26 Sept 2012

second report


hello world

shit! fuck! crap! nothing bad happened... i am just trying to satisfy my friend jäggi who told me he found there was not enough bad language in my blog. so here you go, cunt.

last time we wrote we were in khao lak, thailand. we did in fact get well there. bonda's ear is almost good again. due to the infection she had she got a hole in her membrane. the infection however is gone now and the hole is closing. so she can swim and everything, she just has to wear an ear plug. no probs.

in khao lak after getting better we had a one day/evening/night trip to phuket. we had a look at the biiiiiiiig white buddha there and went on to the city where we went for the sole purpose of seeing ladyboys and ping pong... and we did... fuck... i don't want to say to much. but the hottest women appear to be dudes and fish can survive inside a cunt. enough said. my mother will probably already be embarrassed reading this much.

a few days later we headed off to khao sok, a national park not that far away from khao lak. we stayed in kind of a tree house, which was very cool. and the best was, we had a monkey family living on our balcony. shit, fuck (for jäggi again). very cool. one of the monkeys actually fell in love with bonda and tried to check out her boobs. cheeky bastard. but they are very cool animals with little hands like we have. cute!

we spent a couple of nights there, tubing down the khao sok river or trekking through the jungle, where we saw weird insects, huge spiders and a snake eating a frog. awesome! and we also met lots of leeches.

then we went on... marcel, a british bar owner in khao lak had told us about an awesome place in the krabi region, known for its rock climbing. we travelled to ao nang by bus, from where we took a longboat (the only way) to a small bay called ton sai. that was quite an adventure and most of our stuff got quite wet on the way cause the sea was quite rough. but once we got there we couldn't believe it. ao nang is a modern little city and after a 30 min boat ride you reach ton sai in the middle of nowhere. all electric power comes from generators that only run from 6 pm to 5 am. we met nice people there, like leg, a fully tattooed local guy who lives in his little coffee bar and is a true hippie. love and peace man! and in ton sai as well of course... so many monkeys. there everywhere and bonda is loving it. she can't get enough of the funny people-like animals and i'm starting to get jealous.

then unfortunately it started to rain... meaning all our wet stuff remained wet and dry stuff became wet because the air was so humid. after a couple of days, when some of our stuff started getting mouldy we couldn't take it any more and tried to leave, which can be a bitch if the weather is bad and therefore the sea conditions are bad and the only way out is over the sea on little crappy longboats... but money rules the world and by paying the boat guy double the sea conditions seemed to suddenly become better. magic!

so we went on, again by bus, over the border to georgetown on penang island in malaysia. penang is an island full of history of the last centuries. british trading ships stayed there on their way passing by, there where forts built in the world wars and so on. there is also a national park on the island with lots of... guess... wait for it... exactly: monkeys. so we saw more monkeys.

what i really liked about georgetown where two things. the food, so much food from everywhere in asia and the religions. in one little town (the old part of georgetown) there is a mosque next to a church next to a hindi temple next to a buddhist temple. there's even a jewish graveyard. and guess what??!! it's all peaceful. i quite like that. this religious micro cosmos should be an example for the whole world.

one night, when we were eating at the food stalls in china town, bonda was approached by a small asian woman, there with her teenage children. she showed bonda a little note and said: "this is my name, this is my phone number and this is my email. i want to be your friend because i like you". very strange, but also very cute. in any case a real ego booster for bonda...

after that we took a ferry up north again to palau langkawi. this is a entire duty free island in malaysia and beer and smokes are cheap as shit here. also these beaches are suppose to be the nicest on the entire west coast. and here we are, since one week already. it's quite a strange place, with lots of resorts and a small airport for all the package deal tourists, but also many cheap places to sleep, eat and drink for backpackers like ourselves.

we of course rented a little motorbike to explore the island, saw two large monitor lizards and of course again lots of monkeys. but here we were able to see white eye monkeys as well. they are very shy and you are considered lucky if you can get close to them. we got quite close once, but of course we had left our camera in the room. so what. we saw them and can remember them. people reading this can come here and go look for them their selves.

