Total stay: 22 Dec - 12 May (On and off for 78 nights)
Our around the world ticket expired just one day after arriving Thailand. On 23rd December '08 it's been one year since we left home and this was the second Christmas away from home. First Christmas was in Venezuela together with Andreas, Mabel and her family. Second was together with our new friend Celine, from France, who we met first time in Bolivia, then in Chile and now in Thailand and soon in France.
We've been to Thailand a couple of times and it feels almost like returning home. 'Everything' is familiar and the best of all is the tasty food on every corner. The northern Thailand was surprisingly beautiful and interesting. It was our first time to visit this region, but definitely not the last. BKK (Bangkok) has been hard to avoid and it became a connecting point during our travel around South-East Asia. Just before our arrival, the Thai government had changed visa regulations, thus if you were crossing boarder to Thailand by land you will only get a 14-days visa, compared to arrival by air, which gives you 30 days. For convenience we rented a locker here to store some things, while traveling around. Other great convenience is taking a motorbike taxi through the dense traffic of the capital.
Ko Phangan
23 Dec - 5 Jan
We met Celine, who just arrived on a non-stop bus from Cambodia, at the central train station in BKK and jumped on a 3-class night train south to Surat Thani and after 12hrs we continued by boat to Ko Phangan Island. We were happy to see each other and spent hours updating each other on our latest adventures. Later we tried to get some sleep, but the wagons were cold and noisy; vendors were walking in the train all night selling their produce.
We spent Christmas in exotic surroundings, on a beach, ate fresh barbecue fish and drunk fresh coconut. The evening was concluded at the colorful Black Moon Party on a beach - of course. Celine got an interesting Christmas 'gift'; a lizard pee on her from the ceiling in our bungalow.
Ko Ngai
5 - 9 Jan
It's was a mellow island, with few tourists and operators, no roads and thus no traffic. During a hike we had through the island Per-Ove spotted a snake and big lizards. So from now on we always walked with a long wooden stick for self-defense. We took off to the next island in the Andaman Sea, a 2 hrs boat ride away.
Ko Bulon Leh
9 - 18 Jan
Relaxed on just another mellow and tropical island while waiting for our friend to come from Norway for a month visit.
The island is part of Ko Petra Islands National Park (established in
1984) that covers 495 square kilometers of the Andaman Sea. The northern part of Bulon has a sea gypsy
settlement, chao leh (means literally people of the sea) who live of fishing.
The beach is white and soft and there is not much to do here other
than reading books and enjoying the beautiful surroundings... and do some
blogging...
Our wooden bungalow was situated high up on stilts and it took many steep stairs to get to the top. It had an airy construction, which gave a lot of breeze inside. Windows didn't have glass and all of the walls, including the floor had big gaps between the wooden planks. We spent some good time with an Italian couple living next to us.
Detour to Malaysia
18 Jan (5 min)
On the way to Krabi, we took a detour to Malaysia's boarder, only 45 min by car from the pier in Pakbara (boarding point for boats to Ko Bulon Leh). Our 30-day Thai visa was expiring in a couple of days and needed to be renewed. The whole boarder procedure took only 10 minutes and the taxi waited out side. Then a minivan took us from Pakbara to Krabi, 5hrs away, just in time to pick up our friend from the airport.
Krabi & Bangkok
18 - 21 Jan
We received our friend at the airport with a banner saying: Joakimsen Travel. She didn't notice it immediately, but the agencies surely did. Hooking up again after what feels such a long time was just great! A 13 hrs overnight bus brought us to BKK, where we board an overnight train to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.
Chiang Mai & Around
22 - 29 Jan
The train was making frequent stops and before we knew it a 7 hours delay was a fact. They added more wagons during the travel and its engine stopped working properly. But hey - in a good company it wasn't a big deal. There was one wagon full of some kind of security people. We had a couple of drinks together, but the language barrier made it difficult to communicate. On the train we also met a Thai woman living in Canada, who offered us a ride to our guesthouse in Chiang Mai.
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Once again we hooked up with Celine. This time she was traveling together with her cousin and her cousin's boyfriend. We had great time together, celebrating the Chinese New Year and visiting a Chinese doctor who read from the tongue. We visited a few of the 300 temples scattered around the city and outside. Chiang Mai has also many markets, numerous massage, yoga and cooking schools. There is a lot of to do here and around, but the city is big and noisy. It's by the way Thailand's second biggest city.
Per-Ove got surprised in the shower by a huge and fast moving spider. It was so quick that there were no places to hide. It must have been the largest spider he ever have seen...
A Thai Reggae concert festival was taking place in Pai, 3 hrs drive north of Chiang Mai, so we spontaneously made the d-tour. It was very funny to hear famous songs you know, in Thai, preformed by Bob Marley look-alikes.
We took the overnight train back to BKK, but this time it was a quiet ride without any delays and noisy vendors. Early next morning we took another train to Aranyaprathet on eastern side of Thailand, to cross the boarder to Cambodia.
Cambodia
31 Jan - 7 Feb
Read about our trip to Cambodia.
Ko Phayam
8 - 17 Feb
We came to Ko Phayam, a cashew nut island, to wash away the dust from a hot week of sightseeing the Angor Temples in Cambodia. It was a nice wrap-up, since this was our friend's last week in Thailand. We did some canoeing and Per-Ove discovered surfing, while Aneta was surfing on body-board.
Bangkok
18 - 23 Feb
We needed to go back to BKK in order to arrange a visa to Myanmar as well as our flight departed from here. The whole procedure took only three days at the Myanmar embassy. Once again we hooked up with Celine, who just came back from a memorable trip in Myanmar and gave us plenty of travel advices. There will not be several bumping into each other during our travel in Asia. Next time we'll see each will be in France on our way back home.
Myanmar
23 Feb - 23 Mar
Link to blog post will be added here 'soon'.
Bangkok and Ranong
23 - 25 Mar
After a necessary visit to the dentist, we jumped on a 10 hrs bus ride to Ranong to meet our friends from Norway. It was great to see them again and we wish they could stay longer.
Ko Phayam
25 Mar - 8 Apr
The day after we continued by boat to the relaxed Ko Phayam island. This time we stayed on the less developed eastern side, where we rented beach bungalows and hired motorbikes and enjoyed the beautiful island to the fullest.
After our friends left, the plan was to travel to the higher and cooler altitudes of northern part of Thailand and Laos as it was getting really hot in the Southeast Asia. But some how we landed on Nepal instead and a week later we were on our way to Kathmandu.
Bangkok
9 - 10 Apr
We took a comfortable 27-seat night bus to BKK to board the plane to Nepal. This must be the best bus in Southeast Asia. The stewardess wore high heals and had a 70's retro look when is comes her clothing.
Per-Ove met his friend Jean-Philippe he hooked up with in Fiji a few years ago. Jean-Philippe noticed trough Facebook that we where in Thailand at the same moment as him so we hooked up in BKK – awesome!
Nepal
10 Apr - 10 May
Link to blog post will be added here 'soon'.
Bangkok
10 - 12 May
On the 12th we flew our next destination, Philippines, where we hooked up with an old friend from school. We'll most likely stay here until we leave for Europe mid-July.
Thailand photo collection:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/perove/collections/72157616446394355/
Map of Thailand
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