remembering those happy days...

Today I've seen the sea, again, with my camera walking along the path of the coast... It was not in Kho Phi Phi, nor Vietnam, it was in Begur, near Girona and I had nice memories from the last time I swam in the sea...

Half a year since the last post (time goes too fast sometimes), half a year ago I was still in Kho Phi Phi, and now I am settled down in Girona, or at least trying it... working again in computing, spending all my time in front of a screen and a keyboard, what a boring life!!!!!

The last days in Thailand were great, After Kho Phi Phi, I went to Krabi where I met some basque people climbing and finally I ended up in Bangkok again after 3 months. In Bangkok I realized that everything can be done, that I spent 3 months on my own in Asia and everything had been great. I met plenty of people who tough me a lot of things... I've seen plenty of places so different... I slept during 90 days in many different places... I realized that I had time everyday to see the sunset! Cos, in my western life, I can never see the sunsets, too busy... we are too busy to see these small but wonderful things that the world bring us...

Anyway, I think that I realized that I am not this kind of people that can spend 8 hours sitting in front of a screen... like what I am doing now!!!

Buff, now when I am writing this my adventuring voice is getting louder and louder again, should I start packing everything and move to the next place?? Or is it just that now is sunday evening and tomorrow at 9am I have to be in the office?

I have no clear memories of my flight back, probably I spend it sleeping... oh well, I remember that when I get into London with my sandals, 3 days before christmas, my feet realized that... everything had gone away! Then.. once I get in Barcelona Iratxe and Dani welcomed me and we went for the first beer in Sants! The same people who waved me good bye when I started my trip in Cork, were welcoming me back in Barcelona... Thanks a lot!

Anyway, just wanted to put some kind of end to this blog (...at least for now I think...), and thank to everyone who followed it.

Here you have a picture of how you could met me when I was traveling, my big bag on the back, a small one on the front, the lonely planet, and a bottle of water... this is what i needed during the 3 months...

Gerard

Something similar than paradise... Koh Phi Phi...

Southern Thailand. Some kind of paradise to disconnect. It has been long time since my last update in the blog. As you can imagine, no news mean good news, and I am trying to enjoy a lot these last days of my trip. Yes... you heard right, finally I think it's enough of my travels. I have been thinking to follow with India and Nepal, or even go to south America throw China. But I am now quite tired of packing/unpacking my bag every two or three days, to meet people for three or four days and then you have to say good bye and follow your trip again alone. But so far, I am happy of these 12 weeks traveling and quite a bit sad of having to leave Asia. I will come back for sure soon.

Leaving Langkawi in Malaysia was hard. Langkawi was one of that places that I felt very good, there was not too much to do, but everything was easy. I rode all the island with a motorbike, I knew every single corner of the island. I could think a lot there, and thanks to the rain I met very interesting people around the Gecko guest house. Finally I decided to move. I was not sure where though. I just went to the Pier and took a ticket for the ferry to Satun, the first village in the Thailand border.

Once in Satun, it was not clear where I would sleep that night. My first idea was to go to Krabi, but I don't know how "Mr Rockandroll" and the "Princess" convinced me to go with them to Koh PhaNgan, an island in the east side of Thailand. I met Chris and Tania in the guest house I was staying in Langkawi and I've been travelling with them these last days. We took some kind of taxi together from Satun direction to full moon party, well it was a funny trip so the driver was 17 years old and he was asking for directions every half an hour. The trip was a little bit scary but we arrived on time to take the last ferry direction Kho Phangan.

Kho Phangan has some nice beaches in the north, but the main atraction of the island are the parties of the moon. The main one is the 'full moon' party. It started 20 years ago, where some travelers met in Had Riin beach for the full moon. It starts during the sunset with chill out music and it lasts until noon the next day (of course I was already sleeping at that time...) I thought it would have been different, with more fire in the beach, but actually it was some kind of drunk party with plenty of people looking like 'Spice Girls' and 'Back Street Boys', rather than a travelers meeting. But it was ok, I enjoyed a lot. I met again a lot of people from these last three months traveling...

So the nights in Kho Phangan were party, there are plenty of warming-up parties thenight befores, but during the day we took motorbikes and we discovered the northern part of the island and its beaches and it was quite nice.

