K a l m a – L a n g

Till end of May the missing reports will be translated.
Mi scusi for the delay!

After a longer time of being radio silent we finally pushed through with a new report, and voila here comes the translation…
Leon, Juergen, Michi, Tiffany and Jannik are the constellation as of the moment.
It all started with the arrival of Juergen at 5am in Mumbai: the pickup service arrived half an hour earlier in Mumbai, just in time to be at the airport and afterwards go and scout for a hotel, what actually should have been done before already but Indian Railways usually has delay. The same day (February 26) Leon also arrived in Mumbai. The four of us walked around Mumbai and had a relaxed arrival day. The next day we went already to Pune to visit a working colleague of Juergen. We stayed 3 days and lived in his new Apartment which was undergoing the last fine tunes by the craftsmen. During daytime we scouted out the close by area and also went to the more famous places: M.G. (Mahatma Gandhi) Road and Koreagoan Park with the famous Osho Ashram and all the palaces of the rich people surrounding it. Then the itineraries we’re different for a while; Jannik went back to Mumbai while Leon, Juergen and Tiffany went already to Arambol. After a pretty chaotic pickup of Michi and a rip off ticket seller and the resulting fight, Jannik and Michi finally managed to board a bus heading to Goa. Arrived in Arambol the big regrouping took place and the well deserved ocean and some sleep awaited us.
The next day we chilled out on the beach the whole day and went to the famous Saturday Night Market in the evening into the chaos. Shops next to shops, every bullshit one can think about was available to buy, prices from ridiculously high till normal.
The next days we rented out 3 Royal Enfields for a couple of days and cruised the area. We came by Chapora Fort and enjoyed the view over the river flowing into the ocean. Of course we also went to the local Touristreet and thus passed through Baga and Calangute. That’s the place where the all inclusive Tourists stem their fat bellies in the sun and the proletariat is big again. Pretty ugly! But it’s been on the way to the Aguada Fort with the old Lighthouse and the view over the whole bay till Panaji. In close neighborhood to the Fort were the old jail and some overgrown ruins. 300m away from that was the hideout of some rich person with all the ancient houses newly renovated. In the evenings we usually sat at Om Shankar’s on the beach. Business as usual!
Wednesdays we went to the weekly Flea Market in Anjuna to soak up all the impressions and check the merchandise. Stall next to stall, most of them sell the same stuff but “cheaper”, clothes, electronically gadgets, music, jewelry, food, art, cigarettes and so on. If you already know about the prices it’s pretty funny to see where they start. In the evening we went again through the Touristreet to see a concert and catch up with Meera and some friends. The next day Leon, Michi, Juergen and Jannik went to Old Goa and visited some of the Old Portuguese churches and cruised around the more rural Goa. From the smallest villages on a small river island up to Panaji as a big city we covered everything that day.
One nice day we went into the jungle and followed the riverbed up to the Banyan Tree. Banyan Trees are always holly places where offerings to a goddess are held and sometimes also with the presence of a Sadhu. It is worth mentioning that the “Sadhu” (called Baba) at the Arambol Banyan Tree is 99.99% of the time totally stoned and in 50% of the cases completely drunk as well and then he tells his total controversial and sometimes funny storys… (“I don’t eat, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t fuck” but at the same time he has a joint in his hand, eats pineapple, drinks booze and tells about his son which he revokes again on questioning. Around the Baba there are usually 10 Tourists on their search for enlightenment and try to soak up every word. Besides monkeys, stoned Baba plus Tourists, geckos and frogs we came to the delightful experience of visiting the plateau of the hill. From the plateau on we went all the way back to Om Shankar’s to add a nice ending to the day.
That’s how we spent the days till the 16th of March mostly in Arambol and the near surrounding with the motorbikes. On March 15 Juergen went back and the next day the rest of us went direction south to Karnataka in a rented car. Hampi was our destination. Hampi is an old temple city in which Hanuman is being worshipped what most likely has to do something with the thousands of monkeys in the city. After around 12 hours Roadtrip through deserts, mountain ranges and in the beginning coastline we arrived in Hampi and found a place to stay pretty soon. The next day we discovered the temples in Hampi and were amazed by the architecture and way of building and fine crafts everywhere in the temple. The area around Hampi one has to imagine as a huge stone/rock desert, with the pictures it’ll be easy to understand, can’t properly describe it.
Anyways, we walked through that desert and climbed up hills, looked into every so little cave, strolled through rice paddies, been lazy on the shore of a artificial lake…well…till we took a Riksha for the way home. All the time during our journey we saw monkey: In the trees, on rocks, on the roofs of houses, in the temples, at the water. It’s quite nice to see the harmony between monkey and human there. The last day in Hampi we followed the river up to the rapids and the part where the river goes underground. Close there we found a small bay, perfect to bathe in, and the next 2 hours we mostly swam or enjoyed the landscape around. Since we wanted to save time on the way home we took a shortcut (at least we thought so) till we finally stood in front of a freshly watered banana plantation. Since it got dark we couldn’t afford any luxury breaks and so we looked for Hampis biggest temple, made it our landmark and walked straight towards it, or let’s say we waded towards it. After a while we reached a known road and headed back to Hampi, back to Dinner! The next morning was Holi, the festival of the change of season, and we went on to Mangalore on the southern shore of Karnataka. On the way we saw a lot of feasting people that were covered in color from top to the bottom. After a couple of stops and a lot of color in the car and on us and also after “willingly” handing out all our rupee coins we decided to avoid the next few stops with closed windows and a fast driving style and have been pretty successful. Besides all our efforts to arrive in Mangalore before sunset we reached it pretty late and have been overwhelmed by all the dirt, dust, noise and chaos: basically everything that’s typical for India. In Mangalore we had the pleasure to visit an Indian Mall and met known fast food chains. Westernization arrived here as well. Next noon we decided to leave town again and headed off for Northern Karnataka to visit the tallest waterfalls India’s. This ride soon became the most funniest one, supply were stocked up, the tank was full, MP3 was fully charged, Laptop was charged, good sound system and an AUS Input and of course a good mood as soon as we were out of Mangalore and could breathe air again. As soon as the rush hour was over and at least some of the idiots realized that you can also switch off the high beam it was easy driving, Roadtrip for sure. Somewhat at around midnight we stopped in front of a gate, in the mountains and first of all needed to wake up the guard who then totally flabbergasted let 4 white guys pass in a car. 50 meters further we found a place to stay since there’s been a trucker Nightstop at the crossing. Luckily 24h food was available. The next morning we went on for the last couple of kilometers to the Jog falls.
