Udawalawe & Ella

Pictures here 🙂 There are a lot and I didn`t have time to make a lot of comments on them 🙂

So, after hanging out at the sandy and wavy beaches of Sri Lanka for the better part of two weeks, it was time to see what else this beautiful country could offer. We had set our mind on going on a safari in one of the many parks around the island, and the choice fell on Udawalawe in the end. An hour and a half from Tangalle, we arrived in Elephant Trails, a beautiful hotel close to the national park.  There wasn`t really much to do there than the safari, and we came too late for that the first day. So we were again confined to the pool. Shame man 🙂 In all honesty, it is too hot to do anything unless it`s early morning or late afternoon, so even though it sounds extremely lazy just lying at the pool, that’s the reality in a hot country 🙂

But, we went for a walk after we had finished being overheated. However, walking down a high way when they drive as crazy as they do isn`t really our idea of fun. So we turned around rather quickly. That night after dinner we were so excited about going on a safari the next day, so we watched the Lion King and we both felt like we were in Africa. Even though Nansy have never been in Africa 🙂

Our safari started at 6 am, so we were up at the break of dawn and half asleep went down to our jeep. We headed to the park a short 10 min drive from the hotel.  The place was loaded with other jeeps and tourists, which kinda spoiled the moment a bit. I might have been spoiled on my safari in Zim, but still. Luckily we had very good driver, and throughout our drive he managed to stay clear of the rest of the cars. For the drive we got to see a lot of peacocks, buffalos and a lot of different birds. Peacock sounds are now my new favorite bush sound, it is sooo beautiful ❤  And then there were the highlights of the tour, crocodiles and close ups with elephants! 😀 In the beginning we passed a mother and her kid, and through the rest of the tour saw some more in the distance. But the best of the day was the bull (male elephant)  we met close to the water hole, our driver stopped the car and he slowly walked up to the jeep. After some very scary stories about bulls from Zim, I was close to wetting my shorts. He came up and put his trunk in to the driver`s window, and then he finally backed up. But we were still close, but the good close and not scary anymore 🙂  We were extremely happy with the safari, and I hope I`ll get the chance to do another one when I`m back in Zim, safari is da shit 😀

We finished the safari early and stayed at the hotel for the rest of the hot part of the day. Then we figured we should go and see some of the city, and again there was nothing to see. So I guess Sri Lanka doesn`t do cities the way we do home. After spending the day doing nothing we regretted not moving on after the safari. Coma state can get to you, and we were a bit restless. But there was nothing we could do but to wait until the next morning. Our driver picked us up after lunch, and we started the three hour ride to Ella. After about two hours we stopped at Buduruvagala, and ancient Buddhist temple. It was so gorgeous and magnificent to be there. The statues are carved right in to the mountain and dates back to the 10^th century. The names literally means “the rocks of Buddhist Sculptures”.

After stopping here we started the climb up to Ella. And man. If I`d had known we were driving that crazy road all the way up, I`m not sure I would have done it. Zikk zakk narrow roads all the way up, traffic coming down, no fence on the side, I was SO scared. I`m such a wuss when it comes to heights, it was just horrible. In the end though, so worth it. Ella is breathtaking. Beautiful mountains, green hills, tea plantations, fields and jungle, I`m amazed that there can be such a place! Sri Lanka just went very high up on the list of most beautiful places visited. The temperature here is better, warm at day and cool at night and morning.  So, after arriving and checking in at out hotel, we went on a hike to Little Adams Peack, 2 km from where we stayed. Walking through endless tea plantations and up the hill with a never ending view was just so amazing. And very good for the body after coma state 🙂 We treated ourselves to a beer and enjoyed the view from our balcony when we got down again, listening to the sounds of the peacocks in the distance 🙂 After having THE BEST curry for dinner we crash in our beds and fell asleep instantly.

Next morning we had arranged a guide to take us to Ella Rock, which we could see from our balcony. We walked from our hotel to the start of the mountain along the railways while the train was passing us. Our guide was awesome, he spoke very good English and new a lot about Sri Lanka and also the war. So while hiking we were told a lot of history and fact about the country we didn`t know. Like I said before, the language barrier have made some of the communication difficult, so it was nice to have someone to talk to 🙂 The hike itself was so nice, walking through tea plantations, pine forest, grass as tall as us and exhausting hills. The view is spectacular and impossible to catch on film so you might not get how amazing it was. But WOW.

Nansy had booked a massage after the hike, so while she was doing that I fell asleep in the hammock on our balcony. With a view straight up to Ella Rock, not bad at all. Later that day we went to buy some local tea and have a beer at one of the cafés viewing the hills. Ella is by far the best place we have been to in Sri Lanka, and our only regret is that we didn`t have more time here 🙂 Never go to Sri Lanka without visiting Ella!

We had been talking about taking the train back to Colombo from Ella, but it would take us 9 hours and only 6 by car. The manager at the hotel said we could take the train from Ella to Haputale which only takes about an hour and then our driver would be waiting for us there with our luggage. So that was an option we were very happy with and looking forward to. First off: Train. We were first worried that we might not have enough space to see anything, cuz there were a lot of tourists taking the train as well. But we found two good spots and waited for the journey to begin. It stared out so good with a view of Ella. Apparently the Chinese group in our carriage thought the same and were screaming, and I mean screaming, in excitement all the way from Ella to Haputale. They were running back and forth and hanging out the doors and windows and going absolutely crazy! So that ruined parts of that journey.
Second: 6 hour drive to Colombo. Oh. My. God. The worst and most scary road trip EVER! I mean, they can`t freaking drive down here, I`m sorry :O In the beginning it was fine, but as the traffic got heavier we were just hoping to make it to Colombo in one piece. They are always in a hurry, trying to drive passed cars when there is obviously no room or even a clear road ahead, a two lane road turns into a 5 lane road and so on. And also, no air con. And 33 degrees. But we made it, and are now enjoying Colombo 🙂

Tomorrow Nansy is going back home, 😦 , and I`m heading for Nepal to meet Marit and trek for the next two weeks J I don`t think I`ll bring my computer up in the mountains so the next post from me will be when I`m back from trekking in Kathmandu or in Bali. Nansy will fill you in on what we have been doing in Colombo 🙂

 

 

 

Mirissa & Tangalle

Pictures here 🙂

So, after the surfing it was time for us to be on our own and meet the real Sri Lanka. It started out really good, with a tuk-tuk ride from the camp to Mirissa with our entire luggage. Best way to travel! 🙂 Our hotel in Mirissa gave us a lovely welcome in the form of a huge cockroach crawling around on the floor. Thanks.  We went down to the beach and just had a beer at one of the beach shacks, and spent the rest of that day just relaxing on the beach, figured we deserved that after a week of hard surfing 😉

The next morning we had booked a whale watching tour, and Emelie from the surf camp came to join us. Sri Lanka has a lot of blue whales right outside the coast, and it attracts at lot of tourists. If you ever go, be sure to check the company you go with. A lot of them go too close to the whales to please the tourists. Be sure to choose one who will be respectful of the sea and it`s animals.
So at 6.30 am we were picked up, and headed for the harbor. At 7 am we went out on a huge boat, with a lot of other people. The crew offered some pills for sea sickness, and almost everybody took one. I don`t get sick out on the sea, so I passed. And so glad I did, just as we left shore everybody who had taken one fell asleep :O Nansy later told me it`s common, but it just felt a little bit creepy. Anyway, after about an hour out our captain spotted the first whale of the day 😀 It was kinda far off, so we only saw it in the distance when it came up for air. But another one came up even closer, and this one was close enough for us to see how huge these animals are! It`s seriously one of (I know I`ve said it before) best experiences ever! I love love love love whales ❤ And so we kept on driving around and looking for more, and in total we saw three near and three in the distance. And we were lucky, they hadn`t spotted any over the last week! J And as if it wasn`t good enough, all of a sudden a HUGE flock of dolphins came jumping close to the boat!! I mean, DOLPHINS!! I bet there were like 20 – 30 jumping around, and we followed them around and around, and we saw them all over. SUPER SWEET ❤ At the end we also came across some turtles making sweet love in the waves of the ocean, it could not have been better 🙂  We were out on the ocean for 2 ½ hours before heading back. Again, they all fell asleep around me. Creepy.
We spent the rest of the day on the beach with Emelie before heading back to the hotel and packing up our stuff.

Next morning we were picked up at the hotel and drove to Tangalle. Nansy had done most of the planning for Sri Lanka (thank you for leaving me off the hook for a couple of weeks) , and she has done a fantastic job! 🙂 Tangalle offers nice beaches and a relaxing atmosphere, and we have been in a coma for the last four days. We had seen and read some reviews of the hotel we are staying at, saying it was the best in the area. And it was fantastic! Our room was cozy and we had a porch and the whole hotel surroundings was just amazing. We called it The Garden of Eden, mixed together with the infinity pool, the garden with the peacocks, squirrels, birds, cows and other unidentified animals it was just heaven.  The beaches around the area are carzy wild with heavy waves and so we only went to the beach one day. It was a nice beach and all, but swimming became almost impossible and it`s too hot not to. So we went back to the pool 🙂
We went down to town one of the days, but there wasn`t really anything to see.  Sri Lanka is still trying to recover from nearly 25 years of war, and you can tell it`s a poor country. We have seen a lot of the country driving from place to place now, and there are huge contrasts in the infrastructure. On the one hand you have modern houses and shops, on the other you have shacks with only thin paper walls that people live in. Tourism is positive for the country in boosting the economy, I just hope that it`s not Thailand in a few years. Sri Lanka is wild and amazing, and I hope it stays  like this for a long time 🙂  Most local people we have met speak “normal English” as they say,  but it`s surprisingly hard to communicate sometimes. It`s sometimes as India, or more like a light version of the India I experienced. The traffic is as crazy as India, keeping to your side of the road is obviously impossible. Lights and mirrors on cars have no function, they rather user the horn. A hunk can mean the following: “Move, Traffic is coming, I`m about to pass you, Pedestrians beware” and sometimes they just hunk for no apparent reason.
Bus drivers are the worst drivers. They earn money based on the number of passengers and so they are always in a hurry to get to the next bus stop. They drive hella crazy and we are never getting on a local bus.
Everybody you meet asks the following questions: “Where are you from? How many days you in Sri Lanka? Where you been before (and then the place you met the person in) and last but not least: You have hotel? “People are generally sweet, we haven`t experienced anything scary or unpleasant, except from a few comments here and there. But then we are so damn cute, who can blame them? 🙂
We have moved from Tangalle and the beaches and are now inland. Stay tuned for Udawalawe and Ella 🙂

