18th May 1999 to 1st October 1999

1. This is the story so far...

On arrival in Bangkok on the 18th May 1999 I immediately head for the legendary Khao San Road (cows on the road), where every single backpacker in Bangkok feels obliged to reside. It is a noisy, touristy and dirty place under the sun, but they do provide every imaginable and unimaginable service and facility for the foreigners (You like fried grasshoppers?). Most of the people I meet are quite busy and not that friendly. But it is a great pleasure to sit in the crowded street next to a food stall and feast on the delicious Pad Thai noodles (10 Baht). Transport in Bangkok is best done by boat, as in a Tuk Tuk (colourful motor taxi with low-ceiling) you might die choking on exhaust fumes during a traffic jam. Except for the instructive snake farm I have no time for sightseeing this time. I am here to arrange my Visa for Myanmar. The friendly owner of the local book shop accepts to keep my flight tickets in his safe box until my return in a few months. In the evenings I watch the latest movies on one of the busy terraces, where the beer is more expensive (1,5$). On the 22nd May I almost miss my flight to Myanmar because of a ruthless traffic jam.

2. Burma

At Yangon airport every tourist has to exchange 300$ into 300 Foreign Exchange Certificates (FEC), a kind of Monopoly money invented to pay hotels and entrance fees. Officially you cannot change them back. In this country it is very useful to have dollars as well which can be exchanged on the black market into 350 KIAT (chat), the local currency. I manage to get through with 150$ because I seem not to remember the code on my Visa card and I pretend I have no more dollars. In Yangon (Rangoon) I stay at Mahabandoola GH for 3 FEC a night. Philip, a Canadian who has a 6-month meditation Visa is the only western person I meet. Win Thein, a local moneychanger, shows me around town. Food is incredibly cheap (for 1$ you have a menu for 2 people) and he brings me to some good restaurants during the next few days. There are frequent rainfalls as it is the wet season. We even go to the local cinema (Godzilla) for 75 K (=7,5 LUF). Once per day you are allowed to phone. You wait ½ to 2 hours but for less than 1$ you can speak for max 3 minutes. Win Thein helps me to improve my Burmese so that I can at least order a beer. The language has 5 different tones. Drinking beer is what I actually do in the evening with Philip. We eat chicken BBQ in the Chinese quarter and discuss about life although my constructivist, probabilistic rationality is the opposite of his idealistic, Buddhist spirituality. We have cats, rats, mice and Chernobyl cockroaches to keep us company. The streets are really disgusting as the locals chew beetle nut and spit the red juice on the floor wherever they happen to stand. It takes me the next 2 days to arrange an overpriced flight to Kunming (200USD), but I'm not allowed to travel overland. At a time I have up to 6 different telephone numbers while fighting my way through Burmese aviation bureaucracy until I find out that Air China is not China Air and Yunnan Airlines stopped this connection. The struggle to get my Chinese Visa isn't much better and finally the embassy agrees to issue it for only 12 $ within 5 days - I'm blocked in Yangon for 5 more days, great! At least I do have now plenty of time for sightseeing. The huge golden Shwedagon Pagoda is really impressive, the 64m long Reclining Buddha is monster too, and many other buildings are definitely worth the hassle of getting there. Inside the temple areas you are not allowed to wear shoes. My standard means of transport are the packed pickup trucks (some people have to sit on the roof).

I decide to risk a 2-day trip to Kyaiktyio to admire a huge golden boulder suspended on the edge of a cliff. Win Thein helps me getting the bus ticket for 400K and advises me to bribe the soldiers (1$) when they check the photocopy of my passport. I meet Masaki Ohara, a Japanese guy who I become friend with. Although I don't feel well the next morning (fever and stomach cramps) I decide to climb up the mountain. The awesome boulder is covered in mist and I can forget about my panoramic view picture. To hike down the mountain is hell as I feel worse and worse. I end up with 50 people at the back of a small truck where I have to sit on a shovel (no joke) and the 10-cm thick layer of loaded sand enters my nose and eyes. I first have to drive back to Bago (Pegu) where a Trishaw driver carries me to the 114m high Shwemawdaw Paya. I don't even enter because of fever. On my way back to Yangon I feel more and more sick and after serious bargaining a Taxi drops me at my guesthouse. Early in the morning on my way back from the toilet I faint and I gain consciousness at a 24/24h doctor (apparently I walked there with my hotel manager who heard me falling down the stairs). One hour later a first doctor tells me that I have to go to hospital in emergency, but my manager insists to see another doctor - nobody likes to loose his only paying guest to a local hospital. The second medicine man prescribes 6 different kinds of drugs and sends me to sleep. I sleep for 48 hours and when I wake up on the 3rd day my fever is down.

On 31st May I'm finally ready to visit Myanmar. I take a luxury overnight bus to Mandalay for 2000K which breaks down soon but is replaced after one hour. To cheer us up they play very loud music the whole night. I visit Mandalay by bicycle in one long day. At Mahamouni Paya a 20 cm gold layer covers the 4 m high Buddha statue. I start wondering whether they had not better investing their resources in infrastructure or social projects than in thousands of pagodas. The 8 km long wall of the fort is impressive: 8m high, surrounded by a 70m wide ditch. I climb Mandalay Hill and visit Kuthodaw Paya (the largest book in the world).

The next day I have to sit during 8 hours on huge bags filled with fermented shrimp paste (seriously) to reach Hsipaw, a small village in Shan Province. The bus passes at least 10 military checkpoints where the driver has to pay each time a 'passage fee'. At Mr Charles guesthouse I meet for the first time some fellow travellers and, nice coincidence, Masaki is here as well. We have some great food at a local restaurant. The next day, together with Mr Charles, Masaki and Sophie, I do some walking through the hill tribe villages, where the locals invite you for tea and unknown, weird fruits. In the afternoon, we go swimming and visit a Popcorn Factory. At the Shan Palace, Ronald, the nephew of the last Shan prince (who died in prison) gives us extremely interesting background information about Myanmar. The book 'Twilight over Burma' tells his tale. The generals are afraid of Aung San Su Ki, who is preparing the revolution for 9.9.99. Even the military is split into 2 fractions. People from the nearby villages have to work as slaves on the construction of the new road passing through this area. But as even government officials only earn 1000K per month (3$), they can only survive with bribes (presents) and corruption. The next day I leave Hsipaw at 4.30 am and drive back to Mandalay together with Christine, a Danish girl. The next morning we take a ferry to Mingun, an ancient capital, dominated by the ruins of the largest pagoda ever planned. In the afternoon I visit, together with a Dutch Psychology Lecturer, the ancient city of Amarapura and U Bein's 1,2-km long teakwood bridge. Together with Christine and Giselle from Birmingham we have an excellent Shan food dinner.

