Uluru and Kata Tjuta
On sunday we did what we came to Alice Springs to do - see Ayers Rock. The drive to the national park where Ayers Rock is located (Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park) takes around 5 hours from Alice Springs so that meant a 5am wake up. Our day started with breakfast at sunrise and a 6am pickup from our hostel.
On the way there we stopped to view Mt Connor, which is commonly mistaken for Uluru due to it's size, shape and proximity to Uluru. We also learnt about the salt lakes that are spread out over the Northern Territory and got our first look at the red sand up close.
The beautiful sunrise right outside our room.
The boiling hot red sand of central Australia.
Our first stop when we got to the national park was The Olgas, or as the aboriginals call it, Kata Tjuta. Kata Tjuta (which means 'many heads') is a rock formation consisting of 36 domes. It is very important in aboriginal culture, we are not even allowed to know what happens here, which meant we are only allowed access to the western side of Kata Tjuta. We went on the Walpa Gorge walk - a rocky track between Mt Olga and Mt Walpa. These massive domes are up to 500m high. The walk was incredible but exhausting in the 41 degree heat.
The Olgas. The Walpa Gorge is right in the center where we did our walk.
Bros @ Kata Tjuta.
Marcus in front of the massive Mt Olga.
We visited the cultural centre next to learn more about Aboriginal laws and culture and then we were off to Ayers Rock. We did two walks around the base of Uluru - the Mala Walk and the Kuniya Walk. During these walks our guides told us the aboriginal dreamtime stories (stories passed down through the generations about how things came to be) about the different areas around Uluru. They showed us the aboriginal paintings on the walls and taught us about the landscape. The surrounding area was unusually green and wet due to the massive ammounts of rain Australia has had lately. These walks were thankfully alot more shaded than The Olgas so we weren't out in the boiling sun so much.
We decided to do the full on tourist look and bought matching hats.. haha!
We were unfortunately unable to climb Uluru. The climb is closed during the summer months due to extreme temperatures and can also be closed due to rain, wind, cloud, heat or cultural reasons. It's pretty rare the climb is open and even when it is the aboriginals request that you don't climb. It's very spiritually significal to them and they also feel a responsibility to warn tourists of the dangers involved. Like one of the guides told us: an english backpacker holds the record of being the fastest man down the rock - it only took him 5 seconds! He didn't survive though...
Ayers Rock. Enjoy it under the influence!
Kicking back and relaxing with a glass of champagne and enjoying the view.
Uluru at sunset.
We concluded the day with a barbeque dinner (including champagne) watching the sun set over Uluru. An amazing end to an amazing day!
/M, C & L
On the way there we stopped to view Mt Connor, which is commonly mistaken for Uluru due to it's size, shape and proximity to Uluru. We also learnt about the salt lakes that are spread out over the Northern Territory and got our first look at the red sand up close.
The beautiful sunrise right outside our room.
The boiling hot red sand of central Australia.
Our first stop when we got to the national park was The Olgas, or as the aboriginals call it, Kata Tjuta. Kata Tjuta (which means 'many heads') is a rock formation consisting of 36 domes. It is very important in aboriginal culture, we are not even allowed to know what happens here, which meant we are only allowed access to the western side of Kata Tjuta. We went on the Walpa Gorge walk - a rocky track between Mt Olga and Mt Walpa. These massive domes are up to 500m high. The walk was incredible but exhausting in the 41 degree heat.
The Olgas. The Walpa Gorge is right in the center where we did our walk.
Bros @ Kata Tjuta.
Marcus in front of the massive Mt Olga.
We visited the cultural centre next to learn more about Aboriginal laws and culture and then we were off to Ayers Rock. We did two walks around the base of Uluru - the Mala Walk and the Kuniya Walk. During these walks our guides told us the aboriginal dreamtime stories (stories passed down through the generations about how things came to be) about the different areas around Uluru. They showed us the aboriginal paintings on the walls and taught us about the landscape. The surrounding area was unusually green and wet due to the massive ammounts of rain Australia has had lately. These walks were thankfully alot more shaded than The Olgas so we weren't out in the boiling sun so much.
We decided to do the full on tourist look and bought matching hats.. haha!
We were unfortunately unable to climb Uluru. The climb is closed during the summer months due to extreme temperatures and can also be closed due to rain, wind, cloud, heat or cultural reasons. It's pretty rare the climb is open and even when it is the aboriginals request that you don't climb. It's very spiritually significal to them and they also feel a responsibility to warn tourists of the dangers involved. Like one of the guides told us: an english backpacker holds the record of being the fastest man down the rock - it only took him 5 seconds! He didn't survive though...
Ayers Rock. Enjoy it under the influence!
Kicking back and relaxing with a glass of champagne and enjoying the view.
Uluru at sunset.
We concluded the day with a barbeque dinner (including champagne) watching the sun set over Uluru. An amazing end to an amazing day!
/M, C & L
The Red Centre
We arrived at Alice Springs yesterday, which is a small town of 27,000 in the heart of Australia. We flew over the famous red sand but Alice Springs itself is actually quite green at the moment due to the massive amount of rain the city has had. It's now 35 degrees here in the middle of the desert but luckily we have a pool at our hostel! Score! Within 2 hours of arriving in Alice Springs we were already lying by the pool and soaking up the sun. This is the life!
The red desert of North Australia.
This is how happy we were to be in Alice Springs.
Our last days in Adelaide we not very productive due to the terrible weather. However we did squeeze in one more day at the beach (before the bad weather came) and a free tour of Haigh's Chocolate Factory which included free samples! Haigh's is an Australian chocolate which produces exclusively for it's 13 stores across Australia. Most of the work is done by hand and we watched as they wrapped the chocolates individually, hand dipped the truffles and decorated the chocolates one by one. We got to taste their milk and dark chocolate, chocolate coated almonds and rasberry chocolates. Liz was forced to buy a selection of truffles to taste what we had seen in production.
Chocolate everywhere! And all of these were handmade!
Mmm... chocolate.
We are planning on doing lots of swimming and sunbaking here and of course we are going to see Ayers Rock tomorrow! It costs a whopping $200 per person though, but we're spending the day seeing Ayers Rock and the surrounding area. Hope it's worth it. We're flying back to Melbourne on 20th and spending 2 weeks there. After that, on the 4th of february, we are coming home.
/M, C & L
New continent, New year, New adventures!
Long time, no blog (again)! We have been pretty lazy with the blog posts lately, and we apoligise for that. There's just so much going on all the time and whenever there's time left of our days we basically just do stuff we want (sleeping).
Alrights, let's just jump right in.
We're now in Adelaide, a pretty big city on the coast of South Australia, about 2 hours flight west from Sydney, which is the last city we visited. Lots have been going on since our last post, including a few more days in Melbourne, new years eve & sightseeing in Sydney, and now our new route, away from the bad weather and the floods in Queensland. We've managed to hit the worst summer Australia's had in 90 years. Fail-bros strike again!
After celebrating an Australian christmas with the Walkers (Liz's parents, brother Bob, sister Samantha, grandparents & aunt) and Aina, we didn't really do much other than shopping in the city. The boxing day sales started, and we all went looking for bargains. Marcus and Chris went to see Tron: Legacy at the IMAX cinema, which was AWESOME! Then, on the 28th of december we left for Sydney! Even though the flight was delayed, we made it there alright, and the next day we saw the city, the Harbour Bridge, the Opera house, enjoyed the great weather and met up with friends.
Bros in Sydney!
Enjoyed a beer (or two) in the baking heat in front of the harbour bridge!
The coming days we checked out what the fuss about Bondi beach was, as well as Manley beach. Bondi was huge, and packed with people! We went there on the 30th of december, an awesome sunny day, went for a swim, got tanned, and had dinner. A cool place indeed! Manley beach was about the same, but the rain pretty much wrecked that day on the beach for us, so we went for a beer instead at a nearby bar.
Bondi Beach, December 30th. Packed!
