A Tourist's Prayer

This one I saw in one of the hostels here in Malaysia. I thought it was hilarious...

A Tourist's Prayer

Heavenly Father, Look down on us your humble, obedient tourist servants, who are doomed to travel this earth, taking photographs, mailing postcards, buying souvenirs and walking around in drip-dry underwear.

We beseech you Lord, to see that our luggage is not lost and our overweight baggage goes unnoticed at the customs.

Give us this day divine guidance in the selection of our hotels that we may find our reservation honored, our rooms made up and hot water running from the faucets.
Lead us, dear Lord, to good, inexpensive restaurants where the food is superb, the waiter friendly and wine included in the price of the meal.

Give us wisdom to tip correctly in currencies we do not understand. Forgive us for under tipping out of ignorance and over tipping our of fear. Make the natives love us for what we are and not for what we can contribute to their worldly goods.

Grant us the strength to visit the museums, the cathedrals,the palaces and the castles listed as "musts" in the guidebooks. And if, per chance, we skip and historic monument, to take a nap after lunch, have mercy on us for our flesh is weak.

(This part of the prayer is for husbands)
Dear Lord, keep our wives from shopping sprees and protect them from "bargains" they don't need or can't afford. Lead them not into temptation, for they know not what they do.

(This part of the prayer is for the wives)
Almighty Father, keep our husbands from looking at the foreign women and comparing them to us. Save them from making fools of themselves in cafes and nightclubs. Above all, do not forgive them for their trespasses for they know exactly what they do.

(Everyone)
And when our trip is over and we return to our loved ones, grant us the favor of finding someone who will look at our picutures and listen to our stories, so our lives as tourists will not have been in vain.

One of these journeys

After one of these journeys you don't tend to forget, I made it to Cambodia. I would have loved to stay longer in Laos, as it was such a chilled out place, with very friendly and very laid back people. The words stress, hurry and worry don't seem to exist there - yet. Everything runs on Laos time, including the service in the restaurants for example. The only way you will enjoy it, is to get infected by their laid back attitude.. :-)

Anyways, on Tuesday I had to leave, if I wanted to make it in time to Siem Reap, Cambodia. (I'm flying out of here on Saturday, back to Kuala Lumpur). My last night in Laos was a bit of a nightmare, as my stomach decided to go funny, meaning that frequent and urgent visits to the bathroom were necessary. (my stomach had been weak already during previous days, but not to the same extend). So I was very anxious how I would deal with a 30 hours trip that consisted mainly of buses....- but in the end it turned out fine, thanks to antibiotics.

So at 13:30 the bus to Ventiane (Laos capital) was supposed to leave. But as the bus was overbooked, we were short of two seats. This meant that the two girls who had arrived last would have had to stand or sit on plastic stools. So they started debating and arguing for 40 minutes, while the rest of the people were waiting on the bus, sweating, and wanting to leave, as some of us had to catch the bus to Bangkok. After much debate and the crowd clapping once the girls had decided that they would sit on the stools, we were off to Ventiane. As it turned out the two girls were going to Bangkok too, so I had pleasure to experience their presence for another 12 hours. I think they had made it a point that they would ALWAYS be the last ones on the bus, because after every single stop we had to wait for them again. I was VERY close to walk up to them and tell them what I thought...

Anyways after a surpringly smooth ride, in a compfy bus, with the first decent movie I have seen on a bus on this trip, we were dropped off at the Ko San Road at 4. 15 am in the morning- 1.5 hours ahead of schedule. So we decided to have breakfast at the pub that is open 24 hours. After breakfast we took the taxi to the train station, as I had hoped to catch a train to the border, not a bus. Yet, I had missed the train by 45 minutes and I would have had to wait 5 hours for the next one, so I decided to take the bus to the Cambodian border instead. That meant that I had to go to the bus station, which is situated in the North of the city. So at 7am I board the city bus, hoping to be there at 8am latest. But I didn't take Bangkok traffic into account. It is INSANE!! It took my 2 hours to get to the bloody bus station- by then I was truly irritated. Luckily, there was a bus leaving soon, plus the 4 hour ride was pleasant, so that I had time to calm down before getting to the boarder. Up until now I never had encountered any problems, so I didn't expect any this time either. I had read in the Lonely Planet at some point that they would advise peole to get their visas beforehand, in order to not be overcharged at the boarder, when getting their visa on arrival. So I go through Thai emmigration, all good, and I get to the Cambodian visa on arrival office. There is a sign that says that the visa costs 20 US. Yet the guy at the counter tells me it is 20 US plus 200 Baht (7 dollars). So I tell him that the sign says 20 US and nothing about extra 200 Baht and that I'm not willing to pay the extra. The Dutch couple I had met on the way had in the meanwhile readily handed over their passports including the 200 Baht and gotten their visa within 3 minutes. So I hand the guy the 20 US and my passport, but not the extra. So he just looks at me with one of these smiles and tells me that my visa will take 3 hours(!). So I go and sit on some seats, thinking to myself, if you want to play that game, I'm willing to play. I was up for it. Yet I had agreed with the Dutch couple that I would share a taxi with them to the boarder to Siem Reap. So they were not impressed to be waiting for me, since it was already approaching 3pm in the afternoon and Siem Reap was still 3 hours taxi ride away. So it meant that if I would wait I would get my visa only at 5pm and I had to stay at the border town as the last bus would have left by then. And paying 50 US for a taxi all by myself was also not a very appealing thought either. So the Dutch guy goes over and asks one of these other guys (tourism authority) what needed to be done to speed up the process. I was convinced that now the price would rise to 400 baht, just to punish me, but luckily it turned out to be only 200. So I hand over my money, not meeting this guys eyes, fuming inside. For me it was not so about the money, as it was about the principle. I was so upset with myself and the system. Believe me, if I hadn't already booked my flight from Cambodia, I would have gone straight back to Thailand. After that many questions arised: Why did I give in? Why did I support the system? What must it be like for the people to live in a country like that where you need to buy your way everywhere? (it is a HUGE issue in Cambodia, as I learnt in the meanwhile)

