In fact, the rain did not change at all, so we stayed in the hostel, frustrated, bored and somewhat looking forward to our return to Phnom Penh. On the morning of our departure, we figured we had about US$11 left and still had to buy tickets and nutrition for the day. We bought tickets and thus had about US$2 left. we decided we had to keep that money for the internet cafe in Phnom Penh if we wanted to get into contact with Eddie, one of Jojo's mates from New Zealand. After 6 hours and 1000 times hungrier, we arrived in Phnom Penh and found Eddie in the hostel "Lazy Fish", beautifully situated at the lake side. We immediately bumped in our savior and had curry as our first meal of the day (which for me actually is a lie since I had a chewing gum before).
We had a couple of drinks and went out the next day and bumped into another friend of the two who was doing a world journey and (20 seconds later...) ran into Chloe as well. Gathered, we went back to the guesthouse and had a good night. The next day, Jojo and I did the same programme we had done before (Killing Fielgs, etc) and visited the S21 concentration camp which was truly gruesome, considering the methods and instruments of torture being shown in the museum. Eddie and Chloe were just as stoked and in the evening decided to go to Siem Reap, a fact that seperated them from us for a couple of days.
The following day, Jojo and I went to the north to the Mekong to see the least spectacular "must-see" in Cambodia - the endangered species of the fresh water dolphin. Lame. hey look like floating turds in the anyway brown Mekong. It would have been nice, if they would have come close to the boat but they decided to stay about 50m away which made it really hard to see them at all.
The next morning we left Kratie for the (by far) more interesting Ratanakiri province in the North East of the country. The trip there was and adventure itself. Examining the map of Cambodia in our "Lonely Planet", we had always wondered why this part of the road was dotted but not a proper line. We were about to witness the worst road I personally have ever travelled on. The bus was crammed to the max and we got shitty seats above the enigne which made the temperature increase about 30 degrees. The holes in the street and the oversensitive suspension of the bus enabled some good "jumpin-out-of-the-seat-action" and after 5 hours and several bruises later we arrived at our destination.
Ratanakiri is the purest part of Cambodia I have seen in the weeks staying in this lovely country. We went on a tour and took showers under epic waterfalls, spotted fantastic towns, lovely people and a perfectly untouched mind of Cambodia. I am always amazed how people who have literalyy nothing try to comfort you by giving you everything they have, rather than taking it themselves.
The tour finished at Yeak Laom, the most wonderful lake I ever swam in. It is perfectly round and surrounded by jungle. The water is clear blue with sight of up to 5 meters. The temperature was lovely and made the day one of the highlights on our journey which has now lasted over one month. Slowly, Jojo and I made our way to the center of the lake and started soking in the silence which was only broken by our hands touching the surface. After this expierience we decided to stay another day and to come back to this place that poses serious competition to all the beaches I have seen in Thailand or Malaysia.
After a good night of sleep we went to have breakfast with John, a Canadian we had met on the bus to Ratanakiri. We rented motorbikes and camke back to the lake, trying to do some exploring. We went to an empty Pier and started doing jumps into the lovely water. As time went by it got a little crowded (about 20 people in the water...judge yourself) and we went back to the place we had descended from, running into a group of locals that asked us to sit. The were incredibly drunk and played music on their native instruments. As Jojo got the drums, the amazement on the part of the locals lost all boundaries and soon we also were intoxicated with beer and rice wine. When one of the locals humbly asked me if I could maybe buy some more beers I was aware of the fact that we had in fact been invited to everything we had drunk so far and it felt as if I blushed slightly and immediately went to buy another crate of beer. That was the point my mind got aware of how lovely these people actually were.
Next point on our programme - Laos. We met Chloe and Ed, who had been so nice to pick up our Visas+Passports in Phnom Penh, in Stung Treng, a small village on the way to Laos. We stayed for one night, playing a lot of Chloes favorite game - La Bataille Corse. Favorite because she never looses. Le lendemain, a minivan picked us up to bring us to Don Det, one of the 1000 islands in the South of Laos. From then on theres not much to say since we travelled a lot and saw little which is about to change tomorrow, when we will eventually arrive in Vang Vieng to do some tubing on...whatever river there is. Oh yes, I almost forgot. We invented drinking poker without chips. KEY!
At the moment I am listening a lot to Kashmir and Sigur Ros. Someone made me aware of a very true quote of Nietzsche who said:
"In music the passions enjoy themselves."
Love that one.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Cambodia.
