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Chiang Mai in the magical north of Thailand

Another year and yes, another trip to Thailand! At this point I’m just gonna stop counting the times I’ve been here. But each time, I do try to explore some new places. This time it was Chiang Mai (North of Thailand) and Koh Chang (South East – Island).

Chiang Mai

I’ve actually been in Chiang Mai before during my first visit ever to Thailand about 11 years ago! But I wasn’t the “experienced” traveler as I am now. I didn’t plan much or remember much any more either from the trip. 2 years ago I passed by Chiang Mai as well to get to Pai. Anyway it’s a good excuse to go back and revisit as I’ve heard a lot of good things about Chiang Mai as well and there’s quite a few things worth seeing and doing in the area. The trip there was exhausting as we pretty much flew straight from Belgium to Chiang Mai without any real rest. Flight-wise it was Brussels – Oslo – Bangkok – ChiangMai afterwards we still had to get a taxi too..; It might not seem like bad, but it was damn long… Anyway! We came at the worst possible time of the year as it was in the middle of the FREAKING HOT season! The temperature went up to a whopping 41°C! Even the locals were saying that it rarily gets this hot during this time a year. I’m usually able to handle the heat pretty well, but this time it was really killing me. I could barely walk around without having to stop for some shade and water. Sweating like crazy and just didn’t feel like walking around the old city center on the first day. But heck, I was able to power through with much complaining and visited some popular sights. One of them is Wat Chedi, a HUGE chedi in the middle of the city. The surrounding temples and shrines were pretty nice to look at if it wasn’t for the lack of shade. I had to rush to go from shade to shade. A pity, I would’ve liked to took my time and enjoyed the place. Wat Phra Singh was another major sight in old town. The lovely Lai Kam chapel houses the revered Phra Singh Buddha image. Sadly, the head was stolen in 1922, and a reproduction is now seen. To enter the temple is free for Thais, and 20 baht for foreigners. Luckily for me I look like a Thai so I got in for free. I know I’m cheap, even if it’s onlly 20 baht. I kind of make a game out of it after a while…. Anyway, that night we met up with Horm, who I’ve been talking to prior to the trip. She took us out along with some of her friends. They took us to a local Thai “club” with live on- stage performances and music and drinks and all that. And by coincedence, the boyfriend (Sander) of one of her friends was Dutch! So we got along great from the beginning. We had some great laughs and fun on our second day in Thailand. Sander suggested that he take us toa place with a canyon where you could jump into and afterwards can relax at the canyon. So that’s when we made plans to rent a motorcycle the next day to head there. And that’s when it happened…

The accident

Yes, I had a motorbike accident. It’s a rather lengthy story, so I decided to split this blogpost up and just focus on my experience in Chiang Mai here. Read about my accident here! It end up with me deciding to stay an additional 4 days in Chiang Mai to recover as I couldn’t go diving anyway in Koh Chang. So now we had a lot of extra time to do what we wanted, but I just had to take it slow and not get my bandages wet. Which was hard, coz it was still hot as hell and I wanted to go for a swim so bad.

Chiang Rai – White temple

On one of the days, we booked a taxi to take us all the way to Chiang Rai as I’ve seen pictures of the amazing white temple in Chiang Rai. The drive up there was rather long (2h) and exhausting, but at the same time pretty interesting. People in Thailand can drive pretty crazy that’s for sure. You haven’t experienced real Thai driving unless you’ve been in a Thai taxi/bus. This guy was pretty much ignoring the lines on the road and taking the shortest corners and cuts on the road. He first took us to the hot springs, which was part of the “tour”. The hotsprings in itself were disappointing to say the least. A few ponds with hot spring water and a lingering phosphorus smell was all you could experience. And the abundance of tourist shops. The White temple itself was really amazing. The architecture, the decoration, the color, the nearby buildings and shrines. Just superb! However, by the time we arrived, the actual entrance to the White temple was closed and by the time we had to go back, it was still going to be closed. So we could only admire it from afar. That really sucked as I wanted to get up and close to the entrance with the sculptures and hands coming out from the ground! The surrounding buildings were still cool though and in the trees they had these huge fake heads hanging from various blockbuster movies. Some of them are Wolverine, Angelina Jolie from Maleficent, Pinhead from Hellraiser and some more famous ones too. We also saw this building in “pure gold”. It was glowing and you could see it from afar. We thought it was some holy building for the monks and kept in good condition for generations. Turns out, it was “just” the toilet. An important function but not as overhyped as we were thinking. Gotta say, it was one of the most badass toilets I’ve ever seen though! After the white temple we went and took a look at the nearby black temple and Ban Daam museum. This place had “TOURIST TRAP” written all over it. Busload of Chinese tourists around and everything was setup just for them. The buildings was ok at best to look at so we just walked around for 20-30 minutes before heading back. On the 2 hour ride back we just slept and as we got closer to the hotel again. I talked a bit with the taxi driver and had a rather enjoying chat! Turns out he was an avid guitar player and huge fan of Latin music. He talked about one of his other customers sent him a CD of a band he loves which was very very difficult to get in Thailand. He also thought himself how to play the guitar and was playing in some kind of band as well. Also mentioned how he’shoping to save enough money for a fancier guitar in the future. Great talks really.

Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep

Later that week we tried to go up to Wat Phratat, a golden chedi on top of Doi Suthep. It’s quite a popular attraction for local and foreign visitors. The trips usually starts from the Chiang Mai zoo which has several songthaews waiting for visitors to go up in group. If you’re lucky then you wouldn’t have to wait that long for yours to fill up and go to thetop. Sadly, that day we weren’t that lucky and had to wait for about 20-30mins before we got tired of waiting and negotiated a deal with the drive to get us up and come down with other people for a bit more of the starting price. Yay?! The entrance is all dotted with little tourist shops and food/drink shops. At the beginning of the staircase, you’re greeted with kids in traditional wardrobes. Give them a tip if you wanna take pics with them. I’ve seen some people taking pictures and just walking away. The stairs were a bit steep but nothing too hard if you take your time going up. Once you get to the top, you’ll have to get an entrance ticket if you’re a foreigner. Locals get in for free, as did I. 🙂 The surrounding areas gave you a great view of Chiang Mai on a clear day. The temples and shrines were amazing as well. The chedi itself was enormous and there were tons of Buddhists paying their respects here. So be respectful as well and dress appropriately. The thing Ididn’t like were the huge tourists groups talking and shouting. Most of them were Chinese… UGH! Anyway, we walked around for about an hour and then made the trip back to town. The winding road back down was less sickening than the trip up to be honest. The sharp twists and turns could easily get you car sick if you don’t pay attention. But all in all, a decent day out from the city center and some nice views and exercise!

Lake restaurant

On another day, Pon took us to a lake on the outskirts of Chiang Mai. She showed us pictures of the place and told us how nice it was there to chill near the water. So me and Greg just went on the back of her and her friends bike to get us there. The place was pretty relaxed with some small huts along the water. You could go for a swim from your own little hut and order some drinks and food to snack on. It was really painful to watch them go in the water while I could just dip one of my legs till my knee in the water. Despite my injuries, it didn’t really stop me going out at night. The difference of Chiang Mai and other places in Thailand I’ve been to is that the nightlife already stops around 1- 2am. The first clubs start closing at 1am and there’s pretty much only 1 “after club” that closes at 2am. So it was easy to avoid staying up late. OR SO I THOUGHT! Often we would go out with a group of 6-7 and after the clubs closed, we would continue the party with a smaller group at our hotel room with some drinks, musics and plenty of laughs. They would usually last till around 4 am or even later with most of us drunk. The crazy part was that most or all of our new friends had to work the next morning at 7! How is that humanly possible?! Anyway, to summarize… Despite the accident, I had a great time in Chiang Mai, making new friends, taking it easy and spending more time with the local people and not so much going around trying to see all the sights. By the time we had to leave, I think we were almost glad we had to stay longer. While talking to Sander, he even tried to convince me to stay and “settle” in Chiang Mai/Thailand. I’ve always had that thought, but this gave that thought another boost. Anyway, we’ll definately be back Chiang Mai!

11/06/2016
My motorbike accident in Thailand

The accident

Yes, the accident. I spoiled the ending already, but that’s ok. Not a lot of people know that I had my first motorcycle accident. Not even my mom! Didn’t wanna worry her for nothing. The entire story is rather long so be warned. During my many visits I’ve seen numerous young folks walking around with bandages and scars from motorcycle accidents. Each time I would shrug and laugh a bit, but I guess karma finally got to me as it feels like I’ve finally been baptized as a wreckless backpacker. 🙂 So we met up with Sander the next day, each with our own motorbike following Sander who took the lead. The ride up there took nearly an hour to an hour and half. It was quite hot on the bike despite the speed. We weren’t driving that fast, but when you’re standing at the red light, you could feel the heat. I think we were about 10-15 mins to the canyon when it happened. We were going in a turn and as usually with the thai roads, these are usually rather small and not with a lot of space to manoeuver. I was driving second, following after Sander. I must have gone too fast for my own pace and as I was taking the curve, another car came from the opposite sid and I might have thought I didn’t have enough space. I tried to avoid the car by going a bit left. But I went off the asphalt road onto the dirt and in the swift moment I tried to go back onto the asphalt. And that’s when the front wheel got stuck to the side and I went down with the bike, falling on my right side. I was wearing a helmit, but just shorts, T-shirt and flipflops. The side of my right arm and legs had tons of road rash and were bruised. Both palms of my hands were ripped “open”. Luckily I used my hands and arm to absorb the crash. I was able to get up quickly and walk it off for a bit just to realize what happened in that split second. I already knew at that point I should consider myself lucky as I was able to get up and nothing seemed to be broken or heavily bruised. Just some severe road rash. Just before the accident happened we passed by a coffeeshop/bar which was coincidentally owned by a Belgian guy. Who wasn’t there at the moment. I stumbled in with Sander and Greg and asked if they had a first aid kit. They applied some first aid and washed off some of the dirt and applied some desinfectant. The boss lady had to go back to the center as she has a bar there, and offered to take me back there as well. Once there, she asked one of her employees to take me back to my hotel where I was gonna try to clean the wound and get some medical supplies from the Pharmacy. They adviced me to go to the nearby hospital first to get it thorougly cleaned and desinfected first. Luckily it’s only walking distance from the hotel.

The aftermath

As I walk through the door, the manager asked for my ID and swiftly asked some of the nurses to take me to the backroom to tend to my wounds. While the nurses were working on my wounds, they had someone take of the insurance and the bike and the bike rental shop. Bit difficult as their English was ok, but not that great at times to explain everything. But that’s ok, we were able to get through it. While the nurses were cleaning my wounds (2 of them at same time!), I was glad I came here, coz I wouldn’t have done it as well as they did if I did it myself and it would have taken me much longer to heal probably.

Insurance

I’ve rented a motorbike before and most of the times, they ask you if you want insurance in case something happens. I don’t remember if I took it usually, but this time I remember the lady didn’t mention anything about it. So I was already pretty sure that I had to pay for all the repairs. I was expecting to pay a bit for the medical services but didn’t have an idea on the amount. As for the bike, the repairs were a whopping 6000baht. When I showed my new Thai friends, they said they probably could have done it for cheaper, but I was already happy with this amount. As for the medical costs, after the nurses cleaned my wounds, which hurted like freaking HELL by the way, and wrapped me up, I went to wait in the lobby. The manager gave me some painkillers and sent me on my way. Wait what? YES, he just said it’s ok and that insurance would take care of the costs! OH MY GOD! I just had extensive medical help in a private hospital and I just walked out of there like that! He even said that I could come back everyday to change the bandages and get the wounds cleaned again. And if I needed it, I could get some extra painkillers too. All for free! Later that night I told my friends and they all said how lucky I was, because it was a private hospital and it would have cost a ton!

