Annika and Clara are not available at the moment. They have taken a holiday from backpacking and are lying on the beach with parasol drinks and worshipping the sun. Contact with us can be difficult during this time as we are too busy working on our sun tans. We will resume dealing with life and the world upon our return to Arlanda at 1300 h on December the 20th. We apologies ahead of time of any jealousy this might cause.
Sincerely,
Annika and Clara
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
The return of a phobia.
As a kid in Thailand I was often mocked by my older brother Krister regarding my fear of cockroaches which often resulted in me standing on a chair screaming until some poor soul would come save me with one of dad's shoes in one hand and a spray can of insect spray in the other. This fear kept me from going into the kitchen at night for fear of seeing something huge and leggy scuttling away as teh light was turned on etc etc.
I'm older now though. Mature. I realize that cockroaches are nothing but an six legged insect like so many other creatures of this earth. I've turned brave and happily pointed out one humongous cockroach on the street corner after the other to Clara and laughed at her frightened yelps. Haha! Silly one that Clara for being scared at cockroaches.
On our second day at our second guest house in Chiang Mai however things took a turn. While lazing about in the guest house garden, reading and enjoying warmth, we were told to leave and stand on the street for a few minutes while the places was sprayed against insects. A big thick smoke covered the place and spicy chemicals stung our nostrils. Upon returning to our room Clara finds a big 2 inch cockroach crawling on her bag and her yelps scare it enough to scuttle off into the bathroom. Haha. Silly one that Clara for being scared of cockroaches.
We later find the same cockroach on his back in the middle of the bathroom, assumed dead. We attend of buiness of bathrooming, makeuping and other girly duties by cleverly just minding our feet not to step on it since neither of us can be bothered to remove it.
Later. At 4:30 am to be precise I am awakened by a very sore and urgent bladder. I go the bathroom only to find that the cockroach has moved itself just a few inches away from the toilet. And it's not dead. It's thin icky legs are scratching the air. I'm too tired to care and climb over the cockroach and drop my PJs to my ankles. And as I sit there, monged and staring into space and casually looking at the pathetic squiggling cockroach I decide that the time has come. My fear of cockroaches is over for good. I'm going to kill the cockroach once and for all.
So I take the conveniently placed shampoo bottle and wrap some tissue around it and move in for the kill. But as I am just about to hear the squish of the dead bug I hesitate, scared of how gross that squish actually will sounds, and in my moment of weakness the devil of a bug clambers on the tissue, climbs up the bottle and then flings himself into the air, makes a somersault and lands perfectly on his feet and scurries into the corner. I give out a piercing scream but as Clara is sleeping next door I remember to keep my lips shut resulting in my scream sounding more like a mouse trying to imitate a panicking elephant. I stand up and pull up my trousers.
I need to get out of this hell of a bathroom.
The cockroach clearly can read my mind, does a 180 degree turn and comes charging towards me. Once again I pierce the room with my mousish elephant scream, end up jumping in a puddle of water completely weting myself and start frantically flapping my hands with t-rex arms! Then comes my MacGyver moment. I leap over the cockroach, burst the door open and in one swift movement I manage to shut off the light, slam the door shut and leap on to the bed removing me wet Pj trousers in mid air and dive under the covers. Panting I keep seeing in my inner mind how the evil demon cockroach has gathered all his army and will at any moment come charging out of the bathroom towards me and I will die much like Mostafa gets trampled by the antelopes in the Lion King.
But nothing happens. The room is silent and Clara keeps on snoozing completely unaware of the battle at hand.
But for hours I can't sleep and my mind repeating frightful images of cockroaches on backs scratching the air.
Haha. Silly that Annika for being scared of cockroaches.
I'm older now though. Mature. I realize that cockroaches are nothing but an six legged insect like so many other creatures of this earth. I've turned brave and happily pointed out one humongous cockroach on the street corner after the other to Clara and laughed at her frightened yelps. Haha! Silly one that Clara for being scared at cockroaches.
