Malin Saga's adventures

5 of my favourite places on this trip

2009-02-25T11:08:00.002Z

1. Chiang Mai in Thailand
2. Phu Quoc in Vietnam
3. Bako national park in Malaysia
4. Apo island in Philippines
5. Lamma island in Hong Kong

Last day in Hong Kong

2009-02-25T10:52:00.002Z

Today I've been exploring on Lamma, one to the islands in Hong Kong. Quite a contrast to all the shopping centres and bustling street life of Kowloon and Hong Kong island central. Lamma has a couple of quite nice beaches, beuatiful mountains and a couple of small fishing villages. After a couple of hours walk, I and another girl from the hostel feasted on seafood: lobster, prawns, clams and squid, yummy!

I've packed my bags, found my Oyster card, and checked in online. Ready to go out one last night in Hong Kong before flying home tomorrow.

5 best food dishes I've had

2009-02-24T14:00:00.002Z

I've eaten so much great food, these are some of my favourites:
1. Thailand: Green papaya and prawn salad
2. Vietnam: Cau lau noodles
3. Malaysia: Laksa soup
4. Philippines: Kinilaw (fresh fish marinated in kalmansi lime juice and chili and coconut)
5. Hong Kong: Dim sum

2 days to go: Feasting on dim sum in Hong Kong

2009-02-24T13:37:00.002Z

I've been in Hong Kong for a few days now, and it's a great city if you love food!!! I've been eating SO much, fantastic dim sum and lovely sea food, mmmmmmmm..... Food is not too expensive here, but everything else. I went out for a few drinks with 3 girls from my dorm last night, and was quite chocked to see that a pint of beer is around 50-70 HKD (5-7 GBP)! Basically Swedish prices :S Not used to that after 4 months in cheap SE Asia. It's going to take some time to get used to the London prices again when I'm back....

Today I've been to some of the markets here, like the bird and goldfish markets. Shop after shop selling songbirds, the noise was unbelievable. The street with goldfish shops were a lot more quiet! They also had a couple of shops selling puppies and kittens, I wanted to take all of the home with me... So looking forward to go over to my sister and her boyfriend later this year, they're getting a puppy in a month or so :) Well, obviously I'm also looking forward to see my sister and Lars, luckily they'll come to London already in a few weeks time.

London...., feels so weird and unreal that I go home the day after tomorrow. In a way I haven't really been able to fully appreciate Hong Kong, because I know that these are my last days on this trip. At the same time, it's going to be fantastic to see everyone again, and I'm quite looking forward to getting on with my life in London.

5 best things I packed

2009-02-20T10:59:00.002Z

Because I'm getting closer and closer to the end of my trip, I thought that I would start to summarize some of my experiences. Here are the 5 best things I brought with me:

1. Torch/flashlight: To be able to find my way home along dark beaches, for when there's no electricity, and to make sure no snakes are hiding under the bed
2. Army knife: To peel fruit, open bottles, and the scissor is pretty good too
3. Sarong: Towel, blanket, skirt and bag in one handy piece of cloth
4. Duvet cover: To use as a sleeping bag for the times when the bed doesn't look exactly clean
5. iPod: For all those long journeys

6 days to go: Shop till you drop

2009-02-20T10:43:00.002Z

It feels SO strange to have less than a week left, I fly back to London from Hong Kong on Thursday. I've had such an amazing time so far, and it has all gone by very very quickly. It feels sad to go home, there are so many many many more places I would like to go to! At the same time, I'm so looking forward to come home and see all of my friends and family again.

I'm in Manila now, and today I spent the whole day at Ayala center's Glorietta malls. Lots and lots of malls here in the Philippines. I've almost done no shopping during this trip, except for replacing broken sun glasses etc, and was really looking forward to some retail joy. But...., first I couldn't find anything I wanted to buy! It was like I forgotten how to shop! Strange. But then it slowly came back to me, turns out shopping is like cycling, you never really forget how to do it ;)

However, certain things are impossible to buy here: I've been looking everywhere for 2 months now for ear plugs. Ear plugs are essential to be able to sleep undisturbed from roosters, traffic, noisy dorm mates, karaoke. I lost my last pair in Vietnam and have been unable to find new ones. When I asked for ear plugs in one pharmacy in Hanoi, I was instead offered valium... Not exactly the same thing. The other thing that I can't find here is a travel guide to Hong Kong. Shanghai, Bejing, Singapore, Rome, Barcelona, London, even Stockholm, or basically any major city, but not Hong Kong. Weird. Hope I can find one actually in Hong Kong. Always nice to get some ideas of what to see and information on things like local transport. I guess that if I meet loads of Filipinos in HK, I'll know why there is no guide books to buy in Manila...

Hej mormor! Del 5: Dykning och regn i Filippinerna

2009-02-20T10:30:00.002Z

Nu har jag snart varit i Filippinerna i en manad, och det har varit fantastiskt! Jag har dykt massor och sett bl.a otroliga korallrev och sota skoldpaddor. Det hade ju forstas kunnat vara lite battre vader, men regnet verkar folja med mig var jag an ar. Jag har verklingen fatt anvandning for min regn poncho nu.... Jag ar anda haft en del tur, dagen efter jag tog farjan mellan tva oar, Bohol och Leyte, sa stangdes all farjetrafik darimellan pga en tyfon! Dar jag var sa marktes det dock inget av tyfonen, det var bara det "vanliga" regnet.

Filippinerna ar otroligt vackert, och nog det land som det varit lattast att resa i, bl.a for att i princip alla pratar engelska. Jag vill aka hit igen och se mer, jag har bara hunnit se ytterst fa av alla 7000 oar...

Min absolut basta upplevelse har ar nog att jag fick snorkla med en valhaj i Donsol! Det var helt otroligt, den simmade kanske 2 m under mig! En annan annorlunda upplevelse var pa farjan pa vag till Donsol da jag sjong karaoke till staende ovationer! Karaoke ar otroligt populart har (och overallt dar jag varit hittills i Asien), oavsett om man kan sjunga eller ej. Vilket ju ar tur for mig som i princip tondov. Misstanker att ovationer hade mer att gora med att jag som enda vasterlanning pa farjan sjong an att jag plotsligt utvecklat en hittills okand sangtalang... Kul var det iaf!

Nu ar jag tillbaka i Manila, och pa sondag flyger jag vidare till Hong Kong, och sen till slut till London pa torsdag. Mindre an en vecka kvar nu, det ar konstigt, sorgligt och roligt pa en gang.

Whale sharks!!!

2009-02-20T10:14:00.002Z

I took a minivan from Legaspi to Donsol, where I stayed in a small bungalow in cozy resort, Amor Beach Farm Resort, 5 min walk away from the visitor centre that organizes boat trips to see the whale sharks. Although it is the season the see them, there is of course no guarantee. Indeed, one couple I met at the resort hadn't seen any whale sharks that day when they went out. The unstable weather the last couple of weeks have also made sighting less common than usual.

The next morning I woke up to the all too familiar sound of rain... Luckily it soon stopped and the skies cleared. I went out in bangka boat with 6 others, and then we waited and waited and waited. Suddenly we saw something! A big fin! Wohoo, whale sharks! But no, it wasn't that big a fin, it was a dolphin. Probably the only time in my life that I've been disappointed to see dolphins.... Then we waited. And waited. And waited some more. When we were almost ready to give up after 4 h on the boat, the spotter shouted that he saw one. But once I got into the water, the whale shark had already disappeared.... Luckily, we soon spotted another shark (or possibly the same again), and this time I did see it! It swam maybe 2 m under me, and it was INCREDIBLE!!!! SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! I was very happy when I returned to land :) It also felt like a perfect way to end my stay in the Philippines. I now only have a few days in Manila and Hong Kong left, then I go home....

I'm a Barbie girl

2009-02-20T09:39:00.003Z

Since I got a cold and couldn't dive, I decided to leave PB early and instead try to go up to Donsol, a village in the Bicol region of south Luzon that's known to have lots of whale sharks this time of the year. I decided to go overland as I would otherwise have to either backtrack via Cebu to take the ferry or fly to Legaspi (closest largest city to Donsol). Also, you see a lot more and meet more people going by bus. I first thought that I would have to take a vast number of different buses, vans, and jeepneys to get there, but the couple I rented my room from said that I actually could take an aircon bus all the way and wouldn't have to do any chances. Well, that obviously sounded a lot easier, and at 1 am in the morning I jumped on the bus in PB to start my journey north through Leyte, over and across Samar (Leyte and Samar is connected with a very long bridge (Asia's longest?), 2 km) and then finally over to Luzon. With some luck I should arrive in Legaspi late afternoon.

