Two familiar travellers, perhaps?

Me and Janne in Siem Reap, 22:nd of December 2008

Sihanoukville and Lazy Beach

I just received reports from Stockholm that the first snow of the year has fallen. So I´m posting some photos from warmer latitudes to help you all to feel a bit.. well, warmer... Here are some photos from our trip to Sihanoukville and the island of Koh Rong Saloem that we did by the end of October.

First, we made an overnight stop in Sihanoukville. The hotel we stayed at, the Reef Resort, was a nice and friendly place with good food and a true haven in an otherwise very much destroyed Sihanoukville.

Janne in the pool (where else?!) at the Reef Resort

We were actually shocked to find Sihanoukville in such a state... A very sad experience and so totally opposite to the memories we have from our first visit there 6 years ago. What used to be a nice and quiet little seaside town with beautiful beaches has turned into a very shabby, dirty town and the Serendipity part of Occheutal Beach is covered with garbage and dominated by an overestablishment of shabby backpacker hangouts. Yep; things are changing quickly in Cambodia, just as at so many other places around the world that suddenly becomes popular tourist destinations...

So, after one night in Sihanoukville we were happy to take the boat to the island of Koh Rong Saloem, approximately 3 hrs off Sihanoukville.

Janne on the boat, looking forward to the beach...

After a quite pleasant boatride we arrived to Lazy Beach, a lovely bungalow establishment where we stayed for four nights.
The view from our bungalow

This is truly a great little place, a tropical hideaway from the rest of the world... Very basic accomodation, a bit more basic than we were up for at first actually, but the rest of it totally made up for that; the restaurant with delicious food, the relaxed athmosphere, the two lovely dogs running around, the nice staff, lazy afternoons in the hammocks reading books, swims in the turquoise sea and so on, made our stay there very pleasant and enjoyable. There´s no mobile phone connection or electricity on the island, only a generator running for a few hours in the evenings. Which all adds to the feeling of a hideaway from the rest of the world.

Lazy Beach, seen from the boat

The only drawback was the boatride back to Sihanoukville, as there was a very bad weather on our day of departure from Lazy Beach. Which made it impossible to board the boat from the pier, so we had to swim out to the boat in quite rough sea, and try to climb up and onboard. But with good assistance from fellow passanger we made it without any bigger difficulties. The worst was still to come, though; the seasickness that kept me company for most of the 3,5 hrs it took to get back to Sihanoukville. Next time, I have to remember to bring medicine for that....!

Heading to Ho Chi Minh City

This week, there´s the big, annual Water Festival here in Cambodia. 1-2 million Cambodians are heading to Phnom Penh from all of the countryside provinces to enjoy the boat races on the river, the fireworks and all the other festivities that are going on. It´s a nice party atmosphere, but incredibly crowded. You can´t drive anywhere in the central part of the city or on the river side, most restaurants and shops are closed for the holiday, so unless you are very much into watching boat races and just loves crowds of people, there´s not very much to do but to stay inside and watch dvd for a week. Which I´m not intending to do, so instead I´m taking the opportunity to go to Vietnam for a few days. I´ve never been to Ho Chi Minh City (previosly Saigon) in southern Vietnam before, so that´s where I´m going. On tuesday afternoon I´m catching a bus from Phnom Penh that´s supposed to reach HCMC in five hours, but I guess we´ll have to see about that.... I´ve actually never herd anyone being overly enthusiastic about HCMC so I don´t have very high expectations, but it´ll be interesting to see this commercial hub of Vietnam. And also to compare it to the very different city of Hanoi in the north, as the two cities are supposed to be eachothers´opposites when it comes to character. And of course; a change of environment, some good shopping, Vietnamese coffe, delicious food, art galleries and lazy afternoons at atmospheric cafés reading a good book, will be very nice..!

Going to the beach....

On Sunday morning, we´re heading to the coast for a well deserved holiday. We´ll stay one night in Sihanoukville first, before taking the boat to our main destination; "Lazy Beach". On the island, there are no telephones, no internet-connection, no television, no modernities what so ever. Just a long, beautiful beach, the ocean and us with a pile of books. The food and drinks are supposed to be excellent, which of course is a bonus as well. So we´re looking forward to a lovely, relaxing week.
So long!

Cruising....

I´ve now decided to book a tour to Ha Long Bay this coming weekend. Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, about 3 hr from Hanoi.

