been at least a thousand people all with half closed eyes sipping cold coke and eating all they could get! The funniest thing is when we were herded like sheep onto the various boats. A seamless operation, but not the safest. As the boat I was on was made for lets say 250 people, but had at least 550 on it! It was so full that you could hardly see the colour of the floor. But the previous night made it all worth it. From Surrathani, I cought a mini bus to Krabi and once I got there, after 10 hours of travel I found a room and slept like a log!
Krabi town is a really really chilled out little town. A backpacker haven, and a place from where you can get to all the western gulf places. From the comfort of the small friendly town I went on an island tour and got to see exactly what I had been looking forward to. pristine white beaches, small sandstone outcrop islands and long tail boats casting a shadow beneath them. Glorious!
Awesome thailand
Island hopping
long tail boat trip
View from Poda
Poda Beach
After having seen all that, the weather turned bad again and I made a move to the coast. I got a place in Ao nang. A place so secluded that all there was to do was eat, sleep and sit on the beach. So, since it was raining I did the former two. very relaxed, but it would drive me insane if I stayed there for more than a day.
Closing in storm
Railay beach
The fertility shrine on Railay beach... Unassumingly the "prettiest beach of Thailand"
Koh Phi Phi was next on the list. A place made famous by leonardo! And yes, in case any of you are wondering, there are daily screenings of his blockbuster movie! You can even, at a fee, spend a night camping at the location that they filmed. The actual "beach"is on an island just south of the main island of Phi Phi and is a bay called maya bay. I didnt actually walk on the beach but did get a very good look at it from my dive boat. very nice!
On Koh Phi Phi I did what I really wanted to, I wanted to dive and see a turtle! The diving was spectacular, absolutely awesome. However I only got a glimpse of a surfacing turtle, so am still searching for that encounter. But leaving that aside, the amount of life that Phi Phi has to offer is amazing! The dive there tops the Koh tao dives hands down. So I cant wait to see Indonesian reefs!
maya bay, the island of the beach
Tonsai beach koh phi phi
Wildlife on the islands
Diving time
Phi Phi was to be my last island, and from there I made my way back to bangkok.
written by  ourindochina on February 29, 2008 from Krabi, Thailand

back to Bangkok, or at least around
Bangkok, Thailand
The bus from Krabi was a long and trecherous procedure. It involved a lot of chopping and changing. To get from Phi Phi to bangkok, involved a boat, a bus, a taxi, another taxi, a bus (showing Borat). This could all have been done with one boat and one bus. But hey, thats what travelling is all about... testing ones patience. On the first bus I met Stephanie, a querky german girl studying chinese in Taiwan. When she saw my make shift diving hotspot map of Bali, she leaned over and handed me her Lonely planet of bali and Lombok! How awesome is that! The bus stopped soon after that and since I was Bangkok 1 and she was Bangkok 3, I had to get out and wait at the small diner. She stayed on... we planned to meet at the burger King on KSR at 6:00.
From there I waited about an hour until a mini bus took the 13 of us to another diner, where we waited about 50 minutes.... Then onto the luxory tour coach on our way to Bangkok. Sleeping was postponed by the loud broadcasting of Borat! Sitting next to Ethan, an american economics lecturer who cringed every time Borat approached an american! Awesome. Slept on and off and arrived in bankok at 7:55. I wandered to Burger King with a vague hope of still meeting Stephanie, but as was expected she wasn't there. I checked into the trusted guesthouse where we Iaki and I stayed the first time we got to Bangkok and once I dumped my bag went for a breakfast amble. While sitting down with a small mexican mob of guys discussing Laos, I spotted Stephanie buying some fruit. KSR is a place you will always meet someone you know... its a fact!
