Stritar's chronolog

Backpacking in Sri Lanka

Tue, 08 Apr 2014 07:11:34 GMT

Almost exactly 4 years later, in October 2013, I went backpacking to Asia again. My wife and I decided to go Sri Lanka, since it is a bit more wild than Thailand, but still not as chaotic as India. For three weeks we've travelled around the country, enjoying the madness of urban cities, mysteries of ancient ruins, beholding the majestic nature and loving the beautiful beaches. This diversified land can offer a lot to a traveler, and you don't need that much money to do a lot of different things. You just need to be prepared for an amazing adventure that this small island on the coast of India can provide.

Jump to:

Travelling • Sleeping • People • Cities • Temples and ruins • Nature • Beaches • Food • Tea • Ayurweda • Our trip

Travelling

Sri Lanka is a relatively small island, around 300km north to south. But this doesn't mean you'll get around fast. The roads are old, the trains are slow. Luckily, there are a lot of things you can see while moving from one place to another.

We've tried pretty much all means of transportation. We've liked buses the most, since there are extremely frequent and cheap (around 1 Euro or 150 Rupees per person per 100km), and you get to meet the locals and enjoy a bit of genuine life. The buses are a piece of art themselves, often filled with kitschy accessories and huge speakers playing local music. There aren't two alike. But make sure you're ready for a roller-coaster ride - the bus drivers are fucking insane, dangerously overtaking other busses and literally pushing smaller vehicles out of the road. The driver sits on the horn, the conducter waves through the window.

A bit of a downside are the bus stations, which are extremely stressful and chaotic, but you get used to them after a few times.Try to avoid the red buses, these are run by the national operator and are a bit older, go for the colorful ones if you have the chance.

We've tried the taxi van as well, it was much faster and comfortable than the bus, and the driver showed us a few things on the way. But the ride was really expensive (around 50 Euro a day), so not really worth the money. Of course, Tuk-tuks are useful as well (not to mention cool), but not suitable for longer drives.

We've had a funny issue with the train. At one time, we've booked an expensive panoramic tour through the jungle from Kandy to Nouwera Eliya, and the train was 3 hours late. The panoramic cart turned out to be not-so-panoramic, the third class (which we took on another occasion) was almost better. Not to mention the train broke down in the middle of the jungle in the evening and another locomotive came a few hours later to tow us to the nearest station. Luckily, it was our station.

So, trust me on this one: use the busses whenever you can, they are one of the coolest, craziest and most authentic things you can do in Sri Lanka.

Welcome aboard the red bus.

The colorful one is the good one.

The stations are filled with buses and loud people.

Let's take a train instead.

Stuck in the jungle much?

Sleeping

It's easy to find a nice place to sleep anywhere in Sri Lanka. The combination of Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor works like a charm, but make sure you bring an extra telephone, so you can install a local sim card, which can help you to contact the hostels easily. You can get a prepaid one for a few bucks and it has enough credit on for the whole trip.

Except in Colombo, where we've booked our stay in advance, we've picked places as we went along. Usually, we looked for double rooms in the range of 10-20 Euro (around 1.500 to 3.000 Rupees) a night with wi-fi, but without A/C (even though it was hot in October, we've survived with the fan). In all cases, the rooms were nice and clean, so if you don't need much luxury, this type of accommodation will be enough for an average backpacker.

Colombo was a bit more expensive, and we've made another excess by booking a beach cabana only for ourselves for one night in Tangalle (both for around 40 Euro a night). Otherwise, our budget sleeping offered very good value for the money.

Speaking of the cabana…this beach house was one of the sexiest things we've done on our trip, but not all is gold that glitters. Since the cabana was open and on the seaside, I've had a bit of a hard time sleeping because of the wind and the ocean. But it felt great to be a king in paradise, if only for a day.

Our room in Fort In in Galle.

King Fern's in Nouwera Eliya was one of the most interesting places we've seen.

Sandy's cabana in Tangalle.

A room with a view - Green Hill in Ella.

People

The people of Sri Lanka are very nice and friendly. They smile a lot and look like they enjoy life. Most are genuinely interested in you, some even want to take pictures with you. Most of them speak English and help you when you are wandering around confused. Opposite to westerners, they don't mind touching each other, and younger people openly flirt. It is very cute when boys are giving girls peanuts and other treats.