New years eve was amazing! We started out early by taking a ferry from Circular Quay by the bridge to Balmain, which is west of the bridge and the opera house and settled down on blanket & foldout chairs, with food, drinks, beer, snacks, music and good friends. We managed to find a great spot in the shade overlooking the bridge. We basically sat there for more than 12 hours, which might sound a bit much, but the great company and nice weather really made it a memorable day! The fireworks at midnight were amazing! It lit up the city and the whole sky, leaving everyone stunned and amazed, cheering and laughing. After the fireworks we hung out for a while and then took the ferry back to the city, and walked back on crowded streets to the hotel.
The awesome gang on new years! And yes, our dutch friend Tim insisted on hanging the dutch flag by our camp, even though there were only two dutch people among us...
The sky exploded at midnight!
The following days we stayed in two new hotels/hostels, trying to figure out where to go next. Our last two nights we stayed in a hostel in Kings Cross in Sydney, which basically is the red light district. All the noisy drunks outside the bars and strip clubs didn't really help you fall asleep at night... We decided on going to Adelaide to find the sun, and spent the last day in Sydney with Mike, Tommy and Jocke at Mike's mom's place, having a barbeque and playing water volleyball in the pool! It was a good day :) (Marcus and Tommy beat the crap out of Chris and Mike at volleyball. And it had nothing to do with the fact that Chris and Mike couldn't reach the bottom of the pool in the deeper end, on one side of the volleyball net).
Volleyball @ Mikes! We all felt really pool! ...I mean cool.
Adelaide is a quiet, mellow and cozy city, as far as we know. On friday we went to the beach, in 34 degree heat and sun (got burnt - we had it coming. Australian sun really is a lot stronger than anywhere else we've been so far). It was still a great day though! Yesterday was an even better day, since we went to the world famous Jacob's Creek, in the Barossa Valley, about an hour drive from Adelaide. It's the home of yellow hills with crops swaying in the wind in the distance, green vineyards as far as the eye can see, and of course - wine tasting! Since we arrived a bit early, we had a nice lunch with good wine, and while the rain poured outside we enjoyed cheesecake, kaluha creme brulee, coffe and tea. The sky then cleared up, and the sun was shining on us while a guide showed us the vineyard and the many different kind of grapes they grow. We then did some wine tasting. The list was long, and we tried many different kinds! After this, we made our way to a look-out point, giving us a breathtaking view of the beautiful valley!
A fine selection @ Jacob's Creek Visitor Centre!
In front of the vineyard at Jacob's Creek.
The amazing view from one of the look-out points in Barossa Valley.
From here, we all want to go to Alice Springs to see Ayers Rock. If we can find a cheap enough way to get there, that is. We'll keep you updated on how it goes. Hopefully ;)
/M, C & L
Alrights, let's just jump right in.
We're now in Adelaide, a pretty big city on the coast of South Australia, about 2 hours flight west from Sydney, which is the last city we visited. Lots have been going on since our last post, including a few more days in Melbourne, new years eve & sightseeing in Sydney, and now our new route, away from the bad weather and the floods in Queensland. We've managed to hit the worst summer Australia's had in 90 years. Fail-bros strike again!
After celebrating an Australian christmas with the Walkers (Liz's parents, brother Bob, sister Samantha, grandparents & aunt) and Aina, we didn't really do much other than shopping in the city. The boxing day sales started, and we all went looking for bargains. Marcus and Chris went to see Tron: Legacy at the IMAX cinema, which was AWESOME! Then, on the 28th of december we left for Sydney! Even though the flight was delayed, we made it there alright, and the next day we saw the city, the Harbour Bridge, the Opera house, enjoyed the great weather and met up with friends.
Bros in Sydney!
Enjoyed a beer (or two) in the baking heat in front of the harbour bridge!
The coming days we checked out what the fuss about Bondi beach was, as well as Manley beach. Bondi was huge, and packed with people! We went there on the 30th of december, an awesome sunny day, went for a swim, got tanned, and had dinner. A cool place indeed! Manley beach was about the same, but the rain pretty much wrecked that day on the beach for us, so we went for a beer instead at a nearby bar.
Bondi Beach, December 30th. Packed!
New years eve was amazing! We started out early by taking a ferry from Circular Quay by the bridge to Balmain, which is west of the bridge and the opera house and settled down on blanket & foldout chairs, with food, drinks, beer, snacks, music and good friends. We managed to find a great spot in the shade overlooking the bridge. We basically sat there for more than 12 hours, which might sound a bit much, but the great company and nice weather really made it a memorable day! The fireworks at midnight were amazing! It lit up the city and the whole sky, leaving everyone stunned and amazed, cheering and laughing. After the fireworks we hung out for a while and then took the ferry back to the city, and walked back on crowded streets to the hotel.
The awesome gang on new years! And yes, our dutch friend Tim insisted on hanging the dutch flag by our camp, even though there were only two dutch people among us...
The sky exploded at midnight!
The following days we stayed in two new hotels/hostels, trying to figure out where to go next. Our last two nights we stayed in a hostel in Kings Cross in Sydney, which basically is the red light district. All the noisy drunks outside the bars and strip clubs didn't really help you fall asleep at night... We decided on going to Adelaide to find the sun, and spent the last day in Sydney with Mike, Tommy and Jocke at Mike's mom's place, having a barbeque and playing water volleyball in the pool! It was a good day :) (Marcus and Tommy beat the crap out of Chris and Mike at volleyball. And it had nothing to do with the fact that Chris and Mike couldn't reach the bottom of the pool in the deeper end, on one side of the volleyball net).
Volleyball @ Mikes! We all felt really pool! ...I mean cool.
Adelaide is a quiet, mellow and cozy city, as far as we know. On friday we went to the beach, in 34 degree heat and sun (got burnt - we had it coming. Australian sun really is a lot stronger than anywhere else we've been so far). It was still a great day though! Yesterday was an even better day, since we went to the world famous Jacob's Creek, in the Barossa Valley, about an hour drive from Adelaide. It's the home of yellow hills with crops swaying in the wind in the distance, green vineyards as far as the eye can see, and of course - wine tasting! Since we arrived a bit early, we had a nice lunch with good wine, and while the rain poured outside we enjoyed cheesecake, kaluha creme brulee, coffe and tea. The sky then cleared up, and the sun was shining on us while a guide showed us the vineyard and the many different kind of grapes they grow. We then did some wine tasting. The list was long, and we tried many different kinds! After this, we made our way to a look-out point, giving us a breathtaking view of the beautiful valley!
A fine selection @ Jacob's Creek Visitor Centre!
In front of the vineyard at Jacob's Creek.
The amazing view from one of the look-out points in Barossa Valley.
From here, we all want to go to Alice Springs to see Ayers Rock. If we can find a cheap enough way to get there, that is. We'll keep you updated on how it goes. Hopefully ;)
/M, C & L
Koalas!
More posts are on the way, but first we thought we would share with you a clip from the Healesville Sanctuary, a kind of zoo with only Australian animals - Koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, platypuses, reptiles...
We shot this film at the koala enclosure. For once, we actually got to see the koalas move, make sounds and interact. They usually just sleep during most of the day (they spend 16-18 hours per day sleeping - ah, the good life), like the ones we saw in the Chiang Mai zoo.
Apparently this Koala thought it would be a good idea to play king of the hill (tree) and just claim the other koala's tree as its own. May seem a bit rude, but we liked the show they gave us! And obviously koalas grunt like wild boars when upset - otippat, as we say in swedish! :P
/M, C & L
We shot this film at the koala enclosure. For once, we actually got to see the koalas move, make sounds and interact. They usually just sleep during most of the day (they spend 16-18 hours per day sleeping - ah, the good life), like the ones we saw in the Chiang Mai zoo.
Apparently this Koala thought it would be a good idea to play king of the hill (tree) and just claim the other koala's tree as its own. May seem a bit rude, but we liked the show they gave us! And obviously koalas grunt like wild boars when upset - otippat, as we say in swedish! :P
/M, C & L
Last days in Asia
Yeah, we haven't been very good with the whole blogg part. Sorry, but really, one of the last things we want is to sit down and write for an hour on the computer. We have so many other things going on! But is was a long time ago now, so we'll try to be a little better.
