Thailand

Hello everyone!

Before talking about my stay in Thailand, I would like to apologize for leaving you uninformed all these days. I've been enjoying my time and therefore left the blog "unupdated". I'm sure you will understand and forgive me.

So, I left Laos after healing from the dengue fever. I was relieved. Laotian doctors were "threatening" me saying I will be sent to Bangkok or back home. Arghhh! Finally I did great and I'm now able to continue traveling as before.

I went to Phuket to meet some friends. We spent a week together. It was great! No more lonely dinners, no more conversations with the mirrors. I had company! It felt great!
Moreover, they were organizing excursions which I usually don't do as too expensive for my backpack budget. Actually I had a week of holidays inside my holidays :) nice hotels, nice food, nice beaches, great company... What else?

As I was in Thailand, I decided to do my Advanced diving certification. It was a good thing! Not the best dives of my life, I can say it, but the experience was great. Deep dives, hovering skills, naturism (no, it doesn't mean you dive naked... Even if I thought it... Actually, it's recognizing fishes and corals underwater). So now, I can move forward and keep diving. I have several ideas: wreck dive, deep dive, fun dive. Possibilities are great and various.

Few words about Thailand: subjects love their King, more than English people love William and Kate. Roads are in very good state, really. There are no beggars in the street. Food is awesome. Funny story: my friends and I were at the beach and a Spanish group was behind us. One of the ladies said: "Thai food has no variety. It's always rice with something." If you too you think that, it means you don't know Thai food. You can have noodles too ;-) hahaha, no, I'm kidding. You can really eat whatever you want in Thailand. Massages are good, particularly Thai massage. You keep your clothes, no oil, and the lady shakes every bone in your body. Really good! Of course, Thai people are very nice and friendly. Beer is good. And everything is cheap! Definitively a place to come! Just be prepared to meet loads of tourists!
By the way, I only did the south of Thailand. The north is, not only even cheaper, but more nature oriented: jungle treks, elephants rides and stuff like that. Now you know, your choice :)

After Thailand, I flew to Cambodia. I will tell you more about it on my next post.
In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

Pictures!!!

Little India Market - Singapore

 Breakfast in Singapore

 Sugar cane juice - Singapore

Singapore 

Something in Clay pot - Kuala Lumpur 

Salad in India 

Indian Food 

 Chicken - Kovalam

Kovalam - View from the Lighthouse 

Soup with rice (that lost me) - Singapore 

Dengue it was

Hello everyone,

I haven't written in a while because I was sick: I had dengue fever.
For those of you who doesn't know what dengue fever is, please let me introduce you to the wonderful world of tropical diseases.
Dengue fever is a mosquito borne infectious tropical disease. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains, and a charasteristic skin rash (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengue_fever). And I had all of those!!! I still have pain in my joints though... I feel like an 80 yo lady :(
Hopefully, it's not a mortal disease... the first time! You just get sick for one week, that's the dengue fever timing, one week. But during that week, you really suffer and you loose your appetite which could be dangerous, because when you don't eat, you get weak. If you get weak, you don't heal. If you don't heal, you get worse. See the pattern?
Oh, and you need to drink a lot! I was drinking 4.5 liters of water a day and was still thirsty!
So, yeah, I've got dengue fever. So I went to the hospital... I didn't really enjoy going to the hospital in Laos. The doctor and nurses were very nice. I can't really say if they were really competent though. Dengue fever heals alone... However, the doctor said he was worried about my state and wanted to keep me at the hospital. I couldn't laugh because I was really weak, so I gently declined the invitation.
Therefore, I needed to go to the hospital everyday for a blood take. That was the deal.
I'm not sure if I really needed to go everyday. I had dengue fever and people around here have dengue fever very often. But you can't really argue with a guy wearing a white coat, right?
So, I spent the last days going to the hospital in the morning, and resting, sleeping the rest of the day.
I was a bit sad. All the people around me where going outside, having dinner, buying stuff, visiting around, and I wasn't even able to go to the toilets without feeling like I was going to die.

But now it's over :) On Sunday I was fully recovered.
I tought: now, I will be able to go around, visit the night market, have dinner!
"MOUHAHAHA", said my body.
I was weak. Weak like a baby bird. I wasn't able to walk 5 minutes!
And my stomac said: food? you're kidding me, right? It's been too long since I had something solid inside myself!
So, here I am! Recovering, eating little, drinking lots, and walking as much as I can :)
I am feeling better every day and soon will be on my top 10 on my way to Thailand !

In the meantime, best of luck!
Rebeca

Luang Prabang

Hello everyone!