I left Koh Phangan after the full moon party, I am running out of time and I decided to visit some island in the western part. I head of to Krabi on the night boat, arriving at SuraTani around 5 where I could watch the Barcelona Madrid match! It was funny the end ;-) Again on the bus from Suratani to Krabi I changed my plans again, so I stop in the pier of Krabi and took another ferry direction to Kho Phi Phi island. This place was completely destroyed during the tsunami and now everything is new (the prices are also 'new'). Here is one of the nicest places in Thailand, but this is not a secret, and there is plenty of people everywhere.

Yesterday I spend all the day in a long tail boat around small island and movie beaches, it was so beautiful... We spent a lot of time in the water snorkeling between color fishes, jellyfishes, even people said they could see a shark... I didn't though!

So, I am going to explore a little bit more this island! See you soon!

Gerard


Chris, Tania and me... I'll miss them a lot




The first time the reality is better than a postacard...




Isn't Koh Phi Phi a paradise?



Sailing and sailing...

Lost in Langkawi, a paradise in Malaysia...

Hey!! It's been now long time without any update! So, I am now in Langkawi, this is an small island in the west part of the peninsula of Malaysia, very close to Thailand. After all the problems in Bangkok Airport, I had to change my flight scheduled to go to Thailand, and I flew to Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia.

Kuala Lumpur is a big and modern city with a lot of skyscrapers, shopping centers and with a Mac Donald's on every corner. After two months eating noodles and rice, I couldn't resist the temptation to get a Big Mac, with large Coke and chips. In Malaysia the prices are fixed and you don't need to negotiate it in advance, this was difficult to get used after the Cambodian and especially the Vietnamese days where you had to get angry to get a good deal

Malaysia is a country with a lot of cultural and religion mixes and you can really feel it walking in the street. You can find Malaysians of Chinese descent, Malaysians of Indian descent, War refuges from Cambodia or Vietnam who settled down here during war times... The main religions and the official is Islam, but Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism is very extended as well.

I spent a couple of days in Kuala Lumpur, there is not too much to see rather than the new town, with skyscrapers. I visited the Petronas Twin Towers, who where the highest building of the world until 2003. They hosts the main head quarters of a petroleum company, then you realize how much money the petroleum can give. I also went to the top of the Menara communications antenna, the 5th tallest antenna of the world. It was difficult to walk between these big buildings after the two month trip. In Kuala Lumpur the cars were stopping at the traffic lights so it made so easy to cross the street!

Then, when I was used to the big city, I decided to move on and that I deserved some days of beach. There are too many places to see in Malaysia, but honestly I decided to only get laid in one place for long time. It's a little bit tiring to be moving from town to town every day or every two days. So the chosen place was Langkawi. An small island near Thailand. I've been here for 3 or 4 days already. I hired a motorbike and I've been riding along quiet roads of the island, between swims on the turquoise water beaches and waterfalls.

There is not much to do here, but when I arrived I met a lot of people that had to be in Thailand, but due to the airport problems where in Malaysia. So we created a nice atmosphere, I even met Donna and George with who I traveled with during 3 weeks around Laos and Cambodia.

Unfortunately the weather is not very good. Today has been raining all the day. And the last two days have been quite cloudy. I keep on having bad luck when I go to the beach. The first day I arrived here, the sunny day, I decided to leave the camera at the guest house and that day the light was brilliant... so I have no nice picture from Langkawi yet.

Anyway, now that Thailand seems quiet, I will take a boat and try to get there. I'll keep you updated!


Beach arround Langkawi



Twin towers



Skyline in Kuala Lumpur

last hours in Vietnam...

Hey! Today is my last day in Vietnam. During these last days, I've been in Halong Bay, on the north coast, on relaxing 3 day trip on a boat to Cap Ba island with kyaking, trekking, swimming... and I could finally enjoy the Vietnamesse Sun!! The weather has been brilliant, the landscape was wonderfull, with a lot of islands, and the people in the boat were very nice, so it has been a good end in Vietnam!

I am now back in Hanoi and in few hours a take a flight to Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia. It was not planned to go to Malaysia, but my flights to Bangkok and Krabi have been cancelled due to the protests and I am trying to avoid for a while to go to Thailand.

Anyway, I really enjoied these days in Vietnam. Vietnam, has been the easiest country for travelling, it's a pity that I have not enough time to go to the northern mountains in Sapa, but people I met told me that now it's very cold arround there. I will have to visit Sapa another time...

I am late!! Here there are some pictures that explians everything on Halong Bay.

Some pictures from the motorbike trip

On the rear of the motorbike



Drying coffee outside the houses (the Vietnamese coffee it's brilliant)




Building a path



The crazy house in Dalat, inspired on Gaudi



landscapes




A house



Wet in a waterfall



The safest bridge in the world



The motorbike in the mechanic



He was following me while we were in the mechanic



Making rice paper



Another one for my sunset album

lazy and rainy days in Central Vietnam...