On our second day at our second guest house in Chiang Mai however things took a turn. While lazing about in the guest house garden, reading and enjoying warmth, we were told to leave and stand on the street for a few minutes while the places was sprayed against insects. A big thick smoke covered the place and spicy chemicals stung our nostrils. Upon returning to our room Clara finds a big 2 inch cockroach crawling on her bag and her yelps scare it enough to scuttle off into the bathroom. Haha. Silly one that Clara for being scared of cockroaches.
We later find the same cockroach on his back in the middle of the bathroom, assumed dead. We attend of buiness of bathrooming, makeuping and other girly duties by cleverly just minding our feet not to step on it since neither of us can be bothered to remove it.
Later. At 4:30 am to be precise I am awakened by a very sore and urgent bladder. I go the bathroom only to find that the cockroach has moved itself just a few inches away from the toilet. And it's not dead. It's thin icky legs are scratching the air. I'm too tired to care and climb over the cockroach and drop my PJs to my ankles. And as I sit there, monged and staring into space and casually looking at the pathetic squiggling cockroach I decide that the time has come. My fear of cockroaches is over for good. I'm going to kill the cockroach once and for all.
So I take the conveniently placed shampoo bottle and wrap some tissue around it and move in for the kill. But as I am just about to hear the squish of the dead bug I hesitate, scared of how gross that squish actually will sounds, and in my moment of weakness the devil of a bug clambers on the tissue, climbs up the bottle and then flings himself into the air, makes a somersault and lands perfectly on his feet and scurries into the corner. I give out a piercing scream but as Clara is sleeping next door I remember to keep my lips shut resulting in my scream sounding more like a mouse trying to imitate a panicking elephant. I stand up and pull up my trousers.
I need to get out of this hell of a bathroom.
The cockroach clearly can read my mind, does a 180 degree turn and comes charging towards me. Once again I pierce the room with my mousish elephant scream, end up jumping in a puddle of water completely weting myself and start frantically flapping my hands with t-rex arms! Then comes my MacGyver moment. I leap over the cockroach, burst the door open and in one swift movement I manage to shut off the light, slam the door shut and leap on to the bed removing me wet Pj trousers in mid air and dive under the covers. Panting I keep seeing in my inner mind how the evil demon cockroach has gathered all his army and will at any moment come charging out of the bathroom towards me and I will die much like Mostafa gets trampled by the antelopes in the Lion King.
But nothing happens. The room is silent and Clara keeps on snoozing completely unaware of the battle at hand.
But for hours I can't sleep and my mind repeating frightful images of cockroaches on backs scratching the air.
Haha. Silly that Annika for being scared of cockroaches.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Thailand at last!
Most of our trip so far has been slightly rushed, as we've whirlwinded from country to country as quick as can be, to have time to see all the magical places we wanted to see. The entire distance from Sweden to Beijing - which I can tell you from experience is a pretty hefty piece of land - was covered in just three weeks. China got two weeks of our attention, as did Vietnam. Laos we devoted only six days to, just enough time to see a temple or two in Luang Prabang, and do the legendary tubing down the river in Vang Vieng.
So why have we been running around - well, bussing and training it around, really - the entire continent so quickly? Why, because we were so frightfully excited to get to Thailand, of course!
Annika has been telling me stories about how fantastic Chiang Mai is ever since, well, ever since we left Stockholm, basically, and by the time we stepped off the bus on the Laotian-Thai border I was fairly sure this city and this country would have streets paved with gold and rivers that overfloweth with honey (or something even better, like Chang beer), and although this wasn't exactly true, I remain completely enchanted. Chiang Mai is a completely delightful city, the countryside surrounding it is absolutely beautiful, and I've both opportunity to visit the excellent second-hand bookstores that are on every corner and go to the movies! What more could anyone ask for?
After two months of hectic travelling, we're both feeling a little exhausted, and are extremely happy to have a whole ten days in Chiang Mai - it may not sound like so much, but when you're used to spending no more than three nights in a town, ten days in one city is more than enough time to make you feel like a local - and five weeks in Thailand. Annika is enthusiastically teaching me all the Thai she remembers, and we're spending our days here relaxing in the courtyard of our hotel, driving around on motorbikes, and basking in the sunshine (take that, all you rainy days in Vietnam!). If the first two months of our trip were backpackery hard-core travelling, this last month is our holiday. And we're having a blast so far.