The follow up

Seeing how I was all wrapped up and could barely wash my own face and butt. I obviously had to take it easy and not to open up the wounds again or get it wet. However, our flight back to Bangkok and Koh Chang was planned in 2 days. So I talked to Greg and decided we would just skip Koh Chang as I wasn’t able to go diving anyway as I originally planned. We also liked our new friends and decided it was ok to stay another 4-5 days in Chiang Mai. The free medical assistence was a great motivator as well and surely helped me heal more quickly. Check out my Chiang Mai post on what we did in those few days.

11/06/2016
Daytrip from Lisbon to the mystical Sintra

To be completely honest, I didn’t really research that much about Portugal and Lisbon before coming here. The main goal was to go surfing in Peniche and spend a few days sightseeing in Lisbon. It was Fabio who told me to go to Sintra for sure eventhough he didn’t see all of the sights himself. Sintra and its surrounding mountains (Serra de Sintra) are classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a popular destination for day-trippers, and can be easily explored while staying in Lisbon. I myself took the train straight from Lisbon Oriente railway station and took only 45 minutes or so. The “start” of the Sintra day trip took me to the Palácio Nacional (National palace. From a distance it didn’t look that impressive and judging from what I read on the internet, it’s not that big of a deal either. I took a quick look around and had some lunch nearby before heading up to Quinta da Regaleira. I walked all the way up to Quinta , but if you’re not up for the walk you can take one of the tourist buses that go from the trainstation to the different main sights in the mountains. Easy enough and decently cheap. The distance from the National palace wasn’t all too bad and the walk in the mountains was actually pretty nice. However, I did miss the entrance of Quinta as it wasn’t exactly clearly marked. I walked all the way up to Hotel Tivoli at the top of Sintra.
Cool looking maze near the hotel Tivoli
Anyway, I backtracked again towards the entrance was immediately in awe of the architecture of the entire park and castle. The entire park was designed by the Italian architect Luigi Manini. Influenced on the one hand by a sum of artistic currents (Gothic, Manueline and Renaissance) and, on the other hand, by mythic and esoteric traditions. The park had an obscure, mystical and fantasy like feeling to it.
Illusion made with mirrors on the floor. Made it look like it was “infinite”. Scared the shit out of some people. Even myself….

Rather cool effect!
There were underground mazes, tunnels, secret passages under mini-waterfalls, watch towers, earie sculptures. It was like disneyland! I felt like a kid to be honest. Discovering tunnels and hopping over rocks across a pond with a waterfall, to go under it and find a hidden tunnel. The underground tunnel lead to different exits. Eventhough I had a map, I just followed my adventurious gut to the infamous Poço Iniciático (Initiation Well). You might have seen the pictures online, as have I, but I never could have guessed it was here! I kinda love being suprised when I’m being unprepared. I truely enjoyed walking around the park and discovering the hidden treasures. Be sure to check out the underground maze!

Throwback to the wicked looking “Initiation Well” at Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra. Definately recommend going through the underground maze and tunnels. . . . . #tb #tbt #wanderlust #lisbon #quintadaregaleira #travelgram #unesco #traveling #backpacking #instatravel #portugal #sintra

Een foto die is geplaatst door Alex (@alexyip_) op 13 Aug 2016 om 2:54 PDT

At this point I got a message from Christophe asking me to meet up at Palácio da Pena (Pena Palace). So I took the tourist bus and made my way there. The palace was much more touristic than Quinta and I’m not sure if I liked it. The Pena Palace is a truly unique building though, that looks like it may have been the inspiration for both Gaudí’s creations in Barcelona, as well as for Disneyland. It kind of resembles wedding cake. Like it came straight out of an anime show. Inside the palace there was a pretty standard tour throughout the history and relics of the palace throughout the years. To be honest, I rushed a bit through the building looking for Christophe and Marion. There were some nice rooms and decorations to see, but nothing spectacular. If you’re interested in history you should take a bit more time here. The park grounds around the palace are equally worth seeing. They are beautifully laid out, with many exotic plants, quaint features and beautiful viewpoints, with a myriad of trails leading through it all. I found a nice little viewpoint a bit off the beaten path, through some bushes. Had a great view of the Palace with its surroundings. Afterwards I walked back to the entrance and caught the bus back to the National Palace where I met Christophe and Marion. All-in-all it was a great one day trip and most likely the highlight of my Lisbon experience. Quinta da Regaleira was simply amazing and Sintra and it’s surroundings were magical. Next time I’ll be sure to spend more time discovering the other sights. One more day in the city and then to Peniche to surf!

13/04/2016
First time visit to Portugal, Lisbon/Lisboa!

First trip of 2016 and especially right after winter, I needed some sunshine and vitamin sea. I had about 1 week and was feeling adventurous and wanted to see something new. Portugal was the ovbious choice for these reasons: new destination, adventure, culture, nearby, budgetfriendly! I had roughly 8 days, so I needed to plan this right in order to do what I wanted to do. I made sure I didn’t push it too much so I had time to actual relax. First part of the trip was Lisbon and it’s surroundings!

