Wendiesel

My taxi is coming

2009-01-31T04:28:00.002+01:00

Well well folks, this is it!
I will probably stop this post abruptly, because I am waiting right now for my taxi to get me to the airport... Yes yes, Im travelling with luxury for the end of my trip!
I will thus see you all soon!
After two months, I am really happy of what I did. Discussing with a girl I met today who starts travelling now, she asked me whether there was something I would have done differently, and thinking about it, I could not fine one thign. Even the tough times are now great stories! I guess I learned a lot and I will hope I will not get too fast into the routine back home!
After eating insects, jumping in I have no idea how high river, sleeping with tigers, loosing my shoe in another river during a two day hike, sharing my iphone with hill tribes, going through 5 degrees foggy trails, going through 35 degrees humid jungle trails, trying to explain my way in the middle of a nowhere village, meeting lots of great people, biking away the fastest I was not able to (30km/h...), producing for my first fire show, shopping like crazy in funky night bazaars, meeting Nemo under water... oh well.. I can continue like that for a looooong time!
After all this, what can I say... 'You SHOULD ALL do it!'

what a great trip.
Wanna join me? I'm coming back soon.. shhhhhut dont say it to my job.. I still have to convince them :)

I'm in Bangkok right now. Spent my last night in a funky funky room (each room are spray tagged in different ways...), I spent all my money.., I guess I am ready to go home.. Although I could have stayed much much longer... oh well...
:)]

Thanks for reading me!
Love, wendy

Island hoping in south Thailand

2009-01-29T08:53:00.000+01:00

Alright alright this is my last destination: the islands in south
Thailand!
Island hoping: That's what the backpackers call it here. I arrived on
Phuket last.. Mmmh can't remember when it was, lost track of time here
(thanks by the way to daddy to remind me about my flight!)
So arrived in Phuket: understood straight away I should go further.
Phuket is very very touristy and dirty. It's all about party and
massage here...
Sooo, next: koh phi phi, the well known island where 'the beach' was
taken. Yeah yeah I know, di caprio is no longer here, but the beaches
are still there!
I met Sari there and we shared a room for 4 days. I also met expats
with which I went diving and guess what! I saw a shark!! Aaand
turtles, and Nemo too!
I thus stayed there, resting during day time, a little too hot cause I
got a heat stroke, oh well... It's better than the freezing cold north!
Started considering the reasons to go back home: yes yes my family and
friends! But next time I'm bringing you with me. We rented long tail
boats from locals and toured around. Koh phi phi is really touristy
too. I guess since it's cheap you can't expect it to be the secluded
luxury island.
So you rest, and you bath, and you rest and you party!
Next island koh Lanta! Further and harder to get to, so much more
authentic! I was looking forward to 'survivor' island! I met 2 great
girls also travelling alone, got a room on one of the quite far
beaches: best time ever! People here are very welcoming, chilling out
and taking there time. Another Jamaica! Bading, taking, bading... Oh
and beachvolley. I also considered being hired there as a fire '
jongleur': got to practice with a Thai guy, and no I didnot burn my
hear!!! .... Just my leg! 'Argh Wendy', i could here my mum say..
Anyone wants to join?
I got hit by reality today... Am now in krabi, at the airport, heading
to final destination: Bangkok!
2 days there... And then a great trip for 16 hours to..... Switzerland!

Should I take my flight back home?

2009-01-29T08:31:00.000+01:00

Koh phi phi... Too hot to stay under the sun...