The people love their president, whose pictures can be seen everywhere. He is a bit of an emperor, with his brother-in-law running the parliament and a few other relatives on important positions. But he was the one who has ended the 25-year civil war (in 2009), so everybody is just happy to get the chance to live without fear again, supporting this regime.

We've seen a few hustlers, we've even met a junkie in Kandy that approached us with the "I remember you from the hotel" play. These guys usually do Paan, a drug that makes your mouth red and eventually your teeth fall out, but are luckily not that pushy if you ignore them. Another guy wanted to take us a few kilometers too far with his tuk-tuk to earn another buck, while one of them wanted to convince us a bus is not coming. But that a bearable cost for a three week's stay, and even unpleasant locals weren't aggressive.

Even if the people are very sweet, there is one thing that can start getting on your nerves eventually. Everybody wants to sell you something. Food, drinks, ride, accommodation, souvenirs, anything, people constantly approach you, no matter what you are doing. The closer to the beach regions you come, the more of these street sellers there are and after a few weeks, you can get really tired of it.

Taking a walk on the beach in Colombo. Life seems pretty modern here.

Cricket - the national sport - is played everywhere.

The beloved president and his family.

Youngsters flitring on the train. She doesn't seem convinced.

With a generally young population, you can see so many pupils it's almost weird.

Women preparing for a selling session on the beach.

Cities

Almost everyone's trip starts in Colombo, which is polluted city with over a million inhabitants (Sri Lanka has around 22m in total). The city center offers an interesting amalgamation of asian and modern architecture, and there are quite a few things to see around. The colonial legacy can tell a lot about the previous centuries in Sri Lanka.

A lot of people skip Colombo, but I think it's worth the trip. This is probably the closest Sri Lanka gets to India, and there's nothing like being in a carbon-monixide filled rush hour in a tuk-tuk doing slalom between ongoing traffic.

Other cities are very similar one to another (or so different than European that you don't notice the nuances), busy roads with buses and tuk-tuks, small stores filled with tons of merchandise and decorated with colorful signs, hundreds of people on the streets. Perhaps two cities stand out, Kandy, a colorful city in the middle of the mountains (and in a way even more chaotic than Colombo), and Galle, a colonial fortress in the south, where you feel like you're in Europe.

There are a lot of stray dogs everywhere, and they usually don't look really healthy, so we've tried avoiding them. Small monkeys are also a regular inhabitant of settlements, jumping from tree to tree and going through trash. These guys are a bit more cuter that the dogs, but don't seem that friendly. And of course, cows.

We've seen a few slums as well, but the government is trying to replace them with modern condominiums, so its easy to see these two one next to another. In general, there's a strong contrast between the cities and rural areas, where people usually live in simple huts, hidden in tropical flora.

The streets of Colombo.

Stuck in traffic much?

A bazaar in Pettah in Colombo.

This is how a typical town looks like. This is Weligama.

The quiter rural areas.

Temples and ruins

An interesting thing in Sri Lanka are the ancient ruins from around 1000 AD. Our original plan was to go and see a few of them, but ended up seeing only one of them (Polonnaruwa). These things are massive, kilometers wide, and you need a whole day to see everything, even if you rent a bike. Since the weather can get very hot, and the humidity is high, these ruin explorations can become very tiring, so one was enough for us.

There are many Buddhist temples all over the country (one of them supposedly contains the tooth of Buddha), we've seen quite a few of them. Huge statues of Buddha are omnipresent as well, and can be found even in the middle of the jungle.

The ruins of Polonaruwa.

The Cave temple in Dambulla.

People are praying in the Temple of the tooth in Kandy. Buddha's tooth is supposed to be there.

The statue of Buddha in the middle of the jungle near Sigiriya.

Nature

The nature in Sri Lanka is nothing short of amazing. From old forests to mesmerizing plains, from wildlife parks to tea plantations, which are simply beautiful. Not to mention there's a massive rock (hundreds of meters tall) called the Lion Rock in the middle of nowhere (called Sigiriya), and it's one of the most amazing things we've seen on our trip.

It was so calm and easy in Sigiriya, the chaotic madness just disappeared over there. Other cool things we've did was hiking in Horton Plans (and the World's end), and visiting the Uda Walawe national park, where we've seen things such as elephants, buffaloes, alligators, all sorts of birds and jackals. Our driver on the safari was a crazy guy, so we've ended up full of adrenaline and covered in mud.

There is one downside, though. The entrances to parks and historical sites are very expensive. You can pay around 4.000 Rupees (25 Euro) per person for the entrance fee, which is more than we've both spent for staying the night at our regular place.