On 6.6.99 I manage to get an early morning bus to Inle Lake. I stay in Nyaungshwe village but I must have eaten some spoilt food in the evening as I throw up the whole night. Above all I have many bugs in my bed and no electricity (light) to chase them efficiently. The next day I only have the strength to organise a boat for the day after. After a Mango breakfast, I am floating together with a German and an American couple on Inle Lake. We visit beautiful floating gardens, a local market and the extremely funny jumping cats monastery (the monk says 'jump' and the sleepy pussy jumps through an iron ring). Unfortunately I burn my shoulders on the lake, probably the photo reactive effect of the Doxy pills that I take against Malaria. At the delicious 4 Sisters restaurant you can pay at your discretion for a full meal.

The 9.6.99 is my nightmare travel day. At 5.30 am, I leave my guesthouse where I had to pack my clothes in the dark. There is no bus at 6 as planned, so I stop a car to take me to the junction (12 km). Here I meet Atum who was, according to his tale, too drunk the day before to organise my bus. The station manager Charles, a guerrilla veteran, pushes me together with a friendly monk and another local on the front seat of a pickup truck next to the driver. 6 hours later we arrive in Meiktila where the locals tell me there is no bus to Bagan (Pagan). Accompanied by some locals, who give me bad advice, I walk to another station where they try to sell me a ticket for a bus that leaves only at 5 p.m. I resign and take another door to door pickup to Kyauk Padaung, where I arrive 4 hours later. Finally a pony cart driver manages to rip me off by convincing me that the bus station for Bagan is too far away for walking. The manager of the local pickup number 3 wants me to pay for the whole bus, as there are no other passengers at this time. I almost lose my patience, but I manage to get the price down from 500 to 200 after some minutes by pretending to sleep on a wall. A 2 hours drive on a wooden bench is even more exhausting when the locals are begging for presents all the way long. One of them wears already my hat, one my glasses, another one is reading my guidebook, and my neighbour constantly grabs and scratches me (on my sunburn) because he wants to 'exchange T-shirts'. I have to shout several times but I manage to get my things back by bribing the passengers with my last chewing gum. I feel the fever coming back. I finally arrive at Golden Village Inn where I get a great double room for 2 FEC. The next morning I visit Shwezigon Paya but my fever makes me go back to bed. My Belgian neighbours Ilse and Andy are doctors (specialised in tropical diseases) and look after me.

The 11.6.99 is Pagoda day. Bagan is a huge plain dotted with thousands of Stupas, Temples and Pagodas as far as your eyes can see. I rent a bicycle and drive direction Old Bagan, where I soon meet Masaki and a Japanese girl. Together we visit some of the pahtos and payas. At the restaurant we meet the Belgian couple. The speciality is prawn noodles for 500K. In the afternoon I cross around deserted pagodas to reach Mingalazedi where I can climb to the top. The panorama is breathtaking and I stay for one hour. At 4 p.m. I notice an impressive temple. Approaching this massive structure I feel like Indiana Jones in Temple of Doom. There are many bats and some of the tunnels have never been opened, as Dhammayangyi Pahto is said to be haunted. Next I have to meet Masaki at Shwesandaw paya for the sunset. All the backpackers gather here and it's a great atmosphere. The next few days I spend a lot of time with the Belgians who like good food and know how to have fun. I read a lot and go for sunrise (5.32 am.) and sunset to Old Bagan. I visit one more frightening temple quite off the beaten track, where I climb like Lara Croft in Tomb Raider through some tiny tunnels up the 5 floors to the top. As the sun is sinking and the reliefs cast longer shadows, the old ruin (Guninyiahma) is even more impressive. The next day we hire a taxi to visit Mount Popa, the Olympus of Burma 2 hours away from Bagan. After you pass the nasty monkeys you have a great view from the top (1500m). I meet Andrew, an American who is doing Myanmar in 4 days by plane and staying in a 80$ Hotel. We bring him to our favourite restaurant in Bagan. He is so surprised of the prices that he decides to stay in a 3$ guesthouse.

An overnight bus (with air-con and Terminator 2 movie) brings me back to Yangon for 1500K. Here I spend my last money on presents and good food. I meet again Masaki who stays in my hotel. I go once to the cinema (Titanic) for 75K, where everybody stands up and sings the national anthem at the start of the movie. I spend a whole morning at the GPO to send my presents back to Luxembourg (which of course is not on any official list, so I pretend it belongs to Germany). It's an organisation with Kafkaesque, bureaucratic rules, unfriendly staff, export and security officers, 6 (!) different forms to fill in, 3 parcel wrappers, one person just to weight, another one to put the stamps, 2 cashiers, supervisors... at least 20 people worked on my 'case', amazing! I almost miss my flight to Kunming.

3. Student life in China

On the 16th June late in the afternoon I arrive in Kunming, the provincial capital of Yunnan Province, where I have the honour to take the bus together with the attaché culturel from the French embassy. On arrival at the university there is immediately a farewell party of a French guy where the Tsing Tao Beer is flowing. I am very happy to see my friend Fido, who is studying Chinese since 1 year, and to meet his new friends Robert (Chinese name: Luobi) a fake "sextourist" from Switzerland and his Japanese girlfriend Yoko. We have some beers and eat pizza.