So these last days I've been exploring the Central Coast of Vietnam, but it seems that in November is not the best season to visit it, so the clouds and the rain are still here every day.

Hoi An was wonderful, walking in the street is like being inside a museum. Hoi An was a very important international trading city during the seventeenth century. This left a lot of different Chinese and Western influences in the architecture. It's the perfect town to just get lost walking on his narrow streets and keep taking pictures of all the houses. I really enjoyed the two days I was there, half of the town in the river side was flooded, but at least the days I was there, it was not raining too much.

Then, I came to Hue that is located 3 hours in the north of Hoi An. Hue was the political capital during the 19th Century. Here there was the imperial city (Citadel) were the Nguyen emperors dynasty were living.

Yesterday I took a very interesting cultural trip to see different places related to the War arround the Ben Hai River that was the natural border between North Vietnam and South Vietnam until 1975. We could visit war bases, museums, cemeteries of soldiers, tunnels that the people were using to hide from the war... It was a very interesting trip, a nice class of history by our guide!

During the evenings, here in Hue are very quiet, but I met very nice people in the Guest House where I am staying to share the dinner and some beers. Every nigh we are all saying that we are leaving the next day, but the next day we are still there. I am not sure if it's the rain or it is Hue itself, but here a feel very lazy!

Anyway, I am waiting now for the bus to Hanoi. I think I am running out of days in Vietnam. I really wanted to go to the northern mountains of Sapa, but I think I have not enough days left. Next Sunday expires my visa in Vietnam and I've a flight already booked to Thailand... :-( We will have to leave Sapa for the next time I visit Vietnam, so like I read somewhere "the trail is the thing, not the end of the trail. Travel too fast and you miss all you are traveling for..."

Oh.. by the way... last night you almost make me cry (a happy cry, though). I was going to sleep and I just checked my email (it's free here in Vietnam but very slow) and I saw the comments of the blog... You are the best! Thank you... sometimes I think a lot with you and Cork. I miss the weekend lunches (or lunches that become a diner or even breakfast...), the Sunday Jazz evenings in Crane Lane... The saucy chicken wraps... 'El Zulo'... and aren't the waitress of Tom Barry's asking for me? :-D

A corner in Hoi An



Flooded street in Hoi An



Handicraft shop in Hoi An



Some live ducks in the market, soon they will be in a pot :-(



Chinese meeting hall in Hoi an



Citadel in Hue



A door of the Citadel




Some bomb craters remaining near Ben Hai River




Inside a tunnel to hide from the war. People had been living here for 6 years... I was inside for 20 minutes and it was very claustrophobic.

In Nha Trang...

Like in the movie 'diarios de una motocicleta', during these last 4 days I felt like Che discovering Vietnam on a motorbike. It was supposed to be only one day from Mui Ne to Dalat, but at the end I've been riding all the Central Highlands for 4 days and I am now back to the rainy coast in Nha Trang.

The first day in Mui Ne we left very early with 'the River', the crazy guide and driver of the motorbike. We went riding throw small roads to the cool Dalat city, in the mountains at 1400 meters. It was long time now without feeling the cool weater and air in the mountains. I even had to dig in my backpack for a jacket and a scarf! That night in Dalat was quite interesting, we stayed in a backpackers hostel chating with other people that had been doing the motorbike trip to the mountains, arround glasses of hot peanut and soja milk to fight again the cold. So then I decided to go for it, and spend three more days with 'the River' in the mountains.

Next morning, we rode from Dalat to the Dalak mountains region, crossing small villages, nice landscapes and stopping to see different traditional jobs in Vietnam. We stopped in brick factory, a silk factory, a mushrom farm, tea and coffe plantations, green peper plantations and even we stop to see how it's done the rice paper where they roll the spring rolls... The children were going out to the street when they hear the noise of the motorbike and were waving 'hello'!! Unfortunatelly our motorbike broke in the afternoon and we had to push it a couple of kilometers until we found a garage. We were in the middle of nowhere, and people were looking at me as stranger. While River was trying to fix the motorbike, I went for a walk arround the town and all the children were following me...