Kandy, the cultural capital in the central region, is also a good place to explore nature, since they have a beautiful botanic garden, and you can visit a spice garden where you can see how herbs and spices are grown. Not to mention there is a huge lake in the middle of the city.

We've also went snorkeling to a coral reef in a national park called Pigeon Island, which was a great thing to do as well. Which brings us to...

Breakfast with a view over Lion Rock in Sigiriya.

Hiking in Horton Plains was definitely worth it.

Gay elephants in Uda Walawe national park. They have their own private club.

The bautiful Pigeon island.

The spice garden in Kandy.

Nature means nature. Close encounter in Sigiriya.

Beaches

One of the most important things in Sri Lanka are the beaches! Paradise beaches, hundreds of them, scattered all across the country. We've been to Uppuveli on the north and a few places to the south, and it kept getting better and better. Crazy sandy beaches and the most amazing surf spots are a common thing in Sri Lanka, but if you're looking for the most beautiful one, Mirissa would be it.

Before we went home, we've stayed our last night in Negombo, a town near the airport. At that point, we were already so spoiled, that the kilometer long sandy beach with a bit of trash and no palm trees seemed too boring to enjoy.

Even though, there's something about these sandy beaches, where you can drink cocktails and eat beautiful food while watching surfers fade into the sunset over the ocean. I love the ocean. You just can't ignore how strong and majestic it is.

Uppuveli.

Tangalle.

Mirissa.

Unawatuna.

Negombo.

To the surf-tuk-tuk!

Food

I loved Sri Lankan food. It is very spicy, but full of exotic flavors. An ordinary lunch comes with 5 different curries, which will cost you a few Euros in a restaurant (few hundred Rupees). The dishes are usually scarce with meat, but you can still get a beautiful local meat dish Kottu almost everywhere. Things get even better on the seaside, where you can get a freshly caught fish for two for around 10 Euro. Not to mention king prawns and other delicacies.

We've tried to eat in small restaurants (where the locals eat) each time we got the chance. The food is authentic there, not to mention cheap - the least we've payed for a meal was less than two Euro for both. Luckily, they had forks and knives, since the locals usually eat with their hands.

You can get smoothies and lassies (a yoghurt drink) almost everywhere, so you can get a dose of fresh vitamins on a daily basis. We've treated ourselves with one of these almost everyday, but what else can you do in a country where a mango fruit can fall on your head? Eat the most amazing exotic fruit anytime you can. Except papaya. Papaya tastes weird.

However, it's not that easy to find alcohol. There are a lot of bars and restaurants that don't have even beer, but you can compensate for that when you get to the tropical paradise. There's an abundance of everything on the seaside, but the prices also tend to go up a bit as well.

Pick three.

There's plenty of fruit everywhere.

Kottu in the making.

The cheapest meal ever. Both for less than 2 Euro.

Fresh fish. Too bad barracuda isn't that nice to eat.

Tea

One of the things Sri Lanka is most well known of, is tea. It's the world fourth biggest producer of tea, which means you usually get a whole pot of tea with your breakfast. Tea plantations, which are located in the center of the country, are huge and beautiful, and you can't but admire the fact that every leaf is picked by hand.

Tea plantations also mean tea factories, but we didn't have much luck with them. The first one we've visited (Mackwood) was closed for renovation (prince Charles was supposed to visit it in a few weeks as part of the Commonwealth meeting), and the second one wasn't producing while we were there. But we still managed to get the idea about the massive size of the industry.

Even though I am more of a coffee drinker, I enjoyed tea a few times, and I can say it was very nice. I didn't know there are so many types of it, all made from the same plant. By combining different techniques of roasting and processing, this drink comes in around 20 different versions.

The tea plantations.

Tea pickers.

This is how a factory looks like. Too bad it wasn't producing.

One plant, many varieties.

Ayurveda

If you get too tired, you can treat yourself with some Ayurvedic wellness. Besides massages, this includes all sorts of weird treatments such as sauna caskets and oil dripping on your forehead, which are things you just can't usually do. It was ok, worth trying it out, but not really that special. A Thai massage kicks Ayurvedic ass everyday, if you ask me.

Would you go inside one of these?

This is the lab in which they pour oil on your forehead.