Now we'll tell you about our last days in Thailand, Malaysia & Asia! It so happens that we're in Melbourne now. Oh yeah. But since you don't know what happened between Chiang Mai and Australia, we thought we might fill you in.
After Chiang Mai, we went to Koh Tao again. This is the island where Chris & Marcus got their diving certificates. The reason to go back? Cheap dives & Liz also wanted to get a diving certificate. We went to the same resort we stayed at the first time and got a sweet deal. We got free accomodation since Liz was doing her diving course. So while Liz started with her course, Chris & Marcus rented motorbikes and drove around the island in search of beatiful beaches.
We ended up staying in Koh Tao for 6 days. The diving course for Liz was supposed to take 4 days, but she first had problems to adapt to the whole underwater-breathing thing, but she did manage. However, right after that she got sick and couldn't finish the course. But she got a referral, so she can finish the rest somewhere else within a year. Chris, Marcus and Liz a few times went to a total of five different beaches. All of them with crystal clear, warm (29 degrees) water and many with beatiful white sand. We swam and snorkeled there for many hours and really enjoyed life in Koh Tao. Though Chris & Marcus were a bit slow with the diving thing. They ended up doing two fun dives, which was really great. Chris also did a Deep Dive the day after. Went down to 30m and loved it! Did get an ear infection for that, but still worth it!
One of the beautiful refuges we found.
The awesome beach by Shark Bay.
Shark bay, a sunbather's and snorkeler's paradise!
It really doesn't get much better than this! :D
Team Sweden, featuring Oz!
Chris on his way into the deep!
On saturday it was, however, time to leave Koh Tao. The time had come to say goodbye to Thailand. We had a flight from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) the 22nd, so we left Koh Tao on the 18th for Phuket. We had a flight from there to Kuala Lumpur early the 19th. It was (as usual) a dull bus ride, we arrived to Phuket around 9pm. Didn't have that much time to see anything at all, we just went for dinner and then to bed. The flight to Kuala Lumpur went well, we landed around 11am and quickly found a hostel. We stayed in Chinatown in KL and spend most of our time there. Walked around the markets, had some food and just chilled. We were supposed to go to Petronas Towers on monday (the 20th), but apparently, it is closed on mondays!
In our depression, we went to a shopping mall and spend a whopping 9 hours in there!!! It's not as bad as it sounds though. That time included both lunch and dinner plus a movie at the cinema in the shopping centre. We tried to go to Petronas early on tuesday, the same day we were leaving for Melbourne. We got there around 9am and the tickets were already sold out! Disappointed, we at least snapped some photos outside and then went to the airport.
Bros @ the Petronas Twin Towers.
The indoor rollercoaster @ the Times Square Mall, Kuala Lumpur. Insane!
That flight went well too. We're now in Melbourne. Today we're going to IKEA to buy swedish christmas food! We'll give you more updates of what we've been doing here in a couple of days. So to all of you, from all of us, a very merry christmas!
GOD JUL!!!
Chris, Liz and Marcus wishes you all a merry christmas!
/C, M & L
Now we'll tell you about our last days in Thailand, Malaysia & Asia! It so happens that we're in Melbourne now. Oh yeah. But since you don't know what happened between Chiang Mai and Australia, we thought we might fill you in.
After Chiang Mai, we went to Koh Tao again. This is the island where Chris & Marcus got their diving certificates. The reason to go back? Cheap dives & Liz also wanted to get a diving certificate. We went to the same resort we stayed at the first time and got a sweet deal. We got free accomodation since Liz was doing her diving course. So while Liz started with her course, Chris & Marcus rented motorbikes and drove around the island in search of beatiful beaches.
We ended up staying in Koh Tao for 6 days. The diving course for Liz was supposed to take 4 days, but she first had problems to adapt to the whole underwater-breathing thing, but she did manage. However, right after that she got sick and couldn't finish the course. But she got a referral, so she can finish the rest somewhere else within a year. Chris, Marcus and Liz a few times went to a total of five different beaches. All of them with crystal clear, warm (29 degrees) water and many with beatiful white sand. We swam and snorkeled there for many hours and really enjoyed life in Koh Tao. Though Chris & Marcus were a bit slow with the diving thing. They ended up doing two fun dives, which was really great. Chris also did a Deep Dive the day after. Went down to 30m and loved it! Did get an ear infection for that, but still worth it!
One of the beautiful refuges we found.
The awesome beach by Shark Bay.
Shark bay, a sunbather's and snorkeler's paradise!
It really doesn't get much better than this! :D
Team Sweden, featuring Oz!
Chris on his way into the deep!
On saturday it was, however, time to leave Koh Tao. The time had come to say goodbye to Thailand. We had a flight from Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) the 22nd, so we left Koh Tao on the 18th for Phuket. We had a flight from there to Kuala Lumpur early the 19th. It was (as usual) a dull bus ride, we arrived to Phuket around 9pm. Didn't have that much time to see anything at all, we just went for dinner and then to bed. The flight to Kuala Lumpur went well, we landed around 11am and quickly found a hostel. We stayed in Chinatown in KL and spend most of our time there. Walked around the markets, had some food and just chilled. We were supposed to go to Petronas Towers on monday (the 20th), but apparently, it is closed on mondays!
In our depression, we went to a shopping mall and spend a whopping 9 hours in there!!! It's not as bad as it sounds though. That time included both lunch and dinner plus a movie at the cinema in the shopping centre. We tried to go to Petronas early on tuesday, the same day we were leaving for Melbourne. We got there around 9am and the tickets were already sold out! Disappointed, we at least snapped some photos outside and then went to the airport.
Bros @ the Petronas Twin Towers.
The indoor rollercoaster @ the Times Square Mall, Kuala Lumpur. Insane!
That flight went well too. We're now in Melbourne. Today we're going to IKEA to buy swedish christmas food! We'll give you more updates of what we've been doing here in a couple of days. So to all of you, from all of us, a very merry christmas!
GOD JUL!!!
Chris, Liz and Marcus wishes you all a merry christmas!
/C, M & L
Adventures in Chiang Mai
The last few days we've actually been doing stuff here in Chiang Mai! First of all we welcome Liz to our trip - she got here three days ago and will be a part of the fellowship we call the bro trip (like it or not Liz, this is the bro trip. You're a bro now.)
Two days ago we went on a full day trip, outside of the one main street we've been seeing so much of these past few lazy days. The plan was to ride elephants, go for a swim in a waterfall, visit a native village and go river rafting. And that's exactly what we did! The bus picked us up at 8:30 am. About an hour later we reached our first destination - the elephants! Without any real instructions we found ourselfes riding an elephand within five minutes! Chris and Liz sat on the "saddle" on the elephants back, and Marcus was the designated mahout - the elephant driver. :P Not too comfy sitting on an elephant neck, but a great experience!
Since we were kind of rushed onto the elephant, we didn't really now any commands how to "steer" the elephant. Luckily, a trainer came with us, telling the elephant what to do and where to go. The elephant took us through a narrow jungle path, managed to climp surprisingly steep hills and then all the way down again to where we started. At times, we clinged to whatever we could - the saddle, each other, the elephants ears - trying not to fall off while the elephant tried to reach new hights! Elephants really are magnificent, huge and funny creatures! The one we rode was a 45 year old female! For an older gal, she had a lot of energy! As thank you, we gave her some bananas. It made her happy :)
Our elephant almost went bananas.
A baby elephant we met on our way to the waterfall.
We said goodbye and went on with our trip. After 30 minutes of walking we reached the Maewang waterfall. After the long trek a dip in the cool water was more than welcome! The water was freezing by the waterfall and the current was so strong but that didn't stop Marcus and Chris from goofing around! We continued our trek through the jungle after that and came to a little village where we wandered around, seeing the handmade scarfs for sale and the villagers making them.
Bros @ Maewang waterfall.
The mermaid of Maewang.