It was getting dark, the motorbike was still broken, so River put me in a van that was passing throw the main road to go to the next village where there was a guest house. I felt bad to leave him alone but I got inside the van that was packed with 16 more people (it was supposed to be 12 seats only). They van left me in a Guest house in a village where nobody was speaking English and everybody wanted to tell me something. Finally I went for dinner in a Bar waiting for River. Everybody was looking a football match between Vietnam and Thailand, when the phone rang, the turn down the TV and the waitress looked and pointed at me. It was River, that he could not fix the bike. He was very sorried but he was going to get a truck back to Dalat and pointed me how to get the Bus back to Dalat on my own. I was a little bit sad, so I was alone in a place where nobody spoke English... Anyway, I went to sleep and arround half six in the morning, somebody knocked at the door. It was River that finally had come with a friend of him, Dennis, who I already met him in Dalat, to continue the trip with me. I really apreciated this. We had breakfast all three together, so Dennis had been awake since 2am to go from Dalat to pick River and come to the city I was staying.

So that day I did the trip with Dennis and maybe River would join us at night once the motorbike was fixed. That day rained a lot. We went throw the small roads to see waterfalls and very nice landscapes, but we were completelly wet. My feet were swimming inside my shoes, so it was not very funny but was a nice experience. We staied that night in Buon Nha Thuot. We went to have dinner with Dennis and he took me to a Karaoke bar, full of Vietnamesse people singing cozy songs... it was funny! The last day, it was sunny and was to come back the 200 km to get back to the coast in Nha Trang, stopping along the road. It was very nice!

Anyway, so I enjoyed a lot these days, from Mui Ne to Nha Trang, you can take a borring 4 hour bus, but I would really recommend to get the 4 days tour to the mountains with Easy Riders, where you can see the real Vietnam! River and Dennis were always very nice with plenty of histories to explain (not sure if all of them were true, though), I really appreciate that even when there were problems with the motorbike, I really felt that their first concern was about my seucurity and confort. If you ever want to do it, contact River (http://www.vietnameasyrider.com).

I am now in the coast, where is rainning a lot again. So far in Vietnam I am not lucky with the weather. In 2 hours I am taking a 12 hours bus to Hoi An, I am not sure if I can fit now in a bus after the amazing days in the motorbike.

I would really like to upload pictures to the blog, but so far it seems that the USB is not working on this computer... :-( I will have to call tech support!

The first beach in the trip... Mui Ne

Hey...

It's been one month and a half in south east Asia to see the first beach!! I am in Mui Ne, a very quiet village 3 hours far from Saigon. I came here to relax after Cambodia and my idea was to spend a couple of days laying in the beach, but since I arrived it has been raining :-( but with beautifull sunsets. So, now that I have plenty of time I will bother you with some history I've learnt during these 5 days that I've been in Vietnam.

Vietnam has been involved in wars 4 times. Until the 10th century Vietnam had a lot of problems with China. Then, during 19th century French conquered and imposed, in a violent way, significant cultural changes. But some communist groups resisted the ideas the colonization. The first communist group was set up by Ho Chi Minch during 1925. Duruing the Second World War, the communist resisted the ocupation by the Japanese, and when the War was finished Ho Chim Minh declared Vietnam independent. France wanted to get it back and finally on 1954 during the Geneva Accords, it was agreed to separate Vioetnam on the Ben Hai River. Northern Vietnam was communist, governed by Ho Chi Minh, and southern Vietnam, non communist and former French supporters, governed by Ngo Dinh.

During 1960, a communist guerilla (Viet Cong) was created to fight against Dinh (or southern Vietnam). Since the beggining USA supported South Vietnam, trying to avoid to extend communist arround Asia. First USA only offered weapons and logistics. Then on 1965 USA send also soldiers. American people got out in the street asking some justification for the war and asking to stop the war. During 1973, US forces left Vietnam. On 1975, Saigon was conquired by North Vietnamese and they changed the name to Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam was then reunificated by the communist. And nowadays, they still live in communist government but with capitalism ideas.

Ok, it's enough of history for now, but this was essencial to understand and the breathtakin war museum in Saigon and the Cu Chi tunnels built to hide from the war...

Here in Mui Ne there is only beaches and sand dunes. A nice place to relax and have a huge plate of seafood at night for less than 5 euros. I hired here a bicicle and I've been under the pooring rain along the coast and dunes. But almost all the day I've been in the Guest House talking with the other travellers!

Probably tomorrow I will go to Dalat. Everything depends on the weather so I will try to go by motorbike!

I miss you a lot!

Gerard


Nice sunset in Mui Ne. Actually, last evering I saw the best sunset in my life. Everything was red, the sky, the sea, all the boats, all the faces... Unvelibable, it lasted only 4 or 5 minutes but was brilliant!