Here I am in Luang Prabang. I took a flight to come here as I read the roads were not very safe. Well, I'm not sure the plane was safer!
How can I describe it? In French, we use the word "coucou" to describe an obsolete-to-be plane. And this one was! Believe me!
Have you seen this film with Harrison Ford where he is the pilot of a "coucou" in a paradisiac island? The plane with Harrison Ford and a nice girl inside crash in a lost island and it becomes a love story bla bla bla. Well, before entering the plane for Luang Prabang I checked if the pilot was handsome!
Once on flight, they turned off the "fasten seat belt" sign. No way! I kept my seat belt fasten!
I honestly never felt so close to my death moment!

But here I am. Still alive... By now!
Oh, yeah! Because I'm sick :(
I was feeling very tired and nauseous. I went to bed super early, like 9pm. And I had fever all night long! When I woke up I was still feeling bad. Back home, I wouldn't care too much. Come on! Everybody has a fever from time to time! But when you are traveling a fever can become really problematic... Like malaria, dengue or any other tropical disease.
You wanna know something funny? My French guide, Le Routard, said that getting sick in Laos was very bad because the hospitals are lame. And before coming to Laos I was a bit nervous about it. Another reason to never get nervous for anything! Otherwise it might happen!

So I went to the hospital. I solemnly swear I will NEVER EVER criticize Swiss hospitals anymore! NEVER!
Hopefully the doctor speaks English... More or less. I explained to him I had fever and wanted to be sure it's not malaria.
-Do you have diallea?
-What?
-Diallea... You go often to the toilet?
-Oh, no.

The doctor said they needed a blood sample to test for malaria. Honestly, no kidding: 4 nurses for a blood sample! And they manage to spread my blood all around! I just closed my eyes and decided I didn't need to see that.
The lab exam took one hour. Hour that I spent in that little bed, suffering like a dog and wondering if it could be worse. And, yeah, it got worse!!!
A guy came with a hole puncher, no kidding, and started making holes in the wall just beside me!!! A hole puncher!!! And when he finished doing holes, he started with a hammer! What's wrong in this country?!
Actually, you need to choose: coming before 8am and pay more, or come in normal hours and get the hole puncher. Your choice.

And the worse in this story is that I need to go back on Thursday to make sure I don't have dengue! Oh, yeah, because they told me I don't have malaria. Ouf! I'm wondering if I don't prefer living in the ignorance and skip Thursday's appointment... Some things are just too hard to live...

I'll let you know how my health is doing. In the meantime... Wait for it, wait for it... BEST OF LUCK!

Rebeca

Vientiane

Hello everyone!

You might be expecting some crispy news about this free whisky thing plus 14 bed mixed dorm. You naughty!
Well... This is Laos guys: everything is very quiet. Except for the That Luang Festival!
It's supposed to be a festival where people bring gifts to the That Luang temple monks. Actually, it became a pagan festival where people sell food, drinks, cars (yep, cars) and all kind of weird stuff.
I headed this festival following three Dutch girls. It was something! Moreover, one of the Dutch girls was and still is 1.80 m tall. Laotian were looking at us all the time !
We reached a sort of party. Wouhouuu!!!... Or not... I felt I was in a school party full of children. Gulliver in a Lilliputian party. It was hard... Very hard... I think I'm done with parties... But still, an experience is an experience :)

Yesterday, I decided to have Laotian food and Laotian massage. I don't know which one hurt me the most!
I asked for a no spicy Laap, Laotian meal with meat, rice, spices, soup. I don't know I the guy forgot the no spicy thing, but I couldn't finish my dish (forced diet, my friends). My mouth, my nose, my stomach were suffering! Hopeful I had a dark beer which was good, very good. Total balance: good dinner!
After dinner, I went for a foot massage. You might think I'm testing foot massage all over Asia. Well, it's true :) so far, I haven't found the best one which means I need to keep looking.
But first, let me tell you about my Laotian foot massage. It was TORTURE!!! No kidding! TORTURE!!! My feet hurt... A lot! I was even feeling them burning!!! How can people believe suffering like this is good for you?
And suddenly I realized being a masseuse was the best job ever!!! You get paid for torturing people who will after that thank you and give you a tip. SOUNDS GREAT!!! No harassment or mobbing threat. People come to be tortured and it's your job to make them happy. Easy!

And finally yesterday night I got some free Laotian whisky. Yep... That's it. Whisky-coke. Me, the receptionist and a Finnish guy. They were watching a soccer game, I was on Facebook. Sounds lame :) and it kinda was! Who cares?

And finally, the night in the dorm was very quiet, like everything in Vientiane.

I'm going to Luang Prabang today. Everybody says is waaaayyy better than Vientiane. I'll let you know :). In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

First month: done!