It was finally time for lunch after the village (by this time it was like 3pm and we were all starving!) and then we went on to the final item on the agenda for the day - river rafting. We left our bags with our guide for the day, Pot, and got on our bamboo raft. It was an hour cruise that started out quite calmly but there were a few rapids so we were soaked by the end of the trip. After that, we went back to Chiang Mai and our hotel for some much needed rest.
Almost like Huckleberry Finn.
The next day (thursday) wasn't nearly as long as the day before but just as exciting. We went to the Tiger Kingdom! A kind of tiger park where you can visit tigers of different ages (depending on what you are paying), walk into their enclosures and interact with the tigers. We decided to visit the big tigers, about 2 years old and the smallest tigers, about 1½-3 months old. We started in the enclosure with 3 big tigers. It was so cool standing next to these huge cats. Took a lot of photos with them. We were lying on the tigers, sitting behind them, standing next to them and patting them. You only get 15 minutes in there, so time passed rather quickly.
The big tiger, Oliver.
We continued to the smallest tigers. They were so cute! Looked like bigger housecats with enormous paws. There were two sisters, just 1½ months old, who were playing around with each other that were so adorable. Just wanted to take them home. We didn't. The 3 month old was also very playful and tried to bite us (and succeeded) and kick us. But we had a leaf rattle to keep it busy. We all had a really good time and left tiger kingdom after a couple of hours.
The sisters - Lala & Nala.
Today, we haven't done anything. We are leaving Chiang Mai tonight and heading for Koh Tao once again. The plan is that Liz will get diving certificate and Chris & Marcus will do some fun dives and swim in the ocean. Sounds like a good plan, right?
/ C, M & L
Two days ago we went on a full day trip, outside of the one main street we've been seeing so much of these past few lazy days. The plan was to ride elephants, go for a swim in a waterfall, visit a native village and go river rafting. And that's exactly what we did! The bus picked us up at 8:30 am. About an hour later we reached our first destination - the elephants! Without any real instructions we found ourselfes riding an elephand within five minutes! Chris and Liz sat on the "saddle" on the elephants back, and Marcus was the designated mahout - the elephant driver. :P Not too comfy sitting on an elephant neck, but a great experience!
Since we were kind of rushed onto the elephant, we didn't really now any commands how to "steer" the elephant. Luckily, a trainer came with us, telling the elephant what to do and where to go. The elephant took us through a narrow jungle path, managed to climp surprisingly steep hills and then all the way down again to where we started. At times, we clinged to whatever we could - the saddle, each other, the elephants ears - trying not to fall off while the elephant tried to reach new hights! Elephants really are magnificent, huge and funny creatures! The one we rode was a 45 year old female! For an older gal, she had a lot of energy! As thank you, we gave her some bananas. It made her happy :)
Our elephant almost went bananas.
A baby elephant we met on our way to the waterfall.
We said goodbye and went on with our trip. After 30 minutes of walking we reached the Maewang waterfall. After the long trek a dip in the cool water was more than welcome! The water was freezing by the waterfall and the current was so strong but that didn't stop Marcus and Chris from goofing around! We continued our trek through the jungle after that and came to a little village where we wandered around, seeing the handmade scarfs for sale and the villagers making them.
Bros @ Maewang waterfall.
The mermaid of Maewang.
It was finally time for lunch after the village (by this time it was like 3pm and we were all starving!) and then we went on to the final item on the agenda for the day - river rafting. We left our bags with our guide for the day, Pot, and got on our bamboo raft. It was an hour cruise that started out quite calmly but there were a few rapids so we were soaked by the end of the trip. After that, we went back to Chiang Mai and our hotel for some much needed rest.
Almost like Huckleberry Finn.
The next day (thursday) wasn't nearly as long as the day before but just as exciting. We went to the Tiger Kingdom! A kind of tiger park where you can visit tigers of different ages (depending on what you are paying), walk into their enclosures and interact with the tigers. We decided to visit the big tigers, about 2 years old and the smallest tigers, about 1½-3 months old. We started in the enclosure with 3 big tigers. It was so cool standing next to these huge cats. Took a lot of photos with them. We were lying on the tigers, sitting behind them, standing next to them and patting them. You only get 15 minutes in there, so time passed rather quickly.
The big tiger, Oliver.
We continued to the smallest tigers. They were so cute! Looked like bigger housecats with enormous paws. There were two sisters, just 1½ months old, who were playing around with each other that were so adorable. Just wanted to take them home. We didn't. The 3 month old was also very playful and tried to bite us (and succeeded) and kick us. But we had a leaf rattle to keep it busy. We all had a really good time and left tiger kingdom after a couple of hours.
The sisters - Lala & Nala.
Today, we haven't done anything. We are leaving Chiang Mai tonight and heading for Koh Tao once again. The plan is that Liz will get diving certificate and Chris & Marcus will do some fun dives and swim in the ocean. Sounds like a good plan, right?
/ C, M & L
Chiang Mai Chillout
We did it. After searching for the sun and a clear blue sky for a month, we finally found it in Chiang Mai, in the northern part of Thailand. You don't really get more inland than this, so the beaches of the south will have to wait.
We flew here from Koh Samui, desperately trying to get some sun. After our diving course on Koh Tao, we thought we could find the sun on Koh Samui. We didn't. Rain, thunderstorms and just cloudy. And that was the forecast for the next 7 days at least. We had enough. We went to the airport on Koh Samui about 9 o'clock in the morning, without tickets. Walked up to the first ticket office we found and asked for two tickets to Chiang Mai. They were a lot more expensive than we thought, so we discussed it and checked the web for lower prices. We couldn't find any cheaper than that and almost missed our plane because we were stalling. We actually begged them to sell us the tickets, so it took us 15 minutes from the moment we bought the tickets until we were on the plane!
We've been here in Chiang Mai for 6 days. Sunny and about 30 degrees every day. Finally! Though, we've been really inactive. Just been lying by the pool every day after breakfast, enjoying life. It's a really nice city. A cultural and educational city. But we're tired of temples. They do have other things in Chiang Mai. Tomorrow we're going to do an elephant trekk and the day after tomorrow, we may visit tiger kingdom and pet the tigers, can't be dangerous, can it?
Chiang Mai.
Our sanctuary.
First night in Chiang Mai at a mobile bar.
Two nights ago we were out celebrating Marcus, it was his birthday and also the king of Thailand's birthday. But we didn't celebrate him, we're not very fond of him. We met up with some friends that we've met earlier on our trip - Erin, Hannah & Tim. We all went out for dinner and then moved on to the bars. However, because of the king's birtday, many bars and clubs were closed! And 7-eleven wouldn't even sell beer. Took us a while but we found a place in the end. Had a really good night and got home about 3 o' clock.
Dinner with friends - Hannah, Tim, Marcus, Chris & Erin.
Birthday boy was happy.
Yesterday, Liz came to Thailand and to Chiang Mai and has now joined our trip. So Chris n' Liz spent the day together and Marcus had a cooking class that was really nice! Today we went to the zoo, saw some cool animals like pandas, white tigers, koalas, jaguars, gibbons and elephants. It was a nice zoo. Lots of interesting animals. That's all for today. Hopefully we'll give you a new update tomorrow!
A lazy, drooling panda.
Hungry fellah?
/ C & M
We flew here from Koh Samui, desperately trying to get some sun. After our diving course on Koh Tao, we thought we could find the sun on Koh Samui. We didn't. Rain, thunderstorms and just cloudy. And that was the forecast for the next 7 days at least. We had enough. We went to the airport on Koh Samui about 9 o'clock in the morning, without tickets. Walked up to the first ticket office we found and asked for two tickets to Chiang Mai. They were a lot more expensive than we thought, so we discussed it and checked the web for lower prices. We couldn't find any cheaper than that and almost missed our plane because we were stalling. We actually begged them to sell us the tickets, so it took us 15 minutes from the moment we bought the tickets until we were on the plane!
We've been here in Chiang Mai for 6 days. Sunny and about 30 degrees every day. Finally! Though, we've been really inactive. Just been lying by the pool every day after breakfast, enjoying life. It's a really nice city. A cultural and educational city. But we're tired of temples. They do have other things in Chiang Mai. Tomorrow we're going to do an elephant trekk and the day after tomorrow, we may visit tiger kingdom and pet the tigers, can't be dangerous, can it?