Ohh... by the way... I think I've lost something in Vietnam :-p

Good Morning Vietnam!!

So finally I am in Vietnam!! I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (also known as Saigon) on Monday after spending the Cambodian Independence day (November, 9th) in Phnom Phen.

Saigon, a busy city that never stops. I has almost 10 million people and 5 million of motorbikes at least. To cross any street you just close your eyes and keep walking between the motorbikes, and I don't know how, you always get to the other side of the street!

Since Monday I've been doing a lot of things... Yesterday I visited the Cu Chi tunnels, 200 km of tunnels built during the war by Vietnamese people supporting communist to hide from the Americans.

Today I've been in the Mekong Delta to see the villages over there. Nothing special rather than sailing in the river. We were too may people in the tour and we went too fast. Here in Vietnam it seems that you can only, or its easier, to visit the things with a private tour operator, and at the end of the day they bring you to some commercial expositions and honestly, I am not used to that. I prefer to go on my own, bargaining the price of the tuk-tuk...

Anyway, the next day I tell you some history from Vietnam and post some pictures.

Battambang...

Battambang is the second biggest city in Cambodia but you don't feel it once you are there. There are motorbikes everywhere but you don't feel like if you were in a big city. I arrived here by my own again, I left in Siem Reap the people I had been traveling with since Vientiane in Laos, we were going to different directions now. It was sad to say good bye, but the trip must continue.

Battambang is one of these cities that people usually don't stop. In the city there isn't any attraction, but as soon you leave the city and you get in the countryside you see the real Cambodia.

Yesterday I took a motorbike with a driver that brought me to see some temples 30 km away from Battambang. We were riding throw smalls roads, well, I don't know if I should call them roads so they were very damaged and with no pavement and plenty of cars were stuck on the side of the road. We crossed local villages and the driver was very nice and was explaining everything. He was 47 years old so he knew the histories of the places we went and we talked a lot about the Khmer Rouge and nowadays politics in Cambodia.

At the end of the day we took a ride on a bamboo train, that is an small train built from bamboo with an small engine on it. The bamboo trains have been an unofficial part of the Cambodian transport network for years using the railway network to Phnom Penh that nowadays only departs once a week. The only problem is that there is only one track so if two trains meet, the one with the lightest load has to be taken off the rails so the other can pass.

Today I've been all the day in an orphanage of children who has been injured with mines and bombs. There are 5 spanish volunteers on the orphanage and even I went to a Khmer class with them.

C iu!

Siem Reap.... temples of Angkor

On Monday, we moved from Phnom Phen to Siem Reap where the Angkor Wat temples that are located. Siem Reap is a city completely different that the capital of Cambodia. Angkor Wat is the main attraction from Cambodia, and you can find here any kind of accommodation and facility for the western people. There is even a zone in the center full of restaurants and design bars that reminds me more some village in the Spanish coast rather than Cambodia.

The food here is very good. People says that in Cambodia, the people really appreciate and take care of the food, so they know what is it when you can not eat like when there was the "Khmer rouge" regime 30 years ago. We tried everything: Khmer Amok, Lok Lak... like all the Asia's food, it's plenty of vegetables and always served with rice.

Yesterday we went all the day to visit the Angkor temples. Angkor Wat are a group of temples built around the ancient city of Angkor Thom by powerful Khmer kings during the ninth century. Angkor in Khmer means big. It took 300 years to finish them. During the 15th century they were abandoned during the invasion by Siam and forgotten about until French explorers rediscovered them in the nineteenth century. During these time that was abandoned the Nature kept his finger print and several trees grew between the stones of the temples like snakes. Now, the combination of the nature with the temples, their beautiful statues and multilayered towers remain as one of the seven man-made wonders of the world.

We woke up at 4:15 to see the sunrise in Angkor Wat, but unfortunately it was cloudy and we couldn't see anything, but at least it was not too hot. But we stayed until 5pm with the fastest tuk-tuk driver of Siem Riep visiting temples. It was a very nice day, the temples were impressive! Sometimes you feel like if you are inside an Indiana Jones movie...

Today has been a lazy day in Siem Reap, tomorrow Battambang, north west of Cambodia, close to Thailand.


Evening in Siem Reap




Temple of Ta Prohm

first impressions from Cambodia

The arrival to Cambodia was very hard. After the quiet days in Laos, I was not used anymore to the people in the street trying to sell you everything, pushing you to get a tuk-tuk, little children asking for money...