Lisboa

It’s been a while since I’ve been on couchsurfing so for this trip I tried to look for a host to show me around and to hang around with. That’s how I ended up at Fabio’s place. He’s been on couchsurfing for a few months and has hosted a couple of people every month since then. As I arrived on saturday night, we were able to walk around downtown a bit on sunday already and go visit some of the sights. The weather was sunny and pretty warm already for this time a year. He showed me how to take the train downtown and we made our way to Belèm. First stop was to visit and get some of the infamous Pasteis de Belèm in the area. A must touristic stop and it showed. The place was packed with tourists but the queue wasn’t that bad at all. The Pasteis were crunchy and fresh from the oven, but sadly Fabio didn’t feel like eating so all 6 of them were for me! Anyhow, we made our way to the sights in the area such as the Jerónimos Monastery. The monastary was just being renovated and access to the gardens were closed at the time we arrived. The main entrance was amazing as expected. The level of detail on the sculptures and decorations were superb. It’s a pity we didn’t get to see the inside. Afterwards we just crossed the road and headed towards the water for the Padrão dos Descobrimentos. One of the most famous landmarks in Lisbon located on the banks of the River Tagus. It was quite amazing to see it in person, but nothing you wouldn’t notice if you saw it on a picture. (I know, I’m not really selling it). We stopped for a bit and walked a bit further down towards Belém Tower. I liked this place a bit more as it was surrounded by water and it has more charm to it I felt. Maybe because it was surrounded by water or maybe that it was less polished than Padrão dos Descobrimentos, it just felt more appealing to me. At this point we made our way back towards the start and back home. Passed under the Ponte 25 de Abril bridge and took some pictures there as well. By this time we pretty much walked all afternoon and decided to head back. Fabio has to get back to work the next day and so I planned my next couple of days accordingly.

Free walking tour

I’m a big fan of free walking tours as I did some of the on my other travels (Poland). I joined the 3PM, so I had some extra time to walk around before that. It was during this free walking tour that I met Christophe and Marion. Coincedently Christoph is also from Belgium and to top it off they’re cool people too. The tour took us through Rossio, Chiado, Baixa and finally ending at Alfama. It was a really interesting tour with tons of history and information on the neighbourhoods.

Throwback to earlier this year in Lisbon, Portugal. Will never forget how painful all those hills were. . . . #lisbon #portugal #instatravel #travelgram #backpacking #travel #wanderlust #weekend #weekendwarrior #travelbug #cityscape #city

Een foto die is geplaatst door Alex (@alexyip_) op 28 Jul 2016 om 9:50 PDT

After the tour I went up to Castelo de S. Jorge with Christophe and Marion and finally ending up Rua das Portas de Santo Antão. Apparently a popular strip for some delicious seafood. I’ve told them my plans to visit Sintra the next day and we made plans the next day to meet up there. I’ll discuss Sintra in a separate posts here. After Sintra, I had one full day left before I had to go to Peniche. Christophe and Marion also had a full a day left before they had to catch the plane back the next day. So they suggested I spend stay in thair Airbnb that night so we could check out the nightlife together around Bairro Alto. During the day we just took it easy and walk around familiar places again. We revisited Alfama and went up some of the viewpoints from before. We also went up to visit Cristo Rei on the other side of the water to get a great view. We just took it easy during the day as the hills were killing my legs and all the walking took its toll. But mainly to prepare ourselves for the “crazy” night life.

Nightlife

We backtracked some of the bars and areas we visited during the tour and check out a few live bars. We basically went from bar to bar until the bars closed. We eventually even made it down to Rua Nova do Carvalho (Pink street) where the majority of clubs were located. We stopped by some of the clubs but most of them were quite empty as it was the middle of the week. We ended up at another cozy lounge bar with some great r’nb classics mixed by the dj. It was a great night alltogether and had some great laughs as well. The next day we had some extra time before we had to say our goodbyes so we looked up what we could visit and came up with LX Factory. The place just reeked of hipster city to be honest. But it was also very artistic, down to earth and trendy. Graffiti decorate the streets and interiors of the buildings. At the top of the main building there was a huge area reserved for a co-working space and some of the remaining offices on the floor were occupied by model agencies. It seemed like an inspirational place to work at. If I ever got lucky enough to freelance, I would definately want to work in a place like that.

Most awesome bookstore/coffeebar I've seen in a while. Located in LxFactory, an industrial site turned hipster/arty/funky/creative spaces. #lisbon #bookstore #interiordesign #industrial #coffeeshop #artsy #hipster #travelblog #travel #portugal #hiddengem #lisboa #awesome #booklover #inspirational

Een foto die is geplaatst door Alex (@alexyip_) op 31 Mrt 2016 om 10:30 PDT

Anyhow, that also marks the end of my stay in Lisbon. It was short, but intense as you might have read by now. There’s tons of stuff to see and do in Lisbon but also very exhausting with all the hills and stairs. I do recommend taking 4-5 days to explore Lisbon at your own pace. I had a blast with Fabio and Christophe and Marion. Great memories were made along with great friends!

I'm in #sanfrancisco! #notreally #fake #goldengatebridge #lisbon #portugal #travelblog #travel #instatravel

Een foto die is geplaatst door Alex (@alexyip_) op 30 Mrt 2016 om 11:02 PDT

More Portugese adventures in Peniche and Sintra!

08/04/2016
First time visiting Poland! (Warsaw and Krakow)

It seems like at the end of every year, I always have some spare vacation days left at work. As I only had a few days and limited money, I decided to visit a friend of mine in Poland! If I had the money I would’ve definately picked a place which was warmer but it was also nice to hang out with someone and discover some new places together with someone. So off to Warsaw and Krakow I went!

Warsaw

Warsaw was unavoidable, so I tried to make the best of it with the 1 day I had there. I arrived a bit too early to the hotel so I couldn’t check in yet. So me and Elena walked around the old center and city a bit and grabbed a coffee somewhere. Christmas was just around the corner so the streets were festively decorated. Old city wasn’t that spectacular to be honest. There were a couple of authentic shops and pubs but we just passed by them. We did stop by the enormous Palace of Culture and Science. Apparently this is the tallest building in Poland and eighth tallest building in the European Union. It was build and designed by the Soviet Union as a gift to the Polish people. If you’ve been to Russia before you do see the resemblence in the architecture. The building had an earie and cold feel to it. It was impressive to say the least when you’re standing at the foot of it. We went up to the viewing deck for a 360 degrees view over Krakow. You could see that there’s not that many highrises in the city. Anyway, just 1 day in Krakow and I wasn’t that impressed, as a tourist. Next time I go back I’ve gotta find me a local to show me around the best places.