Hello everyone!

It's been a month (already!!!) since I started this wonderful journey.
I had so many good experiences! Here are the key ones that I would like to share as a recap:
- Malaysian east coast: still charmed by the beaches, the warm water and the beautiful landscapes!
- Malaysian people: they are really very nice and smiley (I include Singaporeans here too)
- India: tea plantations, good food, beautiful beaches.
- Diving: wow! And still wow! The undersea world is just amazing. Moreover, I went beyond my fears and am very proud of me (*1).
- The great people I met: Robin, Julie, Kerstin, Stéphanie, Richard and Sally, Tony, Hazel and so many more to come :)

*1: I don't remember if I already told you this story, but I like it so much that I don't mind telling it again :)
When we were diving we needed to enter into the water from a boat which turned to be very high (even for the instructor...). One way to enter the water is the "giant step". You saw that on TV already: the guy stands very close to the board of the boat and he does a giant step.
Well... When you have vertigo like me, being able to do that equals climbing the Everest! AND I DID IT! More than once!
Moreover, we did a "James Bond" entry: front flip jumping a little bit to turn over your head while falling. And, guys... This lady did it!!! And it was filmed! :D

This "discovering Asia" trip is suddenly becoming "discovering myself". I'm slowly challenging all my limits (cleanness, loneliness, fears). And the outcome is surprising me. I like what I'm discovering :)

And this is just the beginning! I still have two months to go and many places to discover!

I will keep you posted on every challenge I will face! In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

Laos

Hello everyone!

First of all, I would like to apologize for not feeding the blog for a while. Even if I was (and am) enjoying my time, there where no much stories to tell. But that time is over, Ladies and Gentlemen, because I arrived to Vientiane, Laos, today and I already have lots of things to write :)

I need to start with the flight. I took a flight with Airasia, the low costs aircraft company for South East Asia. And if its called low cost, there is a reason.
First one, the cost: the flight was indeed cheap.
Of course only one hand luggage (even if I had three...).
But the best part comes from the gate to the plane. No bus, no tube. We just walked in the Tarmac trying to find our plane. No kidding. I just followed the people in front of me. At some point, we arrived under a sort of roof. There were umbrellas because, yeah, it was raining loads of water! So everyone took a red umbrella and we walked to the plane. I still find hard to believe it!
But anyways, I slept during the whole flight and just woke up to see the plane landing. The landing was so soft that it took me some time to realize we were already on land. Congrats to the pilot!

Once in Vientiane, I took a taxi to my hostel. 7 dollars for 15km. Not bad! In Switzerland, when you sit your bottom in a cab, it's already 6.90 CHF!

The hostel is not bad. I realize I'm in a mixed dorm: boys and girls all together. I thought this was a very European thing. I guess I was wrong. Tonight it's gonna be fun: 14 beds, boys and girls, and apparently the hostel offers free whiskey. Tomorrow, I MUST tell you how it was!!!

Otherwise, I already walked most of Vientiane... I will need to go somewhere else in the coming days.
Road signs are in French and it's full of French bakeries with people (employees and customers) speaking French. It is very weird... I'll see if the south is also like this.

I'll come with more stories soon. In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

Koh Tao - Thailand

Hello everyone,

I don't really remember where I was in my story telling, so I will talk a bit about Bangkok.
Oh, yeah, now I remember! I said it was a bit boring, but it gets better at the end of the day.
Ok, perfect. I know where I am.

So when I was in Bangkok, I took the time to look for a diving school in Koh Tao. I met a german guy in a bus in Malaysia who told me Koh Tao was "the" place for diving and that everybody knew that. I didn't want to argue with a German, so I came to Koh Tao :)
I choose the first diving school in my guide, which is held by a Swiss :) I didn't know that before coming. When I arrive, two British instructors made me fill all the forms and one of them told me: "you speak very good English for a French".
-"It's because I'm not French" (sorry for my French fellows...)
-"Oh, you're Swiss! Our boss is from Lausanne.
-"Me too!!!"
End of the story.

So now I'm diving. I'm doing the PADI Open Water Certification, which is the first certification you can do.
I'm in a group of four with a French guy (26) and two British boys from London (23).
We had the written exam this morning and this lady past the exam with only two mistakes!!! Youhouuu!... Sorry...
This afternoon we went for our first dive in the sea until 12 meters. The days before we were learning all the technical skills in a pool.
Diving in the sea is so cool! Beside the fact that I struggled finding my right buoyancy (a new word that I learned) and was trying to breath normally, I really enjoyed going under the water!
I only see a negative point: my hair. It's a disaster! There is no way I put my mask without screwing my hair!
I know it's a detail beside all the beautiful things you see underwater and fishes don't really care. But if I continue diving I will go back to short hair for sure!
After two not very intensive dives, I'm dead! And tomorrow we will leave at 6am for the two next dives. This time we will go to 18 meters. I really look forward to it!