Luxury time

2009-01-19T15:42:00.000+01:00

After Vang Vieng, I came back to Luang P. to meet my parents! We were
all booked on a 8 days private tour to north Thailand. I was happy to
join them, it's good to be back where you no longer have to think of
what to do next and just follow... Oh and also the fact that I was
allowed into hotels with hot shower!!! And more than that!
We thus visited luang prabang: pretty much the same style as Siem Reap
in Cambodia I must say: comfortable and easy going city, with all what
tourists are looking for, markets, shops, temples, international food
and massages.
It was weird though not to me able to wonder around wherever u wanted:
we had a guide and a very precise path to follow! Oh well...
After that: Mekong river 2 day trip on a boat heading to Thailand
border. The journey was nice, COLD in the morning fog, nothing much to
do apart from resting and watching the great scenery pass by.
Sadly I did not spent enough time in Lao, I defintely have to come
back! People are so nice and easy going: the little Jamaica of Asia I
would say, but tccchut!, no no they don't have opium anymore, no no...
Sooo, the golden triangle now! The corner of Lao, Thai and Myanmar. Up
in the moutains, filled with banana trees, jungle, op'...huuuuhh,
rubber trees... Huuum.
We even went one day in Myanmar! The 8th country on my trip, but it
was just for the fun!
Thailand is one of the most westernalized country of SE Asia, with
highways, cable tv, universities, western clothes and so on. It makes
a huge difference with Lao, Cambodia and Myanmar, who are still
struggling with poverty.
We visited a modern temple, with 'modern' paintings inside: one wall
had even Neo from Matrix movie on it... If THAT does not give a hint
of how modern they are?!!!?
Yesterday I got what most of you heard me talking about before I left:
the Elephant Camp and Tiger Center!!!! Youhou, they were so cute! We
got to see elephants playing around, new borns, and tiny tigers we
could hug. Brave Wendy also went in the big tiger park... I'm still
alive.. Pictures to come...
We are now in Mae Hong Son, close to the tribes of woman with long
necks. They are refugees from Myanmar, and pretty much have no other
choice than to live on tourism, so they sell handicraft stuff. Quite
nice to experience this!
Oh, and guess what? I twisted my ankle, yeah yeah, and not even on a
trek or something, ... But in the bathroom of the very nice luxury
hotel... Oh well, we had to cancel the bike afternoon and sadly spend
the pm by the pool, sipping fruit juice under the sun.. Don't worry I
should be fine, I got to experience a little of the local hospital
just to get a proper bandage, and I just be ready for a run in a few
days.
I just booked a plane to finish my trip in south Thailand in the
islands. I have got to properly finish my tan before I head home!!!
I will probably play survivor on koh lanta, okkkayyy with a cocktail
in one hand, and the foot fingers 'en eventail'.
Cheers!

Want to see the end of that story?

2009-01-16T17:38:00.000+01:00

Yes, it's me...I told u it was dysneyland.

Tubing in the Vang Vieng

2009-01-16T17:34:00.000+01:00

After Hanoi, I decided to leave the cold weather a little, and go
earlier to Laos. I had not planned much time for Laos, so a few more
days was not a bad idea!
I thus landed in Luang Prabang, center of Laos pretty much. I had to
meet my parents 2 days later, same location, so out of the airport I
left straight to the bus station. They found me a bus leaving for
Vangvieng, 6 hrs from here, leaving in 30 minutes. What a luck!
Right,... The bus actually waited until it was full.. And took 8 hrs.
Oh well, scenery was great, and I loved the pipi stop in the middle of
nowhere.
After a night train, a flight and a bus, 24 hrs travelling, I got there!
I had heard that thebest thing in VV to do was tubing. VV is a
backpackers so called city. Not much of culture here! Just the river
for water sports (tuning, rafting, canyoning).
Here is thus me the next day, tubing: hop on and off whenever you want
on the river with your tube, bars, giant swings and slides. Wendy back
in dysneyland!
I have no idea where I got this hat from...

Meet my new friend from Laos

2009-01-16T17:18:00.000+01:00

At the homestay in Sapa

2009-01-11T02:42:00.000+01:00

They were making fun of us because we wanted to give a name to their
dog, probably expected to be eaten soon..

