Veni vidi... Fuji

Ko Chang was great (although Lonely Beach in the high season was not that lonely at all) and Bangkok was, well, like the heading suggests: we came, we saw and we ate at Fuji's. Yes, they upped the price a little and yes, the free green tea refills are gone and yes, the avocado train is off the menu, but it's still a darn good deal for a darn good meal(you can have a stunning lunchset for about 200 Baht, that is 4 euros believe it or not). Great food. As you can see in the picture we ordered the bigoya tubboroshi of sushi, the hugeiri stackomeno of raw beefon and the giantkiri moutainaka of salmonushu. According to rough calculations we could eat there until we popishi every day of the year, it would just cost us one of our two paycheckayana....

Check this: Loei

Because we have other places to go, things to do and busses to catch I'm going to make a long story very short: Northern Thailand, 1500 meter high mountains, national parks with no frills and no tourists, 12 degrees celcius at night, sweaters, strange vegetation, beautiful sunset, fairytale sunrise, stared over the Mekong to Laos to top it all off.

We'll be right back after the break!

Told you so! (Right after the break being now and yes there will be more posts I promise, really honestly). Time to sum up this holiday. Well let's just say that there was an abundance of sun, sea, sand and fish (on plates mostly). Having a beach bungalow on Hat Sai Kao (Beach Sand White) was a little different from four years ago. This one had all the trimmings, full bells and whistles and mod cons. Just like a whole string of new beach bars, resorts and farang restaurants geared to (back)package tourists as seen everywhere in Thailand. Luckily for us, most of them hadn't dared to show up yet. Too close to the rainy season. Any other part of the year you'd be better off going way down the eastern part of the island. Apparently Lonely Beach is the place to be. If you want some peace and quiet that is. Anyway... No idea what Hat Sai Kao looks like now, but we left it like in the picture. (Those shapes in the foreground are not from passing elephants. It's the Khmer-ish style in which Thai children build sand castles).


Of course we did not only lounge around on the beach. We also hiked up into Ko Chang national park. Only 0,5 kilometer, but still 0,5 kilometer (and back!) over rocks, small waterfalls and through damp vines of pretty dense tropical rain forest. Not only did the path lead up to an almost deserted sanctuary/swimming pool carved out in rock by the sheer power of water falling 20 meters, we had the added exhilaration of being there on the cheap. One of our fellow farang teachers showed us the trick (which works at any national park by the way): wave your work permit in front of the right guy's face and you will get in for the Thai price, in this case 20 Baht. A lot better than the 400 Baht a pop tourists pay. I've heard that the park officials complain that the number of visitors dropped dramatically. Hmmmm: I wonder why.... Just some stats. That amount of money could also get you a motor cycle for four days. Or get you on a day long cruise along all the islands with enough free booze to take out a herd of rhinos.

Yay: nog more Laos foto's!

And I have er nog steeds more. About 20. But there must you dankzij Flickr weer a month op waiten. Oh yes, you can ze here looken, but dat is with Dutch commentaar. This takes you meteen naar de handige easy glijshow.

Yes hoor! Pictures!

A tripje to Laos is nog best kind of a big deal. Ik mean you sit toch at least three hours in the train. After that must you minstens one and a half hours at the border kloten en to Vientiane go with een tuktuk or something. Dat is why these mensen are asleep. And because ik per maand only some pictures kan uploaden is dit even all the foto's. But there is more. And it comes eraan. If you can dit not readen than is that too jammer, for me het saves a whole lot of tijd :)

What a view!

Sunset in our own soi 17! More pics on the way. Enjoy these shots from Singapore in the meantime...

Ang Mo in Wonderland

They say there are two things you can do in Singapore. You can eat and you can shop. That's it. Of course that is not really true, but an exaggeration to please small minds that can only think in aphorisms and slogans. In fact, there are no less than three things you can do in Singapore. Because you can also be a tourist, meaning: seeing sights and going on rides. Here it is part of the way of life, especially when you are an Ang Mo. Ang Mo's are easy to spot. They are tall, pale red haired creatures in bright t-shirts and shorts. They come in a couple of varieties: with and without huge cameras, with and without huge backpacks, with and without designer sandals and the female of this species that the Thai call ‘Farang’ have sometimes been known to go out in nothing more than a see through skirt and g string underwear. They are a usually friendly, but often kind of loud bunch that seems to have permeated almost every country in the world, specifically those where the eating and shopping is good.

Now, I don’t have read hair, but that doesn’t matter. To the Singaporeans I am close and pale enough, so I am definitely an Ang Mo or ‘Red Hair’. And I go where the Ang Mos go. I shop, I eat and I take the breathtaking cable car ride to the Island of Santosa. I check out the Raffles Hotel. I walk around In colorful batik shirts. And yesterday I finally got in to the ultimate ride: the Night Safari. It’s like going to the zoo in the dark. A smart move because a) all the nocturnal animals are wide awake and b) you fill in all the dark places with your imagination. Of course the jungle here is kind of real already. The temperature matches, there is no need to fidget around with cans of eau de jungle or set up speakers to produce some nice cricket sounds. But something about it being dark makes it more real and probably larger than life. Especially since you can actually walk through this jungle. Especially because you have some really close encounters with the animals. Ever gotten buzzed by a flying squirrel the size of a cat? Well, since yesterday I have and teher are no words to describe it.Then there’s the actual ride. You hover gently trough the night past all kinds of animals (that are naturally all just having dinner in the perfect spot, bathing in what seems moonlight before they go back to their trailers and throw a fit because their contract specifically states ‘grass from the south face of the lower Himalayan Terrai). It’s all perfect: even the Tiger takes extra special care to hide a little and slowly come forth from the evening mist. Ever you ever get the chance: go there. Go there and say ‘hi’ from this Ang Mo.

Demolition man

Sly says hi. No: of course Mr. Stalone is not really here. But the only thing missing here in Singapore to complete the picture is in fact the Italian Stalion. We are that close to being extra's in Demoltion man or maybe some prequal that's due out this summer. (If you have not seen Demolition Man I strongly suggest you rent it, or better yet: buy it cheap cheap from the sleazy guy with the golden neckles down the street selling only 'real originals'. You'll probably have a good time and for lack of a better purpose, you will have an idea what this post is about and what we are up against here). Cause everything is so nice. So organized. And even though Big Brother must be watching this Brave New World (enough with the book quotes already): I don't care. It works, it's good, you're happy. The only thing that freaks me out is that everybody really does as they are told. Sure the fines are hefty and caning is not as nice as British pervs tell us it is. But there is not even the slightest bit of rebellion. Sure the teens listen to punk rock, but they do so wearing T-shirts saying 'I am entiteled to be grumpy' instead of 'Slipknot', 'Eat the rich' or 'Slaytanic $#@! slaughter and slutfest' or whatever is the flavour of the day. No grafitty, no stepping out of line, on the line or even towards the line. And like I said: it's nice. It works. I wonder for how long.