Chiang Mai.
Our sanctuary.
First night in Chiang Mai at a mobile bar.
Two nights ago we were out celebrating Marcus, it was his birthday and also the king of Thailand's birthday. But we didn't celebrate him, we're not very fond of him. We met up with some friends that we've met earlier on our trip - Erin, Hannah & Tim. We all went out for dinner and then moved on to the bars. However, because of the king's birtday, many bars and clubs were closed! And 7-eleven wouldn't even sell beer. Took us a while but we found a place in the end. Had a really good night and got home about 3 o' clock.
Dinner with friends - Hannah, Tim, Marcus, Chris & Erin.
Birthday boy was happy.
Yesterday, Liz came to Thailand and to Chiang Mai and has now joined our trip. So Chris n' Liz spent the day together and Marcus had a cooking class that was really nice! Today we went to the zoo, saw some cool animals like pandas, white tigers, koalas, jaguars, gibbons and elephants. It was a nice zoo. Lots of interesting animals. That's all for today. Hopefully we'll give you a new update tomorrow!
A lazy, drooling panda.
Hungry fellah?
/ C & M
Below the surface!
We're right now on Koh Tao, chilling in our hotelroom. It's been a really slow day. Woke up about 1 o'clock, had breakfast, but we're now back to bed. Had a late night yesterday with some celebrations, here is why:
After Koh Phangan we decided to go to the island that was just north of where we were, Koh Tao. The reason? To learn how to dive and get our diving certificates. Koh Tao is said to be the cheapest place in Thailand, maybe even in the world, to do this. It's a small island, way smaller than Koh Phangan, but on this island, there are no less than 43 dive schools! So that's one of the reasons it's so cheap here. We booked everything before we left Koh Phangan, paid 9800 baht (ca 2400kr) for 4 days of diving course with free accomodation. We came to Koh Tao on tuesday, had a quiet day and began the course on wednesday.
Sunset at Crystal Dive Resort.
On the first day, all we did was watching movies and answering questions in our book that realated to the movies. Learned the basics of diving and all of the biological and physical things you really need to know when you dive. The second day, the theoretical stuff continued. We took our final exam and of course, we passed it. With that, everything in the classroom was taken care of. Now it was time for the practical part of the course - the diving. Later on the same day, we wetsuited up, learned how to asseble and disasseble scuba gear and went to the pool here on the resort. We were in the pool for 5 hours, learning "basics" such as mask removal, mask cleaning, boyancy, switching regulator (the breathing thing) and taking all of the gear of - everything under water. Pretty cool. The next day, it was time for our first open water dive. The depth was set to 12m and we descended holding a rope, since it was or first time. We did two dives that day, the first was a fun dive, which means that you're just swimming around looking at everyhting around you - fish, corals and other weird stuff under the surface. It was really nice! But our best moment during the day happened on our second dive. that dive was more of a skill dive, repeating most of the things we learned in the pool. But during a skill briefing, while we were all on our knees on the bottom, a school of hundreds of barracudas came swimming next to us. At first it looked like they were just passing by, but insted they started to swim around us and at one point, wherever you looked, there was like a wall of barracudas. It was awesome!
Wetsuited up!
Ready to descend!
Our second day started 7 am (too early). You are not in the mood for diving when you're tired, cold and hungry. But as soon as we got on the boat and we felt the warmth of the sun, we got psyked and excited! The two planned dives we did that day was also being shot by a cameraman following us around deep below the surface! Not only were we now expected to do our skills underwater flawless, we also had to perform well in front of the camera. We found no problem doing this however, seeing as we are supercool. Everything went well, and as soon as we had ascended, we were certified divers!!
The diving crew!
Later that night we all met up at the dive resort bar for some drinks, watching the newly edited movie (We all got to pick the music for the soundtrack)! It was great fun watching, and we all had a good laugh! After that we took a taxi to Sai Ree Beach just north of the dive resort and had a few beers, watched some soccer and chatted through the night.
Feels good being a diver! Of course, more dives and more training is required to be a GOOD diver, but that's a later issue ;). What's important is that we now can begin to explore the underwater world!
Tomorrow our trip continues to Kho Samui, south of Ko Tao And Kho Pa Ngan to check out the beaches there, in search for the sun.
/C & M
Bangkok, Busrides, Beaches and Buckets!
Alright, so - not that much blogging lately. Sorry about that. It's been a busy week! We are now on the island on Koh Tao, spending lots of time under water. More on that in the next blog post!
So, since we left Cambodia much has been going on. We got to Bangkok last monday (15th) by bus from Siem Reap. As always, there were stops at the border with the usual routine (passport check, waiting) - went pretty smooth though. We settled down in Bangkok at some random place on Khao San Road, the tourist street of Bangkok. Pretty basic: two beds, a bathroom and no hot water. We're gettting used to that! Our three day visit in Bangkok was pretty much the same every day. We had breakfast, strolled up and down Khao San Road and the surrounding streets, getting to know the city vibe and looking for cool t-shirts.
Khao San Road in Bangkok.
After two days, we decided to book a bus ride to Ko Pha Ngan - the home of the (in)famous Full Moon Party. The bus ride however, wasn't very nice. Before we booked the ticket we already heard stories about people on the bus going through your luggage during the night and so on, so we knew what was coming. The bus ride itself went smooth, and after we arrived at the ferry terminal, we noticed that they actually had been looking in our bags. But we had all our valuables in our handluggage, so nothing was missing.
We arrived to Koh Phangan on Thursday afternoon. Found a cheap bungalow, it sucked. We went out the first night, had an awesome night. But when we came back, our room was partially flooded. The bathroom was covered in sand, and most of the room was filled with water. Marcus backpacks, especially the handluggage was soaked. Chris's belongings survived though. We switched bunglows after that. Went to the same place as two other guys we met on the ferry, stayed at. Hulley, a Canadian guy and Hans / Jesus, a norwegian maniac. Had lots of fun with them, we're actually sharing room with Hulley right now on Koh Tao. But anyway, to summarize our days before the Full Moon Party on Koh Phangan in one word - party! We actually had one day when we were swimming in the ocean, a really nice day and beautiful beach. But other than that: party! We were out drinking every day, rarely came home before 5am. There were poolparties, beachparties and lots of other kinds of parties. Everywhere in Koh Phangan, they sold buckets of alcohol. You actually bought a bucket with whatever drink inside you wanted. Such as Red Bull / Vodka, Rhum & Coke or Gin & Tonic. And they were only 150 baht (38kr). Really dangerous. And fun! :)
Hat Rin beach on Koh Phangan, this is where the magic happens!
Aah, the buckets. So many memories... and so many memories lost.
The Full Moon party itself was amazing. The beach was crowded with people, everywhere! And with a bucket in their hand, of course. There were dancing, drinking and other activities, such as fire limbo & fireskipping (rope skipping, but with the rope on fire). People, including us, also painted themselves in flourescent neoncolor with various motives and writings. It was a crazy night. We partied until the sun came up and we came home about 8 o' clock. Can't really say it was the best day after that, but we survived. We had so much fun in Koh Phangan and we'd love to do it again!
This is what the beach looked like during Full Moon Party...
...and this is how we looked during Full Moon Party! :)
The beach in the morning, Full Moon night. The party is still going strong!
We left Koh Phangan on tuesday for Koh Tao, a smaller island just north of Koh Phangan. So still in the gulf of Thailand. We're here to get diving licences and it's going well. Will tell you more about that next time.
/C & M
Mugs in Motion - Cambodia! (and other funny pics)
Alright, since we're out of cambodia we can now post the mugs we found along the way. It's just something that has to be done. Spread the wealth! Or, in these cases - share the funny people and other stuff we found while travelling through Cambodia!
Sorry, no shoes or hats. Oh, and no grenades either.
Mini-mug.
The winners of the competition "How many people can you fit on one moto?".
Sleeping mug - this time in a bus!
Rat anyone? Saw this in the kitchen area - we're just really glad we had the soup with no meat in it...