When we're not loafing around or getting massages, we've also managed to find the time to go on a trek through the jungle, ride around on elephants and go bamboo rafting. Soon Mirjam and Rasmus are joining us from Sweden and will accompany us down to the beaches of southern Thailand. Life is not too shabby at the moment.
So why have we been running around - well, bussing and training it around, really - the entire continent so quickly? Why, because we were so frightfully excited to get to Thailand, of course!
Annika has been telling me stories about how fantastic Chiang Mai is ever since, well, ever since we left Stockholm, basically, and by the time we stepped off the bus on the Laotian-Thai border I was fairly sure this city and this country would have streets paved with gold and rivers that overfloweth with honey (or something even better, like Chang beer), and although this wasn't exactly true, I remain completely enchanted. Chiang Mai is a completely delightful city, the countryside surrounding it is absolutely beautiful, and I've both opportunity to visit the excellent second-hand bookstores that are on every corner and go to the movies! What more could anyone ask for?
After two months of hectic travelling, we're both feeling a little exhausted, and are extremely happy to have a whole ten days in Chiang Mai - it may not sound like so much, but when you're used to spending no more than three nights in a town, ten days in one city is more than enough time to make you feel like a local - and five weeks in Thailand. Annika is enthusiastically teaching me all the Thai she remembers, and we're spending our days here relaxing in the courtyard of our hotel, driving around on motorbikes, and basking in the sunshine (take that, all you rainy days in Vietnam!). If the first two months of our trip were backpackery hard-core travelling, this last month is our holiday. And we're having a blast so far.
When we're not loafing around or getting massages, we've also managed to find the time to go on a trek through the jungle, ride around on elephants and go bamboo rafting. Soon Mirjam and Rasmus are joining us from Sweden and will accompany us down to the beaches of southern Thailand. Life is not too shabby at the moment.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
You Know You're in Vietnam When...
- you bring a bikini, sunscreen, poncho and an umbrella to the beach (and actually get an opportunity to use all of them!).
- Vietnamese women on the beach try to persuade you to buy their bracelets by offering you 'happy hour' prices.
- bars can afford to give out free rum and cokes, and hostels ply you with free beers.
- it rains so hard the sole of your flip flop melts away and the rest of it disintegrates into a rainy puddle.
- your tour guide won't let you go swimming until five p.m.
- you pay for a book only to discover that it's photocopied and the last pages are missing.
- you can't leave your toothbrush out without it being invaded by ants.
- avocado is featured prominently on every menu but not a single restaurant will serve you it.
- motorbikes are the only form of transportation, regardless of whether you're carrying a bookcase, a sewing machine, or your entire family.
- cows graze in the middle of the highway.
- some people can't cross the border without dropping their pants to their ankles and flashing their undies to the border officials and an amused crowd of tourists.
- Vietnamese women on the beach try to persuade you to buy their bracelets by offering you 'happy hour' prices.
- bars can afford to give out free rum and cokes, and hostels ply you with free beers.
- it rains so hard the sole of your flip flop melts away and the rest of it disintegrates into a rainy puddle.
- your tour guide won't let you go swimming until five p.m.
- you pay for a book only to discover that it's photocopied and the last pages are missing.
- you can't leave your toothbrush out without it being invaded by ants.
- avocado is featured prominently on every menu but not a single restaurant will serve you it.
- motorbikes are the only form of transportation, regardless of whether you're carrying a bookcase, a sewing machine, or your entire family.
- cows graze in the middle of the highway.
- some people can't cross the border without dropping their pants to their ankles and flashing their undies to the border officials and an amused crowd of tourists.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Ooh buses.
Once we left China we also left the era of the trains. I guess when you tuff tuff your way all the way across Siberia it was perhaps now time to move on to some different form of transportation. Such as buses. But unlike the Rossiya trains, buses in Vietnam are very unreliable.
