You know how I told everyone that I wanted to go to Cuba this year (2018)? Well that didn't happen. I found a tour that I wanted to book but once a got clearance from my company the tour was already fully booked. So I did the next best thing to visiting a communist dictatorship in the Caribbean... I visited two communist and one military dictatorship in Southeast Asia.
It was a trip for people from 20-35 covering Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Sounds like a backpacking trip, doesn't it? Those who know me won't be surprised to hear that it wasn't. They advertised that it is possible to bring a normal suitcase along and that's how I knew that was the right trip for me. To be honest they even made me feel a bit old because at many places our luggage was carried for us...
In Thailand I only spent that famous "one night in Bangkok" (Modern Talking!!) but due to jetlag it wasn't even that long. Been to the rooftop bar where they shot "Hangover 2", drank two overprices Cuba Libre (about 22€ each), realized I was totally underdressed and went home. Kinda felt like New York.
Next day we hopped on the bus and went directly to Cambodia. There we looked at temples, crossed a lake to see a temple on the water, spent time in Siem Reap to explore temples and drove to Phnom Penh to experience some more temples. Ok... a bit more specific.
First we went to Battambang and payed a visit to the kids circus of (I believe) the local orphanage. They taught us how to count till 11 with your fingers... well you need to be a guy to have all the fingers necessary for doing that. Appropriate? You can judge yourself. But amazing artists! The tour also included the street food market at night but our guide tried to make sure we don't eat anything. Sometime in the past a guy had to buy diapers to continue the trip on the bus and he wanted to avoid that ever happening again. After looking at the local production site of fish paste I can imagine how that happened. Good news is that the people working there are as grossed out by cockroaches as we are. They only touched the chopping block with a knife. Bad news is that the chopping blocked they lifted rolled through the room and turned into a running wheel for the cockroaches. Also very artistic though.
From Battambang we took a boat across that huge lake to get to Siam Reap (a.k.a. the town next to Angkor Wat). The night was spent on a town built on stilts in the middle of the lake. There it was pretty easy to get accustomed with the local habits as the only thing they do at night is drinking.
Next stop was Siem Reap with the total temple overkill. To be a bit less touristy we actually had "mountain bikes" to get from temple to temple so we could use some "off roads". That was pretty fun and dirty. Not the kind of dirty fun you're thinking off! I danced with one local girl one night and suddenly my reputation was ruined. Am I the only one who thinks that getting to know locals is part of traveling?
We've also been to the temple where Tomb Raider was shot and boy was that a sell-out. You couldn't peak a corner without running into a tour guide who just explained exactly which scene was shot right there. Now I even know the exact location where Angelina met the kid she adopted. I tried standing there myself but somehow I wasn't so lucky.
By the way: Standing below a swarm of bats that leave their cave at night is also unlucky. Seems like they don't alleviate themselves inside the cave but rather just when they leave it.
Phnom Penh and Can Tho (already Vietnam) weren't that interesting other than the fact that I became a millionaire... in Dong (= 0,000038€). Next on the list was the island of Phu Quoc. Our hotel was right at a beautiful beach and also close to the best Banh Mi (Vietnamese sandwich) "food truck" ever. After finally being able to enjoy street food I spent most nights there. There's even a video of me learning how to make them by myself.
At this place I also met the love of my life. I'm pleased to introduce to you: Blue!
The best day of the whole vacation was also on Phu Quoc. While most of the group went on a guided tour to see a prison (why???), a pepper farm, the most amazing beach and a waterfall Blasehase (blow bunny) and I just rented a scooter and explored the island by ourselves.
Who is the blow bunny you might ask. Well there was one guy who was into exploring local specialities as much as I was. By that I'm referring to drinking a few beers. So I started calling him brewmaster. One night someone asked him whether he thinks it is ok that I call him that and he answered: "I don't mind. He can call me blow bunny if he wants to." Those kind of nicknames just stick.
Driving on a scooter in Asian traffic by itself is already a lot of fun. To make it even better we went to the other side of the island to rent jet skies at another beach. Of course we ended up at the same beach the others payed for visiting. Then we went to the waterfall and guess what... same place the group went. Only difference being that they gave up after half the way because they thought that there won't be a waterfall anymore while we made it to the end. So I can check "swimming under a waterfall" of my bucket list. Making good selfies is still an open point.
We concluded the day at an amazing beach bar. They had a bone fire surrounded by bean sacks. Electronic music was floating through the air while you watched Charlie Chaplins impression of Adolf H. all night. If that wasn't enough you could also try to get high on Helium. I wasn't even aware that that's a thing. There's so much you can learn by traveling. I also met a local girl that explained to me why Donald is a great. Maybe she needs to cut back on the Helium a bit...
The Southeast Asia trip concluded in Saigon, a.k.a. Ho-Chi-Minh-City, a.k.a. the city of bikes, a.k.a. there are no bikes anymore. I guess this is what development looks like: An ocean of scooters. They have a pretty kick-ass street food market and quite a few impressive roof top bars (at which I was underdressed again). Other than that not too many things that stuck to my head.
All in all a pretty nice trip. Amazing food and nature. I think I could life on Pho and Banh Mi for quite a while. Also great people. Our tour guide even brought us some local specialities (beer!) that blow bunny and I couldn't find anywhere just to make us happy. That forced us to drink during the day just to finish it... a man gotta do what a man gotta do.
Still... next year it has to be Cuba!
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen