Bangkok

Sadly Bangkok was already the place where Victoria had to fly back from. We had a wonderful trip around Southeast Asia. But all beautiful things come to an end at some point in time. The next day my brother Freddy arrived from Switzerland. He'll join me for the next 3 months to travel extensively to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China. It was nice to meet him in Bangkok City, the first time since 15 months I met anybody whom I have known before the trip. We spent the days with sightseeing, eating and drinking. China town, boats on the river, the MRT, Lumpini Park, Pagodas, Khao San and shopping malls. We were able to catch on the latest news from each other. Cool stuff.

After 2 nights in Bangkok we took a wonderful 15 hours night train to Chang Mai. The train was pretty good and reminded me uf Eastern Europen trains.

Chong Mek

Is the closest place mentionable to the Khao Yai National park, which was really cool though expensive. There is no transportation in the park, so we had to hitch hike about 5 times that day. But people were helpful and stopped fairly quickly. We took some nice walks through the sloppy marked paths. We were a bit worried because everybody had gear against snakes and leeches. But even the best gear wouldn't have helped against the Asian tigers who also live there. We saw some deers but mostly just a beautiful rain forest.
In Chong Mek we had another fondue which proofed to be a bit strange. Meat was pink even after cooking. But still a nice base to explore the nearby park.

Ubon Ratchathani

Ubon was just a stop over because the ride from Tadlo to Thailand took so loooong. We looked for a nice hotel with a view of the park and ate at the market. Nothing special..... yeah, really just a stop over.



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Tadlo

We reached Tadlo really late and had to change a 50 USD bill to local currency what was not to easy. Tadlo is a remote village in a remote area in a remote country. People are still living in their traditional shacks and bath in the river. Waterfalls are close to the village and offer some sanity to battle the hot weather.
85 percent of the countrys land is not being used . This is partly because of a bad economy and relatively small population but most likely because of unexploded US bombs, that remain from the Vietnam war. The Viet Cong needed a safe heaven, because of the US air superiority in Vietnam. But eventually the same faith was awaiting them in Laos. Nowadays a lot of Laotians die because they have to clear fields or they on purpose take apart the bombs and sell the medal to China.
This gives you a impression of the economic situation of Laos. People were kind and helped you find the attractions and the kids were happy to play with us. Well maybe they were more interested in Victoria, since they don't seem familiar with Latin American clothes. So she got even more attention here then in other places all around Southeast Asia.
In total a beautiful place worth visiting for a few days.

Savannakhet

After a long trip from the South China Sea into Laos we arrived in Savannakhet. At the border Timmy didn't have to pay for his visa while Victoria had to pay 38 USD. More than US citizens or Frenchies.
Savannakhet is a sleepy town in the rural region of southern Laos. We stayed for one night only and ate at the night market at the Mekong river. A really basic set up, but none the less really pleasing you sit around a pot and make your own soup. Similarly to fondue chi noise you throw the raw meat, the vegetables and hard noodles into the water. Then you take bite by bite and dip into a peanut paste. Really good and relaxing after the rather rough trip over the border.
The next day we took the astonishingly slow bus south.

Huế

Huế is close to the demilitarized zone which has seen the fiercest fighting during the Vietnam war aka the US war (that's of course the way the locals call it). Hue's main attraction is the huge citadel (UNESCO World Heritage) in the city center. In this forbidden City the Nguyen Emperors had their seat. Huế was the nations capitol from 1802 until 1945. During the war the US carpet bombed the citadel that's why they have to restore a lot even though the buildings are not that old. But it is still a wonderful place and offers some historical insight. It's hard to believe that some 65 years ago some emperor controlled vast regions and sat on his golden chair receiving visitors. Otherwise Hue is a big lively city with some character.

Hoi An

Hoi An is a well preserved Asian trading port that was granted the UNESCO World Heritage honor. Nowadays there is not much trade going on, but tourism has picked up. Their main good they sell is flexibility. You can go through any kind of fashion catalog from all the big brands in the world and have it done customized for you for a fair price. Since I lost my favoured shirt to the crazy woman, I made a copy of it. I turned out to be great. Other than the colonial architecture and clothes food is the other thing about Hoi An. Little food stalls are everywhere and have impressive menus to fit your mood. We also went to the barber. The guy was really kind and cut hair in the strangest places. As a special service he even cleaned our ears for free.

Nha Trang

After taking the best night bus of my whole trip at a budget price, we arrived in Nha Trang in the morning. Nha Trang de facto has no sights to visit next to the beach. Victoria rightfully pointed out that it is a bit like Miami Beach. We enjoyed the sun- well, and the beach -yeah, and yeah.
In Nha Trang I wanted to take of my dirty shirt and wear one of the freshly washed in my backpack. I got the laundry in Ho-Chi-Minh done just before we left for Nha Trang. Apparently I didn't check good enough. It was full of clothes consisting of XXXL shirts and tight underwear. So I called the agency next to the laundry place in Ho-Chi-Minh to ask what the situation was and if they could send my laundry up. Even though I insisted really hard on talking to the woman, the depressing message that always came back was: That the old woman is crazy and doesn't want to talk to anyone - not even them. I believe the agency. The woman made a strange impression from the early beginning. So now I had a lot of big T-shirts and bad taste.