So, she was leaving that night and I the next morning... we decided to do something cool. I was tired and she was tired, so sleep deprived we made our way to the bus station in the north. Kinda the same idea as the floating market outing Iaki and I did in december... (also done sleep deprived). We got there and were informed that we were at the wrong station for Ayuthaya... To make a long story short, we were in Ayathaya about 4 hours after leaving KSR. We got off the bus and organised a tuk tuk to take us around. To rent bikes was the initial plan, but since it was 30 degrees and we were both groggy from the sleep deprivation we decided a private tuk tuk was the better option.
Our Tuk tuk and guide
After seeing 3 temples, which were beautiful, we were started to get templed out and made it to the infamous mask! really cool.
grace
Stephanie
buddah view
the temples
souvenir
After the mask we took a bus back, got a taxi and got back to the center. While sitting on that bus I realised that I had now seen a sunset, a sunrise and another sunset from a bus seat! Thats crazy, and meant that my trip to Bali was well justified!
another
The infamous mask! Photo by Stephanie
written by  ourindochina on March 4, 2008 from Bangkok, Thailand

Villa Lotus, Bali
Singaraja, Indonesia
My first flight since I landed in Bangkok on the 6th of December! Going to Bali! From my humble residence on Koa San Road I cought the hourly airport express bus... while sitting on the bus and getting comfortable I looked out the door. This was followed by a quick double take as I had spotted Marcelo and Macarena! Small world. Turns out that Maca was on the exact same adventure flight to Bali. (I met them on the Delta trip in Vietnam)
I say adventure as the flight to Bali with air asia requires a brief stop over in Jakarta... basically you arrive at midnight and the connecting flight to Bali is at 8:00 AM. So what every hardy traveller will endure time and time again, we slept at the airport. We slept on the two seater plastic benches making up the diner of Dunkin' Donuts to be exact. It was interesting to say the least!
Maca sleeping at Dunkin' Donuts... Jakarta
We were both happy that we had someone to share this interesting experience with! The connecting flight to Bali was fine and we were welcomed by a tropical rainstorm. Both of us were expecting to be met at the arrival gate, so we were both dissapointed! What had happened was that both our reception parties assumed we came directly from Bangkok, a very justified assumption, so after some wandering around we realised our error and found our pickups. I was picked up by Eric, he was armed with a sign "Robert Villa Lotus" Awesome! I got in the car and after a brief drive through Kuta we started the 3 hour drive to my residence for the next few days. Sadly the clouds had covered Bali so I didnt see a thing besides what appeared 5 meters from the car. But no matter, before long I had arrived in Lovina, at Villa Lotus! Where Robert and Elivira were waiting for me with a coconut cocktail! Treatment I hadnt experienced this entire trip! Good times. The house, or rather villa is beautiful, and when they showed me my own private condo with pool and lounge I was stumped! If I stayed here too long I would never want to leave.
The view from my beach condo - Villa Lotus
The front clear water dip pool
Villa Lotus pool
A mean ass Gogo guy
The next few days were glorious. There was a national hindu day of silence... Mimpi. What this meant was that the whole of Bali was quiet, so that the bad spirits that were chased away the previous night wouldnt come back to Bali. The chasing was done ny burning massive paper mache statues of Gogos. A very interesting time to be here, but it did give me one public holiday and one house arrest day. Now when you have a day of House arrest at Villa lotus, it isnt exactly a bad thing! I loved it. Thank you Rober and Elivira. I have since realised that I dont have a single photo of them. This is possibly due to the relaxing times that we had around the dinner table and just general relaxing. So let me just say that they both look as young as ever and are in good shape. Let alone the discussions we had on the way home after a party night in the hot and happening club of Lovina... Pogo bar (A place not to be missed if you go to Lovina) I do have one of their very young and aglile dog though!
Little Tiger... for some reason the only family member i have on film... mmmmmm
While in Lovina, I didnt only sit at the lovely villa, I also took a day trip out to the nearby waterfalls. Its the tailend of the rainy season, which is very noticable from the afternoon monsoon type rains that fall. With the day of the waterfall being no exception. But the Munduk waterfall was awesome, the rain stopped once we got there, I was the only tourist and walked all the way to the crashing water taking in all the elements!
