Thailand - Back in Bangkok

Just arrived in Bangkok for two more days of sight seeing before I am taking off for Hongkong and then China. Stay tuned.

Laos - Luang Prabang Impressions

Unfortunately I was not able to add much detail to these photos in the recent days. I have been busy traveling and enjoying myself .... sorry. I will do my best to add more details soon.

Every night the people of the Hmong tribe host a market to sell their goods. The sell amazing handbags, scarfs, shirts, paintings, pants ..... for incredible little money. I bought some original black pants (yes I found one lady who was selling Elephant size) and also had a shirt custom made).






Mode of transportation .... just could not resist when I saw this tuk tuk being used to transport building materials.

Mode of transportation II ... This lady was scavenging for recyclable goods and had all the different bags attached to her scooter.

Barges on the Mekong River, these flat bottom boats are used as taxis, to transport goods or to live on.

Kayaking on the Namu river .... it was a lot of fun although Captain Adventure had a very hard time with the first 3 rapids. Every single time I went for a swim, loosing all my stuff in the currents before I figured out how to do it. But it was fun !!!!!




We visited the waterfalls of Kwang Si and there they had a big fenced in area where they held several of these black bears. These two had a serious fight going on ....



There was also another large area where this gorgeous Laos Tiger was held in captivity. She was rescued as a small cub from poachers. Majestically!!!

And of course there were the waterfalls too.

More waterfalls ....

Monkey Business ..... This guy fell asleep on the chair and his monkey was roaming through what little hair he had remaining on his head.

This dog puppy was chasing 3 little chicks .... it was hilarious to watch.

And then we got stuck on the Mekong ..... right in the middle we hit a sandbank and got stuck. We had to work pretty hard to get the boat going again .... the highlight of the day!

A fisher family living directly on the river .... I am sure they have to move during rainy season.

A small village and the shore of the Mekong. I liked the spectacular mountains in the backdrop.

Laos - Luang Prababang

Yesterday I travelled from Siem Reap to Luang Prabang in Laos. More details will follow soon.

Cambodia - Temples of Angkor (Siem Reap) III

Unfortunately I was not able to add much detail to these photos in the recent days. I have been busy traveling and enjoying myself .... sorry. I will do my best to add more details soon.

For Georg:

I was strolling through this market for local folks when I watched a woman scraping the skin and hairs of some pig legs .... I walked closer and saw these heads next to the stand. A little shocking, but that's life here.

Well, the market was not just about pig heads, they were also selling fish, fruits and vegetables and even had some gambling going on. I bought two shirts after haggling a bit and enjoyed being a bit like the first "whitey" ever at this market. Good to meet the people.

More temples ...

A gate to the temple, the surrounding walls have crumbled and it seems that this gate will soon have the same fate.

Local people selling fruits and vegetables next to the road.

And more temples ....

This guard was absolutely exhausted from watching tourists and making sure that they did not touch the carvings, so he fell into a peaceful sleep.

Did I say temples .... and this is only a small number of the photos of all the temples I took.

Buddha ..... it seems the Buddhists took over many of the temple remains for their purposes.

Unfortunately many temples and palaces are slowly falling apart. Time is running out and in my opinion it will be difficult to safe this amazing wonder.

Mode of transportation .... luckily I had the camera ready when this family of four was driving bye on one scooter.

Cambodia - Temples of Angkor (Siem Reap) II

Unfortunately I was not able to provide a lot of details with these photos as of yet. I will do my best to add soon.

Traffic jam at the South Gate cars, buses, tuk tuks, pedestrians and ..... elephants.

Thousands and thousands of tourists crawling over the temple of Bayon ....

One of the many carved faces at the temple.

The amazing Bas Reliefs depicting battle scenes of the war with the Cham (Vietnam) and also simple scenes from day to day life. The carvings are hundreds of meters long.

Somehow I managed to get a shot of the backside of Bayon with no tourists. Yeah!

Climbing a 50 meter high temple is not easy. The steps were about 1/2 a foot wide and in many places washed out quite a bit, a treacherous climb. Especially when you are afraid of height like me.