As it turned out, I must have used up my luck for speedy journeys when going to PB, because I didn't arrive in Legaspi until 1 am the following morning, after 24 h.... However, it was an interesting journey through a beautiful landscape. Most memorable was probably the 5 h on the ferry from Samar to Luzon (the ferry actually only takes 1 h, but for some reason we had to wait on the ferry for 4 h before leaving...), 5 h of videoke. Karaoke/videoke is enormously popular in Asia, you can find it everywhere in the Philippines and everyone sings, no matter if you actually can sing or not. Yours truly, who can't sing to save her life, actually did a performance with Thom, one of the Filipino guys on the bus, of Aqua's "Barbie girl"... And we got standing ovations and had to do a repeat performance!!!! Obviously I would like to believe that I suddenly discovered how to sing, but sadly I think the ovations had more to do with the novelty of the only Westerner on the ferry singing....

A couple of hours later I arrived completely exhausted to Legaspi and probably fell asleep before my head even had landed on the pillow in my hotel.

Friday 13th = typhoon....

2009-02-20T09:14:00.002Z

I decided to stay overnight in Tagbilaran, and early the day after (the 12th) I started my journey to Padre Burgos (PB) on Leyte. I didn't know much about the bus and ferry connections to go from Bohol to Leyte, but figured that I probably would need 2 days, one to travel through Bohol, and one on Leyte. After 3 months in Asia I've learned to leave plenty of time for travels, you never know when the bus might break down, or you'll have to wait 3 h for the minivan to fill up etc etc. This time though everything went very smoothly, the bus from Tagbilaran to Ubay left 15 min after I arrived by tricyle to the bus terminal, the bangka boat from Ubay to Bato on Leyte left 30 min after I arrived to Ubay etc. So 4 tricycles, 2 buses and 1 boat later I arrived late afternoon in Maasin on Leyte, where I decided to stay the night before continuing down to PB as I needed some rest and also to stock up on more cash. You can hardly pay by credit card anywhere in the Philippines so usually you need to carry quite a lot of cash, especially when heading to smaller places like PB that won't have any cash machines. It can be quite a challenge to get enough cash, as some cash machines have a limit of 4000 pesos (ca 60 GBP), or might have connection problems and therefore refuse all your cards...

Anyhow, I arrived in PB the morning after, on Friday the 13th. And this time Friday the 13th really was bad luck for some, as a typhoon came in over Cebu and therefore all boat connections to Leyte were cancelled. If I hadn't been so lucky with all my connections the day before, I would have been stranded in Ubay... The weather in PB was not too bad, some rain and wind (I'm certainly getting more use of my rain poncho than I thought....) but definitely no storm.

On Valentine's day I got roses from the sweet staff at the resort I stayed in :) Actually might be one of the few times ever in my life I got flowers on Valentine's.... Rest of the day was less romantic though with a nice dive. Unfortunately my one and only dive in PB as I got a bit of a cold the day after :(

Diving in the rain

2009-02-10T11:05:00.004Z

Seriously, it's raining AGAIN!!!! Wherever I go, it rains... At least it's not snowing, like in the UK a couple of days ago, and of course at home in Sweden. Luckily, despite all the raining, have still managed to do quite a lot of diving. Life at 25 m depth quite unaffected by rain.

I'm at Alona beach on Panglao, a small island outside Bohol. It's quite a small place, with a nice white beach and loads of dive resorts. It's a little bit like a miniature version of Boracay. It also has the best mangoes ever!!! Fresh mango, mango daiquiris and dried mango, mmmmm, delicious!

Today I went out and did two dives around Balincasag island, fantastic wall dives (wall is 50 m, but don't worry, I stayed at my safe 30 m). Visability at first dive was great, actually felt a bit of vertigo going down. Feels in a way like you're flying going down... Fantastic soft and hard coral, I know this might not make sense, but it gives me a feeling of "magic forest", I keep thinking of John Bauers illustrations, but under water of course. Lots of beautiful fish and turtles :)

After Boracay I first went to Cebu city. Unfortunately, my bag decided to leave me and go to Manila... Might have been something I said, it's really been putting on weight recently.... Anyhow, we were finally reunited and took the ferry to Dumaguete, a small university city on Negros. Quite a sweet little city, stayed in very nice hostel, Harold's mansion, there. Superclean and even a TV in the dorm. After a fun night in Dumaguete, including a reggae band performing Cardigan's "Lovefool", I left Dumaguete on a tiny bangka boat to go out to Apo island. I arrived completely soaked (when I left Apo, I was clever enough to do it in bikini and rain poncho instead) to the small island. Apo has a small village, and there's two resorts. I stayed at Liberty's lodge, in their dorm. There's no running water, and electricity for only a few hours a day, lights out at 9.30 pm (guess that may explain why everyone there have like 5 kids each....). No need to set an alarm, as the rooster starts crooning at around 4.30 am, and they are loud. Roosters and karaoke, the soundtrack of the Philippines... I did quite a lot of diving, and it was amazing!!! Fantastic soft and hard coral, thousands of fishes (including a ornate ghost pipefish!), lots of turtles. Amazing, awesome, absolutely fantastic! First days were quite nice and sunny, but then it rained and rained and rained.... By the time I left for Bohol, all my clothes were very wet and smelly.

I'm trying to decide what I'm doing tomorrow, my plan was to just relax on the beach but it's been raining since late this afternoon and weather prognosis is not promising... Might head to Tagilaran on Bohol instead and stock up on some essentials (mosquito repellent, sun block (for when the sun actually is shining, have a very red nose at the moment), books) before going over to Leyte on Friday (happens to be the 13th, not that I'm superstitious but..., let's just hope that I don't break another toe or miss the only ferry or some other stupid thing). I'm going to Padre burgos in Leyte for more diving. I hope for two things: OK weather (please, no more rain! Or strong winds), and whale sharks. Would be totally amazing to see whale sharks!!!

After Leyte I'm heading back to Manila for 2 days before going to Hong Kong, and after 4 days in Hong Kong I'm going back to London. Can't believe it's only 2 weeks left! The time has gone so quickly, at the same time it feels like I've been away forever. Weird.

Time to go and celebrate that I did my 20th dive today with a mango daiquiri! And maybe have a pizza. Not much else to do when it's raining....

Btw, the pizza restaurant I'm going to tonight has this slogan "No pizza for 7 days makes one weak" I agree!

Boracay island - not easy to leave

2009-01-30T12:59:00.002Z

I've been on Boracay, a small island outside Panay island, for almost a week now. Boracay is a beautiful tropical paradise, with a long white beach and turqoise water. It's quite touristy with lots of restaurants and beach bars, but still has a nice relaxed vibe. I'm staying in a very nice and social hostel, 5 min walk from the beach. The first couple of days here I was just focusing on preparing for my phone interview that I had 2 days ago. The interview went quite well, even though I had an overactive rooster giving a concert in the background. Lots and lots of roosters here in the Phillipines. Anyhow, they must have like what I said, because they e-mailed me today and I have a proper interview with them when I get back to London!!!

After the interview, I tried to make a plan for what to do and where to go in the Philippines. Not that easy when you have 7000 island to choose between! Not to mention trying to figure out where you can fly, and ferry schedules between different islands. I initially planned to leave Boracay directly after the interview, but this is a nice place to stay, and also, I can't get a flight from Caticlan (closest airport) and Cebu city until 3rd February anyway. So I've decided to stay here and do my advanced PADI dive certificate, starting tomorrow. Really looking forward to do more diving! And my toe is finally better so think should be OK to put on a pair of fins... On the 3rd I fly to Cebu city, and from there I'll take the ferry down to Dumuguete on Negros. I'll probably just stay one night in Dumuguete before going out to Apo island for more beaches and diving. From Apo I plan to head to Bohol and Panglao island for even more beaches and diving, and then, if I have time I think I'm going to Padre Burgos on Leyte for, guess what? MORE beaches and diving :) Might go to either Moalboal or Malapascua instead, it's so hard to decide!

Hej mormor! Del 4: Iglar, olyckor, och Manila

2009-01-24T04:26:00.002Z

Sen senast jag skrev sa var jag forst pa en 2-dgrs tur pa Kinabatangan-floden. Det var fantasiskt, och vi sag bl.a orangutanger! Sen pa kvallen sa blev djurlivet lite val narganget, efter en tur pa natten genom djungeln sa hade jag ett par blodiglar! Usch, inte trevligt!

Efter Kinabatangen sa akte jag till Semporna for att darifran snorkla och dyka vid de fantastiska korallreven dar. Tyvarr blev det ingen dykning for mig, for nar jag var pa vag till mitt hotell den forsta kvallen, sa kom det ett gang aggressiva hundar. I mitt forsok att undvika hundarna sa foll jag ner i ett hal i trottoaren! Jag foll ner till midjan, och slog i hoften ratt rejalt och brot min ena storta (inte samma som for ett par ar sen, utan den andra). Tur dock att jag inte brot ett ben eller arm rakt av! Det hade kunnat vara mycket varre. Sa nu ar jag annu mer bla, jag har ett blamarke i pannkaksstorlek pa ena hoften. Eftersom det inte var nagon chans att lyckas satta pa sig en fena pa den brutna tan, sa akte jag fran Semporna till Tawau och lyxade genom att bo pa ett fint hotell i ett par dagar. Efter det kandes allt mycket battre, och min hoft ar pa gang att bli helt bra.

De sista dagarna i Malaysia sa hade jag lite extra tid eftersom jag inte kunde dyka, sa jag satt ratt lange framfor datorn pa ett IT cafe, och da fick jag for mig att kolla lite efter jobb. Jag hade egentlingen bestamt mig for att jag inte skulle kolla efter jobb tills jag kom tillbaka till London, men det ar lite svart nu att inte tanka pa framtiden nar det bara ar en manad kvar. Sen sa laser och hor jag hela tiden pa nyheterna om finanskrisen och hor om folk hemma som blir uppsagda eller har svart att hitta jobb. Hursomhelst, jag hittade en annons pa GE i Amersham (ca 1 timmes pendling fran mig), och det ar mitt dromjobb! Sa jag skickade in en ansokan, och i forrgar sa ringde de fran GE och jag ska ha en telefonintervju med dem pa onsdag!!! Sa hall tummarna for att det kommer ga bra!

Just nu ar jag i Manila, men om ett par dagar ska jag aka till Boracay, en turistort som ska ha en fantastisk strand. Dar tankte jag tillbringa mandag och tisdag pa stranden och forbereda mig for telefonintervjun. Jag har ocksa hort att det ska finnas flera stallen for internationella telefonsamtal dar, jag behover vara nagonstans med en ok telefon och helst tyst sa att jag kan fokusera.

Hoppas att allt ar val hemma i Uppsala, det ska bli valdigt trevligt att komma hem i mars och traffa er allihopa.

Philippine phone number

2009-01-24T04:24:00.002Z

In case you want to sms or call me, my number in the Philippines is +63-9156709445

Reality check

2009-01-24T03:55:00.002Z

I am now in Manila, staying in a fun, but maybe not the cleanest, hostel. I haven't managed to see much of Manila yet, but it actually isn't as bad as I heard (except for the 1.5 h through immigration at the airport). I stay in the Malate area, and there are loads of restaurants and bars here, and a massive shopping centre that I really wish had a map as it feels like the size of a small country...

However, my mind has really not been in Manila but in London. When I had the accident in Semporna and broke my toe and went to Tawau, I had lots of extra time without anything really to do. So I ended up for quite some time in an IT cafe. I had promised myself to not look for any jobs while away, but as the time goes and it's now only a month left, it's hard to avoid thinking about that I actually am unemployed. To constantly hear and read in the news about the financial crisis, and hear stories about people being made redundant at home, don't exactly make it easier to avoid thinking of the future.

Anyhow, I was sitting bored in Tawau and decided to make a job search. And I actually found a few positions I could apply for, and then I saw the an advertisement at GE Healthcare, and seriously, it's my dream job! In fact, I have seen this job advertised before, in October last year, but then decided that I regretfully couldn't apply for it then, as I was going to be away for 4 months. Anyhow, I decided to apply for the job, and spent a day writing my cv and a cover letter. I so wish my laptop hadn't been stolen, because then I could have just asked my flatmates to e-mail me my cv that I had on my computer. Instead I had to do it from scratch, using the not very good Open office free software, on a dodgy IT connection, surrounded by noisy Malay computer game geeks.... Not exactly ideal. I did a few last changes in Kuala Lumpur and then tried to upload my application. And all the spacing and tabs went funny and everything looked horrible. After several hours, and a lot of cursing over Open office, I managed to fix most of it. Still, it was with some dread that I finally sent it off, thinking that maybe I shouldn't have written in my cover letter that I'm meticulous and then include a cv with not exactly meticulous layout....

Two days later, during my first night in Manila, I got a phone call from GE HR, and I'm going to have a phone interview with them on Wednesday!!!! I spent yesterday trying to make a plan for where to go, and where I would be on Wednesday. Obviously I have to be somewhere that I can talk uninterrupted and not be disturbed by noise or bad connection. I've decided to head to Boracay, a tourist resort by the beach, where I'm been told they have lots of places for international phone calls, hopefully with isolated phone booths... I also found a book on interview questions, and hope that Hannis and Elin might be able to give me some tips on phone interviews as they both work with HR. The plan is to spend Monday and Tuesday on the beach in Boracay preparing for the phone interview.

Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well on Wednesday!!!

Lost in airports

2009-01-24T03:37:00.003Z

On my way to the Philippines, I first went from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong, and then onward to Manila. I already had a return flight Hong Kong-Manila because I had originally planned to go through China to Hong Kong, and I didn't want to waste the ticket. However, I had a 11 h layover in Hong Kong.... If felt pointless to go into Hong Kong for just a few hours, besides I will be in Hong Kong for the last 4 days before going back to London. The hotels close to the airport are really expensive, so I decided to hang out and sleep at the airport instead.

Hong Kong's airport is HUGE. I don't know how many times I got lost just trying to find the airport information, where a lovely lady provided me with a map of the airport. Without it I doubt if I would have been able to find my way back to the right terminal for my flight... After spending a fair few hours eating and drinking coffee, not to mention being fairly lost and confused, it was time to try to get a couple of hours of sleep. There are loads of rows of seats, and you can see people sleeping everywhere. In fact, I think I read somewhere that Hong Kong airport is rated to be one of the best airports to sleep in (there is a website devoted to sleeping in airports actually). Again I was very happy to be short, I don't really understand how tall people handle traveling, as even I find most transportation, especially minivans and buses, to be very cramped. I found three empty seats, unfortunately there was an armrest between seat 2 and 3, but I could still slip my feet under the armrest. It was maybe not the most comfortable night I had, but I still managed to get 3-4 h of sleep. In the morning, after some more coffee and with the map, I managed to find my way to the right gate in time for the flight.

Bloodsucking creatures

2009-01-24T03:12:00.002Z

No, I haven't encountered any vampires, but got a few leeches after a night trek along the Kinabatangan river, gross!!! The river itself was beautiful, and during the daytime boat trips we were lucky enough to see wild orangutans! We also saw proboscis monkeys, macaques and silverleaf monkeys, and lots of birds, eagles and commodores. I had hoped to see pygme elephants and crocodiles, but was not lucky enough to do so. Like I said, we went on a night trek through the jungle surrounding our camp, and it was a strange and wonderful thing to experience all the sounds of the rain forest at night, and we saw lots of sleeping birds. Unfortunately it was a little bit hard to focus on the experience whilst worrying about leeches. Despite double long socks and rubber boats, I still had some leeches that managed to get through all my clothes and bite me on the side under my arms. Not fun. I didn't sleep very well that night, felt like the whole bed was full of leeches...

The next day after a boat trip at dawn, I headed to Semporna. Semporna is a bit of a dump really, no point being there except for the amazing coral reeves outside. I signed up for first a day of snorkeling and then a couple of dives. When I was leaving the dive shop, it was dark and not much street light. There was also a gang of aggressive dogs. When I tried to avoid the dogs, I instead fell down a hole in the sidewalk! I fell down to my waist into the ditch under the sidewalk (luckily a ditch not filled with sewage but dry and empty), and injured my hip and broke one of my big toes (not the one I broke a few years ago, but the other one). Painful! I was a bit worried about my hip at first, thought that I might have a hairline fracture as it was very painful to walk, stand, sit down, really to do anything. But now that the swelling and bruising is going down, it is much better. However, I missed out on the diving and snorkeling as there was no chance that I would be able to force down my foot into a fin, or manage to get into a boat or wear a weight belt with my hip. So I decided to leave Semporna and go to Tawau for a few days before heading back to Kuala Lumpur. In Tawau I stayed at a quite luxurious hotel, I felt I need a bit of comfort to compensate for not diving, and after a a couple of days of recuperation I felt a lot better and ready to go to the Philippines!