The Jog falls are India’s highest falls with a drop height of 293m. This impressive scenery we only were able to see in the dry season unfortunately and thus had little water running down. In defense of the fall one could say that we therefore had an excellent lake to swim in after we rushed down 1389 stairs. After a refreshing swim and a really long chill break we went up again, Leon and Michi managed the stairs in 12 ½ minutes, Tiffany and Jannik took it easy and needed around 20 minutes. Arrived at the top we went back to our car just to cruise around the area and enjoy the landscape and the day. We followed a signpost saying “Gundamani” that was always put besides the milestones as an extra sign. The further we got the smaller the roads got but the more interesting it all became till we finally ended on a dust road going through the woods till we finally stood in front of a private mansion. Well, we reached Gundamani but it’s not been a village like we expected but it’s been a private farm. After explaining why we came there we got invited into the house, delicious Chai was served and fresh bananas out of the garden. In the yawn there where the reddest chilies sun drying, we got a tour of the house and finally said goodbye while handing over one of Michi’s bring alongs. Our way still kept us going on the roads less travelled but still as wide as our car. We passed through bamboo lawns in which the cows been rattling the woods, we nearly bumped into a wild peacock but besides of that could only hear the birds and not see them. The road ended at a manmade lake (supposedly there’s been a dam somewhere), we were the only human beings in sight and the only noises we heard have been the sounds of nature. The water was round about 12m lower than the maximum and so we could easily wade through the water onto a small island and sit on the breaches, talk, smoke, drink our soft drinks and listen to the sounds of nature while the sun set over the woods. As it got dark the troop waded back to the car and continued the travels. On our descend to the highway, which follows the coastline, it got darker and darker, the road was going in serpentines and there was merely any traffic plus some delicacies like Samosas, Puris and sweets erred into our vehicle and were welcomed with open arms. Destination was Gokarna for that day. On one of the small mountain roads there’s been a Cheetah crossing directly in front of us but we only have been able to see him for a second in the spot of the beams but still it was fascinating seeing such a creature in the wild.
At around 11pm we arrived at Om Beach near Gokarna, immediately found a place to stay there and let the day come to an end with beer at the beach.
Since there’s been the Holi Festivities since a couple of days (Holi’s been celebrated to welcome the change of seasons) the next day the whole beach was filled with Indian travelers, still quite amusing but when they got drunk they got more and more annoying and clingy. Michi went on with a group of Indians and enjoyed the day with going for a boat ride, chilling at the beach and relaxing while the rest of our group tried finding a spot on the beach where it’s at least a little bit more relaxed so you can read and chill, but it turned out to be an impossible thing. In the evening we drove to the close by Gokarna, a small but totally relaxed town. By chance we stumbled over a rooftop restaurant which had excellent food, the best lassies ever and fair prices plus the comfort of a rooftop. After we all decided that the beer price in our hotel was too expensive as well as the rest of the menu we decided to a) go to Gokarna for breakfast the next morning and b) buy beer on the way home . The next morning we went to Gokarna, as said, and actually wanted to go to another beach but somehow decided to hit the road and have stopovers on the way. That way we reached the Goan border pretty soon and headed for Palolem Beach. We didn’t even got out of the car when we arrived there because it was so touristy and overcrowded that we just turned around and speed away. We looked for a quiet beach than and spent a couple of hours there before we went back to Arambol. We had a last stopover in a Bar where some friends of us performed with their band.
In conclusion one could say that our Roadtrip was just awesome, we had it all: pay Bakschisch to police officers, overtake kilometer long Truck convoys with the dust banner around them, many close-to-death experiences with insane truck/bus drivers, maneuvers to avoid accidents in any imaginable ways, fascinating roads and landscapes, police officers that we asked for directions while our banner was up and so on…
Back in Arambol we enjoyed the usual lifestyle, chilling at the beach, meet all the people and sit at Om Shankar’s. Tiffany and Jannik went for a short daytrip up to Maharashtra while Leon and Michi stayed in Arambol at the beach. When we finally managed to kick our asses ourselves to buy tickets for further travelling it kicked in that now it really meant “bye bye Arambol and beach”. We went for delicious seafood and even Sweetwater crabs (Peter and Erwin) for a last time and enjoyed food deluxe.
When we finally were ready to go Leo (friend of Jannik still from the time he was a little boy in Arambol) drove us to Mapusa to the bus, whished us farewell and bon voyage and off we went towards Mumbai. Overnight we travelled, in a Sittingbus, Non A/C and arrived somewhat rested close to the CST Terminus (formerly Victoria Station). Grab the luggage and head to the ticket counter to retain a ticket for Delhi. Busses don’t travel this long distance at once, trains have been completely booked so we needed to be spontaneous and change plans and so we decided to go to Udaipur by bus just to get as far north as possible without losing too much time. We had time till 2pm and wanted to use that so we went to the harbor and went on a short cruise around, lunch and really quick sightseeing in Colaba to show Michi around. Then it was time to hit our Sleeperbus. Sleeperbus non A/C is besides train rides the best way of travelling: one can open the windows, has a comfy mattress and can stick out the head through the window and enjoy the ride; even smoking is ok in there.
The next morning we arrived in Udaipur and first of all booked a train ticket to Delhi for the next day. We should regret this decision pretty soon. Then we took a Riksha to the old quarter and got a place near the lake. The whole city is incredibly charming, in the old quarter, so called Lal Ghat Area (Ghats are public washing places where laundry and body is cleaned) there’ve been endlessly small alleys, hills and somewhat of a Mediterranean style of architecture. (Damn it, translating this now I’m really getting hungry for Greek or Italian food! Why do airports need to be so expensive?)
We rented bicycles and checked out the city for a short while before we took off to see the surrounding area and a dam lake. Going there we met bathing kids in the irrigation channels of the fields, small stores at bus stops, goats and sheep herds that were on the way to a new food spot. All the way people looked at us, 4 white people on bicycles plus outside the city boundaries. At the lake there’s been a gigantic Ghat, supposedly also crocodiles but we didn’t see any. Therefore there were 2 lazy monkeys sitting around that were willing to be photographed in close ups. At another part the monkeys where really aggressive, Jannik tried to climb a fence to get a better view and a monkey that was 100m away came up to him, showing of his teeth to mark his territory. Well, the slyer person surrenders in the end and after Jannik and the monkey tried to figure out who that is Jannik surrendered after the 3rd try. We went back to the art city of Udaipur and jumped into all the small alleys and edges of that town.
