Blogs from Asia - page 14768

Our second short trip in the Bangkok area was to the floating markets at Damnoen Saduak a short bus ride from the capital. We decided to make it an overnight trip to give us the chance to see the markets as early as possible in an attempt to avoid the majority of tourists who would be making a day-trip from Bangkok. The evening in the town was uneventful to say the least, and there is little to attract more people to stay there any longer than is necessary to see the market. Getting something to eat wasn't easy, the only choice being from a few stalls along the roadside which seemed unwilling to serve me food. The first place had fried chicken - but would only sell it with a plastic bag of watery looking soup ... read more

Sitting here with my feet on top of my shoes. For a person who used to love not wearing shoes at all in this kind of weather it's rough to wear and walk around in sandals all day - not that they're bad shoes. They're some of my best and most comfortable shoes. My hair feels nice on the back of my neck. Paul just took me to get a head massage at the best Salon in Daliang (not to be confused with Dalian as the only difference in spelling is the g in English but the characters are completely different). The massage itself was so relaxing that I fell asleep (or just about) but then afterwards the man who blowdried my hair literally took 4 minutes arranging my topmost hair trying to figure out where ... read more

Nach einem relativ anstengenden Bordercrossing per Boot, Pkw, Fähre und Bus von den wirklich wahnsinng idyllischen (und ruhigen!) 4.000 Islands in Laos sind wir nun also in Kambodscha. Siem Reap lautet unsere nächste Anlaufstation. Kaum auf kambodschanischen Grund und Boden, sind wir um die erste Abzocke auf der Reise reicher, um 25 US$ pro Kopf ärmer und vor allem zwei Dinge: völlig entnervt und hungrig! Sprich, wir reagieren entsprechend aufgeschlossen, verständnisvoll und freundlich auf die veränderte Situation, die sich am Busbahnhof von Sieam Reap ergibt. Wir verlassen den Bus, um unser Gepäck aus der Ladeluke zu fischen als plötzlich ungelogen 20 Tuk-Tuk-Driver gleichzeitig an unseren Armen zerren. Alle wollen sie uns die preiswerteste Fahrt unsere Lebens in ihrem Tuk-Tuk andrehen - zu einem der besten Hotel selbstverständlich. Noch dazu alle zu dem besten Preis, den wir ... read more

Did another jaunt to the Islands first thing this morning. Hopped on the fast boat to Lamma Island, a small pleasant community half way between Hong Kong and Cheang Chau, (where I was the other day). I prefered this spot to Cheang Chau, it was a lot more chilled and relaxed, and is all in all very scenic, (except for the annoying power plant that always at the last minute manages to detract from the views). There are two towns on the Island, both of whose names I've forgotten, (bugger... I swore I'd bring my literature with me), but basically this morning I landed at one, and then walked across the island to the other, (took about an hour with little stops along the way). There's possibly the best beach I've seen so far on the ... read more

We are in Bangkok. A shopping haven here. We went crazy! We literally shopped until we dropped. There is a well known red light district here called Pat Pong. Pete really wanted to go. It is a really touristy area and quite safe. All these people where trying to sell us all these places. We went to this one place that I didn't want to go to because I thought it looked dodgey. Anyway they said it was no cover and beers cost 100 bart (about four dollars). We went and the shows where "pussy popping balloons", "pussy drinking pepsi" and "pussy swallow ping pong". Well, I will let your imagination do the rest. As soon as we sat down we had four half asian women saying "Buy us pepsi - one drink - we thirsty- ... read more