Hej mormor! Del 3: Malaysia

2009-01-14T05:24:00.002Z

Efter att firat jul och nyar i Vietnam sa bestamde jag mig for att aka till Malaysia istallet for Kina. Jag tyckte att redan Hanoi var alldeles for kallt (14C, brrrrr...) och regnigt sa efter att diskuterat lite olika lander med min syster sa bestamde jag mig for att aka till Malaysia istallet. Har ar det visserligen ocksa regnigt, men 30C sa varmt iaf.

Jag var forst ett par dagar i Kuala Lumpur (KL), som jag tyckte var en jattetrevlig stad, sarskilt efter Vietnam som ar ratt hektiskt och kaotiskt. Jag lyckades gora en del nodvandig shopping, regnjacka och malaria profylax bl.a, och passade pa att ga pa bio vilket kandes som varsta lyxen efter 2 manader pa resande fot.

Fran KL sa flog jag forst till Kuching i Sarawak-regionen pa Borneo, och darifran akte jag till Bako nationalpark. Bako var fantastiskt, och jag sag massor av proboscis apor. Proboscisapor finns bara pa Borneo, och ar ratt stora med en stor mage och en stor korv-liknade nasa. Det fanns ratt manga olika stigar som man kunde folja runt i nationalparken, och regnskogen var otroligt vacker. Dock sa var regnskogen ratt regnig. Det ar regnsasong just nu, sa det regnar en hel del... Lite jobbigt mellan varven, t.ex gor det alla stigar mellanvarven ar mer som ett gyttjebad eller back, och alla mina klader ar mer eller mindre blota och leriga. Trots det sa hade jag tre bra dagar i Bako, aven om nagot har festat rejalt pa mitt ben sista natten. Inte myggbett, och ser inte riktigt ut som bed bugs/vaggloss. Alla bett ar infekterade, och vackert ar det inte, men det verkar halla pa och laka ihop nu.

Efter Bako sa flog jag till Kota Kinabalu i Sabah-regionen pa Borneo, och darifran akte jag till Mount Kinabalu, som ar Borneos hogsta berg. Manga bestiger berget, men jag kande att jag inte riktigt har ratt kondition for att klara det. Jag tror att jag nog skulle kunna ta mig upp, men ner..., mitt kna gillar inte riktigt att ga brant nerfor. Istallet sa bestamde jag mig for att ga en del av de andra stigar som finns uppfor bergen. Forsta dagen dar hade jag fint vader och tog mig upp nastan halvvags uppfor berget. Dagen efter hade jag planerat att ga mer, men jag vaknade till sporegn. Efter ett par timmars regn sa gav jag upp och akte vidare till Sandakan, en liten kuststad i ostra Sabah.

Sandkan ar inte direkt en metropol, och det har mer eller mindre regnat sen jag kom hit i forrgar. Igar gick jag och Kate och Kylie som jag delar rum med och bowlade och pa bio for att forsoka roa oss. Apropa att dela rum, nar jag forst kom hit sa klattrade jag upp i min sang, jag hade overslafen i vaningssangen. Men sa fort jag hade satt mig i sangen sa lossnade sangbotten och jag foll rakt ner! Tur att Paul som har sangen under inte var dar... Jag klarade mig undan med ett massivt blamarke, och har nu en annan sang...

Imorgon ska jag ivag pa en 2-dgrs trip langs floden Kinabatangan. Hall tummarna for att det inte kommer regna hela tiden!

Climbing half a mountain and breaking a bed

2009-01-14T05:01:00.003Z

I've got to Mount KK, Borneo's highest mountain, early in the morning after one of the most beautiful car trips ever. The scenery was breathtaking. I stayed in a small hostel outside the national park. All the hostels inside the park is very expensive, and as I didn't plan to ascend to the top of the mountain, if felt unnecessary to stay there. The first day I did some of the trails going up almost half the mountain, again the nature was fantastic but the trails very quite muddy, I almost lost a shoe in the mud bath that was the last 500 m going back down. I had planned to do more walking the day after, but I woke up to torrential rain. After a couple of hours, I decided that even if the rain would stop, it would just be miserable trying to do more trekking, so I decided to leave early to go to Sandakan instead.

Sandakan is a small city by the coast in east Sabah. The first night here in Sandakan, when I climbed up to the top bunk bed, the bottom of the bed fell through! Lucky that Paul, who had the bottom bed, was not there or he would have been flat as a pancake... The side of one of my arms is one big bruise. I'm not looking my best at the moment with a leg covered in bites (that are slowly healing) and a blue arm. Ah, the joys of travelling. And all my clothes smells a bit funny, especially my sneakers that refuse to dry. I'm going to have to throw them away when I leave Borneo or they might stop me for carrying a biology hazard with me...

It has more or less rained since I came to Sandakan. Yesterday I and two Aussie girls, Kylie and Kate, tried to keep us entertained in this quite boring little city by going bowling and then to the cinema. Don't see 'Bedtime stories', it's not very good...

Today I'm wasting time watching TV and trying to keep up with e-mails. Tomorrow I'm supposed to go on a 2 day trip down the Kinabatangan river. I hope it won't rain as much then, or I'm literally going to spend two days more or less soaking wet, despite having now both a rain coat and rain poncho. After Kinabatangan I'm going to Semporna to snorkel and dive, and then I'm heading to the Philippines via KL. I'm so looking forward to sunshine and beaches, I'm starting to really resent the rain.

A monkey here, a monkey there, a monkey everywhere

2009-01-14T04:41:00.002Z

I'm now in Kota Kinabalu in the Sabah region of Borneo. I flew here from Kunching after 3 days in Bako national park. I've just sent off all my clothes to get laundered, everything is dirty and wet...

Bako was SO beautiful and amazing, but a bit wet. I've got a fair bit of rain while I was there, and most of the trails were quite wet and muddy. At times it was more like walking in a small stream than along a trail... Bako is not a big national park, but have lots of different type of vegetation like proper rain forest, swamps, mangroves, sandstone/cliff forest (kerangas). Most of the trails are narrow and steep, and you have to do a fair bit of climbing over rocks and tree roots. Not that easy when it's raining... However, despite the weather it was a great experience, the rain forest is so beautiful! I won't even make an attempt at trying to describe the atmosphere and beauty of it. I saw lots of butterflies, lizards, squirrels and birds. But mostly I saw lots and lots of proboscis monkeys. They're quite big monkeys with huge pot bellies and a big sausage-like nose, and they're only found on Borneo. It was fantastic to see them, and you could come quite close, especially during late afternoon when they would come down to eat in the mangrove trees close to camp. Such beautiful and gentle creatures.

The macaque monkeys are completely different. You could see them all over camp and around the beaches, and they would steal anything left for just a second. In addition to the macaques, there were also a couple of bearded pigs that came close to camp. The bearded pigs are probably the most ugly and funny-looking animals I've ever seen: they're quite big pigs with a very long face, sort of like a hippopotamus, with a beard and a small snout at the end.

The last night at the camp, I've got really bad bites on one leg. I've got maybe 30 bites on my calf, all infected and filled with pus. Not very nice. It's not mosquito bites, and don't look like the bed bug bites I've got before when we had bed bugs in our flat in London. I hope that the bites disappear soon...

To get to Bako, you need to take a 20 min boat trip back to the village. When I went to Bako, the sea was very quite and I had a nice ride there. Going back was a different story, quite rough sea. Stupidly I had put on my last dry clothes before getting into the boat...

I'm going to stay here in KK for a day, and then head to Mount KK national park, I hope the weather is going to improve a bit...

Marks & Spencer's to the rescue

2009-01-14T04:32:00.002Z

I've been looking for a rain coat/jacket for some time, but haven't been able to find any that fits me except for rain ponchos. As I'm planning to do a bit of trekking in rain forests, I think it would to have a rain coat that's a little bit more slimline compared to a poncho to avoid get caught in tree branches etc in the forest.

