Goodbye

My friends, thank you very much for following this blog and sharing my experience with me. I hope it was a little interesting and inspiring. I am very much looking forward to seeing you all again in person soon. No more virtual relationships for a while. Take care! Stefan

Singapore to Macau 2009

Best country: Laos

Worst country: Vietnam

Best city: Luang Prabang, Laos

Worst city: Diem Bien Phu, Vietnam

Best hotel: The Chedi, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Worst hotel: Muong Thanh hotel, Diem Bien Phu, Vietnam

Best food: Dinner at the Oriental, Bangkok

Worst food: Dinner at the Shangri-La hotel, Beihai, China (stuffed sandworms!)

Most modern place: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Most rural place: The Laotian mountains

Worst moment: Flat tire in Laos after days of bad roads

Best moment: Right now, Hong Kong, looking out the window over the city from the 32nd floor, knowing I am coming home

Best driving tunes: Bob Marley

Worst driving tunes: Vietnamese radio 

Biggest surprise: Cellphones work even in the most remote areas in the world

5 weeks is very very long when you are far away from home.

 

FINISHED!!!!

WE MADE IT. 7000 miles, 5 weeks, millions of kamikaze mopeds, deadly potholes, rocks, mountain passes, buffet dinners, hazardous pigs, chickens, stray dogs, naked babies, bicycles riders on highways, border crossings, bus transfers, buddhist temples, soot and smoke, insane passing maneuvers, packing and unpacking bags, earplugs, telephone calls and text messages, BLOGS, british small talk, miles...miles...miles, plastic water bottles, money changing, hotel beds, fried eggs over medium, gas stations, tolls, rice patties, run-over snakes, 6 am alarm clocks, british humor, sand and dirt, buses oncoming-in our lane...

It has not sunk in yet that we are done...or what we have been through. I'm still working on it in my head, digesting the trip. 

We have REALLY been looking forward to this moment! Cigar and Cognac after the finish. My dad and I enjoyed our treat at the Westin in Macau. We will be here for one night and then take a jetfoil boat over the bay to Hong Kong, our last stop of this journey. A drink never tasted this good.

Best and worst of everything to follow tomorrow!

On a junk in Ha Long Bay

Hey! We slept on a junk in Ha Long Bay in the Chinese Sea last night, about 150 miles from the Chinese border, still in Vietnam. As we approached the boat pier after a long drive through traffic chaos, we weren't sure if we were up to spending the night on a boat with our fellow rally colleagues...but I am glad we did. Counter to what the name of this type of boat may suggest, the junk was not junky at all, but actually a very nice boat. My dad and I had the biggest beds so far on our trip in a beautiful wooden stateroom aboard. The crew shipped us out to sea for a few hours to a cave in the side of one of the large rocks sticking out of the water...and we had dinner in a cave! Nice buffet, complete with dancers and bottles of Vietnamese wine (not bad!). 

In the morning, we were woken up by the boat's diesels ferrying us back to shore for a late 8.30 am takeoff. We had a long way ahead of us to the Chinese border and then on to our overnight stay at Beihai. 

The border crossing out of socialist Vietnam into communist China was one hell of an event. It was our seventh border crossing. Imagine a border through which normally thousands of people on foot cross from Vietnam to China and back. Here we are, 25 European SUV's with equally unusual looking drivers and passengers...all full of dirt. It was a big spectacle, lots of photos being taken, every nook and cranny of our cars being searched and inspected. it took a while, but everyone was very friendly and no troubles were had.

We're at the Shangri-La hotel in Beihei, China, for tonight. Tomorrow, we'll drive to Macau and drop the cars at the container shipping company!

Our hotel for last night! The Bai Tho junk "Du Lich" in Ha Long Bay, Chinese Sea in Vietnam.
It was cold last night...maybe 50 degrees, but we enjoyed the views of the rock formations from the bow of the junk.
Crazy...dinner in a cave miles and miles off the Vietnamese coast.