Otherwise, people are cool, food is awesome, weather is hot, bla bla bla :)

I will continue keeping you posted on my Asian adventure (that I'm really enjoying by the way).
In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca 

Bangkok

Hello all,

Here I am in Bangkok. I left India through Thiruvananthapuram airport. You can say Trivandrum...
My flight was via Colombo, Sri Lanka. When we landed I almost regretted not having included Sri Lanka in my tour. It seems so beautiful :) I decided to visit it on my next tour, because, yeah, I will do another trip like this for sure!
The flight Colombo-Bangkok was half-empty. Sorry... but I really cannot say half-full...
I was very surprised because the on-boarding was done very calmly. They did the typical call: "Passengers from rows D to F can proceed to on-board". And, trust me, ONLY the passengers from rows D to F walked to the gate! Unbelievable! In Europe, people start queuing hours before the gate opens!!!

I was a bit stressed because I didn't have a ticket to go out of Thailand. And they seem were strict on that: people entering Thailand need to GET OUT! But everything went perfectly at the customs. They didn't ask.
After getting my luggage, I needed to find the Express Train to the city. Very easy. And arriving to the city was easy as well. It's amazing how everything is super well organized!
Hopefully my hostel was next to the metro station. And when I say next, it means next. The stairs are just in front :) No matter... I managed to take the opposite direction and walk for 15 minutes looking for my hostel!
I really have a hard time with my sense of direction. Don't care! It gives me full of stories to tell and I can discover some parts of the cities that I wasn't supposed to visit... really don't!

This morning I went for a walk. Very early is better, said my head! Well... not in Bangkok.
The city wakes up only around 5pm. The street stores opens, the food stalls serve food, the juice stalls are very active, people invade the streets. I love it! I was walking in the streets as I was somewhere else. A smile on my face, looking everywhere, reading (trying to) every sign in the street, every advertising. Really cool!

In my last post, I talked about Ayurvedic massage. Well, today I tried the Thai foot massage.
I'm a backpacker. It means my feet are carrying my backpack, my weight and my overweight! Poor them :(
So I decided to spoil them :)
Remember I said Ayurveda was an oily torture? Well,... foot massage is not very far! But it feels sooooo good! and it's very cheap. My hour of massage costed my 300 Baht, + or - 9 Swiss francs. In Switzerland, with 9 CHF I can buy... a kebab!
Once the little lady finished massing my feet, she started with my back. She put all her weight (+ or - 25kg) over my back when doing the massage. I almost told her my backpack was heavier :)
And now I feel very light... like a butterfly :)
And it's better like this because tomorrow I need to wake up at 4am to go to the islands to do some diving.
I'm not sure I will have Internet there... probably yes (thanks, XXIst century!).
In case not, I wish you all a nice week-end... a bit in advance ;)

Best of luck!

Rebeca

India - Kerala

Hello everyone,

I've been in India, it's true. But I've only been in Kerala and cannot make any generalities over the Indian Culture. It's like being in Marseille and think you know all French!

Kerala is in the South of India. Rich region, lots of sea food, everything is cooked or prepared in coconut oil.
Lots of churches. The literacy rate is very high in Kerala. It seems a nice place to live...
Lots of fishermen... we went to see the fish market at 6.30 am... Amazing! Two ladies were fighting over coconuts! "I handover 3 coconuts to you 3 days ago..." (Thanks, Tony, for the translation). Surrealistic!
The boats are very nice, colorful! You see fish nets everywhere.

In Kerala, men wear sarongs: large tube of fabric tided around the hips. (I bought two... for the beaches... but couldn't wear them in India). These sarongs seem very comfortable. Men fold it in two and show their knees. Interesting, women don't show their legs... but men do. And you can see men peeing beside the roads very easily :) They just rise the sarongs... and it's done! Easy, fizzy!

However, if you are in a "single4ever" depression... you shouldn't choose Kerala for holidays! There is wedding advertising EVERYWHERE!!!
You can mostly see advertising for: jewelry, weddings (these two go together...) and... CEMENT! True! We took pictures of some ads... so funny... from our European pov!

We had Ayurveda massages. How can I describe them? It's like an hour of oily torture! They mass every part of your body (knees and belly tickled me!)
Once I had oil in my head. It's called Shirodara. You have a sort of sink above your head with don't know how many litters of oil.. and it flows into your hairs (took me three days to wash all the oil...) WOW! It seems you have like dozens of fingers touching your head! Hmmm! that was orgasmic! A whole new world of sensations! I understand why the Kama Sutra comes from this part of the world! These guys know a lot about providing pleasure! (for those interested... oil was all they provided me...).

