Bangkok and Home

After a great week in Siem Reap, we travelled over land by bus back to Bangkok. As everyone had advised us, this would be the worst bus trip in the world... and it was. We squeezed onto a crummy old bus, which was full to the brim with unsuspecting backpackers and the isle filled with all our rucksacks. The road on the Cambodian side of the border is hardly ever more than a dirt road with pot holes the size of small cars! We were met by a new guide at the boarder with Thailand and changed the bus for an air-conditioned mini bus. Luxury! Now even the road was tarmac’d and the drive on to Bangkok was very comfortable by comparison. We stayed in a hostel in Bangkok near Kao San Road and spent the last day doing some shopping in the markets. It was the end of our six week trip, and I was not so feeling so well with a fever and Caro was off her food. We took a taxi to the airport and at the SAS check-in, negotiated an upgrade to business class for our return flight to Stockholm. As we were both feeling tired and exhausted, the large reclining seats made the flight much more comfortable and we managed to sleep some of the way home.
So that was our 6 weeks in Asia, a very successful trip and a real adventure at times. So many sights, scents, people and places to remember. We enjoyed travelling together and are looking forward to our next journey, whenever that may be.

Bayon Temple

Perhaps one of the most impressive temples in the Angkor area is Bayon. The site is dominated by complex temple made of towers with large stone faces which face in all four directions. The central part, which is higher on a 2nd layer, is a complex 8 sided tower which rises above the surrounding faces. The place is so unbelievably awe-inspiring that I had to return again on our 3rd day to take some more pictures in the softer light of the late afternoon.

Siem Reap and Angkor

Siem Reap is at first sight an interesting place to stay. The city is not as big as the others we have visited and has a more open and easy going pace. We found a great place to stay near the centre, the room is spacious and the place has a small pool and is very friendly.

We were very tired after the almost 9 hour long boat trip here, so we ate some food and crashed out in the big bed very early.
Our first full day here was spent fixing some bicycles to borrow from the hotel and buying our 3 day pass to the vast temple area (40 USD each for this!). The bike ride to Angkor Wat takes about 45min. but in the heat it seemed much longer. Angkor Wat is as they say, quite stunning in terms of its size. The scale of the temple and it symmetry are impressive to say the least. We spent a few hours just walking around and taking pictures. We had a picnic with us, which we ate in the shade of some trees, and chatted to some Cambodian visitors.

We then went on to see the the second major site at Angkor Thom and the temple called Bayon. This is a majestic temple where most of the larger towers have four large faces which look out in each direction. The site is quite damaged, but still has large parts in good condition and you are allowed to climb over most of the site and enter the impressive central temple building.

We have at least 3 more days in Seam Reap and plan to see much more of the Wats, Temples and other Angkor sites.

Phnom Penh and Battambang

After a two day trip with all sorts of transportation methods, we arrived safely in Phnom Penh on Sunday evening. We found a room in the glorious Mekong Palace, although our room didn't have a view out on the river.
The next day we spent some time going to visit some of the S-21 museum, a place that shows the history of the Communist Dictator Phol Pot, the Khmer Rouge and we also visited Cambodia's notorious killing fields. Its a horrific reminder of this period in Cambodias history, which took place only 36 years ago. We hired a TukTuk for the day and our driver Sadam did a good job avoiding all the crazy bikes and drivers along the way.
The next day we went to the Royal Palace in the afternoon and spent a relaxing time wandering around the grounds and looking at the large area of buildings and temples.
Up early the next day for a 5 hour bus ride to Battambang. A provincial town on the way to Siem Reap. We stay a day here and hire a moped for the day to get more into the countryside. We visit an old Wat/temple which about 25km out of town on a dusty road. Then 100 steps up a hill to see the temple ruins and a view over the flat and dry landscape. We stop and look at the sights on the way home and buy freshly pressed sugar cane and grilled banana at the side of the road.
Tomorrow we will be taking an 8 hour boat journey to Siem Reap... that should be interesting!

Beach in Phu Quoc

Phu Quoc was a good place to stay for a few days... relaxing and quiet.
This is the view along the beach not far from where we stayed.

And some more impressions....