Today I went to one of KLs biggest shopping centres, KLCC Suria, and there I found a rain coat at a Marks & Spencers branch! I think partly why KL feels like such an easy city and sort of like home is that it does remind of London: tube, rain, Indian food, and British brands like M&S and Tesco. Quite nice after hectic Vietnam. It feels a bit like I have a holiday from my holiday...

After my successful shopping, I had an amazing lunch of Malay food (laksa soup and a coconut/been/shrimp salad), and then went to the cinema to see 'Australia'. Great movie! And lovely going to the cinema for the first time in over 2 months.

Tomorrow I'm flying to Kuching in Sarawak region on Borneo, so looking forward to get out into the rain forest!

New year, new country

2009-01-03T04:28:00.003Z

Time just flies when you're having a good time! I can't believe that I'm already halfway through my journey...

I celebrated Christmas in Hoi An with a group of backpackers, it was great fun and may have involved some vodka and teaching of schnapps songs (of course "vargen", my favourite)... The day after I went to a cooking course with lots of lovely food. I really need to start cooking more when I get back. I guess at least I will have the time as will be unemployed..., and noodles are cheap... Oh well, will try to not think about the future too much yet!

I really liked Hoi An, it's such a sweet little city. I've got a suit made up, it came out really nicely. It was such an amazing, and quite addictive, experience to have clothes made to really fit you. I SO want to go back to Vietnam with an empty suitcase to just shop: clothes, shoes, pottery, china, laquer....

After Hoi An I went to Hue. Hue could be nice I guess, it has lot's of old buildings and citadels, but the rain was pouring down the whole time. Also, we were really hassled the whole time there. That night in Hue I was so homesick. Days of rain (it rained most of the time during Christmas in Hoi an), alone (Steph left for Hanoi while I stayed in Hue), tired, cold, and hassled every step I took.... After a take away pizza eaten in bed while watching spiderman 3 on TV, everything felt a lot better.

The next day I continued by sleeper bus to Hanoi. The other sleeper buses have been OK, but this bus was older and my seat was way too short (shorter than all the others...) for me to try to be comfortable. Combined with Vietnamse karaoke videos on high volume (always appears to be only one volume setting, extremely loud or off), and someone used the toilet resulting in a very persistent stink througout the bus. All in all not a very pleasant journey...

In Hanoi I stayed at a hostel, with one of the best beds I had for 2 months, great! Great hostel overall, met lots of fun people. I was in Hanoi for about 4 days, I thought about going to Halong bay or Sapa, but decided in the end that I was quite tired and really wanted to stay in the same place for a few days. I celebrated new years at the hostel, lots of fun! I had a very relaxing first day of the year, just strolling around with a couple of the girls from the hostel, eating lovely ginger ice cream and lots of great Vietnamese food. If the rest of 2009 is going to be like the first day, then this will really be a good year :)

My plan originally was to go to Yunnan and Guangxi in China after Vietnam, but I changed my mind. Already Hanoi felt freezing (15-18C, but I've so got used to warmer climate now...) and was quite rainy, so I decided although I still really want to go to China, I'll save money and go next year (2010) instead at a time when the weather hopefully will be better. I hate to be both wet and cold... So where to go instead? Talk about luxury problem.... I've talked to my sister, discussing pros and cons of Malaysia, Laos and India, and finally decided on Malaysia because it's warm, cheap, and I really want to see the rainforests and orangutangs on Borneo.

I got to Kuala Lumpur yesterday, and I'm staying at one of the friendliest hostels ever. Great great staff! I've been walking around a little yesterday and today, and it's really hot and humid so once in awhile it's nice to cool down in one of all the shopping malls. KL is such a contrast to Vietnam. Lots of traffic here too, sure, but it's so quiet! Not the constant honking and millions of motorbikes and cars, and you can actually walk on the sidewalks as they're not used as parking space/garage/restaurant/shop/road.... And they have a metro and tram system!

Hmmm, just read through what I written, and don't want it to sound like I don't like Vietnam. I had a great great time in Vietnam, and really want to go there again, but Vietnam can be a bit full on at times. A bit exhausting really.

Anyhow, I booked a flight to Kuching in Sarawak region of Borneo for Monday. Not sure exactly what I'm going to do, but hope to first see some of Buko national park, maybe do a river trip along the Batang rejang and stay at longhouse. Then I think I either want to go to Gunung Mulu national park and then go to Kutu Kinabulo (KK) in the Sabak region of Borneo, or go directly from Kuching to KK. From KK I want to go to the Mount KK national park. Although I will for sure not try to walk up the mountain..., and from there to Sandakan and Sepilok orangutang rehabilitation centre. After visiting the orangutangs I think want to go to Sipadan to dive or snorkel, supposed to be amazing reefs there. Then finally back to Kuala Lumpur, then to Manila in Philippines via Hong Kong. I don't think I have time for both Gunung Mulu national park and Mount KK national park, but can't really decide on which to go to...

I've just been to the KL tower, amazing view despite clouds and drizzling rain. Walking around the towering scyscrapers feels almost like walking through a surreal forest made of concrete and glass... I'm going to head to Little India for lunch now (dhal, mmmm....) and to Chinatown later (more lovely food there I hope!). Sometimes I feel a bit obsessed by food, but I think it's one of the greatest things with travelling. And so far I've been lucky to not get ill no matter how much street food I've had... Yesterday tho I feasted on sushi, first time in 2 months so really had bad bad cravings for miso and wasabi.

Tomorrow I plan to do some more sightseeing, and also some shopping. I need new underwear! Seriously, this is a problem, and I couldn't really buy any knickers in Vietnam as I'm the size of two Vietnamese... When I was planning this trip and getting advice on what to pack, everyone said to not pack a lot of clothes because you can do your laundry everywhere and really cheaply. Sure, but after constant washing, my 5 pairs of underwear are falling to pieces... Really, how much more space and weight would another 5 pairs have taken???

Really really time to get going again, I'm starving...

Have an amazing new year all of you!!!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T01:53:00.001Z

Hope all of you have a great Christmas and very happy new year!!!

And here is my Vietnamese phone nr +84-1212744968

Through Vietnam by bus

2008-12-23T09:49:00.004Z

After a couple of fantastic and lazy days on Phu Quoc it was time to move on. I had originally thought that I would go to Dalat, but it was SO nice being on the beach that I decided to go to Nha trang, a beach town on the southcentral coast. After all, it might be my last chance to go to the beach for more than a month....

So I took the ferry from Phu Quoc to Rach gia, and then jumped on the express bus to Saigon. The roads in Vietnam are not very good, and from travelling down through the Mekong delta a week earlier I knew that I was in for quite a bumpy ride. I was also the only Westerner on the bus, but luckily a sweet Vietnamese girl took pity on me making sure that I got off and on for ferry rides across the river and stops for food. After 6 h, when I started to think that my butt would need to be amputated after the quite uncomfortable journey, I finally arrived in Saigon.
After half an hour taxi ride through Saigon, I walked into one of the travel agencies in the backpacker area and got a ticket for the sleeper bus to Nha trang due to leave two hours later. It was with a sense of dread that I got on the bus, could I really handle ten more hours on a bus? I was very pleased to find out that the sleeper bus actually got fairly nice seats, almost like bunker beds. I was also a bit scared to take the night bus, as the traffic here is insane, and road conditions are not very good. However, the trip to Nha trang was reasonably smooth and I actually got some sleep.

Once off the bus I met a Canadian girl, Steph, who also is traveling alone. We decided to try to find accomodation together. Everywhere you go in Vietnam, and to some extent in Thailand, you're always met by loads of hotel toats and motorcycle taxis. It can be quite tricky, and sometimes exhausting, trying to navigate away from all of the touts. That said, many times you can find good and cheap accomodation following one of the touts, but there are times you really just want to be left alone. Anyhow, we found a really nice hotel 5 min from the beutiful beach for only 8 USD/night, nice!

We spent the first day relaxing on the beach and the next day we went out on a boat trip to some of the islands around Nha trang. It was a very interesting experience, with, among many things karaoke and a floating bar... Not really what we expected, but good fun. After just relaxing for a couple of days we decided to explore Nha trang by bike. Even though Nha trang is a fairly small city for Vietnam (around 300 000), and the traffic is very light compared to Saigon, it was still a quite adrenaline filled and nerve wrecking experience. There were a number of times I was sure that I would probably be hit by a vehicle and killed. I think I might wait to cycle again until I'm somewhere with a bit less hectic traffic...

