Leaving Asia

About 3 and half month ago I was landing in Singapore, I went across Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand again. I have seen sooo many things and met many awesome persons. I had a really good time visiting all these countries.

I was very impressed by the buildings in Singapore. In Malaysia, I didn’t stay very long, but I really liked it, it’s not as poor as the other countries in south east asia, but very nice people and some very good place. In Thailand I have seen a bit too much touristic place and not enough remote places but I still had a very good time. Cambodia is for me one of the best country in the area, but unfortunately I realized it a bit too late and couldn’t stay as long as I wanted. At the beginning of Vietnam I was a bit disappointed but all the north part of the country was really amazing. Laos is also one of my favorite country, a bit like Cambodia, it is extremely poor and not developed, but people are extremely nice!! The north of Thailand was really cool, but as I saw it after long time in South East Asia I felt a bit like I had seen everything already I got bored more quickly.

Globally I had an awesome time, but I prefer much more New Zealand and South America. When I’m traveling, the things I want to see are the scenery and finding some breath taking landscape. And in Asia there is not a lot of amazing landscape like in New Zealand or in south America. In Asia, the most interesting things are more the culture, the different way of life, the food. There is a bit of history in Vietnam and Cambodge, and sooo many temples everywhere; unfortunately I’m not a huge fan of temples.
So I guess depending on what you looking for when you traveling, some people will prefer Asia, and some will prefer South America. I prefer South America and New Zealand.

And one last capital, Bangkok

After a small break relaxing at the beach, it’s time to come back in the big smog!! I spent few days in Bangkok to visit the city before taking my flight!!

Bangkok is a really big city, some people love it, some hate it, and me….. a bit of both !!
Like everywhere there is heaps of temples, and as I’m really bored of temples I have skipped almost all temples. Also there is a huge palace, but the day I wanted to visit it, it was only half open and was closing very early, so I couldn’t visit it!!

There is few river in the city so some public transport are by boat, it work very well and is very cheap, a very good way to move around.

There is different suburb with different style, like a place with more clubs and bars, one other with more luxury hotel and restaurant, and one, very famous to be the backpacker centre of south east Asia. It was supposed to be by far the cheapest area in all south east asia. But as every touristic things in Thailand, it lose its particularity. Now it have also a lot of midrange choice for food and accommodation, there is Mc donnalds, BK, KFC, suway everywhere, and the street food that maid this area very famous, was really poor quality, and much more expensive than other town in Thailand, event more expensive than some island, for food that is much less good and less variety!!
It is still cool to walk around the street seeing all crowds in the street with all the shops. and it's also good for party but probably very different from what it was few years ago (from what I have heard about it).

And after these last days in the capital it is time to take my flight to leave asia :(

Having some days off at the beach

After about a week in the north, I was a bit disappointed and bored of always seeing the same things, I really needed a break.
So instead of continuing to visit more place in Thailand on my way to Bangkok,  I decided spend few days relaxing at the beach !!
I choose to go to koh Chang because it wasn't too far from Bangkok and cheap for an island!!
I wasn't there to visit or anything, I have seen enough islands when I first get in Thailand. I just went there to take it easy, relax, and cool down in the water!!

In a small touristic village, Pai

Pai is a small village very north of Thailand, it is very popular stop for tourist, with many attractions like hiking, rafting biking… but as it is low season and end of dry season, there is none of these activities at this time. The town itself is nice but very touristic, and around there is a “canyon” that is really nice, I decided not to stay too long and just visit the canyon as it is really nice and the other things I could be interested in are not possible.

In the rose of the north, Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is one of the biggest and the most touristic place in north Thailand, everyone said many good things about it, so I was really looking forward to see it by myself!!
But when I arrived here I was more disappointed, the city itself is very nice, but except for that I didn’t find any reel interest. There is a loooot of temples, but after more than 3 month in south East Asia, I’m really sick of temples, and There is no special temple that worth the visit. The most popular attraction around Chiang Mai is going to “concentration camp” for elephant. And I prefer not support this activity as the elephants in south east Asia are already endanger species, all elephants are in similar camp everywhere, and also many place treat the elephant very poorly, and it is hard to find company that really respect the elephants. Therefore I skip that. And one other popular activity is to visit some “human zoo” (Karen Long neck villages) as I have explain in the previous post, I clearly don’t want to support that either!!

So I end up spending only one day in town, visiting the main temple and enjoying the calm and nice street in the old city!!

It was very nice but from everything I heard about Chiang Mai I had more expectation!!

In chiang rai up north of thailand !!

For my first stop in north of Thailand I decided to stop in chiang rai, from what I heard it was a good place to go around and see some local minorities that include the “famous” long neck women. But Before going there I look for more detail about it, and finally decided to only visit the hill trib museum in town.
In fact the Karen Long neck are absolutely not from Thailand, they are only in Burma, but some big tourist investor, “imported” them to make some fake villages for tourist. It’s really like a “human zoo” these people have really hard time and they are exploited by these tourist company, that’s why I decided not to go there and just go to the museum which is run by a NGO that use the fees from the museum to really help these people.
It wasn't allowed to take picture in the museum so I don’t have picture about that.

Here is a picture from internet to understand what i'm talking about !

I also went to see one more temple, a very modern one, build in 1998, the whit temple, it is a bit different from the thousands of temple I have seen so far and really beautiful !!

On my way out of Laos … :(

After that trek in Luang Namtha, I had to leave Laos to go back in Thailand. 3 tuk-tuk, 2 bus, 1 boat later I was in Chiang Rai, in the North of Thailand !!

I’m a bit sad to leave Laos, I wish I had more time to see more of this country, specially all the south that I didn’t see at all !!
I really loved this country, the people are also very nice and the culture is also very different!
In Laos you have to be relax, no stress, no rush, take your time !! it is very poor country  much less developed that Vietnam or Thailand.
It is not in their culture to complain, so if you do something offending for them they will just be annoyed and feel uncomfortable  but they won’t let you know, therefor it is important to know a bit about their culture before going there. So you know what to do and don’t do to respect them!! On few place they put some sign to explain a bit their culture and way of life. For example Lao people like to party as much as everyone else, but they do so during the day, so they can go to bed early, as they usually start working very early in the morning! Also for exemple it is considered very rude to dress improperly  you should always have a shirt on, and avoid showing too much skin, they will feel very uncomfortable and they don’t want their children to take that as an example!  You can see a lot of lao people shirt-less, but they do that ONLY in their own neighborhood. So don’t use that as an excuse to do the same, it is unrespectful for their culture.

That’s why Laos is known as having no night-life, but that don’t mean they can’t party, just that in their culture, they party much earlier. And therefore, most of the bars and restaurant close at 10 or 11PM and in many guesthouse, you are supposed to be back in your room before midnight!

I have seen few remote villages and it is always very nice experience to see how they live, many don’t even have electricity, they live almost only from farming, hunting, fishing. Some kids have never seen any western people or people with a big beard for example, and can be very afraid the first time they see some !

The landscape all around is really beautiful  and I think visiting laos at the end of dry season like I did, or just after the rainy season, would make a huge difference. all the river are very very low, some big lakes are almost empty, all the rice field are very dry and unexploited at this time.

So I really loved laos, I feel like it’s very different from any other country I have seen, amazing scenery, amazing people and very relax atmosphere. It’s really a good mix to make me want to come back and see more !!