In the evening we sat on the rooftop restaurant of our guesthouse and enjoyed dinner. At the same time there was the Cricket World Cup Match India vs. Pakistan, the thriller of the world cup. With every Wicket, every Out there have been fireworks and party. When India finally won it turned crazy and the whole sky light up for a while. The Indians in our guesthouse obviously celebrated all the Wickets before too much since they all were lying totally passed out in front of the TV.
The next morning we checked out, dropped off our luggage and went on for sightseeing and shopping. James Bond Octopussy was partly shot in Udaipur and for that reason in every GH they showed the movie more or less nonstop. The old Maharana palace was extremely impressive and our Tourguide was really good and well informed. As a Maharana one really had a nice life, a maze of small alleys throughout the palace, chambers big as a ballroom, awesome sunrise and sunset view, yards, lawns and really warm looking marble everywhere. Deluxe.
Once again checking the finances, realizing that it looks worse than expected and decided to save money and it was time to hit the train.
We actually didn’t manage to save money, after nearly 2 hours the Icewallah, Chaiwallah, Waterwallah and Foodwallah knew us pretty good already. That’s life 

So long
Jannik, Leon, Michi and Tiff!!!

After our stay on Koh Chang we spent a day to travel to BKK where we arrived around 10PM and around midnight had a place to stay that’s been affordable. Not as we planned it in the quarter of Sukhumvit (where the Embassies we needed to visit are) but around Khaosan Road. Our Guesthouse was pretty basic: big bed, ceiling fan and shared bathroom in the hallway, but therefore affordable. After the evening became a bit longer since we met a Swiss guy with whom we talked for ages it’s been a bit of a hassle for us the next day to hand in the visa application form on time. Especially when you apply for the Indian Visa at BKK, you need to fill up an online form first, print it out and then hand it to the Embassy. Alone the online form took us 2 hours.15 minutes before closing time we arrived at the Visa issuing company (not even at the Embassy, but at the office of an organization that charges extra fees… total rip off, like so often in Thailand, but that’s the thing because it’s way to touristic) and handed our forms in at last chance. After that we went back by the public means of transportation (Skytrain, MRT and River taxi). With a short stopover at the train station, where we figured out that the cheap connections are already fully booked we went back to Khaosan Road and decided spontaneously to take a overnight bus to Chiangmai and thus needed to rush to the other end of the Khaosan and pickup our luggage and rush all the way back since the bus was leaving 15 minutes later. The bus ride was pretty uncomfortable since it’s not been designed for people taller than 150 cm. We were dropped off in a small side road and firstly looked for a place that had both WiFi and breakfast to check our mails and figure out where the Swiss girls are abouts. After we had satisfied our mental and physical hunger we started walking through the streets with a map, the laptop and the GPS in our hands and navigated to the Guesthouse. Since we still arrived hours too early for check in we reserved 2 beds in the dorm and dropped our bags off and waited for the girls to wake up. Next to the pension there’s been a small market with the best fruit shake stall ever.
When Meo, Selina and Mona finally have been awake and had breakfast we slowly started towards a scooter rental and got 3 scooters. Then we went on to Doi Suthep (a temple on top a hill over viewing the whole city). Pretty strange feeling to drive on the left side of the road but one gets used to everything pretty quickly. The road up to Doi Suthep was in perfect condition and winded up in serpentines. Sadly we just had such a shitty scooter under our asses. On that day it’s been a bit foggy and so we couldn’t really get the great view one is supposed to have. The temple was totally covered with gold and sadly pretty much touristic. Nevertheless it’s been worth visiting it. Furthermore we drove around the area a bit and enjoyed the landscape and finally visited a waterfall again but I’m not giving any more details about that anymore, we visited so many waterfalls already and slowly but surely everyone should have understood the principle of a waterfall: consisting out of stones, sometimes rocks, water from a more elevated place rinses down towards a less elevated place! Since we stayed in a Backpackers Guesthouse there’s been always something going on. In the evening we went out in a smaller group for dinner and then spent the rest of the evening chilling in the Guesthouse. The next day the 3 Swiss girls left for Pai and we walked through the streets and discovered a bit the area. In the evening we went towards the Night Market with Isabel (an Italian from southern Tirol, thus German speaking) and Jannik bought himself 9 T-shirts whom should right now be somewhere on the way between Thailand and Germany. On Saturday we shortly met Daniel and visited a Soul festival (Soul more in the spiritual sense like meditation and yoga and so on), Daniel left for a 10-day-Meditation course in a temple that evening whilst we still enjoyed it in Chiangmai. Sundays we headed to the “Sunday Market” with Isabel and shopped a bit more and Leon and Isabel stopped at nearly every food stall and bought some snacks. After 4 hours of Sunday Market we’ve been pretty much exhausted, got a final dessert before we went back and finally were able to rest our feet.