Local guide in Sapa

2009-01-11T02:40:00.000+01:00

Sapa time, northest you can go in Vietnam

2009-01-11T02:38:00.000+01:00

Sapa time, northest you can go in Vietnam
I'm pretty much writing this note in another 'in the middle of nowhere
place', it will probably get uploaded when I'm back to reality, where
traffic, noise are common sense. Just to give a little of a snapshot
where I am: I am about to sleep with about 8 other people, tribal
Vietnamese who have never seen Hanoi in their life, we drank rice wine
to keep us warm, they eat dog when they don't have meat for guests,
they only have electricity since 4 years ago.
I am in Ban Ho commune, close to Sapa, at the Vietnam- Chinese border,
about 12 hrs from Hanoi City.
I took an overnight train with yvonne, an english girl I met, got our
guide in Sapa, and walked up here for one night homestay. Apart from
the winter weather, the fog which probably blocks us from great views,
I had a great evening! We were served with great food, no dog though,
I think... The familly I'm staying have 4 generations living together.
We were able thanks to our guide to discuss local habits and customs.
Which I will list a little below.
In the end I showed them my pictures on iPhone, some western music,
and they loved the monkey ball game! U should have seen them in their
traditional dresses playing with the iPhone!!!! I showed them a little
of my Switzerland too, and even pics of the last month in their
country and in Cambodia! Surprising how I would have seen more than
them.
I'm in my bed right now, a poor little puppy is playing with my
shoestrings...
-
Hello, I'm writting now on the train back to Hanoi. We were lucky
enough to have better weather the second day. The scenery is great!
Rice paddies e-ve-ry-where. I know I know I should put some
pictures... I'm arriving in Hanoi at 5 am, going straight to airport
for a flight I just booked to Laos, luang prabang. I decided to move
earlier to catch better weather! I hope! Apparently Laos is fantastic,
very laid back, green everywhere... Mmmmh like Switzerland? But with
palm trees? Or is it white in CH?

Sent from my iPhone

Beginning of weeks are sooo hard....

2009-01-06T10:19:00.000+01:00

Wendy in Halong bay

2009-01-06T10:18:00.000+01:00

Storm in Hoi An

2009-01-02T05:49:00.000+01:00

Spas, spas,and more spas

2009-01-02T03:53:00.002+01:00

I can tell that I got a pretty good pick of the local habits here in Asia: Massages!
After a little more than a month here, I did mmmmh... 5 massages, lots of differences depending of the country! But oh so good!
You get the nice 2 hour massage after the full day in Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Great khmer mssage with the masseuse standing up on the bench to fully put their wight when massaging.. Surprising at first!
Then you get the foot massage for an hour in Pnomh Penh, Cambodia again, after a full day walking in the city, oh so good too! Very zen place, with view one the river and oh so cheap, 6$! I should pick up some of their decoration style!
Then a beach massage in Phu Quo0c, vietnamese, hum.. oh so cheap, but this time so bad.. I cant say that Vietnam does the best massages, its rough, hard, pressing everywhere it hurts.. Would not recommand it..
Then of course the spas in Hoi An, when it rains outside like a piing cow.. that is what best suits! Very touristy, and thus oh so expensive (4 times my sleeping budget.. okay but still half price than in europe!), but this time you get all the amenities with it! Jacuzzi( coooold, 'sorry jacu'i no work.... grrrr, and steam bath). This time noooo Vietnamese massage, one swedish, hey.. why not, one thai and one foot reflexology.. don't ask me.. I just picked randomly!

Oh well, what a tough life... I'm still missing the laos massage, and balinese massage.. I still have ont month, dooon't woory...

Hoi An: rain rain and more rain

2009-01-02T03:45:00.004+01:00

Happy new year 2009!
We just spent one week around the central of Vietnam, based in Hoi An, an ancient city properly conserved from the ancient populations (chinese, cham and so on). We planned to stay one week, and travel around, since there are a lot of things around. sadly, and with no luck at all, it pretty much rained the whole week! We braved the rain a few times, but once it gets into a huge storm, floading some parts of the city, what can you do!!
Hoi An is a cute town, a little touristy now, but still with a charm.. At least I could recharge myself with international food, I got a enough of rice and so on.. :)
Instead of spending some time on the beach as planned, we went where the rain could permits us to go, we were also clever enough to rent a motorbike.. cheap, but ...wet...
Cham ruins (the small version of Angkor, but nice to see since no one knows about the place, musuems (good, and dry), and spas.. that is pretty much it!
We also had new years eves here, nice restaurant recommanded by people we had met in Phu Quoc island. It ended up being the place to be with lots of people partying around!
Well we are leaving tomorrow, happy, because we are getting a little bored :)
Sadly Nicolas is going home... And I continue to the north, in Hanoi and the Halong Bay, hopefully the sun will be there!

