Addicted To Thailand!

Chapter 3: Thailand

My 4th visit in Thailand started with some trouble getting to Koh Lanta. We arrived at suvarnabhumi airport at around 1pm. We took a train straight to hua lamphong railway station hoping we could catch a night train to the south. But, bad luck, in high season and just 2 days before new years eve all the trains were full. I wasn´t very suprised and so I had a plan b in my pocket. We took a taxi to the southern bus station, I never had any problems getting a bus ticket in the past, so I wasn´t afraid of being stuck in Bangkok. The bus station, and even the road leading to it, was incredibly full. The last 500 meters we had to walk through the traffic jam. At the counter they just told us everything was booked out. I asked for tickets to Trang, Krabi and Surat Thani as well but everything was full! Frustrated, we sat down, no clue what to do next. After half an hour I started one last try and asked for tickets to Phuket. And surprise, it worked out! We got the last two tickets that day for the 7pm night bus. Next morning in Phuket: we took a mini van, and arrived after a 28-hour-journey with taxi-plane-train-taxi-bus-van-2ferries-tuktuk, early afternoon in Lanta.

Yay!!!! finally in Lanta

Koh Lanta is a island 2 hours from krabi town. It´s not as crowded as phuket and the other islands and still keeps it´s own quiet atmosphere. The following are some of my impressions of my favourite island in the world.

klong nin beach - our hot spot until sunset

selfie while riding the pickup truck with nana

magic moments at mong bar

and the typical condition after an hour at mong bar
 - the guy had  hiccups while sleeping

In Germany the barkeeper throws you out of his bar if you are sleeping. 

But at Mong bar it´s hmmm... have a look for yourself:

...our barkeeper

life, as it should be

teasing the crab

new years eve at charley barleys

After a wonderful week we left koh Lanta with some tears in our eyes. We had 7 days left and wanted to see some other places. We booked 2 boat tickets to Railay beach. Railay is part of the mainland but it´s seperated by giant rocks, so you can´t go there overland. It is pretty famous for rock climbing and deep water soloing. You can rent a long tail boat that brings you to the rocks or you just rent a kayak and go there by yourself.

Railay beach

 awesome rocks with 2 climbers in the wall

Kayaking

climbing at beach end

Railay beach - straight forward!

After Railay we did a one night stop in Krabi town before we went back to Bangkok by night train. We found a nice guesthouse and headed to the night food market at the pier. Our fish and curry were pretty good, and we had some vegetables as a side dish - this would become our biggest mistake on our trip. The food poisoning came in the middle of the night, and we spent several hours in the bathroom. In the morning, we were totally dead, dehydrated and weak from the food poisoning, we were not able to stand up. We drank some water, slept and waited to recover. At 11:30 am I was fit enough to leave the room and asked the guesthouse if we could stay in the room for a couple of hours more. However, I was told I'd have to pay for a whole extra day if we wanted to stay longer, so I had no choice but to pay. I went to the pharmacy for some medicine and to 7eleven to get some cakes and snacks. We stayed in bed, took our medicine, drank water and ate some crackers. At 4 pm we felt well enough to leave the room and catch our night train. I was really surprised that we were able to take the train, I could not even imagine leaving the room in the morning. Here are my top 5 tips for food poisoning:

1. let everything go out! stay on the toilet until your bowel and stomach is absolutely empty
2. keep drinking water in tiny drafts, if you have, add electrolytes.
3. take medicine from the local pharmacy, they should know the problems. In my experience, the stuff you can buy at home, like imodium akut, won´t help you. 
4. When you no longer feel nauseous drinking water, start with a few crackers 
5. save your energy and move as little as possible.

We arrived at the train station 3 hours too early + 4 hours delay of the train = estimate waiting time 7 h!
Still weak from food posioning, we were looking for a comfortable place to stay and we found:

a trolley... prepared with boxes, blanket and towel it was quite comfortable

Next day we arrived at noon at Hua Lamphong station, Bangkok. For our last to 2 nights we decided to stay in a nice hotel in sukhumvit district. We checked in at the Continent hotel in the late afternoon, right on time to see the awesome sunset from our hotel room:

from the train station trolley to the highlife in 24h, what an ascent!

