Koh Chang, Thailand 23 - 31 December 2010

It was time to move on, next on the itinerary was Thailand and the island of Koh Chang in the Gulf of Thailand, close to Cambodia. It took us a whole day to get there; a couple of flights, some mini-van rides and finally a ferry! When I first looked into Thailand, I wanted to go to Koh Lipe on the west coast, but I couldn’t get any decent accommodation and ferry connections that worked, and now in hindsight, it probably wasn’t meant to be, as it turned out that they got a lot of rain on that side of Thailand over Christmas.

We had 9 lazy days on the beach, staying at Koh Chang Paradise Resort & Spa on Klong Prao Beach.
Koh Chang is quite a large island, Thailand’s second largest, which has only one road that follows the coast all round the island. The interior is all mountains, waterfalls and jungle. The island is a big National Park where of 75% is protected area, also in the surrounding sea. People live mainly from fishing, gum tree plantations and recently, to some extent, tourism. It is still very much a laid-back unspoiled island, popular with back-packers, although recently a few larger resorts are being built. 


We were taken by surprise by the number of Swedish people that were everywhere! Restaurants were serving Swedish meatballs and Janson’s frestelse and one place even offered snus ( Swedish snuff)!! Even the staff in some shops happily spoke a little Swedish with us …no fun really!
We totally relaxed, spent the days on the beach or by the pool reading or doing nothing. There were some great wooden swings on the beach, from which it was fun jumping into the sea. 


In the evenings we went out to different Thai restaurants most of them where directly on the beach with candlelit tables – very atmospheric! Lonely Beach further south is a cool back-packer haunt and White Sand Beach is the busiest beach at daytime with lots of restaurants and bars, which in the evenings turns, into a big party place. Fun but we preferred our quieter beach. 


On Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve the hotel had set up a Gala dinner with candlelit tables directly on the beach. There was firework and other entertainment so it was very festive, even Santa came by for a visit…




As a Christmas present we all treated ourselves to heavenly massages. To begin with, they put Matilda and me in a Jacuzzi bubble bath surrounded by candles. Then we each had a one-hour facial, Matilda a deep cleansing one and I had an anti-wrinkle one… This was followed by 1 ½ hour full body massage with our chosen warm oils. It was sooooo good! Elliot was happy with just a foot reflexology.

One day we got our adrenalin kicking by going to a Tree-top Adventure place in the jungle, run by a French guy. We fastened our double harnesses tightly and were swinging ourselves high off the ground into various obstacle courses. The flying skateboard was a favourite... We came across some real monkeys up in the trees and I swear I saw them laughing at us! Another day we went to Bang Bao, a fishing village on stilts, from where we went on a snorkel trip to Koh Mak, Koh Rayang, Koh Ran and some other beautiful islands. We saw some amazing fish, but the coral wasn’t too impressive.

The only unfortunate thing that happened during our trip was a nasty motorcycle accident. We had rented motorbikes to explore the island, not that I had ever driven a motorbike or a moped before, but I took it easy with Elliot at the back. He was a bit nervous and told me when to slow down or to stop beeping the annoying horn. We were doing fine, despite crazy traffic and stray dogs all over the road. It was Peter, with Matilda at the back, who lost grip in a sharp uphill curve, when turning out from a scenic viewing point. They came too far out in the gravel, which caused them flying. Scary!!

Luckily, there was no traffic coming and people quickly came running to our help. Matilda flew off, yes we all had helmets, and she landed on her bottom, miraculous unhurt. Peter had some deep cuts on his leg and foot, which were badly bleeding. A girl came with a first aid kit, cleaned it and put on some bandage. The motorbike was battered, but we managed to put back some parts that had fallen off and after some desperate tries the engine finally decided to start. We were all a bit apprehensive after what had happened and how much worse it could have been, that we decided to return back. It was late afternoon anyway and time for a very strong coffee!! 

In the evening we took a tuk-tuk to Bang Bao village to have a fantastic meal at Buddha View Restaurant. The restaurant was built on stilts over the water and at some low tables you were sitting on the floor on cushions and there was no floor under the table so your feet were  dangling free above the water - cool! The food was excellent and the service too.