Krakow

The main attraction was Krakow and you could immediately see that the city was much more different than Warsaw. Krakow has a more tourist friendly vibe to it and there was much more to see and experience as well. There’s also seemingly a lot more history in and around the city.
Our Stalin themed hostel

Most creepy looking window “decoration” ever…
For starters, we stayed in a Lenin themed hostel located in the neighbourhood of Kazimierz. Also known as the Jewish quarters near old town. Apparently the Old Town was on the UNESCO list of World Heritage and you could see why. The streets and buildings were nicely renovated and decorated for the holidays. It was clean and well-taken care of. The first day mainly consisted of us wandering around parts of the city. Taking in the sights and visiting the Christmas market around the main square. At night I checked out some of the things we could do and there were some free tours around. One was the food tour and the other was the streetart tour. The food tour took us around some of the places we visited before and to the market and gave us more explanation on some of the typical Polish foods. This could be simple things like bread, pierogi or even smalec (pork lard spread) combined with a shot of vodka. I’ve always wanted to eat what the locals eat and seeing how I’m only here for a limited time, this was a great option. The streetart tour was amazing as well, taking us deeper into the Jewish quarters Kazimierz and telling us the history of the Jews in the area. All of the streetart had a meaning to them and told a story about the history of the city. The tour ended at Schindler’s Factory Museum. We didn’t go in but weren’t that interested either. After the tours we walked around some more and went up to the Wawel castle at night. The castle was lit up quite nicely at night and there were still tons of people walking around despite the cold temperature. The view over the river bank were well worth it as well. On our last night we went to Alchemia, a restaurant which was recommended by a Polish colleague. It was a really cosy and popular place it seemed. Tons of young and trendy people, and it wasn’t anything classy. Felt really… local! It was located around the Plac Nowy where they had tons of little stalls selling zapikanka. Of all the food I tried in Poland, I can say that zapikanka was my favorite. So simple and so delicious! After dinner at Alchemia we walked around a bit more and stopped by Pijalnia. This places is known for it’s cheap beers and drinks. People often come here for some cheap beer and shots before they head into the nightlife. It’s just more cheaper to get drunk here than at clubs later on. Me and Elena wanted to try the list and just kept ordering and at one point we ended up with 5 shots each. No regrets there because they were delicious and went in so easily. By now it was already nearing 11pm and I still felt a bit hungry so I went for my second Zapikanka that day! And yes, being the drunks that we were, we searched our pockets for money and realised we could have 1-2 more shots! So we went back to Pijalnia! All in all, it was a quick but “productive” first time experience in Poland. Warsaw didn’t have that much to offer in my opinion. But Krakow is a nice getaway for a city trip of 3-4 days. There’s plenty to see and try out during your stay. There’s some shopping to be done for and tons of history to be learnt if you’re interested. There were also an abundance of little coffeeshops and bars around Old Town. Definately recommend visiting Krakow, even if you’re with kids.

22/12/2015
Visiting Pattaya and Koh Larn daytrip

This will be my second time in Pattaya. The first time everything was still new and I was still eager to discover and go sightseeing. I even went diving during my first visit! This time it was all about chilling and relaxing. I didn’t plan anything and just went with the flow of things. One of the reasons I keep coming back is because Pattaya is so close to Bangkok and you have the water and beach right near the hotel. Everything is in walking distance and if you want to escape the heat you can just go hide in the different malls along beach road. This time I made sure to try different restaurants as last year we mostly stuck to Asian food places. This time we tried out some dessert places along with Bon Chon! It’s by far the best fried chicken I had! Those Koreans sure know how to marinate their chickenwings! Nightlife wise, we checked out the infamous Hollywood club. A very popular club mainly visited by locals and Asian tourists. The music is different from what you would expect in other bars and clubs. It’s got a live band all night long pretty much with cheesy Thai songs and some cover songs. Be sure to check it out even if it’s not your thing. The set-up is also kinda different as well. People get a table with the drinks on it and some seats, and just dance around the drinks pretty much. The main focus is drinking and dancing comes second while in other places it’s usually the other way around. Each year I also try to find a hotel with good location and great value for money. I tried the same this year, but kinda failed. Greg took a look at the room and decided that this place was not at all what it looked like on the pictures and it was run down and smelly and no elevator to the 4th floor. It was pain. So we checked in, put down our luggage and looked for some alternative options over dinner. We found this place not too far and similar price and went to check out the availability. They only had 2 suites left for the night, but the next day some standard rooms would be available. Greg didn’t hesitate and dished out to get the rooms. I moved after the first night and Greg just stayed in the suite living like a king, eventhough it was still cheap by European standards. Small detail though. The hotel was located in the middle of Boyz Town, the gay area of Pattaya. On both sides of road there were massage places and cabaret shows by guys for guys mainly. It was odd to get cat calls from people and I truely understand what girls have to go through every day. 🙁 They had some guys playbacking Madonna, Adele and of course Celine Dion and Tina Turner. It was interesting to see them on the street when we made our way to the hotel.

Koh Larn

I lied, I wasn’t being completely lazy. I took a day trip to Koh Larn with my friend Palida. It was her first time to Koh Larn as well, but she’s been to Pattaya before. We actually left pretty late and it was already past noon by the time we got on the boat. We only managed to stay about 2-3 hours before we had to catch the last boat back to the mainland. After arrival we took the songthaew to Tawaen beach if I recall correctly. We bought some fruits and snacks and drinks before heading there and just dipped our feet in the water for a bit and chilled. The beaches looked much nicer than the ones in Pattaya and I wished we came a bit earlier for a nice swim. Afterwards we slowly walked back to the pier as we saw some nice view points on the way. We stopped by the big golden Buddha on the highest point of the island and the view was pretty neat! You could see all around the island from up here. The walk back wasn’t particularly exciting but it’s still nice to walk around and take in the sights and atmosphere at a slower pace. You tend to notice the little things a lot more. Once we got back, we got stampede by groups of Chinese tourists (again). Apparently some big shot CEO of a Chinese company gifted his employees with a trip to Pattaya. All 12700 of them! Again it was nice to come back to Pattaya again, visit the live bars we enjoyed last time, the good variety of local and international food and of course the good vibes! Oh, we also had the most badass bus driver to Pattaya. He’s had a pretty rough past judging from the picture next to his seat.

