ASIA

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BANGKOK & PHUKET (first time after covid)

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We’ve been traveling to Japan in April, and I felt like writing everything down, as soon as we came back home, instead of starting with this post about our trip to Thailand in February. This doesn’t mean that Thailand was less enjoyable.

As always, Bangkok really convinced us with its never ending magic. There are always a few corners in the city that are left undiscovered. This would have been our 6th or 7th time in Bangkok, and still we weren’t bored for an hour.

However writing about your trips and experiences abroad, kinda feels like comparing it to a book or a record. There’s always a right moment for a book or a record, even if you kept it at home for many many years. But one day, it comes up in your head, that “right now” would be the perfect moment to dive deep into it.

And that’s how I felt, writing about Thailand. I’ve already written a couple of posts about our trips to Thailand. I felt like repeating myself with this one.

BANGKOK.

So usually Bangkok is the springboard, where we first land in Thailand, and then move on to the next destination on our journey. It was supposed to be a short trip for only 6 nights in Thailand. It was the first time for us, returning to “Siam” after the pandemic. And also the first time traveling to this country with a kid. Imagine not going to Khao San at night, as we were traveling as parents this time. But guess what, she was all part of it. The binge drinking nights are somehow over, however we still enjoyed some cocktails at the parallel street Rambuttri Road, which is more laid back, and also more quite. But we walked through Khao San at night, and witnessed the madness. Well when we started our first day, in the old neighbourhood Talat Noi, nearby the busy streets of China Town. We opted for a different location, just to change the scenery of our Bangkok experience. We stayed at the Photo Hostel, which was a pretty nice hostel (with private rooms). The owner, who was a dutch expat, and a professional photographer, was very welcoming. Some of his work was hung for display on the walls of the coffee shop. It wasn’t a party hostel. Right outside of the hostel, you could step into a neighbourhood filled with street art. It was old, kinda dirty, but arty. The busy mainroad of Chinatown was nearby, and it was actually the first time we visited Chinatown in Bangkok. It was pretty cool, especially at night, with the all the lit neon signs. A paradise for photographers.

We met up with Vanessa’s parents at our usual rooftop bar (SALA ROOF TOP), which offers a splendid view onto Wat Arun, which is divinely lit at night. A beautiful spectacle to witness, while sipping on your drink. And it was nice to see, how much her parents liked it as well. The view over the lit temples at night is just mesmerizing. Surrounded by such much beauty, the golden and colorful temples, are coming with a hint of spirituality all over the city.

“MUENG BURAN” is an authentic, but still artificial theme park, in a suburb of Bangkok. You are entering the entrance gate of a huge park, where you gotta pay an entrance fee, and you gotta add some bahts to rent a golf caddy or a bike. Yes, you read correctly, a golf caddy. Inside the park, you will have the exact location of ancient temples, and old remaining houses of ancient villages. However they refurbished the buildings, to make them look nicer. However the architecture is still very appealing, even though you might think, that you’ve seen all the temples in Thailand. The park is huge, and you really need a vehicle to make it through the heat, to visit all of the locations in the park. And still we had missed a temple or two. It sounds like a tourist trap, but in my own personal opinion it’s not . It’s artificial nowadays, but still a fascinating place for photographers.

By coincidence, we noticed a photograph of a huge golden budha at the photo hostel. And my girlfriend told me that it must be in Bangkok, which I didn’t believe, as I was supposed to have witnessed most corners in Bangkok. We asked the owner of the hostel, and he approved that the photo was shot in the city. It’s a new buddha statue, that they finished only a couple of months prior our trip. It’s huge! And is located right in the middle of the city, surrounded by a poorer neighbourhood.

The worshipping place is free to visit, and it’s actually a cool trip to walk through the small local village, until you reach the buddha statue. At least calculate 2-3 hours for the whole experience. On our last day, we went to the mandatory stop at Chatuchak weekend market. We also visited its beautiful park, guess the name, Chatuchak Park.

The only tourist trap, we had experience must have been "Asiatique The Riverfront", which is supposed to be a night market, next to a harbor. It attracted a fancier kind of crowd. The restaurants were rather a mix of local and international cuisine. Half of the shops were empty, high probably due to the pandemic. Asiatique Riverfront, might be one of the few things that you can skip in Bangkok, or just don’t expect too much when you get there.

PHUKET.

Phuket is one of the few cities, where people will give you an eye-rolling look, when you’re mentioning the city’s name. It used to be one of the major tourist hot spots of Thailand, a city were you would encounter many wild British and Russian crowds. A friend at work, however told me that he enjoyed Phuket a lot more than Kho Samui, as there would still be untouched corners on the island, that would be quite beautiful.

As for myself, I was more attracted by the city center, as Phuket Old Town looked quite photogenic, as far as I could tell from the google-search images. Was I dissappointed ? Not by the look of the city center, however rather about the size of the town. It’s majorly only 4 blocks, and it takes you less than 1 hour to just walk around the main corners. There’s really not much going on. Foodwise, it is way less appealing than Bangkok, everything has been adapted to mass tourism. There are a few small & cosy restaurants, but you can count ‘em on one hand. So you can really do everything that is located in and around the city center, in 1 day. The “Chillva Night Market Phuket” included. As we weren’t visiting on a weekend, we missed the Phuket Old Town Market. The Chillva Market was a nice alternative, to at least witness the busy thai nightmarkets, while being in Phuket.

On our first day we bumped into our driver, whose name was Ake. Considering the prices of the rental cars, and how much he would charge us for being our driver for a whole day, we opted for the second option, so we wouldn’t have to worry about driving home at night, or driving back home while being super tired.

Did we do any special out of line…no the usual things you would do as a tourist, however we enjoyed doing them and discovering the island. Among the main spots that we visited were:

  • The Chalong temple

  • The Big Buddha

  • Ma Doo Bua Cafe

  • Nai Thon Beach

  • Samet Nangshe

We do appreciate visiting thai temples, as they are often quite beautiful, and somehow we don’t seem to get tired of worship places. Especially the thai temples, that are super colorful, adorned with golds and sparkling stones. The Chalong temple enclosure regroups some worship buildings with lots of greens and palmtrees around it. Stopping by to walk around for 30 minutes, won’t be a waste of time. Definitely a must see, while in Phuket.

The Big Buddha is the most popular landmark in Phuket, due to its size, and easily recognizable from afar. The first big buddha statue I ever saw, was the one in Hong Kong. Both seem to be very similiar as far as I can remember. The one in Hong Kong is nicer though, due to its location and surroundings. But while in Phuket… it’s definitely on the to-do list.

Ma Doo Bua Cafe, became a favorite spot among the tourists, and it’s actually just a restaurant. From the outside it doesn’t look that appealing, however the backside of the restaurants reveals a unique photospot to take some instagram footage. There’s a big pond, with huge lotus leaves, and obviously you gotta stand in line, to wait for your turn for taking some photos of your beloved ones.
Our food for lunch was great, the restaurant is beautiful on its own, and you get a very nice view while sharing some dishes. We didn’t regret waiting in line for 20-25 minutes waiting for a free table. If I remember correctly, you only get the chance to take some photos, if you get a free table at the restaurant.

The distances to drive, aren’t short ones. As we were heading towards Samet Nangshe, which is located outside of Phuket, further north, we decided to stop by at the Nai Thon Beach. It was quite a nice, and much less crowded than Koron Beach, the first one we visited. We enjoyed the refreshing dip into the ocean, while Ake was waiting for us, to take us to our last and most memorable spot in Phuket.