Saigon and Phu Quoc

Having spent some time in the north of Vietnam, we moved down to Saigon. This is like a more modern version of Hanoi, without the small streets of the old town in Hanoi, but with just as many mopeds and scooters buzzing along the streets and tooting all the time.
This is not the place to stay long if you plan to live to be old. We were lucky as our Giant Dragon Hotel was OK and our room was on the roof on the 9th floor, so we were above the traffic and able to get some sleep at night. We did some sights in Saigon, including a Hindu temple and a war museum... which was a bit grim in places but informative (if perhaps a little one sided).
Our patience for these busy cities was beginning to wear thin, so we decided to head off for the Mekong Delta. A long and interesting bus ride, including stops for people, food and 10 bags of coal!!! was an experience, as was the bike ride to the center of Vinh Long (as bus stopped with us having no idea where we were). So few people speak English as soon as your off the main road in Vietnam. We did a home-stay (ha ha very homey!!!) then visited a big floating market by boat. Also local production of rice paper and pop rice! quite interesting.
Now we have moved on to the island of Phu Quoc off the coast of Vietnam in the very south, for some sun, beach and no tooting bikes :)
We needed a few days for relaxing and we plan to stay until the end of the week before moving on to Cambodia. Today we have moved into a great place on the beach and plan to do nothing much, but relax, read and swim.

Here some pictures of the Mekong Delta:



Our noble homestay...


The neighbours


Floating market


Fresh lychees on board

Hue and rainy Hoi An

Hué welcomed us with warm and sunny weather after our night on the train. After we had a rest in the hotel, we hired some bicycles and rode around in the old town. Hué has been the political capital from 1802 to 1954 unter the 13 empererors of the Nguyen Dynasty. The Citadel was the first imperial city on the bank of the Perfume River. We didn't go inside but rode all the way around it. Later on we found a quiet rad along the river where a long row of house boats form a floating village. It was very interesting to see how these people live, in a small boat with very limited space, but with a TV, most of them. Riding along the boats, a lot of children were waving to us, shouting "hello" and "how are you?".
In the evening we had dinner in a place packed with drunken locals drinking even more beer. The ride back to the hotel was then a bit excitign next to all the motorbikes, but we managed to get back safely.

The next morning we were catching a bus to Hoi An and it started raining again. At first sight Hoi An didn't look to be much. Once we had a room fixed, the rain seemed to stop and we took a walk into the old town and could see its charm straight away. The old town sits by the river and is a patchwork of small streets with old single and two storey houses mainly with shops on each side. We found a nice restaurant by the river, where we spent a few hours as it started raining again...
The next morning, still rain :-( We then went straight to a travel agent to book a flight to Saigon in the evening at 8.30pm. The rest of the day was spent in cafés with eating and reading, in between getting wet and trying to get dry again. We took a look at the old Japanese Bridge, which is the only other sight we felt tempted by in the rain. In the late afternoon we set off for the airport, hoping to be in warmer and dryer regions again soon.

Thursday 24th Hoi An, Vietnam

As we cannot see our blog site via this connection, I'm not sure if this entry will be posted!
We spent a few days in Hanoi, very busy as expected, and cloudy. We took the night train to Hue and stayed a day there. Now we are in Hoi An, in the centre of Vietnam. An interesting old town, but its raining and were getting wet. We will move on to Saigon tonight... hoping for sunshine!
(Please comment on this entry, if it it posted OK?)

Hanoi and Halong Bay

After two days in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, we were heading off for Hanoi. We got on a small plane of Lao Air for the 1 hour 10 min flight. At Hanoi airport we were met by a "driver", holding our name up, who took us to the guest house that we booked in advance. The drive took 45min and we got our first experience of Hanoi traffic - complete scooter madness!!
The air is thick with smells and noise and the weather damp and humid with about 15°C.
The next day we booked a trip to Halong Bay. We arrived in the harbour of Halong City after a 3,5hour drive in a Minibus, with hundreds of other groups and people trying to catch the right boat. Our small group eventually got on a boat and set off into the Bay. As it was still quite misty, Halong Bay was only showing us its mysterious side...

After lunch that was served on the boat, we stopped to visit a cave that is on one of the bigger islands. The cave has three parts of which all are connected, with very interesting formations of rocks inside. The cave is huge and actually very impressive, we both have never seen such a big one before.