Beach time on Phu quoc island

2008-12-27T03:50:00.001+01:00

Now is time for some good old lazy rest on Phu quoc island completly
south of vietnam! After Cambodia, I left for Vietnam by bus to finally
join Nicolas for 2-3 weeks around. We straight away went on the isalnd
to spend 5 days on the beach, and dive!
We both passed the padi open water dive! Youhou! I guess it means now
I don't have any excuse to not go in the léman... We will see...
We had a lovely bungalow on our own, I guess it changes a lot compared
to the usual dorms I have been to.
Diner on the beach, shakes on the beach, taning on the beach, siesta
on the beach... Ok we left one day the beach to bike around the
island! Yes! I drove a bike! Okayyy I let it fall, but only once!
I am now at the airport, flying out to the center part of Vietnam, a
little bit of visits around, culture time, etc!
I keep you posted of course!

When Ho Chi Minh city is out.. But up side down

2008-12-22T12:15:00.000+01:00

Wendy, her elephant and the drunk driver

2008-12-18T12:18:00.000+01:00

North Cambodia

2008-12-18T11:55:00.002+01:00

Wendy again, typing from a shitty internet place with the keyboard completely 'éffacé'.. So sorry again \i will have good reasons to make typos!
Sooooo.. What have I been doing in the last few days. After Siem Reap, I left by bus to Kanpong Cham, trying to head as much north I could in Cambodia towards the Lao border. I had pretty much a week left around Cambodia before crossing the Vietnam border to Ho chi minh. As soon as I got to Kanpong Cham, lots of locals harass zou to take a took or travel furtger.. Kanpong Cham did not look like it had much charn so I decided to move further to Kratie.
Kratie is a nice little city with 3 or 4 roads and of course a market in the center. t is right by the mekong river so I planned to laze around there a few nights. Still with the swiss girl I had met, we rented two motor bikes and cruised along the river. We stopped to watch some dolphins.. Yesss! Mokong river dolphins. There was a little port where you could go for a little tour,. which we did as any normal tourists.. My first day on the mekong, and probably not the last one!
I then left alone to the deeper of the beaten tracks of Cambodia to Sen Monorom.. Sadly I cant upload photos here, but I dont konw how to explain how my butt felt sour after 4 hours of muddy dusty roads.. Great expirience though! Some people even travelled on top of the pock/up... We were 8 people inside (for 5 seats usually) and probably something like 10 people on the top.. mostly locals.. Not counting the fish tanks, chicken and other junk they had up there.
Sen Monorom was really nice, it is up in the mountain so much frechser.. They even cll it the Switzerland of Cambodia! In the middle of nowjhere pretty much. With parks and jungles around.
First day I went for a field trip to meet wild elephants.. To get there we had to go to the local village and check if they could bring us there. Funny part is that the guy asked us to wait, and came back 1 hour later with an elephant! A semi wild one apparently who brought us around the jungle.
I was staying in a lodge off the road, which had a far with so many animals.. Hammacs everywhere. I had ny own bungalow which in the night was prviding me the jungle noises that you can all imagine.. Scaaarrrry!
the next day I went with a group o 5 for a 2 day treck in the jungle.. Not sure what we had to expect.. We pretty much left after 1 hour the tracks and wnet right into the jungle. the guide in front of us had an axe to cut the branches so we could pass... Thats the way they do.. they never go the same path... Funny, I got stuck by so may branches!!
We slept in hammacs along a waterfall. with only the stars around.. And of course the usual mosquitoes!
Really I can not say if I went more into the wild than that! I was completely exhausted after that! I think I need a wwek of sandy beaches to relax my feet!
I am now in pnomh penh, captial of Cambodia. I just got here. Will stay 2 nights and then head to Vietnam to meet my lovely man in Saigon!!!

Talk to you soon!
wendy

Trina and I at Angkor 'what?'

