Kao Lak, Thailand

hi,

been 3 days in Kao Lak, where I am taking my PADI (scuba diving) course. It is a strange place, very quiet especially after the tsunami that hit the region last season. Houses and other buildings are being rebuilt slowly and people are continuing with their lives little by little. Anyway, the first two days we were in a swimming pool learning basic skills and today we've done 2 inmersions !! it's just awesome !! tomorrow we do two more !! right now deciding what to do in the next days, go to meet Roger or stay and take a 3 day boat trip to the Similian islands... will see, but today I'm just looking forward to tomorrow !!

O.

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hola desde Kao Lak, donde me estoy sacando el PADI (un curso de buceo que vale para todo el mundo). Es alucinante, y eso que solo hemos hecho dos inmersiones en el mar !! ya se ven mogollon de peces y es muy facil si te relajas !! la ciudad es muy tranquila, y no hay nada que hacer, pero ya esta bien pq bucear cansa !! Ahora me estoy pensando si hacer una salida en barco o dejarlo para mas adelante en otras islas y ir a ver a Roger ... ya veremos, pero de momento hoy ha sido maravilloso y me muero de ganas que llegue manyana para bucear mas !!

O.

Koh Samui, Thailand

hi all,

just a quick update because in Koh Samui I met Javi again and we rented a Jeep, did some good fun swimming and caught a lot of sun !! Not the best place in the world, but if you find the right empty beach the island it is just awesome !! The following day after a 5 hour trip we got into Kao Lak, where I am at the moment taking my PADI course !!

O.

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hola, un update rapidin para constatar mi paso por Koh Samui, donde me volvi a unir al Javitron y alquilamos Jeep, nos dimos una cena de lujo y nos banyamos en la playa superbonita y desierta de un hotel de cinco estrellas en el que nos colamos !! Despues de 5 horas de autobus, llegamos a Kao Lak, donde estoy haciendo un curso de buceo !!

O.

The Bamboo hut, Hat Yuan, Koh Phangan, Thailand

hi from a remote beach in Koh Phangan !!

this is the most beautiful place I've been so far. After a nightmare trip from Bangkok into Surathani, then I took a bus, a ferry, a jeep and a small boat that took me to the best spot in the island. A beach that can only get reached by boat !! The water is so clean, and I am staying in a hut in a cliff where I can hear the waves at night and the food at the restaurant is just amazing !! I've been taking walks to other remote beaches and it has been great !! now I am in the main village (took a boat this lunchtime) and it's full of young swedish and english people that come here for the 'full moon party', but my side of the island is much more interesting !! I am going to chill out here for some more days swimming in the transparent water and catching sun and then off to Kao Lak to learn scubadiving I think. Will see.... More soon !!

O.

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hola desde la playa mas bonita de Koh Phagnan, una isla llena de gente que viene a emborracharse y de copas pero tambien con rincones a los que se accede con dificultad y donde todo pasa tranquilamente !! Estoy en una playita donde solo se puede ir en barca, en unos bungalows al lado de la playa alucinantes, y con un restaurante donde ponen unos pescados espectaculares, especialmente la Barracuda !! estare por aqui unos dias mas, tomando el sol y banyadome en estas aguas cristalinas llenas de peces, y yendo a nadar al amanecer en plan capitan !! mas pronto, pero esto es espectacular y de los mejores sitios que he visto nunca !! mas muy proto !!

O.

Luang Prabang, Laos

hi from the old capital of Laos, Luang Prabang, and such a beautiful city that is patrimony of Humanity by Unesco !! It's called 'Prabang' because of the position of the golden buda that now stands next to the national museum (standing up with the palm of the hands pointing out). Here we've been to the most amazing waterfalls, had the greatest breakfast in this colonial city and just come back from an amazing massage !! I had the option of going to Chiang Mai in Thailand, but this city is so nice that I doubt that are many cities like this, so I've decided to chill out and stay !! Some people say that it's beautiful like Sevilla, Praga, Cartagena de Indias and Jerusalem. All I can say is that it's just peaceful, mystical and magic ! I've met a great bunch of people and it's been great fun. Will stay here until tuesday lunchtime, when I get back to Bangkok to check out some beaches in the sou of Thailand !

O.

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hola desde Luang Prabang, una de las ciudades mas bonitas que he visto nunca. La ciudad esta al lado del Mekong, y esta llena de templos budistas sencillamente alucinantes. Ahora estoy escribiendo al lado de unos monjes budistas que van vestiditos de naranja, fumando cigarrillos y con un paraguas en la calle para no quemarse con el sol !!
Nos hemos banyado en unas cascadas estupendas y ahora me acabo de dar el mejor masaje de mi vida !! Estare aqui hasta el martes, y si manyana no se que hacer, me dare otro !! Esto es estupendo !!