Samet Nangshe, could be considered as the Halong Bay (Vietnam) in Thailand. Except that you don’t need to jump on a boat, and drive away from the coast, until you get to the main spot of the rocky bay. Samet Nangshe’s Viewpoint is located on the mainland. However you need to jump onto a special "4x4 SUV” that takes you to the viewpoint, as the roads are crazy steep. Maybe you could walk there, however it’s not reachable with a normal car. Reaching the viewpoint, you’ll notice that it was worth it, driving almost 90 minutes to reach Samet Nangshe. As for myself, it was my favorite spot among the sightseeing we did in Phuket.

And after a planned out day, we were glad that we didn’t have to drive all the way back to our hotel, thanks to Ake.

On our last day in Phuket (we only stayed 3 days), we decided to do some last shopping and walking around Old Town, until we would be heading back to the airport in the evening.

Getting back to the airport can take easily more than an hour, depending on the traffic.

Phuket was enjoyable. Would I recommend it, yes, without a doubt. We’ve been in Krabi before the pandemic, where we stayed in Ao Nang. Ao Nang was less appealing than Phuket. The coolest part of Krabi, was the boat ride to Phi Phi Islands, and spending a night there. Phi Phi Island is also reachable from Phuket. I guess Phuket would be more enjoyable, if you rent a scooter, and discover the surrounding on your own. While writing this post, I had to correct myself numerous times, because I wanted to describe Phuket as an Island, however it’s reachable by car from the mainland so it still belongs to the mainland of Thailand. However Phuket definitely feels like being stuck on an island.

Would I turn back to Phuket? Probably not. As there are still so many places left to discover in Thailand. And the only thing that bothered me in Phuket, were the distances you had to drive to get from point A to point B. Nothing is really close. That was the only downside.

In the end we enjoyed getting back to Thailand, for the first time after the pandemic, and we made the best out of our 7 days. Especially traveling with a kid. And we figured out, that Bangkok is still more fascinating than some of the “islands”. Can’t way to get back to Bangkok anytime soon.




































































Vietnam 2.0 (Ho Chi Min, Hoi An, Hanoi)

It should have become my second trip to Vietnam. In 2016 I really did have a unique experience while traveling across Vietnam, by bus and night train. This time, we’d visit Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh and Hoi An. I was looking forward to visit Hoi An, as I missed it on my first Vietnamese adventure.

However it turned out as the worst start I ever had for trip.

VISA MADNESS.

Well, partially it could have been our fault, as we have been lazy with the VISA ON ARRIVAL procedure that you need to apply for, prior the departure. The official website says it wouldn’t last longer than 3 days to get the approval.

On Monday I filled out all the form for our family (3 visas), on Friday morning, the day of our departure, I still didn’t get any approval in my mailbox. After sending a mail already on Thursday, and not getting a reply, I decided to make a phone call to Vietnam, as we really needed these letter form to make it onto the plane.

Reaching a clerk on the line, I told them, that our visa hasn’t been approved yet, and that we would need them by tonight. “Sorry sir, it’s 5pm, too late. We can’t help you, change your flight”. I told them, that we couldn’t switch our flights, as our holidays had to end within a week, due to school holidays. Changing the schedule of our trip wasn’t an option. But they just didn’t mind and wouldn’t help.

So I tried several offices, and I always got the same response “weekend will start in one hour, sorry can’t help” (due to the time difference). Devastated about canceling our holidays, we tried every website or facebook account which could be helpful, so I made another phone call to a service we found on FB, which mentioned they would approve emergency visas within an hour. After telling our situation for the 10th time, same response “sorry it’s almost weekend, can’t help”. I replied that they mentioned on their website about the 24/24h service, and that we need the visas for tonight, however we would land on the following day in Vietnam, and that I would be willing pay any price. “Wait! Please get in touch with my supervisor”. So we managed with a LOT of luck to get emergency visas for 150$ per person. I was in touch with a young lady on whatsapp, and she helped us through the whole procedure. In the end, it worked out. It was a shit load of money, as we already had paid for the initial visas, but we didn’t want to cancel our holidays, so we agreed to pay the amount of 450$. In the end I gave her another 50$, as she was the only person among 10 contacts, who was willing to help us.

So the moral of the story… don’t believe what they say about the processing time. After this mess, I’d recommend to apply for the visa at least 10 days before your departure.


Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh, who used to go by the name of Saigon, was our city of arrival, as we planned to visit our friend Craig, who moved from Luxembourg to Vietnam two years ago. So it would be great to meet him again in person, while we’d be visiting Vietnam.

We were so glad that we’d made it and that in the end the whole visa thing turned out well.

As soon as we reached the hotel we headed out to get some street food, as it was already pretty late (10pm).

We should also mention that we got scammed by a taxi driver. Outside the airport, we just stood in line, to get onto an official yellow taxi, to avoid any kind of rip off. However, even while jumping on a so-called official taxi. The taxi meter rose pretty fast, and quickly reached the 25$ after only a few minutes driving. So I texted Craig, and he mentioned to never pay more than 12-15$ for a taxi. By then, we reached the 35$. I told the taxi to stop, as I wouldn’t pay the amount. He told us, that the gas prices went through the roof lately, and because of that, the prices were way more expensive than they used to be. We bargained for a set price of 35$, otherwise we would just drop us in the middle of the main road. Traveling with the baby, we agreed to pay. Later at the hotel, the staff told us to take a photo of the license in the windshield, and call the police, so the taxi driver would lose his job. Upon reaching the hotel, I handed over a money bill (worth 50$), and the driver tried to rip me off again, with turning back less money.

First the visa issues, now this… it all started so well. :)

Ho Chi Min was cleaner than I thought, but less “asian” than I expected. It just looked like a regular big city, with lots of tall concrete buildings. The street food, didn’t look very inviting. So our first dinner consisted of 2 grilled rice paper, with spring onions, some meat and french cheese on it. It wasn’t great.

On the second day, we started with some street markets, tourist shit that we love. And it felt great being back in Asia, as it was the first time after two years, due to the pandemic. We visited the main sights in HCM that we wanted to discover: the pink church, the book street, the old post office, and the 42 Nguyen Hue Coffee Apartment.

If you’ve visited Hanoi before, Ho Chi Minh, might look less appealing, because it’s more modern, less sketchy, and people seem to have a higher standard of living. It just wasn’t like the Vietnam that I had in mind after my last trip.

Ho Chi Min people, however were the nicest I had met in Vietnam. They were kinda talkative, and trying to socialize with us. So many locals wanted to take a photo with our daughter. All the people we got in touch with, were very helpful and welcoming.

Foodwise, it wasn’t as great as Hanoi for example. You really had to know where to look for a good restaurant. Streetfood didn’t seem that appealing to us. Everything was super cheap though, you never had to care about money.

A surprisingly cool evening happened to take place right in front of our hotel, as Vietnam was playing against Thailand (soccer game). Guess who won? Vietnam of course… the hell broke loose! Suddenly after the end of the game, millions of scooters were cruising through the city center, chanting, screaming, pushing the horn, singing… it was just a huge party all over Ho Chi Minh. And still they all celebrated with the biggest respect towards pedestrians, and the police force. No fights, no dangerous speeding. It was pretty unique moment, to be part of it.

During the day we walked through the Bui Vien avenue, which is comparable to Bangkok’s Khao San Road. Quiet during the day, but crazy lively at night. The party road of the city. As we were traveling with a 1 year old daughter, we thought that we should skip this part. However I can imagine, that we would have loved it on our early trips.