And if you want to know more about Kerala... you need to come! This place deserves to be known!

Hope you enjoy reading this blog! Best of luck!

Rebeca

Intrepid Tour

Hello everyone,

Who would have thought I would have free Internet in Colombo Airport! Cool!

Just a few words regarding my Intrepid tour.
It was a 9 days tour starting in Kochi and ending in Kovalam.
We had a private bus and a driver, Mahesh. This detail is important, because it says a lot about the standard of the tour :)
Some tours don't have a bus and people need to take buses, trains, rickshaws... not that it's not funny... but less comfortable.

Our guide, Tony, was very friendly and he really knows a lot (I know they should know a lot.. but still...).

During our tour, we stayed in Kochi, Munnar, Periyar, Alleppey (Backwaters), Varkala and Kovalam.
In Munnar and Periyar, we did some walks in the jungle. In Periyar, there is a Wildlife Sanctuary. We went for a walk very early in the morning. Tony told us: Be careful, in the morning it's a bit chilly. But don't get overdressed because you will get hot walking.
Indeed in the morning, my Canadian roommate went out and told me: yeah, it's cold... about 20 degrees!
We laughed! 20 C is summer for us ;)

During the walk in the jungle, we met a lot of leeches. Yuk! We put on some high socks, but they still managed to enter in the shoes...

In Alleppey, we were in the Backwaters. Not sure I will be able to describe it... so google it :)
In few words, it's like villages in the middle of the water. You moved between the villages by boat. Really cool!

Varkala and Kovalam were our beaches places. Full of white tourists... but the beaches were... WOW! stunning!

I'm keeping great memories from this tour (I took 1500 pictures...) and my contact book up to date :)
As said before, people were great and I had a lovely time in India!

I will say more about Kerala and Indians in my next post. In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

Arrival to Kochi - Beginning of Intrepid Tour

Hello everyone,

After talking about my flight, let me talk about my arrival to Kochi and the beginning of my guided tour with Intrepid.

First of all, landing in Kochi was ... WOW! Full of coconut trees everywhere, everything was green and beautiful. Not exactly what I was expecting, even if I'm not sure I had a clear idea of what I was going to see...

Someone picked me at the airport with a taxi driver. Cool, hein?
And I had my first road experience in India ! :) everybody honks all the time!
Well... Apparently it's done in several countries, but this is just the beginning of my 3 months trip ;) I'll tell about the other countries later!

Our meeting point was in a very, very nice hotel. The meeting was a 1pm, but I was there at 8am. I took the time to walk around and discover the feeling of being an alien!!! Young girls were overexcited because they waved at me and I said "hi". How cool is that?
Young boys were looking at me like I was he first blonde they've ever seen... And I maybe was!
That was funny :)

I went back to my room for a shower and some rest.
The room was huge! Big size double bed and a living room with a sofa bed. When I saw the bed I told myself: remember you said you were OK sharing the room... But sharing the bed?! And I laugh thinking: no way you are going to share it! Hahaha! Well... Never say never.

After meeting with the guide, Tony, and the others, Tony told us one girl was coming late.
A few minutes later, someone was knocking at my door... Guess who? The missing girl! Yeah, my new roommate, Julie!
Actually we didn't share the bed. She took the sofa bed which was very comfortable.

And now you know the roommate story (we actually shared a room during all the trip and it was so fun!), I will introduce you to the team:
- Richard & Sally, from Australia.
- Tony and Sue, from UK
- Hazel, UK girl living in Chamonix, France
- Julie, from Quebec, Canada
- Tony Gomez, our guide
- Mahesh, the driver
- and me, the youngest member of the group :)

I have a funny story about Hazel :).
When we met, she told me: I'm from Chamonix, France. (I understood: Chemony... British accent :S )
And I thought: Germany in France... That's Alsace!!!
Pure blonde moment! :) I still laugh about it!

The group was very nice. We didn't have any issues during the trip and we spent wonderful moments together. We were all very lucky, because you never know who will be in the trip...

I will talk about the trip and tour in the next posts.
In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

India - Part I - Flight KL-Chennai-Kochi

Hello everyone!
It's been a long time since my last post. A lot of things happened during that time, but I still would like to start from the beginning: arriving to India.
As you might know, I'm in India since a week. I arrived with a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Chennai first, and then another flight to Kochi.