Our trip

Our trip started in Colombo, from where we've travelled to north-central regions to Dambulla and continued to Sigiriya (staying there instead of Dambulla was a great choice). We've visited the Lion Rock and the ruins of Polonnaruwa from there, and continued our journey to north-east. We've chilled out a bit on the beaches of Uppuveli, did the snorkeling on Pigeon Island and took the bus to Kandy. After a few days in the jungle we took the train to Nuwara Eliya, which is a great place to do the tea-seeing. In the morning, a driver took us to Horton Plains and dropped us off at the train station, from where we wen't to the place with the most amazing view, Ella.

At this point, we were around three thirds into our three-week journey. After visiting the Uda Walave park, we've continued our way to the south - entering the laid back part of the trip. The beaches of Tangalle and Mirissa were amazing, and the colonial city of Galle offered a most pleasant stay. Our last night was in the west near the airport on the beaches of Negombo.

We have stayed in 10 places in 20 days, and I would recommend every single one of them:

Colombo - Palm Nest
Sigiriya - Lakmini Lodge
Uppuveli - Coconut Beach Lodge
Kandy - St Bridget's Country Bungalow
Nuwara Eliya - King Fern Cottage
Ella - Green Hill
Tangalle - Sandy Cabanas
Mirissa - Calidan
Galle - Fort Inn
Negombo - Dion's

We have spent around 1350 Euro per person in total, out of which:

700 Euro for the plain tickets
200 Euro for food and drinks
150 Euro for sleeping
100 Euro for traveling around
100 Euro for the entrance fees
100 Euro for insurance and other expenses

Here is our itinerary:

This is what you can do in three weeks in Sri Lanka.

Conclusion

Sri Lanka is an amazing country, and I would highly recommend visiting it. It's wild enough to get you running around, and tame enough to let you relax after the chaos. The trip can be quite inexpensive, since even the budget rooms are nice and clean, and you can get around very cheap if you use the public transport. You will get the chance to see many busy cities and laid-back villages.

The people of Sri Lanka are very nice and polite, and there are plenty of natural and cultural spots you can visit. But in the end, you probably find yourself enjoying the paradise beaches the most, hanging out with surfers and other travellers. Good food will be your everyday partner, just be careful not to order too spicy.

In the end, Sri Lanka offers plenty of options that can help you enjoy its authentic life. After all, that is what Asia is all about - discovering beautiful places and fascinating culture.

Looking for heaven on earth? You might find it in Alta Badia, Italy.

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 07:07:09 GMT

I always look forward to that time of year when I finally get to go snowboarding. To the mountains, to the snow, to the Alps. One week packed with winter sport activities. For the past few years, this meant traveling 900 km from Slovenia to France. Even though I've been skiing pretty much in all Alpine countries - Austria, France, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland, France simply has the best ski slopes, and the French really know how to do tourism. I've been to four different places in France (Val Thorens, Les 2 Alpes, Alpe d'Huez and Tignes), and there's a pattern they all seem to follow. These ski resorts are usually somewhere at the end of a valley (on an altitude of around 2.000 meters), with ski lifts in all directions from there, going up to around 3.500 meters. The towns are probably artificially made, with shops and bars both over and underground. Everything works in such a way that you are living in a big isolated community with thousands of other tourists, but still have 20 meters to the nearest ski trail. As good as it gets.

This year, I went snowboarding with a different gang, returning to Italy after many years. We went to the heart of Dolomites, to the Sella group, which consists of four different ski resorts, most famous being Arabba, Val Gardena and Alta Badia. And I was pleasantly surprised. The fact that we've had four days of snowing (dry powder to be exact), followed by two days of sun, made this freerider a very happy person. But to top it all, we've spent our last (sunny) day in Alta Badia, which is simply one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

Alta Badia is a ski slope in on a plateau of some sort, meaning it's relatively low in altitude, surrounded by valleys and high mountains in the distance. We've had to travel quite a distance to get there (on skis), but the trip was well worth it. To be honest, the ski runs there are nothing special, but the view, that's what we came for! And we were not the only ones, there was a photo shoot taking place while we were there. A few runs and a beer later I was even more amazed by the nature that surrounded me, discovering one of those places that you can't believe they exist. Alta Badia, a place you have to visit someday. I know I will, hopefully for more than one day the next time. Check out the gallery below.

This is what greets you if you come to Alta Badia from Corvara.

The view to the left.

The view to the right.

You just have to stop for a bit.

Drool over this.

Not enough time to ride all of it.