Meeting our friend Craig was kind of the nicest part of our Ho Chi Minh experience. We met up twice and had dinner with him in places where we might haven’t found by ourselves. The pho (vietnamese soup) was the best we had for only 3-4$. His neighbourhood was fancy, and quite different to the city center. We were glad to get invited for a drink at his place, just before he would leave it for his next destination Indonesia in the upcoming months.

Hoi An.

We took two inland flights within 7 days in Vietnam, and all these went flawless. Traveling by plane was so easy and stress-less. And the tickets were crazy cheap as well (25€ per flight).

Hoi An was the next stop. Our friend Craig warned us, that Hoi An would be super touristic. We didn’t mind, as we really wanted to witness all the things we knew from google or Instagram : colorful lanterns, boat rides on the river, great Vietnamese dinners in the evening, traditional colorful clothing… we wanted the whole experience.

Hoi An, already offered what we were missing in Ho Chi Minh. The rural life, the locals, tiny street markets, all kind of street food, open air bars… it just seemed more authentic to western tourists who wanted to experience Asia.

It took us 10 minutes walking to reach the old town of Hoi An, which was the most famous part of the city, we all the tourists were gathering together. Despite being touristic it was crazy beautiful, and so photogenic. Especially during evening hours when the lanterns were lit.

The Old Town feels like a maze, because it’s divided in so many tiny alleys which all look alike after a while, and it’s hard to not get lost. In between the alleys you will find street markets, services for boat rides, colorful lanterns hanging all over the city. As soon as you start getting out of Old Town, you will bump into a row of tailors hunting for tourists to make them buy tailored clothes for a super cheap price. First we tried to avoid them, however on our last day we figured out how cheap a suit would be, and that they could have it done within 3 hours. Just before leaving for the airport, two different shops brought us 2 complete men suits, 4 men shirts, 3 women dresses (all hand made) for 350$. Their service was insane… they were working super fast, and the tissues we used were completely different to what we are used in Europe. Getting something done by a tailor, will be a must on our future trips to Asia.

Besides the city center and appreciating our fancy hotel Hoi An, we didn’t do that much. We enjoyed the sights and colors of the Old Town, fueled up the sunshine, and tasted some Vietnamese food. It was a beautiful experience visiting Hoi An.

The gentleman (pictured on the middle photo above) was selling black&white photoprints on rice paper in the city center of Hoi An. The smell of antique wooden furniture in his shop, the black&white prints all over the entrance and his walls inside the shop, gave this whole place a special vibe, and many people were stopping by to watch these photos of war. The shopkeeper told me his story about the war versus the U.S., as he was navy soldier during war times. He showed me his bullet wounds on this legs, when he get shot by the Americans. This conversation was very deep and interesting at the same time. As I bought a couple of photos, he allowed me to take a portrait of him.


Hanoi.

After 6 years have passed, I was curious about getting back to Hanoi. On the way from the airport to the hotel, so many memories popped up, that I had forgotten about, however seeing the buildings and the streets, the memories felt like it would have been only a year appart.

As we arrived very late at night, we decided to start our exploring of the city on the next morning. Hanoi just felt like the complete opposite of Ho Chi Minh. It’s more chaotic, it’s dirtier, it smells bad in some areas, however it’s definitely how I had Vietnam in mind… authentic.

Around Hoan Kiem Lake, most streets are covered with trees, they are super lively due to the high traffic, and the endless shops and foodstalls along the road. You mostly just walk on the road, as there’s no space on the sidewalk due to the parked motorbikes.

Hanoi is a big city, however if you plan your daytrips well enough, you can see most of it within 2 days. That’s what we had, 2 nights. As it was the first time for my girlfriend in the city, I wanted to show her what I had found most fascinating in and around the city: the Hoan Kiem Lake, Long Bien Bridge, Ho Chi Minh-Mausoleum (which wasn’t accessible due to road blocks), the crashed B52 bomber, and its worn down neighborhood.

We definitely loved the area around Hoan Kiem Lake. It’s the right place to watch people. The red bridge on the lake always looks appealing while walking by. The shops around the lake, and the coffee places nearby makes it an enjoyable place throughout the day. Especially on weekends, where they will close the main roads, children are allowed to play on the streets, and it’s even more lively.

Walking towards Long Bien Bridge, you do walk through some smelly and rough blocks. It doesn’t make Hanoi really appealing. However I do love walking upon the bridge, seeing the crazy motorbike traffic passing by, getting a view over endless fields, and just seeing that old rusty bridge in front of you. It felt as intriguing as the first time.

The small pond where the B52 bomber had crashed, was just a mess, the water is filled up with trash and seaweed. I wouldn’t even take a photo. The walk towards Quang An, took us almost 90 minutes. In the end it wasn’t fun anymore, as the sun was burning our skin, and we just wouldn’t find any water on the stretch that leaded along the Ho Tay lake. Quang An just felt like the westerner’s area, where you would find many fancy dining options, and designer shops, however without any Vietnamese customers. It just didn’t feel right. Obviously the restaurants looked promising, however the vibe wasn’t right. A place were rich folks loved to hang out. There was absolutely nothing interesting in the neighborhood, even though Quang An was praised online, to have become to new hangout place for the hip folks. I prefer the run down places, that seem more authentic, and they come with a communist vibe. Well we enjoyed our ramen never the less.

On our last day (our departure back home was around midnight) I visited the surroundings of the Nhà Thờ Lớn Hà Nội cathedral, as I was looking for a poster-shop that used to sell communist propaganda posters printed on rice paper. Back then, when I was visiting Hanoi for the first time, I was amazed by the graphic design of those vintage prints. Sadly the shop didn’t exist anymore. But luckily a new one opened in the same street. The artshop “Collective Memory - The House of Curios” had opened next-door, and it was way more arty than the mentioned poster shop. I was welcomed by the nicest shop-holders I had met in Hanoi. After a little chat about the world, they recommended me a unique dining experience on our last night at Chả Cá Thăng Long, to get a proper typical Vietnamese dish before jumping into the airplane. It was quite an experience, as it felt like a hidden place. The restaurant was a big beautiful villa hidden among palm trees in a private entrance. We were sat outside among the locals. Without any big talks, they started asking for drinks, while setting up our table. They only offered one fish dish, quick and simple. The fish gets served with greens, that you cook all together in a wok, right on your table. The food was excellent! The location was beautiful, and it was relatively cheap compared to what it looks from the outside.

Definitely the perfect farewell dinner for this beautiful one week trip in Vietnam.
















Make these moments count.

What happened to Instagram and all those jaw-dropping blog-posts about the ever travelling “so-called influencers” these last months? Due do the pandemic explosion of the covid-19 virus, which drastically changed our daily routines within a couple of days. Flight companies stopped their activites 3 months ago, bloggers aren’t posting anymore, and travel-photographers lay down their cameras.

It seemed like the whole world stood still after the forced restrictions that we had to sustain. Will we ever be able to travel again, like we used to?

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The first month actually didn’t feel that bad, staying at home, and having endless free time for your hobbies and the people who lived under the same roof. Running and cycling had become a daily habit. We started to spend less money, and we started to enjoy our own neighbourhoods.

However I have to admit after my 4th week in a kind of “lock-down” situation I missed spending the time abroad, hearing the sounds of a foreign language, eating a different cuisine, enjoying drinks at sunset with sand between my toes. The time off, gave me many occasions to reflect on what I went through these last years.

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I clearly remember my very first “solo” trip to Norway in 2013, to visit my couchsurfer friend Martin, who back then, was living in Oslo. It was the first time when I decided to leave the country all by myself, to recover from a severe breakup. This trip actually was the spark that ignited to the fuel for solo-traveling. I discovered how fun it was to discover a city by yourself and get in touch with way more people than traveling as a group of friends.