here on pentai cenang were we are staying on langkawi we also met zack. a malaysian guy from penang who makes and sells jewelry made of coconut, bones, stones and so on. we actually go see him every day, go out partying and drinking and all with him. and he always insist on paying. one night bonda went to bed quite early and i had bought a bottle of whisky which i emptied with zack. we sat at his place for hours  talking and drinking. he told me his whole life story which is quite a lot to take in. i don't want to just write about what he told me as a friend. but i can say, that he is such a good person. he went through so much, and still he is not even a little bitter. we are leaving here in two days... i know already that we will miss him. up until now he is by far the coolest, nicest person we met.

today, on my brothers birthday in fact, we booked a ferry off the island for friday, where we get an overnight bus and arrive in kl (kuaqla lumpur) on saturday morning, from where we fly to kota kinabalu in the malaysian part of borneo that evening. then i guess we have to stay there a night and head of to sepilok the next morning, arriving there sunday evening or so. and the main reason for going there is.... guess again... yes, monkeys. big ones though. there is a orang utan protection-camp-thing there and we really want to meet king lui!

so... i will try and write a bit more often but shorter. happy birthday to gregor once again.

our friends, families, take care, we love you... see you soon!

cheers

bonda and dee

Khao lak


dee doing the washing...

house gecko :-)

the waiter at our favourite place... cheap and soooo good food


khao lak jungle... looking for the waterfall



found the waterfall... :-)




lucky chimes...

the "small" gold buddha next to the big white one








bonda loves the animals...


yes... boinda with two MEN.... true story!

choose your side :-)


and this is also a man... hard to believe but true story...

bonda is holding my cigarette cause i was so freaked out by the ping pong...

not so convincing ladyboy



khao sok national park



trekking outfit... again WITH A TOWEL!!!






another monkey....


leeches... so many of them







true love


all of these wet things never got dry... in ton sai now

climbing...


leg in his coffee bar


never ending rain

georgetown penang













she wants to be bondas friend cause she likes her... haha




oskar style






safety first while sleeping






mosquito victem

horror

zack




27 Aug 2012

first report...

hello world

not even two weeks of our travels have passed by now, but it feels like a lot longer. so many things to discover... so, where did i leave you? that's right:

...DARY!!!!