2008-12-11T23:20:00.000+01:00

Temples of Angkor

2008-12-11T13:49:00.004+01:00

Hello, Wendy again!

Here I am, on my third day in Siem Reap to walk around the millions of temples we have around. The most known are the Angkor temples (Wat an Thom). They are incredible. I have not seen anything comparable (ok I did notgo to Mexico neither to Egypt, but people say it is more impressive!). The temples are still in a good shape although nature mostly took over them. Some temples have been found in the middle of the jungle.

Why is there so many? Around the 9th to 12th century, each king would request to have a temple built in his honor. Once a king would die, the next one would stop the construction of the previous one to start a brand new one somewhere else, bigger, better, etc...

I guess most of us know that one: Angkor Thom, one of the most 'lost world' temple.

So everyday you pick up a Tuk Tuk ('Hello ladyyyyy, you want tuk tuk?', thats is what you get pretty much everyday) and go to check the temples you want. Our private tuktuk (which we would organize to meet everyday was Thoeur.. very nice man. I discovered all this with Rachel a swiss girl I met at the airport in KL.

As much wild as we wantedto be, we asked to spent some time on the counry side to see how people live around here. Most live in wood houses with one room for the entire family. Most houses live on 'pilotis' to be safe with the raining season.

Interesting point alos is that this season Siem Reap as much less tourists than usual. Probably due to Bangkok and the economy issues... Well good for us, but very bad for them. Most of the people around here live on tourism. And you can feel that they are really having a hard time these months. So GO TO CAMBODIA! the people are so nice, always smiling, always welcoming you wherever you go ('Good luck to you ladyyyyy'). There are so much things to do around here I could stay a couple of more weeks. The town is quite nice also. Some touristy area with the usual pubs and so on, but at least they don-t have McDonalds!! Sorry PJ...

We were also very lucky when we went for a Sunrise one of the temples. We decided to take the second less obvious place, and at our arrival no one was there!! We shared the sunrise with our lovely tuk tuk driver and the local kids playing around before going to school..

Most kids go to school here either in the morning or the afternoon, they can choose. The school is apparently very good here. If they get an A grade in high school, they get to university for free. So everybody is serious about it.

Alright kiddos... I-m going for diner in town.. The last evening here. I-m leaving tomorrow toards the North East of Cambodia, right under Laos. Apparently you get really good sceneries, jungles and back country roads that are unrecommanded for those with sensible bottoms.. Let's see what I will find there!

Next cities> Kampong Cham, Kratie, and up to Banlung in Cambodia still.

Babye everybody!

Kuala Lumpur to Siem Reap (Cambodia)

2008-12-08T16:04:00.002+01:00

I'm finally on my planned route and just arrived this morning to Siem Reap in Cambodia. I went up from the south, Kuala Lumpur where I did a quick halt after Cameron Highlands.
I guess I should find out how I could show zou a map of where I stand right now, how far I went.. ok ok next time...

So so Kuala Lumpur:
Big big city, as expected, a lot of people hoping on and off from the metros, lots of different ethnicities coexisting in this never sleeping city.. I know who did not sleep that night either> ME. No mum I was not partying. I am still on the jet lag and could not fall asleep until 2 am.. and had to wake up at 4am to go to catch mz cheap cheap cheap cheap flight to Siem Reap. Now I know whyit was cheap. I had to pay 20$ for taxi to get to the far far far far away airport. Oh well.
Petronas tower in Kuala Lumpur were as expected, gigantic and impressive. Little India also as expected: Holistic and lots of mobs zooming around.
Again> I know I am not a big city person.
Quick 'interruption intellectuelle du jour': Do you know what is the main oil producer in Malaysia? Come ooooon .. guess..
As a fact it is my taxi driver who proudlz discussed it during the 1 hour drive: Palm trees.
Ok no one cares... I couldnt care less either, specially at 4am, but I had to be polite..