Since then I’ve made it to my own bucket-list destinations, sometimes even multiple times: Japan, Cuba, Israel, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, India, Vietnam…

Initially when I started this blog, I praised the way of “solo-traveling”, as it allowed me to get to know myself better, and it made me the person that I am today. There were moments of pride, joy, laughters and tears, however nothing will make those memories fade away.

Things have changed since 2013. For the last 2 years, I discovered beautiful places with my girlfriend by my side. Was it a big change? Actually no. I guess because, she and I, we were surfing the same wave, while we were traveling. Sharing a hostel, getting drunk on cheap booze, socialising with locals, walking around like college students on a budget trip… all this, wasn’t a big deal, and we barely had to set compromises. Now that I’m turning 38 this year, I’m slowly turning my back to those wild binge drinking nights, and looking for a more quiet and cozy bar that play smooth soul and jazz tunes to drift away into the night.

I can definitely agree, that both ways of traveling are totally fine, as long as the attitude stays authentic. I’m also pretty sure that this kind of traveling won’t change, as soon as kids starts seeing the light of our world. Parents shouldn’t blame their kids for their boredom in life. Stay curious, and keep that hunger for discovery alive.

These last days I really thought alot about my most memorable trips. Surprisingly the drunken nights weren’t those special moments. This comes from a person who loves to drink!

For me, it was rather the words that were spoken while sitting in a bar, or while sharing a cup of coffee. The last handshake or hug before saying goodbye. Or those seconds that froze time for the lenght of an eye-blink, like in Varanasi at sunrise. Those special moments, made me go back multiple times to the same place, as I was craving for repeating pleasant moments. Japan took over my heart within a heartbeat. I really wish that I could make it back to Japan this year. It would be my 6th trip to “Nihon”, every consecutive year.

Making new friends in Japan. Meeting the locals in Havana in a worn down bar. Getting smashed with buckets of water in Myanmar for the Sonkran Festival. Celebrating an indian wedding without alcohol. Feeling lost among the “ultra orthodox” in Jerusalem, but still being blown away by the cultural differences, those things in life, that money can’t buy.

I got a new laptop, my first one within 15 years. It kicked in with a tiny motivational swing to create a new video with passed experiences. Once you go through older videos or photos, by chance you can find an old gem of a scene or shot, that slipped through your catches while traveling. I edited a bunch of never used footage, that didn’t make it to the final cut back then. Shots of people we met on the road, however which didn’t really fit in the video back then. I’m glad to tag “Ishan”, “Shyam”, and “Ekko” to the video above.

We can’t wait to strap the old backpack around our shoulders and step back on the path that we were following for many years. I miss the sound of the sea, the stars in the asian skies, the tuk-tuk engine noises, the dirty flip-flop feets, and the street-food you can buy for a buck.





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An indian wedding in Kerala

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This is going to be a kind of different, but special post, as we flew back to Kerala for an indian wedding. Who would have thought, that I’d turn back to India for a 3rd time, after my less amusing first trip to Dehli and Agra 3 years ago. And guess what? I’d love to get back to Kerala a 4th time.

Last year, 2018, we did a trip across Kerala, and spent new year’s eve in Kovalam. I could cleary notice a huge difference in mentality and kindness in southern India, compared to its northern part. Everybody was so kind, and we were threated like kings & queens.

This time we landed in Calicut airport, to start our journey towards Kanjirapuzha, a little town next to Mannarkkad, which was located 4 hours driving away from the popular city Kochi.

We landed around 04:00 am, passed the immigration as quick as we could, and expected to get out of the aiport, to meet our driver. Around 04:40 there was no sign of a driver, nor a working ATM, nor a SIM-card selling point. Where could we go without driver, without any money, and not being able to contact someone through whatsapp or phonecall.

In the end we managed to call our good friend Vinoy (in exchange for exegaretaed roaming costs), who arranged everything, and just moments later, we were on the road east-bound.

I felt great being back in Kerala, the sunny state with millions of palmtrees and millions of smiles in the streets. It took us a little more than two hours to reach Mannarkkad. We were lucky to check-in at a small hotel, to borrow Vinoy’s hotel room for a couple of hours to get some sleep, before he would pick us up, with the other folks from Luxembourg, who were coming for Vinoy’s wedding.

We went out to get some cold drinks as we were melting in the hotel room. Vanessa entered a jewelry shop, as she wanted to get fancy for the wedding. People started entering the mentioned shop, to introduce themselves, shake hands and ask our names. It seemed like they’ve never met any caucasians before. As soon as we left the shop, the same show went on on the sidewalk. So many people gave us a big smile and tried to interract with us, eventhough some barely spoke any english.

The “selfie” is a huge thing in India. “Selfie please!?” we heard it a million times. The funny part, was that they’d rather go for a selfie, than getting a proper group-photo with us. They all went for the selfie, straight arms out and pressing against us with a big smile, to get the typical selfie iphone shot.

In the afternoon, we met up with Vinoy, Kamilla, Joana and Nicolas. We were also introduced to Vinoy’s friends and cousins. After a couple of photos we headed to our resort “Diga Resort” in Palakkad. We had the whole resort for ourselves, as it mainly consisted of three huts. The location was pretty scenic, as we got a view on the nearby water-dam. Everybody was exausted from the traveling journey to India. We had a little nap and socialised in the early evening, played some drinking games and ended up drunk by the end of the night. As we initially had planned to go out for dinner, which didn’t turn out to happen, the host of the resort, brought us some free delicious grilled fish and chicken. They were happy to have some foreign tourists at their resort.

 

The house party.

The next morning we all woke up with a hangover, and went for a quick indian breakfast at the resort, in the owner’s kitchen. It felt like having lunch at grandma’s place, but we loved it.

Our friend Sham picked us up, and the long day was about to begin. We went back to Mannarkkad to get dressed up for the wedding. Vinoy’s family made us a present and offered us dothis and saris. We entered a pretty fancy shop for indian standards, and all eyes went on us. Again lots of smiles, handshakes and selfies. After a while the manager showed up as for a photo with all of us… after that, there was no more turning back. We acutally took over 30 photos following the first one.

The ladies were all happy about their clothes and jewelries, they definitely felt like princesses out of an indian fairytale.

After spending almost 2 hours at the shop, we headed towards Silent Valley, driving uphill the serpentines towards the mountains. We were told that we couldn’t get inside the national park, as there were issues with a group of Maoists (a form of communism which has been banned in India for security reasons). We had a stop, where I could fly up my drone and take some beautiful landscape photos. Straight after that we went for a lunch-curry.

We headed back to Mannarkkad to meet up with Vinoy and his family, who showed up all the way from his hometown Trivandrum.

After getting ready back at the resort, and already being late, we made it to the house party around 7:30 pm (instead of 5:00). The pre-wedding party took place at Vinoy’s wife house. They hosted around 200 guests. The whole evening was mostly about dancing, singing and eating. Once again, we felt like VIPs among the indian, as we were offered the front seat of the show. The younger guests invited the white folks on stage for dancing, and thought us their indian dancing moves. Everybody was so kind and felt super happy just for being part of it.

Our first wedding party without alcohol.

The big-day ceremony

The celebration was split up on two different days. The previous night happened to be the celebration party, and the ceremony the following early morning was the official part of the wedding. The ceremony took place in a nearby convention center, where approximately 700 people were invited.

Traditional indian music, lots of colorful saris, the beautiful bride, it all felt like being in the middle of a movie.

The ceremony was mainly split up in the three main parts: the official wedding, the delicious post-wedding lunch, and the indian selfie experience. It happened again. Almost every single relative of the couple’s family wanted to take photos with us. Children, older people, the husbands, the wives… they all wanted a photo with caucasians in it. We felt once again super popular.

After mid-day most people left the place, and we had to as well. We had booked a taxi Kochi for all of us, because that’s where we split up, some moved on to Goa, Nicolas flew to Sri Lank the next day. And Vanessa and I, we headed back home to following day.

 

Kochi.

After having spent 2 and a half days in the Mannarkkad area. We checked out Kochi on our last day of this very short trip. After having spent over 4 hours in a taxi, to get to Kochi with our friends from Luxembourg, we decided to book one night at a nearby airport hotel, this time it was a fancy one. However we didn’t know that we were 1 hour away from the more popular sights of Kochi.

Right outside our hotel we managed to get a tuk-tuk which would bring us to Fort Kochi for 1000 ruppees. We didn’t know that it would take that long, and that we had to get on a short boatride to get on the “island”. On our way we witnessed the beauty of the backwaters, and the chinese fishernets along the palmtree-shores. It reminded us of Allappey’s Backwaters. I was pissed, that i didn’t pack my drone for the last day, as the scenery was rather beautiful, and I would have loved to take some photos from up there.

Our tuk-tuk driver Martin, was a very gentle man. Eventough communication was a mess, as he barely spoke any english, he still tried so hard to exchange some informations about our lives. We felt happy to show us his city.

Fort Kochi had the feel of a hippi island, everything seemed more laid back. Lots of trees, fishermen, graffitis, streetart, a small street market alley along the waters. It had a vibe of its own. I definitely would have loved to spend the whole day at Fort Kochi, however we had to pay attention to our schedule as the flight was leaving at 7pm.

While passing by the only 9 remaining chinese fishernet installations, we were approached by a handful of fishermen, who explained us, that they would bring up the nets from the water, between 150 an 200 times a day. A group of slender men would be pulling ropes with their bodyforce to get the nets high and check for fishes catches. We were allowed to try it ourselves. They also told us, that the tsuanami from 2004 caused a lot of dammage. The wooden installation were destroyed, and the waves brought too much sand to the shores. Due to that, the fishermen catch a lot less fishes than they used to.

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On our way back to the hotel, Martin asked me if I wanted to drive his tuk-tuk. I gladly accepted his offer, and sat behind the steering handle. Driving a tuk-tuk in India, priceless.

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Thailand for a week: Bangkok, Krabi, Phi Phi Islands

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My 3rd time in Bangkok within 18 months was still as exciting as my first trip to the capital of Thailand in may 2018. We only had 1 week off to choose a travel destination for the All-Saints holidays in november. We were craving for sunshine, as autumn had already kicked in at home.

As I’ve never been to a thai island, we went for Krabi and Phi Phi as it was supposed to have reached the end of the raining season. The high season of the lower south-west coast of Thailand shoud start beginning of November.


 

Bangkok. (part I)

We landed on an early sunday morning around 05:00am in Bangkok. Passing the customs & immigration was flawless. There was barely no traffic around that time, and a cheap taxi-ride took us straight to our first accomodation “Vivit Hostel”, which was located within walking distance from Kao San road.

We already booked a night at the hostel for Saturday, so that we could check-in around 06:30 in the morning. After a one-hour nap we headed towards our first floating market “Taling Chan”. It took us less than 15 minutes to reach the market by cab. Using the mobile-app “GRAB” makes life cheaper and easier in Thailand, and many other asian countries.

“Taling Chan” is the only floating market that is located in the heart of Bangkok. I guess it’s not the most beautiful market, but it’s the less touristic one. We really felt among the locals, as we were the only white folks around. They merchants were mostly selling food (thai dishes) on their boats, and handing it over to the customers on the floating wooden platforms.

You could find the usual souvenirs, jewelries, spices, and clothes that you would find on any market. However the local scenery and the lovely women on the boats made it a different experience. “Taling Chan” was definitely worth checking out.

After the floating market, we headed towards our favorite market “Chatuchak” followed by the Ratchada Train Market (night market). On our second visit of the train nightmarket, we finally figured out, that you could get the famous instagram shot of the scenic market from the 4th floor of the nearby shopping mall. Pass through the entrance of the mall, take the escalator to the 4th floor and step inside the parking lot. On the edges of the parking you will notice other visitors taking a photo of the colorful market stands.

To end our first night in Bangkok we visited the quieter parallel road to Kao San called “Rambutrri Alley” (Soi Ram Butri) and enjoyed a few cocktails at the ending part of the alley.


Bangkok. (part II)

After visiting Krabi and Ko Phi Phi during the week, we headed back to Bangkok for one last night on our Thailand trip. We decided to book a night at the charming hostel “Time Sabai 134”. After having spent a bunch of nights in 4 different hotels/hostels in Bangkok, Time Sabai 134, made it on top of my list. If I get back to Bangkok I will definitely book a private room with them, as the hostel is located only 5 minutes away from the lively area of Kao San Road, which gives you many options to opt for, for example Rambutrri or Phra Athit Road which offers a few music bars.

On our last day we headed back to Chatuchak weekend-market, which surprisingly was a lot busier on friday night, then on the usual sundays when we visited the market. After the shopping tour we headed to a hip bakery shop called “A pink rabbit & bob” where we enjoyed a carrote cake and a well prepared americano. After the piece of cake we moved towards the rooftop bar of the hotel “Sala Rattanakosin”. It was my second visit at the rooftop bar, as it’s one of the few places where you get a beautiful view on Wat Arun Temple at night. They turn on the lights of the temple at 18:30 (6.30 pm). Enjoy the drinks and the views!


Krabi (Ao Nang).

Krabi was supposed the become my first thai-island-feel holidays, even though it’s still attached to the mainland. The main shore along the beach of Ao Nang definitely looked like the scenery I knew from travelblogs & tv, except for the weather, as rain season hadn’t come to an end yet.

On daily basis the rain kicked in around 4pm in the afternoon, for one or two hours. In the morning we had summerish weather.

We decided to chose our accomodation in Ao Nang as it was supposed to be more lively than Railay Beach. In my opinion Ao Nang wasn’t that lively by the end of october. There was one tiney alley that had the feel of Bangkok’s “Kao San” or rather “Soy Cowboy” as the road was packed with escort girls. The bars right across Ao Nang’s beach, looked like american sports bars filled with pool tables and loud music. None of the places were really packed the nights we passed by, and they didn’t look very inviting.

We spent most of nights at a local food court, and one tiny open-air bar just next to it. The bar was run by a couple of outgoing and funny thai women. The cocktails were only 150 bath which was about 4 euro, and they played traditional molam music all night long. As soon as we took place at the few stools on the bar, they asked us to play our music on their wifi speakers. I love interracting with local people over a drink or two, as you get to know funny facts of their culture and daily life.

As for the rest Ao Nang didn’t seem to be that interesting.

We booked an island hopping tour, which turned out as a disappointment, as far as the snorkeling goes. They advertise the tour as a boat tour, followed by snorkerling. The water was so cloudy that you barely couldn’t see anything in front of you. There was almost no aquatic life at the spots where they let the tour-members out of the boat. One of the island had a tiny beach, that was just big enough to carry all the tourists on one spot for an hour, where lunch got served around midday. The food was okay, but far from delicious. We made the best out of it, and took a sunbath on Hong Island, which looked pretty at first sight. However there was a big construction ship parked between the main rocks of the lagoon, that totally ruined any photo you’d take of the surroundings.

If we would have known better, we wouldn’t have signed up for the tour.

