Ko Phangan – Shrooms, Moons and Motorbikes

Ko Phangan Shrooms Moons and Motorbikes Full Moon Party

Another train took us from Bangkok, south once more overnight to a wake-up call in Surat Thani, where we departed the train, panicked over where Cary had put the bus and boat tickets, before eventually finding them tucked in her bag and boarding the bus to the port of Don Sak on the eastern coast of Thailand, just as the sun was rising with a few hundred fellow travelers, who were also heading for the Full Moon Party.

Texas – St.Louis – Chicago

Building in Dallas Downtown

Hello!

We are now in Chicago which is a nice city – lots of trees even though they are brown at the moment! Spring has not arrived yet and it was snowing when we arrived but has been sunny and ‘crisp’ ever since which is nice! We went to a huge conservatory yesterday full of massive palms and all sorts of lovely flowers – there were a couple of crazy white salamanders which were cool! We are staying with Jeff & Kristi who we met at Ana & Doug’s wedding so that’s fun!

Singapore

I’m writing this diary a week afterwards and somehow in wrong order, but I’m not travelling around that logical anymore, since I visited Singapore twice this week, but this island stay were in between.
And I just applied for my courses  at university back in Uppsala. It feels great to see the end of le paradize that I’ve been enjoying for three years soon. One year travelling around and making great friends in and around Switzerland. One year exploring my cultural/musical side with my new family at Skinnskattebergs folkhogskola. And this year working and travelling around all over the world, feeling a bit lost in the world. Like my mother sang to me as a child:

Around Eastern Australia

Hi!

I spent new years day in and out of airports as I headed to Brisbane on the first. I stayed with a friend of my family from my hometown, and as much as we had never met, they treated me like one of their own. Among fabulous dinners, and emergency capri shopping, I hiked in the Glasshouse mountains near steve irwin‘s zoo, went to the andy warhol exhibit, and saw some sights along the river. It was nice to relax, have some home cooked meals and reminisce about my hometown

Luang Prabang, Laos

Luang Prabang, Laos

We rented a couple of pretty nice mountain bikes and headed into the karst-filled hills. The ride was beautiful, a great way to see small villages somewhat off the beaten path. From Vang Vieng we took a crowded mini bus to Luang Prabang. Imagine taking a 300km. ride on old Whistler-style road in a super crowded bus with no brakes and very little steering. The views were breathtaking but by the end we were nervous wrecks. It was worth it to get to Luang Prabang however. This is another UNESCO world heritage sight similar to Hoi An in that the city has retained much of its architectural heritage including the most amazing Wats, or temples,

Yangon: Around The World Without A Plane

Yangon: Around The World Without A Plane

Despite the amount of times I’ve flown in the past it felt a little weird getting on a plane again, especially on this particular trip. I had a 7:15am flight so left my hotel at 5am to get a taxi to the airport. I’m simply not a very good morning person, I didn’t take well to rising at this time, and things just kept getting worse. For starters Air Asia had a remarkably big checking-in line, and then when I did eventually get to the check-in desk, my bags were so heavy that they charged me thirty something pounds to take all my luggage. After weighing my bags it appears I’m wearing over half my own body weight on the top half of my torso. Almost 40kg worth of baggage – ridiculous. I’m supposed to be backpacking, but I feel like I’m training to become a Himalayan Sherpa.

Short trip to Buenos Aires

It’s my last day in Budapest. Tomorrow morning I will sit in the plane eating the shabby sandwich they serve on short inter-European flights. After having a good cup of coffee I convinced myself to spare some time for watching U2 in 3D at the Palace Cinema. It was about noon and the movie started at 16.30. A whole lot of time. Suddenly I remembered that I originally planned to check out the Szecheny, one of the famous baths in Budapest. I rushed back to the hotel to get the trunks and a towel. The weather was really great and the sun was shining as much as it could. I enjoyed the hot bath outside, the water temperature was about 38 degree celsius. It was really relaxing after walking around for days. After some time I went inside to have a look at the sauna and the pools there. Well, I shouldn’t have. It felt quite dirty, the water had a yellow-greenish tint and the sauna was hopelessly overcrowded. I took antoher bath outside and had a little swim as well.