People rise early in Viet Nam, at 6.30 children are on their way to school, houses have been swept and by 11 AM everybody is already hungry and has lunch. Hence when I went to have some dinner on Sunday night upon my arrival in Saigon at 8 PM mostly foreigners were in the BBQ Garden restaurant (the locals either could not afford the restaurant or had gone home to bed!). What a lovely evening! Imagine sitting in the garden lit by thousands of fairy lights hanging from the big old trees while the waitress starts the gas BBQ in the [View Full Entry]

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After arriving late at night in Krabi - my base to transfer the next day to Railay Beach - I checked in at Krabipura, a lovely squeaky clean guest house with really helpful and nice owners. It was however a quite short night. First, the Italian restaurant 2 blocks away had live Rock music on which kept me awake until 1.30 AM and then the really surreal thing happened: Woken up by loud HOUSE music at 5.30 AM I was about to shout at the inconsiderate youth on their motorbikes to keep it down when I realised that the parking space [View Full Entry]

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It was a really long journey from Ton Sai to the Cameron Highlands - left my bungalow at 7 AM and arrived at the Cameron Highlands the next day at 2 PM making it a 36 hr trip .... must admit with a few stops in South Thailand's Hat Yai and Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur. The Cameron Highlands (www.cameronhighlands.com) are a plateau in the vast jungle of Malaysia. Malaysia's landmass must be coverd to 95% by jungle according to what I've seen from the plane when leaving it and on the bus. Most amazing, most humid, most dangerous (home of snakes, tarantulas, [View Full Entry]

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What did I think to believe that I'd leave this country in a slimmer, fitter state than how I entered it on Nov 22nd? It is sooo NOT happening! Thai food is just so yummy, delicious, moorish, most of the times healthy and surprisingly fast and easy to make! There were a few distinct food-related events: 1) STREET VENDORS: I am so scared not to get a tummy bug that I'm religiously adhering to my Austrian doctor's advise to have a swig of Smirnoff before every meal (and sometimes after as well just to be sure :o) ) But touch wood [View Full Entry]

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Chiang Mai has charmed me! Her beauty is not obvious at first sight, you are blinded by the pollution, the noise after expecting green, rolling, quiet hills and misty mountains. But soon she charms you with the little gems... My new accomodation is brilliant, really love it, has this peaceful vibe of a buddhist retreat - just have a look at the picture - the buddha face is watching over everybody who lives there for a time (and shortly, i.e. for a 2 AM- 4 AM after-party party!!) So I've had my Smirnoff bottle half emptied by me fellow massage students [View Full Entry]

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The weekend of Loi Krathong in BKK was amazing - mind blowing even... Loi Krathong is the festival where the gods who live in the rivers are honoured and thanked by - polluting them, ehm, one is actually apologizing for taking water from the river and for polltuting it and then one does it again. In a beautiful way, admittedly - with little floating boats, made out of palm leaves, orchids, any other decoration to make it look pretty and the yellow candles and incence sticks of course. At the break of dusk people (mostly couples as it is a romantic [View Full Entry]

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What a polite mess but how calming too.. the sweet smell of incense sticks transfers you to another world, far far away from the noise and pollution of the street. However, there are flowers everywhere and the calming presence of the wats which are litteraly around every corner. Yes, there is such a thing as 'wat overkill' if that is possible as these places are so peaceful. You just slow down as everybody else is. The favourite thing of Thais is to watch the world go by. Preferably at the waterfront. There seems to be as much traffic on the river [View Full Entry]

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Last preparations - i.e. my first preps as I've not done any major preps and not sure whether I should panic or just go with the flow. Something acquired over the last 3 1/2 yrs here.. Meeting mates, saying farewells and generally winding down, what a great relief. Surreal but great! [View Full Entry]

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Schneechaos - unglaubliche 30 cm Schnee fielen innerhalb von 2 Naechten - Daddy am Schneeschaufeln :o) [View Full Entry]

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