I´ve been in Bangkok many times, and so I´ve already seen everything i wanted to see. Being with a girl in Bangkok means of course: shopping, shopping, shopping. Still a bit weak from food poisoning we went to some huge shopping malls like Siam Discovery, Terminal 21 and MBK. In Terminal 21 we found a japanese game said "Taiko no Tatsujin". We got addicted after the first game and played for 2 hours. Sadly I wasn´t able to beat Joanne even once! She may have won the battle but not the war.
Check out the gameplay on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHvfMECCkMs

Taiko no Tatsujin - japanese drum game

Thailand was, like always, a great experience. It was my first time I´ve been there not as a solo traveler and i can recommend it as a couple trip as well as a solo trip. If you plan to go to Thailand, here some useful advices and tips

1. Avoid the (sex) tourist hot spots like Phuket, Koh Samui, Pattaya
2. Be kind and respectful even when tuktuk drivers are pretty annoying. Be stern without embarrassing yourself.
3. Protect the environment and underwater world.
4. Enjoy yummy streetfood but be careful, especially with vegetables..
5. Rent a motorbike and find your own way through thailand.
6. Get many massages
7. And finally: go to Mongbar and enjoy the most delicious brownies in the world

Vietnam - The South

Chapter 2: Mui Ne and Da Lat

After thinking about where to go for some beach days, we finally decided on Mui Ne. 
Mui Ne is around 200 km from Saigon but it took us almost 7 long hours to get there. That´s an average speed of 28km per hour. Thank god we had a nice bus:

sports car feeling in a bus

Finally arriving in Mui Ne, we stayed at the Evergreen guesthouse. A nice and cozy place run by a Vietnamese couple which came back to Vietnam after 30 years living in the USA. The garden was the prettiest I have ever seen, the rooms were clean and the host Ken and Monique were pretty kind and helpful. If you looking for a accommodation in Mui Ne checkout evergreen!

garden and pool @ evergreen

Mui Ne is well known as a top spot for kitesurfing and when the wind comes up, the sky is full of kites. On the second day, a teacher which stayed in the room next to us, asked us if we wanna try kitesurfing. So it comes: next day 10am we were ready for our first kitesurfing experience:

first lessons at Windchimes kite school - beach practice

Yay!!! after 2 days of drinking loads of sea water, I was able to ride little bit

relaxing after a hard fight with the kite

the beach in Mui Ne

To get around in Mui Ne we rented a Scooter for $7 per day. Since there is just one main road it´s easy to navigate and so we spent some hours on the scooter. We visited the famous White Lake as well as the local cemetery on a peninsula. While driving around, suddenly, we smelled something wonderful. We didn't know exactly where it came from but we decided to find it on our way back. And then we saw it, the distinctive smell came from a restaurant called Mr. Crab. The beginning of a 3 day love story. 

desert feeling - white lake with its dunes

did anyone order some goose 2 go? 

Mr. Crab - best crab in town

Mr and Mrs. Crab

Mr. Lobster you yummy bastard - I miss you <3

After 5 nights in Mui Ne, 3 days kitesurfing and the belly full with Mr. Crab's seafood, we continued our trip. Next stop should be the 1500 meters above sea lvl high city, Da Lat.  

We got picked up with a minibus at 12.30pm, they told us that we would change to a coach bus soon. The distance is not much further than Saigon - Mui Ne but it still takes up to 7 hours. So we were sitting in the last row and 15 other people in the minibus expecting to change the bus soon. After 30 minutes we left the main road and were driving on the most bumpy track I've ever seen. We realised that we won´t change the bus, neither we will take usable roads for the next hours. 20 Minutes later the double tires below our seat exploded and we had to stop. It took a while until a second bus brought a second tire and the driver changed them. Meanwhile an old lady on a bicycle appeared from nowhere and sold us some delicious guava fruits. The next 5 hours in the bus were just horrible, the street got worse and every 10 seconds we got flipped from our seats and the luggage kept falling through the bus. I was really surprised that the bus didn't break anymore. 

2 tires less

cute old lady selling fruits

if you leave the tourist track you still can see ox carts

Joanne loves pets and pets love Joanne

Đà Lạt is a city in the southern central highlands, founded by the French in late 19th century.
The climate is very different to the tropical Vietnam, long pants and a sweater or light jacket are recommended. Since our time was limited, we decided to take personal tour guide who showed us around. We started with the Da Lat´s flower garden, followed by the old French train station, the amazing crazy house (an art guesthouse which looks like a giant tree from a fairy tale), the king's holiday palace, Datanla waterfall, a temple and finally a lake... a quite big program for one day. 

Hoa Binh Square and market

crazy house guesthouse

waterfall

flower garden

Vietnam was an awesome experience, i hope one day i will have enough time to see the whole 1650 km from the Yunnan highlands in the north to the Mekong delta in the south. 