I should say something about KLIA (Kuala Lumpur International Airport), but will only say that there were a lot of security checks.  Come on, guys! If there was no bomb in the first scan, you really think there will be one just before entering in the plane? Anyway...

I can say without being very original that I was the only blonde on that flight. I was expecting a "Moroccan style flight" with goats and pigeons. Actually, it was a very quiet flight. The crew turned off the lights and everybody felt asleep... After me!!! Because I didn't see the color of the food! I was so tired, I just closed my eyes and let my body find some relief!
Then we arrived to Chennai. I needed to go through the custom in order to get my flight to Kochi.
Wow! I just confirmed the blonde effect works... every time!
The guy checking the passport wasn't very friendly (oh, yeah... I've lost at least 2/3 of the smiles I had in Malaysia!... Indian people are not as smiley as Malaysian...). Anyway, I arrived with my passport and my smile... and the guy smiled! YEAH!!! Entering India was easier than expected :P
He asked me: Füst teim?
-What?
-Füesst teime?
-(I tried answering with another question) How long I will stay?
-No. Is this your füest teim in India?
-Yes. It is my first time (oh, dear! You better get used to the accent very quickly!!!)

Once I had my luggage, another security scan! Just in case the other countries couldn't find the bomb you were hiding in your luggage!

Once outside the airport... Wow! It was crowded!!! Guys, it was midnight, but the streets were full! Amazing!
I needed to walk to the domestic airport just beside. The security man checked my flight ticket and told me: Once inside, you cannot go outside.
-No problem. I wasn't willing to go outside and have some fun, right?

Once inside the domestic airport...there is nothing! Only people like me waiting for a flight.
I tried to sleep. Oh, dear! How can I describe the scene?
I was half lying in a seat, my handbag and camera "hidden" below me and taking the backpack with one hand. Can you see it? Good!
Of course I didn't sleep vey much. Who would? And moreover, I was thirsty. There was a "drinking water" sign... No way!!! I kept my thirst!

Around 4am, the check-in opened.
Another scan OF COURSE! And they sealed my bag with a sticker. Welcome to India!
Do I need to tell I was the only blonde in the waiting area?...
Around 5am, we started the on boarding. I was surprised how quiet and patient Indian are... They queued quietly, entered the plane calmly and we all had a nice trip!
I cannot tell if it was due to the early hour or to some education missing in Europe.

This is more or less all concerning my arrival to India.
Of course, more stories will come later.

Thanks for reading and, in the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

Various

Hello (again),

I just wanted to let you know a few things (weird or not) that I have seen so far.

First: people drive as in UK. No, not a bottle of whisky in the hands, but in the other side of the road!
I still struggle when I need to cross a road because I look to the wrong side!

Secondly: men burp. Yes. I know. It's disgusting. And they do it all day long. I read it in the guide before coming... but it still surprises me every time.

Third: I know I said it before, but there are not many blondes in the streets (except maybe in Singapore). I am being looked all the time and, in Malaysia, men want to talk to me. They want to take pictures with me, they ask me if I'm married, they look very surprised when I tell them that I travel alone (but this one is the same in Switzerland). A guy emptying the trashbins asked me if I had an email or Facebook. I said: Both!
-Both? - Yes. - Give me your Facebook name. - No (with a smile, always with a smile).

Fourth: I have easily a clear view around me: people are smaller than me! I was doing some shopping and found there was something weird: I can see the walls, the clothes... ahhhhhh... people arrive till my neck :) I like!

I will continue telling you my impressions during my trip.
In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

Singapore - Part I

Hello everyone!

Another post today... I'm being very productive!

So let's start from the beginning: arriving to Singapore.
I was coming by bus from Malaysia. I needed to pass two frontiers: the malaysian and the singaporian one. So you go down of the bus, go through the customs in Malaysia, go back to the bus, go down in Singapore and restart the process. Painful!
And once you're in the Metro station, you're not yet at the hostel! Took me an hour to arrive.
But I finally arrived!
The hostel is clean, with air con, nice toilets (!), locker, near to all facilities.
You can't imagine how happy I am: I can drink tap water and don't need to levitate every time I go to the toilets!!! It's a relief... at least the time I'm here in Singapore.

What can I say about SG? It's more than clean, buildings are very, very high, the weather is very hot, people are smiling. It's like a warmer, nicer Switzerland :) I like it!

I walked through Chinatown, Little India (wow), Colonial District, Business District. It's very easy to walk in Singapore, it reminds me Manhattan, for those how know NYC. Big streets, big buildings, lots of cars.

Some pictures will follow shortly.