We booked a night train from Hanoi to Hué for the next day at 19 o'clock. The weather was even more unpleasant, rainy and windy, and we were already looking forward to get some sun in Hué and Hoi An, our next two destinations.
But despite of the weather we took a pedalriksha to the Temple of Literature. This was dedicated to Confucius in 1070 by Emperero Ly Thanh Tong. Later on it was a university for the education of mandarins.
It's a well-preserved area in traditional Vietnamese architecture in 11th-century style with roofed gateways and low-eaved buildings. Very pretty!

We headed to the station in the evening in good time to catch our train. The train was not quite as comfy and service-friendly as the one in Thailand... no dinner, no breakfast, but nice people in our compartment. Diana and Palmira from Buones Aires were good fun and we talked and played cards until late what made time go by.

On into Laos

We had an interesting trip from Thailand to Laos. We went by minibus overland and then crossed over the mountains at a very remote boarder crossing into Laos. The drive was bumpy and dusty and we arrived late in the evening in a small village.


The next day we drove on down to a small village by the Mekong River, where we picked up a small (very crowded) boat to take us down stream to Luang Prabang (look on the map to find it), where we have been for the last 4 days. Its a very interesting old town with a big colonial French influence in the houses and villas. We eventually found a great guest house with a nice room, polished wood floors and a nice garden to sit and read in... very laid back and just what we needed.
We went on a day trip to an Elephant camp yesterday which was good fun and interesting. Our guide was quite good and we had him all to our selves. The trip included a river boat ride to a local waterfall and then on to see the elephants. They had 6 and we had a 45min ride in the woods and along the river bank. Our elephant driver was walking along next to us and singing to his elephant (they do that sometimes) so we had a chance to practice the instructions our guide gave us! He then got on with us and soon I was able to change places with him and ride on the elephants neck on the way back to the camp. Caro was just a little concerned in the seat next to the driver.



After lunch we then went on a 4 hour kayak trip down the river to get back to the town. This was good fun in the rough water parts, but hard work on the neck and arms and nearly killed us both! Today we have been for a 90 min. Lao massage to recover. This was good and helped the aching muscles a lot.
The food is great and very varied here. The spring rolls are popular, as is the curry. Its not too pricey, but a little more than in Thailand. we are heading on by "VIP Bus" tomorrow, so hope this provides a more comfortable method to travel than the last one.

Chang Mai

Here we are now, in Chang Mai. The night on the train was not too bad, actually quite comfy. The temperature here is a bit more pleasant, not so hot as in Bangkok and in the night it cools down quite a lot as the mountains are very close.
The first day we spent a bit time on planning our further steps. We decided to head to Laos and booked our 2day trip to our next destination Luang Pradang on the 11th of January. In the evening we checked out the huge night market, that spreads out along a long road with all kinds of useful and useless bits and pieces and a lot of food stalls.

Yesterday we attended a Thai cooking class on a Thai farm. We started with some shopping on a local food market and drove then to the farm. It was a very pretty place with all sorts of trees, plants, vegetables and herbs that is grown in an organically. Our teacher first showed us around the garden and gave us some information about herbs we were going to use and then we started the first cooking session. We were 8 people and everybody had his own cooking station.
We started with making our own curry paste for the curry, then a soup and a stir fry in the wok. We were already starving before we started to cook the soup, but we had lunch not until we had finished all three meals.
He showed us how to eat with sticky rice, that you dip in your different dishes with your fingers.
In the afternoon we made some desserts and Pad Thai, a very famous traditional Thai dish with noodles in the wok.
It was a really nice day out on that farm and we have definitely learned some new things about Thai cooking. Some of you may come to benefit from our new knowledge in time ;-)

Today we rented a scooter and drove a bit up into the mountains. We visited another big, important monastery and a small hill tribe village.