Later that night we went on the sleeper bus again for a 12 h trip to Hoi An, a small city further north along the coast. This time the ride was quite rough and I didn't get much sleep. When we finally arrived to Hoi An early this morning we was welcomed by grey skies and drizzle. Great.

Anyhow, once we found somewhere to stay, had breakfast (I'm getting addicted to pancakes, weird as I'm never really been a pancake person, today I had a lovely apple pancake together with nice strong Vietnamese coffee), a shower and a nap, we felt restored and ready to explore Hoi An. Hoi An is a beutiful city with lots of old houses and temples, and the city is surrounded by rice paddies. There are also lots and lots of shops selling chinese lanterns, bags, shoes, and clothes, clothes, clothes.

There are also lots of tailor shops where you can get clothes custom made. I decided to try to get a suit. I hate to think about it, but I'm really going to need a nice suit when I get back to London for job interviews. It's so hard to find a suit that really fits me, so hopefully the tailor shop we choose is going to do a nice job. I'm going for my first fitting tomorrow.

The rain is pouring down again outside, I think I need to buy an umbrella or rain poncho somewhere soon...

My plan is to stay here in Hoi An for the next 3-4 days, and hope to do a Vietnamese cooking course one of the days. And if the weather improves, to go to the beach here. It would be nice to celebrate one Christmas on the beach, something until global warming really picks up, is unlikely to happen in Sweden. At least if you want to wear only a swim suit and not freeze to death....

I was going to post my Vietnamese mobile phone number, because it would be lovely to maybe get a couple of Christmas texts (hint hint hint) from you all, but I keep forgetting to bring my number with me everytime I'm close to a computer.... Will try to add the number later today.

Time to start thinking of where to go for dinner. All these descisions that needs to be made all the time, it's hard to be on vacation...

Small world

2008-12-16T12:09:00.002Z

I'm now on Phu Quoc, an amazing island south of Vietnam/Cambodia. Lovely long white beaches, turqoise sea, palm trees, sunshine... I'm sure all of you in the UK and Scandinavia really want to hear about how it is in this lovely tropical paradise :p

There are some resorts and guesthouses along the beach, but not that many. If you walk further along the beach you're completely alone for km after km of white sand. Fantastic! But it looks like they're building quite a lot so I'm sure that a few years from now most of the beach will be developed and resemble Ko Lanta and other islands in Thailand.

I'm staying in a bungalow that's the best accomodation I had during this trip (my parents house excluded); I've got a superclean big room and bathroom and even a kitchen! No AC or hot water, but I don't really need that, and for 8 dollars a night, this is a true bargain.

The first day here when I was walking along the beach I met one of the girls from my diving trip, Karen. I knew she was trying to get to Vietnam after the course, but her flight was cancelled due to the occupation of the airport in Bangkok, and she was travelling through Cambodia instead. Quite lucky I met her on the beach! It's a small world. Very small actually, because today when I went out on a snorkelling trip I met a couple from my home town in Sweden, Uppsala. I thought I recognized the guy, and it turned out that he used to belong to the same student nation as I did, that's why he looked familiar. Oh, and I met Jocke, a Swedish guy I know from London but who now is back in Sweden, when I was waiting for the bus in Khao Lak. Small world indeed.

I'm writing this from a beach bar with lots of Christmas decoration, and also a huge inflated snow man out on the beach. Weird but funny. The other night it looked like the snow man was melting as it started to deflate after the island lost electricity... The electricity comes and goes several times a day, my flash light is one of my favourite possesions at the moment.

It's going to be strange celebrating Christmas here in Vietnam. Reading everyones updates on facebook about christmas parties, glogg and lussebullar (actually got one lussbulle when I was in Huay Yang, one of my parent's neighbours had baked lussebullar) I realize that Christmas actually is only a week away, but it feels very far away here despite all the Christmas decorations.

Time to go, the IT connection here is quite expensive, 30 000 dong/hour. Luckily 30 000 dong is around 1 GBP, so not to bad

Hej mormor! Del 2 - Saigon

2008-12-10T13:33:00.003Z

Sen ett par dagar ar jag i Saigon i Vietnam. Det ar en fascinerande stad, men med helt galen trafik. 8 miljoner invanare, och det verkar som alla har en motorcykel. Det ar motocyklar och bilar och bussar overallt, och trafik i alla riktningar. Forst trodde jag att det skulle bli omojligt att ta sig over vagen, men det gar faktiskt om man gar ratt lugnt.

Jag har gjort gjort ratt mycket sight-seeing, det finns massor av museer och tempel att titta pa, det basta och samtidigt otackast var War remnants museum med utstallningar och bilder fran Vietnam-kriget (Amerikanska kriget som det kallas har). Forfarande sa ar det omraden som har 1000 ggr hogre halt av bl.a dioxin efter Agent Orange och det ar manga som fortfarande fods med defekter pga den hoga gifthalten.

Imorgon sa aker jag pa en 3-dgr resa genom Mekong-deltat, och sen ska jag till en o, Phu Quoc, som ligger langst soderut mot gransen till Kambodja. Dar ska jag slappa ett par dagar pa stranden innan jag beger mig norrut mot bergsstaden Dalat, och sen vidare langs kusten till Hoi An, dar jag formodlingen kommer fira jul (vilket kommer bli lite konstigt utan min familj. Det kanns ratt markligt med massor av julprydnader har medans det ar palmtraden langs gatorna och 27-28C varmt). Fran Hoi An tror jag det blir Hue ett par dagar och sen till Hanoi, dar jag kommer fira nyar, innan jag aker upp till Sapa i norr. Fran Sapa kommer jag sen aka over till Kina.

Good morning Vietnam

2008-12-10T13:07:00.002Z

I've now been in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)/Saigon for a couple of days. It's an amazing city, but with crazy traffic! 8 million people, and what feels like the same number of motorbikes. Lots of broad boulevards (guess the French is to blame for that...) filled with zig-zaging motorbikes, cars and buses, all making maximum use of their horns. The noise level is quite high.... First I thought that I would NEVER be able to get across a street, but it's actually not to bad. You just have to cross quite slowly so everyone has the time to swerve around you. Still, pretty scary at times. Especially when also trying to avoid all the hawkers, cyclo and motorcycle taxi guys (no, no, no, no, no, I actually DO want to walk), and other perplexed tourists. Like in Thailand, there appears to be no limit to how many people you can fit onto one motorbike, but here at least everyone is wearing a helmet...

One very nice suprise, that also shows my lack of knowledge about Vietnam, is that everything is written with our normal alphabeth! That, together with those straight boulevards, makes it a lot easier to not be constantly lost. Aside from the traffic, Saigon is actually quite pretty with lots of colourful houses, street vendors, markets, pagodas and food stall. Mmmm, Vietnamese food is very nice! So far pho bo (noodle soup), bun cha (bbq pork with cold noodles, herbs and dipping sauce), and bach xeo (pork and shrimp-filled pancake) are my favourites.

I've been doing quite a lot of sight-seeing, most memorable is the War remnants museum showing the horrors of the Vietnam war (or American war as it's known here). I've also done a little bit of shopping, mostly to replenish boring stuff like schampoo. Certain things like body lotion is not that easy though if you go to a Vietnamese store, as all of them are "whitening". As I just started to get a nice tan I'm not to keen to loose it...

Tomorrow I'm going to go on a 3-day tour through the Mekong-delta, and then I fly to the island Ph Quoc close to the Cambodian border for a couple of days on the beach. The plan is to go back to Saigon by bus from Rach gia, and then to Dalat. From Dalat I think I'll go to Hoi An and spend Christmas there before going to Hue for a few days. From Hue I hope to take the train to Hanoi, celebrate New Year there, and then head up to Sa Pa.

Hej mormor! Del 1

2008-12-06T08:11:00.002Z

I'm going to write part of the blog also in Swedish, for my grandparents.

Jag tänkte att jag ska försöka skriva lite på svenska också, framför allt till min mormor och morfar.

Nu har jag varit i Thailand i nästan en månad, det har varit jätteskönt att vara ledig men också lite konstigt att vara ledig så här länge. Jag har rest runt en del, bl.a varit uppe i norra Thailand i Chiang Mai och nere på ön Ko Lanta. Efter Ko Lanta så åkte jag till Khao Lak på västkusten, där jag åkte ut med en båt under 4 dagar och tog dykcertifikat. Jättekul att kunna dyka, men jag var rätt nervös i början och svalde rätt mycket vatten... Sen så gick det mycket bättre, och vi såg massor av vackra fiskar och korallrev, och leopardhaj! Det var dock rätt skönt att komma på fast land igen, vi hade tidvis rätt ostadigt väder och mycket vågor.