The next day we rented two Offroad bikes (Kawasaki KLX 250) and headed towards Pai, on the one hand because we once again wanted to catch up with the Swiss girls and on the other hand because we wanted to do the Maehongson Loop. Jannik with an Enduro underneath his ass once again of course is the combination that made Leon curse a lot while still in the city limits since he somehow needed to catch up. Outside the city limits we set up a chilled average speed and cruised along the highway till we reached the crossing to the smaller road going to Pai (on the same time this was the start of the Loop). The now following 70 km of road has been the most dangerous ride throughout our whole journey. The road had extremely steep turns and especially when it was wet (and it was) it’s been like driving on ice. We saw during those 70km 5 accidents (2 white guys who slammed with their motorbikes and 3 Thais who set their cars against the mountain). We drove extremely carefully and slowly and managed to reach Pai without any incident, drop off our stuff and left for exploring the surrounding area. Jannik managed his masterpiece and forgot that while standing on a hill never step down from a motorbike towards the valley side. The result: a broken clutch lever and 150kg that had to be lifted up from the ground. In the evening we met Meo, Selina and Mona for dinner and went to a Reggae Bar later on. The next day we once again met up again for a late breakfast and then our tour really started properly: Leon took the time and labor of selecting a different route for the loop since we didn’t wanted to stay on paved roads all the time (what for did we rented out cross bikes???) So we followed the track on the GPS and not even 3km outside of Pai changed to a small road which soon turned into a dirt road. Throughout the next 50km we only met 5 other vehicles and just had the best trip ever. The road lead from time to time up really steep hills, over long distances through the woods and sometimes (due to the heavy rain the night before) we just had to pass fields of mud where we needed to more or less fully accelerate in first gear to not get stuck. All in all we had so much fun with the bikes and properly (miss) used them. The fun had an abrupt end when we reached a military checkpoint, on somewhat like 1300m elevation, and where hindered in continuing due to dangerous roads so we were redirected. We didn’t had any other choice than to obey and so we went downhill, the most exhausting and least funny part of our tour since the road consisted out of mud the whole time and we just could use the engine brake in first gear to somehow slinger down the track trying to avoid any crashes or even getting off the road where it often went down for quite a high distance. Shortly before the mud turned to dust again Leon took a small crash but besides a bit of dirt on his clothes nothing happened. When we reached the paved roads again we cruised through magnificent landscapes with perfectly build turns till we stood at a crossing where we checked the GPS again and figured out that we are far to the east and not as planned to the west. Ok Lang, so we changed our plans once again and after a short time of consideration we decided to go back to Chiangmai and search some Offroad trails the next day. After a bit more than an hour we had done the 90km and returned to the Guesthouse we stayed before. In the evening the same as usual: walking around, going for dinner with Isabel and then relaxing in the Guesthouse.
The next morning we headed off early and drove along the track Leon had planned till we stood in a Nature Park and couldn’t go any further with the bikes. So once again changed our plans and just drove along searching for a promising looking narrow side road. After a while of searching we finally found the perfect trail on around 1300m of elevation and sped over bumpy and foggy forest trails. Sometime we reached the point where the road totally was cut into three or four lanes by huge cracks and we didn’t wanted to maneuver through that one so we decided to turn around and get some refreshing drinks and a short break. The landscapes we passed this day totally were stunning and far abroad from anything a normal tourist will encounter with his package trips. Amongst the end of the trip Jannik once again manage to descend from his bike (Video testimony about that is already available) but more hasn’t happened. Back in Chiangmai we bought a new clutch lever and returned the bikes the next morning, sped back to the Guesthouse since we’ve been picked up for cooking class. The next 7 hours we spent on cooking Thai style and food. Was nice to once again being able to cook for yourself plus we learned something. Thai food is more easy than we thought and pretty fast in the preparation.
In the afternoon we went to the post office and sent another package home and then returned to the Guesthouse waiting for the bus to BKK.
We arrived in BKK at around 6am and waited for our sleepiness to vanish and for the Indian Visa Office to open up. Meanwhile we said goodbye to Isabel and went to the already known Guesthouse. When it’s been time we started with bus line number 2 (sometimes it’s free sometimes they charge, we haven’t figured out the system behind it) to the Visa Agency. Got our Visas, went to the Philippines Embassy to apply for Leon’s Visa and then returned to the Pension to relax a bit. The next day we discovered the main area of BKK with the Ecobikes (free bikes to ride around the Main touristic area) and went to Wat Pho (the most known temple in BKK with the 64m long, lying emerald Buddha [also called Wat Phra Kaew]). Since it’s been pretty hot that day we decided that one temple is enough in terms of attractions and went for an afternoon nap before we went 18km out of the main part of the city to catch up with Casey (a guy we met in Vietnam). The evening with Casey was doubtless a lot of fun; we got locked up in a bar to avoid a police control and things like that.
The next day we went into the MBK Mall, one of the biggest in BKK cause due to Casey that’s the place to find cheap electronics. Well, as a white guy without any local as support prices are nearly as high as home but maybe we can arrange something for our next BKK stopover and get the desired objects.
Mondays we picked up Leon’s Visa and then went to the bus terminal since we wanted to head towards Koh Phangan. Because Jannik wasn’t paying that much attention when other travelers where telling about the itinerary we ended up at the wrong bus terminal and should have been at the other end of the city. Well, went to the train station with the Skytrain and MRT (saving money) and took the train going to the closest city to Koh Phangan. Started in the evening at 7:30pm and arrived in the morning at 5am (380km was the distance). From the train station there of course only have been Touri packages or totally overpriced Tuk-Tuks and Taxis so we decided for the Touri package and went with a bus to the ferry pier where we transferred onto a pretty modern Catamaran with which we sped over the ocean for the next 3 hours with stopovers on Koh Tao and a Private Resort.
Arrived on Koh Phangan we went into a gathered taxi and drove to the Touri metropolis since we wanted to attend the Fullmoon Party the next day. After been offered ridiculously high prices for a dorm we decided to keep on searching. We found a room that’s been cheaper than one person in the most fucked up dorm we have ever seen. The beach in Haadrin (sometimes also Hat Rin) was totally disgusting, garbage everywhere, one overpriced bar next to another, the liquors have been mixed with water or else, definitely not what we liked.
The night before in the train was once again one of those without a lot of sleep and our plan of getting sleep before the Fullmoon party was destroyed since they played music extremely loud next to our room till 7am. And then was the Fullmoon Party and we still haven’t yet really slept. Well, anyways the Fullmoon Party wasn’t that good, Jannik gad seen better ones before and the whole atmosphere was pretty fucked up.
Today we went to another, more secluded beach where there’s a sister company of the resort we stayed on Long Beach on Koh Chang at.
So far it’s pretty nice.
But Thailand is by now the most expensive country on our journey, we don’t know it exactly (need to check our accounts) but as far as we recall it we already exceeded our budget for this month since a too long time…
So long
Jannik & Leon

After a few days in Luang Prabang we still hadn’t sold our motorbikes and thus needed to change our plan totally and look for a new solution. But first of all something about Luang Prabang: the city is more or less overrun by tourists but still a totally nice and comfy city where we spent our days by walking along the roads and soak up all the impressions. Starting from 5pm along the main road there’s the Night market where you can get really everything from clothes to antiques (said to be real), arts and furniture and of course food. In the evening we usually strolled along there and negotiated bout pullovers and knifes till we ended up at “Mama” at the end of the Night market to grab a delicious baguette stuffed with all you crave for. The old lady always was happy to see us and soon stopped asking what we want ant just asked us about the quantity. The sale of the Minsk was pretty sluggish, some guys would have needed a 3rd bike, the others just wanted to pay half the price we demanded and a Thai guy who wanted to buy both bikes wasn’t reachable at our last evening, he called in the afternoon and told he wanted both bikes but at that time we’ve still been 30km away from the city at a waterfall (forgot the name) and have been impressed by the gigantic extent of such. The waterfall was cascading over an estimated length of around a kilometer, at the side there’s been jungle. We went all the way between the signs “Danger” and walked and climbed up in the stream and also down again. We skipped swimming there because the sun decided to hide itself behind huge clouds and so we just sat at the side and read and relaxed.