For tomorrow we are plannig to take it easy, maybe try a Thai massage and visit some more monasteries, that you can find here around every second corner.
We are looking forward to our trip on Friday, that will take us a part of the way on the river Mekong and over a less-travelled border into Laos. We will try to get online later on next week. We hope all of you are fine :-)

Landed in Bangkok

So here we are, Caroline and me in Thailand... on the first stop of our trip. We're staying in Bangkok for a few days, as the first bookable night train North was Sunday night. This gives us a few days to get some sleep and get into the right time zone. We have been to some of the temples and checked out lots of Buddha's. We found a good Guest House to stay in and have eaten some good Thai food already :)
We have already been blessed by a monk in a temple, so we are sure to have everlasting happiness.
Its naturally hot and sticky here, but we've both experienced this before on other trips and can take it, making us very compatible travellers. On Sunday night we will take the night train, which is a sleeper, to Chiang Mai in the North. Still not sure where our route will take us after this, but its sure to be interesting.

Happy New 2008

Let us all gather round and cheer,
With a drink of wine or an ice cold beer

Perhaps you're like me and don't drink the swill,
Or your like my grandparents who live on pills.
Maybe this world seems harsh at times,
Or its just that most of us just like to whine.

I'd say that this is a great place to be,
It all depends on how we can see.

True we've had bad things in the past,
But we know in our hearts that these will not last.

If we try our best to be simple and pure,
There's nothing our hopes and dreams cannot cure.

So, I don't know the value this is worth,
But lets all try to be happy and heal Mother Earth!

Christmas in Stockholm

We celebrated Christmas together at home this year, Hannah, Emma, Caroline and me. The weather was nothing to write about, generally grey and quite close to zero out side…no sign of the Swedish winter, no snow, no frost, not an icicle insight. In side, we had at least decorated the flat with Christmas lights in the windows and on the balcony, plenty of candles and a Christmas tree. I put up the tree, then Hannah and Emma decorated it on Sunday evening on the 23rd. Christmas Eve is the big day in Sweden and Germany, so we decided to stay with this and open presents in the evening. We started the day with the traditional Swedish morning dish of warm rice pudding with cinnamon. At 11 we drove into town and went to the German church in the old town for their Christmas service. This added to the German content for Christmas and I think Caroline was very pleased we all went along with her for this service, filled with children and a nativity play. In the evening we ate quite a Swedish dinner with pickled fish to start with and then cooked ham, red cabbage and a creamy potato and anchovy pie. Then we all sat down and opened the surprisingly large collection of presents which lay under the tree.
Christmas day was mostly spent preparing the Christmas dinner, with our 6kg turkey. We sat down to eat in the afternoon to eat our traditional English Christmas meal with roast potatoes, parsnip, sprouts, bread sauce, stuffing, and of course the turkey. After a short break, we all went to the cinema together to see a film, The Golden Compass, with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.
I think we had a good Christmas together with a decent mix of traditions… and it was another first, celebrating Christmas with Caroline and the girls. Now we just need to find a way to use up all the leftover turkey and ham!

Planning a special trip

Some time ago, Caroline asked me if we could go on a long trip together. A special trip, one that will allow us to travel and explore and discover some new places, together. We discussed this subject from time to time, where to go, proposing locations and routes, as well as how long to be away. Soon we decided that Asia would be our destination, and after some negotiations with my boss at work, we decided on a six week adventure in Jan/Feb 2008.

Our plans focused on visiting Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, with perhaps Laos, if our route would make this possible. Having decided the slightly cheaper multi-stop alternatives just weren’t worth the effort and trouble, we booked a direct flight from Stockholm to Bangkok, Were flying with SAS and even chose the seats we will sit in, via the online booking system, that’s cool! Our flight leaves Stockholm on Wednesday the 3rd January, and returns on the 15th of February.

Some weeks later, and we have spent ages trying to plan which route to take. The main point of concern is if we will try the slightly more complicated direction from northern Thailand over Laos and into Vietnam or Cambodia, or to fly up to Hanoi from Bangkok. We have several options, and at this point in time, we don’t know which way we will go. So we will start by taking the route north in Thailand and see how things turnout when we get there. It’s our plan to spend around a week there at first. We want to try out some cooking lessons and massage courses, that we’ve read about and sound like fun.

So here we are, just two weeks before we will leave… still lots to sort out, things to buy and bags to pack. But after a complex and emotional year, we’re both really looking forward to the trip and our six week adventure together.