För snart en vecka sen så har jag varit hos mamma och pappa i Huay Yang, och äntlingen lite solsken! Det regnade rätt mycket när jag var på Ko Lanta och i Khao Lak. Imorgon så flyger mamma och pappa hem till Sverige, och jag flyger till Saigon i Vietnam. I alla fall så tror vi att vi har flyg som går imorrn... Planen är att jag ska vara i Vietnam i en månad, sen i Kina i 3 veckor, därefter 1 månad på Filippinerna, ett par dagar i Hong Kong, och till slut, de 26e februari, så flyger jag hem till London.

Apropå London så fick jag dåliga nyheter därifrån för ett par dagar sen, vi har haft inbrott i vår lägenhet! Tjuvarna stal alla våra datorer, min nya TV, och pengar som Lina hade i sin byrålåda. Tur nog så skadades inte tjejjerna, läskigt att tänka sig hur lätt det hade varit att någon av dem hade kommit hem medans tjuvarna där och vad som kunde ha hänt då. Även om det känns trist att behöva köpa en ny dator, så är det ju iaf bara saker.

Nu ska jag gå ut på verandan och umgås en sista kväll med mina föräldrar.

Johansson's all inc resort

2008-12-06T07:53:00.002Z

After some trouble initially, I managed to get of the bus in Huay Yang, a small village on the southeast Gulf coast where my parents have a house. It was lovely to see my parents again :) For the last couple of days I've been spoiled rotten and had a proper beach holiday, and even sunshine! I'm no longer a ghostly white colour but starting to get a quite nice tan. Without burning to a crisp in the process as when I and Kathleen were here during the spring, there was a time then that I looked quite like the Danish flag, bright red and white...

The only problem over the last few days has been if we have a flight to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh city (me) or to Sweden (my parents) tomorrow. I should have had a flight with Air France, but it was cancelled and they couldn't find any booking in my name at all... After a couple of phone calls I found out that at some time point my booking was changed to Thai airways, but somehow I wasn't informed at the time. Anyhow, the good thing is that know I actually have a flight tomorrow evening. At least I think I do...

I got some bad news from London a few days ago; our flat was robbed!!! The thieves stole all our laptops, my new TV, and Lina's money. I'm just happy that none of the girls was harmed or injured by the bastards. Although it's not fun having to buy a new computer, it is really just material stuff. Just too bad we never got around to getting that home insurance....

Dive, eat, sleep

2008-12-01T05:57:00.003Z

To learn how to dive have been a life-long dream of mine, and as I've always been very comfortable in the the water (sometimes more than on land), I thought that it would come easy to me. That was not really the case, as I found out when I started my PADI Open Water course at Similian Diving Safari in Khao Lak... After theory day 1, it was time for pool practice on day 2. I thought diving in a pool only a few meters deep would be easy, but I completely freaked out and probably swallowed half of the water in the pool. In the end I started to be OK with the concept of breathing under water, but I was a bit scared at the thought of doing it in the ocean the next day.

The PADI course I took was a live-aboard, so after the pool practice we got on the boat, M/S Dolphin Queen and headed towards the Similian islands. We were around 20 people + diving and boat staff on the boat. Only four of us were doing the open water, my diving buddy Danish Sofie, and Thai/Aussie Ploy and Saree (they were the sweetest couple, celebrating their 2 yr anniversary with taking their diving certificates). I shared a small room with bunk beds with Danish Charlotte and German Bridget and Tine on the floor with the dive platform, most of the cabins, the tiny tiny kitchen, and the 3 toilet/showers. On the next upper level was the dining space, and above that the sun deck.

The next day we got up around 6.30 am to do the first dive. And after some problems initially, I managed to go down and it was fantastic! Around noon it was time for our second dive, but this time the sea was quite rough, and I got quite scared in the water and decided to not go through with the dive but get back to the boat. Due to the waves I could hardly get on the boat again. After relaxing and lots of pep talks from basically everyone (especially our fantastic instructors Samia and Anthony), I managed to dive at the next much calmer dive site. It was such a relief to manage the dive because I really thought for a while that maybe I wouldn't be able to do it. The day after we did our last qualifying dives and our exam, and then we were certified divers!!!

Because most of the dive sites around Similan islands are deeper than the 18 m you're allowed to dive to with the open water certification, we then did deeper dives to be qualified down to 30 m. I'm still quite a nervous diver, but as soon as I get down in the water it's such an amazing experience. We saw lots of beautiful coral reefs and fishes, and also leopard sharks!

The days on the boat all followed the same schedule of dive, eat and sleep.
6.30 Dive briefing and first dive
Breakfast
Sleep/read
11.00 Dive number 2
Lunch
Sleep/read
15.00 Dive number 3
Snacks
Sleep/read
19.00 Night dive (I didn't do any night dive, way to scary for me)
Dinner
Sleep

Diving is quite exhaustive, don't think I was up later than 22 any night.... As you can see, we got quite a lot of food, all very nice tasting thai food, amazing considering that the two cooks had a kitchen the size of a large wardrobe...

The sea was at times quite rough, especially when we went up to Richeliue rock.I think I was lifted in the air about a third of the time that night. I was quite happy that I had the lower bunk bed! That night and the one before we had 6-8 m waves... Some of the dive sites had a lot of swell and strong currents. Not the easiest diving conditions, but in a way good because we got lots of experience very quickly. However, think my first next dive (probably when I'm in the Philippines) will have to be in calmer not to deep waters.

We got back to Khao Lak 2 days ago, and went out for bbq and drinks. First beers I had since I left London... That first night back on land, it felt like the ground was moving and we were still on the the boat. I still have some kind of air lock, or waters locked in my ears, so my hearing is a bit funny. It's like I hear everything at a distance. Hopefully my ears will clear up soon.

I spent most of yesterday sleeping. Today I've started to read my Vietnam guide book and done some planning, I fly out from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon on the 7th December. Hopefully the airports in Bangkok won't be occupied then... Otherwise I might have to go by land across Cambodia.

3 h left before I take the bus to Huay Yang to see my parents. Keep your fingers crossed that I'll get off at the right bus stop!

I'm a certifed diver!!!!

2008-11-29T12:30:00.002Z

Very short post, exhausted after lots of fantastic diving around Similan islands!!!!

I'll try to write a longer report tomorrow after I tried to sort out a bus ticket from Khao Lak to Huay Yang on the east coast of Thailand. Because of the occupied airports in Bangkok, it might be problematic to find a bus going north that's not already fully booked, as everyone who can't get on a domestic flight have to take the bus instead.

Quite looking forward to a bed that's (hopefully) not moving tonight..., last night the sea was a bit rough, felt like trying to sleep on a rollercoster...

Am I a rain goddess?

2008-11-24T12:17:00.002Z

Since my last entry I've been at Ko Lanta, an island close to Phuket and Krabi on the Andaman (west) coast of Thailand. I had visualized how I would relax on a golden beach, now and again going for a dip into a turquoise ocean. Preferably with a nice drink close to hand. And if I got bored I might go for a day of snorkeling at any of the nearby islands (Phi Phi for example). Well...., that didn't really happen, because it rained most of the time I was at Ko Lanta.... Maybe not all day, but at times very heavy showers. I got completely soaked the first afternoon when I went for a stroll along the very aptly named Long beach. Unfortunately my dark blue bag turned out to not be colour stable, and for a few days my hands had a weird bluish colour... In a strange way it really felt like November, grey and rainy albeit 30C instead of 10C as in London.

I spent my days going for walks along the beaches in between showers and playing card games with the other guests at the resort (I had a very nice and cheap bungalow with a hammock on a small veranda, hammocks is DA shit). Not unlike many summer holidays in Sweden really :) My low point during my stay at Ko Lanta was probably being shat on by a bird when taking cover from the rain... Despite that I had a very nice and relaxing time, but I was little bit bored by the time I left yesterday. Ko Lanta has great beaches, but not so much else to keep you occupied. There are quite a lot of tourists there, mainly Scandinavians. Apparently there is actually two (!) Swedish schools there. I love my fellow Swedes, but it feel slightly surreal to hear Swedish everywhere and with bars named after Swedish football teams (Hammarby).