27/06/2015
Tourist spotting in Phuket and Koh Phi Phi

My buddy Greg joined me after my visit to Vietnam. He only managed to take 2 weeks off for this trip so we decided he meet me back in Thailand after my short trip. Last year he joined me as well for the first time and this time around we went around Thailand again. First stop was Phuket! It was my first time in Phuket and eventhough I read that it’s one of the more expensive places to visit due to tourism, I wanted to check out the “nature” and islands in the area. I love diving and that was one of the reasons why I decided to check out Phuket, despite the tsunami from 2004. https://youtu.be/dDbJfflLR0M

Island hopping

There were a few famous beaches that every travel agent was offering in their tours. Koh Phi Phi was the most famous one from the movie The Beach with Maya Bay beach and probably it is/was one of the more “secluded” and “hidden” beaches. The tour we took took us to Koh Phi Phi island, some snorkeling area and ending with us chilling on Khai Nok island.
Koh Phi Phi!
From the beginning I knew that the place would be packed with tourists everywhere and I wasn’t disappointed. Tons of boats and Chinese tourists were present on the so called “hidden” beach taking pictures. I doubt you could take any picture without anyone in it. The place itself was pretty cool though, if you ignore the shouting touts and tourists. Next they took us for some sightseeing at Loh Samah Bay and Pileh Lagoon. We passed by Viking cave on our way to Phi Phi Don Island and passed by Monkey beach as well, but I don’t remember seeing any monkeys there. Maybe it was just a bad timing? We ended the tour on Khai Nok island, which was just a small island surrounded by lounge chairs on the sandy beach area. In the middle there were food stalls grilling up some fresh fish and all kinds of delicious seafood. In short, this place was just to get you to spend money, sit on your ass and relax the shit out of the place.
Wall of fish!
All in all the tour was…. touristy. As a backpacker/adventurour you wouldn’t like it so much, but it’s the only way to see the Phi Phi island. And even if you see it, the experience just isn’t the same when you’re surrounded by that many people.

Diving

The first couple of days I was comparing and negotiating prices for this tour, but also diving prices. I managed to find the cheapest one on walking street and booked 1 day of diving with 3 dives. Despite the damage done to the reefs, I still had a great time diving. You just can’t beat the feeling of swimming in between the fish and “deep” in the water itself. I definately recommend it and Asia is a great place to learn and dive. I even saw a turtle! I took my actioncam with me for the first time and managed to snap a few shots, but I was holding it the entire time so I couldn’t really get close ups of things. I’ve already bought a stick for next time!
Turtle sighting!
I was able to see octopi, turtles, lobsters (!), blacktip reefshark, seahorses, some lionfish and a bunch of mantis shrimps! They also had a wreck dive available but not on the day that I was diving. So I contemplated on diving an extra day as well. I was able to negotiate an even cheaper price than the first and 2 days after I was doing another 3 dives! The King Cruiser wreck was pretty cool and easy to swim through. The current was pretty strong though at times, but nothing too bad. After the wreck we went to a previous dive site and a new one to look for some more different types of species. Didn’t regret the second day of diving at all! Just writing about it gets me all excited all over again!
Sunset from the boat after diving

Daytime activities and nightlife

During the day when I wasn’t diving, we walked around the busy streets and shopping malls doing some window shopping and sightseeing. We didn’t venture that far, mainly walking street and the beach. During the day there’s not that much to do in the center besides hanging out on the beach and trying your hand at the parasailing and jetskiing. I just took the chance to catch up on some movies at the cinema for 1/3rd the price back in Belgium. At night we ventured out for some drinks on walking street and checked out some bars and clubs. I’m a huge fan of live music and at night the many bars are blasting all kinds of music from every side. Walking street is also (mainly) the home of all the Gogo bars, you will see tons of girls dancing on table and around poles. And the funny part is that you can see tourists passing by with their kids happily taking pictures. Not to mention the dozens of Asian tour groups with their flag. https://youtu.be/sAD3AF06d-8 We did manage to find a bar with a great hip hop live band where we often spend a few hours pre-drinking. We would go bar hopping from time to time, but our favorite was still Monsoon bar. Be sure to check it out if you’re into pop and r’nb cover bands! https://youtu.be/kpauKVBLOMw Phuket was as touristic and commercial as I expected it to be. But even with that thought in the back of my head, I was still somehow to enjoy the atmosphere and let it pass due to the great diving experience in the area. The cost was indeed higher than other places in Thailand, but if you’re stopping by for a just a few days you’re gonna be fine. If I had the choice, I would’ve just spend 1 full day walking around, sightseeing and checking out the night life. Then I would spend 2-3 days just diving and getting into the water. But that’s just me of course. Oh, one night I steered away from the busy tourist area and went to the nearby nightmarket for some cheap grub and hanging with the “locals”. I sat near a fountain with a fresh watermelon juice listening to a streetartist playing his accoustic guiter for about an hour. These are the simple things that make me happy. Keep on traveling!

