http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Kickasstravel/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Kickasstravel en-us Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:12:19 +0000 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:12:19 +0000 Bosnia Hercegovina BiHWe arrived BiH on narrow winding mountain roads from Montenegro through spectacular Tara Canyon enjoying the beautiful scenery and after 10 hours on a shitty bus Sarajevo was finally in sight. At first Sarajevo seemed like a typical east European poor town but it turned out to be quite differentCentral Sarajevo is situated around the historic Bascarsija the Turkish http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Bosnia-and-Herzegovina/blog-433457.html Continuing our Kickass travel in Western Balkans we headed for The Wild Beauty of Montenegro.Coming from Dubrovnik Croatia the Bay of Kotor started simply enough looking just like any other bay but as we progressed through bay after bay and the surrounding mountains got steeper and steeper the beauty got amazing extraordinary as we closed up towards Kotor.The Bay of Kotor is often described http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Montenegro/blog-433008.html Los AngelesAfter operationrdquosee all of the pacificrdquo it was time for us to start thinking of returning back home to the cold snowy Norway after a fantastic one year of kickass traveling around the worldBut first Marianne wanted to experience Los Angeles and since Borre has been there many times before she got the perfect guide to do so..To ldquoacclimatizerdquo a bit before head http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/California/Los-Angeles/blog-427847.html Arrived Tahiti the true Pacific paradise the traditional way Tahitians singing and playing their tiny guitars covered with flowers and smiling like they always do..After a 4 days stop over in Auckland New Zealandcoming from Tonga it was REALLY good to feel the warm weather of the South Pacific again and YESS we're truly getting spoiled with this lifestyle.Since Tahiti is REALLY EXTREME exp http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Pacific/blog-368280.html Travelling from one paradise Samoa to another Tonga meant crossing the freaken date line again getting a little bit confused on the days now.. Except this time we actually lost a whole day and arrived 1 day to late to meet our friend ysteinhellipyess wersquore catching up to celebrate his birthday Christmas New Years in the beautiful Pacific islands of Tonga. Arriving the main island http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Pacific/blog-366252.html Arrived Pago Pago American Samoa after a super rough boatride from hell Apia Samoa. Yes we could REALLY feel the big Pacific waves on this boat trip..Of course Borre slept the entire way but Marianne stayed awake listening to the puking from the locals almost the entire way...bad stuff..The boatride took us 8 hours in the middle of the freaken night meaning again the Pacific styleeveryth http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Pacific/blog-360125.html We are still traveling around the great Pacific ocean and really enjoying this part of the world. After spending a reeeeeally relaxing week on the beautiful Bounty Island in Fiji we continued ldquooperation seeallofpacificrdquo and jumped on a plane going to Samoa.Due to stupid flight schedules in the Pacific we arrived in Samoa at 5 AM after being up all night Being really extreme tired http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Pacific/blog-352508.html To all of our new old friends travel companions party friends best friends weird ldquofriendsrdquo strange friends people with moneysend us a lot and of course to all of our family.We wish you all a MERRY CHRISTMAS and a SUPER HAPPY NEW YEARWe are celebrating this Christmas stuff in the tropical paradise of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. This is also the first place on earth to see a http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Pacific/blog-354897.html On our operation see all of the Pacificthe journey continued further from Vanuatu with a week stopover in Fiji before heading for Samoa. Since Brre has been island jumping the islands of Fiji a couple of times before we decided to find a small island and just relax for the weekand enjoy the great islandlife.The tiny little island of Bountywere the televisionshowCelebrity Love Islandis f http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Pacific/blog-351048.html Sunbeachlifesnorkeling and holiday in the holidayafter the holidaybefore the holiday is the best way to describe our time here in the tropical islands of the Pacific ocean.After 5000km of extremetravelling in New Zealand we really looked forward to relaxing in the tropical paradise islands of the Pacific. Our first stop got to be Vanuatu and the beautiful island of Efate which is the main i http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Pacific/blog-350775.html New Zealandrsquos spectacular scenery and itrsquos great outdoor activity took us from east to west to south and at the end up north during the 5000km drive with our perfect little sleeper van.. You have to love this country with its enormous mountain range pristine beaches and glaciers inbetween. From Palm trees to snowcapped mountains you feel like going summer to winter and back again i http://www.travelblog.org/Oceania/New-Zealand/blog-343070.html And we're back in the land of silk...againand again and again....Our purpose for this visit to the amazing country of Thailand is mainly party party party and then relaxing on the Islands before Brre is heading up to Bangkok for a bit of work...Sort of a holiday in the holiday kind of a thaaaaang..ha hawhat a great lifeArrived at the tropical airport in Koh Samui ready for our holiday in t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/blog-336036.html Arrived at last at Phnom Penh after travelling the whole day on the amazing Mekong River from Vietnam. The capital of CambodiaPhnom Penh is a great mixture of wide boulevards with fancy restaurants and shops and small alleys with street food and lots of locals. You also have some beautiful temples and great markets around the city.Since wersquore supertired of big cities we tried to do most http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/blog-334500.html Arrived to busy Hanoi with Air Asia from Bangkok and where met at the airport by no more than 3 taxi drivers pretending to be our driverhad arranged free pickup from the hostel. We had read about the Vietnamese taxi mafia operating at the airport so after some discussions phone calls etc we took a chance with one of them and yes he actually took us to the right guest house Hanoi Backpacke http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/blog-326716.html The REAL Golden TriangleLaos Myanmar Burma Thailand.The tricountry border between Laos Myanmar Burma Thailand forms the legendary Golden Triangle. A mountainous frontier where the Opium poppy was once an easy cash crop for the regionrsquos ethnic minorities. With its history knowing the drug traffic is still going on and the Great Mekong river as a natural border between the countr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Laos/blog-320411.html After a 25 hours train ride from Shanghai we arrived to the city of Guilin. A beautiful city situated between several lakes rivers and great mountains. First night we ate our favorite food spring rolls and fried noodles and then ice cream from McDonaldshellip. passed through the night marked and ended up walking this really nice lighted walkway by one of the lakes.In the middle of the lake i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-312272.html YANGTZI RIVERAfter exploring XirsquoAn we jumped on the 3class hardsleeper overnight train. Dirty noisy and very crowded stuff Tired hungry after 13 hourswe arrived Chongqing midday and vent directly to the travelcompany where we bought our boattickets. Did some foodshopping at a huge supermarked before having a hotpot dinner by the riverside Sat around the table and put all the food in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-311521.html Beijing 11.07. 16.07.2008Arrived Beijing in the afternoon after a long train ride from Ulaan Baatar. Checked in to the City central youth hostel a really great hostel Nice to finally have our own room and a clean toiletWent out for a fantastic dinner the table full of all different kinds of foods and we all shared like the real chinese. Took some beers in a Hutong area and found Beijings s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/blog-306306.html After 95 hours waiting at the border of Russia we finally arrived to the majestetic country of Mongolia. The view from the train window gave us a feeling of wonderful untouched nature. We passed geercamps horsesyacks rivers and mountains. We had a short stop in the capital Ulaaan Baatar took a shower and did some shopping beers and stuff before we headed out to the countryside for a ni http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Mongolia/blog-300897.html To all of our friends from Norway we got to write english from now so all the friiks we meet on our kickasstour can understand..St.Petersburg 23.06.08 After a 9 hour night train tour from TallinnEstoniaincl 23hours on the russian border we arrived at last in the beautiful city of St.Petersburg.Our first day basicly went to find a place to stay which turned out to be quite a hassle because http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Russia/blog-295905.html