Because of a trade fair in Kunming everything has changed dramatically since my last visit 1 year ago: large roads and renovated buildings, modern shopping centres (Wal Mart), paved and clean streets decorated with flowers and trees and even electronic traffic guiding systems. The restaurant near the Yunnan University (Journey to the East) has Internet. This is the place where I will spend a good part of my 2 next weeks. After some organisation acrobatics with the university authorities I can stay in Fido's room for free. Accommodation is very nice and we even have hot water from 6 to 8 am. In the mornings while Fido attends his lessons I usually use his portable computer, write postcards, read or plan my travels. For lunch we usually go to the University restaurant (half a US$ for a complete meal), join Luobi for garlic dumplings (Yautse) at a street seller, or go to try grasshoppers at a Thai restaurant (Luobi pretends it smells like urine here). In the evenings we either go for a drink or watch some DVD. The latest movies (e.g. Star Wars) are already for sale here. Fido's teacher (Fu Dau Lao Tse), named Xia Bi In, gives me some private lessons in Greetings-and-Civilities-Chinese and after 5 minutes I apparently managed to pronounce her name correctly. The second evening we have a Drum Session at Blue Bird Cafe and one day later we have a crazy Japanese birthday party. For Luobi "This is the end". We have to drink again a lot of beer and rice wine and after an interesting conversation with Luobi, who studied physics, we end up with a better understanding of Big Bang, cosmology, lasers, Superstring theory, Antiparticles and thus Anti-universe...KAMPAI! The next day there is again a Peruvian Farewell party in the early afternoon, and for me "This is the end". As it is Saturday night we dress up (Fido lends me his suit and tie) and go to the local disco (Top One). The poor Chinese cannot believe it when we start dancing like crazy and jumping around. It's good fun. There are actually many "hostesses" (3 Pei: drinking, speaking, dancing) but as well some prostitutes (4 Pei: one more service). Although the Madame comes to ask several times if we need some company, this is not included in our budget. The second week I visit Tanhua Temple Park, play my favourite games on Internet (Strategic Simulations like Age of Empires), go shopping (3 good copy Boss Shirts for 20 $), write letters, read a lot (e.g. an interesting article about the evolution of consciousness) and plan my route through Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. One evening Fido invites me to a Japanese Restaurant where apart from the monster food we have an additional private dance performance as a surprise.

On Thursday 24th I leave with Fido to Dali, a nice laid-back town surrounded by fortifications close to a lake. The next day we continue to Lijiang, which can be called little Venice, as many picturesque channels cross this Naxi Minority Town. We meet Pricilla, an interesting DJ from Radio Guangzhou, who invites us for dinner. It's very interesting to discuss with her about Chinese History, Culture and Society. We spend the next day on a long but scenic bus ride to Zhongdien in Tibetan Area. We meet a skilled artist from Manchuria, who sleeps in our dormitory. As Fido pretends that I am a biologist specialised in botany, I feel obliged to start a flower collection; to the great amusement of the Tibetans. We are trekking to Songzanlin, a near Tibetan temple (where it's raining), climb up a mountain (to see prayer flags), hike through rice fields and villages (where some farmers make us try a disgusting cheese), to a lake (which is almost dry), and finally along an endless river. I find over 20 different species of flowers and we get sunburnt quite a bit. A sleeper bus that we almost miss gets us back to Kunming.

The whole week is spent for organisation but unfortunately I don't get any overland Visa for Vietnam, because of a border conflict. It seems that I have to go to Laos first. Fido falls ill for some days and I spend some time with Luobi. On 2nd July there is a flood in Kunming and the market is under water. Armed with some beers and a laser (range: 2 km), that we bought at the Bird and Flower Market, we sneak in the evening on the roof of the university building and play "shoot Chinese" - great fun. Fido won a meal at a restaurant and we eat a huge soup in which you cook yourself ingredients like chicken, noodles, egg, vegetables, but as well grasshoppers, bees and bee larvae...bon appétit!

On the 3rd July I leave by sleeper bus to Jinghong, Xishuangbanna district, where I arrive 24 hours later. Jinghong is a small pleasant town on the Mekong. I stay at a bamboo hut that I share with Mike, an American who is quite ill. I celebrate the 4th July with Jenny, another American. The next day we bring Mike to the doctor. I intend to arrive on the same day in Mengla but what starts as a pleasant journey through the jungle finishes in a major landslide in the mountains that has to be bombed away with dynamite. Together with a German couple I continue on foot and catch a bus on the other side. One day later I drive during 2 hours from Mengla to Mohan, which is a small ride away from the Lao Border.

4. Lao Lao

On the border crossing in Boten I have the opportunity to get a direct bus to Luang Prabang. The streets are not the best, so I don't want to be stuck in the north of Laos. Usually you have very uncomfortable pickups that break down frequently. We drive slowly because there are often animals in the street. Although I see some very nice landscapes, after only 4 hours I decide to interrupt the uncomfortable ride in Udomxai, where, except for a Swiss couple that I meet, there is nothing of interest.

On the 7th July I finally arrive in Luang Prabang after 5 hours of pickup with people almost sitting on your lab. For less than 2 US$ (1500 Kip) I take a nice GH with bathroom. For 1 US$ you get officially 9300 KIP, but due to high inflation Thai Baht are accepted as well. Luang Prabang, the old capital, is a UNESCO World Heritage site with many fantastic temples close to the Mekong. On Alan's boathouse I meet a big American Lady who is already completely drunk and stoned for lunch. Inette seems sympathetic though and I accept her invitation to go to a local disco in the evening. At "Indochina", my favourite restaurant where I will dine almost every day, they have excellent mushroom steak and mushroom cream spaghetti for only 12000K. At the disco I practise Lao line dances to the amusement of the live band and celebrate a Lao birthday (we all get birthday cake in the face and in the hair). I have a lot of fun with Inette (who is a nurse in Vientiane) and her Lao and Japanese friends (doctors) although we almost have to carry her home at 12 (closing time). The next day I go with Inette, Ito (Japanese TV programme director) & Co to the wonderful Kouang Si waterfalls in the jungle. It's like paradise, and after spicy papaya salad we swim in the clear, icy water in naturally formed basins. On the way back though, Inette insists to stop at a village to smoke some Opium. The Japanese don't appreciate at all. Only the 3rd day I start my non-guided tour through the city to see the temples, some of which are being restored. There are many tourists here. For sunset I climb Mount Phousi to eat a pineapple and play with a Russian AA Gun. On Saturday I hire a boat to go to Pak Ou Caves (4000 Buddha). We stop at a village where they produce rice wine (10 days fermentation) and Lao Lao (distilled rice wine). All the chickens here are terminal alcoholics. In the next village they weave and have a paper factory. The next day I go again to the waterfall where I meet Adi a clever Israeli girl who explains me the functioning and new applications of holograms and laser light. In the evening at Indochina we talk about physics and cosmology theories. The next morning while doing my illegal money changing behind the market I get ripped off, but for a small bribe a local fisherman helps me to get my money back. Later on I cannot use my phone card and after long talks in 3 offices they still don't help me. I feel that I should have stayed in bed. After some sightseeing, I meet Say, a local guide. I have some beers with him and he drives me on his bike to Rama disco where I meet 3 English people. The next day they are on my bus to Vang Vieng (6 hours).