I´m going on an overnight cruise on this boat...
Not too bad, huh?

I´m really excited about this. The only thing is that I suddenly realized that for the very first time in my life, I´ve booked a cruise... And a pretty luxury one as well... or what do you say about this?
I´m afraid that this is a pretty clear sign that I´ve reached the middle-ages... :-/ So pls don´t tell anyone..! *blushing*

Hanoi = love

I love Hanoi! Just so you know... A wonderful, beautiful city with tons of atmosphere. Great food and shopping, amazing arcitechture and art galleries. I love it!!!

Next stop Hanoi...

Tomorrow, I´m leaving for Hanoi where I´m going to take a course in "Project and Programme Management" for two weeks. I´ve planned so I´ll get three weekends in total in Hanoi to get some time to explore the city as well. Ever since I watched the beautiful movie "At the Height of Summer" or "the Vertical Rays of the Sun" as it´s also called sometimes (see the movie clips below), I´ve always wanted to go to Hanoi, so I´m really looking forward to it.

To treat myself,  and to get some well deserved time off from the studies, I might do this as well. What do you think?! :-)

Let´s go shopping

This isn´t a very good picture, but I couldn´t resist showing it to you; look closely and you´ll see that it´s a roller coaster. It´s running inside a shopping mall. That´s how big the shopping malls are in KL.... This picture is from Berjaya Times Square, a gigantic mall with 900 shops, a cineplex with Southeast Asia´s largest cinema and movie screen, and a huge indoor theme park of 133,000 square feet called Cosmos World. All in one building. 

Monorail

One of the many means of transportation in Kuala Lumpur; the Monorail.

Sultan Abdul Samad Building

The Sultan Abdul Samad Building, the first moghul-style structure built in Kuala Lumpur, which was officially opened in 1897 as the Supreme Court. Today, it´s housing the High Court and is the centerpiece of KL´s historic district.

Old and new, side by side...

In this picture you can see both one of the minarets of the beautiful Jamek Mosque, built 1909, and the Kuala Lumpur Tower, the second tallest building in KL, built 1995.

Petronas at night....

Quite impressive, I must say... We felt really small, looking up on the 452 meter tall building from the ground...

Petronas Twin Towers

The Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur are the world´s tallest pair of buildings at 452 metre (1,480 ft). Between 1996 and 2003 it was the world´s tallest building, until the Taipei 101 Tower topped it by 56 meters (190 ft). The towers were designed by Cesar Pelli and Associates, and the cost for the whole project was USD 1,2 billion.

A weekend in Kuala Lumpur

The weekend trip to Kuala Lumpur was great in every way. It was of course lovely to see my beloved husband Janne again, and get the opportunity to spend some time together. KL is a modern, clean, well-organized city which made me, a Phnom Penh citizen, feel like "the hillbilly cousin" on a visit (which I was, I guess). With numerous impressive shopping malls, multi laned highways and modern buildings side by side with old colonial and islamic architectural wonders and with a multi ethnic population, Kuala Lumpur comes across as both outwardly cosmopolitan and very Asian at the same time. Although, I must say that I kind of missed the "chaos" and "unpredictability" of Cambodia. One of the highlights for the two of us who has a big interest in architecture, was the many interesting buildings to admire.

More photos will follow, but as there seems to be a problem with publishing all of them in the same posting, you´ll find them one by one or in pairs, above.

Going to Kuala Lumpur

Yaay - today I´m happy for two things;

1) I have internet connection in my flat again! Which means that I have a fair chance of connecting with the rest of the world after two weeks of isolation.

2) Today (Saturday) I´m flying to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to meet up with my beloved husband who´s there on a business trip. He landed there this morning, I´ll arrive this afternoon, and we´ll have almost two days together in KL, before I have to go back to Phnom Penh for work on Monday morning. Less than two days in KL might not seem too long time to some people, and most would probably not bother to fly from Cambodia to Malaysia for a short stay like that. But for a couple like us who don´t see see eachother more often than once every three months, it´s a very welcome addition to all that time that we spend apart.
And oh, there´s one more thing that makes this visit to KL very special to us; We got married in June 1998, and went to Malaysia on honeymoon. We spent almost two months there and in neighbouring countries, and already back then we said that we´d really like to go back to Malaysia for our 10 year wedding anniversary. And now; voila - 10 years later - we´ll be back there (almost) right on time for some romantic anniverary celebration. Which I´m reeeeally looking forward to! ;-)

So now; time for some last minute packing - as always...