The same day we participated at another thai-cooking class. Vanessa and I already did the class in Chiangmai. We almost cooked the same dishes as the ones we did on the previous class. At the end, I was glad, as we were thought a slightly different way how to prepare the curry pastes and coconut-soup. The cooking class was 1300 bath per person (around 35 euro). The transfer from and to the hotel was included in the price. At the end of the class, each one got a book with all the recipes. Check out “Siam Cuisine Thai Cookery School” for further informations.

We were so busy during our one week in Thailand, that we didn’t manage to book a scooter to discover the area on our own. Because of that, I can’t really tell if Ao Nang is worth visiting or not. For the few days, that we spent on the shore, it didn’t seem that appealing to visit it a second time.

The transfer from the Airport to the hotel was around 150 by van (per person), or 700 for a private taxi.

Ko Phi Phi.

To reach Ko Phi Phi from Ao Nang, we had to book a ferry, which was 350 baht per person. The boatride took about 2 hours to reach the docking-pier of Phi Phi Island. At first sight we were amazed by the beauty of the island: blue clear waters, palmtrees in front of the resorts, a walking path on which many people were walking barefoot, lots of wooden huts… all these details that gave you the feel of an island.

Tourist wise, it wasn’t too packed. During the day, the main streets were much busier, than in the evening. After 6pm, you did notice that many people had left the island, as we were told that the last fairey to Krabi would leave at 15:30 (3.30pm). Was it still low-season during our stay? We couldn’t tell, as November was supposed to attract many visitors. At night the streets were rather empty. A handful of bars were filled with younger crowds. The beautiful restaurants were left almost unattended. We didn’t care too much.

On our first day, we visited the two View-Points, which was a pretty though exercice, climbing hundreds of stairs with 34°c degree. The hill was quite steep, but the effort was all worth it. On top of the hill you get an scenic view all over the island. After all my travels, this view definitely made it to my top 5 most scenic spots.

As the streets seemed deserted at night, we headed towards the venue “Reggae Bar”, a crazy dive bar, where you see live muay thai fights, and the visitors can earn a free bucket (filled with booze) for 3 rounds of sparring with another spectator. Even though the “amateur fights” with helmets and shin-protectors, were less impressive than the thai fights, they still were entertaining enough to make us watch almost 7 fights.

Snorkeling was definitely on our checklist for Phi Phi. We booked a longtail-boat for 3 hours. The booking was only 1500 bath for the two of us. The boatman confirmed that we could do the trip from 07:00 til 10:00. You get the benefit of chosing your starting time if you book a privat boat. I really don’t see the point of booking a tour with a speedboat, if you have 8 other people on it. We got the chance to leave the bay at 07:00 and reach Maya Bay, famous spot from the movie “The Beach”, only 20 minutes later. We had Maya Bay all for ourselves for over half an hour, til the first tourists reached the spot as well. It was a pleasure snorkeling on that famous spot, with lots of yellowish fishes among us. The beach of Maya bay was still not accessible, as the government decided to ban human traffic on the beach for about 2 years, to let the reef and aquatic life recover from mass tourism.

It was my first snorkeling experience with aquatic life below my feet. The boatman took us to 4 different spots. It was mostly us with two or three other tourists enjoying life underwater.

Our accomodation “Mama Beach Residence” had the perfect location for being on the lower west side of the small island. It was 10 minutes walking away from the main pier, where all the cruisers docked in. Surprisingly the sea was still crystal clear in front of our hotel, despite the numerous boats floating by. We had a wonderful frontyard patio with a wonderful ocean view from our room. For 80 euro a night, with sea-view, we couldn’t complain, and were totally happy. The breakfast, which we usually miss around 90% of the time, was quite delicious. Lots of homemade pies and cakes, fresh juices, .. all you can ask for.

After our “snorkly” morning we headed back to Ao Nang on with the last cruiser-boat at 15:30 (3.30 pm), where our trip came to an end. We packed our stuff, and took the flight to Bangkok next morning, where we just spent another night.


Thailand never disappoints. This was my 3rd trip to Thailand within 18 months. The kindness of the thai people, the best asian food (nex to japan), and the cheap prices makes me always coming back. Maybe on our next trip we will take classes for a Tok-Sen training, or I’ll get my back covered with traditional bamboo sak yant tattoos. Godspeed! Til’ next time.



This photo was taken at the ZEUS CUSTOM BIKE SHOP in Bangkok. If you fancy hip clothes, coffee and motorbike culture, this place is for you. Definitely a hotspot for all “Deus Ex” fans.

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Kerala: Kovalam, Alleppey, Munnar

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As we planned on staying in Kerala for 8 nights, time realy wasn’t on our side. Distances in Kerala are quite significant, which we didn’t expect at all, considering Google-Maps showing us 120-150 km routes. Because of the traffic and the narrow roads, 120 km could easily take up to 5 hours of your prescious time.

We landed in Trivandrum, as we were planning on spending New Years Eve on the beach, and we opted for Kovalam, because the surroundings and its red-white striped light house looked very charming.

Kovalam.

Kovalam’s beach was nice, nothing more nothing less. The restaurants at the beach front were quite alright for indian circumstances. However when you moved further away from the back alleys of the shore, the surroundings got pretty odd. There wasn’t an ATM nearby. You’d find plenty of roadstalls selling the usual stuff, chewing pan, sodas and biscuits. On New Years Eve, we were part of the few younger folks walking through the sand of the beach. Bars and restaurants were busy with older people, mostly europeans.

There was nothing going on late at night. Selling alcoholic beverages was prohibited if the bar wouldn’t pay a pretty expensive authorization. Some bars would sell the booze under table and serve the wine, beer or spirits in coffee mugs. For half a bottle of red wine we paid 10 euros / dollars on NYE, which is insanely expensive for indian people. Of course we had to hide the bottle under the table, in case the cops would show up.

Kovalam had its charming side, because only after one day, the locals would start recognizing you, and you’d get in lovely conversations with them. Of course always having in mind to win you as a customer in their shop or restaurant. The weather was flawless, even at night we had t-shirt temperatures. The water of the sea was pretty warm and the palmtrees bordering the shore made Kovalam a pretty place.

One day we drove up to Varkara with a rental scooter, it took us 5 hours in total to do the roadtrip. Varkara looked different than Kovalam, less buildings, more greens. In the end I can’t tell you which beach I actually prefered. We enjoyed the scenery along the road while heading up north. But I guess the 5 hours driving weren’t worth it, to spend some hours on a beach.

Initially we planned on staying 2 nights in Kovalam, but we extended our stay for one more night, as we didn’t want to rush with the usual check-out and packing our backpacks after the night of NYE. Honestly 3 nights in Kovalam is too long, as there isn’t much to do in the area. You can do daytrips to Varkara, the center of Trivandrum which gives you the feel of a city-vibe, or driving down south to the Vivekananda Rock Memorial (which we didn’t do, as it would take another 5 hours of driving in total). The scooter rental rate was a bargain, as we only paid 300 rupees per day (4 euros/dollars).




Alleppey and its backwaters.

After driving up north to Varkala, we figured out that Alleppey would be quite a ride. The distance between both cities is around 160 km which takes up to 5 hours driving.

A local told us that you can reach Varkala by train, however the train only leaves in the early morning and only once a day. So we opted for a taxi, which would cost us only 40-50 euro/usd, hassslefree, with an A/C, and you can sleep in the back of the car. Easy!