Working in Cape Town - Part 3: The cool stuff

Tue, 07 Dec 2010 08:20:56 GMT

My month of working in Cape Town is over, and I'm fully back to the cold and wet reality of Slovenia. Needless to say it was an amazing ride, packed with ups and downs, and after writing about my first impressions about a month ago I'm slowly ready to present the final objective review, together with the highlights of my trip. The first week I was there was a bit of a struggle, as I was slightly overwhelmed by the culture shock. But after that I managed to adopt the situation and have grown to admire and love Cape Town. Today, sitting at home, I can say that South Africa is a beautiful country with amazing landscape and nature, but at the same time full of cultural contrast and racial inequality, a constant reminder of the things that happened in the past.

My trip in Cape Town revolved mostly around two groups of people. One of them were my coworkers and their friends, almost all of them South African. The other group were my roommates and their friends, most of them Europeans working or studying in Cape Town. This enabled a diversified collection of interesting experiences that happened to me while I was around.

The city

The city of Cape Town is an amazing place. I haven't visited the suburbs enough to make a judgment, but the city center (City Bowl) is a place filled with interesting stuff and cool things to do. The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront is a great place to hang out – a living harbor, full of bars, restaurants and shops. The sandy beaches on the other side of the mountain, a few minutes drive away, resemble a tropical paradise, and there are many of them to suit different tastes. The nightlife is lively, with great pubs and awesome clubs, packed with interesting and diverse people. Not to mention other interesting things you can see while you're there.

The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, with the Table mountain covered with clouds

Camps Bay Beach, with a view over Lion's head

Long Street, a diversified and popular party destination

The jungle inside Company's Garden

The nature

The nature around Cape Town is simply beautiful. The landscape, the scenery, the wildlife and the vegetation are a magnificent addition to the broader region of Cape Town, which makes it a perfect location for short travels for a half-tourist such as myself. The Atlantic is cold and wavy, it's temperature is around 15°C, but people still swim or simply take a short dip. It's been more than 500 years after the Portuguese explorers finally found a way around Africa to India, slowly settling in this remarkable land.

Local flora and fauna (a Kudu antelope)

Cape Point by The Cape of Good Hope

The waves of the Atlantic. Its roar is majestic.

The adventure

There are many things you can do around Cape Town. I visited Aquila Safari, which resembles a reservation park a bit, bit still does the trick, since Kruger Park is more than 1000 km away. I wanted to see the Big 5 (lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, buffalo), but missed the leopard. The trip was still well worth it, the lion family on top of the cliff was simply epic. Otherwise, I also managed to go scuba diving with Cow sharks, and I was lucky enough another diver recorded the whole thing and put it on YouTube (look for the "strong" guy with the black fins, movie courtesy of bartfilms). This dive was without a cage, and the sharks were so close I could touch them. The experience felt so unique and authentic I canceled my cage diving trip with the Great white sharks, since it's without scuba gear and it simply felt lame after this extraordinary sensation.

A lion family sitting on top of the hill

Diving with the Seven-gill Cow sharks, image courtesy of Animal Ocean

Sadly I wasn't able to do more stuff, since my primary function there was to work, and I only had the weekends off. One thing I do regret not doing is the wine tasting tour, because the wine there is simply amazing. But on the other hand, you have to leave a few things for the time you come back, which I probably will. Cape Town is the place to be, and I really enjoyed it to the fullest. Thank you guys!

Check out the complete Working in Cape Town series.

Working in Cape Town - Part 1: First impressions

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 15:33:35 GMT

I managed to be lucky enough to get invited to Cape Town to work on a project for a month. Neolab has been developing an information system for a client stationed here and the results are quite satisfying, both for us and for the client. Therefore they decided it would be best if I came around, so we could work on the system together, while at the same time plan new, advanced features to come. I must say this is one of the greatest projects we've ever did, and I really look forward to implementing the social IT 2.0 features into the system in the future. Clients back home don't seem to recognize the real potential in those services, so it's really satisfying to get real feedback from a client on the concept.

Cape Town and South Africa are beautiful, the landscape is simply amazing, even though the flora resembles the European Mediterranean a bit. It's currently spring time, so this is actually my second trip in spring this year, and first ever to the southern hemisphere. Speaking of the southern hemisphere - I was actually disoriented for the first few days here, subconsciously thinking north was south, which is a fact I find really interesting.

The city of Cape Town is located around Table mountain, a great landmark of the city, where the Devil and the Dutchman often have a pipe smoking competition. The main city center (called the City Bowl) is surrounded with other mountains, while the suburbs and slums behind them stretch for miles. I am located inside the City Bowl, and the office I work at is within walking distance, so I can enjoy the real wibe of the city every day, as good or bad it may be.