and legendary it is so far. we started off in bangkok, where we had pre-booked a room for two nights. it is said, that you either hate or love bangkok. and at this point we hate it! it is hot, smelly, full of cockroaches and rats and it bloody dirty. i am very sure that this description does not fit to bangkok as a whole, but it certainly does match our impression.
all this packing up and leaving was rather exhausting, more exhausting than we thought and even noticed. so when we arrived in bkk we wanted to relax. so this enormous city didn't exactly give us what we needed.
we wandered around a little, tested the famous china town street food (very good and cheap indeed) and didn't do much more. we met up with don, a mate of mine i know from diving in egypt. that was the first time we both felt good. it was nice to have a chat with someone you know in this weird place. we also checked out the koa san road, where all the parties are and so on. meh... not sooo cool and NO, i don't want to buy blinking-flashy-things to put on my head!
so we decided to go south. we needed sun, beach, peace and quiet. and that is exactly what we found on kho pha-ngan. we took an overnight train from bangkok to surat thani, from where we got a boat to the island just off the east coast in the south of thailand. since whether bonda nor i have ever been in anywhere in asia we had to put our faith in the lonely planet guide book... and it worked.
we checked in to a bungalow in "sea side bungalow", a place run by a thai family and they are absolutely awesome. they told us first of all "to make this our home" and did all the could to ensure we felt that way. such nice people. we were in haad rin, the party place of the island. now luckily (for us) the main party beach is the sun rise beach in haad rin. we were on the sun set beach, which is quiet and peaceful. within a ten minute walk however you are at the "other" beach and can have a party and a bucket (which is dangerous, specially if it's filled with sangsom. mr crowley... finally i am able to fully understand). we also quickly found our "local" bar, where we would have a drink every day. the magic reggae bar, run by peng and peter pan... the real peter pan from never-never-land. true story. sop basically we were all happy. swimming in the sea, sun, fun. we also rented a scooter to explore the island, were we went to the than sadet waterfalls. unfortunately there was not so much water, but it was beautiful nonetheless. generations of kings were impressed by these falls and so were we. we also visited kho ma, a very small island of kho pha-gnan, connected to the main island only with a sand bank... very nice.
now during all this fun we didn't think that bonda has a f***ed up ear. problems started in switzerland, were getting better, but sea water, wind and air con didn't really help. so her small ear discomfort mutated into a full blown infection. not so cool... not cool at all!!! we went to a doc twice on the island and when ever it started getting better we overdid it and were back on square one.
in the mean while i was in contact with thomas and birgit, two friend from sinai divers in sharm-el sheikh. they lived in khao lak for over ten years and moving back and forth to egypt depending on the season. they are still here now clearing out the home bungalow after ten years because back in egypt they are "more in the business" and have to spend all year there (except holidays). so we moved over here to khao lak and this is where we are now. thanks to t&b we are staying in a motel that reminds me of a 4-5 star hotel for 15 bucks a day... awesome. we also went to another doc here. he gave bonda more meds and we decided to stay here till she gets well.
thoams and birgit are great. they really are!!! we both feel sorry for them, giving up all they have here. and still they are taking the time to show us around, once again on a little scooter.
khao lak was struck by the tsunami mid last decade. thomas and birgit were here at the time and told us a few horrifying stories along with a few stories that could go through as miracles. amazing what they have seen and done. they are both really good people and i hope life will always give them back what give.
they took us to see the police boat, a cop ship that is now 2 km inland and is still sitting there. they are at the time building a memorial site around it. we went up and down the coast, looking for interesting thing on the beach, crab racing, eating, visiting local markets and so on.
however... it is rainy season here right now and it is therefore raining a lot. today it started raining in the night and so far never stopped. my lovely bonda is feeling a little weak from all the meds and so we thought we'd have an easy chilling day. i went out once (and got really wet) to get some food... otherwise we are chilling.
once banda is all good again we will probably go to khao sok national park and hang out in the jungle, the mighty jungle for a while... btw: i can't get that song out my head! that one and the indiana jones theme song. everything here makes me feel like indiana jones. ta ta-ra taaaa, ta ta-taaaaaaaa....

my dad told us just before we left: "there will be bad moments and there will be good moment. just make sure you have slightly more good ones than bad ones!"
well dad... so far we are winning!!!

much love to you our wold, our families and our friends!!

dee and bonda


 our view from our room in bangkok

dee in china town bbk
good food


 don and dee

 put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up....

bucket... the best and the worst thing :-)
bangkok main station... waiting time is the hardest time
over night train to surat thani
our bungalow on kho pha-ngan
 view form our bungalow

hanging out (not posing for camera) 

 thai dee... (hitchhiker please notice I HAVE MY TOWEL WITH ME!)

our bungalow from outside


mr crowley... i understand!
 scooter action

in the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight...
 ok... this looks like bonda can actually ride a scooter... 

than sadet water falls
than sadet water falls

 elephant fan...

scared of elephants...
sun set....
kho ma
 kho ma

in khao lak. bonda, birgit and thomas

sinai divers in thailand :-)
local market in khao lak




tsunami memorial
scooter trip... best roads ever :-)
thomas and birgit
 bonda and dee

birgit, bonda, thomas
 birgit, dee, thomas

love ya babe
view into the jungle from our motel in khao lak


finally this stuff is uploaded... off to puket tomorrow and i have to sleep. drinking all the sangsom while waiting didn't help my health, but it was fun... 

i hope you enjoy and please give me some feedback.

cheers, 
mr dee