In the evening we met the swissguys from Vang Vieng a last time and everyone wished a good journey for the next day, we went towards Vientiane while the Swissis went towards Huay Xay (at first that’s also been our plan). In 2 episodes we managed to reach Vientiane, stopover in Vang Vieng in the same Guesthouse as before. Just when we arrived there the Thai guy called again and told that he still wants to buy our bikes and will send someone to catch up with us in Vientiane. Ok, was fine with us as well and we didn’t had any hustle after that.
The last 2 days on the have been the most annoying ones in comparison, riding was not as much fun as before but probably that could be the case because the bikes travelled a 7000km with us already and the fucked up bearings which caused the slippery back tires. The next day we took the last 150km to Vientiane and first of all went for food and arranged a meeting with the delegates of the Thai guy and packed our stuff from the boxes into the backpacks. When the 2 girls (the delegates) arrived it started again with explaining all the papers and stuff like that and then it was a last time for us to jump on the bikes and drive them to the place they should be. We still managed to make a little bit of a plus with the bikes (compared to what we paid) and the bikes have been bought without a check what might be because the guy wants to use them as a part of an exhibition. We have been the last active owners of the Minsks!!! Since we didn’t knew what to do in Vientiane we decided to go straight to the bus terminal and cross the Thai border and then continue with the night train to Bangkok. Our proper “Backpackers Trip” started perfectly, we caught the 6pm bus, had no troubles crossing the border and just needed to walk a bit around in Udonthani to find a Money changer but in the end we needed to withdraw money from an ATM. After that we went straight to the train station with a Tuk-Tuk. When we arrived there the train was just in the station and started to move while we run up the stairs with our backpacks. Luckily a station officer saw us and stopped the train again while we bought our tickets. The train again started as soon as the two of us have been in the train, more or less. We had a perfect timing that day, last bus to Thailand, last train to Bangkok, sold the motorbikes…
Arrived at our designated place we made ourselves as comfortable as possible and became friends with the “Train police Officers” who every time when they passed us told us to be extremely careful with our luggage. The ride took 12 hours in which we both didn’t get to sleep and just sat there in our thoughts, trying to kill some time. In the morning the coffee vendors and the energy drink vendor’s saver us the first few hours of the day. Arrived in BKK we stood in the middle of the big city life but finally could deal with our hungry stomachs and then went with a Tuk-Tuk into the Khaosan Road, probably a mistake. After only 2 hours we have been so pissed from BKK already because of all the guys trying to rip you off and really insisting in shit even though you said “No” a hundred times already. They just listened when you started your sentence with “Fuck it” or “Damn it”. So we moved on to the bus station and went to Trat. The hours in the bus we actually wanted to sleep but since we’re in Asia it’s been impossible: they had a DVD Player in the bus on maximum volume and a really bad and brutal Thai movie with all the annoying sounds. Worse than the cheep and crappy German productions or Hollywood shit. Arrived in Trat we went to a Guesthouse, had a shower after 3 days again went for dinner and had a good night beer and slept directly.
The next morning we started with a group taxi (Pickup with a converted back) to the ferry terminal and waited a short time for an old and rusty car ferry to transfer to Koh Chang. After an hour on the ferry we arrived and looked for a new gathered taxi to go to Lonely Beach. The name was more promising than the beach itself, restaurants next to restaurants and bars and all the guesthouses have been fully booked already. We had been lucky and could sleep in a restaurant at the floor. They put some mats on the floor and we slept there for free. When we finally dropped all our stuff (with the boxes from the motorbikes it was way easier) we went to the beach and up into the ocean. Since it’s been the 31st of December already there have been Beach parties all over the place in the evening and we of course in the middle of it. The party ended at around 7 am for us. The first of January was more for relaxation. On the 2nd we headed on towards the Long Beach, the beach that’s in the far south of the island. All the taxis asked ridiculous high prices so we took a taxi to the ferry pier again and tried it there again. A police officer told us that there are no gathered taxis going there so we tried it with hitchhiking. After half an hour of walking a friendly Thai picked us up and excused himself for only being able to take us a short time. We have just been happy for any lift and enjoyed the fresh air around our heads. After he dropped us of we nearly immediately found our second lift, an old couple, nearly missed our crossing and then walked again for a few hundred meters before the next Pickup stopped next to us and asked whether we wanna go to long beach and we boarded. Apparently it was a guy from the guesthouse we wanted to go to and so we came till the front door of our desired aim. It’s that easy and you can save a lot of money.
Since then we’re hanging in our hammocks (yes, Leon finally has his own one) during the day time and in the evening we relax in the restaurant and enjoy the silence. The beach is in a small bay, there are only 2 Guesthouses on the whole beach and the water is crystal clear.
Well, that’s our first Thailand impressions. Tomorrow we gonna head direction Bangkok and check out the embassy of India and if everything works out as we plan we head directly up north and probably catch up with the two Swiss girls from the 4000 Islands.
So long
Jannik & Leon on the 03.01.2011

Since our departure from Vientiane got delayed by one day due to some gaskets that needed to be changed and the electrical box that needed to be fixed. We killed the time that day by going to an all you can eat pizza buffet and ate pizza, pasta and salads from an Italian chef. It was delicious. In the evening we picked up Jannik’s bike and that’s mainly it. The next day we finally hit the road towards Vang Vieng, the place where tourists mainly go to get drunk, stoned and float down the river in tubes, totally out of control. After a 4hour ride on which we became icicles and thus couldn’t enjoy the nice turns in the mountains that much we stopped for breakfast and searched for a place to stay. Found a place, moved in and headed out to see the city. Well, what to say? Vang Vieng is probably the ugliest city we saw so far on our trip, at the riverbanks there are restaurants lined up, the menu always starts with “Happy Hour” or “Draught/Draft Beer” or even “Cocktails for…” In many of the restaurants and bars they screened unwearyingly episodes of “Friends” or “Family Guy” and the guys hanging in there, totally drugged or drunk looked so silly. We had the fortune or maybe the intelligence to pick a guesthouse outside the so called “Party street” and thus had more peace and met 2 Swiss guys with whom we often ended up talking for hours.