Seriously - this never stops to amaze us. No washing of hands in the urinal! REALLY? :P
Lots of do's and don'ts allover Asia. More don'ts, really.
Baby mug.
/ C &M
Sorry, no shoes or hats. Oh, and no grenades either.
Mini-mug.
The winners of the competition "How many people can you fit on one moto?".
Sleeping mug - this time in a bus!
Rat anyone? Saw this in the kitchen area - we're just really glad we had the soup with no meat in it...
Seriously - this never stops to amaze us. No washing of hands in the urinal! REALLY? :P
Lots of do's and don'ts allover Asia. More don'ts, really.
Baby mug.
/ C &M
Summary of Cambodia
Since we left Cambodia about 5 days ago, it's about time to give yo the summary. Thought this summary would be a lot shorter than the others, since we only stayed there for 6 days, but apparenty, we had lots to say about Cambodia.
Just a couple of minutes after we left Vietnam and entered Cambodia, we noticed how much poorer the Cambodian people are compared to any other country we've been to so far. People in countryside, the farmers mainly, are incredibly poor. Small, irregular and tilting wooden huts (to call them houses would be wrong) are everywhere. Most of them looks like they're about to fall apart any minute. It's dirty, dusty and filled with poverty. They also have a dark past, with civil war and then the Khmer Rogues who killed, tortured and enslaved so many Camodians. In spite of this Cambodians are the nicest people we've met so far, including Thais. Always a smile on their faces. The roads in Cambodia aren't as "good" as in for example Vietnam. The bus drove from one side to another on the road to avoid bumbs or holes, like slalom on asfalt. What also surprised us a little was that Cambodians are so much darker than both Thais or Vietnamese. First we thought it was because they're were working outside, probably about 10-12 hours a day. But also in the cities were people darker. We later learnt that Cambodia has lots of Indian influences and we apart of Indian culture, so our guess is that's why people are so much darker. Cambodia's very cheap too. No trouble finding a low budget guesthouse and the food is both good tasting (again Indian and Thai influences) och really cheap.
We only stayed in Phnom Penh for two nights, but the city itself was so much better than we expected it to be. Our images of Phnom Penh before arriving were a big, boring and quite urban city. But it was nothing like that. Not that big, about 1,3 milj, most houses were only two or three stories high and some really nice architecture too with the typical Khmer look, think Angkor Wat. There's some really bad shit going on in Phnom Penh - drugs and prostitutes are everywhere. What we've heard, guns aren't that uncommon either. But if you stay away from it and don't walk smaller streets at night, I think you'll have a pleasant visit in Phnom Penh, at least we did.
Riverside in Phnom Penh.
The Royal Palace in Phnom Penh.
After that we went to Battambang for a night and from there we took the boat to Siem Reap. Battambang is a boring city, really. Would never go back there, unless for the same reason as we went there this time - the boat to Siem Reap. Nothing to do, nothing to see. We heard there would be some nice french colonial buildings (yes, Cambodia was a french colony), but there was like, one. We took a picture and that was it. Luckily, the boat ride compensated for all for that. One of the best things we've done so far actually. Amazingly beautiful scenery and we also passed the floating villages, which is really cool (but poor). You could really get a look at the real Cambodia on that boat ride and the poor, hard working but yet so friendly people.
The french colonial buiding in Battambang.
People are very poor in Cambodia...
...but still happy!
Floating village.
Siem Reap was our third and last city we visited. Way more touristy than the two previous. Of course because of the temples in Angkor. Siem Reap itself hasn't that many things too see or places to go. But since it's crowded with tourists, you'll always be able to have a nice night out at some of the many bars in the city. Angkor was the highlight of our Cambodia visit. It's just incredible to watch all the temples. Huge, beautiful and mysterious. It's not hard to understand why people refer to them as "the 8th wonder of the world".
One of the massive trees covering the Ta Promh temple.
Faces of Angkor Thom.
Almost catching up with our blogging now. Right now we're in Koh Pha Ngan in Thailand, waiting for the Full Moon Party that will take place the 21st. We'll give you an update of our two nights in Bangkok within a couple of days.
/ C & M
Just a couple of minutes after we left Vietnam and entered Cambodia, we noticed how much poorer the Cambodian people are compared to any other country we've been to so far. People in countryside, the farmers mainly, are incredibly poor. Small, irregular and tilting wooden huts (to call them houses would be wrong) are everywhere. Most of them looks like they're about to fall apart any minute. It's dirty, dusty and filled with poverty. They also have a dark past, with civil war and then the Khmer Rogues who killed, tortured and enslaved so many Camodians. In spite of this Cambodians are the nicest people we've met so far, including Thais. Always a smile on their faces. The roads in Cambodia aren't as "good" as in for example Vietnam. The bus drove from one side to another on the road to avoid bumbs or holes, like slalom on asfalt. What also surprised us a little was that Cambodians are so much darker than both Thais or Vietnamese. First we thought it was because they're were working outside, probably about 10-12 hours a day. But also in the cities were people darker. We later learnt that Cambodia has lots of Indian influences and we apart of Indian culture, so our guess is that's why people are so much darker. Cambodia's very cheap too. No trouble finding a low budget guesthouse and the food is both good tasting (again Indian and Thai influences) och really cheap.
We only stayed in Phnom Penh for two nights, but the city itself was so much better than we expected it to be. Our images of Phnom Penh before arriving were a big, boring and quite urban city. But it was nothing like that. Not that big, about 1,3 milj, most houses were only two or three stories high and some really nice architecture too with the typical Khmer look, think Angkor Wat. There's some really bad shit going on in Phnom Penh - drugs and prostitutes are everywhere. What we've heard, guns aren't that uncommon either. But if you stay away from it and don't walk smaller streets at night, I think you'll have a pleasant visit in Phnom Penh, at least we did.
Riverside in Phnom Penh.
The Royal Palace in Phnom Penh.
After that we went to Battambang for a night and from there we took the boat to Siem Reap. Battambang is a boring city, really. Would never go back there, unless for the same reason as we went there this time - the boat to Siem Reap. Nothing to do, nothing to see. We heard there would be some nice french colonial buildings (yes, Cambodia was a french colony), but there was like, one. We took a picture and that was it. Luckily, the boat ride compensated for all for that. One of the best things we've done so far actually. Amazingly beautiful scenery and we also passed the floating villages, which is really cool (but poor). You could really get a look at the real Cambodia on that boat ride and the poor, hard working but yet so friendly people.
The french colonial buiding in Battambang.
People are very poor in Cambodia...
...but still happy!
Floating village.
Siem Reap was our third and last city we visited. Way more touristy than the two previous. Of course because of the temples in Angkor. Siem Reap itself hasn't that many things too see or places to go. But since it's crowded with tourists, you'll always be able to have a nice night out at some of the many bars in the city. Angkor was the highlight of our Cambodia visit. It's just incredible to watch all the temples. Huge, beautiful and mysterious. It's not hard to understand why people refer to them as "the 8th wonder of the world".
One of the massive trees covering the Ta Promh temple.
Faces of Angkor Thom.
Almost catching up with our blogging now. Right now we're in Koh Pha Ngan in Thailand, waiting for the Full Moon Party that will take place the 21st. We'll give you an update of our two nights in Bangkok within a couple of days.
/ C & M
The temples of Angkor
As some of you know, we visited the temples of Angkor a couple of days ago. Since we've been busy travelling and sightseeing we haven't had time to show you what we saw and experienced there. Until now...
We arrived to Siem Reap by boat on friday afternoon. As we told you, we met Sophie, who we knew from Hoi An, and her boyfriend Simon on the boat. The four of us decided to go to the same hotel and in the Tuk-Tuk on the way there, we got to know the driver, Cobra. He offered to drive us around in Angkor for two days and also tell us a little about the temples. For a small fee, of course, but it was an acceptable fee.
