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Published: April 30th 2008
Thailand/Bangkok
Welcome to Bangkok LionelHi all,
Here I am in the last part of my adventure in SEA. I arrived in Bangkok and met with my mate/cousin where we were welcomed by water mixed with powder...indeed we arrived in the middle of the new year's celebration which consists of recovering everybody from top to toes with that mix: water pistol, water pipes etc, all weapons are good to spalsh everybody in the streets and bar terraces. The thing is that the street where our hotel was was closed to traffic and only pedestrians were allowed, which mean that we had to walk with our 20kg backpacks in the middle of the crowd being splashed without being able to defend ourselves: the crowd was like trying to walk in the streets of Dublin on a the St Patrick's night. We took it with great fun and really enjoyed the party and celebration. When we finally got to our hotel (it took us about 30mn to walk the 200m), we were welcomed by the staff with towels and cleaners etc...everything was planned.
We spent 3 days in Bangkok and absolutely loved it. We got stuck in Kao san road because of the party and celebrated with the
Thailand/Bangkok
Welcomed by the locals for the new year party with water and powder, great fun! Thais like mad. We're going back to Bangkok at the end of the trip to make sure we will enjoy the rest of it before we go home.
We are now in Chiang Mai and once again we are having a blast: the city is absolutely lovely and there are so many things to see and do (obviously the non stop partying is here as well). The temples are absolutely breathtaking and the treks in the tribal villages riding an elephant are brilliant. oh, the bamboo rafting is not bad either 😉
we are leaving Thailand tomorrow to Laos and are a bit sad about it as we met so many great people here, the locals are amazingly friendly but we know that the other countries will be as good and that we are coming back to Thailand in 1 month so it's ok I guess 😉
We arrived in Laos from Chiang Mai in Luang Prabang. Great little city, very laid back and full of French history. The main attraction here was the sunset on the Mekong river, stunning. It was kind of hard to focus on the temples after Thailand cause they are less impressive and not as
Thailand/Bangkok
Welcomed by the locals for the new year party with water and powder, great fun! well looked after. From there we took a bus to Viang Vieng to do a bit of Trekking. Amazing landscape there, even from our bedroom window (see the pics). The 1 days Trek wasn't easy but it was nice to go through a cave with candles and on top of the hill to see Viang Vieng from the top. We ended up our Laos trip in Vietniane where we took some time to relax and organise the rest of our trip. There's not much to see or do here so it was the perfect place to do this. Laos is a very pretty country, but honestly so far I have been more amazed by the North of Thailand and its people...now let's see what Vietnam has to bring 😉.
Woaaaa!!!! I love Vietnam already after 1 week in Hanoi. Indeed, as soon as we arrived, it was Asia as I saw it in India a few months ago: millions of people driving like mad, walking on each other...street markets all over the places, noise, food smell and so on...I felt great as soon as I got there, so different from its 2 neighbours Thailand and Laos. The city is great
Thailand/Bangkok
A bottle of whisky in the sun makes you tired, a well known fact for that man with so many things to do and see. The Ho Chi Minh complex is great as well as the fantastic museum on the different ethnies who populate Vietnam. The cherry on the cake was definitly the tour we took to see Halong Bay, one of the 7 mervels of the world: well the 3.5 hours drive from Hanoi was absolutely worth it. The islands that make the bay are stunning and the boat that brought us there was just so beautiful...when we got there we visited the Surprise cave, named like this by the French years ago...see the pics, they speak for themselves. We ended up the afternoon sea cayaking around a few islands in the bay, what a day!! and how lucky we were: it was the only sunny day of the entire week 😉 Tomorrow we are flying to Hue, a city in the center of Thailand...from there, we will take a bus ride to Hoi an, another mervel of the world...how hard my life is ;0)
Hue is such a fantastic place. The people are just so nice and friendly, they would do anything to help you for anything you need. The Citadelle part is impressive with
Thailand/Bangkok
Brilliant rock band in a brilliant pub its Imperial Palace and full of life thanks to the lovely locals living there. We took a boat to cruise along the Perfume River and visited a few fantastic Tombs and Pagodas. It was such a great day.
The bus ride to Hoi An from Hue was very cool as the landscape on the mountain roads is beautiful.
Hoi An is a tiny town very famous for its old town and ruins, the impressive Marble Mountains and as well is the Capital of Vietnam for tailor made suits and dresses. It was as well a resting town for the GIs during the war. The place is very relax and charming. The old town is so cool thanks to its architecture and lovely canals. The food there is just fantastic, especially if you are a seafood lover like me. The best thing we've done was to get 2 locals with their motorbikes to drive us all day to the My Son ruins and to the Marble Mountains. The drive was just brilliant and we got to stop to a few places and got to know the 2 guys. We had a blast all day thanks to them. Lee and Kang, thanks
Thailand/Bangkok
Party time...again again for the great day.