The next day, on New Years Eve, we left Peter to lick his wounds and went elephant trekking through the jungle in the northern part of the island. The three of us shared an elephant, taking turns sitting at the front behind the ears and shouting “hua-hua “ to try and speed things up a bit… Our elephant was called “lilla älsklingen” no joke! (it means little darling in Swedish!) When we came to a river, we went in swimming with the elephant, he loved when we scrubbed his back with a brush and he showered us with water. The jungle was dense and there were so many sounds in the jungle, it was a truly fantastic experience for all of us. Afterwards the kids gave the elephant a banana to say thank you! They were about to peel it before giving it the the elephant...out of sheer habit....


Our last evening came and we went down to the beach to drink some bubbles as the red sun lowly disappeared  into the ocean... We were sitting there reflecting over the year that passed and all felt very satisfied and grateful!

At

Luang Prabang, Laos 20 - 23 December 2010

The next day, we continued to Bangkok, but only long enough to change to the small propeller plane with Bangkok Airways, that took us further north, over the mountainous jungle. We followed the Mekong River as it was snaking north into Laos and to the magical town of Luang Prabang. Yes, here it comes, the history lesson: Luang Prabang was the capital of Laos during the Lane Xang (“the land of a million elephants”) Kingdom from the 14th – 16th centuries and it is still the cultural and religious centre of Laos. 





























After a period as a French colony of Indochine, Laos gained independence in 1949. A long civil war ended officially when the Communist Pathet Lao movement took over in 1975 (and the King mysteriously disappeared). The whole town is now a UNESCO World Heritage site so hopefully its unique architecture and atmosphere will be preserved, if not future mass tourism mainly from China will ruin it. In April, the Chinese will start building a railway line from Kunming in China, passing Luang Prabang and continuing down to the Lao capital of Vientiane. They are also planning to expand the tiny airport in the near future – so hurry up! I heard of this place during my back-packer years, but back then it was only possible to reach by going up the Mekong river for 2 days, so I gave it a miss then but promised myself to come here one day. 12 years ago they build a road to Luang Prabang and now they even have a small airport. I’m at loss at words to describe this place, it simply has to be seen and experienced.

The main road is a wonderful patchwork of traditional Lao wooden houses and hints of colonial architecture - reminders of when Laos was part of the French colony of Indochine. Golden-roofed wats (temples), decorated with mosaics and murals of the life of Buddha sit under the gaze of wrap-around wooden balconies and 19th century shuttered windows. Tiny alleys leading down to the river bustle with activity, people cooking food, washing clothes, someone is carving on a wooden Buddha head, a dog chases a chicken, some young monks sit and chat on some stairs….there are smells and sounds everywhere. It really is like stepping back in time and I hope it will never change. Although some of the old French colonial style houses have been carefully restored and been converted into lovely boutique hotels. 

I found one of them, called Mekong Riverview Hotel on the web, and thought if I’m going to convince Peter to come to a remote place like this, I need to find something special... To my surprise, it was owned by a Swedish man called Urban! The deal was set when he agreed to a generous discount and the best of all - they had Swedish (remote controlled!) soft beds – Peter was persuaded! The kindness and helpfulness of the staff was over whelming. Most of them were former poor monks coming from the remote tribal villages. Urban trained them and gave them a home by the hotel. They worked part time at the hotel for a good salary and studied part time at the town college to get a proper education. They drew maps, followed us if we were unsure of the way, recommended restaurants and took time to tell us what life is like here in Laos.


What makes Luang Prabang such a special place is the 30 something Wats (temples) and the presence of the orange-robed monks everywhere. The monks, from young boys to elder men, all just had had their head and eyebrows shaved, as they are only allowed shaving when it is full moon!




Long before the first hairline crack of daylight comes through the wooden shutters, temple drums and cymbals from the nearby Wat Xiengthong seep into the reviving consciousness. Tum-tum-cheng is the local’s name for this rhythmic beat – Luang Prabang’s exotic alarm call. 

By dawn the monks leave their wats in long lines and begin the “tak bat”, their silent walk to collect alms from the kneeling or sitting villagers who hand out warm sticky rice in rattan baskets along the streets – for the monks to take away in their brass pots. 
This was amazing to experience.