Sapa, Vietnamese Mountains

We spent the night before last in a village in the Vietnamese mountains called Sapa, close to the Chinese border. To get there, we drove up a mountain pass to an elevation of around 6500 ft and found a very cute town that felt almost like were were in the Swiss alps, plus some squealing pigs that woke us up in the morning. The Victoria Hotel up there in Sapa is a beautiful place...fireplaces burning, tribal woman hand-weaving fabrics for their robes...good food and warm water!

The warm, humid air in the valleys rises up and meets the cold air higher up in the mountains, creating condensation in the form of fog coming up the mountains from the valley.
By the way...you can click on the images and they should enlarge. Here are some kids having lunch together out of a bowl. The girl just dropped here kitty into the house...there are animals everywhere in these mountain villages. Cats, dogs, chickens, pigs, buffalos, horses, cows...some more agreeable with car traffic than others. In general, none of the creatures living here, including the humans, are used to cars driving through their villages.
Rice planting is extremely laborious work. We were watching a bunch of planters putting each seedling into the ground for a while. It's amazing what a large number of people can accomplish when they work together on a project.
My dad checking the undercarriage of our car for a dead chicken that may be stuck somewhere. Unfortunately I produced the first casualty of our trip today. I managed to avoid the rooster, but the hen that came running after him had no chance. I'm glad it was only a bird not something more serious. 

Arrived in Vietnam

Vietnam is a country of mountains and fertile green valleys full of rice planting. The landscape got much wider and more dramatic here in Vietnam--the roads are still very twisty and treacherous. There are so many opportunities for good pictures here..mostly images of people working the fields in their traditional Vietnamese clothing and hats. I am reluctant to jump out of the car, hold the camera in someone's face and drive off..but I need to do that more often.

I wish I could write something more poetic today, but I am pretty tired. Had a flat tire today that resulted in a stressful drive. It's a good thing we only have 4 more driving days. I think most of the group is ready for some stationary time. 

This is where the rice farmers live. No windows, no bed, no a/c. The house is just big enough for one or two people to lie down in.

The dogs were messing with the pig...but not for long. That pig was mean! The dogs were gone in a second. 

This is what people look like here in northern Vietnam. Beautiful traditional tribal costumes. Carrying wood up the mountains for many miles, with a smile. 

The humid valleys here offer the perfect climate for growing rice and there are terraces carved into the landscape in every valley here.

Every single rice plant has been planted by hand into the wet soil of these massive rice fields.

Road hazard...one of many...water buffalos. 

From Laos to Vietnam

From our last stop in Luang Prabang we drove nearly 400 miles over rough mountain roads to get to the Vietnamese border and finally our destination for the day, Dien Bien Phu. We arrived at a hotel without running warm water and a building full of ugly hookers next to it who showed us their "goods" right upon arrival. Spent a night in beds with plastic covers on the mattresses and no pillow cases. 

Go Toyota! I wasn't sure if our truck is going to fully disappear in this ford, but it did just fine. 
Our first ferry crossing. A very old boat pushed the barge from shore to shore. Lots of kids swimming and playing in the wake of the boat's propeller. 
This is how they build bridges here, and most other structures: bamboo rods tied together. This is a pretty long bridge over the fast flowing river Pak in Laos.

Luang Prabang, Laos

Finally, I am back online. The last few days were spent at hotels of no quality to have any internet connection that could handle image uploading. Here are the pictures of our two days in Luang Prabang, Laos. If there were only one place one could go to in Southeast Asia to experience the whole thing, it would be this little town. Situated right on the Mekong River, Luang Prabang is an artsy little village full of crafts, cafes, little restaurants and incredible views of the river. We had a wonderful time there. 

The Mekong right before sunset from our hotel's terrace. We had dinner right there...the only downside was that there were bunches of big hairy spiders in the lawn and on the tablecloths!
You can take one of these wooden boats on the Mekong from Laos all the way to Thailand. A two day, one night ride. 
My dad and I hired this guy and his boat for a few hours to ship us around on the Mekong. He was very proud of his boat that he had just recently bought for 1000000.00 Kip, which is equal to $1500.
The river is the key to life here. Playing, bathing, fishing, transporting..it all happens on the Mekong.