We flew to Saigon after those few days in the center of Vietnam. I met Philippe there and it was so cool cause I haven't seen the Rusky since I left in December. Saigon is just mental, the way I love it in Asia: motorbikes everywhere, abuse of the use of the horns, organised chaos and so on...we visited Cu Chi, very famous for its tunnels used during the war to fight the Americans. That was very impressive, especially the part when you can go yourself in the tunnels and realise what kind of life these people had inside. Just have a look at the pics and think that they were living in there, not just fighting...we did some shooting as well with a Colt 45, AK47 and a Machine gun, the thrill was great!
Something that has to be done as well when you are in Saigon is to take a boat trip on the Mekong river. We stopped in a fishermen's village and we rode some mountain bikes to explore it. It was great fun as all the kids were waving at us screaming "Hello" with their big smiles.
Today we went to
the war Museum; it was very, very tough. The pictures there are just so overwhelming...everybody knows that a war is horrible but to see the real pics of that drama hurt. I can't imagine how hard it is going to be to visit the killing fields in Cambodia next week...
Tonight we will go back again to our favourite bar as we became "friends" with the staff...we had a few great parties in there so it's time to say goodbye before we fly to Phnom Pehn tomorrow 😉
We arrived in Phnom Pehn after a 40 minutes flight from Saigon, the shortest flight of my life. The capital of Cambodia has nothing special really, apart from its charming (but stinky) riverside where you can relax and have food and drinks in cool bars. The reason why I chose to go to Phnom Pehn at first place was to visit the S 21 jail that was the biggest detention center used by Pol Pot during the Khmer Rouge revolution and the killing fields outside the city where people from this prison and from other places were executed. I guess there is no need to say how painful and disturbing those places
Thailand/Bangkok
Relaxing time in a fantastic night club before joining the dance floor...again... are, but it has to be seen. Apart from those 2 words, it is very difficult to explain or comment on this so I have just put a few pictures to show the people who will not go there how horrible that part of the Cambodian history was.
After a few days in Phnom Pehn, it was time to say goodbye to Phil who was going home; thanks for joining us mate, had such a fab time. See you very soon in da mighty code 😉
For Lionel and I, it was time to go to Siem Reap, little city in the north of Cambodia that everybody use to visit the magnificent Temples of Angkor. We took a tuk tuk to get there and managed to visit everything we wanted to see in one day, in no rush at all. It was a great day and the Temples (especially the Bayon) are truly amazing but after having seen so many of them during my trip we decided to spend 2 more days in Siem Reap as we really enjoyed this little city. Actually one of those days was used to recover from the crazy final of the Champions League; with
Thailand/Bangkok
Local friends from the night club: Khong and Yin the time difference it started at 1.45am here...and of course it went on until the penalty shoot out! what a match, what a victory! as you can imagine I was just going crazy until the early hours of the morning where we ended up with some other fans celebrating in a night club (rather called morning club at this time of the day)...got up at 4pm that day, it was so worth it!! Well done again to the mighty United, Champions of Europe!!
Well tomorrow we are flying back to Thailand where we will be enjoying the beaches of Phuket and Ko Pi Pi relaxing and reflecting on everything I have seen and experienced during the last 6 months, what a thrill and an eye opener...
My 2 weeks between Phuket and Koh Pipi were absolutely brilliant: 35 C every single day, white sands, stunning green sea and fantastic seafood...heaven on earth. The sunsets there and the relaxing bars made it so easy for me to finally appreciate my last 6 months. As well the timing was perfect; this is the low season which means less tourists (so locals take the time to know you etc) and the prices are
Thailand/Bangkok
and a bit of sight seeing ;) twice as less expensive than during December and January...eventhough it is still way overpriced compared to Bangkok and the north of Thailand.
Koh Pipi is a real paradise with no cars, only narrow streets and you can walk the entire island in about 30mn. The sea there is just so hot that it feels like getting into a hot bath. The best thing to do there is to rent a sea cayak and go aroud the island. You can stop in some beaches where there is absolutely nobody, only monkeys trying to rob every single thing you brought on your cayak. Obviously the parties are great too, by the beach with free BBQ most of the nights and huge buckets of Vodka redbull etc...yes as you can imagine some mornings have been very, very tough...but the recovering on the beach went well 😉
Then it was back to Bangkok for the last few days of this adventure. The famous Kao san Road was more busy than when we first came 2 months ago, but still my favourite place to be in this fantastic city. We took it easy and just visited the few things we haven't had time to see
the first time. The big thing we absolutely had to do was obviously to go and see a night of Muay Thai (Thai boxing). Woaa you have to see it to believe it, TV can't describe the power of the kicks and the atmosphere inside the stadium, people screaming for their bets etc. It was such a fantastic experience, we absolutely loved it. After this for our very big last night out, we went back to the pub we loved so much the first time with the great waitress (well waiter...) Jean Michel Poteauman, Lionel's dearest ladyboy's friend (sorry for the private joke 😉: still the same band, still the same craic!
Well I guess this is it, my adventure is over and if everything goes as planned I will be home in about 48 hours. This is a very very weird feeling honestly but I am looking forward to it...
To all the people who have been reading me for the last 6 months, thanks very much. I shall see you all very soon ;0)
Jeremie.
PS: Allez les bleus!!
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Chris
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Great shots...
Loving the photos as I'm sat in the office looking out at the rain. Don't rush back! See you soon.