gee, it's been a while since i last wrote, it's the next year, i turned 31 and everything is still the same. also the fact that i write this blog without using any capital letters... that's right dad :-)
anyhow... let me start with an awesome quote from bonda, from when she was sitting on the bed next to me and was rather upset because her bloody ear was acting up again:
"i hate the world, i hate everything.... except beer".
~ bonda, traveller and krasnoludek
now we have had quite a time and many things went on. last you read was when we were in hanoi, vietnam and now we are on ko samet, an island in thailand. i'll give you a short rundown of the past events and go into more detail (and pics) later on.
flight to danang: danang sucks
escape to hoi an: hoi an rocks
easy rider: real vietnam from hoi an to saigon
finally in saigon with luigi: and we met awesome miss linda and her tom
birthdee in mui ne: good people, good times
last night in saigon: then off to bangkok (agaaaain)
bangkok xmas and new year: dons flat, jäggi, emch and elena.... bonkers!
ko samet: relaxing and waiting before india.
bangkok to india: future style
so now a few more details to yet another awesome list (gregor... we both know lists are awesome).
flight to danang:
after hanoi we flew to danang, a rather shitty place just about exactly in the middle of vietnam. it was very shitty indeed, a town that has it all and still there is nothing there... well it sucked. we also had to change a hotel for the first time cause there were tons of cockroaches crawling around, even up the walls next to the bed... so we said "fuck that" and pissed of 30 km south to a awesome place called hoi an.
(there are no pictures of danang.... because it suuuucks)
escape to hoi an:
this place rocks indeed... there is a very nice beach and a lovely old town around 4 km apart from each other. we met up with andrea and christian, two swissies we know through astrid, in a lovely hotel just about in the middle of the way from the beach to the town center. so we rented bicycles and just enjoyed the time. bonda and i both got a little sick (once again) and put big effort into getting well, since we where soon about to start our next big mission: a seven day motorbike trip from hoi an right down to saigon with an easy rider.
as my sister and brother in-law would say... velööööle
playing cards with andrea and christian
easy rider:
we originally had planned to do the trip with cong, the easy rider we met in da lat. but his wife was pregnant and didn't allow him to go out any more :-) so he sent his mate chan, a tiny vietnamese guy with the heart of an elephant.
the trip turned out to be very hard work (specially for the bum) but also very very cool. we had the chance to see some of the real vietnam, cruising through countrysides and small villages. it was very cool indeed. also keep in mind, that 60 km/h is very very high speed on vietnamese roads. they are so bumpy and full of pot holes. so this is what we did.
hoi an - kham duc 135 km
kham duc - kon tum 200 km
knn tum - bmt city 230 km
bmt city - lak lake 130 km
lak lake - da lat 160 km
da lat - madagonoi 150 km
madagnoi - saigon 150 km
easy riders... bonda and teddy (theodor schweini mcelephant) who has been with us since day one
my son (pronounced "mee sonn"), an antique city of temples 1000-1500 years old
inDEEana jones... ta tara taaaaaaa, ta taraaaaaaa
on a luxurious ferry... awesome
masked vietnam style
ted needs to protect his head too
this is a so called monkey bridge. in the war the vietnamese could lower them into the water at daytime so the american couldn't spot them from the sky. at night they were pulled up for people to cross the river.
quality streets of vietnam
an american air field, now used for sun drying veggies
the golden church... built by the french
hotel lobby parking
rubber farm
christoph... äs bitzli frösche pfäffer???
dee and chan
the naked monster under the waterfall.... awesome shot honey!
new pets... the guy who owns these animals was impressed by bonda touching them all... and therefor put on his uniform to honor her!! true story!
on the road...
proof that chan is indeed a tiny vietnamese guy
for the last evening we stayed in the town cong (our first easy rider from dalat) lives with his pregnant wife. they invited us to their home and cooked one hell of an awesome dinner, thanks king cong :-)
finally in saigon with luigi:
we reached saigon on december the 16th, one day before my birthday and crashed once again at astride's place. she is simply great. but this time her son and my mate luigi had arrived from switzerland and that was realy cool. we also met linda and tom from london. and i was from then on only referd to as "lebowski" and received many threats involving the cutting off of my johnson (all because we're nihilists and believe in nothing).
birthdee in mui ne:
lui, linda, tom and the two of us headed to the south coast of vietnam to mui ne on my birthday, having a great blast the whole way. mui ne is a kite surfing mekka and has some nice sand dunes too. all very relaxing. we had good times all together and we must both say, that we will not have seen linda and tom the last time. hoping to visit them in london in the future.
good times on my birthday with bonda,linda, tom, luigi and louisa
standing in the warm (!!!) sea on my birthday... that's a first
mui ne
fun at unknown sand dunes
and fun at the red sand dunes
panorama from our hotel pool area
last night in saigon:
we then went back to saigon to spend one last night at astride's, who was not there at the time due to her annual walk in the himalayas in nepal. we had a good pho (soup) with lui and an early night. then we jetted to bangkok... once again stuck in that sinful city.
astride: thanks again for all of your help. you are a fucking rockstar!
bangkok xmas and new year:
this time it was nicer, mainly because don (whom i have mentioned in previous posts) let us stay in his flat over christmas. that was nice. we had pizza hut christmas dinner and watched home alone 1 and 2 as you do around that time of the year. don, thanks again for letting us use your place, and sorry there are no soapy-boobs-against-the-window pictures... i tried :-)
then came the day we had been waiting for... on december the 27th jäggi and simon with his girlfriend elena landed in bangkok to spend a week with us... what can i say. the memories are a blur. but it was awesome. we even did a one day trip which was the worst ever but enjoyed it cause we were with some awesome guys we had missed allot.
i really enjoyed meeting friends again. is was soooo much fun with all of you.
fos isch wie for... eifach mol chli... du weisch scho was
it appears we didn't take to many pics since our hands were always busy holding beer... merry christmas
kanchanaburi naional park... meh...
santa kaps
lumpini park... a normal city park, except it is full of these... awesome
ko samet:
everything has to end... so they left and we were in bangkok alone again. we then handed in our passports to apply for our india visa, which takes a while. and we didn't want to stay in bangkok yet another week and decided to go to ko samet for some relaxing time until we get our passports back. and so here we are, chilling and relaxing... and i finally have time to write all of this....
yet another creepy crawly pet on ko samet
bangkok to india:
tomorrow we head back to bangkok. our flights are confirmed and we are now hoping that the whole visa thing turned out ok. then we are off to delhi. bye-bye south-east asia and hello india...
... the adventure continues!
so long all of you out there. we miss and love you lots.
banda and dee