Chaos in Laos

Sitting in the hotel manager's office...no internet in the hotel rooms...have to make it short and can't upload many pics today.

We drove 300 miles on twisty high mountain roads through Laos, from Vientiane to Luang Prabang.

Many villages along the road in the mountains. People living in the most basic conditions we have seen so far. No running water, naked children on the side of the road, very basic farming or craft work like basket weaving. It was a hard day...not the best atmosphere in the car...but the scenery of the Laotian mountains was great. 

Luang Prabang is interesting. A lot of backpackers and European people here. As we drove in, we saw some cute French looking cafes that we will surely visit tomorrow. The Mekong river flows right next to our hotel. It is a beautiful, history-laden and very wide river that we will explore tomorrow. The sun is setting over it as a big orange ball as I am writing this. 

"65% of the world's population gets its drinking water from the Himalayans."

Smoky Mountains

Hello!

So sorry I didn't write anything yesterday, but nothing worth reporting happened. We stayed at a pretty shabby hotel in a pretty shabby town and were very happy to leave early in the morning. When we got downstairs to the car lot, some very nice fellow drivers had decorated our Toyota with ribbons and a poster for my birthday. I thought that was very sweet. Thank you Simon.
We drove a lot over the last few days. Around 500-600 km per day, a lot of it on twisty mountain roads. These remote roads would have afforded us some spectacular views of the mountains and today of the mighty Mekong river that flows down here all the way from Tibet. But the problem is that everyone is busy burning brush and clearing forests with fire that that entire northern part of Thailand is covered in a blanket of smoke. You can't see at thing--even the tropical sun could not overcome the dense dirt in the air. The government is trying to stop this, but with no success. The amount of pollution that is produced here must be of global concern.
This could have been an amazing view of the river snaking its way through the mountains of northern Thailand, but the smoke was so dense, we had a hard time breathing.

We arrived in Vientiane, Laos, around 2.30 pm. It's a pretty nice little town, on the edge of the Mekong river. We'll spend one night here and tomorrow drive on to Luang Prabang, still in Laos. 

Interesting trivia:

"Balls of light are observable from time to time rising from the Mekong's water surface in the stretch of the river near Vientiane. These are sometimes referred to as Naga Fireballs. The locals attribute the phenomenon to Phaya Naga, the Mekong Dragons."

Rally-itis

From conversations with fellow drivers on this trip who have done many of these long rallys I have learned that we all go through a sequence of mental stages on these journeys. in the beginning, the excitement and mystery of things to come dominates and everyone is busy, organizing and learning the ropes. The first few weeks, we are all focused on getting from location to location without getting lost or breaking our gear. Towards the middle of the event, people start suffering from rally-itis. You're a bit tired from driving, you miss things at home, the quirks of your car- and roommate start getting to you and you still have a few thousand miles to travel. Closer to the end of the journey, you realize that this adventure is going to be over soon and it's clear again that this is a non-reoccurring opportunity to experience places most people can't get to. A bit of sadness in the face of the end of traveling sneaks in. The most intense period of trips like these, I've been told, sets in when we are all back home and our brains relive our experiences in the comfort and safety of our familiar environments. I wonder what this will be like and if it is all true. For now, we have a lot more traveling to do and the next few days will take us through Laos and then Vietnam, probably the most basic countries on our trip. Away from highways and cosmopolitan accommodations.