Our first experience went from Hanoi to Hoi An. The travel agent assured us that I was a direct over-night sleeping bus and that it would be a breeze. "Great!" we thought. We came back 5 hours later to and casually ask how long the bus will take and when we'll arrive.
"It's 500 km."
"Yes but how long does it take?"
"Hmmm.....maybe 6 hours."
"6 hours?! But it's an overnight bus! That means we'd arrive at 2 in the morning. Are you sure?"
"Hmmm....maybe a little bit more than 6 hours?"
The night ride is bumpy and whenever you would manage to fall asleep you'd wake up moments later crashing back onto your bed after spend a second in the air while flying over a bump or two. Having " The River of Babylon" with Boney M pumping at the highest volume at 7 am didn't help either though it was quite funny. (Especially "Ra-Ra-Rasputin! Russia's greatest love machine!") We arrive in Hue at 9:30 in the morning ( so yes sweet travel agent lady, it did take a little more than 6 hours....more like 14) and are told to get of the bus. We tell them that we are going to Hoi An and they point us to the travel agent across the street. The travel agent looks at our ticket stamps it and tells ut to come back at 2 pm.
"Why? We're not supposed to stop here. We have a direct bus ticket to Hoi An."
" There is no such thing as a direct bus ticket to Hoi An." Great.
Our second bus experience was from Hoi An To Vientiane in Laos. 20 hours the sign boasted. That can't be too bad we reckon and book the ticket. They tell us it's a sitting bus to Hue (4 hours) then a sleeping bus to the Lao border. There they'll put us up in a hotel for the night and then cross the border and a local Lao sitting bus would wait for us on the other side. We even get picked up at the hotel at 2 pm. Awesome.
And everything is awesome. A taxi even waits for us at Hue to take us to the sleeper bus station and everything is fine. At one in the morning however a guy wakes us and says:
"Vientiane?"
"Yes."
"Get of here please."
I look outside the window and see that we are at a local night open diner with plastic chairs. As soon as Clara and I get of the bus and get our bags the bus engine fires up and drives of. The Vietnam people look at us. We look at the Vietnam people. I walk up to a woman who I assume work there. I point to myself. "Lao," I say. "Vientiane". I point to my wrist and signal a watch. "How long? How many hours?" She raises four fingers. I raise my eyebrows. Dear Lord. We're going to be stuck here forever. And we're both so tired we don't know what to do with our selves.
More foreigner occasionally get dropped of as the night progress and after only 2 hours (lucky us!) the bus arrives. It is now 4 am and we all crowd into an already almost full sitting bus. And there we sit until we reach the border at 7 am. Border crossing is a tired and diffuse nightmare and takes about 2 hours since there is only one man doing about 30 peoples passports and everyone is too tired to take any initiative to help him speed things up. by 9 am we're back on the bus. And we sit. and sit. And then sit until I don't even think I have an ass anymore. Poor Clara had to sit on a pile of garbage the entire time as well which was very unfortunate. at 5 pm, a total of 27 hours later we arrive, hungry, exhausted and dying for a piss.
Lao is lovely and amazing though but the trip was horrible. Despite that we hopped on a bus the next morning and we are now in Vang Vieng. It gorgeous and we love it. Maybe we'll live here in a hut on the riverbank forever. We'll see.
Our first experience went from Hanoi to Hoi An. The travel agent assured us that I was a direct over-night sleeping bus and that it would be a breeze. "Great!" we thought. We came back 5 hours later to and casually ask how long the bus will take and when we'll arrive.
"It's 500 km."
"Yes but how long does it take?"
"Hmmm.....maybe 6 hours."
"6 hours?! But it's an overnight bus! That means we'd arrive at 2 in the morning. Are you sure?"
"Hmmm....maybe a little bit more than 6 hours?"
The night ride is bumpy and whenever you would manage to fall asleep you'd wake up moments later crashing back onto your bed after spend a second in the air while flying over a bump or two. Having " The River of Babylon" with Boney M pumping at the highest volume at 7 am didn't help either though it was quite funny. (Especially "Ra-Ra-Rasputin! Russia's greatest love machine!") We arrive in Hue at 9:30 in the morning ( so yes sweet travel agent lady, it did take a little more than 6 hours....more like 14) and are told to get of the bus. We tell them that we are going to Hoi An and they point us to the travel agent across the street. The travel agent looks at our ticket stamps it and tells ut to come back at 2 pm.