Anyhow, I left Ko Lanta to go to Khao Lak yesterday. I took the bus from Phuket, and this time I managed to get off at the right bus stop! When I first came here it was some sunshine, lovely! But today it rains so I'm starting to think that it's my fault, everywhere I go it rains (not completely true, it was sunny in Chiang Mai).... I'm staying in small bungalow again, with nice soft pillows this time, which is a real treat compared to the usual pillows here that feels like a bag of concrete.

Khao Lak has also lovely beaches, and I hope the weather will get better so I can actually relax in the sand. Where I am it's difficult to see any signs of the tsunami a few years ago. There is quite a lot of hotels, restaurants and shops here, and still more are being built. In a way it feels a little bit strange to sunbath where so many died. But I guess life must move on everywhere.

Today I started my PADI open water diving certificate course. Today was only theory, tomorrow is pool exercises, and later that night we leave on a boat to cruise around the Similian islands for 4 days. Lots of diving!!! I am SO excited about learning how to scuba dive!!! And a little bit nervous of the chance to see sharks...

It's soon time for me to go get some dinner. Yesterday I "cheated" and had a pizza, first meal that wasn't Thai food since I got here. And it was a lovely pizza, like the ones you get in Sweden (I think only other Swedish ex-pats will understand the greatness of the Swedish pizza...), so there are some advantages to be where there are lots of other Scandinavians :)

I will write again when I'm back from the Similans (if not eaten by shark...)

All roads lead to Lampang

2008-11-16T10:19:00.003Z

So I was going to take the bus to Lampang to see the elephants, a 2 h bus journey from Chiang Mai. I settled into my bus seat, plugged in my iPod and drifted away. Past Lampang.... When I realized that I missed my stop, I had to jump off at the next stop in a small village between Lampang and Sukothai. The ticket collector, and soon everyone at the bus stop, got engaged in trying to organize my journey back. Well 45 min later, after a nice bbq satay, some complimentary bananas, and to laughter and applauds, I was on my way to Lampang, again.

I'm happy to say that I in the end managed to get to to elephant camp, and it was really worth the extra time getting there. Elephants are such fantastic animals! It was heart wrenching visiting the elephant hospital where they take care of sick and mistreated elephants, for example there was one elephant that with was injured by a land mine close to the Myanmar border. Stupidly enough I left my camera in my room, so don't have any pictures.

Finally it was time to head back to Chiang Mai, this time I managed to get off at the right stop...

Next stop Phuket!

Chiang Mai report

2008-11-15T09:01:00.003Z

I arrived in Chiang Mai a few days ago, but feels like I've been here longer. I've already lost all sense of time, but I'm pretty sure it's Saturday today :)

Chiang Mai is a smaller city, beautifully surrounded by mountains. There's a quite relaxed vibe, very nice after hectic Bangkok. The climate is perfect too, sunny but not to hot and a little colder at night.

The first night here I went down to the river to see the Loy Krathong celebrations here, and it was amazing! Masses of people, big floats decorated with everything from elephants to palaces, lanterns everywhere, and small hot-air balloons with candles being sent up into the sky. Very hard to describe, and unfortunately I don't have the same talent with words as darling Sigrid (hope you have a great time in Tucson with Maja and Benny!) do... Anyhow, it was spectacular, and I will try to post some of my (not very good) pictures later.

Yesterday I first went up see a temple up at the Doi Sethup mountain, it was very pretty and the view was amazing. It's quite interesting to see how religion is so mixed with everyday life here, and how people that come to pray mingle with tourists and vendors. Inside the temple they even had a coffee bar. Imagine Starbuck's opening a stall inside St. Pauls Cathedral eller Domkyrkan... The rest of the day I spent mostly just relaxing, reading, and researching cheap accommodation on Ko Lanta and Phi Phi. Not that easy to find. The big drawback to traveling alone is really not being able to share the price for rooms. Socially I'm amazed how easy it is to meet people, you don't have to spend a minute alone if you don't want to.

Today I've been to a cooking course and made loads of great food. I really need to start to cook more food when I get back to London. And since we live 15 min walk from a Thai supermarket, I can't really say that I can't get hold of the ingredients... Later tonight I'm meeting up with another Swede to go to the night market, but first I need to have nap and coffee. It's hard work to be on holiday ;)

Tomorrow, on my last day here, I plan to take the bus to Lampang to visit the Thai elephant conservation camp, where they take care of sick elephants among other things. The following day I have an early flight (again...) down to Phuket, and from there I'll take the ferry out to Ko Lanta. Looks like I finally found a place to stay :) I guess I could wait and try to find something when I get there, but I kind of like to know where I'm staying beforehand. I'm still a novice traveler... Anyhow, very much looking forward to a week on the beach :)

Take care till my next report,

xoxo Holiday girl

Phone number

2008-11-12T14:30:00.001Z

If you want to text or call me, my Thai phone number is +66-806085109

Lost in Bangkok

2008-11-12T10:04:00.002Z

I safely arrived in Bangkok on Monday afternoon after 12 h wedged between a tattooed macho man with a weak bladder (honestly, why is it always the ones that need the toilet every hour that get the window seat?) and a twitchy armrest stealing insomniac that watched films during the entire flight. Long-haul flights, you gotta love them :S

Anyhow, yesterday was shopping day so I headed towards MBK, one of Bangkok's largest shopping malls spread out over 6 floors. Stupidly enough I decided to walk. I say stupidly not because of the distance (3 km, actually not too far when it's overcast and breezy) but because I predictably got lost. Asking for directions didn't really help. Fair enough, my Thai knowledge don't really stretch beyond sawadee kah (hello), but then again, as I can't really tell right from left in English or Swedish either, giving me directions in any language is sometimes almost pointless. Finally I caved in and took a taxi to MBK. Turned out when I perused the map a bit more carefully that somehow I managed to walk north when I thought I was going east. I SO need a GPS....

However, didn't get a GPS at MBK, but, among other things, I did get a Thai SIM card. This would be the time to tell you the number, but I left it at the guest house :S Guess I'm still as absentminded as always....

Today I've been to see Wat Pho, which was amazing and I think slightly more relaxed compared to the Grand Palace. Although it was a bit crazy and more people than usually milling around the palace and temple area as people are preparing for the royal cremation ceremony of a princess in a few days. All the temples are being decorated in black and white. It is also Loy Krathong, a Buddhist festival, now. I'm going to try to go down to the river tonight to see some of the fireworks that's on because of the festival. I've already been by the river today, took one of the ferries from the central pier up to where I'm staying.

Time to get some dinner before the fireworks, and then try to get a couple of hours sleep. I'm flying to Chiang Mai tomorrow, and the bus to the airport will pick be up at 4 am...

Only 45 min left before going to Heathrow

2008-11-09T16:13:00.002Z

I can't believe it, less than an hour left! Just enough time for a cup of tea and some shortbread biscuits :)

I've checked, double checked and triple checked that I have all tickets, passport and money, and I think I got everything. And my backpack is actually not that heavy, I can lift it up quite easily. Although if I run out of money I can start a small pharmacy with all the painkillers etc that I got "just in case" (thanks mum...).

Tomorrow I'm in Bangkok, yay!

The plan is as follows:
Bangkok for 3 days
Chiang Mai for 1 week
Andaman coast (Ko Lanta, Phi Phi, Khao lak) for a couple of weeks
3-4 days with my parents in their house in Huay Yang on the east coast
Vietnam 7 Dec-5 Jan
China 5 Jan-22 Jan
Philippines 22 Jan-22 Feb
Hong Kong 22 Feb-26 Feb
Back in London 26 Feb :)

As you can see the plan is quite open after Thailand, let me know if you have any suggestions on what I should see or do.

OK, time to start say good bye to my flatmates Jenny and Lina: I WILL MISS YOU!!!!!
Take care of the flat and each other and our new flatmate, see you next year!

Welcome to my travel blog!

2008-11-09T00:01:00.003Z

Wohoo, my very first post as a very inexperienced blogger :)

I'm going to try to write here regularly about what I get up to during the next four months traveling around southeast Asia. Follow me on my adventures and find out exactly how long it will take before I loose my passport (hopefully won't happen, but don't think anyone who knows me would be too surprised if it did.....) or if I actually will fulfill my dream and take a diving certificate.

Now I'm going to try to pack a couple of more things, and then sleep in my very comfy bed for the last time this year. Only 17 h left before I need to take the tube to Heathrow...