The amazing symbiosis of nature and human buildings at Pra Thom. Slowly the jungle is taking control again and is creating these amazing fusions of men made buildings and trees.

Unfortunately many temples are in pretty bad shape. Only few are being restored and it seems none of the proceeds go back into the maintenance of the temples. Rumours say the money flows to Vietnam as pay back for the liberation of Cambodia. A French team is trying to safe this amazing temple that unfortunately collapsed a couple of years ago.

Nature is taking back what belongs to her ....

These trees seem to grow right out of the stone ....

A temple tower from the inside .... just loved the play of light and the geometry of the building.

Angkor Wat ..... boy there were thousands and thousands of people marching towards the temple. Inside it was an absolute madness and it was very difficult to enjoy. Nevertheless it was amazing!

Cambodia - Temples of Angkor (Siem Reap) I

I just spent 4 days in Siem Reap, primarily to visit the temples of Angkor, such as the famous Angkor Wat and Bayon. I am usually a big history buff, but hard core temple visits for 9 straight hours in the heat of Cambodia really "templed" me out. Check back in soon for many photos (I took hundreds) and for more updates.

Thailand - Paradise found (Koh Phangan)

After wonderful days in Koh Tao I was a little sad to leave the island. I took an early catamaran to the neighboring island of Koh Phangan. When I arrived there in Thongsala the harbor was full of young, tired and still a little overhung people ..... the remains of the famous "Full Moon" party in Had Rin on Koh Phanang. I had timed my arrival for two days after the party. Typically thousands of absolutely intoxicated young people party on the beach until sunrise and more ..... Since I had to go through Had Rin I planned to avoid the huge crowds. Upon arrival I took a shared taxi bus to Had Rin. The roads were so steep at times that the bus driver shifted into 1st gear and still we just barely made it. We got dropped close to the harbor and I "schlepped" my heavy backpack there to find a long tail taxi boat to Had Tien. After waiting for over an hour (I did not want to pay the 1000 baht "go now" fare) I saw two other backpackers taking off with a boat driver. I asked them if they were heading to Had Rien and since that was their destination I joined them. After an extremely bumpy ride of 30 minutes and getting completely soaked we finally arrived in Had Tien. This secluded beach can only be reached by boat or by hiking for 2 hours over a rugged path across the mountains from Had Rin. No streets and cars, very quite ......
I asked around for "The Sanctuary", which is the small retreat I had booked the fasting. I checked into the dorm room and immediately got in touch with some of the fellow fasters. For the first two days I had to prepare by just eating raw foods. I had a bowl of fruit for "lunch" and a small salad for dinner. The next morning I had again a bowl of fruit and a small salad for lunch. I was already starving without even beginning the fast. After lunch I passed the pH test and was allowed to officially start the fast. Now I was on a tight schedule for the next 7 days.

Fasting Schedule

07:00 am Psyllium / Clay shake

08:30 am Herbs supplement

09:00 am "Cleansing" procedure

10:00 am Psyllium / Clay shake

13:00 pm Psyllium / Clay shake

02:30 pm Herbs supplement

02:50 pm Lymph Flush (Carrot Ginger Juice)

04:00 pm Psyllium / Clay shake

04:00 pm "Cleansing" procedure

05:30 pm Herbs supplement

07:00 pm Vegetable Broth

I have top admit I was really expecting very strong physical withdrawal symptoms and cravings for food. It actually did not really happen. No stomach growling or hunger attacks. The really difficult part were the mental cravings .... the thoughts about food, about coffee, about beer ..... I even had very realistic food dreams ..... a piece of French Camenbert with a sip pf red wine, a grilled cheese sandwich (that did not have enough cheese), Alsacien "Tarte Flambe" (Flammenkuchen) ..... it was a little surreal. Later in the fast we started studying the menu of the restaurant to plan what we would eat as our first meal after the fast. Sharing "the fate" with other fasters really made it much easier and we laughed a lot about the "cleansing procedure" experiences and such .... Only on day 4 I did not feel well. I was extremely low on energy and had a hard time doing Yoga.