Beautiful rock formations with many caves and small villages with rice fields make this a nice place to stay in. In the evening I get trapped in a drinking game with cards. Together with 3 Scandinavian guys I form a survival troop on a 7-km ride on inner tubes down a river the next morning. After some walking I find my way up a dry riverbed to Khan Cave where a young boy equipped with a torch makes me crawl trough dark, ever narrowing tunnels. Very muddy but great speleological experience! In the evening I am sick and have to throw up. On the 15th I have to stand 4 hours on the back of a pickup truck while driving to Vientiane, while a sick minority grandma lying at my feet threatens to throw up on me. At least I can admire the landscape from the roof.

Vientiane is a sleepy capital indeed with only one shopping street but moderately higher prices, especially for the Guest Houses (4$ the cheapest). I have the great privilege to be the very first visitor at a GH that will officially open on Monday (2$). The family is very friendly and they let me type on their computer free of charge. Internet is very expensive in Laos. In Vientiane I visit the local Arc de Triomphe (Patuxai), extend my Lao Visa (1 US$/day), and organise my Visa for Vietnam. Locals send me to the wrong bus station because my pronunciation is not correct: the nearby Buddha Park Xieng Khuang is not the same as the remote village Xieng Khuan which cannot be reached in the wet season - thanks god, I would have ended up there. Later on the same day, I get into a fight with a Tuk Tuk driver who wants 5000 Kip instead of 500 (as I understood and which is much closer to the usual price). He repeatedly tries to run me over until I pay 1000 Kip. I visit many Wats and Temples. Food is cheap and delicious: Indian food, Korean BBQ, Beer Lao. With 2 locals on motorbike and Emma we drive to a disco, where the Laotians are all crazy.

On the 18th July I leave (again standing 4 hours outside on a truck) to Thalaat where the Nam Ngum Dam flooded a huge area of jungle. Now there are specialised foresters who cut the precious trees with a chainsaw underwater. I charter a boat with 4 other people to go swimming in these strange surroundings and afterwards we eat delicious fish. Again I get a brand-new GH: after I helped with some woodcutting the owner gives me the key and disappears as I am the first and only customer. After 4 different busses, taxis, and a ferry (raft) I arrive the next day in Thulakhom, where I visit a supposedly animal friendly Zoo. The tigers however are pitiful.

I manage to get back to Vientiane before the 21st when my Visa is finally ready. I admire the big golden That Luang, the Chinese market and some other temples (but I think I'm already templed out). With 3 French brothers who are into bodybuilding I do push-ups (only 40) and abdominals (3 min). I decide to do this every day from now on until I reach 240 push-ups (3 sequences of 80) like them.

My Japanese sponsored bus that needs 10 hours (half-hour fried squirrel lunch break included) to Savannakhet has aircon, but the hotel that I get for 12500 is a rundown dirt hole. At 5.30 the next day I am waiting again at the station (always 2 km out of town to make your travels more fun). The oldest, dirtiest wreck that they dare to call a bus, with which we have 4 (four!) breakdowns, is supposed to drive my tall neighbour (French Economy teacher) and me to Pakse. Unfortunately the hotel is full, so I have to sleep on the floor between Simon (GB) and Bryney (IRL) for 3000K. At 7 am, we are sitting in a small boat on the Mekong for Champassak, but we leave only at 11 when the nutshell is so full that we nearly drown twice. The first time the boat suddenly tips to one side but the people on the roof rapidly stand up because some heavy, metal pieces have to be pushed back towards the middle of the boat. The second time at a lunch stop several food sellers in little canoes come like pirates from all sides and try to climb inside the boat. On arrival I find out that there is no transportation back to Pakse (where I left my backpack) if I don't go back immediately. I take the risk to visit Vat Pu, the Angkor period ruins, although I have to charter a Tuk Tuk for 15000 which drives me afterwards to the next village. Here I take a ferry and meet some friendly Thais (business delegation) who drive me back to Pakse in their luxurious minivan. I share my room with Hannah (GB) who offers me Tolstoy's War & Peace, as I ran out of books. The next morning everything is flooded, and my Samlo (long Tuk Tuk) driver doesn't make any efforts to get me on time to the bus station. The bus to Salavan is basically a wooden coffin on wheels, where I sit with 6 adults and 3 children on a 200-on-10-cm wooden bench. The bus drops me in the middle of nowhere. Tad Lo resort is 1 mile further through the rain. The 'resort' next to a waterfall is so shitty that I can only laugh. The only 'trek' is out and back on a muddy path along fields towards a hydroelectric power plant (I walk there with my roommate Kathy) and on request about the elephant trek, the manager tells me that THE elephant is ill. Unfortunately, my planned route to Sepon is cut and I'll have to make a 3-day detour. A French girl gets scratched on her nose by a mouse during that night, while her T-shirt, soap and toothpaste are eaten by the mouse's friends. At 6.30 a.m. I am already in the small restaurant waiting for a Taxi because it was raining inside my bed. Here I meet Kyran (IRL) who is a very positive and friendly Buddhist person who is meditating every day at 5 am and who offered all her belongings to charity. In the bus back to Pakse we meet a Dutch consultant and his wife with whom we have an interesting dinner that night. On the 26th I travel with Kyran back to Savannakhet where we get a nice room for 20000K.