Angkor is a region that served as the seat of the Khmer Empire from approximately the 9th to 13th centuries. The Angkorian period began in AD 802, when the Khmer hindu monarch Jayavarman II declared himself a "universal monarch" and "god-king". The temples of the Angkor area number over one thousand, from small pillars to the great Angkor Wat. Said to be the world's largest single religious monument! To quote Wikipedia. :P
We set out 5 am on saturday morning. The reason was of course to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. It was kind of crowded, lots of salesmen but it was still amazing! It was a sight like nothing else to watch the sun slowly rise over the almost 1000 year old temples. After the sunrise, we went into the temples. The inside of Angkor Wat itself wasn't really that amazing, but still impressive. Knowing that this site was built and used by people over 1000 years ago makes you feel kind of small and insignificant. Still, we're glad we live in this time, and not a 1000 years ago. :P I mean, there would be no beer, no Scrubs, no cell phones, no facebook. How did people even survive? A mystery...
Sunrise @ Angkor Wat. Amazing!
The city of Angkor is huge, and we tried to squeeze in as many sites and temples we could the first day. We saw Ankor Wat, the biggest temple, Bayon - the temple of many faces, Ta Phrom - the temple in which the first Tomb Raider movie was shot (that means we walked on the same ground Angelina Jolie once walked. Never felt closer to her.) But jokes aside, that temple was really cool. Trees more than 100 years old growing through the temple roof, huge piles of massive stone now crumbled, from what used to be large temple sites, the jungle slowly reclaiming it's former place by growing all over the site. The rest of the day we spent visiting lots of temples, some fascinating, some not so fascinating.
Chris in front of the Bayon temple.
Bayon temple, notice the faces on the pillars.
Goofin' around at the Bayon temple.
We returned onto town exhausted around 6 pm and had some dinner, got some shopping done at the market and had a "fish massage"! A fish massage is basically dipping your feet in a tank full of fish, hungry for the dead skin cells on your feet. Wierd at first, but relaxing!
Fishy massage...
The next day we picked up were we left off by taking a 1 hour tuk-tuk ride to an ancient temple site by a waterfall. Even though that site wasn't that fantastic, the tuk-tuk ride was still great. It is really the best way to see and feel the countryside. After that we saw another temple, and then headed back to Ta Phrom (batteries in all of our cameras ran out the day before) and then a quickie to Angkor Wat again for some more pictures. We went back to Siem Reap for a quite night and left monday morning for Bangkok & Thailand!
Enjoying the Tuk-Tuk ride!
Buying PETrol on the road to the temples.
Ta Phrom - "The Tomb Raider" temple.
Chris at Ta Phrom.
Bros @ waterfall.
/ C & M
We arrived to Siem Reap by boat on friday afternoon. As we told you, we met Sophie, who we knew from Hoi An, and her boyfriend Simon on the boat. The four of us decided to go to the same hotel and in the Tuk-Tuk on the way there, we got to know the driver, Cobra. He offered to drive us around in Angkor for two days and also tell us a little about the temples. For a small fee, of course, but it was an acceptable fee.
Angkor is a region that served as the seat of the Khmer Empire from approximately the 9th to 13th centuries. The Angkorian period began in AD 802, when the Khmer hindu monarch Jayavarman II declared himself a "universal monarch" and "god-king". The temples of the Angkor area number over one thousand, from small pillars to the great Angkor Wat. Said to be the world's largest single religious monument! To quote Wikipedia. :P
We set out 5 am on saturday morning. The reason was of course to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. It was kind of crowded, lots of salesmen but it was still amazing! It was a sight like nothing else to watch the sun slowly rise over the almost 1000 year old temples. After the sunrise, we went into the temples. The inside of Angkor Wat itself wasn't really that amazing, but still impressive. Knowing that this site was built and used by people over 1000 years ago makes you feel kind of small and insignificant. Still, we're glad we live in this time, and not a 1000 years ago. :P I mean, there would be no beer, no Scrubs, no cell phones, no facebook. How did people even survive? A mystery...
Sunrise @ Angkor Wat. Amazing!
The city of Angkor is huge, and we tried to squeeze in as many sites and temples we could the first day. We saw Ankor Wat, the biggest temple, Bayon - the temple of many faces, Ta Phrom - the temple in which the first Tomb Raider movie was shot (that means we walked on the same ground Angelina Jolie once walked. Never felt closer to her.) But jokes aside, that temple was really cool. Trees more than 100 years old growing through the temple roof, huge piles of massive stone now crumbled, from what used to be large temple sites, the jungle slowly reclaiming it's former place by growing all over the site. The rest of the day we spent visiting lots of temples, some fascinating, some not so fascinating.
Chris in front of the Bayon temple.
Bayon temple, notice the faces on the pillars.
Goofin' around at the Bayon temple.
We returned onto town exhausted around 6 pm and had some dinner, got some shopping done at the market and had a "fish massage"! A fish massage is basically dipping your feet in a tank full of fish, hungry for the dead skin cells on your feet. Wierd at first, but relaxing!
Fishy massage...
The next day we picked up were we left off by taking a 1 hour tuk-tuk ride to an ancient temple site by a waterfall. Even though that site wasn't that fantastic, the tuk-tuk ride was still great. It is really the best way to see and feel the countryside. After that we saw another temple, and then headed back to Ta Phrom (batteries in all of our cameras ran out the day before) and then a quickie to Angkor Wat again for some more pictures. We went back to Siem Reap for a quite night and left monday morning for Bangkok & Thailand!
Enjoying the Tuk-Tuk ride!
Buying PETrol on the road to the temples.
Ta Phrom - "The Tomb Raider" temple.
Chris at Ta Phrom.
Bros @ waterfall.
/ C & M
Mugs in Motion - Vietnam! (and other funny pics)
Time for the second part in our Mugs in Motion series. There aren't as funny as the chinese mugs, but we have some funny ones. We also included some other pictures of funny signs or object. If you need a descripton of what a mug is or want to see our Mugs in Motion - China, just scroll down until you find it our look in our China Archives. Enjoy!
Overloaded mug #1
Overloaded mug #2
Boat mug.
Sleeping moto-mug
Tonnage of bombs dropped... in tons. Oh really?
Banned? :P
Haha!
Waste basket - Happiness to Everybody :)
Flyer we got in Hoi An. What the **** is "Suck contest the blood"?!
/C & M
Overloaded mug #1
Overloaded mug #2
Boat mug.
Sleeping moto-mug
Tonnage of bombs dropped... in tons. Oh really?
Banned? :P
Haha!
Waste basket - Happiness to Everybody :)
Flyer we got in Hoi An. What the **** is "Suck contest the blood"?!
/C & M
Summary of Vietnam
Better late than never. Thought we might give you our summary of Vietnam now. Starting from the north, Hanoi isn't really interesting or fun at all. It may be if you're really interested and into culture, but if you're not, skip Hanoi. None of very few bars had open after midnight, few people speaks English and it's rather expensive (to be in south-east asia). Also, about the locals, not only don't they speak English, they're not very nice either. You're more likely to get ripped off or scammed here rather than in southern Vietnam. Everyone on the street will try. We made it a rule not to listen to what anyone on the street had to say or sell us. The traffic here is really crazy too. Actually that goes for whole Vietnam. There are millions of motorbikes/scooters/mopeds here. That is the main transportation vehicle in Vietnam. Cars are freakishly expensive. The only reason to come to Hanoi (or the only reason to come back for us) would be to go to the places around Hanoi. Halong Bay, in which we stayed for 5 nights with beautiful beaches and Sapa, an native Vietnamese city with beatiful scenery, we were told, since we did't go there. But we would if we'd come back.
Busy streets in Hanoi.
Our beach on Cat Ba, Halong Bay.
Beatiful scenery on Cat Ba.
To the central coast then. We had an Open Bus Tour ticket, works great! We went to Hue, Danang and Hoi An on the central coast. If you're not into culture or history, skip the first two. Hue was the city with the old citadel. Nice city actually, lots of history. We liked it, but wouldn't go back. You shouldn't bother go to Danang either. Boring city! Nothing to see, nightlife is medioker and people aren't that nice. Hoi An is the place to be in the central coast. This is where we met up with Nick & Trent and ended up staying for week. A small town, very pittoresque. The city centre is on UNESCO's World Heritage list. Hoi An is also famous for it's tailors. We had each a suit and two shirts made. Paid $50 for that. Girls we met had shoes, skirts and especialy dresses made. Really cheap of course.Hoi An has also got two very nice beaches and nightlifes is good too. Locals are nicer, but you still have to watch out for scams, though less frequent than in Hanoi. We enjoyed Hoi An a lot and it's easy to go there thinking you're only staying for a night or to and ending up staying fo a week...just as we did.