The beauty of traveling

Like I`ve said before, one of the beauties of traveling like I do now, is that your never know what`s gonna happen the next month, week or even day. You make plans, but they change, you change and things around you change. For me, everything changed in Zimbabwe. I don`t know how I best can describe it but it was amazing enough for me to think about it every day and miss it ever so much. It`s been my lifelong dream to go to Africa and work and do good for others. I feel so privileged for the chance I got.

So now my plan have changed and in beginning of May I`m going back to Zim to work for Sabona for 6 more weeks before I head home! ❤  I am so happy and feel so lucky to have this opportunity that I just don`t have enough words to describe it 🙂 In my heart and soul this feels like the best decision I have ever made ❤

Surfs up!

Pictures here 🙂

A week goes crazy fast when you have fun! We`ve been in Ahangama since last Monday and yesterday we moved on. The surfing have been so much fun, and we finally understand why people love it so much 🙂

Starting where Nansy ended: On our third day of surfing we were ready to try to start turning after catching a wave. Our instructor, Ranjit, said our group was really good and that’s why we could start turning so early. It`s easy being good when you have an instructor like Ranjit. He doesn`t know a lot of English, but he knows enough for you to do what you`re told:
Ranjit: “ ARMS UP!!! Why u no arms up?! LOOK BEACH! Why u no look beach?! U SLEEP?? Why u sleep?! MORE PRESURE LEGS!! Why u fall off?! Stay on! Why u put foot like this?!” He of course said all those things whit the biggest smile in the world and laughing all the time 🙂  But still, we didn`t want to disappoint him, so we worked hard to put our arms up, look at the beach, not fall asleep and keeping our feet the correct way.
It might sound easy enough, but turning is so hard! There is so much to remember and we really are at the stage where we`re amazed that we can even get on the board. But we both managed to do some turns by control and not just luck! I had to quit a bit early this day, my face was so burned and it hurt so much with the saltwater that I couldn`t do a full session. Sucks, but my face is more important than surfing.

Like Nansy said we had a lay day on Friday and we could go on different tours around the area. We chose to go to the rainforest which we heard from other was amazing. It was a 3 hour drive from the camp to Sinharaja Forest Reserve. A heart-in-the-throat-crazy-reckless-drive that is. When we arrived we met our guide and got ready to head in the forest. I was freaked out about the leaches that everybody was talking about, and was going out of my mind! But our very friendly guide told me to rub salt on my shoes and then the leaches wouldn`t latch on. So I bought a pack of salt and rubbed it in as much as I could and was ready to head in 🙂

It was a beautiful walk through the forest and a very hot one. It was a bit cloudy which was perfect for the day. We walked around for three hours, stopping at the occasionally huge spiders, lizards and a small snake. The goal of the tour was a waterfall we could swim in, and it was so amazingly stunning there! Like nothing I have ever seen before, like straight out of a fairy tale 🙂 So we spent some time here swimming in fresh super cold water and it was so good to cool off a bit. We then walked back and had a fabulous late lunch before driving the heart-in-the-throat-crazy-reckless drive back. We arrived back at the camp around dinner time and then crashed to bed.

The next day started off with darks skies and rain and it wasn`t exactly the weather we were hoping for. But according to our instructor the conditions was perfect, so we just had to jump in and make the most of it.  Actually rain and clouds was perfect cuz we had a lot more energy that the other days had been drained by the sun. I had a really shitty day in the waves, nothing was going my way and the control I thought I had the other day was gone and I just fell off the board all the time. Can`t be awesome all the time now can it? The rest of the day was pretty shit as well, it rained the whole day and so we spent the day in bed reading and looking at the ceiling. Nansy and me had a date night this evening, much longed for quality time 🙂

Sunday was the last day surfing and it was the best day! We were finally good enough to catch the green waves, that is just before the waves breaks.  It was SO much fun, we had a lot more speed and we were further out so we could ride the waves longer. This is when we realized that surfing is AWESOME! Being on top of the wave is a little bit scary and we had some face plants, but it`s all part of the experience. It was a shame the day ended so fast and that it was the last day surfing, we would have wanted a least a couple of more days surfing green waves. But, our bodies had taken some pretty hard hits from this week of surfing. We both had a permanent t-shirt after these days, looks fabulous. Bruises in places we`ve never had bruises before, sand in all open areas of the body and just. Tired. So it was really time to do something else 🙂

Yesterday we checked out of the camp after lunch and headed to our new destination. Staying in the camp isn`t the best way to get to know the real Sri Lanka. Hanging out with people mostly from Scandinavia for week is something you can do back home anytime, so I`m really looking forward to try something new and experience more of the culture and people.