The next day as usual I get up at 5 a.m. in order not to miss my bus to Sepon (direction Lao Bao, Vietnam border). Here I meet Simon back. There are bomb craters (B52s) everywhere along the road. Laos is the most bombed country in history. After 8 hours (the street is so bad that you can not even read) the bus driver drops me in a small village. An official from the ministry of culture (only person who speaks English) helps me to organise a tour to the Ho Chi Minh Trail the next day with the local police. I meet the policeman at 5 am. In the pouring rain we drive a couple of hours to a collection of shacks: the beginning of the trail. On the way we pass a truck that fell actually completely with the front right side inside one of the holes in the street, because the driver couldn't see the depth of the pothole as the street was covered with water. Armed with an umbrella I wade behind my policeman and a local guide through the mud to see some destroyed tanks (T17). The village here has been moved several km, as the ground was so bombed that they could not possibly build anything on the same spot. With the bombshells that destroyed their houses, these poor people built boats, fences, and ovens or use them as flowerpots. Many craters remain and there are many hidden mines everywhere (they show me a fresh explosion where a child got killed). I am covered with leeches and my legs won't stop bleeding for 1 hour. I wait a long time in the rain to get on my next bus to the border. I have first to take a bike and then to walk. The Lao-Vietnam no-man's-land is impressive here, and my passport gets checked minimum 10 (!) times.

5. Good Morning, Vietnam!

At Lao Bao Border I try to find a bus going to Hue. All the time I have moneychangers and taxi drivers surrounding me, shouting at me and offering their overpriced services: e.g. the same meal for tourists costs exactly twice as much as for locals. Two Slovenian couples and Juan, an Argentinean guy, have been stuck here for several hours already. The bus is packed with condensed milk and Red Bull cans, so there's no space for the legs anymore. Nice landscape though, and hey, I have a seat. They drop us 5 km away from the city centre in the middle of nowhere. We have no idea where we are, but the cyclo drivers and motorbike taxis are swarming around us like mosquitoes. I share a room with Juan, a computer specialist whom I like immediately and who becomes a good friend of mine. However I am shocked to see so many tourists here. All the sellers try to drag us into their shops (especially restaurants).

One day later (29th July) I do the Perfume River Boat Tour with Juan and the Slovenians. It looks to me like a big tourist trap: everything is organised, overpriced (e.g. additional 5 US$ entrance fee for each site) and these royal tombs and sights (eg. Thien Mu Pagoda) lack essence or seem artificial, though maybe picturesque to me. On one of these sightseeing stops, Juan and I prefer to go for a swim although it starts to rain. The amused local fishermen, passing with their boats, throw pomelos and pineapples into the Perfume River for us. Great fun!

That evening we just manage to get the overnight tourist bus to Hanoi. Remember that everything is organised for "farangs" (foreigners)! It's a real torture though, as we have to share our seats at the rear with all the backpacks (falling on us during the night). For 5 US$ we manage to get a double room near Hoan Kiem lake in central Hanoi. There are really pushy street sellers everywhere: e.g. to offer their services, cyclos just drive in your way so that you can't escape. We order our Visa for Cambodia for 20 US$ and try to digest our first impressions about the busy city. We eat every day in the cheap and excellent food stalls on the market. That night we go to Apocalypse bar where Juan meets a Vietnamese girl who is very friendly to him. Hanoi walking tour the next day includes Literature temple and the icy, Stalinist Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum. For dinner we run around the city to find some 'Tii Joh', which means 'dog meat'.

Our 3-day tour to Hailong Bay is wonderful. The fantastic rock formations along which we pass with our boat are breathtaking. We spend 2 nights in a real hotel on pretty Cat Ba island, where we climb on top of a hill in a nature reserve (I'm completely dehydrated). We also visit an abandoned underground hospital and do some work on our suntan on a very beautiful remote beach together with some great people. Among them is Californian-Japanese mermaid Wendy who invites me to go diving together with her in Nha Trang. On our way back to Hanoi I meet a mathematician who helps me resolve an equation model that I have been working on for more than a year. In the evening we watch a spectacular Water Puppet Show.

After another terrible, sauna-like, 24-hour bus ride, Juan and I arrive in Hoi An on the 5th August. Hoi An is a lovely little port town with a great atmosphere. We eat Cau Lau (a local noodle dish) almost every day and order some tailor-made clothes. Juan decides to work in Australia. We rent a motorbike for 60000 Dong and drive to the abandoned Cham ruins in My Son (60 km). Of course some locals on a motorbike take my priority and provoke an accident on our way back. As I was driving very slowly my bike was not damaged. Afterwards we race to the beach to relax. In the evening we meet Wendy and some of her friends. The next morning, Wendy, Juan and I make the tourist's tour of Hoi An: Japanese Bridge, Chinese Assembly Halls and local traditional houses. Afterwards we drive with our bicycles to the beach, where Wendy reveals some of her psychological theories. On our way home, Juan, while dreaming, crashes into an ambulant lighter-repair-shop. Very funny!

We take an excellent overnight mini-bus to Nha Trang. The first day is beach day and in the night I join Juan for some beers at Rainbow's until he's not accessible anymore. On the 9th August (apparently it was a Monday) we embark for crazy Mama Han's Boat Party. The vulgar and drunken old lady screams through a megaphone: "Fuck the PARTY" and everybody jumps into the water while Mama's Boat Party Song is played. We are floating around in inner tubes, drinking beer, snorkelling and socialising with the other tourists. For lunch we have a huge table full of fish dishes while being driven to the next island. After Mama Han finished a whole bottle of strong mulberry wine in one go, she even hands out joints and the party begins. Absolutely decadent, but great fun! That night I'm sad to say goodbye to my stoned Argentinean friend who's leaving Nha Trang. The next day I go diving with Wendy. I hear 3 explosions under water (dynamite fishing) and see a 3-m long Moray Eel. After logistic problems we finally get a bus to Ho Chi Minh City.