Very zen...candles sitting on golden vessels floating in reflection pools. 
Even here, at the end of the world, you can't escape the globalization of American "culture": McDonalds and Starbucks in Chiang Mai. But I must admit that that grande latte was pretty good.
Of all the hotels we've been at, I think the Chedi here is my favorite. I'd like to return here one day if I can.
A picture from our probably last buddhist temple visit. There are seven buddhas, one for each day of the week. You pour oil into the lantern corresponding with the buddha of the day of the week you were born. That is supposed to bring lots of luck. There are so many rituals in buddhism that are intended to extend life, bring happiness, guarantee love and create wealth that we participated in that I should be set for life :-)

Day off in Chiang Mai

A novice monk and me...in Buddhism, you can be a monk for a day or your lifetime. Monks in training wear orange robes, teaching monks wear brown robes. 
The temple in Chiang Mai...lots of bells here. 
Gold leafing is a sign of religious sacrifice in Buddhism. I was able to buy 100 gold leaves today...I'm looking forward to using them in my work when I get home.
We visited a Chinese pharmacy in Chiang Mai. They had an amazing variety of herbs and spices there and blend them according to ancient recipes for all sorts of ailments. The herbs then marinate a large bottle of whiskey for at least three months until the liquid becomes potent. Maybe this ritual is just an excuse for people to drink a lot of booze.

Pachyderms and Zen Hotels

This is one sweet place! We are now at the Chedi Hotel in Chang Mai, after we spent last night at a dump in the middle of nowhere. It is beautiful here--well deserved after a few days of hard driving covering hundreds of miles. We will be here for three nights. 
One the way here we stopped at a place called the Thai Elephant Conservation Center. It is a very well maintained facility complete with elephant hospital that keeps a large number of animals under great conditions. They put a special show on for us today. 
Elephants have very prickly hairs on their skin.
Since it is so hot outside here the elephants get to go in the water 3 times a day. They love it in there. 
Ok...I promise this is the last temple picture. We have seen so many buddhist and hindu temples, I think we had enough for a lifetime. This was actually a very beautiful ancient temple site called Phimai. It was a huge maze of statues and temple buildings on a big lawn. Very pretty. 

Off roading from Angkor to Korat in Thailand

Our last night at Angkor ended with an amazing dinner outside at the 1000 year old temple of Kravan. It was an unforgettable experience to dine in these ancient ruins. 

Now I know why we shipped a 4x4 over here from Florida. We could not have done today's drive without it. 100 miles of very rough dirt roads. You think the road is getting better and you speed up...and here comes a huge hole. Our car did great...nothing broken, just really dirty.

It's a different world here. Our cars driving by the homes along the dirt roads caused quite a stir. These kids working in the mud probably have probably never seen anything like that...25 4x4's driving by in one day. 

Stuff is still transported by cow and carriage in this part of the world. Here is our fellow driver Sir Terence English and his partner in front of us in their Land Cruiser.

Angkor Temples

The stupa towers of Angkor Wat. These huge sandstone towers are also the national symbol of Cambodia on the country's flag.
Lots of elephants in Cambodia, in tourist places, but also wild in the forests. 

The over 200 large face sculptures in the temple of Bayon make you feel like you are watched anywhere inside this big temple. 

The temple of Ta Prohm in the Angkor complex was my favorite. It has not been restored and the forest had 400 years to overgrow the site resulting in incredible views. Somehow the massive plant growth makes the age of the buildings more tangible and impressive.

You can drive through a lot of the temple areas, they are so large!

Yummy fried tarantulas

The Cambodian countryside offers a lot of interesting sights. It is a totally different world out here. People's activities revolve around farming and hauling basic materials from a to b...small horses pulling carts filled with rice or bamboo chicken cages, mopeds with baskets strapped to them filled with small pigs, tuc tucs with bundles of live ducks tied together by their feet. The concept of animal cruelty definitely does not exist here.

We visited a rural market on our way and found a local delicacy: fried tarantula. Piles of large fried spiders on platters...and some buckets full of live specimens, big and hairy. I am somewhat of an arachnophobic person, so this sight really got me. No, we did not try them.

No matter how rural you get here, the children leaving school on their bicycles all wear uniforms. Blue skirts or pants and nicely starched white shirts. It is a beautiful sight. 

We are here at the Raffles Grand Hotel D'Angkor now, a very nice old palace close to the temples of Angkor Wat, which we will visit tomorrow. I'm very excited to see this temple of all temples here in Cambodia. A 1000-year old massive site in the middle of the jungle.