The next day we wanted to do the thing why we came to Vang Vieng: explore the landscape around the area. We hopped on one motorbike, crossed the river and picked the most tranquil way to cruise on. Due to faulty tires on Jannik’s bike we had a small stopover in the mud since it’s been raining for 2 days before we came there and the back tire just decided to take a 90° turn. We haven’t been able to do anything against it except of jumping of the bike and try to get a proper stand in the mud. Luckily we only went with like 5km/h and so nothing happened besides the mud we had all over our clothes and the bike. 2 small boys followed us on their bicycle because they wanted money from us at the next cave. They drove like morons and thus they slammed just a couple of meters further than us. This time it was on us to laugh.
The first cave we skipped because we just haven’t been in the mood and the cave didn’t look that exciting. We needed to discuss with the kids that no cave visit simultaneously means no money from us, than further on through the prairie, over dry rice paddies to the next cave where we finally went in. After like 20minutes of going uphill we came to a point where we had a fantastic view over the area and decided to relax there for a longer time. After a while we went into the cave and fought our way till the end with our professional equipment (a headlamp that was about to die, a flashlight attached to a lighter, and the torch from a cell phone). After we relaxed there for a really long time it was more or less useless to go to another place so we went back and had some food and just relaxed.
The next day we again went on the road out of town, properly rested, refreshed and full of energy. We went to the next cave and after we visited that one decided to go on the way less travelled, over a gravel road till we ended up in front of a huge landslide of rocks and that’s where the Minsk wasn’t any longer able to get over the obstacles. So we parked the bike and climbed up the rocks. After 15 minutes we reached the end of the landslide and stand on a small plateau surrounded by jungle. We found a small path leading into the jungle and went on that one. Nearly an hour we climbed walked, stumbled up the hill because the top was the aim but when the path led down endlessly again we decided to take a turn and return since there’s been a lot of other place to visit. The trip into the jungle was fascinating because we’ve only been surrounded by nature and the noises of nature.
Back at the bike we started towards the next attraction but when we arrived there the excitement was gone and an immediate return to the next restaurant was the solution. The owner, a Thai who spent around 30years of his life in Europe was totally friendly and showed us his area and his Minsk that stood behind his hut and willingly gave advice about not so touristic places worth visiting. We followed the advice, passed a Hmong Village (Hmong are Laotian native people) till we reached the foot of one of the karst mountains that are characteristic for the surrounding area of Vang Vieng, parked the bike and began to climb up. We started at 220m above sea level and ended at 470m after a 25minute hike. Even though we’ve been soaked and out of breath (especially Jannik with his smoker lung at the moment) we recovered and finally could enjoy the crazy view from up there and the total remoteness of the place. At the top of the mountain there was a small, rickety wooden hut with a straw cover in which we sat and looked down the (railing less) sides for around 250 meters, sharp edged karst mountains and a little greens was what we saw. Thinking that one has his peace for a little while from the whole world and just can lean back for the next hour but in our developed technical time that’s nearly impossible. As soon as we made ourselves comfy the phone rang and a caller from home disturbed the perfect peace up there and talked Jannik’s ear off for an hour, but it’s been great to get some news from home and sometimes it’s good for us to talk to someone else who’s close to us.
After a sheer endless phase of thinking about whether to see the sunset from up there or better don’t take the risk of climbing down in the dark we decided to descend early due to lacking equipment and went back to Vang Vieng.
The next morning we started towards Phonsavanh, in the northeast of Laos. Soon after leaving Vang Vieng the road led into the mountains and the roads here have been so perfect that we could speed into the turns. But since the landscape was too fascinating to just rush through we had some stopovers to take photos, enjoy the scenery or just talk a little. On one of those stops we met a Singaporean guy who travelled with a 750ccm Honda Africa Twin and planned for his trip 3 years. That was the point we realized that there’s a slight difference between 3 days of planning and 3 years but nevertheless we’ve been pretty well equipped for that. Well, we don’t have a stove, our boxes are not that professional and we don’t have the proper gear but still, our 3 t-shirts, one short, one jeans and a rain jacket per head plus a backpack full of tools and a sleeping bag and mat each is enough.
The further we came the more fascinating it became, the curves have been banked, smooth, clean and often it was possible to see the next turn ahead to better adjust the speed and keep control. Because we allowed ourselves some more and sometimes also longer stops we didn’t manage to go all the way to Phonsavanh that day and stopped over in Nang Tong (hope the name’s right). Unfortunately we needed to fight against darkness the last 45 minutes and find a guesthouse (pretty difficult on that road) and thus missed out on a fantastic sunset in the mountains; once in a while we got a glimpse of it in the mirror.
The next day we took the last 50km to Phonsavanh, moved into a guesthouse that looked quite nice from outside but revealed the truth in the evening. We immediately started again to the Plain of Jars, a few kilometers apart the city. The thing with the jars is the following: no one really knows from what time they are, why they are where they are since there’s no such material in the area. Assumptions state that they were used as graves others say they were used as storage room, but archaeologists still guess what’s up with the jars. After we visited one of the sites we went back to the city and took care about new tires, Leon got a new front tire and Jannik a new back tire.
In the evening we returned to our guesthouse, and well, it turned out that it’s more a brothel than a guesthouse. Prostitutes arguing with clients, rancid Lao punters that give a shocked look and run away when they knock on the wrong door. Shit happens, but we’re not going to leave since we already paid for two days in advance.
The following day we took of early and wanted to visit another Jar site but due to the new back tire, the freezing coldness in the morning and probably the sleepiness we missed the crossing and drove 30km too far. The landscape once again was pretty nice and therefore we only realized on the way back how far we’ve gone. Well, our plan being at the Jar site while there’s still the fog lying all over the area was destroyed with that but nevertheless we enjoyed it, lay down besides the jars and wondered what they’ve done the last 3000 years or so. After that we went on to a waterfall and climbed down as far as possible and just enjoyed a cold foot bathe.
Actually we wanted to visit the “War Spoon Village”, just because the name sounded appealing not knowing what’s waiting there for us (we heard that it’s a village where they produce spoons out of unexploded ordinance) but an army checkpoint restricted us the drive till there so we needed to turn around and take care about the pictures and blog entry instead.