View over Table mountain from our office

I live in a building called Lulu's house, an interesting place filled with interesting people. I share the house with a few interns and other travelers from all over the world, some of them have been living here for months. It's really been wonderful to meet all these people and share different views on life, even though I spend most of my free time with my hosts. Meeting these people made my wonder about my connection with Slovenia and the lack of traveling as a student.

Lulu's House, where I live

I was actually a bit shocked about the general cultural situation at first, the racial mixing seems to be working, but you can still feel the post apartheid influences and segregation. There are many beggars, most of them African, and the other day one of them threatened to steal my wallet if I don't give him change. An awkward moment, but I managed to talk my way out of it, hoping to have as little similar situations in the days to come. South Africa still has a long way to reach equality, but it looks like it's well on the right track.

Cape Town street, where I live

The food is nice, even though most of it would tend towards sweet. But I already got accustomed to that in Thailand, so no problems there. Meat is obviously the main component of the diet, both in meals (preferably roasted or as they call it, braaied), as in dry meat snack called Biltong (which is great). The beer is OK, but it's the wine that deserves a special mention. It's really really amazing, so I'm still thinking of a way to bring as much of it as possible back home, even though we have some very nice wines of our own.

A nice meaty meal

These are my first impressions of Cape Town and South Africa after about 10 days since I've been here. The city is actually quite growing on me, and I didn't even have the time to do a safari, shark-diving or many other things you can't do in Europe. So what seemed like a great deal of time when I got here could actually be over really fast, thanks to a lot of work during weekdays and a lot of crazy stuff to do during the weekends. A most delightful and useful journey indeed.

Check out the complete Working in Cape Town series.

Backpacking in Thailand

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 11:34:06 GMT

November was a great month, my yearly vacation finally arrived. To make it something special, my girlfriend and I went backpacking in Thailand. The country is beautiful and diverse, with metropolises and jungles, highways and paradise islands. The people are also really nice and the food is great. Even though it wasn't cheap, Thailand is a place definitely worth visiting.

Our path started in Bangkok. After a few days of sightseeing, shopping and meeting some friends we took a bus north. Ancient ruins, nature and hikes were amazing, but we decided to fly to Kuala Lumpur to do a bit of change in the culture (Malaysians are mostly Muslim, compared to Buddhists in Thailand). Finally, for the grand finale, we stayed on the tropical islands for a week to gather our strength to return to the western world. The map below displays our journey and the pictures display the highlights.

Bangkok

Bankgkok, the capital of Thailand, is an awesome city. With around 8 million inhabitants, it's packed with sights, temples, palaces, parks, markets and busy streets. The buzz doesn't end even during the night, and tuk-tuks are the coolest and most rational way of getting around in the chaotic traffic of the urban jungle.

Sukhotai

Traveling north, we stopped at the ancient ruins of Sukhotai, a great city of the past. Now it rests among the trees and reminds tourists of the large ancestry of empires long gone.

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai is the cultural center of the north and offers travelers a good starting point for many activities, such as adventures, treks, safaris, cooking schools and one of the greatest things we did on our trip, elephant training. These creatures are colossal and beautiful. After a few hours of activities it's hard not to fall in love with them.

Kuala Lumpur

It's becoming obvious that Asia is the continent of the future, but we had to check it out for ourselves. The capital of Malaysia is a modern city with skyscrapers and monorail, but it lacks some of the cool vibe Bangkok has.

Ko Phi Phi

First island we visited was Phuket, but it turned out to be packed with massive tourist resorts. After one day we ran away to Ko Phi Phi, and it was just what we were looking for. A tropical paradise with long-tail boats, white sand beaches, palm trees and beatiful see.

Ko Phangan

Thailand's famous Full Moon Parties are known all around the world, where tens of thousands of people dance away until sunrise. Sadly they happen only once a month, but we were still lucky enough to catch the Black Moon Party and get loaded on buckets of alcohol under neon lights.

There you have it, three weeks of cruising around Thailand. Seeing the people and society there and comparing them to our materialist western civilization made me wonder about a lot of things. Perhaps it's because of Buddhism, perhaps it's because of other cultural or economical elements, but people there seem happy and you get drawn to that. I felt really safe everywhere I went, which sadly can't be said for many western cities. The story of civilizations continues to intrigue.