O.

Vang Vieng, Laos

hi from Vang Vieng,

we got here yesterday and we are staying at a very nice bungalow in front of the river. It's a strange town, coz everybody is a tourist drinking 'happy lhasis' (with opium and various other shit). I think the most beautiful thing of it is the surroundings, today we hired a bicycle and we went up to some caves !! this was great fun coz we were swimming inside one and next to another one. With no torch and on our own .... that was scary !! We just had dinner now and it's so relaxing that we will go to bed pretty early I think... again !!
tomorrow off to Luang Prabang !! That should be good !

O.

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hola desde Vang Vieng !

estoy un poco empanado despues de saber la ostia que me han metido en la factura del telefono !! bueno, hoy hemos cogido unas bicis y nos hemos ido a dar vueltas por la zona. Hay unas cuevas muy molonas y unos paisajes espectaculares !! luego hemos visto la puesta de sol desde una hamaca al lado del rio en nuestro bungalow de 5 dolares/noche !! el pueblo esta lleno de gente joven que la mayoria vienen a meterse opio y otras drogas y eso hace que no este tan bien como podria, pero no esta mal. De todas maneras, manyana a Laung Prabang, patrimonio de la humanidad !! eso si que va a estar bien !!

O.

Vientiane, Laos

hi,

just a quick update to say that after a nightmarish overnight trip from Pakse we got into Viantiane, the capital of Laos. We spent 10 hours in a bus, with no legroom and my feet got very swollen !! there we chilled out, did a herbal sauna and a massage and we stayed in a very cool guesthouse. Our plan was to go to the embassy of Myanmar to get a visa, but it was closed that monday (we went straight after jumping off the bus), so since we couldn't do it in Phnom Penh either, we took it as a signal from the gods and we dropped it altogether. So no more Myanmar, but something else instead !! So we took a bus this morning to Vang Vieng, a remote village in the north of the country and very pretty and relaxing where we are now. More soon,

O.

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hola,

un update rapidin. El domingo por la noche cogimos un autobus para Vientiane. Fue una pesadilla pq no tenia sitio para moverme ni colocarme e incluso se me hincharon los pies !! pffff. El plan era ir a Vientiane para conseguir una visa para Myanmar. Lo que paso fue que la embajada estaba cerrada justamente ese lunes ... Como tampoco fue posible en Cambodia, lo hemos interpretado como que tal vez es mejor no ir !! Ya haremos otra cosa, lo bueno de este viaje es que se elige entre opciones buenas siempre !! De modo que despues de echarnos una sauna y un masaje, anoche dormimos en un chamicin y esta manyana nos hemos venido para Viang Vieng, en el norte del pais !!

O.

Tadlo Falls, Laos

After the 4,000 islands in the south of Laos (Lao without the 's' in local language) we took two local buses sharing a big tuk-tuk with some lao people, some ducks, two hens and a pig !! we arrived at Tadlo Falls, a pretty and remote village 2 hours away from Pakse. It's certainly a quiet place, with not much to do except for swimming in waterfalls and trekking, which is not too bad at all !! This is what we did, we got there at lunchtime and then we went uphill where we met some lao kids and we swum in the river with them and we played football !!!
Yesterday we did a 20km trip with flipflops !! we wanted to rent a bicycle, but there were none, so we decided to walk !! We swum in the highest waterfall I've ever seen in my life with some other kids and then we walked under the sun for 4 hours stopping in strange villages and drunk warm Pepsi that expired in 2001 !!
This morning we have taken a bus and now we are in Pakse waiting for our 'vip bus' to vientiane that will get us there tomorrow morning !!! hmmm.... will see !!

O.

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despues de las 4,000 islas al sur de Laos (sin 's' en laosiano) fuimos a Tadlo Falls, unas cascadas muy bonitas a dos horas de camino de Pakse. Alli nos hemos banyado en cascadas saltando de acantilados con ninyos locales que nos han ensenyado donde, tambien hemos caminado un monton bajo el sol que hace (por cierto, estamos morenisimos !!), hemos jugado al futbol con chavalines locales y hemos tomado los mejores batidos de pinya de la zona !! era tan tranquilo que nos ibamos a dormir a las 9 de la noche !!
esta manyana nos hemos ido de alli y ahora estamos en Pakse esperando a un autobus que sale esta noche para Vientane, la capital donde intentaremos conseguir un visado para Myanmar !! ya veremos.
estoy divinamente !

O.