The next day we went to Luang Prabang, a 260km ride on the bikes. The first 130km have been the known route but it still was fascinating. The weather became better and better every minute and we could go a bit faster this time since we had new tires. At the turn to Luang Prabang we thought “what the…” cause the roads have been rugged for a few kilometers but then it turned out that it’s only been a short while like that and we cruised all the way up and down, from 300m up to 1400m and vice versa. The phenomenal ride was only interrupted by a shocking moment when Leon had an accident: in a turn he lost control over his back tire and slipped. But when Jannik turned around he already stood at the side, nothing except a small scratch happened to him. A tranquilizing shot and a brake brought him back to life and we continued the last 50km to Luang Prabang, moved into a guesthouse Jannik already knew from last year and our speeder showed exactly 6666km!
Now we sit in a winebar, waiting for someone to buy our bikes.
So long
Jannik & Leon

As soon as we’ve passed the Laos border the vegetation changed. Palm trees only grew close to the river, the plants had bigger leaves and the soil was remarkably reddish, that we also figured out by all the dust on the roads. With the motorbikes we drove till the ferry terminal for Don Dhet, looked for an exchange stall to get rid of these stupid dollars and finally have a nice currency in our hands again: Laotian Kip!
After that we chartered a boat since we couldn’t go on any touri ferry. Instead we took a cargo boat to carry our bikes. After around 20minutes we reached the northern tip of the small island and needed to push the bikes up the steady, sandy ramp. Finally we announced to the whole island that we’ve arrived by starting the engines. After 10 minutes of searching we had a bungalow directly at the Mekong, away from the Main area. After a relaxed dinner in the reggae bar we headed back to our veranda to chill out, read and write a report in the hammocks. As soon as the report was finished our peace was disturbed by our neighbors, 2 Swiss ladies with whom we came into conversation and hung out the next few days. The next day we went with rented bicycles direction south tip of the island, to a small, accessible by a bridge, island (Don Khon). At the bridge we needed to overcome the guards who wanted to charge as a ridiculous high amount for passing. After only 5 minutes of discussing Jannik managed to get us the allowance to pass because we promised to show our “existing” ticket the next day. Next stop: waterfalls. Besides the masses of water we saw some broken bamboo bridges and lots of tourists, mostly Asian, posing in front of the water, of course we did it as well.
Well, we fled from the mainstream tourism once again and went more south through bamboo forests till we reached a small beach place where we could swim in the Mekong. After a while in the sun and at the water we realized that we forgot to take enough drinking water with on tour and so we went back to the bridge over a few smaller detours and into the next restaurant to refresh ourselves. In the evening we met the Swiss girls again and went for dinner and sunset beer together. On the 5th of December there’s been a big “Dragonboat race” throughout the Islands and we, of course, attended. At 8AM it was time to get started, 2 sleepy German guys and 2 as sleepy Swiss girls marched towards the boat that took us to Don Khong, the biggest of the 4000 Islands, where the event took place. After a 1 ½ hour boat ride we debarked and went into the whole chaos of food stalls, crap stalls and gambling stations. From the boat races one didn’t really got to see that much, every now and then 2 boats, sometimes with unequal numbers in the team, racing against each other. But the whole atmosphere was totally chilled and the colorful hassle was pretty nice, or just sit at the riverfront to chill and observe.
After another day of relaxation and doing nothing on the island we went on to Pakse, after around 3 hours of riding we arrived there, bought a cell card and contacted the volunteers there which easily offered us a place to stay. Since Jannik still was a bit familiar with Pakse from his last year stay there it’s been pretty easy with the orientation and we took a day to plan our further travels and visited a waterfall a bit away from the city. At the Tad Fane waterfall we luckily have been too late to buy the obligatory ticket and could see the amazing twin falls which cascade over 150m, without paying. Unfortunately we haven’t found the way that went all down since it became dawn already and we wanted to get back to the city still with a bit of daylight but nonetheless it’s been an amazing view (check the gallery).
In the evening we rented 2 motorbikes, 2 Honda FTR 223, supposedly Offroad bikes but in the end the biggest crap one could imagine. But we didn’t want to take our good old Minsks to the dirt roads on the Bolaven Plateau and thus we really maltreated the rented bikes up there. Aleksi, a Ukrainian traveler who also stayed with Franz and Lucas (the two volunteers in Pakse) joined us. At 8AM we started and reached the first waterfall pretty soon, no tourists around and just so peaceful and quiet. After that we continued our tour up to the Plateau to around 1400m of altitude and then onto the dirt road. There we realized what a crappy handling the FTR’s had and how comfortable our Minsks really are, the FTR’s hat a shorter suspension way and really fat tires in the front resulting in as good as no control over the bike. Nevertheless we raced over the bumpy road that consisted of dust, stones and holes. Around 30km after we left “civilization” Jannik had a flat tire cause a nail punctured the rear tire. The next Repairshop wasn’t far away but soon it turned out that the tube exploded and had 3 big holes and the only place to get a new tube was in Paksong, 30km away. Jannik took the other bike and drove like a madman the 30km back, used all the suspension, gears and tires till the maximum and was just happy to be back safe without an accident after 1 ½ hours and get the tire fixed. Finally we could go on and drove to the next 2 waterfalls on the way, no tourists again and just fascinating impressions: surrounded by jungle one just stands in front a fascinating waterfall, no one around and the water looked so inviting to take a bath. Blessing peace!
We drove a bit around, passed coffee plantations and passed on the smallest ways before we went back. On the way back we drove over some bigger rocks, the suspension was at the end more than a few times, metal smacked on metal, slid down a small hill with way too much speed just to change from one lane to another and finally reached the paved road again and just sped towards Pakse.
The next day we started towards Vientiane, had a stopover near Savannakhet and a second one in Paksane. The ride went without any troubles, just Jannik’s kick start broke off, but welding was no problem. The scenery on the plain between Pakse and Vientiane was pretty nice.
Arrived in Vientiane we called volunteers again and asked for a place to stay and pretty soon found one. We stayed at the DED VIP Guesthouse in the room of a volunteer. In Vientiane we didn’t went to any of the touristic places since we were more into getting our Thai Visa and get our bikes checked before we go into the mountains. The Thai Visa was for free and only took one day. On the way to the next embassy Jannik’s kick start completely broke off, fortunately the bike started the same second and thus the India Visa was delayed and we went to the bike shop.
Tomorrow we’re heading towards the North!