Arrival Day

After a quite pleasant flight Stockholm-Bangkok-Phnom Penh without any delays but more unfortunately no sleep either, I arrived to Phnom Penh at 9 am this morning. An hour later I was at home in my apartment, had taken a shower and went to bed for what I thought would be a two-three hour nap, which is my usual strategy to fight the jetlag after a flight. But I guess I was more tired after being awake for 21 hrs straight than I had realised , so I didn´t wake up until 5 pm, which means that I had slept for 7 hrs. Not a very good thing to do if you want to adjust to the Cambodian time zone, but I guess I really needed it... Unpacked my things in just 5 minutes, as my bag from Sweden only weighed 7 (!) kg. I must say that I´m really improving my skills when it comes to travelling light! Went out for an Indian meal together with friends, and are now ready for bed again. Only 6 hrs after I woke up, but I´m really tired so hopefully there won´t be any problems sleeping the whole night through despite the jetlag.

Yet I don´t know how it actually feels to be back in Phnom Penh again. Of course I miss my loved ones who are still in Sweden. At the same time, Phnom Penh is also my home now, just as much as Stockholm. I have two homes now, in two different cities, two different worlds... It´s just too bad that my loved ones and I can´t be in the same one all the time.

I guess I need some more sleep before I can reflect on this any further. *yawn* Good night!

Back to the beach

Tomorrow, Saturday, I´m going back to Kep again!

This time with some staff from my office; a bunch of my Khmer colleagues and my Swedish boss. We´ll stay at...
...Veranda Natural Resort - the same place as where Michael and I stayed a couple of weeks ago.

I´m really looking forward to some good time together with my colleagues, peace and quiet...

...and wonderful sea views.

Just keeping my fingers crossed that my stomach which has been troubling me for more than 10 days now, will let me enjoy the trip as well.

In line with all Khmer time schedules, we´ll leave faaaaar to early according to me; 06.30 AM... Which means that I probably should go to bed now to get a few hours of sleep...

Going to the coast

Today, Michael and I are leaving for the coast. We´re going to Kep, a sleepy little town for some beachlife and relaxation Wednesday - Sunday. I´m really looking forward to it, neither one of us has been there before so it´s going to be both interesting and great with a change of environment for a while. No matter how much I enjoy living in Phnom Penh, it´s always nice to get a break from the city life now and then.

For some more information on where we´re going, check out http://www.travelfish.org/location/cambodia/southern_cambodia/kampot/kep, and http://veranda-resort.com to see where we´ll be staying.

The Atlanta Hotel in Bangkok - a place to dream in a city that never sleeps

This week the Pchum Benh festival is celebrated in Cambodia, which means that I´ve got Wednesday-Sunday off from work. A perfect opportunity to go to my favourite city Bangkok I thought - so here I am! I arrived to a flooded Bangkok on Wednesday evening, checking in at my beloved "the Atlanta Hotel" (www.theatlantahotelbangkok.com) where I´ve stayed so many times before. Oh, my beloved Atlanta... Can´t descibe in words how much this place has meant to me over the years... This has been my base for my studies, research and writing, and for my travels - both on my own and together with Janne. I´ve met many good friends here, it´s become my Home away from home where I always feel welcome and being greeted as a family member. The family "the Atlantians" as we sometimes joke about ourselves, a group of more or less (usually more) excentric writers, researchers, independent travellers, expats, etc, of which many have visited the Atlanta for many, many years and still are coming and going on a regular or irregular basis. The Atlanta is a budget hotel, pretty much untouched since the 50:s, with a wonderful art deco lobby and sweeping staircases. Also with a lovely restaurant with tons of 50:s athmosphere, with the most delicious food and an extensive vegetarian menue. There´s actually where I´m sitting now writing this, and this is also where I ususally spend my evenings, reading, writing, catching up with old friends I haven´t seen for quite some time and sometimes also making new ones. In the daytime, it´s lovely to relax by the pool or in the garden, watching the turtles in the pond that´s constantly expanding as more and more baby turtles are hetched every year. And of course to cuddle with some of the more than 40 cats that has been adopted by the Atlanta. I´m always crying when I´m leaving this place, and I probably will tomorrow as well. But it´s good to know that I´m now living only an hour away by plane, which gives me the opportunity to come here a lot more often now. This might be the first, but maybe not the last stay at the Atlanta for me this year...?!