Bye Bye Vietnam - See you again

Saigon - With The Locals

Chapter 1: Saigon

An eventful year's almost gone and xmas is just in 2 weeks. That means also: the yearly trip to Asia is close. It's my 5th trip to Asia and I´m getting better in packing. This time i tried to travel as light as possible and finally my luggage was less than 10kg for a 4 week long distance journey. Here my top ten things for light traveling in hot countries:

1. Backpack: Deuter Guide 35+. Made for rough alpine missions. Ultra solid, thin and unbreakable. 
2. Pants: north face convertible pants. They are not as nerdy as they seem. These zip on/zip off pants look as good as they are functional and pretty comfortable.
3. Towel: Meru outdoor towel in large, fast drying and solid. Very useful (not just to dry your body), you can also use it as a blanket, a pillow, beach towel and as a emergency protection against mosquitoes 
4. Jacket: North face fleece with zipper. Its usually pretty warm in tropical countries. In high altitudes, in planes or in colder nights you will be happy to have it.
5. Head lamp: Black Diamond Spot. Brings light in the dark with 90 lumen up to 75metres. Many options like red lights, dimmer and short distance LEDs and both hands are free.
6. Flip Flops: The ultimate weapon for your feet against the heat
7. Sleeping bag: Cocoon travel sheet. Keeps you clean in dirty sleeping places and warm at night.
8. Tooth-brush/paste, shampoo, earplug, deo, mosquito spray
9. Pillow: Cocoon air pillow. perfect in plane, train, bus and boat. Stops your head knocking against the window on bumpy roads
10. And last but not least slip slop slap http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAu5wCTEBt0

add 3 underpants and 2 pair of socks and I´m ready to go

Friday the 13th, 10pm, thank god I´m not superstitious, Thai Airways flight TG 925 is ready for departure. Via Bangkok I went to Saigon, Vietnam, my Asian country no. 7. 12 hours and a bunch of singhas later I arrived in BKK. The smell of Asia was crawling in my nose and I was pretty excited to see Joanne after 10 months again. 

Singha beer!

sunset in Bangkok

After 3hr stopover in BKK and another one hour flight, I finally arrived at Tan Son Nhat airport in Saigon. The official name of Saigon is Ho Chi Minh City, named after the leader of the Vietnamese independent movement, but the locals keep saying Saigon, so I do as well. Almost on time, Joanne picked me up and we took a taxi to city center where her aunties owns a house. It took a while until I could believe that we were really meeting again after 10 months and 16000km between us. My first drive in Saigon was incredible, I´ve seen a lot Asian cities but this traffic was definitely the worst. Thousands of scooter on the streets, some cars between them, everybody honking and driving randomly through the streets. On our 40 minutes drive, I saw two accidents. Thank god the average speed is very slow, so if someone crashes or is falling down, they usually just pick up the scooter and continue their trip. I guess it´s kind of normal to fall down from time to time. Bruises and scars seemed to be standard. 

Same, same, same but different... Saigon seems to be like the average giant Asian cities. You can find typical street restaurants everywhere, modern shopping malls, crowded markets and of course a backpacker street and a Chinatown (Cholon). But, Saigon is much more than this! Saigon is a pulsating super-fast growing city with a dramatic past and exciting future! Saigon is with more than 6 million scooters and no public transport system, the stuff nightmares are made of. And Saigon is, with its friendly and helpful people, a place where you can feel at home.

We were lucky enough to see the city through local eyes. Watching the weekly lottery¹, eating chicken feet for breakfast and drinking beer with Joanne's cousin Alan and his friends are just a few things which i´ll keep in my mind forever. We stayed in auntie "Purple's²" house in district 1, just a 10 min walk from Ben Thanh market and Saigon river. The house was typical for Asia: narrow and 4 levels high. Joanne's relatives were just awesome, we got a warm welcome, they gave us good advice, brought us with their scooters to many places and took care of us the whole time. I should explain that the Vietnamese are pretty certain that their country is the most dangerous in the world. But after 2 weeks in Vietnam I can say for myself, I never felt uncomfortable at any time. The worst things in Vietnam are probably the undetected landmines and the poison of agent orange in some areas, thank you for that America. 
We had several breakfasts and dinners with her family and I got a good understanding of Vietnamese and Chinese dishes. After a couple of days I even started to like the unusual breakfast. 

¹The Vietnamese lottery is pretty famous in Vietnam. This government lottery is kind of a social program for poor, old or disabled people. They buy the tickets from licensed distributors (like auntie purple) for a lower price and try to sell them on the street. If you want to help those people just buy a ticket.
²Joanne and I had nicknames for her aunties due to easier understanding. So her auntie with a blue scooter was auntie "Blue", auntie with purple scooter auntie "Purple" ...

Following some impressions of Saigon

Bun bo hue and pho bo - Vietnamese national dishes!
You can´t leave Vietnam without eating it. It´s so yummy.

Watching the world go by while smoking shisha @Go2 bar 

Romatic street light design

View from the Bitexco tower to the city center 

family gathering - the guy on my left forced me to eat
incredible amounts of food by putting it continuously in my bowl

dinner cruise on Saigon river

Apocalypse Now - a provocative club in Saigon

dinner cruise ship at Saigon river

Auntie Purple and Joanne on the road