It's not a big surprise that I am still in Sihanoukville in Cambodia. Me and the girls I'm with decided to use this time as a mini holiday in our travels. Also we are going to be splitting up in the beginning of January so we want to just be able to relax and have fun together before we head of to different places.
We are celebrating tonight by heading of to a casino and then going to a massive music festival which is being held in town. We have made some friends here and will be joining them tonight. It feels like its going to be a good party!
What are all your plans for tonight? Any fancy parties or nice relaxed dinner with friends? What has been your favourite way to celebrate New Year's Eve?
Monday 31 December 2012
Tuesday 25 December 2012
Merry Christmas
With us being a group of Scandinavians and British, we decided to celebrate both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Christmas Eve was a day of relaxing, eating and drinking. Unfortunately I have very bad luck when I do sports on the beach. Four months ago I broke my knuckle playing beach volleyball in Malaysia and yesterday I managed to hurt my foot playing beach football.
As we were celebrating Christmas the three of us girls went out to party. It was a great night. Especially since me and Gemma have been on a alcohol detox and have not had any alcoholic beverages for a month.
The Christmas spirit was all over. There was no lack of Santa dressed guys and girls and even more people, wearing Santa hats. I randomly bumped into a friend that I met 6 months ago when I was at the Gili islands in Indonesia! It was fun catching up and exchanging stories about where we had been and what we and done since we saw each other last.
On the way back home from our fun night, I managed to cut open my toe on a rock on the road. So now I have a weird limp as both my feet are hurt! I am so happy that I am at the beach now and don't need to walk to much so I can let both feet heal and get better.
Hopefully the rest of you are having a great Christmas with less injuries!
Merry Christmas! :)
Christmas Eve was a day of relaxing, eating and drinking. Unfortunately I have very bad luck when I do sports on the beach. Four months ago I broke my knuckle playing beach volleyball in Malaysia and yesterday I managed to hurt my foot playing beach football.
As we were celebrating Christmas the three of us girls went out to party. It was a great night. Especially since me and Gemma have been on a alcohol detox and have not had any alcoholic beverages for a month.
The Christmas spirit was all over. There was no lack of Santa dressed guys and girls and even more people, wearing Santa hats. I randomly bumped into a friend that I met 6 months ago when I was at the Gili islands in Indonesia! It was fun catching up and exchanging stories about where we had been and what we and done since we saw each other last.
On the way back home from our fun night, I managed to cut open my toe on a rock on the road. So now I have a weird limp as both my feet are hurt! I am so happy that I am at the beach now and don't need to walk to much so I can let both feet heal and get better.
Hopefully the rest of you are having a great Christmas with less injuries!
Merry Christmas! :)
Friday 21 December 2012
Phnom Penh
I have had a great time in Phnom Penh. It's a large city with a lot of character. Most people are always smiling at you and even the tuktuk drivers don't hassle you after you have said no once.
Gemma and I spent a day learning about the Khmer Rouge regime. We visited a school which the Khmer Rouge turned into a prison and then the killing fields. These are located about 15km from the city and it is here they took the prisoners from the school/prison to execute them. For most of the day we were very down and thoughtful. I can't really say that it was a fun day, but it was very educational as I know nothing of what hat happened in Cambodia all those years ago.
Besides having a sad day visiting the places of tragedy, we have made a few new friends, been to the cinema and been rollerblading.
Now we have just arrived in Sihanoukville, which is a town in southern Cambodia. It's by the sea and this is where we have decided to spend Christmas and New Years. What could be better the the beach sun and friends.
Gemma and I spent a day learning about the Khmer Rouge regime. We visited a school which the Khmer Rouge turned into a prison and then the killing fields. These are located about 15km from the city and it is here they took the prisoners from the school/prison to execute them. For most of the day we were very down and thoughtful. I can't really say that it was a fun day, but it was very educational as I know nothing of what hat happened in Cambodia all those years ago.