So, that’s been our week of surf`n fun in Ahangama. Stay tuned for updates from Mirissa and Tangalle the following week.

Chapter three, part one: Ahangama, Sri Lanka

And then, finally, we were in Sri Lanka! For you who don´t know me, I´m Nansy and will be joining Nina for three weeks before returning home to Norway.

I joined Nina in Colombo the morning after she arrived. As I stepped out of the car outside the hotel, Nina was there waiting for me. She jumped me before I could get out of the ca, and it was so good to finally see each other again. Finally we´re in Sri Lanka together!

After checking in to the room we took a trip outside to shop some necessities before traveling to the surf camp. The heat was almost unbearable! With 35 degrees, almost no wind and high humidity it was two soaking wet girls who arrived back at the hotel a few hours later. The only positive thing about our hotel room must be the AC; the hotel room was very dirty and had an awful smell. Luckily it was only for one night. In the afternoon we decided to give the heat another try, and we went outside. The temperature was much more comfortable now, and we walked to a place called Galle Face to watch the sunset. And it was amazing! It was a huge field with hundreds of Sri Lankan families enjoying a lazy Sunday evening. At the beach the kids were swimming, playing and throwing ball. Some of these probably will grow up to be great cricket players 🙂 After watching the sunset we drove tuk-tuk to a restaurant and had an amazing meal in beautiful surroundings. Needless to say, we fell easy asleep that night. At least for a couple of hours, before the mosquitos woke us up, buzzing in our ears making it hard to fall asleep again.

Nina, the super traveller, had arranged for a car to pick us up Monday morning and take us to Ahangama where the surf camp is. It was a smooth ride on the Southern Express Way. The SEX way (yes, it goes by that name :)) is a new highway, with four lanes and the quality is better than much of the Norwegian highways. The nature on our way south was so beautiful, lush and green everywhere.

At the surf camp the accomodation is perfect. We have our own private room with a big bed, closet for our clothes, a big bathroom and a balcony on the 2nd floor of the house. We arrived on Monday, which is «lay day». That means no surfing, and new surfers check in and old ones check out. On Tuesday we started our Level 1 lessons. The timing of our trip couldn’t have been better – the waves are on their biggest for years! If you didn´t catch the irony in that sentence – read again 🙂 Because of the big waves we went to another beach in Weligama to surf. And it was so much fun! Surfing is hard, but when your a beginner the learning curve is steep, so you pretty much feel like a surfer girl 🙂 Now, after to days of surfing, our bodies are so soar! Our arms, thighs, stomach and shoulders are soar and our knees hurt from hitting them on the surfboard or the sand as we fall of the board – yes, that happens occasionally. Tomorrow is another surf day before we have our first day off. Then we plan to go to the rainforest! I am so excited! Nina is a bit worried because of the blood leeches there, but she´ll be fine 🙂

Even though we´ve only been in Sri Lanka in 4 days, we´ve experienced a lot, and more is to come. There are no pictures for this post, but we´ll post some later.

Aayu-bowan!

End of chapter two

First of all, to all amazing women around the world: Happy women`s day! You rock 🙂

Pictures here 🙂

After shaking off the last bits of sand from myself and all of my stuff, it was time to head back to Bangkok for the last few days of my Thailand adventure. I booked to stay almost the same place as last time, even though it was horrible. It was a few blocks further down and since it was located in the old part of the city and close to the attractions I wanted to see, I figured it was the best place.

The first day, I literally had only one clean dress left. And one bikini. So I had to have everything washed and was confined to the pool that day. Shame man 🙂 It was a super nice and relaxing day, first half by the pool and then I decided it was time for a little bit of pampering. My hair had been irritating the crap out of me, too long and too blond (!!) from all the sun, I needed to get it cut. So just around the corner I got a fabulous cut for the total sum of 66 kr. And they offered massages, so why not? 50 kr. It was a good day. Topped it with a fantastic dinner and a Chang and went to bed smiling 🙂

The next morning I decided to start off early to visit the Grand Palace. The best time is in the morning to avoid the heat and crowds. Seeing that I`m on a holiday, getting up early isn`t really the easiest right now 😛 So I “overslept” and when I got there is was indeed very hot and crowded. But anyway, such an amazingly beautiful place! It was a huge area and lots of spectacular buildings. The palace has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam (and later Thailand) since 1782. The king, his court and his royal government were based on the grounds of the palace until 1925. The present monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), currently resides at Chitralada Palace, but the Grand Palace is still used for official events. Several royal ceremonies and state functions are held within the walls of the palace every year (wiki).

Bangkok is an extremely humid city, and after walking around the Grand Palace for more than an hour, I was soaking wet and needed a shower desperately. I decided it would be a good idea to walk back. Just don`t know why I always think that walking will be so lovely. I have no sense of direction as I`ve said before and THE HEAT MAN! But I made it back in one very wet piece. After some hours under the air con I went to Khao San Road, this is the road I stayed in the first time in Bangkok. The shopping is good, so I bought the rest of what I needed there before crashing in bed.

I wanted to see Wat Pho, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. Having learned from the day before, I was there at precisely 8 am when they according to Lonely Planet were supposed to open. For you who are going in the near future they open at 8.30 am.
Once inside, there are beautiful buildings here too and it was a nice calm walk around the premises. Seeing the Reclining Buddha is such a, I don`t even know what to say, but it was an experience. For Buddhists it`s holy, and there were so many people stopping for prayers and you could see that there were in such peace. So even though it was all over fast, the Buddha is 43 m long and it doesn`t take too long to walk down, it was one of the best things in Thailand 🙂

This was my last day and after Wat Pho I took a nap before checking out of the hotel. I spent the rest of the day reading and drinking Chang and thinking about how lucky I am to have traveled around the country for four weeks and have done all the amazing things I have! 🙂 Thailand has really been good, really lazy, but good. But then again, I was fed up and ready to move on.
As I am writing this, I`m in Colombo, Sri Lanka, with my best friend Nansy with me 😀

Similan Islands

Pictures here 🙂 Similan deserves a soundtrack I think: Suger Ray – Spinning away 🙂 (PS: YouTube it)

Not so bright, but very early I was picked up in my hotel in Phuket, ready to head to Similan Islands for a three day tour. It took about 1 ½ hours from Phuket to the pier and then another 1 ½ with speed boat to the National Park. It was a beautiful boat ride out, nothing but blue horizon as far as you can see. About 15 min before coming to the islands, the boat stopped and our guide pointed us to a flock of whales!! 😀 Oh, it was so incredible! I mean, whales! 😀 I think we saw about 4 or 5 coming to the surface it was just amazing 🙂

When we arrived at the first island we had about 30 min time to snorkel and swim around. We were not allowed to go on the beach or on the rocks as they want to preserve the park from being polluted by tourists. People leave behind so much junk everywhere, that I sometimes wonder if they leave common sense at home or what. The water was crystal clear and even though it was 15 m down to the bottom I could see everything. The visibility under water was the best ever, just like starring into a TV! Unfortunately the coral around Similan Islands suffered greatly in 2010 when water heated up too much which kills off the bacteria that gives the corals it`s amazing colors, also known as coral bleaching. It takes year and years for the corals to heal, so it wasn`t the best experience coral wise. But there were a lot of beautiful fishes and it`s still very good to snorkel 🙂

Second stop of the day was the main island, the actual Similan Island. We had our lunch here and had one hour after to look around and go up to the view point at Sail Rock. Locks like a sail yes. This is apparently a very popular daytrip that operators organize as the beaches are absolutely packed with people. After a very hot and wet trip up to Sail Rock and looking at the view it was back to the boat for our last snorkel site of the day. Similan Islands is so amazingly beautiful! Some of the most beautiful places I have ever seen 🙂 Last stop of the day was island #4 (all names are given a number) which was where I would spent the next two nights. My accommodation? A tent. Yes correct, I knowingly and willingly agreed to spend two nights in a tent. More on that later.

The group who were spending the night on the island had some free time before watching the sunset, so I went over to a more secluded beach on the other side of the island. This one had a good snorkeling site as well, less people and beautiful water. After some hours here I went back to get ready for the sunset. It was a 15 min walk through the forest and up the hill before we came to a beautiful view point. There wasn`t too many people so it was calm and wonderful just looking at the sun setting in the horizon. Our guides rushed us back only a minute after the sun had set, with no lights in the forest and darkness coming in fast. And with it a hell lot of mosquitos. HUGE ones. After this trip I was left with about 50 new bites, even though I had my repellent with me at all times and used it heavily. We had dinner at the restaurant and with that I was so done too. It had been such a long day and I just wanted to sleep. This was when I remembered why I don’t sleep in tents. Holy shit, it was impossible to sleep. I`m guessing there were 30 + degrees inside and opening the “windows” didn`t make any difference as there were no wind. I had tried all day to keep the sand out of my sleeping area but somehow my whole body was covered in sand and with all the mosquito bites I was going out of my god damn mind. In the end I just gave up and spent the night reading. Think maybe I got an hour or two. So no. There will never ever be any more tents.

The next morning I had booked a dive at 7 am. I was picked up at the beach by a zodiac boat and driven out in the sunrise to the dive boat on the other side of the island. It was just me and a divemaster which seemed totally uninterested and didn`t really talk much. Maybe it was a language barrier I don`t know. Anyway once in the water I didn`t care and just made sure I had him in sight. It was a really really good dive!! 🙂 The visibility was so amazing and nothing like my previous dives. The first part of the dive was in shallow water and the corals were bleached there as well. It got better when we went deeper down so the second part was truly amazing! I saw a  lot of  new fishes I hadn`t seen before,  a sting ray and a sea snake! :O Actually thought it was way more scary with the snake then the sharks in Phi Phi. Especially when my divemaster turned to me and signalized that if it bites you you`re dead. Awesome.