Alleppey is well known for its charming canals and its bigger lake on the northern side. That’s what we saw and what we got. In Alleppey we visited the city center, however the town looked like any other indian city. Our pleasant part of Alleppey was definitely our stay the “Bamboo Lagoon Resort”. The Bamboo Lagoon had the feel of a guesthouse, as there weren’t more than 10 to 12 rooms for rental. We had the chance to get one of the 3 rooms of a cottage that were very close to the river’s edge, facing the backwaters. Opening the doors in the morning was very beautiful as you could witness the beauty of the house boats passing by, watching the local fishermen in their canoos, or just observing the neighbours taking “a shower” in the river. It definitely felt more like India, than Kovalam’s beaches.

There wasn’t much to do on the “island”, as you had to a 1 minute canoo-trip to reach mainland. For one day only it was very pleasant to saviour the quietness of the resort, spending an hour in a hammock and watching the boats passing by. You could book a boat from the hotel and do a canal trip through the back waters. The boat cost around 500 rupee an hour (5 euro/uds). It would lead you through different canals and offer you a scenic view of the neighbourhood.

Unluckily on our first day we were told that on the following day, violent riots could take place in the city as there was an issue with a nearby temple, where women were granted access to use the temple for the first time ever. The radical religious fanatics obviously didn’t like that, and the use of violence was expected. So the only way to get to Munnar was to leave in the early morning at 01:00 or 02:00 am, or we would have to stay a second night, and spend all day at the resort, as driving with a taxi or buses was prohibited for security reasons. We decided to leave at night.

However we were already pretty sure that we would stay one more night at the bamboo lagoon on our way back home to the airport.

Munnar.

Munnar was a contrasty destination in comparison to the backwaters and the beaches of Kerala’s coastal region. Munnar is a located in the mountainous area of Kerala. It looks very green and hilly and the temperatures tend to be much lower at night.

Our roadtrip to Munnar was quite an experience. In the end we can have a good laugh about it, however the behaviour of our driver was rather dangerous than hilarious. The taxi driver picked us up at 01:30 in front of the bamboo lagoon resort. We put our stuff in the trunk and our journey began. After a couple of minutes the cab was stopped by the local police. They asked where we were heading, as it wasn’t allowed to drive out because of the riots that would high-probably happen that day. We were allowed to move on.

On the road I noticed how the driving behaviour of our driver changed: accelerating, breaking, accelerating, breaking.. and it went on like this. I instantly knew he was too tired to hold the road. After having hit the sidewalk numerous times, the driver decided to have a break and sleep for 30 minutes. Later on he told us, that he hadn’t slept for almost 24 hours.

We arrived in Munnar just before 07:00am. We stayed at the “Kaivalyam Wellness Retreat” for one night only. Before checking in we didn’t know that the resort had a fully-packed schedule with activities for their guests: free yoga classes, free tea tasting, early morning visits of the tea plantations, and many many more. They even gave free cooking classes 3 times a week. Obviously the cooking classes didn’t take place when we were visiting… as for myself, I’m always missing the best parts while traveling. Bummer!

The Kaivalyam Retreat was most definitely a beautiful place. Surrounded by endless trees, different kind of plantations (black tea, cardomon), it felt so refreshing breathing in the mountain air with all those scents outside of your room.

After having checked in, being led to our room, taking a shower… we notice the beautiful tree houses outside of our window. The lovely owner of the hotel, was so kind to give us a kind of upgrade, and let us move into one of the few tree houses that were available. Spending the night in a tree house was already worth the 5 hours we drove in a taxi to reach Munnar.

We were looking forward to discover the mighty green hills that we found on Google. Sadly during our visit, most of the tuk-tuk drivers were off work, because of the on-going strike all across Kerala. So it wasn’t possible to get to those greeny landscapes, as they were located 15 kilometers away from our resort.

Nevertheless, we were enjoying our 30 hours in Munnar. The 07:00 am yoga class was fun. It was interesting to witness the indian point of view about yoga, its flow, and how they practice it. We were executing all the asanas on traditional matt, rather a rug, and it kinda felt like I was doing yoga for the first time.

This was pretty much our Kerala trip.

So during a whole week, 7 days, we managed to visit 4 different cities: Kovalam, Varkara, Alleppey and Munnar (and we made it back to Alleppey and Kovalam on our last 2 days). Obviously we couldn’t experience all the parts of that beautiful state. But we experienced enough, to agree that it’s worth doing the drip. The whole trip changed my view of India, as it wasn’t actually that fun the first time I visited the country.

If you’re a fan of Bali or Srilanka, you will love Kerala.

Namaste to all the lovely people that crossed our path on this trip, … we met too many lovely ones!

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Bali ~ Ubud, Uluwatu, Canggu

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So after having spent 10 fabulous nights in Thailand, I had to choose my next destination for my pre-summer trip in june. I was pretty sure that it had to be Asia, as I just came back from a very satisfying visit in Bangkok & Chiangmai.

It was about time to break my solo-traveling routine, because a good friend was about to join me. So after a few seconds of brain-storming we came up with Japan, Bali or Thailand.

Since my plan was learning how to surf in 2018, we shared the same thought that taking a first surfing class as a 35 and a 39 year old young man, would be a pretty cool experience. Surfboards, cafe racers, beaches and jungles... we opted for Bali. And besides all that I would celebrate my 36th birthday on the island. It all sounded like a lot of fun.

Sadly two weeks prior my departure my good friend had a motorbike accident and got badly injured with a broken foot. This meant that I had to travel on my own. Back then I couldn't tell why, but I really wasn't in the mood for visiting Bali all by myself. Maybe because we know Bali from dreamy photos on Instagram, where you get to see endless photos of couples, engagements, weddings, ... It all sounded like "noooooope. this is a lovers' destination".

Ubud.

I started my trip in Ubud. I was told that Ubud would be super touristic and packed with Yoga people. Actually I do love yoga, but I can imagine, being surrounded by gurus and spiritual nerds, that this could become pretty annoying. I booked a bed at the "Pillow Hostel", because their rooms looked pretty descent, and they offered free yoga classes in the early morning. Sounded pretty ok! However because of the daily rain showers the yoga classes didn't take place on the open-air rooftop.

I knew about the rain-season before traveling to Bali. So I wasn't disappointed about the rainfall, mostly during the night, and couple of hours during daytime. Luckily there were some days without rain as well.

What to do in Ubud? Well I won't list any super fancy touristic spots, that I would highly recommend, or any must-try restaurants. All I can tell, go rent a scooter! You will definitely not enjoy Ubud without a scooter, if you're not doing any yoga-esque activities. There's a daily market in the very center of Ubud. The streets are packed with shops, the restaurants are filled with tourists. You hardly won't meet any local people on a night out.

I really wasn't keen about renting a scooter, in a country, where people drive on the left side of the road. I haven't been riding a motorbike for too many years. Then came the slippery roads because of the rain... So many reasons why I wouldn't rent a scooter. I overcame my doubts and went for it... I rented a scooter for a day. From that point I knew I would rent a scooter any time again.

I discovered so many cool spots around Ubud and I met local people. Locals let me join a very religious ceremony in a hindu temple. They first denied when I asked if they would let me in. As I told them that would carry a long-sleeve shirt and a sarong (a traditional skirt for men) in my bag. They were so surprised about that, that they let me check out the temple.

I met several groups of kids, who were trying to bring up their giant homemade-kite in the sky. They told me that this would be a balinese tradition, and later on my trip I noticed several spots where the sky was packed with colorful gigantic kites. Beautiful!

I visited the holy bathing temple called "Tirta Empul". Everybody knows the temple from the photos. Before going to Bali, I knew that I would find this bathing temple on the island. However I didn't know that all the people I had seen on the photos, taking a shower under the several fountains, were tourists. If Balinese people jump into the bathing pool to get under the fountain, they do it in the early morning around 5 am (05:00). So expect to bump into a lot of tourists while visiting the temple.