"Why? We're not supposed to stop here. We have a direct bus ticket to Hoi An."
" There is no such thing as a direct bus ticket to Hoi An." Great.
Our second bus experience was from Hoi An To Vientiane in Laos. 20 hours the sign boasted. That can't be too bad we reckon and book the ticket. They tell us it's a sitting bus to Hue (4 hours) then a sleeping bus to the Lao border. There they'll put us up in a hotel for the night and then cross the border and a local Lao sitting bus would wait for us on the other side. We even get picked up at the hotel at 2 pm. Awesome.
And everything is awesome. A taxi even waits for us at Hue to take us to the sleeper bus station and everything is fine. At one in the morning however a guy wakes us and says:
"Vientiane?"
"Yes."
"Get of here please."
I look outside the window and see that we are at a local night open diner with plastic chairs. As soon as Clara and I get of the bus and get our bags the bus engine fires up and drives of. The Vietnam people look at us. We look at the Vietnam people. I walk up to a woman who I assume work there. I point to myself. "Lao," I say. "Vientiane". I point to my wrist and signal a watch. "How long? How many hours?" She raises four fingers. I raise my eyebrows. Dear Lord. We're going to be stuck here forever. And we're both so tired we don't know what to do with our selves.
More foreigner occasionally get dropped of as the night progress and after only 2 hours (lucky us!) the bus arrives. It is now 4 am and we all crowd into an already almost full sitting bus. And there we sit until we reach the border at 7 am. Border crossing is a tired and diffuse nightmare and takes about 2 hours since there is only one man doing about 30 peoples passports and everyone is too tired to take any initiative to help him speed things up. by 9 am we're back on the bus. And we sit. and sit. And then sit until I don't even think I have an ass anymore. Poor Clara had to sit on a pile of garbage the entire time as well which was very unfortunate. at 5 pm, a total of 27 hours later we arrive, hungry, exhausted and dying for a piss.
Lao is lovely and amazing though but the trip was horrible. Despite that we hopped on a bus the next morning and we are now in Vang Vieng. It gorgeous and we love it. Maybe we'll live here in a hut on the riverbank forever. We'll see.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Raindrops keep falling on our heads.
So we reached Vietnam. We left our friends in beautiful Yangshou and accompanied a German across the border. Crossing was relatively painfree and although we do not enjoy buses as much as trains at least we get a more detailed view of the country you are wizzing by.
Vietnam is definately not China (no shit huh?). Everyone actually does wear the cone shaped hats and cars are replaced by motorcycles. It's more layed back as well since people aren't as militaristic about their work and such. The weather is warmer and stickier . We also found bubble tea in Nam! Oh the bliss!
We stayed at Hanoi backpackers Hostel which at first an almost frighteningly large place. But we soon made friends and blew off the hostels rip-off deal of a tour to Halong Bay and went with the dodgy-ass tour agent down the street for half the price. Halong Bay is like Yangshou but in water and since I've already bored you with drawn out descriptions of how I enjoy poscard-esc view I'll refrain this once. We rode around the island in what they called a "junk", which can best be described as something like the wooden rivercruisers that they use in swampy places like New Orleans or the Disney movie "Bernhard and Bianca". Foods included (yummy fresh squid!) and you stop ever so often to inspect a cave, visit a fishfarm or simply to give us enough time to jump off the roof of the 3 storey tall boat and into clear and warm ocean. The weather was warm and amazing.
But only for so long.
Two nights later we're back in Hanoi and there is literally a thunderstorm over our heads. I've never seen such thick heavy rain go on for such an extent of time! you couldn't step out the front door without being drenched. It was so humid that the clothes that I wet after swimming in Halong Bay didn't dry even after 4 days of hanging on the end of my dorm bed. They are lovely and moldy now, thanks for asking. Yet we could not leave Hanoi! The rail tracks were floded and the constantly sulky weather made us so down that we couldn't be bother to move or motivate us to do anything. So we watched dvds. Lots and lots of dvds. It was just what we needed cause after reaching half-way through our trip it was so nice just to chill out and sort out or impressions and just do nothing. Be bored for once! Boredom is awesome.