Ho-Chi-Minh

Ho-Chi-Minh City - formerly known as Saigon - is world famous from the Cold War and the Vietnam war movies. The city presents it self quite modern and proud of their history. Even though it is as capitalist as any other country, flags showing the hammer and sickle and the former north Vietnamese flag can be seen everywhere. Traffic is frantic and difficult to avoid. We checked out several museums, the presidential palace and the Cuchi tunnels. The Cuchi tunnels are pretty far out of the city. there you can see the guerrilla war tactics of the Viet Cong, walk through the tunnels the US tried to carpet bomb and get to know the daily struggle of a soldier in the jungle.
Apart from that the Vietnamese food can be pretty strange. So it was fun to eat at the markets, where it was mostly a surprise dish instead of ordering in the traditional way.
Vietnam and Cambodia are loaded with history and Victoria and me had a lot of political discussions which can be tricky. Ho-Chi-Minh was Victorias favoured place in Southeast Asia - the traffic was a bit to intense for me to fully enjoy it.

Kep

We drove down to the Gulf of Thailand to a town called Kep. Once famous as a retreat for the French people during Indochina era, Kep these days caters some tourists. We checked into the best hotel I have had in my whole trip for a 15 USD. I had to organise my visa for Vietnam, but I didn't want to take a bus for 2 x 4 hours and the hassle with the embassy. So I went to the only "tourist agency" in town where I met a guy called Avud. Avud claimed he could take care of my problem. So I did what you should never do. I gave Avud 50 USD and my passport. And he promised to deliver a few days later.
Vicu and me enjoyed the beach in Kep and tried the to us unknown fruits. After two nights we went to Rabbit Island, which is 3 km of the coast of Kep. Rabbit Island is paradise: good food, jungle in the back, bungalows, beer, swimming and sun bathing.
Two days later we went back to Kep to get to Vietnam. But I still needed my passport. But neither Avud nore my passport was there. So a friend of him drove us to his home (20min). He apparently got drunk the night before and informed his friend where the passport was. So we drove back to Kep and finally picked it up. A long ride to Ho-Chi-Minh was next.

Phnom Phen

Phnom Phen is a city with a moving history - literally. During Pol Pots regime people were moved from the city to the land. That's why this city, which 2 million Cambodians call their home, had only 20'000 inhabitants at the end of the 70s. the red Khmer tried to change the system directly to Communism instead of taking the long way over Socialism. Pol Pots regime cost about 2 million lives in only 3 years. Killing fields are scattered all over Cambodia. One of these fields we visited - once again with the bicycles. The traffic to get out of the city was as dangerous as entertaining. Only a few basic rules apply and make it a cool experience. We visited 2 museums, which were OK. The riverfront of Phnom Phen is pretty chilled out and a nice place to watch Cambodians doing their daily thing.

Siam Reap

Siam Reap is probably a pretty average Cambodian rural city, if there wouldn't be the world famous Angkor Wat complex close enough to reach it with the bicycle (1 USD per day). That's exactly what we did. The Khmer started their rule in the 11th century by revolutionizing the irrigation system that allowed them to produce a lot of food and allowed them to expand their territories and build their truly amazing temples. Since 13th century the Khmer adopted Buddhism as their religion and stopped building any new temples. The Siamese people looted the whole area in the 15th century. Internal problems such as slashing all trees, climate change and bad harvests lead to the decline of the Khmer. Angkor Wat is so important for the Cambodian now a days- who have been battered by history over and over again - that the national flag has the main temple in the middle.
It is fun to ride through the partly reconstructed complex even though information is pretty scarce. In Siam Reap we stayed at a hotel which offers one dollar beds and enjoyed the local food. But if you have seen Angkor, there is really no reason to stay in Siam Reap. So we headed to Phnom Phen - the capitol.

Bangkok

After a flight from the Philippines to Thailand via Kuala Lumpur I arrived in Bangkok late in the evening. Victorias plane was scheduled to arrive 3 hours later and was sadly delayed. So I waited at the airport for about 4 hours until finally Victoria appeared in the arrival hall. It felt really good to be reunited after 3 months of separation. We than drank mate until the early morning to catch the downtown bound bus. In the afternoon I slept the first time in 36 hours. Bangkok has a lot to offer: Chinatown, heaps of Wats, huge markets, modern houses, crumbling shacks, parks, universities and a Swiss embassy. That's were I collected my new bankcard after I lost the other one in the Philippines. We visited most of the places except the Presidential Palace where Victoria didn't comply with the dress code. Khao San is extremely touristy, but still offers a lot of surprises and charming side alleys. After two nights and post jet lag we decided to head to Siam Reap in Cambodia. The train has already left so we had to take the bus. Only half way through the journey we noticed a section in the Lonely Planet called "Bangkok Siam Reap bus scam". So we payed to much for the bus itself, we payed to much for the visa and we changed US dollar to the local currency even though dollar is much more commonly accepted. bummer