The Munduk Waterfall in rainy season... awesome
Me at the Munduk waterfall
After a day of diving in the North west island of menjangan and seeing my green turtle I made my way to Kintamani. The town at the foot of Mt Batur, the second biggest volcano of Bali! I got there on a public bus, which in Bali with all its hills is a unique experience. Tehre was the inevitable overcrowded feel to it, with people standing in the isle, a chicken in a bag and 3 on a two seater. This and the classsic, "Im not feeling too well, so ill lean over you and vomit in this small weathered packet" But still clean when I got out, I had an overall good experince. Even had some good conversation with Nioman, a lady sharing the seat with me who kept cracking herself up when she heard I paid the tourist price with is $2, instead of $1(local) for the ride. An excellent local experience!
When I got to Kintamani, the mountain dissapeared into the clouds while I was enjoying lunch, and the rain had started by the time i went back outside. No matter though, I went down to the small footside town, and checked into a hotel. AFter negotiating my trip up the mountain the next morning i went for a walk. As Robert and Elvira had warned me, there is absolutely nothing to do. So after I had walked through the whole village, checked out the local bar and fitness club I made my way back to the hotel. The rain closed in and I spent the rest of the day reading, writing and drinking Arak, or rather indonesian moonshine with the hotel manager.
Arak... Moonshine tasting at the hotel the day before the big climb
Mount batur
3:09 I got the knock on the door, the wake up call! By 4:00 AM we were at the foot of the mamoth mountain and armed with a torch we were ready to go up. I was assigned to the team with the scottish/english couple Christine and Mike. They seemed middle aged, so i thought we would be walking up at a manageable pace. Oh no! They were both avid hikers and what an average person does in 1,5 to 2 hours we did in 55 min! I was out of breath, but we made it to the top. We now sat at the top for at least an hour before the sun showed itself. When it did, the cold went away and everyone was mesmorized! You could see Lombok, the Kuta gulf and Mt Agung in all its glory!
The hiking Trio... They may look Old but... damn are they Tough! Mike and Christine
The view of Mt Agung
Mike and Christine speeding ahead
Mt batur climbing
After some volcano steamed eggs we hiked to the second crater, and then to the top of the main crater! Beautiful, fresh, crisp and clean. A very good morning!
Back down at the hotel at 9:00 I made my way to the cultural hub of Ubud. Got here by local Bemo and spent the day yesterday cysling around the rice paddie country side and checking out all the local art shops. Everyone here is an artist! Its amazing. The plan today is to make my way to the coast of Padangbai...
My first local Balinese Meal
Rice paddies
Ducks in the rice fields - ubud
written by  ourindochina on March 11, 2008 from Singaraja, Indonesia

getting close to the end
Kuta, Indonesia
After experiencing the natural wonders of climbing up the active batur volcano and making my way to the vibrant time of Ubud I thought it was about time to see the sea again on this island that is notorious for them!
I once again packed up my bag and made my way to the main road to catch myself a public bemo. easily enough I was soon in a small cramped car with about 7 people sitting cheek to cheek. It's always awsome when a chat starts, and this time was no different. One of the ladies in the Bemo spoke excellent english so we had a good chat about her, me, life and the country. This made the trip fly by and I was soon standing alonside the main road again waiting for the next ride to take me to my ultimate destination of Padangbai.
My bag at the road side
Me waiting for a Bemo
The second ride was excellent, it was as local as you could possibly get, so local that it actually made me laugh out loud! This is what travelling is all about. It was a propper rustic car, packed full of people and their cargo. So full that i had to move like an acrobat to actually get into the thing. Then once seated the driver continued to pick up people, which among other things included people bearing chickens in bags and.... Durian (aka the stinkfruit!) The car was now not only cramped and hot but also stank like well... stinkfruit (The potent ceation doesnt bear that name for nothing) But this is what its all about, and there was litte I could do about it...