So so.. I left rainy kuala lumpur and now I am in Siem Reap!
Really an impressive city. First of all the people are beautiful here. They dont seem as much drowned by tourists, even though we are at the doors from the Angkor Temples.
I haven-t seen them yet, we decided (myself and a girl I might zt the airport) to spend the day in out of the beaten tracks place. Our new friend Vey, our official tuk tuk driver for the day took us out of town, in villages, and also on a village over the water. We got to see their shool (140 kids in two classes, with each 1 teacher... you can imagine...
Their food is also incredible, very tasty (at first I was scared to eat something that does not follow the swiss sanity checks) called Amok. I cant tell what it is.. I cant even say if it is written that way, but got I need to open a Cambodian restaurant with just that.

Oh, side note, its the perfect weather too! Finally not too hot, and not too rainy. We went to see the sunset on a boudhist temple 'mountain'. Gorgeous sceneries again.
Tomorrow I'm planning to start the Angkor temples visit. Lucky that I am, there is not much tourists these days, specially due to the Bangkok situation and the economy, a lot of people cancelled their tours.
Anyway.. I will try to take some pictures with my iphone tomorrow!

Ok guys... I have to go... I am going for my foot massage.. :)

wa

Tea plantations in Cameron highlands, Malaysia

2008-12-06T12:22:00.000+01:00

Singapore to Malaysia

2008-12-05T14:03:00.002+01:00

Hello all,
this is it, my first blog on the fields...
I am pretty much far from where I had expected. My flight initially planned in Bangkok, was changed to Singapore due to some yellow tshirt people blocking the airport. So I arrived in Singapore, stayed there a few days to actually get used to the backpacking side of life.

I may say it was pretty hard to jump start, find the destinations, what to do, where to go, how to travel. But after 4 days I already feel like a pro :).. Hum well.. stilll a little naive, and paying 6 RM in malaysia for a 1 hour trip (it makes something like 2CHF for the trip, even less... and YES it is expensive... I heard). Well I-m getting a quick and dirty 'how to be a good backpacker' lesson right now, and I promise I wont get fooled anymore!!
So where am I know? In Cameron Highlands, a little north of Kuala Lumpur (KL for the 'intimes'), in the middle of tea plantations and jungle.
It s quite cool, air is breathable and I dont have to bring a towel due to sweat everzwhere I'm going.
Oh.. a little side note.. Z's and Y's are mixed on keyboard.. so I believe I wont be bothered by fixing everz little typo I make.. oh well people know me.. I-m layz (heheheh) with keyboards.

Just so you know what is the nature here.. I-m in front of z computer, in a lodge.. I just got stopped for the last 5 minutes of typing because a bee or something equivalent landed on my keyboard... just as long as between letter g and letter l...
yesssss.
Well, so I just spent my first day here, will probably stay until sunday. Going for daily treks in the junnnnngle and maybe spend the hour rain in the afternoon sipping local tea.

What after? I-m heading to KL (yes you should know now what it is..) for a day and straight on a flight to Siem Reap in Cambodia, so that I finally get back to my initial plans.

Craap.. now it is a mosquito trying to suck me up... and a BIG one.

I had my first experience also of a midlle of nowhere village in the middle of a nowhere area, with 2 hours to kill between 2 buses. I thus head for some food.. Baaad idea... I have no idea what ended up on my plate.. it was soup with unrecognizable seeds and fish... mmmmh I just realized then that tap water is not recommanded... So I stayed hungry... Yes mummy see I take care of myself!

Ok that's it for now! I need to find hostels for Siem reap... It will be tuk tuk time!! yohou!!
biz les suisses, les blegs et les autres europeens!
wa

Which one do I bring?

2008-11-12T21:58:00.001+01:00

Is my iPhone ready?

2008-11-12T21:56:00.001+01:00

Posting posting! Will everyone see my blogs from my iPhone?

Books under one arm, maps, toilet paper... Am I ready?

2008-11-12T21:30:00.003+01:00

un.deux. un deux. Test test. Quand est ce qu'on peut dire que sa valise est prête? Quand on a écrit et re-écrit 3 fois sa liste? Quand on a même pensé au pq? Ou lorsqu'on a lu et relu le même chapitre: 'climats'?
Je n'en suis pas encore là.. Mais bon...
Ah si. Il va faire beau, très beau
C'est bon! Chuis prête! ;)