When the monks returned back to their wat after the tak bak I got the chance to speak with some of them. They were keen to practice English and it was very interesting to hear about their way of living and of future plans and dreams. One of them told me he wanted to become a police officer.

After that, the clock still only being 7am, I continued to the morning wet market. It was in full commerce and I came across so many things, both dead and alive, I didn’t have a clue what they were or how they tasted! 
But some were pretty obvious - smoked worms for breakfast, no thanks! We found a great little café with good espresso, called Saffron, which quickly became a favourite. A great finale of the morning walk and it kept us awake! 

Our staff lent us some bikes and we explored the town. We crossed the Mekong river on a wobbly temporary bamboo bridge ( it gets washed away during the rainy season and is being re-build every dry season). 


We visited wats, did a sunset boat trip along the Mekong river, explored the amazing handicraft night market, selling silk scarves, silverware and handmade paper of mulberry tree products amongst many other thing. 

We found some excellent stylish authentic restaurants serving local food such as green papaya salad, water buffalo, sticky rice with chili paste…noodles, all very tasty. The Lao beer is really good and is a far better option than wine. 

One day Urban organized a driver for us who took us out into the real countryside and jungle. 
On the way to the spectacular Kuang Si waterfall, we stopped at a rural village and were approached by children trying to sell us handcrafted souvenirs. Matilda’s wet heart couldn’t pass any of them and she made an easy target. I tried to teach her how to haggle, but she didn’t want to hear about it and instead gave them more than they asked for because she felt so sorry for them. In a way, she is right, the things were beautiful, locally made in the village and cost next to nothing…and they need the money!


After passing more villages, rice paddies, water buffalos, monkeys, bamboo forests and wats we finally arrived close to the Kuang Si waterfall. We had to walk through dense jungle the last bit, saw some tired looking Asian brown bears in a conservation area, before we reached the waterfalls.


These are the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen! It is not the sheer size of it, it is more the lush and tropical surroundings, together with the many small waterfalls and natural pools that makes it so spectacular.


 The waterfall is coming down the cliffs in different levels and the main fall cascades down about 50 meters before the water collects in numerous turquoise blue pools as it flows down the stream. Peter and the kids quickly got undressed and jumped into the water. “Unfortunately” I wasn’t able to join them in the cold water as someone had to stay dry and do the boring job of filming and taking lots of photos… 


Elliot was adventurous and even dared to jump down from some of the smaller waterfalls. Then he saw a rope hanging from a tree, in which he was swinging himself down into one of the deep pools like Tarzan. They had great fun! 
Enough of the swimming, we hiked up the steep path to the top of the waterfall. It was a long and difficult climb and we got confused a couple of times as the path disappeared under dense vegetation. 

But we somehow managed to reach the top and there we had to cross some eerie mangrove swamps and wade barefoot through knee-deep muddy water or crouch down to avoid low growing branches. I tried very hard not to think of what was under my feet, as some things seemed to move and where very slippery…. But luckily - no leeches stuck on to our legs. Almost across on the other side, I slipped into the mud, not a pretty sight, and once the mean kids had stopped laughing, we continued back down, which was as strenuous as coming up….

We got back to Luang Prabang just in time for the sunset and I decided to climb up Puh Si Hill from where there is an amazing view of the surrounding mountains and the Mekong River as the sunsets. The rest of the family ad had enough of climbing for the day…Sitting up there at the top of the village, listening to the drums and cymbals of the evening prayers, seeing the red sun reflecting in the Mekong River and slowly disappearing behind the beautiful mountains was a perfect ending to this humble and very special place.
Sun down, and I met up with the others at a trendy wine bar, sitting outdoors people-watching and soaking up the atmosphere one last time. 

Luang Prabang has it all really and I can't wait to go back!
But sadly, time was up and we packed our, now very full, bags again and made our way south, to Thailand. 

a

Hong Kong19 - 20 December 2010     

The kids were very ready for the three weeks winter break. The snow chaos in Europe put us off going back home, Elliot wanted a beach, Peter some peace and quiet anywhere and I had long time dream of going to Luang Prabang in Laos to the monks and jungle…and our shopping queen Matilda wanted big-city shopping anywhere…but she also exclaimed that it is no winter holiday with out snow… Not an easy task to please everybody! 