We're no in Hoi An, sort of the middle of the coast of Vietnam and we're heading on a 20 hour busride to Vientiane tomorrow. But such adventures will be told at another time. However, there is a spoiler .... IT DOESN'T RAIN ALL THE TIME IN HOI AN!!!!!! HALLELUJAH!
Vietnam is definately not China (no shit huh?). Everyone actually does wear the cone shaped hats and cars are replaced by motorcycles. It's more layed back as well since people aren't as militaristic about their work and such. The weather is warmer and stickier . We also found bubble tea in Nam! Oh the bliss!
We stayed at Hanoi backpackers Hostel which at first an almost frighteningly large place. But we soon made friends and blew off the hostels rip-off deal of a tour to Halong Bay and went with the dodgy-ass tour agent down the street for half the price. Halong Bay is like Yangshou but in water and since I've already bored you with drawn out descriptions of how I enjoy poscard-esc view I'll refrain this once. We rode around the island in what they called a "junk", which can best be described as something like the wooden rivercruisers that they use in swampy places like New Orleans or the Disney movie "Bernhard and Bianca". Foods included (yummy fresh squid!) and you stop ever so often to inspect a cave, visit a fishfarm or simply to give us enough time to jump off the roof of the 3 storey tall boat and into clear and warm ocean. The weather was warm and amazing.
But only for so long.
Two nights later we're back in Hanoi and there is literally a thunderstorm over our heads. I've never seen such thick heavy rain go on for such an extent of time! you couldn't step out the front door without being drenched. It was so humid that the clothes that I wet after swimming in Halong Bay didn't dry even after 4 days of hanging on the end of my dorm bed. They are lovely and moldy now, thanks for asking. Yet we could not leave Hanoi! The rail tracks were floded and the constantly sulky weather made us so down that we couldn't be bother to move or motivate us to do anything. So we watched dvds. Lots and lots of dvds. It was just what we needed cause after reaching half-way through our trip it was so nice just to chill out and sort out or impressions and just do nothing. Be bored for once! Boredom is awesome.
We're no in Hoi An, sort of the middle of the coast of Vietnam and we're heading on a 20 hour busride to Vientiane tomorrow. But such adventures will be told at another time. However, there is a spoiler .... IT DOESN'T RAIN ALL THE TIME IN HOI AN!!!!!! HALLELUJAH!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
You Know You're in China When...
- the appropriate wear for your toddler is butt-less pants instead of diapers.
- you go for an innocent bike trip and end up fallen over in a rice paddy.
- bubble tea is from heaven and should be consumed always.
- dumplings is the only true form of breakfast. But beware of the sugar ones!
- you're not a tourist until you and your friends have matching colourful hats and a tour guide waving a flag in your face.
- Chinese think you are part of the tourist attraction when you go swimming in a picturesque river, and show up in dozens to take your picture.
- your chest hair is so impressive strangers feel the need to come up and tug it. (Thank you, David, for giving us many laughs!)
- the best thing on the menu is 'the boiled water explodes the vegetables' and 'pigs hotter in sauce'.
- anything is edible, including chicken feet, pigs' ears, and live turtles.
- you go for an innocent bike trip and end up fallen over in a rice paddy.
- bubble tea is from heaven and should be consumed always.
- dumplings is the only true form of breakfast. But beware of the sugar ones!
- you're not a tourist until you and your friends have matching colourful hats and a tour guide waving a flag in your face.
- Chinese think you are part of the tourist attraction when you go swimming in a picturesque river, and show up in dozens to take your picture.
- your chest hair is so impressive strangers feel the need to come up and tug it. (Thank you, David, for giving us many laughs!)
- the best thing on the menu is 'the boiled water explodes the vegetables' and 'pigs hotter in sauce'.
- anything is edible, including chicken feet, pigs' ears, and live turtles.
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