After the dive I went for breakfast and had the rest of the day off. Now, I was meant to spend two night there but my island guide was a harassing piece of shit and I didn`t want to stay there one more night with him around. It started off when we were walking to see the sunset and he stopped me for a second and pointed me to a beach called the Honeymoon Beach. He told me he would bring guests here and if they were lucky they would catch people having sex and watch. And then he had the nerve to say that if I wanted to we could go and take little “wee wee and then do the boom boom”. Wee wee means weed and boom boom sex. You son of a b****. I just looked at him and firmly said it wasn`t funny and walked away. After that he was on me the whole time. At dinner he would come and put his hand on my shoulders and wanted to massage me, and I told him to piss off. In the morning while we were waiting for my boat he said we should have a beer together here in the evening. I told him I had a boyfriend and that this behavior was NOT ok. He just laughed and said he was my Similan boyfriend now. After the dive I told him I was sick and wanted to leave that day and that was obviously for him an invitation to rub my stomach and put his hands on my hips. If this had been anywhere else then on a freaking island in the middle of nowhere and I would give him a good punch. There were no supervisors or anything like that and just didn`t want it to get out of hand with no one there. But I was so pissed off and told him to so many times to stop but he just laughed. I spent the rest of the day on the small beach on the other side cuz I knew he had to stay on the main beach. I was never scared of him but pissed me off and ruined my stay. Needless to say his company just received a very angry email.

Well, after spending the day on the beach snorkeling and relaxing, I went back to the main beach and waited for the boat to pick me up. Since I went back one day early I didn`t have a transfer but luckily they sorted it all out for me. I was supposed to go straight to the airport the day after and head back to Bangkok but now I had to stay in Phuket for the night. Luckily the hotel I stayed in before Similan had a room. Having slept almost nothing for the past 48 hours I crashed and slept for a good 12 hours 🙂 Bangkok next!

Koh Phi Phi Don

Pictures here 🙂

For the last 4 days I have spent my time in Koh Phi Phi Don, and I knew I would be a different experience from the other islands I have visited. My original plan was to go on an diving trip to Similan Island, and not go to Phi Phi at all, but my Thailand budget was emptying faster than I thought 😛 Well, Phi Phi is one of the most visited islands in Thailand and it was crowded. I thought Koh Lipe was crowded, but as soon as I got there I regretted ever complaining about people in Lipe. It is packed!! And as soon as you can see signs in Norwegian, Swedish and Danish, you know you`re in trouble.

The first day there I just wanted to go to the beach, as if I haven’t` done enough of that.  According to Lonely Planet the beach I wanted to go to was a 30 min walk from where I was staying, and in 32 degrees that just wasn`t happening. So I took a long tail boat. Thought I would be a nice long boat ride around the island. It took 3 min. For 200 baht. Such a rip off. And the walk was only 10 min. Thank you Lonely Planet 🙂

The beach, Long Beach, was nice enough at the start of the day. Is was indeed long, and white and quite beautiful. Towards mid-day people starts so fill it up and I felt like I was in a soup of humans when I went into the water. I know I know, I shouldn’t complain. But I will anyway 🙂

The next day I went for a dive in the Marine Park surrounding Koh Phi Phi Leh, where you find the very famous Maya Beach, from The Beach. The movie that is. My previous dives have only been with one other person with me but this day we were 5, including the instructor, diving together which was really nice. We went out on a huge boat and drove off to the location. The water was so clear and green and gorgeous, I couldn’t wait to go in. The first dive was really amazing, the corals and the fishes was just beautiful! I even got to see a turtle, it was tucked in between some stones having a nap 🙂 Soo cute! During lunch break we drove into Maya Bay, and again I was so disappointed. I mean, the scenery is breathtaking, if you can look pass the 100 something boats all over, and the 1000 something people snorkeling around in the bay. Such a shame, The Beach is one of my favorite movies of all time and I actually wished I hadn’t seen this at all. Well anyway, the opposite side of the bay had a secluded beach, so we swam to shore and had a look around. Now THAT was beautiful! The second dive was even better than the first and we actually swam next to three sharks!! 😀 It was so cool and not at all scary as I thought it would be. They`re not that big and they are extremely shy so there was no danger involved. But OH MY WORD it was so cool! 😀 We were all so excited when we came back to the surface 🙂

After the day of diving I went back to island coma state. I was planning on going around the islands on a tour but the coma got the best of me. So I spent one more day at Long Beach, and the other day on another with less people.