Si Phan Don, Laos

hi all,

after Chiqui left, we did a 'splurge' day in Siam Reap, where we paid 3 USD and we got into a luxurious hotel !! we used the gym and the swimming pool !! There was nobody so we chilled out there at our ease !! In the evening we went for another massage with the blind women and we had dinner at our local restaurant.
The day after we flew from Siam Reap into Pakse, Laos. From there we took a bus (it took us a while to find out which) into the 4,000 islands of the Mekong river, Si Phan Don. There we proved our faith with the locals when we crossed the river in a small boat leaving our baggage at the other side in the bus ... but everybody here is really friendly and if you learn how to say 'hi' and 'thanks' in Lao they are really impressed !!
Anyway, it all went good and the following day we took a one day trip on a small boat along the river. We met some really cool and interesting lao people and one girl asked me for my telephone number and if I had a girlfriend ... she thinks we are now b/f and I said of course ... pffffffff. During that trip we also swam with some kids in the river and that was great fun !! perhaps there were some bacteria in the river but it's all good now !!

All good here and enjoying the ride,

O.

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hola,

despues de que se fuera Chiqui para Madrid nos lo tomamos con calma Javi y yo y nos fuimos a un hotel de cinco estrellas a banyarnos en su piscina por 3 dolares !! luego por la noche nos dimos un masaje con unas chicas cieguitas y nos preparamos para salir para Laos al dia siguiente.
Al llegar a Laos fue todo tan caotico que nos costo encontrar el autobus hasta Si Phan Don, al sur del pais. Un sitio supertranquilo y bonito con 4,000 islas. Alli cogimos una barca y nos dimos un paseo increible por el Mekong, viendo delfines, comiendo con unos tios laosianos locales y banyandonos en el rio con unos chavalines !!

O.

Angkor Temples, Cambodia

hi all,

we arrived to Siem Reap (Cambodia) 4 days ago. This has been our camp base for the compulsory visit to the Angkor Temples. For those of you who do not know about them, they are a massive architectonic structures built by the Khmer empire between the 9t and the 12th centuries. They are really awesome and a MUST !! We explored ancient temples, climbing steet stairs and rented bicycles !! Yesterday our electric bikes ran out of battery and we had to pedal solid for 20km and that was a real adventure !! Kids who try and sell you water are really cool and we made a couple of friends !! In the evenings we made friends with some local girls, and we went to a kind of fair where they were selling local products, it was really good fun and you see umbelievable things. We shared some pinaples with some street kids. Last night we had a body massage by some blind women and that was great !!
Tomorrow we are going to hang out here and then we are off to Laos !! that should be good fun !!

O.

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hola desde Siem Reap,

un pueblecito al lado de los templos de Angkor, en Cambodia. Es un lugar alucinante, con unos templos que fueron construidos entre el siglo 9 y el 12 por el imperio Khmer !! Es una de las maravillas del mundo !! a veces paseando por una de las ruinas parece que las estes descubriendo tu y es tremendo !! Hemos subido templos superempinados, alquilado bicis y explorado sitios magicos !! Ayer se nos rompio la bici y tuvimos que pedalear 20km una bici electrica que pesaba 50kg !! pffffffffffff.
Los ninyos que te venden bebidas y pantalones son majisimos, no les compramos pq son los padres los que tendrian que estar vendiendolos, pero nos hacemos amigos de muchos y les hacemos gracia (pq vamos en bici sin camiseta en plan ganyan) y es muy divertido.
Esta manyana se ha ido Chiqui, y ahora Javitron y yo nos quedamos aqui un dia mas y el miercoles nos vamos para Laos !!

estoy divinamente,

O.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

hi from the capital of Cambodia that everybody pronounces it their way !! After leaving Sihanoukville a day before than we thought due to weather conditions, we got to Phom Penh. We had a nice dinner by the lakeside in a really cheap place. Today we've been checking the S.21 and the Killing Fields where all the atrocities took place.... hmmm.... Pretty crazy. On our way back on bikes we found a family on another motorbike that fell down. So we had to help them out and take them to a local hospital. That was a bit of an adventure !!! I took the poor girl in my arms coz nobody was doing anything !! Anyway, we took her to a safe place, covering her with the sarong that Javi and Chiqui had given me on my birthday and everything went fine. She is ok now. This afternoon we've been to see the Royal Palace and the Gold Pagoda !! Nice !! Tomorrow off to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat !!

O.



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hola a todos. Todo bien por aqui, despues de llegar a Phnon Penh (la capital de Cambodia) nos alojamos en un chamizo al lado del lago, que esta muy bien, la verdad. Hoy he visto los Killig Fields, donde el regimen den Pol Pot mato a 2 millones de personas !! y es que el pais tiene solo 13 millones !! impresionante ... Bueno, luego he ayudado a una ninya que habia tenido un accidente en moto, y la hemos llevado al hospital. Todo bien y esta tarde hemos hecho el canelo en el palacio real y en la Gold Pagoda. Manyana para Angkor Wat !!

O.