I spent a couple of days turning the computer inside out for good travel deals, and it being already November, didn’t make it any easier. Shortly before giving up, I managed to get it all together via various travel-booking websites and enquiries to different hotels. There are no travel agencies over here that help you with these kind of tailor made trips, they do package tours but with no room for flexibility, complete with guide and flag in tow – no thank you! Besides, we once tried to book one of those package tours to Okinawa in southern Japan, but they made it clear to us that if we were not fluent in Japanese, (even though we said we only wanted the air ticket and hotel room, no sightseeing) they refused to book us :(


So off we went with on a bargain ticket Cathay Pacific to Bangkok with a two nights stopover in Hong Kong, which gave us a full day in Hong Kong. As I have been in Hong Kong a couple of times before, I made up a program a la Japanese style i.e. “see everything in no time”! Well, it included the H.K. highlights and I also made some table reservations ahead at some popular restaurants, as we were there a weekend.

No time for temples or hiking to the family’s relief. We started down town in Tsim Sha Tsui and had a look in some shops and outlets, sorted Matilda’s X-mas present and some smart clothes for Elliot for New Years Eve. We walked down to the harbour and took the Star Ferry across Victoria Harbour from Kowloon over to Hong Kong Island.


  From  there we jumped on a bus that took us to the base of the Peak Tram. This being a Sunday, it was very busy, and we amused ourselves by observing the Chinese way of “queuing” - quite different to the Japanese way :)


Once on top of Victoria Peak, we had a magnificent view of Hong Kong and the surroundings. We were lucky it was a considerably clear day with not too much pollution. We went for a walk along the mountain before we had lunch with yummy dumplings up at the Sky Terrace building with an amazing view. We took the cable car back down again and Elliot, our train nerd, loved the double-decker trams - they are so Hong Kong! 

It was now afternoon and Peter and the kids returned to the hotel for a little rest while I took my camera for a walk and “lost myself” for a while in the myriads of narrow alleyways and street markets in the bustling Mong Kok area. I lost track of time but made my way back to our hotel, Royal Plaza, and had just enough time to have a quick look in the adjacent shopping complex "Grand Century Place" before it was time to leave for dinner. The hotel had a free shuttle to the Tsim Sha Tsui area and its end stop was by coincident right on One Peking Road, where the super cool Aqua restaurant is located! What luck!! 
If you ever come to Hong Kong, don’t miss this place both for the view and for the food/bar experience! It is on the top floor, all windows and with a magnificent view of the harbour skyline.
I had booked the place for 19.30, so we were there right in time for the spectacular laser show which starts sending rays from the skyscrapers at 20.00 every evening.

We got back to the hotel late in the evening, happy and tired after an amazing and very intensive day in Hong Kong. The following morning it was time to pack our bags and head out to the Airport to continue our adventures.  

Matsumoto, Shirahone Onsen & Kamikochi, Oct 2010

In mid October, I got together some friends and organised a little trip to the Japanese Alps. We left Tokyo for a three hour train ride to Matsumoto the second largest city in Nagano prefecture. Matsumoto is an old castle town dating from the 8th century. The main attraction in Matsumoto is the beautiful wooden castle, the oldest wooden castle in Japan.

Its magnificent three-turreted donjon was built in 1595 in contrasting black and white, thereof the nickname Karasujo, crow castle. An elderly man approaches us on the castle ground and volunteered to guide us through the castle in English for free. He was happy to practice his English. He normally does the tour in two hours, he said, but as we only had a three hours stop in Matsumoto, he agreed to cut it short to 1 hour. He was really sweet and knowledgeable and we left the castle full of information and impressions of how life had been for the many samurai and people of that time. Before we left the area, we had a quick wander through the Japan folklore Museum next to the castle. 


We decided to have a traditional Japanese lunch in the Nakamachi District, just south of the Metoba gawk (river).Nakamachi used to be a former merchant district with many narrow lanes and old warehouses, which of many now have turned into shops showcasing locally produced arts and crafts and restaurants.

It was afternoon and time for us to move on and catch the train to Shin-Shimashima. There, a bus was waiting for us, taking us up on steep and winding roads deep into the mountains. After an hour and a half we finally reached our final destination for the day; Shirahone Onsen. 