Besides having a sad day visiting the places of tragedy, we have made a few new friends, been to the cinema and been rollerblading.
Now we have just arrived in Sihanoukville, which is a town in southern Cambodia. It's by the sea and this is where we have decided to spend Christmas and New Years. What could be better the the beach sun and friends.
Monday 17 December 2012
Cambodia
After travelling for 13 hours I have made it to Cambodia. After waiting around for ages at the border and jumping between the border line to amuse ourselves we got on the bus and went all the way to Phnom Phem. So far I haven't seen much of Cambodia besides some rice fields and the passing of villages. I am surprised at how much the dollar means to them. Everything is priced with dollars and the locals are almost surprised when I ask to pay with riels which is the local currency.
I think this is going to be an interesting country to visit, there are so many places here that I want to see and can't wait to explore it all!
I think this is going to be an interesting country to visit, there are so many places here that I want to see and can't wait to explore it all!
Saturday 15 December 2012
Life is great
Today is my 6 month anniversary of travelling! I am still loving it and am not yet ready to be coming back to reality. I am having such a great time and I plan to be travelling or as long as I possibly can.
I have spent a few days on Don Det, which is one of the islands in the 4000 islands. This is not one of the best islands I have been on during my travels. However it's a very simple islands. It's not packed with tourist markets, no late night bars and no high class resorts. Of course the island is tourist orientated as that is what the locals live on, but it's very relaxed. It doesn't matter if you decided to spend a few days doing nothing besides lie in a hammock all day reading, snoozing or just thinking.
Traveling is a funny thing. You think you say goodbye to the people you have befriended and then just randomly meet them weeks or months later in a completely different place. Yesterday we bumped into a girl we used to train Muay Thai with in Thailand. She went on to Cambodia when we went to Laos. Now all of a sudden she is here at the 4000 islands at the same time as us. This has happened to me a few times already and I love the fact that's its a very small world that we all live in.
Me and Gemma will be moving on soon though. On Monday we are of to Cambodia. Our plan is to celebrate Christmas at the beach. We will find ourselves a small palm tree or bush and decorate it with whatever we have got. Also we have decided to do a secret Santa with some of our friends that we are meeting there.
I have spent a few days on Don Det, which is one of the islands in the 4000 islands. This is not one of the best islands I have been on during my travels. However it's a very simple islands. It's not packed with tourist markets, no late night bars and no high class resorts. Of course the island is tourist orientated as that is what the locals live on, but it's very relaxed. It doesn't matter if you decided to spend a few days doing nothing besides lie in a hammock all day reading, snoozing or just thinking.
Traveling is a funny thing. You think you say goodbye to the people you have befriended and then just randomly meet them weeks or months later in a completely different place. Yesterday we bumped into a girl we used to train Muay Thai with in Thailand. She went on to Cambodia when we went to Laos. Now all of a sudden she is here at the 4000 islands at the same time as us. This has happened to me a few times already and I love the fact that's its a very small world that we all live in.
Me and Gemma will be moving on soon though. On Monday we are of to Cambodia. Our plan is to celebrate Christmas at the beach. We will find ourselves a small palm tree or bush and decorate it with whatever we have got. Also we have decided to do a secret Santa with some of our friends that we are meeting there.
Wednesday 12 December 2012
Kayaking down the Mekong
Today was a great day. Me and a bunch of people decided to go kayaking. How often do you get a chance to kayak around the Mekong river!
We booked a kayaking trip so that we would have a guide that would take us to some great spots. We started of by going down some smaller rapids and through some of the channels created by the islands. In the end we ended up at a massive part of the river which connects with Cambodia. There we got a chance to see the rare Irrawaddy dolphins. Most of us were not expecting to see them, but there they were. What I was happy about was that the guides did not try to push us closer to them or disturb them in anyway. Instead our entire group kept a respectful distance and just watched the dolphins for a while. Nearby I could see 2 larger Laos motorboats ( longboats with a motor and propeller attached to them, nothing like the western motorboats) filled with tourists all trying to get closer to the dolphins. Of course every time the boats tried to get closer to them, the noise they made scared of the dolphins. Which in turn was lucky for us. We all stopped paddling and just floated for a while and eventually the dolphins came a lot closer to us.