In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

Tioman - Part II

Hello everyone!
In my last post, I talked about Tioman and its beautiful beaches, and the hot weather and everything.
Well... after one day, I was bored. So I decided to do something. Took my French guide (Le Routard) and checked the different activities to be done. Very easy: walk or dive.
As I didn't want to go alone in the jungle, I decided to dive :)
I LOVED it!!! Being under the water was just so natural for me. I thought I was maybe a fish in a previous life, or a mermaid.. or an octopus!!! I have a preference for mermaid, personally.
I had the chance to be alone in my discovery dive course. The instructor, Wei, was very friendly and made me comfortable.
I was wearing a 17kg oxygen cylinder, plus some weights to sink easily. After that, my backpack seemed very light to me!
I'm now looking to do a diving certification in Thailand, where I will have more time to do it.
Few words about the sight under the sea: it's AMAZING! Full of fishes with colors you can't even imagine! Corals, urchins, strange animals I didn't recognize, shoal of fish! I just want to get back asap!
During this diving experience, I was talking to Wei about my trip. I told him my next destination was India.
-There is a guy from India!, he said, Robin!, and he went to look for Robin.
-Robin, this is Rebeca, she is going to India.
-Oh, cool! where?
And it appeared that he knows very well the region I will be visiting!
He gave me lots of information about Cochin, the Backwaters, Kovalam and many other cities. Always useful!
It's funny how sometimes you met the right people at the right time. And meeting Robin couldn't be more right!

Leaving Tioman: there were only two ferries per day. One at 7am and the other at 4.30pm.
I had a ticket for Monday morning, which was more useful to travel then to Singapore. Well... imagine a little bit: you wake up at 6am, you wait your ferry around 7am... and you're still waiting at 9.30 am!!! ARGH! The ferry had an engine problem :(
Hopefully, Robin was there waiting the same ferry. Made the waiting less frustrating. We went for breakfast and had a tasty bread and tea.
Finally, we were lucky enough to have a ferry around 10.30am and were both able to take our respective buses: me to Singapore; Robin to Kuala Lumpur.
I will talk about Singapore in my next post.

In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

Tioman - Part I

Remember when I said I was sad of leaving Cherating? Well... It was before heading to Tioman. This place is unbelievable. I understand why some movies were made here!
The water is translucent, the palm trees are curved like Pisa's Tower, the weather is hot, the sea is full of fishes... Paradise!
The first night I couldn't sleep. There was a continuous noise, I was getting irritated. So I went outside to check out... well, you can say it: I'm really blond! The noise was the sea!!! My bungalow was so close to the beach that I could hear everything!
After laughing about myself, I went to bed and had a good sleep.

Food: I cannot really speak about this one. I made a terrible customer.
There was almost no restaurants! There was only a Chinese restaurant, that I tried the first night (it was delicious) and some burger stands (not bad, actually, but not my preferred food...).
I will then talk about the Chinese restaurant.
First of all, there were only Chinese people at the beginning. One of them was continuously looking at me... Awkward...
The restaurant was served and certainly owned by a very old couple. I supposed the old man was around ~70 years old. I was surprised he speaks English very good. You might guess that not all the people around speaks English very well... or English at all!
I ordered steamed fish with rice... Hmmmm! Still thinking about it. It was delicious!
However, when I was waiting for my order, I suddenly realized that that man was still working at his age!
I realized how lucky we are in Switzerland and Europe in general. I'm almost sure I will not work anymore at 70 y.o.!!! (at least I hope so...)
I had mixed feelings and did think about it for a while. Should we also work if we have the health and the energy to do so? Or was he obliged to do it because that's his only way to live?...
I didn't ask...

That's all for this first part. Hope you will think about it and let some comments :)

Best of luck!

Rebeca

Last day in Cherating

Hello everyone!
This will be my last day in Cherating... I'm a bit sad, but the journey continues.
I will go tomorrow to Mersing, and hopefully, I will be able to go the Tioman Islands. During the raining season, there are no ships between Mersing and Tioman. As it did not rain so far in Cherating, I hope it will be OK.
Otherwise, I will continue my travel down to Singapour. I'll see...

Today, I saw a lot of dead jellyfishes in the beach... huge jellyfishes! I took some pictures that I'll post as soon as I have the opportunity.

Hope you are getting prepared for the winter time :)
I could laugh about it, but this morning I wook up saying to myself: Wow! what a night! you really slept well!... it was only 1.40am... :(
I read Sherlock Holmes until 4am... and finally got some rest. Hopefully, I don't need to wake-up for work! :D

Looking forward to keeping you posted on my journey!
In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

Cherating II

Hello everyone!
I'm still in Cherating... it got me! It's so quiet and peaceful!
I met a German lady in the B&B. I asked her: "How long have you been in Cherating?"
She answered: "24 years".
WOW!!!
"I came and I liked it", she told me... I can fully understand.
Today, I went to the beach and had a walk. The beach was almost empty.. and the water so hot!
It's ideal to take time for myself without thinking about work, taxes, rent, winter.
I will upload some pictures later.