17/06/2015
Revisiting Hanoi and venturing out to Vung Tau

Seems like I’m pretty hooked on Thailand and Asia in general. Last year around the same time I was in the area as well but I stuck to Thailand. Each time I tend to visit familiar places but try to add in a new place to discover as well. I had some spare time before my friend met up with me so I flew to Hanoi for a couple of days and went down to Vung Tau as well. Hanoi was nothing new as I’ve visited the place during my year off trip. I did come back to catch up with an old friend of mine which I met via Couchsurfing. I’ve always been talking to Trang on and off and it was nice to see her in person again. She showed me a lot about streetfood in Hanoi and took me to some of the more local oriented placed. I met up with her the first night and yes, once again she took me a typical restaurant. I didn’t know any of the names of the dishes but it was good! The other days I met up with another guy Dino who I’ve talked to online prior to coming here and went sightseeing to some of the popular places around the center. During the day the heat was pretty unbearable so we just took it easy. Trang recommended me a popular place for Banh Mi nearby and I pretty much planned my day just to eat that… At night I met up with Trang and her colleague and went to some kind of chain restaurant/bar area with large screens showing soccer. Pretty cool to see people still hang out and go out like it’s a friday night in the middle of the week. Work seems to be stressful so a lot of people need to let off after a long working day. Or just because it’s more fun to be outside, meeting up with friends, having a drink and good food. Can’t blame them. At night I checked out the nightlife around the center with Dino and some other guys from the hostel. Nothing too wild, but it was nice to sit down at one of the stalls with a cold beer and just watch the people go by. Hanoi hasn’t changed much, still kind dirty and busy with tons of motobikes everywhere. Crossing the road was still super fun and life threatening. And some vendors are still trying to scam you if they know you’re a foreigner. On one night, I was having a drink somewhere and paid with a large note and they came back claiming it was fake or ripped. I immediately recognized that it wasn’t mine and told the lady to piss off with her scam and give me the real change back. You just need to be firm in situations like this and laugh it off afterwards.

Vung Tau

As I had 5 days in Vietnam, I didn’t wanna spend them all in a place I’ve already been before. Trang recommended me to go to Vung Tau for a few days as it’s not that far from Hanoi, so I went! Vung Tau in itself is a rather small and quiet beach time. Tons of Vietnamese people travel down for the weekend to chillax at the beach. And that’s what I did as well. I found a rather cheap and rundown hotel nearby the beach. I left Hanoi around 9 in the morning by bus and arrived just a bit before noon at the hotel. I read that there was a copy of Christ the Redeemer in the area and I figured I’d go take a look and check it out. Bad idea to go walking up a hill with barely any shade around noon. That’s just asking for trouble. But yeah, I still went… It was scorching hot and I think I was the only one walking around while all the rest had motorbikes. The cool part about this Jesus was that it insides were hollow and you could up to the shoulders and hang with the man and take some nice pictures. The next stop was the lighthouse on a “nearby” hill. I followed the (Google) map and made my way there. Seriously, sometimes I don’t know why I like to punish my own body like that. I think it took me around 2-3 hours to make it to the lighthouse from the huge Christ statue. At the top of the lighthouse the view was amazing as well and the breeze was a nice welcome. I think my shirt was a bit drenched with sweat. The lighthouse affords a panoramic view of the whole of Vung Tau and is a really interesting site. No ticket is needed, but tourists are required to pay 4,000 VND per visit. I just nodded a “hi” to the ticket guy and got in for free as I looked a lot like a local. 🙂 After sights I went down the hill and went towards the harbor to watch the setting sun along the promenade where a lot of the youth have met up already to chill and eat food from the nearby stall and moving foodbikes. I tried to walk to a restaurant which Trang recommended me to go to. On the map it seemed a bit for but not impossible. But after 2 hours of walking and looking for the place I called it quits and hailed a cab to get me there. Turns out it was still a 15 minutes drive to the place. The restaurant itself was pretty nice I think, it’s located right at the beach overlooking the water. It seemed like a popular and semi-classy place. It was kinda odd to be eating by myself in a “restaurant”. I was given a table by myself facing the ocean next to a table of 8 next to me. I wouldn’t be lying if I wasn’t feeling a bit pitiful to be eating there by myself, staring into the pitch black water. hahaha… I orded some sweet and sour fish with some rice and a beer. The food was pretty decent, but I think next time I would’ve wanted to come with some friends so I could try more dishes.
Be sure to try out the local specialty: Banh Khot!

Put everything in a leaf of salad, wrap and enjoy!
After dinner I walked towards a nearby coffeeshop that was once again recommended by Trang to see what the view was like. But of course the place was closed already and I just hailed a taxi to the bus station to get tickets to the bus station for the next day back to Hanoi. Planned to go for a swim before checking out and heading back. All in all it was a rather “relaxing” few days in Vietnam. Hanoi does have a different vibe than Thailand and amazing food. Not sure if I’ll be back any time soon, but if I am I’ll definately try to visit more coastal towns on motorbike!
I saw this picture book of breastfeeding pictures. Love the title

05/06/2015
Escaping winter in Malaga, Spain

Winter really gets me down and I was still looking for some rays of sunshine and I just couldn’t wait for spring to come so I sneaked out to Malaga with Karolina in search for some warmth and sun. For these European city trips I didn’t wanna take too many days off so I’ve just been taking 1-2 days to make it an extended weekend get-away. So this time we were here for about 3-4 days as well. The concept is pretty much the same as usual, try to get the most out of a cheap budget. We looked for the best destination for the “best” price and Malaga came out on top. The weather was pretty decent and it wasn’t too expensive and I haven’t been to Malaga before so it’s a nice discovery. To begin with, I had no idea that Malaga was the second most populous city in Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain! I thought it was some small coastal town. Once we arrived at the airport I knew I couldn’t be more wrong! The airport was pretty huge and the infrastructures were really modern and renewed. Oh and it was the birthplace of the famous Spanish artist Pablo Picasso! We booked a room through Airbnb in walking distance to the centre to make it more convenient for ourselves. I didn’t have any big plans to do a lot of sightseeing. This trip was just to get away and relax and chill out and eat some tapas and other Spanish food. It helped that Malaga was near the coast and had an abundance of seafood to offer! As I mentioned before, this trip was just to relaxed so we mainly just walked around the city center. Trying to get lost and discover hidden corridors and pathways and walking around circles. It was amazing! We did go to the Castillo de Gibralfaro all the way at the top of the hill. The views were pretty cool from all there. We went there on sunday and apparently entrance was free after 14:00! Lucky us!