Shirahone Onsen is set dramatically in a steep gorge surrounded by tall mountains and trees in beautiful autumn colours. Shirahone means "white bone" in Japanese and the healing milky-blue hydrogen-sulphide natural spring water has a wonderful silky feel (and turns all your silver jewellry black, but I have learnt the trick to polish it back to normal with toothpaste!).                                                      

We stayed in the traditional wooden hotel called Awanoyu Ryokan (hotel) which has been a an inn since 1912 and was very atmospheric.




In the evening we changed into our yukatas, (cotton  kimonos) and were served dinner in our tatami room. There was no end of little odd bowls and plates with local delicatessen, so fresh and delicious! Different kind of fish, pickles mountain vegetables, all kind of tofu, a small table grill for beef, mushrooms....Everything is down to detail and the table decoration match the season, with little leaves here and there. We had some hot sake with the food which prepared us to go naked outside into the onsen.  
After the dinner, in the late evening, we went outside, still in our yukatas and wooden geta sandals to the big rotemburo, the outdoor bath. This is a mixed gender onsen, but no worries, the light blue water is so milky that you can't see much through it. We think women were supposed to wrap a small towel around your upper body when entering the water to cover the upper body, but we couldn't be bothered. But we didn’t expect quite so many naked men awaiting us once we opened the curtain and got outside into the water…. We had a giggle and tried to ignore them. But soon enough 3 Japanese ladies of order came shocked up to us and pointed upset at their towels and then at us in disbelief… After a while we had the whole bath to our selves and it was so quiet and beautiful. We really enjoyed soaking in the hot water surrounded by the cold mountain air and looking up at the moon and the stars…

The next morning we took the bus down the mountains for a bout half an hour with spectacular views, to a place called Kamikochi. It is said to be the most beautiful spot in the Japanese Alps. Our plan was to do some hiking along the river and cross the famous Kappabashi wooden suspension bridge along to Myojin -ike. 

 We were there only a few weeks before they closed off the whole area due to the risk of snowfall, so luckily there weren't too many people around. The view of the snow covered mountains with peaks above 3000m was stunning. As we walked along the clear river, some wild monkeys crossed our path really up close. They found some mushrooms and sat down to eat while we were watched them, but they didn't seem to mind our presence. 
At the other end of the valley was Myojin-ike, a small beautiful lake dotted with small moss covered rock islets with a few trees on. It was an incredible scenic setting, almost magical. No wonder there was also  a small Shinto shrine for the sacred mountain kamis (spirits).

We came across a small, old mountain hut, peeked inside and saw a few men sitting around a log fire on the floor, drinking sake and grilling trout. It looked so cosy that we decided it was time for a well deserved break. It was quite dark and smoky inside, 
but warm. They looked a bit surprised to see foreigners but they gave us a welcoming smile and pointed to sit down next to the fire and join them. 


There wasn't much of a menu, there was trout, sake and beer. We ordered the lot and the man by the fire disappeared outside. We could see him standing by the mountain stream that passed just outside the hut, catching the trout for us. It can't get any fresher than that!! He knocked their head on a rock and came back in again. He put a wooden stick through the length of the fish and speared them down into the ground by the open fire to grill them. 

Once they were done, he put them on a plate and put in front of us. As there weren’t any chopsticks or cutlery, we weren’t really sure of how to approach the fish. He looked at us and told (showed) us that first you bite off the head and eat it and then you just eat everything all the way down to the tail – simple, no fuss. Hmmm…the head was very crispy, specially the eyes and there were some harder bits, the jaw I think, but I tried not to think too much, just kept on chewing and swallow… The sake and beer helped! The middle bit of the trout was really tasty and the bones not too big, only the fins tickled a bit in the throat… After some more sake it was so much easier to chat in Japanese and the people in the hut relaxed too and opened up talking to us and asking questions. He had never had anybody from Sweden in his hut before.

 Eventually, it was time to leave the warm and cosy hut, put back on our walking shoes and reluctantly return to civilization and Tokyo. 


Tokyo was only five hours away, but still a world apart.


These little escapes make Japan such an exciting and incredible place to live in!