So long
Jannik & Leon

P.S. On the market we granted ourselves an electrical shaver and according to our deal Leon needed to run around with half his head shaved for 24h. Now he’s sitting around, the whole head trimmed down to 3mm and is happy with his book!
Jannik

Ok folks it’s time for the next report!
After we left Sihanouk Ville with Jessel our first trip took us to Phnom Penh. The ride was easy, no problems occurred with the bikes but with the road: the last 20km we drove on a dusty, shitty road, without lights in the rush hour. We finally managed it into the city center but looked like we’ve been dragged through a dust pit. In Phnom Penh we stayed in the Guesthouse Number 9, directly at the Boeng Kak Lake, pretty close to downtown area. For the first day this was enough action for us and we just chilled it with dinner, TV and a beer.
On Sunday we took a look around the city, strolled over the Old Market, cruised along the riverside, past the Royal Palace. It’s been a pretty comfy city, lots of food stalls in the streets, many Bars, Cafés and Restaurants. In the evening we figured out that there are “house prostitutes” at our Guesthouse, prostitutes who lived there and relaxed it during daytime and went out to work as “Bargirls” in the evening. We learned about the backgrounds of their lives from them. Pretty weird stories definitely: a 22 year old has had already 2 western husbands, 1 child and at the moment is looking for a new boyfriend with whom she hopefully can go abroad. She hasn’t got any chances of getting a Khmer boyfriend anymore, according to her. The main reason for their work have been: “I want to party more, that’s why I’m doing this!” Question remains if this has been the truth or not.
Well, what else did we do in Phnom Penh? We went to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, a place where during the Pol Pot Regime Khmer that “didn’t fit the scheme” were killed in the nastiest ways and put into mass graves. Most of the victims have been women and children.
On Monday we went into the DED Main Office of Cambodia since Jannik – as an Ex-Volunteer with the DED – wanted to get addresses from the volunteers around. As soon as we accomplished our mission we bought a cell card and met up with the first volunteer, a pretty relaxed Bavarian guy. The rest of the week we mostly met up with him and discovered the city together since he came out of the Battambang province. One day we stood in front of the “Royal Palace” and when we reached the ticket booth we saw that the Palace was closed and only the Silver Pagoda was open but the price was still as exaggerated as before. Well, with that the topic was dealt with and we left. The following weekend was the Water Festival, a festival during which around 300 Dragon boats race down the Mekong river and 3 Million people more in the city (Cambodia has a total population of 15 Million). It was therefore pretty crowded in the city and prices went up like crazy. We met some other volunteers as well and moved on Saturday to their place till Tuesday. There was a lot to see during the festival, the races, live music, lots of food and fireworks as well. When the panic on Monday evening happened we all have been too lazy to go into the city and have been lucky to not be in the disaster. We only got to know about it through the news in the first place.
In Phnom Penh we gave the motorbikes to repair, one carburetor was broken and needed to be exchanged.
Tuesdays we went on to Battambang to meet Jonas, the volunteer we first met, and visit the village he’s living in. Due to some problems with the bikes we had a stopover in a guesthouse on the road. When we finally arrived on Wednesday Jonas picked us up in the city and showed us the way to his home. A pretty nice, in the evening mostly quiet village that is only accessible by mud roads.
In Battambang and the surrounding we visited Wat Banan, a temple built on a hill that has been heavily fought about during the Khmer Rouge Regime. A small, 11 year old boy was our guide and drilled us to take the 358 steps up pretty fast, once through the whole temple site, on the opposite side down again and into a cave, of course without a flashlight, and then back to where we started from.
One day we also just drove around all the small surrounding villages and enjoyed seeing the tranquil life there and all the smiling faces we looked into.
After we spent some days in Battambang and got new numbers from volunteers we started to our next destination: Siem Reap!
After a pretty unspectacular 4 hour ride we met Kolja and moved to his flat he shared with 3 other volunteers. Siem Reap Is the complete difference to the rest of Cambodia, there are endless 5 Star Hotels, tourists everywhere, Backpacker Bars and stuff like that. The prices were according to the many tourists as well. The first evening was Fast-food-Evening, so we visited two other volunteers for that. The next day we visited the project of another volunteer who is working and teaching in a motorbike repair shop. For the next two days our bikes have been there to get the whole electric system fixed. Finally a working light again and a horn!
After that we walked around the city to see the whole impact of the tourism. The next day we went to the “must do”, to Angkor Vat.
We rented bicycles and with them and armed with our excellent Angkor Guide book we cruised around the temples. We started the opposite way the tourist mainstream goes and visited a quieter temple first, named Angkor Thom. It’s been the most impressive one we visited. It’s pretty impressive what kind of buildings they managed to built back at that time. We took a good view at everything and visited some other temples on the way and came to Angkor Wat at the end of our tour and have been pretty disappointed by it. It’s the so called Highlight but it’s not as impressive and beautiful as Angkor Thom. But maybe this occurred to us in that way because we’ve already been a bit templed out.
In the evenings we spent most of the time with the other volunteers and got to know the city by their daily routines.
The next day the volunteer who repaired our bikes gave us his Suzuki Djebel 250ccm XC, finally a bike that’s closer to an Enduro bike. We cruised to a Silk Farm a bit outside the city and saw all the steps from the mulberry trees till the weaving. We wanted to go to the Tonle Sap Lake after this but when the security guards around the area we wanted to see asked us for money even though there’s nothing to see we turned the other way round and by chance dropped by at the place where our bikes we’re fixed. After the next 5km the carburetor of the bike had problems and so we had to push the bike back to the repair shop. The owner of the bike wasn’t that pleased but he took it pretty cool.
When we had the bikes back we had another chilled evening before we headed off the next morning towards an unknown destination, only deal was “as close to the Laotian border as possible”. We managed to go till Kratie without any problems. The last 80km of the day have been pretty exhausting because it became night plus the roads have been pretty rough and dusty. The next morning we went on a pretty modern highway till the border, ignored the claim for “baksheesh” from the Cambodian Customs Officer, went on to the Laos border. Well, here we got stuck till we paid the “Stampfee” because the Officer here just put our passports out of our reach instead of throwing them in a pissed manner towards us just like the Cambodian one. A few kilometers further we had to stop again for Customs to get our papers for the bikes and then finally we could head to the 4000 Islands in the Mekong where we’re still lying in our hammocks on Don Det!
So long for Cambodia
Jannik & Leon