Padangbai is a town basically for transit to the neighbouring Lombok and Nusa Penida islands. My intitial plan was to make my way to Nusa Penida frst thing in the morning. However after chatting to some people and thinking about my timing I decided to make the dive that i wanted off Nusa Penida in Padangbai and then cruise down to Sanur.
Padangbai strip
Spent the afternoon wandering around the small quaint village looking for a good dive shop and good dive deal. I found one, I would dive with Caral, a Local dive master, one on one and we could go for as long as I had air. Sounded awesome. I was set on seeing some more turtles, so that was the plan. The first dive was at 9:00 the following morning. I got to see exactly what I hoped for. Among some excellent coral scenery and some great eels, stingrays and immense amount of fish I got to see a masisve turtle just chilling on the sand. Excellent! The second dive we chased a school of white tip reef sharks. Diving around here was excellent! Back in Padangbai I had a great seafood lunch and then made my way over to the seemingly retirement beach resort town of Sanur.
Caral the dive master
the dive boat
Also the place where I would possibly meet up with Waki... She had rounded up her trip in India and was now ending her trip on bali. Both on the same island we just had to meet up! Sounds really easy, but its... not. I got to Sanur and found out that it is way bigger than I anticipated! This was a big shocker as I had used the lonely planet to make a meeting spot hotel place... It is massive, well when on foot. So I (and later found out that Waki did too) spent a good hour or two wandering the streets with a massive bag weighing us down. But after some searching we ended up finding each other. She even tried to be mad at me for making her run around... but that was short lived!
Having a Ramayanna Cigar with the restaurant chief
We had 2 awesome days chilling on the insanely quiet beaches of Sanur. These beaches are quiet A) due to the relatively large beach space and small amount of people, and B) as the people that are there are all above 65 so they are generally not party crazy or surfers. It was chilled, but after two days of chilling in the sun and eating well and my Bali clock running out. It was time to try out another town. We were now on our way in yet another Bemo to Kuta... The Australian party capital of the Indo island. But before we made our way over there we changed our mind... It was decided that we should see the capital of the island and then spend the last night, in Kuta.
Chicken sale
Family on a bike
So we made a minor change in direction and were now on our way to the capital of the island. I love arriving in a place and being the only visible tourist! SUre we werent the only tourists, as we saw some later on. But it took some effort to spot them, unlike all tourist destinations. We wandered the local markets, streets and had some excellent Bali quisine! How it works in a wartel is amazing. A way of dishing food that would set a health inspector on a hunger strike. All the foods are meticulously displayed in little bowls behind the shop window and covered with a small mosquito net curtain. You then sit down at a table and get a selection of all the delicasies laid out on the table. You then help yourself with the dishes. Once you are done with the meal, a waityer with a big piece of paper checks what you have eaten, adds it up and takes the left overs back to the respective bowls in the window display allowing them to be consumed by the next guests. Why waste!??
After checking the busy metropolis of Denpassar for the morning we caught a Bemo to a place that is the exact opposite. A whole town simila to Bangkok Khao San Road! Amazing, a town of only tourists, bars, cafes, surf boars, hotels, clubs and an awesome beach with a far out and long break. Here all we really did is what everyone does, chill on the awesome beach, watch the waves and once the sunset is over head to a good looking bar and start the night off.
Kuta Main Beach
Ronald McDonald in Kuta
Waki
Surfing in Kuta
Kuta Beach view
Bali has been one of my favourite spots, together with Vietnam. I will def be back there again and check out the other islands too! Fo Sho. Waki it was excellent to see you again :)
So in closing... After Bali I made my way back to the metropolis of Bangkok, where I spent a few days chilling, exploring and off course shopping. The trip has been one epic ride. I have no regrets and would do it all over again. Now it's time to take on a career!
Iaki, it was awesome travelling with you, thank you for everything! Im gonna see you in Europe some time soon, maybe for a diving trip somewhere... perhaps even off the shores of your native nation... somewhere over there in the east of Europe...
Cool
written by  ourindochina on March 15, 2008 from Kuta, Indonesia