Koh Phangan

Today its raining and the temperature is quite comfortable, not to hot. Went to Koh Phangan from Koh Tao about a week ago. Staying in a bungalow by the beach with some nice norwegian people as my closest neighbours. Here it feels like every day is too short, I get up, eat breakfast, lie in my hammock, maybe I'll go for a ride on my bike, eat dinner, read my book, and suddenly its time to go to bed. One day I went to this safari-thingy and played with monkeys, elephants, horses, buffalos and snakes. Fun stuff. Went on a day trip to Malaysia, shortest visit I ever had to another country, but I got a new visa and that was the point.

Yesterday was the 17th of May, Norway's National Day. We drew flags and put them on our motorbikes, sang the national anthem a few times (at least we tried) and in the evening the owner of the resort invited us to dinner. It was a barbeque with crabs, prawns, squid, barracuda, noodles, chicken..++ So delicious! For dessert we went to 7eleven and bought cake and ice cream. All in all it was a perfect celebration of May 17th. :)

My plans for now is to stay here until Friday (the Half Moon Party is on Thursday:P) and then go to Krabi and Koh Phi Phi before I'm heading back home to Norway. :)

Koh Tao

Koh Tao is probably as close to paradise as you get. Went out diving yesterday for the first time since I got my certificate two years ago. It was amazing! I think we saw more than 20 different kinds of fish, and the diving itself was so much easier than I remembered. Maybe because its not a cold and dark Norwegian winter. :P Hopefully tomorrow I will go to a place were a big turtle lives. I really, really wanna see a turtle. I only have a visa for 8 more days, I don't know what to do.. the only thing I do know is that I just want to stay here, for a looong time. :)

Bangkok

Bangkok, nice weather, 5-star hotel, happy birthday to me. :)

back in Thailand

Back in Thailand, and it feels so weird. Everything is so fancy and expensive here. I was supposed to go to Bangkok and then down south, but I went by impulse on a bus to Koh Chang instead. Now I have a bungalow on a beach, good food, peace and quiet, but I can't help it, I feel restless..

Cambodia

My camera got wet so it died, surprisingly enough. It's possible to fix it but I never stay in one place long enough to do so. That means Vietnam part 2 has to wait. Atm I'm in Siem Reap, came here to see Angkor Wat and tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Thailand and Koh Chang! Wish I could spend more time in Cambodia but I'll just have to come back some other time. Entered Cambodia by boat on the Mekong River and I can just say this, it was beautiful! Have also been to the Killing Fields outside Phnom Phen, and learned a lot about Cambodian history and the Khmer Rouge and all that. The whole thing is totally crazy and horrible and I can't believe I've never heard anything about it in school. But it is really interesting and I would like to read some more about it when I get home.

Well anyway, I'm gonna try to get my camera fixed somewhere as soon as possible because it really sucks being without. Wish me luck. :)

Vietnam Part 1

I'm in Saigon at the moment, my last stop in Vietnam before I cross the border to Cambodia. My two weeks in Vietnam has been great (off course). Went to Halong Bay from Hanoi and was really excited about that, but the weather wasn't that good and basically I think the whole thing is kinda overrated. Then I went back to Hanoi for a couple of nights, did some sightseeing and shopping. Went to the Temple of Literature, Ho Chi Minhs Mausoleum and some pagodas and stuff. Next stop on the route was Hue. Didn't really do much in Hue, but stopped at the DMZ on our way there, which is the border between north and south of Vietnam. Went to the war museum and walked around in the tunnels where they hid during the war. Really, really interesting stuff.:)Stayed in Hue two days, and THEN we rented motorbikes and began our journey to Hoi An. They said it was a six hour drive, we used ten but it was such a great experience! We stopped several times and even got invited into some guy's home when the rain started pouring down. We drove the Top Gear route and it was so beautiful and amazing and I can totally recommend it! So this is Vietnam Part One, will show you the rest soon. :)

Vietnam and Hanoi

Vietnam is just what I imagined and sooo much more! When my flight arrived at the airport there were like ten fancy black cars there waiting, the police was all over the place and they rolled out the red carpet. Obviously there was someone really important on my plane. Anyways, after the police and all the black cars were gone, I got to walk on the red carpet, felt like a movie star haha! And like that wasn't enough the hostel had sent a car to pick me up. Absolutely the most comfortable trip ever. Staying at The Drift Backpackers Hostel which is really nice.

The first thing I noticed about Vietnam was all the cows, they are everywhere. Other things about Hanoi are the french colonial architecture, beautiful flowers, lots and lots of scooters, and everyone wears helmets, that's something new! And the helmets are all matching their scooters or their outfits. :P The traffic in this city is craaazy, the first time I had to cross the street was terrifying but you get used to it pretty quickly. Today I just took a walk around the city and the old quarter, got a haircut and my nails done. Had some Vietnamese teenagers coming up to me and really wanted a picture with me, that was fun. :P Tomorrow I'm going for a three-day trip to Halong Bay. I think it's gonna be great!

last few days of Laos

Vientiane is such a nice city and my room here is so cute. I could easily have stayed here for a month. But I'm already behind my schedule so I have to leave tomorrow or the next day. The bus to Hanoi is not very tempting with its 24 hours on a crappy road so I'm taking a flight instead. :)

And now.. LOTS of photos from Laos, in chronological order off course.

done with Vang Vieng

Five days in Vang Vieng, have to get out of this place. Lao is nice, totally different from Thailand in some kind of way. The busride we took from the border was absolutely horrible, but we made it and arrived in Luang Prabang early in the morning. Stayed there for only one night since we were too excited about Vang Vieng. But five days is totally enough, way too much partying and tubing so today Miri and I decided to leave for Vientiane. Yesterday we rented motorbikes and went to see a cave and the blue lagoon here, that was great. Got lost in the cave though. :P

And, something is wrong with my camera, gotta figure it out so will post photos later. :)

crossed the Mekong

Just arrived in Laos, the internet here sucks. Going for a 13 hour busdrive heading for Luang Prabang. Not really looking forward to it, but I think Luang Prabang is nice, maybe we'll go for some trekking too. Now the most important thing for me is charging my ipod. While waiting I have the joy of listening to some real Lao karaoke.

looking back at Chiang Mai

Just because the internet-connections here are so good, I'm gonna upload some photos from Chiang Mai as well. Basically, the beach, the thai barbeque and the temple on the mountain. ^^

Pai day 2

Today I didn't really do much. Learned how to ride a scooter, not really that difficult, and then I went to a little Chinese "village" and a waterfall. Kind of nice to just take it easy sometimes too. :)

Pai

Arrived in Pai this afternoon after a busride through this fantastic scenery in the mountains. Felt sad about leaving Chiang Mai and all my friends though. The five days I spent there was absolutely great, but the rest of my journey will probably be just as good. Here in Pai I've got my own bamboo-hut which is really nice. It's a small town in the middle of nowhere with misty mountains all around and a relaxed atmosphere. I think I'm going to a stand-up show tonight, and then return to my fabulous bamboo-hut.

finally some photos

Yesterday we went to the temple on the top of the mountain. Lots of stairs and lots of Buddha-statues. Then we went to the lake and it was so nice! Finally some beachlife. Last night was barbeque thai-style (very interesting). Today I didn't do very much besides coffeeshops and walking around. Bought the most expensive bikini in my life, but it was nice though. Going out tonight since its my last day here, leaving for Pai tomorrow. :)

Finally, big photo-update!