HCM City (Saigon) is a huge bustling town. I take an air-con room for 8 US$ together with Wendy and then I go to the frightening Cu Chi Tunnels, an underground network of 3 levels that the Americans were not able to invade. The perverted traps and secret doors are terrible. In the afternoon I visit the depressing 'Museum of American War Crimes' and get an overdose of mutilated bodies and mutated children (Agent Orange). On the 12th August I join Wendy on a lovely Mekong Delta Tour. Bad food though, but the bee-farm and coconut-candy factory are nice. That night the streets are packed with people (because of a football match), so we decide to go out for some drinks. Fake Hard Rock Cafe is expensive, but it's fun to drive around Saigon with a freshly painted motorbike taxi. In the morning we have to leave Vietnam. We have a real bus that drops us at Moc Bai border crossing. Although Wendy lost one of her official documents, we are allowed to enter the no-man's-land that leads us into the "Heart of Darkness" in Cambodia.

6. Into the Heart of Darkness

"Upon taking Phnom Penh on 17th April 1975, the Khmer Rouge implemented one of the most radical and brutal restructurings of a society ever attempted; its goal was to transform Cambodia into a Maoist, peasant-dominated agrarian co-operative." The entire population was placed in mobile work teams to do slave labour for 12 to 15 hours a day. Disobedience brought immediate execution. Year ZERO was proclaimed, currency abolished and the country was completely cut off from the outside world. Until the Vietnamese invasion in 1978, 2.000.000 Cambodians had died in the process.

On Friday the 13th August, after a few passport checks by friendly border officials, we have to sit for some hours in a hot minibus (and ferry across the Mekong) before we arrive in the evening in the capital Phnom Penh. At Narim Hotel I meet again Alison (Inle Lake, Myanmar). After a drink in an Aussie Pub, where some lost souls (probably destroyed expats) roll their joints openly, we drive on a bike to a lively late night bar called 'Heart of Darkness' (good music). In the morning I share a Taxi (with Wendy, Alison and two guys) to drive us around Phnom Penh. First we stop at an artillery range at a military camp (probably in need of funds) where I fire a M16 machine gun and a Colt 45. They have as well M60 (Rambo gun) and grenades (15 US$). Just afterwards we arrive at the 'Killing Fields' of Choeung Ek extermination camp where 8000 skulls are exposed in a huge Memorial Stupa. For lunch I go with Wendy to the Russian Market before visiting the very sad and depressing Tuol Sleng (Security Prison S21) showing walls covered with pictures of every prisoner that has been killed here, torture instruments, a huge Cambodia map build up with skulls... sick! The Royal Palace and especially the Silver Pagoda are great. The pagoda's floor is covered with 5000 silver tiles of 1 kg and it's housing several golden Buddha (one is decorated with 9584 diamonds!). For dinner we go for a Happy Herb Pizza. Only one hour later I have the impression to sink in the mud in the middle of the street although I'm actually just on 'Pluto'...

The ride from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap by fast boat is pleasant although I burn a bit by sleeping on the roof of the boat. I even meet the Slovenians from Vietnam. In the late afternoon we organise 2 drivers (for 6 US$) who will be our guides for the next days and who will take us on motorbikes around the different temples. We buy a 3 day ticket for 40 US$ to enter the temple area. Before sunrise we arrive at the breathtaking Angkor Wat. It's surrounded by a 190 meter wide moat that you have to cross before you can admire the massive 55 m high, 2 storey temple at the end of an almost 500 m long avenue where some beggars and street sellers are waiting for their last business of the day. After dark we are driven to a restaurant to have some great spicy Thai food. The first day starts at sunrise at the elevated Phnom Bakheng where you have a superb panoramic jungle view over the whole temple complex. Next we drive through a decorated gate to the fortified ancient capital of Angkor Thom where the main attraction is the Bayon Temple with its 200 intriguingly smiling faces that you discover while climbing towards the central sanctuary on the 3rd level. Other sights include the destroyed Baphuon, the steep Phimeanakas, Preah Palilay, the Terrace of Elephants and the 12 Prasats towers. For lunch we drive back to Siem Reap to go to the Bayon Restaurant (excellent chicken curry served in a coconut), before going to a mine museum. Ta Prohm is another fantastic temple in the jungle: its beautiful remains are overgrown by vast, invading root systems. Next to it we enjoy the view from the massive 50 m high Ta Keo. For sunset we go back to Angkor Wat to decipher the meaning of the huge wall reliefs.

Having only the frogs and some mosquitoes for company we are waiting in the darkness for the new day that is slowly creeping through the mist of the jungle to light the superb Bayon Temple. Again we climb through its galleries and marvel at the beautiful well preserved bas-reliefs. After Banteay Samre (which is a nice remote temple) we ride 1 hour on a muddy street to see the best-preserved relief carvings at Banteay Srei (that was until recently off limits unless you were accompanied by armed guards). In the afternoon we visit some monuments of the Roluous group where the most spectacular is probably the Bakong Temple. Unfortunately we get caught in the rain. At the local market we eat some great Khmer noodles. Thanks to our drivers we do not even have to pay the tourist price (2000 Real instead of 500). At night we go with Steve to the Angkor What Bar.

Early in the morning we start one of the most tiring trips in SE Asia: Siem Reap-Bangkok overland. My neighbour in the Jeep is an interesting German politician. Some of the potholes in the beaten dirt path, they dare to call street, are so deep that our Jeep actually has to drive inside. Some locals push and pull us out with ropes on the other side or guide us over self constructed bridge structures. For these services they get a coin (like in the Middle Ages). We cross some flooded areas where only tractors prevent us from drowning with our car and sometimes we have to leave the official "street" to drive through flooded rice fields. I see two trucks truly sinking into the mud in the middle of the road while the locals are trying to build a street around them (without tools) to resolve the resulting traffic jam. An unbelievable situation! We are all relieved to arrive at the Poipet border crossing at 5 p.m. After formalities we are back in Bangkok at 10 p.m.