The food

To be fair, I’m not exactly picky with food. I don’t ask for much, this time I just wanted some Paëlla and some seafood and some tapas of course. I’m glad Karolina introduced me to Jamon Iberico. It was soooooo good! Of course we had some of the other popular dishes as well like cazon en adobo, espetos, pescaito frito and coquinas. We topped it off with some local Malaga sweet wine. It was so good that I even bought a bottle for back home! Which I usually don’t do.

Carnaval

We got lucky! Only last full day we felt like we’ve seen most of the sights already and just started wandering around till we heard some music and people gathering. As curious as we are, we decided to take a look and it turns out the carnaval parade was just about to start! It was pretty cool to be part of the festivities as everywhere around town there were people performing some theater, poetry and singing. Not to mention the rather “modest” parade with cars. Eventhough it wasn’t a huge decorated truck they didn’t lose out on details though. The “flowercarts” were really amazing and had really vivid colors and concepts. We hung around for a few hours taking in the sights and taking some pictures till the end of the parade and till it got too cold for us. All in all it was a great ending to a great weekend get-away. Definately recommend Malaga for a quick and relaxing getaway in Europe. It’s not far from Belgium and it’s pretty modern. The city center has been paved so if you’re with kids or a stroller, you’re good to go as well. Oh and did I mention there’s streetart and grafitti all over town?!

10/03/2015
First time trip to Rome, Italy. Short but intense citytrip

In the winter of 2014 I had some spare vacation days left and I wanted to go somewhere I haven’t been before and preferably cheap. Seeing how it was winter, I wanted to go somewhere to escape the cold and soak up some sun but sadly I’m a cheap bastard and I didn’t have enough days to go somewhere far so I decided to go visit Rome and my friend Melissa. I only had about 4 days for this weekend get-away and about 2 full days to explore Rome and let me tell you, it was exhausting trying to go all over the place to visit the major sights. At one point I could really feel my feet dying and I considered chopping them off from walking so much. Well, it probably didn’t help that I wasn’t really wearing the most fitting shoes to walk around. Anyways, I left on friday straight from work and arrived late at night at my AirBnb place. It was about 11pm at the time and I didn’t feel like I wanted to go to bed immediately so I decided to take a quick stroll around the area. Eventually I walked for about 2-3 hours all the way to the colosseum and back. It was close to Christmas, so there was a huge X-mas tree set up right in front of it. Eventhough it was late and cold, there were quite some people on the street. The next day I started my race against time to view some of the major sights. I started with Vatican city and St. Peter’s Basilica. The queue was pretty long, but I think it wasn’t too bad for something this amazing. It was well worth the wait though when you see the inside of the basilica. Worlds largest basilica isn’t just a name. You feel so small when you’re lookup to the ceiling and admiring the paintings and sculptures inside, even if you’re there with about 200-300 people. Oh and tons of Chinese tourists of course, rather annoying and loud! Anyway, I eventually made it up to the top to enjoy the magnificent view over Vatican City. By the time I got down I still wanted to visit the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum, but it was nearing closing time already so I just sat back and got some food and gelato instead. Not a bad alternative. At night I walked back towards Piazza Navona while passing by Castel Sant’Angelo and St. Angelo Bridge. The night views here were pretty cool as well, nice place to just sit back and relax and do some people watching. Afterwards I met up with Melissa for dinner and walked around some more Piazza Venezia and even visited the infamous Trevi fountain. But just as it happens, the whole fountain was closed for renovation and just a small pond of water was left with a picture of the fountain itself. Talk about an anti-climax… I still threw some money in the pond and made a wish though. Melissa took me to a typical small pictoresque restaurant in the center and it was pretty cozy and seeing the people out till late. Felt nice to be surrounded by real Italians and soak in the vibe. The next day I tried my best to check some more things off my list and decided to start with the Colosseo. The queue here was definately much worse than the one at Vatican city. I couldn’t even see the beginning of the queue and I wasn’t even inside the building yet. After queuing for about 20 mins I started looking up some info on my phone to see if there was a quicker way. And THERE WAS! Pro-tip! You can buy a combi-ticket for the Colosseo and Foro Romano and Palatine at the entrance of Palatine. The queue here is much shorter than the one at the Colosseo and you can get a pretty nice view from the Colosseo from the park itself. I spent about 20-30 minutes here before heading to the main attraction. I took the quick road and walked past all the people standing in line and DAMN that line was long as hell. It made a few twists and turns and I think I would’ve had to queue for about 2 hours before I got in. So glad I went prepared. The Colosseum itself was pretty decent. Nothing new or major, was impressive to see how big the arena was, but other than that, it’ wouldn’t be worth the 2hour wait. Next up was the Pantheon! On my way there I walked past the Piazza Venezia again and I had to go check out the Altar of the Fatherland building. It looked so impressive from the outside. The inside was ok, I guess, but it was just more… wow from the outside. The Pantheon was supercrowded with tourists and people talking in a small space. It’s supposed to be a church/tomb but it was way too noisy to be a church. The people there had to tell the crowd to shut up so many times. People just kept talking and being totally oblivious. At night I met up with Melissa again and she took me to a view point near Circus Maximus. There was a church up there where you could look through a keyhole and you could see a row of bushes on either side with a splended view at the end. Called: Knights of Malta Keyhole. We visited some more churches at the top of the hill and made our way to another view point which I don’t remember the name of anymore. All in all it was an intens short trip and I got to see a lot of the touristic sights. Next time I visit I’m gonna take more time to explore the less visited areas and soak in more of the Italian culture and lifestyle. Some of the tourist sights are a must but there’s a lot you can skip as well. If you do plan to visit I think you should take about 5 days to explore the city at your own pace. There’s a lot of things I would’ve wanted to explore some more and at a slower pace. Definately recommend it!

18/01/2015