But, no worries, I will not stay here for ever! I still want to see other villages and cities before heading to ... INDIA!!!

In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

Cherating

Hello everyone!
I might be a bit disconnected in the coming days. Indeed, I arrived to Cherating... you can Google it. It's more or less in the middle of nowhere, whit no wifi, no TV, but a wonderful beach, a very nice restaurant (merci, Le Routard) and a peaceful, quiet life... except maybe for the insects. Yeah, I finally met mosquitos, frogs, monkeys and a 5cm cockroach! My sleeping instincts came back and I get rid of it. I'm still a bit proud of myself.
I will post (as soon as I can) some pictures of Cherating... at least the beach.
How I ended in Cherating? I met a guy in the plain who told me Cherating was beautiful and I should go there. And all the other Malaysians told me so.
It was maybe a bit too soon for a Swiss like to me to come to Cherating only five days after leaving Geneva.
Yes, it's charming. Yes, the beach is beautiful. But I don't think I was ready to deal with a wood bungalow (no, not that charming), a cockroach in the bathroom and monkeys in the trees. Anyway, the sooner the better. And I'm loving it! :)
By the way, I met a guy in the bus: 6 hours of bus makes a lot of time to know each other. Well... we did not understand each other very well. He accused my french accent... before recognizing he doesn't speak English very well (really?). A few moments that I would like to share with you:

-"Did your brothers and sisters study like you?"
-"They're married".

-"There are a lot of brand new cars in Malaysia?"
-"What?"
-"Cars" (I show a car by the window)
-"Ahh... Ca'a. Proton... is a Malaysian brand"

-"Do you have jungle in Switzerland?"
-"No"
-"You cut to grow buildings"
-"Euh... no"

Believe me: I'm loving this trip!!!
I will come back to you asap with more stories!
In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

Food

I will include some pictures of the food I'm having these days. Really tasty!

 

Chinese noodles with duck. A nice Chinese lady took this picture of me :)

Japanese herbal tea!

Really tasty!

This one looks too regular, right?

Indian food! (getting ready for India)

Shopping day + monsoon

I have to admit it: it did some shopping today. I couln't resist! Half price comparing to Switzerland!
Don't worry, I don't feel guilty :)
And just had the time to get back to the hostel, have a coffee and the monsoon started. I took some pictures, so that you can have a better idea of it! I have included a picture of the sunny sky a few hours before!

 

First impressions

My first destination is Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia.
Let me talk first about the people.
In Malaysia, there are three ethnics: Malays, Chinese and Indian. It's very impressive!
So far, the cliche is true: people are nice and smiling. I cannot complain: it's not always the case where in Europe...
The weather now: ever heard about monsoon? It's quite impressive, even for me, who spent almost 10 years in a tropical region.
You can see the sky getting darker and you hear the thunder. It gives you time to find a roof. And then it starts.
It can last hours. Hours of rain, big rain, wet rain, diagonal rain, non-stop. Of course, I took the opportunity to get intimate with my bed and get a nap! Great choice!
Now, food! You can trust the guides: there is food everywhere! Fruits, juice, rice, ducks, noodles, chicken and, of course, McDonalds.
Today I bought a bag with fresh ananas for 1 Ringa, more or less 0.20 CHF. I'm loving this country!
Then I had noodles, with chicken and salad (yes, salad) for around 2.50 CHF.
Otherwise, I'm sharing my bedroom with a French lady and an Australian girl. We are having dinner together. I will let you know more about the food after that.
In the meantime, best if luck!
Rebeca

Getting ready

First lesson: Asia is not Schengen!
You will not only need a valid passport (!), but a few visas as well.

Lesson number two: yes, there is a hot weather. But it does not help you knowing what clothes you need to bring! I will go deeper on this one once I'm there (so far, I'm willing to make some shopping instead of carrying lots of t-shirts...)

Lesson number three: there are mosquitos... and insects... and monsoon. These for sure I will develop in the coming weeks as they happen.

To make it short: my backpack is full of medicines, anti-mosquitos, and cleaning-wipes.
I will know in the coming days it the content was appropriate or not :)

In the meantime, best of luck!

Rebeca

Welcome!

Hello Everyone!

Welcome to my Blog "Discovering Asia"!
I will be travelling for 3 months in several countries and would like to share with you the great experiences I will live!
Do not hesitate to leave your comments.
Cheers!