We crossed the border to Cambodia on Friday. The trip was horrible, we were in a minivan with more people than seats, and the road (or something like that was pretending to be a road) was awful, we even have to get off the van to push it...

Yesterday we couldn't get out of the Guest House, it was one of these days very humid, that you just want to spend the day on an hamac reading a book.

Today was different, we got up early and hired a tuk-tuk that brought us to see the tourism high-lights of Phnom Penh. Honestly there is not too much to see but a lot of things to feel. In Phnom Penh, the main touristic activities are related on the genocide of "Khmer Rouge", the communist political party of Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

Khmer Rouge overtook the country on April 1975 and created Democratic Kampuchea (KD), a new communist regime with Pol Pot as leader.

It was one of the most lethal regimes of the 20th century. Khmer Rouge imposed a radical form of agrarian communism where the whole population had to work in collective farms or forced labor projects.

Khmer Rouge wanted to eliminate anyone suspected of involvement in market activities. Suspected capitalists encompassed professionals and almost everyone with an education and people with connections to foreign governments

So today, we visited a School that was converted as prison during the regime (S-21). I was very hard so different pictures was showing what was going on during that walls only 30 years ago. And was even worse to visit the killing fields were the people were killed and buried. All the way back we were in silent in the tuk-tuk.

I've spend all the evening reading a book from a child survivor of Pol Pot's brutal regime, Luang Ung, called "First they killed my father".

Well, tomorrow we are heading to Siem Reap!

I'll keep you updated!

Some pictures from southern Laos...

Champassak ruins



Don Det landscapes (4000 islands)



In a waterfall near Pakse



House and childern in Don Det

Southern Laos...

Hey,

this last week I was discovering southern Laos. So far this has been the best experience of the trip. I went from Vientiane down to Pakse, from where I moved to Tadlo, Champassak and to the 4000 islands: Don Khong, Don Det and Don Khon.

It really was very nice, so the south is the part of Laos where the tourism is still not exploted and you can enjoy more its people.

Since last Saturday I am traveling with 3 English people, Donna, Gerogina and George and it makes the things easier and more funny.

The last days were impressive in Don Det, one of the 4000 islands on the Mekong River. In Don Det there is not even electricity and you can spend less than half an hour to cross the island by bike.

But now Laos is over. Today we crossed the border to Cambodia in the worse trip I've ever had, there was overbooking in the bus and the road was flooded. We just arrived half an hour ago in Phnom Peng.

Upss, it's late and it's halloween night! We are going now to celebrate!

I'll try to get more updates soon!

In Vientiane...

Hey!

So, it has been already a week here in Laos, and this country is surprising me a lot!

The first days I was In Luang Prabang, surrounded by french colonial architecture mixed with budhist temples. I was really feeling very good in Luang Prabang, it was very quiet and calm, I even spent one day in a cooking class trying to learn the secrets of the Lao food, I enjoyed it a lot, I couldn't believe when it was cooked that I did it. I promise that when I will be back I will cook something for you!

It was very difficult to leave Luang Prabang, I would highly recommend the guest house where I was staying, it was a very new one called "Phontida", just behind the Mount Phousi. The family that were in charge of the hostel was very friendly they even invited me to join them for their lunch, there was all the family there and all knew my name!

Finally I decided to move and go down to Vang Vieng, a city full of backpackers where you can do any outdoor activity like kayaking, climbing, trekking... but the main reason people goes to Vang Vieng is for the "tubbing", that basically consists in going down the river on a big tractor tube. It was very relaxing, and you can find several bars where you can stop for a drink and jump to the river from swings and zips. Was quite funny, even when it was dark and we were still tubing the river down with no light!

But Vang Vieng was too touristic for me, and this morning I decided to move to the capital of Laos, Vientiane. I was thinking that Vientiane would be some kind of Bangkok with busy streets with plenty of noise, cars, tuk-tuks, polution... but it's not. It's very quiet and relaxing, like all Laos. I spent the evening walking throw the center and it seems there is not too much to do, but I think I will spend here a couple of days relaxing with a book in a terrace on the Mekong river.

I am really enjoying the calm here in Laos. Here the people doesn't get stressed, there is no time, there is no timetable for the bus, it just leaves between 7 or 8. Here there is no future, people just leave in the present. I was thinking to move to Vietnam after Vientiene, but I think that I will go down to the south of Laos, I think it deserves to spend some more time here in Laos.


Nice sunset in Vang Vieng