American Blades.
The good life in Hoi An. Aah.
Crazy Buffalo Bar in Saigon, one of the bars in the backpacker area.
Our next stop after that was Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City as the offical name is. We skipped the beach capital Nha Trang, since it was flooded. But would be fun to go there another time though. Saigon was so different from Hanoi! We felt it right away. Saigon is vibrant and really has a pulse. Hanoi had neither. People are so much nicer in Saigon too. There aren't that many things to see in the city, but just being there was good enough for us. And the nightlife is great too. There are still thousands of motos, you still have to watch out for sneaky vietnamese people (we had a really expensive taxi in Saigon), many are still not that good in english or very nice to you - but everything is so much better in Saigon compared to Hanoi.
If you would compare Vietnam to say, China's well-structured organization of the country, Vietnam is like the Wild Wild West. Everything has a chaotic feel to it. Stuff like lack of traffic rules, no reciepts when paying or taxis without rules for how the taximeter works. Since the "free" Vietnam is only 19 years old, the capitalism is really just getting started. Before that it was strict communism. Now when locals are allowed to buy and own stuff, everyone is trying to make it for themselves. Everything has its price. Vendors are everywhere, and even their kids sell stuff. 4-year-olds sell cigarettes, sunglasses & books. It's just wrong. And most of the 4-year-olds speak better english than the average Vietnamese adult. Crazy.
To conclude, we loved Vietnam! People can be very dodgy, but just watch out and be very suspicious to everything and you'll be fine. We met lots of nice people too (especially in southern Vietnam). The country is so beautiful and has plenty of amazing beaches. We both would love to go back one day.
/C & M
Busy streets in Hanoi.
Our beach on Cat Ba, Halong Bay.
Beatiful scenery on Cat Ba.
To the central coast then. We had an Open Bus Tour ticket, works great! We went to Hue, Danang and Hoi An on the central coast. If you're not into culture or history, skip the first two. Hue was the city with the old citadel. Nice city actually, lots of history. We liked it, but wouldn't go back. You shouldn't bother go to Danang either. Boring city! Nothing to see, nightlife is medioker and people aren't that nice. Hoi An is the place to be in the central coast. This is where we met up with Nick & Trent and ended up staying for week. A small town, very pittoresque. The city centre is on UNESCO's World Heritage list. Hoi An is also famous for it's tailors. We had each a suit and two shirts made. Paid $50 for that. Girls we met had shoes, skirts and especialy dresses made. Really cheap of course.Hoi An has also got two very nice beaches and nightlifes is good too. Locals are nicer, but you still have to watch out for scams, though less frequent than in Hanoi. We enjoyed Hoi An a lot and it's easy to go there thinking you're only staying for a night or to and ending up staying fo a week...just as we did.
American Blades.
The good life in Hoi An. Aah.
Crazy Buffalo Bar in Saigon, one of the bars in the backpacker area.
Our next stop after that was Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City as the offical name is. We skipped the beach capital Nha Trang, since it was flooded. But would be fun to go there another time though. Saigon was so different from Hanoi! We felt it right away. Saigon is vibrant and really has a pulse. Hanoi had neither. People are so much nicer in Saigon too. There aren't that many things to see in the city, but just being there was good enough for us. And the nightlife is great too. There are still thousands of motos, you still have to watch out for sneaky vietnamese people (we had a really expensive taxi in Saigon), many are still not that good in english or very nice to you - but everything is so much better in Saigon compared to Hanoi.
If you would compare Vietnam to say, China's well-structured organization of the country, Vietnam is like the Wild Wild West. Everything has a chaotic feel to it. Stuff like lack of traffic rules, no reciepts when paying or taxis without rules for how the taximeter works. Since the "free" Vietnam is only 19 years old, the capitalism is really just getting started. Before that it was strict communism. Now when locals are allowed to buy and own stuff, everyone is trying to make it for themselves. Everything has its price. Vendors are everywhere, and even their kids sell stuff. 4-year-olds sell cigarettes, sunglasses & books. It's just wrong. And most of the 4-year-olds speak better english than the average Vietnamese adult. Crazy.
To conclude, we loved Vietnam! People can be very dodgy, but just watch out and be very suspicious to everything and you'll be fine. We met lots of nice people too (especially in southern Vietnam). The country is so beautiful and has plenty of amazing beaches. We both would love to go back one day.
/C & M
Cruising through Cambodia
Yesterday we left Phnom Penh 9am to go to the city Battambang, Cambodia's second largest city (but only about 130 000 people), 30km northwest of Phnom Penh. Turned out to be a quite boring place, few bars, few points of interest and few people- The bus ride was ok, a bit bumby as usual. Same same , but different - one of our more popular sayings on this trip. Because on the bus ride, we met a Cambodian girl, who's been living in France for the past 6 years - Dara. She ended up being our tour guide in Battambang. She showed us around for a few hours and then three of us had dinner. We were suspicious in the beginning, since we haven't met very friendly locals so far. But she was the real deal and helped us a lot in Battambang!
So anyway we departed from Battambang about 7 am. And the boat ride was...awesome! Took us about 8 hours to get to Siem Reap, but we had beautiful weather on the way. Sunny, not a cloud and perhaps about 30C. We sat on the roof of the boat, where there were no seats (or railings) but that wasn't a problem, just had to hold on a little now and then. The best part about it though, was the scenery! It was amazing. We started out by going along the river floating through Battambang, which led us further out into the wetlands that is the "outskirts" of the huge lake between Battambang and Siam Reap. We got to see vast areas of trees growing right out of the water and floating villages. The boat went through unbelievibly narrow pathways through the vegetation on the water, forcing us to dodge branches on the roof of the boat! It was a great boatride, and after 8 hours we had reached our destination - Siem Reap!
Enjoying the cruise.
This is how narrow the river was in a few places!
Houses on stilts - this is how people live here.
Marcus & cambodian gangsta'!
One of the "floating" villages we passed.
On the boat we met a friend from Hoi An - Sophie, from England. Sophie and her boyfriend Simon are on route to see Angkor Wat as well. We joined them in the same Tuk-tuk to Siem Reap city centre and we're now staying at the same hotel. Tomorrow morning at 5 am (!) the four of us are going to watch the sunrise in Angkor Wat and then spend the entire day there! Gonna be legendary!
/C&M
So anyway we departed from Battambang about 7 am. And the boat ride was...awesome! Took us about 8 hours to get to Siem Reap, but we had beautiful weather on the way. Sunny, not a cloud and perhaps about 30C. We sat on the roof of the boat, where there were no seats (or railings) but that wasn't a problem, just had to hold on a little now and then. The best part about it though, was the scenery! It was amazing. We started out by going along the river floating through Battambang, which led us further out into the wetlands that is the "outskirts" of the huge lake between Battambang and Siam Reap. We got to see vast areas of trees growing right out of the water and floating villages. The boat went through unbelievibly narrow pathways through the vegetation on the water, forcing us to dodge branches on the roof of the boat! It was a great boatride, and after 8 hours we had reached our destination - Siem Reap!
Enjoying the cruise.
This is how narrow the river was in a few places!
Houses on stilts - this is how people live here.
Marcus & cambodian gangsta'!
One of the "floating" villages we passed.
On the boat we met a friend from Hoi An - Sophie, from England. Sophie and her boyfriend Simon are on route to see Angkor Wat as well. We joined them in the same Tuk-tuk to Siem Reap city centre and we're now staying at the same hotel. Tomorrow morning at 5 am (!) the four of us are going to watch the sunrise in Angkor Wat and then spend the entire day there! Gonna be legendary!
/C&M