Well, we eventually escaped that sh**hole in KL and went off to the airport to catch our plane to Phnom Penh (pronounced Pnom Pen), the capital to my beloved Dead Kennedies song "Holiday in Cambodia".
As absolutely appropriately described by the Lonely Planet guide it is indeed impulsive, hectic, chaotic and repulsive. Seeing the state of this city makes me understand this is one of the poorest countries in south east Asia. We found a really nice hostel that was the complete opposite of what used to be our center of operations before. Air conditioned, two queen (or king...more appropriate) sized beds. We met Sam, a fellow friend from Hong Kong and went to get dinner on the scooter he got from his couch hopping friend Romyr. The three of us went on and got happy pizza at the river side. it truly was very happy as we realized afterwards. Romyr and his friend David came to pickus up to go to a bar where we got drinks basically for free. I took a closer look at the interior of the bar which was plastered with pictures of antic statues that were not (as usual) lacking their genitalia. Paired with the behavior of our hosts and my knowledge of such bars, I assumed we were indeed in a gay bar, which was good fun. after we had finished the bottle of vodka we went on to a bar called "The heart of Darkness", the biggest whorehouse I have ever been in. We left after an approximate time of 1 hour and got back to our hotel.
The next day we rented motorbikes and made our way to the killing fields, a sight in which the ultra communist party of Cambodia (Khmer Rouge) killed a total of 17000 people in the late 70's. Coming from Germany and having been to a concentration camp, this was the first that came to my mind. We slwoly approached a small Mausoleum, containing about 9000 skulls. After 25 minutes of walking around and seeing mass graves we left and went back to town, a ride of about 20 minutes on our motorbikes.
We then were stopped by the notorious policemen that fined us for not driving with a Cambodian drivers license. We haggled them from US$100 to 25 each. Corrupt bastards they are!
Later that day we went to a mansion that is called "Elswhere" and whose owner hosts a party every first friday of the month. It was fantastic. Chilled out vibes, a pool, nice people, relaxed atmosphere and extremely tasty passion fruit cocktails. Good evening, Good night.
The next morning we were picked up by a TukTuk, which brought us to our bus to Siem Reap. After 6 hours we eventually arrived in our hostel and went out for dinner. This city is by far the best we have experienced food wise, so far. Tasty Curries, Masalas, Soups and fresh beer. Perfect. We went out that night in the "Angkor What?" Bar and had a bucket of the vicious Mekong Whiskey too many. The hangover the next day was not pleasant at all... We met up with Sam again who had left a day early and went off to see the temples of Angkor. It was stunning. The only issue I had: I thought I lost my camera the night before. It turned out I did not but who could know that? :) It was lying safe in my backpack.
The next day we got up at 04:30 to see the sunrise and it was absolutely fantastic. Seeing the sky fade from dark blue to red, to bright red, orange and eventually showing off its round master that gives life to the world, makes the mist vanish and filled me was a moment I will not forget.
"You came to take us
All things go, all things go
To recreate us
All things grow, all things grow"
The rest of the day we experienced some other 6-7 temples before we decided that they would become less and less amazing the more we would see. Thus, we decided to call it a day at around 01:00 pm and went back to the hostel and into town to get Indian food. Our driver (which we hired for the whole day for $15) got a little pissed off in the meantime, assuming that after the temples we would pay him. Since $15 are a lot of money we were told that we hired him for the whole day. So, he got more and more pissed off and as we asked him to drive us to a swimming pool he almost started crying and got reeeeaaaally angry. Was good fun though.
The next day Jojo and me were alone again and just chilled and lay in bed, reading and watching movies. One day filled with laziness, the next one on the bus again, on our way to Sihanoukville, the place we call home at the moment. It is raining and the thought of going to the beach seems riddiculous. The rain is hard and enduring. Hopefully it'll change soon!
As absolutely appropriately described by the Lonely Planet guide it is indeed impulsive, hectic, chaotic and repulsive. Seeing the state of this city makes me understand this is one of the poorest countries in south east Asia. We found a really nice hostel that was the complete opposite of what used to be our center of operations before. Air conditioned, two queen (or king...more appropriate) sized beds. We met Sam, a fellow friend from Hong Kong and went to get dinner on the scooter he got from his couch hopping friend Romyr. The three of us went on and got happy pizza at the river side. it truly was very happy as we realized afterwards. Romyr and his friend David came to pickus up to go to a bar where we got drinks basically for free. I took a closer look at the interior of the bar which was plastered with pictures of antic statues that were not (as usual) lacking their genitalia. Paired with the behavior of our hosts and my knowledge of such bars, I assumed we were indeed in a gay bar, which was good fun. after we had finished the bottle of vodka we went on to a bar called "The heart of Darkness", the biggest whorehouse I have ever been in. We left after an approximate time of 1 hour and got back to our hotel.
The next day we rented motorbikes and made our way to the killing fields, a sight in which the ultra communist party of Cambodia (Khmer Rouge) killed a total of 17000 people in the late 70's. Coming from Germany and having been to a concentration camp, this was the first that came to my mind. We slwoly approached a small Mausoleum, containing about 9000 skulls. After 25 minutes of walking around and seeing mass graves we left and went back to town, a ride of about 20 minutes on our motorbikes.
We then were stopped by the notorious policemen that fined us for not driving with a Cambodian drivers license. We haggled them from US$100 to 25 each. Corrupt bastards they are!
Later that day we went to a mansion that is called "Elswhere" and whose owner hosts a party every first friday of the month. It was fantastic. Chilled out vibes, a pool, nice people, relaxed atmosphere and extremely tasty passion fruit cocktails. Good evening, Good night.
The next morning we were picked up by a TukTuk, which brought us to our bus to Siem Reap. After 6 hours we eventually arrived in our hostel and went out for dinner. This city is by far the best we have experienced food wise, so far. Tasty Curries, Masalas, Soups and fresh beer. Perfect. We went out that night in the "Angkor What?" Bar and had a bucket of the vicious Mekong Whiskey too many. The hangover the next day was not pleasant at all... We met up with Sam again who had left a day early and went off to see the temples of Angkor. It was stunning. The only issue I had: I thought I lost my camera the night before. It turned out I did not but who could know that? :) It was lying safe in my backpack.
The next day we got up at 04:30 to see the sunrise and it was absolutely fantastic. Seeing the sky fade from dark blue to red, to bright red, orange and eventually showing off its round master that gives life to the world, makes the mist vanish and filled me was a moment I will not forget.
"You came to take us
All things go, all things go
To recreate us
All things grow, all things grow"
The rest of the day we experienced some other 6-7 temples before we decided that they would become less and less amazing the more we would see. Thus, we decided to call it a day at around 01:00 pm and went back to the hostel and into town to get Indian food. Our driver (which we hired for the whole day for $15) got a little pissed off in the meantime, assuming that after the temples we would pay him. Since $15 are a lot of money we were told that we hired him for the whole day. So, he got more and more pissed off and as we asked him to drive us to a swimming pool he almost started crying and got reeeeaaaally angry. Was good fun though.
The next day Jojo and me were alone again and just chilled and lay in bed, reading and watching movies. One day filled with laziness, the next one on the bus again, on our way to Sihanoukville, the place we call home at the moment. It is raining and the thought of going to the beach seems riddiculous. The rain is hard and enduring. Hopefully it'll change soon!
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Malaysia.
I will keep this rather short and this is just to keep you guys updated on my current location.
On the 25th of May we did finally arrive in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. Our hostel was great, considering the fact that Vincent, our host was a big stoner but at the same time reliable and organised our trips and diving course. Jojo and I started taking this course on the third day of our stay and really enjoyed it. After only one day we had passed the 4-day theory course and went into the water on the 2nd day of the course. This was what we had imagined. We found Nemo, retured him safe to his father and said hello to his neighbors, the Stingrays. Lovely people.
After the completion of this course we went on to Sepilok, the Orang Utan resort on Borneo with our new companion Kelly from Canada. After having experienced the true dangers of the jungle (I got bitten by a leech and almost died of severe bloodloss) and watching the Urang Utans cover themselves up with leaves due to rain (they are somewhat more intelligent than I am) we left and went on to Semporna to do more diving.
This time, we went from Semporna to Sipadan, a small island with an incredibly amazing lime stone wall which descends about 600 m into depth. We saw reef sharks, swam into a storm of Baracudas and enjoyed ourselves.
Today, after 10 hours on the bus, hardly any sleep, 3 hours of waiting due to plane delay, 2 1/2 hours on the plane and 2 more hours of search, we arrived in the crappiest hostel I have ever dwelled in. It resembles cheap late 90's horror movies. This is in Kuala Lumpur by the way.
More soon.
"You are the bluest light."
On the 25th of May we did finally arrive in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo. Our hostel was great, considering the fact that Vincent, our host was a big stoner but at the same time reliable and organised our trips and diving course. Jojo and I started taking this course on the third day of our stay and really enjoyed it. After only one day we had passed the 4-day theory course and went into the water on the 2nd day of the course. This was what we had imagined. We found Nemo, retured him safe to his father and said hello to his neighbors, the Stingrays. Lovely people.
After the completion of this course we went on to Sepilok, the Orang Utan resort on Borneo with our new companion Kelly from Canada. After having experienced the true dangers of the jungle (I got bitten by a leech and almost died of severe bloodloss) and watching the Urang Utans cover themselves up with leaves due to rain (they are somewhat more intelligent than I am) we left and went on to Semporna to do more diving.
This time, we went from Semporna to Sipadan, a small island with an incredibly amazing lime stone wall which descends about 600 m into depth. We saw reef sharks, swam into a storm of Baracudas and enjoyed ourselves.
Today, after 10 hours on the bus, hardly any sleep, 3 hours of waiting due to plane delay, 2 1/2 hours on the plane and 2 more hours of search, we arrived in the crappiest hostel I have ever dwelled in. It resembles cheap late 90's horror movies. This is in Kuala Lumpur by the way.
More soon.
"You are the bluest light."
Monday, May 26, 2008
off to new lands.
Do you know the releaving music after a happy ending in a movie? It's just like a quiet controversy of what has happened before. Watch "The Butterly Effect" (which, frankly, is not a very good movie but pretty extreme, which serves my purpose) and in the end listen to Oasis' "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" ringing the imaginary bells for a wind of change. I, for instance am listening to "But, honestly" by the Foo Fighters. It is just as controversial as denying the fact that I actually left Hong Kong but still am not accepting the fact I did. Leaving everything behind, knowing it will never be the same again is a heavy burden that lies like an inconvienient shadow on my mind. It's a shadow that fills me with sadness and for the first time I really felt what it means to leave something behind you that has treated you in such a positive manner. I could summarize my musings in Hong Kong as a feeling that tells me to stop at the point when you feel it cannot get any better. The only problem with this is that this feeling could then also mean that you realize that something could actually get worse which then again means that it has already gone past the peak of enthusiastic emotions at which you cannot imagine a thing that could negatively infringe the status quo. My friends will understand what I mean.
I don't want to make this sound like a CD booklet or an EMI price giving but I really wanted to thank my family for their love and support.
Love,
Christoph.
I don't want to make this sound like a CD booklet or an EMI price giving but I really wanted to thank my family for their love and support.
Love,
Christoph.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
traveling
So, here's the deal: Do never, and I mean NEVER! make an attempt to plan a journey to China without a credit card within only 3 days.
The first day, everything went fine and I bought a train ticket which brought me closer to my goal. The second day, the booking of the hostels was confirmed - no problems either. Wow, this is amazingly unproblematic. What else do I need? Yes, a visa for China.
This morning I set my alarm (for my standards) relatively early. After having had about 5 hours of sleep in bright light due to Joel's obsession with Heroes I woke up at 7 am and made my way out of bed to the next bus stop and caught the 40M that also collected Louise at her stop and together we drove at slow pace towards the Chinese embassy. At 20 past 8 and some HK$1000 richer, we arrived and saw the humongous line in front of the building. Oh, I almost forgot how user unfriendly the application for the Chinese Visa happens due to the Olympic Games...Firstly, it requires a copy of the ticket that shows a date when you actually leave China - very welcoming. Secondly, you have to have copies of the payment confirmation of hostels you are planning to stay at. Thirdly you need to fill in a form - the actual application, including a photo of your beautiful countenance. As soon as you have acquired these items, the application happens rather quickly. I walked up to the counter, gave my material to the civil servant and was ready to go. EASY!!! The whole process of standing in line plus the quick actual application took us 2 1/2 hours.
Afterwards, we bought some big boxes for sending stuff back home and drove back to the halls. After 15 minutes I checked out again and went to Uni to see Sam for one last time. After the goodbye, I went to the library to study but could not uphold the resistance for very long and soon found myself sitting in front of one of the numerous computers, checking for plane tickets. To my great dismay I noticed that the fares for flights had increased about 100% compared to yesterday. After countless, hopeless attempts to find out the cheapest flight I gave up and joined Emma downstairs. Jordan passed by and saw my useless attempt and gave me the address www.elong.com to book my ticket which was a brilliant idea especially since they provide a 60% discount on all economy flights. Thus, I started booking. HA! I had made the bill without the host (I love word-for-word translations from German). As soon as I typed in my Dad's credit card details, it denied me to continue my booking since my name is only partially the same. Shame. Now I got really pissed off and Emma calmed me down by giving me the number of her travel agent. The price now will be HK$1100 which is still a considerably good deal. HA! update: My flight is booked! I am going to China on Friday!!! ICH FASS ES NICHT!!! (for my English friends: "I grab it not!!!")
END!
The first day, everything went fine and I bought a train ticket which brought me closer to my goal. The second day, the booking of the hostels was confirmed - no problems either. Wow, this is amazingly unproblematic. What else do I need? Yes, a visa for China.
This morning I set my alarm (for my standards) relatively early. After having had about 5 hours of sleep in bright light due to Joel's obsession with Heroes I woke up at 7 am and made my way out of bed to the next bus stop and caught the 40M that also collected Louise at her stop and together we drove at slow pace towards the Chinese embassy. At 20 past 8 and some HK$1000 richer, we arrived and saw the humongous line in front of the building. Oh, I almost forgot how user unfriendly the application for the Chinese Visa happens due to the Olympic Games...Firstly, it requires a copy of the ticket that shows a date when you actually leave China - very welcoming. Secondly, you have to have copies of the payment confirmation of hostels you are planning to stay at. Thirdly you need to fill in a form - the actual application, including a photo of your beautiful countenance. As soon as you have acquired these items, the application happens rather quickly. I walked up to the counter, gave my material to the civil servant and was ready to go. EASY!!! The whole process of standing in line plus the quick actual application took us 2 1/2 hours.
Afterwards, we bought some big boxes for sending stuff back home and drove back to the halls. After 15 minutes I checked out again and went to Uni to see Sam for one last time. After the goodbye, I went to the library to study but could not uphold the resistance for very long and soon found myself sitting in front of one of the numerous computers, checking for plane tickets. To my great dismay I noticed that the fares for flights had increased about 100% compared to yesterday. After countless, hopeless attempts to find out the cheapest flight I gave up and joined Emma downstairs. Jordan passed by and saw my useless attempt and gave me the address www.elong.com to book my ticket which was a brilliant idea especially since they provide a 60% discount on all economy flights. Thus, I started booking. HA! I had made the bill without the host (I love word-for-word translations from German). As soon as I typed in my Dad's credit card details, it denied me to continue my booking since my name is only partially the same. Shame. Now I got really pissed off and Emma calmed me down by giving me the number of her travel agent. The price now will be HK$1100 which is still a considerably good deal. HA! update: My flight is booked! I am going to China on Friday!!! ICH FASS ES NICHT!!! (for my English friends: "I grab it not!!!")
END!
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Eventually...
The time goes by even faster now that my time here comes to an end and the fact that not only I but also all people I learned to like so much are leaving one by one. We had a goodbye dinner for Adele at Wagyu which was truly lovely and tasty but the bitter taste of melancholy remained an irritating factor we could not deny. If I got it right she is going to the Philippines and I will see her in The Hague soon.
The fact that the one person I like most left for Beijing this morning leaves me in mixed emotions. I'm sorry for being so desolate lately but this is what my mind tells me to write and I always write what it tells me to.
My emotions have been going to extremes lately as well. There are times, maybe even moments, in which I am terribly sad, then happy and then angry again. The time of just being fine has unfortunately been absent for far too long. This city is giving me a hard time being so wonderful to me and the fact I'll be traveling for 6 weeks does not ease the feeling of departure. Maybe Iron&Wine and Nick Drake are not really the music to listen to either but my mind wants to be sad.
The fact that the one person I like most left for Beijing this morning leaves me in mixed emotions. I'm sorry for being so desolate lately but this is what my mind tells me to write and I always write what it tells me to.
My emotions have been going to extremes lately as well. There are times, maybe even moments, in which I am terribly sad, then happy and then angry again. The time of just being fine has unfortunately been absent for far too long. This city is giving me a hard time being so wonderful to me and the fact I'll be traveling for 6 weeks does not ease the feeling of departure. Maybe Iron&Wine and Nick Drake are not really the music to listen to either but my mind wants to be sad.
flying around the world.
http://www.flyingaroundtheworld.com/
this homepage is the creation of a dear friend of mine back home in The Hague, Raphael. I find his idea quite amazing.
this homepage is the creation of a dear friend of mine back home in The Hague, Raphael. I find his idea quite amazing.
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