7. Full Moon in Thailand

After all this 'travelling' I decide that I will finally start my holiday: no shitty hotels anymore, no big efforts or losing time just to save some cents, no moneysaving on food or drinks, etc. I spend some time in Bangkok to wait for my Swiss friend Robert (Luobi) who is supposed to get here with his girlfriend Yoko on the 21st August. One night I go with Sam, Richard, Mike and 2 Japanese to the infamous red-light district in Pat Pong to see a rather sad and unerotic show at one of the 40 Go-Go Bars. While the showgirls shoot Ping-Pong balls from their vagina to amuse the mainly Asian public, the half-naked prostitutes try to make conversation and offer their massage services while you drink your beer (included in the 200 Baht entrance fee). Rather pathetic! During my stay in Bangkok I write, Email, organise travel information (thanks Andrew!), process pictures, do banking, watch movies (Matrix, Austin Powers 2...), go out at night, try new food, etc.

On the 23rd I have an icy aircon overnight bus to Surat Thani, from where I board a ferry to the island Koh Pha-Ngan on the East Coast of Thailand. Only at 4 p.m. the next day I manage to organise 2 wooden huts (for me and Luobi who wants to bring a friend the next day) at the Sea Side GH outside Hat Rin. Because of the Full Moon Party on the 26th every single hotel is full in the centre. At my GH I meet Mary and her boyfriend. During the next few days I will basically spend my time sitting with them in the open restaurant of our GH on the beach. Sam, who is a great cook, unfortunately needs eternities to get his strange concoctions (curry, no name...) ready and we sometimes wait for several hours. Eventually Luobi joins me accompanied by his friend Gael. Every day I have some new animals in my room: floor covered with black ants, huge spider, centipede, scorpion and bugs... a real Zoo! On the 25th we go with Phangan Divers on a one-day tour to Koh Tao for 2 expensive dives. That night we go all together to a great seafood restaurant. Afterwards I get some pre-full moon party impressions at the lively candle-lit beach with Mary and her boyfriend. Finally the big day has arrived: 8000 crazy extroverted people arrive with boats and busses to this collection of loud techno parties. Luobi and me stuff ourselves with King- and Tiger prawns, buy a large bottle of Sang Thip with several Red Bull and Coke, get some painting on our faces (seems to be the fashion here) and join the masses to grasp the frenzy, hypnotising atmosphere of this unreal place.

8. Malaysia

The next day, after a pickup ride through the rain, we have an overnight boat back to Surat Thani. We drive by minibus to Hat Yai. Then another hot minivan (Luobi's lighter explodes in his backpack because of the heat) brings us to the Thai-Malay border (Sungai Kolok) from where we have to share a taxi (1 hour) to Kota Bharu. The whole East Coast of Malaysia is a Muslim dominated alcohol-free area. Before leaving the 'developed world' we do some banking and send last Emails at McCyber (McDonalds) in the pleasant but unspectacular town of Kota Bharu. The next morning we share a taxi to Kuala Besut. From here the small ferryboat takes 2 hours to the Perhentian Islands.

We chose to stay in a narrow, open hut at East-West (20 Ringgit = 5 US$ for us both) at the end of Long Beach on the idyllic tropical Pulau Perhentian Kecil. We select the friendly Perhentian Dive Center to improve our diving skills. It's run by the sympathetic and relaxed instructor Stein Zahl from Norway who, with the experience of over 7000 dives, moves underwater like a fish and almost doesn't use any air. Every morning we have to walk 20 minutes through the jungle to the other side of the island where we have our lessons, briefings and 2-3 dives every day (interrupted by some excellent Tuna sandwiches). In the evenings we are busy studying and drinking ice Milo. I accomplish the Peek Performance Buoyancy course (very useful!), become Advanced Diver and Deep Diver Specialist. The night dives in the warm fluorescent sea are wonderful as well. One day we fly with Stein's speedboat to one of the most beautiful islands I have ever seen (Pulau Redang), where we do a couple of dives. From Kota Bharu we take the jungle train along the famous Taman Negara National Park to Kuala Lipis, a mini town with a large Chinese community. Luobi is depressed because his girlfriend that he was about to meet in Chicago left him (through E-mail). We organise a trek to the less visited Kenong Rimba National Park together with Gordon from London. Apu, our interesting guide, leads us trough the muddy jungle and points sometimes to some fruits, birds, medicinal herbs, footprints and droppings of several animals (wild pigs, elephants, deer...). We eat jungle food, climb through some slippery bat caves and try to find our way through the lush vegetation. In the evening we collect some water from the dirty river and wood to light a fire. Luckily Apu is a great cook. Our night walk passes along some magically glowing mushrooms, green phosphorescent insects, light-emitting leaves and some spiders. Absurdly we have to sleep next to a rock in the open, while there are some wooden huts within reach. On our return with a small boat the next day we judge that our excursion was basically a pleasant walk and not really cheap (140 Ringgit). But it was nice anyway.

The next evening we make it to the modern capital Kuala Lumpur. We stay in the Chinatown area and we eat at the overcrowded night market. In the morning we walk to the delightful Masjid Jamek Mosque where some hustlers tell us fairy tales to rip us off. From Merdeka Square you have a great view on the impressive colonial buildings and in the background you see the skyline including the twin Petronas Towers (tallest building in the world). We take the monorail to the Putra World Trade Centre, stop at The Mall Shopping Centre and walk to the Malay Chow Kit Market before heading to Little India where they have some excellent cheap food. That night we deserved a drink at the lively Hard Rock Café in the booming Golden Triangle. The next morning we watch the world from above from the top of the 421m-high KL Tower. From the Central Market we walk later to the Green Belt to visit the Butterfly Garden, the Orchid and Hibiscus Gardens and the enormous aviary of the Bird Park.