Phi Phi Don is a beautiful island, but for me it`s too much. I like it when you travel and meet the locals and they are not so sick of tourists that they just want to throw up when you talk to them. Or just totally ignore you when you try to talk to them. And I don’t blame them I would go crazy with the loads of people coming to this island.  I like it if I can go for days or weeks without hearing anybody speak a language I understand or recognize. And I like going to places where not many have so that I can tell people something that they don`t already know 😛 We all have different preferences and let`s just say this wasn`t my coup of tea 🙂

I managed to book a three day trip to Similan Island, so even though it wasn`t the trip I wanted I still get to go and I`m so happy 😀 So for today I`m spending the night in Phuket and then I`m picked up in the morning. After that its back to Bangkok for three days. Where I might actually try to see something more than the street I`m living in 🙂

 

Koh Kradan

Pictures here.  Soundtrack: I would highly recommend Telepopmusic – Breathe 🙂

After a week of fun and games at Koh Lipe, my new target was Koh Kradan. A small island in the Trang province, and from what I`d read about it, absolutely stunning. The boat left Koh Lipe at around 09.30 am and two hours later with a speed boat, I was there. And. Oh. My. Word. I arrived in paradise 🙂 The beach looked so amazing! Azure blue water, white sand, islands in the distance. It was breathtaking! My resort was about 10 min walk from where the boat dropped me off, and the tide was so high I walked in the water all the way. And it kept on getting better and better the further I walked, less people (and there were not a lot of people) and stunning view. I`d booked this place months ago while I was planning back home, and it was a cheap bungalow and I thought it for sure would be good after looking at their website. Well. No. It was horrible. The resort had all these amazing beachfront bungalows, and I just thought I would be in one of them. The guy walked me in the back of the resort, right next to the generator which made a horrible noise, and showed me my cheap bungalow. I was so disappointed. It was so small I had to bend down to get in, and once in there was just a bed. On the floor. With cockroaches all over.  And a mosquito net full of holes. And a shared bathroom. Which smelled of gasoline from the generator. And no shower. Just a bucket whit dirty water. My paradise was ruined. Was too good to be true anyway. I went straight back to the reception and asked for an upgrade, cuz I can deal with a lot, but this has to be the worst place I have ever seen. Lucky for me they could upgrade me the next day, but it meant spending the one night in my worst nightmare. Let`s just say that I didn’t sleep.

Seeing that this island is so small and there aren`t that many people I really don’t have that much to share. The most action of the week was actually on the first day. I was sitting outside my crap bungalow getting ready to eat, when I heard all the dogs here go absolutely crazy, and especially one. I didn’t see anything so I thought they were just fighting. But then I saw a man holding a stick, and at the end of it he had a dog with a rope around his neck, and I swear the dog was crying. I ran down and asked him what the earth he was doing to the dog, and the receptionist at my resort told me they had to move him another area along with three other dogs. I didn`t really understand why, but when they started to collect the dogs in small empty rice bags, I couldn`t take it anymore. They just shoved them in like dead meat, not thinking about the stress they were causing the dogs. I told them that they couldn`t treat them like that, and that they would die if they didn`t let them out. She reassured me that they made breathing holes for the dogs, but this was the worst treatment I have ever witnessed, I was so disgusted. I don’t mean disrespect to anybody, but this just had to stop. I was so glad that there were more people gathering and protesting, but it all got out of hand and all of the sudden there was a huge fight between the locals and the tourists and kids crying, it was just horrible! But they eventually let the dogs out, and an American veterinarian came and tried to explain very calmly that this would cause too much stress on the dogs, and it was too hot for them be transported in the bags. So they agreed on him trying to get a hold of some sedative and helping them the next day. But it was so bad, the sounds those poor dogs were making is the most painful sound I have heard in my life 😦

Well, after that this has been my days: Wake up at around 9 am, work out and finish breakfast at around 10.30 am. Walk 15 m to my private beach spot (of course paradise gives you a private space). Lay in the sun on my back. Swim. Lay in the sun on my stomach. Swim. Swim. Lunch. Lay in my hammock reading. Sun. Swim. Sun. Sun (cus by now all the water is gone due to the tide). Siesta in my hammock. Shower. Dinner. Sleep 🙂

Today I figured I had to get out of my island coma, and go snorkeling. I was so disappointed, the corals are covered in sand from the boats, and a lot of them were bleached and there weren’t many fishes either. I may have gotten very spoiled in Koh Lipe, but this was not good at all. So I went back to coma state.

This island is really one of the most stunning I have ever visited! And I know I`m going to a lot of good islands on this trip, but I`m not sure they will be as beautiful 🙂

I`m heading to Koh Phi Phi tomorrow until the 28<sup>th</sup>  and then for the last week I haven`t really figured out what I`m doing. Which is the beauty of traveling 🙂

 

Koh Lipe

Pictures here. Better enjoyed after reading and with Moby – Porcelain on the ear 🙂

After more than 24 hours of traveling, I finally made it to Bangkok. I had booked two nights at a cheap hotel, and was so looking forward to relax and jump to bed. The taxi dropped me at the end of the street, it was a walking street so he couldn`t drive in. When I got out and started to walk down I was just: No. No. No. NO! It was crowded with drunk tourists everywhere, carrying buckets with alcohol, yes buckets, and there was a party at every bar and restaurant. I was wondering if I somehow had ended up in Kos or some other south European island. At least the hotel was good.