The "Pelingghi Meru", a pagoda-like structured temple, is another eye-catcher you will find on many photos. It took me almost 2 hours to reach the temple by scooter from Ubud. But I really wanted to visit that place. As I arrived in front of the pagoda I was surprised how small it was. It looked very tiny. And again packed with too many tourists.

I always enjoyed the scooter-rides through the suburbs of Ubud. Lots of nature: rice-fields, palmtrees, lakes, beautiful sunsets. So many spots to take a lot of beautiful photos.

Have a couple of stops at the coffee-shops on the side of the road and you will be surprised how many lovely conversations you will get with balinese locals.

The "Tegallalang Rice Terrace" is definitely a must-see. You can easily spend 1-2 hours on the rice fields, take many beautiful photos, enjoy a coffee, and get an instragram-cliche-shot one of the many giant-swings located around the ricefields.

Even though I didn't like the center of Ubud, because of the tourists, I gotta admit that Ubud was my favorite city among Uluwatu and Canggu.

With a scooter you can visit endless waterfalls which are located pretty close around Ubud. There's so much to do, even though you won't get that impression of Ubud at first sight.

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Uluwatu.

Well I decided to have a stop at Uluwatu for 2 nights because it's supposed to have the cleanest surf beaches of Bali. Uluwatu is well known for its huge waves on the shores, which brings fabulous surf spots with it. All this sounded like a cool place to hang out. Every monday night there's a huge party at "Single Fin's". It's pretty packed and a great time is almost guaranteed.

However no one tells you, that Single Fin is located on a private ground, where you gotta pay a fee to drive in with a car or on a scooter. Expect, once again, only tourists among the crowd, as balinese people can hardly afford a beer in that kind of restaurant/bar.

I wasn't in a party mood on that monday night, so I didn't make it to the party. I visited the restaurant on the following day, and all I found out, was that I didn't like the place. The cheapeast gin&tonic was actually pretty expensive for a longdrink in Bali. However you can enjoy a pretty descent view towards the sea and watch people surfing. If this is what's you looking for, nice view, fast food and watery drinks, go for it!

I stayed in the very center of Uluwatu where there was barely nothing that would a attract a 36 year old guy on a scooter. Laid back restaurants, street food stalls, hundreds of supermarkets and clothing stores, and some surfboard-rentals.

To get to the closest beach it took me about 10-15 minutes on a scooter. It was called "DREAMBEACH", and it was actually a pretty nice beach compared to the rest of the beaches that I had explored in Bali. However you had to pass two security check-points, and at the end of the ride, you had to pay parking fee to park your scooter.

Uluwatu was the first place, where I booked my first surfing classes ever. In my opinion the waves seemed to be huge, and as a newbie, they seemed very scary. I only surfed for about 90 minutes instead of two hours, because my arms couldn't manage the paddling anymore against those monster waves. And I wasn't too keen about the surf trainer either. But I was glad that I took the classes, as it took some courage from my side, to get into the water for the first time with a board.

In Uluwato you get the chance the visit the "Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park". It's actually very touristic but I had the possibility to witness one of the biggest statues I'd ever seen. Would I call it a must-see, definitely not, however if you gotta kill some time in Uluwato, the park is definitely worth it to spend an hour or two at.

Before I forget about it... there's a popular Hindu Temple in Uluwato, everybody knows about it, everybody wants to visit it. Go for it!

Canggu.

Canggu is supposed to be the hipster hang-out spot of the whole Island, and it definitely was the case. "Pretty Poison" offers you crowded nights on tuesdays and thursdays, big crowds hanging around the skate-bowl and cheering up the skaters. Their menu offer 4 different descent cocktails and a couple of beer brands. Hip people, trashy rock music, skaters everywhere, pretty girls... you get the vibe, it feels like Venice Beach! The first night I went to Pretty Poison, there was a concert inside the venue. Actually it was a very sweet rock band, which I'd rather watch play, than watching topless skater dudes in the bowl.

I loved the quote above the bar "Someone told me there's a girl out there with love in her eyes and flowers in her hair".

Cafe-Racer fans definitely know the brand "DEUS EX". It's a pretty chill hang-out spot (bar & restaurant) where you can witness the coolest bikes and the coolest custom-made surf boards on the island. They have a "DeusEx" shop where you can spend some money on clothes and other stuff. I went there on daily basis to have lunch. The food was flawless, for a reasonable price. I loved their polenta fries and falafel salad. The music at the restaurant and the indoor design was a plus!

I took another 2 surf classes in Canggu, and I had the pleasure to meet a much nicer surf trainer. The beach wasn't as nice in Canggu, as it was in Uluwatu, however I enjoy the surfing sessions a lot more, because the waves weren't as huge as in the south.

Besides the hip rock bars and hip surf shops, there were so many things that bothered me in canggu. The main reason was the huge amount of tourists, australian tourists. Every bar, restaurant, club, beach spot was packed with tourists. There wasn't a place where I would bump into local people in the center of Canggu. The only locals that I met was at the local tattoo shop "Bold & Bright Tattoo", where I got tattooed. I loved the tattoo artists, they were very welcoming. And I turned back home, truely satisfied about my traditional old-school dagger tattoo. The price was totally a bargain compared to the money you gotta in Europe or the USA for a descent tattoo.

To be honest, I didn't like Canggu at all ! On Instagram everything looks so hip, fancy, and photogenic, but it real life it definitely wasn't. And all those thousands of tourists killed the vibe of the city. I was actually happy to get back home, after my iphone got stole a scooter drive-by while I was walking back home on my birthday night. Happy Birthday Frank!

 

If I ever should get back to Bali, I'd definitely spend more time in the north of the island, where you won't bump into as many tourists as in Kuta, Seminyak and Canggu.

Be cautious about your belongings at night. The guys from my hostels told me that I was the 3rd victim within a month, who got robbed by dimwits on a scooter.

Bold & Bright Tattoo.

As I just mentioned, my iphone got stole on my birthday night, as I was walking home in a very lonsome way... drunk & texting through a shortcut that all the scooters use to get quicker around the city center. While I was busy texting with my friend, as there was no one to celebrate with, a scooter approached me and grabbed my phone out of my hand. The driver just blasted away at full speed, impossible to run after him.

I felt devastated... aallll my photos from Bali were gone, my videos, my contacts, my text messages. And of course I had to spend a shitload of money to buy a new phone. Besides the stole phone, I had planned to get two tattoos at "Bold & Bright". Their prices were pretty much affordable compared to european or US tattoo rates. However knowing that I had to spend the money on a new phone once I'd be back home, I decided to cancel my appointments. 

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Ocen, the tattoo artist, was the nicest person I crossed path with in Canggu. There was no problem with canceling the appointment, even though he told me he could lower the price if I still wanted to get tattooed. 

The next day after waking up I decided to call Ocen, and get one tattoo done. Despite low expectation, or maybe high expectation in some points, Bali had a kind of "wow-effect". It was the first time I ever felt the island vibe on a trip, because I was used to experience the big city life while traveling. It was the first time as well, where I jumped on a surf board, and for a long time I knew somebody would be waiting for me when I get back home. So I decided to bring a lasting souvenir back to Luxembourg. Ocen was very welcoming on the day I had my appointment. He showed a lot a patience and he asked funny questions when I told him he should add a special letter to the tattoo. We talked about tattooing & music (his favorite band was Alkaline Trio), while Matt Skiba's solo record was playing in the background. 

I turned back home totally satisfied with my fresh tattoo, that cost me around 200$. 

I loved their wifi-code "bolderthanyours".