Ok. So it’s been a while.
We’ve been on holiday. Somehow we went from being travelers to becoming lazy
vacationers. Right at this very moment, we are in Australia and have turned right
back to being proper backpackers.
Ok, this is what we’ve
been up to the last, oh, five weeks or so:
Tigers in Chiang Mai
In Chiang Mai we met up
with our friends Olof and Rogge, and their local friends who were happy to
guide us around town – lovely! We ended up going to the
Tiger Kingdom where you are allowed INTO tiger cages, protected by guards with…
wait for it… drum roll…. waaaait for it…. Sticks. Not so big sticks. An
ordinary brolly would have felt safer, or, you know, a rifle or two, but
apparently the tigers have learnt to respect the sticks. The sticks were mighty
scary when the tigers were just tiny fur balls. We could only pray that the
tigers wouldn’t catch on and realize that said sticks would be excellent
toothpicks for after feasting on some yummy tourists… Oh well. The baby tigers,
four months old, were adorable albeit a bit feisty. It was a very, very good
day!
Koh Phayam
After Chiang Mai we went
by train, via Bangkok,
to a Thai island called Koh Phayam. It was glorious. We ended up spending two
weeks at the same place because it was so damn good. Other guests stayed for
MONTHS, and came back year after year. We might too… Nice bungalows, nice
beach, brilliant food (!), nice Italian coffee place just nearby, cool hippy
bar also nearby, and very good company. Unfortunately we had to catch a flight
to Singapore…
Singapore
We decided to stay at Sentosa Island
in Singapore,
following advice from some fellow travelers. We were mighty surprised to find
that Santosa Island
is, well, Disneyland and a beach resort
combined. It was fun for an afternoon, but then we started craving adult Singapore and
began commuting into town. (Our hotel and hotel pool was great though.)
Singapore is
very lovely. Not as big as we expected. Not as breathtaking as Hong Kong according to me, but lovely. And their zoo – a
must do in Singapore
we were told – is extraordinary. We were quite surprised at enjoying it so much
as we have had a few real close encounters with the REAL nature as of late, but
as zoos goes, this one is really great. We especially liked the night safari
where you walk around in the dark and can observe the animals when they are at
their most active.
Hmm, what else? We of course did the obvious – Singapore slings at Raffles, eating chili crab
etc. (Lars also wants everyone to know that he has discovered a bookstore here
with a great, if not amazing, business section – feel free to email him for
details if you happen to drop by Singapore and are lusting for some appropriate
literature. :) )
Bali and the Gilis
From Singapore we flew to Bali,
and stayed one day. We realized quickly that our refined taste buds needed
something more secluded. Preferably a beach without touts. We found just that
on Gili Air, outside Lombok. Great place. Nice
beach. Cool people. No police, just a man who was responsible for island
security. Said man was also a proud
supplier of ‘happiness’… FANTASTIC snorkeling. I – self proclaimed badkruka
(Swedish for swimming pot… Doesn’t translate well… Water chicken maybe? Land
crab?) – couldn’t get out of the water. Luuuuved it! They had huge sea turtles
that lazily swam with you, which was just amazing, countless of colorful fishes,
and poisonous sea snakes. We were ‘lucky’ enough to spot one of these
slithering creatures. It almost turned me into a budkruka again, but only
almost… We stayed two weeks at this paradise, and took a speedboat back to Bali
to catch our flight to Australia.
Taking a speedboat is key… We unfortunately took the slow boat (which is
actually ferry-bus-then boat) out to the Gilis, and it’s run by proper
bastards. They will refuse to honor your ticket if you don’t purchase
additional services halfway, like for instance return tickets as it’s impossible to purchase that on the
islands, apparently. How ridiculous is that? It’s never going to be a problem
booking tickets to get back from a tourist destination (and in this case, you
actually get off the boat right next to a ticket booth!). We, of course,
refused to pay them more, and things were just turning ugly when one half-decent
man finally let us onboard the final boat, stating that he too disliked his
devious colleagues. Or he just didn’t want to see me kick their precious asses…
Ah well, at least we had a very, very nice holiday after this ordeal, so in the
end, it was worth the hassle.
And that’s about it. Now
the vacation’s over, and we’re ‘doing’ Australia, most recently in a
camper van. Yep, we’re cooked our own food for the first time in six months.
Yup, it’s already been six months… Can’t believe it…
Take care,
Louise
–(@