I only had one day in Bangkok, and the next day I had to fix some things before heading out. The good thing about ending up in the worst tourist street in Thailand is that you get all you need there. So SIM card, slippers, dresses and sunscreen was done in two seconds. I`d booked a flight down south the next morning, and I had to head for the airport at 3am, so I didn`t sleep anything even though I was extremely tired. I was heading for Koh Lipe, which is close to the Malaysian border. So I flew from Bangkok to Hat Yai, then a bus transfer to Pak Bara and finally a boat ride to Koh Lipe. The whole trip was so chaotic and I was so tired that I didn’t enjoy actually arriving in paradise. Being so tired I paid too much for both the boat to Koh Lipe and out the next week, I just didn`t have it in me to argue and try to find cheaper operators. Arriving to the island you first stop at a floating harbor and then take a long tail in to shore. And again, too tired to pay attention I went in the wrong boat and ended up in the wrong part of the island. Soaked in sweat I arrived at Davy Jones Locker, where I was doing my Open Water course the following days.

Koh Lipe is a beautiful island in the Andaman Sea, and having been to the Andaman Islands when I was in India, I had high expectations. They were close to being met, but Thailand is crowded with tourists, so it`s not the same. But I`m not complaining, white beaches and crystal clear waters filled with corals and amazing aquatic life! 🙂

The diving lessons started the next day, so I was just relaxing and taking in the moments the first day. My instructor, Ludo, is a funny French guy who is a really good teacher. I was struggling to understand him in the beginning cuz French people really don’t speak good English. In the morning I had theory fist, watching lessons on a DVD and doing some tests after. Information overload. In the afternoon we went out in the water for my first water lessons. I was a bit freaked out, but we were in so shallow water I could easily stand up and get out if I wanted to. Now, Ludos English. Before going the water we were talking a bit, he wanted me to learn the basic:
Ludo: “De most important ting in diving is never stop breezing. You need hair all the time so not to arm yør lungz. Always make sur you ave yør halternate hair suoze near”.
Me: “Da fuck…?” You mean breathe? And air? Cuz hair in the lungs I`m pretty sure is bad. And the what now near?”

I managed to understand him completely fine after a bit, but I was dying inside 🙂

First time going under water is a crazy amazing feeling!! :)I have snorkeled before, but it`s nothing like staying several meters under water. The first lesson consists of several exercises, like filling you mask with water and empty it, taking off the weight belt and on again, sharing air (halternate hair suoze is really alternate air source which you share whit you buddy if he runs out of air, or the main air source isn’t working), trying to keep buoyance which is super difficult, make an emergency ascend and other things. After we finished I had dinner at the restaurant next door, which have super good and cheap thai food. Slept like a baby that night.

The next morning it was more theory before the first open water lesson in the afternoon. I was sitting in the reception area when watching the DVD, and I thought I would make some small talk with the receptionist, Marco. Well, Marco is horrible in English. He is an 35 year old Italian trying to learn, so good for him.
Me: “So Marco, do you dive too?”
Marco looked at me with a slight panic, came running around from the counter and took my remote and tried to rewind, pause and stop the DVD: “I donta know howa thesea works, no?”
Me: “Dude. No. Dive, do you?” And then I had to mimic diving and pointing at him and water and the scuba equipment in room.
He felt so stupid poor guy, but I had so much fun! 🙂 He is really sweet though.

Anyway, first dive in open water was very scary and awesome! The first decent down to 8 m is such a wild feeling, I started to smile and smiling under water is not a good idea. Water comes in.
Finally at the bottom we had to go over the same exercises as the day before, the worst was removing the mask completely and having it off for a minute before putting it back on and empty it. But I managed 🙂  We did two dives and it just absolutely fantastic to be under water like that!! Oh my word, underwater life is so beautiful! It was just as in Finding Nemo, the corals have so many different colors same with the fishes, and so many different fishes and other plants and aquatic life.

Last day of the training was two dives in the morning. The first day we went down to 18 m, which is the deepest I can go. That’s totally ok.  Going down we swam directly in to a school of beautiful colorful fishes, and it was like being in an aquarium. Right before we ended the first dive I had completed all my exercises, so Ludo and me danced swing underwater, it was sooo funny! 🙂  The last dive was the best, this was a pure fun dive and just to enjoy the scenery, so incredible beautiful! Definitely the best dive! So I had passed the practical part of the course, but still had the theory again. I passed the first part with 88% correct, but failed the second part and had to redo it. Passed with 100% correct the second time 😉 So I am now a PADI Certified Open Water Diver! 😀 I`m hoping to do more diving as long as I`m in Thailand and wherever else there are good conditions, Indonesia is supposed to be very good 🙂

After I finished my lessons I have been chilling on the beach, hanging out with the people from DJL. I went for another dive on Monday, pure fun dive. My instructor, Martin from Denmark, usually stays in Koh Tao, and says the water here is way better, you get to see much more aquatic life here. So he was disappointed that I wasn`t super exited when we saw cool stuff, cuz I had already seen it 🙂 But we had a fantastic dive, a school of tunas came and swam around and around us, and it was SO awesome! Today was the last day, and me and some of the guys went to Sunrise beach, the best one I think, it`s ridiculously fantastic! 😀 We went out for a last dinner and drinks yesterday, and today I left for Koh Kradan. I`ll introduce you to paradise in the next few days 🙂