I did get my visa within 3 minutes and once I finally got on the small trolley bus. Of couse we were again ripped off by the taxi company and as the Dutch didn't let me do the bargaining, so we ended up paying triple the price. By then I just had to tell myself to relax. And to not let myself be so much caught up in these things. I learnt my lessons- for sure. In the end I did make it to Siem Reap by 7pm. Tired, upset and yet glad to have made it.

The rest of my experience here I really enjoyed so far. The people here I have met are very kind and friendly, my hostel very cool, the temples of Ankor Wat impressive and the food excellent. I just make a point of staying away from officials.

Trekking, Mekong River and Luang Prabang

The last week has been full of cool experiences: First I went for a two days trek to the hill tribe villages in Chiang Rai, Northern Thailand. Right after that I caught a slow boat down the Mekong River in Laos , which meant spending two days on the river on a boat with the most uncomfortable wooden seats you can imagine (my butt still hurts 3 days after ;-)). It was still a cool experience though. The last three days I spent exploring Luang Prabang, a very laidback picturesque town, that has a lot of charm and makes you not wanting to leave! Enjoy the pics!





The hilltribe village (Lahu tribe) we spent the night in.














Typical Lahu house, we spent one night with a family there... I felt like being on school camp.
















Scenery on the way. Stunning. The heat was almost unbearable though. I didn't know one could sweat so much...
















The heat made us (Lia and me) appreciate the swim in the waterfall even more!!














Scenery from the boat going down the Mekong River.












Mekong impressions

















Impressions of Laos scenery











Luang Prabang was colonized by the French. The colonial style houses and the yummy bakeries have survived to this day... Vive la France :-)













Impressions of Luang Prabang














One of the many beautiful temples of Luang Prabang. This one I just found spectacular!

impressions of Thailand

Relaxing on the beach of Koh Tao, Thailand

Oh, life is just beautiful!

Sunset at our beach, Koh Tao

My Koh Tao Travel friends, Alice, Dimitris and Brian

Alice and me, again relaxing :-)

Two out of six dishes we learned to prepare in the Thai cookkng course. Corn cakes and red Thai curry.

One out of many wats (Buddhist temples) in Chiang Mai

Buddha statue

local market in Chiang Mai, all you need for Thai food...

At the night market in Chiang Mai one can find interesting stuff to eat. Here a selection of worms and grass hoppers....

Chiang Mai: shopping and eating

To sum up the main activities during my last three days here in Chiang Mai (Northern Thailand): Shopping. Eating. Shopping. Eating. Shopping. Shopping is amazing here. On Sunday we (Alice and me) went to the so called Sunday-market. It must have been the biggest street market I have been to. We spent eight hours wondering around the different stalls, at the end my feet were almost falling off. I found the market very interesting as they sell a lot of arty, locally produced stuff there: from handmade bedcovers, to hand bags, lamps, vases, different carvings, to necklaces, earrings etc. Despite my luggage restriction I couldn’t hold myself back completely, so I purchased a few things…:-) (I have no idea, how on earth that is all going to fit in my backpack!) In terms of food you could buy all sorts of different things: different kind of grilled worms, to grass hopers, to brains, to…etc.

Yesterday we then went to the night market. Not as impressive as the one the day before, but still quite good. But I hate it when they try to rip you off all the time (which you can’t avoid). I definitely need to keep working on my bargaining skills. (Although, I have learned from my past experiences in India.)

The other thing worth mentioning is the food here in Thailand: absolutely delicious! – and also so cheap. At some of the markets you can get a full meal for half a dollar. My absolute favourite so far are Chiang Mai noodles. Although the fried morning glory with oyster sauce or a red chicken curry cannot be despised either. Not to forget the yummy mango or coconut shakes! As I love the food here so much I decided to go for a one day Thai cooking course, which was on today. It was a lot of fun. We first went to the local market to buy all the ingredients and then we went ahead to prepare six different dishes. Yummy! As I type these lines I feel still stuffed….

As you see, life is beautiful! Tomorrow I will try to check out some more of the Buddhist temples here. There are literally hundreds of them. And then I’m off to Laos soon.