Every day I had a 90 minute Yoga class, went swimming in the Ocean, used the herbal steam room and of course had a massage, either a soothing oil massage or a bone breaking Thai massage. Boy, having somebody walk on your back is quite an experience. The last days I also started doing my Pilates exercises again. Day 7 I started feeling really good and day 9 I felt just awesome. I also did a lot of reading, for example I finished the book of my dear friend Shana. She did a wonderful job finishing her first book about a voice over artist in New York and hopefully you will all be able to buy it in stores soon. I liked it very much! Great book Shana!!!!

In summary I have to say that I simply felt I had found paradise. I have never been relaxed like this in more than 10 years. Doing Yoga and meditation everyday was also a great experience and I am not shying away from singing "oooohhhhhhmmmmmm" loudly :-)

In addition I feel that I earned some bonus points by loosing around 6 to 8 kilos (15 to 20 pounds). It is normal to put some of it back on as soon as you start eating, but it would be awesome to keep 4 kilos off. Anyways, it was absolutely worth it and I will definitely do it again. I feel good!

The small but beautiful Had Tien beach.

Every morning I had this spectacular view of the sunrise, reading my book and going for an early swim .... I miss it!

"The Sanctuary" where I was staying at the Wellness Center to do my fasting and detox.

Just another view of the beach. You can see 2 of the lomgtail boat taxis that are used to shuttle people back to Had Rin.

Thailand - Relaxing and Diving (Koh Tao)

After a very interesting but also exhausting trip through India I continued my trip to Thailand. A quick stop in Bangkok to recover from a really bad cold and cough without really doing too much sight seeing. I simply tried to recharge my batteries, read and do some travel planning for the coming weeks. Only on my last day I ventured out and walked several miles through downtown Bangkok, watching the busy big city life, getting annoyed with all the sex tourists (unbelievable) and then had dinner ..... yeahhhh ..... at a German restaurant called "Bei Otto". It was good, but totally overpriced compared with everything else I have experienced in Bangkok so far. After a short stay of 3 days I traveled on to the small island of Koh Tao (close to Koh Samui). Life is passing on a different pace here ..... very relaxed and laid back. I am staying in a wonderful little beach resort (Sensi Paradise Beach) and have a little bungalow all to myself. Koh Tao is a divers destination and I completed a dive course "Advanced Open Water". Initially I had to fight my anxiety, even after several dives in the past I am still not fully over the problem to descend and breathing through a regulator. Somehow it does not feel normal to me and I always have the urge to go back to the surface and breathe fresh air, especially through my nose. Also, I had quite a few problems equalizing the pressure in my ears. Part of this might be caused by the cold that I have. The dive school ("Dive Point") I had chosen based on recommendations was absolutely great and the instructor s as well as the entire staff on the boat have been extremely professional and helpful. With every dive my fears diminished a little more and also my problems with the pressure. I was absolutely excited when I finished a deep dive to 30 meters. Not only could I actually enjoy diving without worrying too much about my ears, but seeing sharks very close by provided quite a thrill. I loved it and was almost excited to get back into the water for a multi-level dive. That very same day I also completed a night dive, which was something completely new and amazing. Everything is so different at night ..... however, when we met another group of divers I was a little confused at first since we had been just the two of us for quite some time. At first I did not realize it was other divers, suddenly their was some light and dark shades moving through the water. Nevertheless the night dive was an awesome experience and I want to do more.

The last days I have been just chilling, reading, catching up on my journal and pampering myself with massages and more ... life is good. Tomorrow I will be traveling to another island Koh Phangan where I will be staying in a resort to fast for 7 days, do yoga and meditation and of course have a massage every day. I will try to update my blog with some more details and photos over the next couple of days, Internet availability permitting.

Dive boat in Koh Tao ....

Just another sun set ..... (Koh Tao)

The beach (Koh Tao) viewed from my hotel.