After having watched the dolphins for some time, it was time for lunch. We crossed over the river and had lunch in Cambodia. Actually, it was an island which was on the Cambodian side of the river. Never the less, it was still Cambodia. So I spent the day in 2 countries today. After lunch we paddled up the river back into Laos and onto the shore where we got on a tuktuk style bus and made it to the widest waterfall in Southeast Asia. It was amazing! If you ever come to the 4000 islands this is one of the must see places.
From then on it was starting to get late, so we went a little further down the river got on to the kayaks again and went back to our own island. It was a fantastic day with fantastic views! :)
We booked a kayaking trip so that we would have a guide that would take us to some great spots. We started of by going down some smaller rapids and through some of the channels created by the islands. In the end we ended up at a massive part of the river which connects with Cambodia. There we got a chance to see the rare Irrawaddy dolphins. Most of us were not expecting to see them, but there they were. What I was happy about was that the guides did not try to push us closer to them or disturb them in anyway. Instead our entire group kept a respectful distance and just watched the dolphins for a while. Nearby I could see 2 larger Laos motorboats ( longboats with a motor and propeller attached to them, nothing like the western motorboats) filled with tourists all trying to get closer to the dolphins. Of course every time the boats tried to get closer to them, the noise they made scared of the dolphins. Which in turn was lucky for us. We all stopped paddling and just floated for a while and eventually the dolphins came a lot closer to us.
After having watched the dolphins for some time, it was time for lunch. We crossed over the river and had lunch in Cambodia. Actually, it was an island which was on the Cambodian side of the river. Never the less, it was still Cambodia. So I spent the day in 2 countries today. After lunch we paddled up the river back into Laos and onto the shore where we got on a tuktuk style bus and made it to the widest waterfall in Southeast Asia. It was amazing! If you ever come to the 4000 islands this is one of the must see places.
From then on it was starting to get late, so we went a little further down the river got on to the kayaks again and went back to our own island. It was a fantastic day with fantastic views! :)
Monday 10 December 2012
Pakse and a day trip to wat phou temple complex
We have been spending the past few days with 3 other guys. We all met at the Tha Khek loop and then travelled together to Pakse, where we met up with our friends Miriam and Britt. Gemma, me and the girls met in Pai in Thailand and have been meeting up at most places in Laos as they are travelling a few days ahead of us. By now we were quite a fun group. So we all decided to go to wat phou together. This is a large temple complex about 30km from Pakse. Of course we all decide to rent scooters and head out there. Obviously no scooter ride and be perfect. Halfway to wat phou Britt got a flat tire. Luckily that happens about 20 meters from a small local roadside restaurant. We roll the bike over and let the man of the family that owned the establishment fix the tire. While we were waiting we decided it was a good moment to break for lunch. So then we just order some noodle soup from the wife and had a lovely time until the bike was ready to go again.
From then on everything went smoothly. We spent the day by the temple and got to see an amazing view and even got to cross the Mekong river with the local ferry. All in all a very successful day.
Tomorrow me and Gemma will head of to the 4000 islands. Everyone else left today already, but we just felt we needed one day of calm and relaxation with no travelling.
From then on everything went smoothly. We spent the day by the temple and got to see an amazing view and even got to cross the Mekong river with the local ferry. All in all a very successful day.
Tomorrow me and Gemma will head of to the 4000 islands. Everyone else left today already, but we just felt we needed one day of calm and relaxation with no travelling.
A few pictures from the Tha Khek adventure
Here we have the collection from mine and Gemma's 3 day scooter tour around the Laos countryside. Hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed taking them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)