9. Singapore

Late in the evening we hop on a Super VIP Bus (with Antarctica Aircon) that drops us in the darkness somewhere in Singapore the next morning. We share an ok hotel in Bencoolen Street, our new headquarter for some busy days of sightseeing. Feeling suddenly very small, we walk around the wide boulevards and shopping streets, gazing at the combined modern and colonial style architecture of this large variety of museums, business towers, cultural buildings and shopping galleries. By some strange accumulation of wicked coincidences we get a fateful tourist map in our hands stating the following prophetic sentence: "You have never really been to Singapore till you've visited these places!" As nobody shall deny our humble presence here, we start the rush to the not so humble tourist attractions. So although it was not planned at the start (it's just another expensive tourist trap), we take the cable cars to Sentosa Island like every obediently consuming visitor. Attractions include the fake (but larger) Merlion, musical fountain, dragon nature walk, monorail, etc. We hunt for sights like World Trade Centre, Chijmes, Raffles (hotel, arcade and city), City Hall, Boat Quay (a lively promenade where we order in a momentary folly a huge barrel of beer on a terrace: 32S$) etc. We test our locomotive endurance walking up and down the districts of Chinatown (where we see some great acrobatics), Marina Bay, Little India, Orchard Road and Arab Street. We simulate shopping in Raffles, Centrepoint, Funan (IT Mall) and Suntec City Mall (including the world's largest fountain). Irony of ironies, we have to go twice to Sentosa as we missed Underwater World (Asia's largest tropical oceanarium). But it's on the way to scheduled Jurong Bird Park and, anyway, our money has to be pumped into the economy for Asia to overcome its Financial Crisis... Exhausted and broke I just manage to catch my international bus in the late afternoon on the 14th September.

10. Malaysia transit

I somehow wake up again to reality in Melaka, Malaysia's historically most interesting city, where all the European incursions started. The Portuguese fort Bukit St Paul, the Porta de Santiago and the Dutch Stadthuys testify of these dramatic events. I stay with 2 Japanese in a 3-bed dorm in the friendly family run Sunny's Inn. Most of the time I read, write (postcards and Internet) and eat some excellent cheap food. I meet some fellow travellers whom it's nice to hang out with (Chris, Ray). I have one party night with them at Loony Planet bar with an additional Karaoke performance together with two Chinese.

Two days later I am back in Kuala Lumpur. I do some gift shopping, while slowly realising that my travels will end soon. In KL I meet Lt. Whit at the Chinese Market. I take a bus to Georgetown on Penang Island (linked to the mainland by the longest bridge in SE Asia). Together with Joanna I stroll through the pleasant streets in Chinatown and Little India to visit some temples and Mosques before entering the rather unimpressive Fort Cornwallis. After lunch we take the funicular to the top of Penang Hill from where we admire the spectacular view although it's raining. Later we enter Kek Lok Si, the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia.

11. Northern Thailand

In the morning on the 20th September I get into a hot minibus that drives me to the Thai border. After several stops along the way where I change bus I finally arrive in Hat Yai. The driver of the next minibus is extremely unpleasant: he shouts at one tourist for no reason, drives like a madman and provokes almost 2 accidents. We are all relieved to arrive in the shitty town of Surat Thani. After many hours of waiting I am finally sitting in a real overnight bus that drives straight to Bangkok where I arrive the next morning. I contact my friend Diana who stays in Thailand for a week. She is an attorney in a big movie company in Los Angeles and has always many funny stories to tell. After lunch we visit in strict dress code the wonderful Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha and the marvellous palace complex) and the magnificent Grand Palace. Contrary to what the Tuk-Tuk drivers tell you: it is NOT a public holiday and the temple is NOT closed.

We hop on a local bus to Kanchanaburi where we stay in a pretty floating guesthouse on the river Kwai (Sam's river raft GH). Before sunset we manage to get to the famous Death Railway Bridge (where limited liability is not the main concern) and have dinner on a floating restaurant next to it. After breakfast the next day we go for a walk through town and organise a bus to Ayuthaya via Suphanburi. We only arrive in the evening. A Tuk-Tuk drops us at the family-run Ayuthaya GH near Chao Phrom market. The singers at the local piano bar are pathetic, but at least they serve great food. We have a last beer at the hotel next door where there is another Thai band performing. Ayuthaya, the ancient Thai capital, is a kind of artificial island. We charter a Tuk-Tuk to see as many Buddhas (seated or reclining), temples and stupas (some ruined, some restored) as possible: Wat Yai Chaya Mongkol, the huge sitting Buddha at Wat Panan Choeng, Golden Mount Chedi, Wat Chai Wattanaram, Wat Phra Si Sanphet, Wihan Phra Mongkhon Bophit, the trapped stone head in a tree at Wat Phra Mahathat...until we're templed out!

An overnight bus brings us to Chiang Mai, the main tourist centre in northern Thailand, with its rich history, many temples, nice food, cheap shopping and trekking opportunities to nearby hill tribes. We even have a swimming pool at Lai-Thai GH where we check in early in the morning. We walk to some nice temples in the morning. We hire a driver who brings us to an elephant camp. First we go for a ride through the jungle. Then we do some bamboo rafting. Our guide hands me a bamboo stick with which I am supposed to help him steer the few floating branches that we use as a boat. Some rapids are quite fast, especially if you have to stand on the shitty raft. Eventually my 'paddle' gets stuck between 2 rocks, so I am pulled out of the boat and even manage to hurt myself on a stone while climbing back onto the raft. But it is fun anyway. The chicken curry at Aron Rai is delicious. I almost kill myself with a crab that explodes while I try to open it. We spend the evening at the crowded night-market in Chiang Mai. Good shopping.

The next day while Diana is flying back to BKK, I have to wait the whole afternoon for a slow bus to Pai, where I arrive late in the evening on the 25th September. I get a cheap room at the Duang GH, but the only food available is in a small pancake food stall. Delicious though! Just next to my GH, I squeeze myself into a tiny, wooden hut where they serve strong herbal drinks. Pai is a remote, little mountain town on the Pai river with nice views, waterfalls, some pleasant restaurants and many trekking opportunities. It has a very special atmosphere, and it's a pity that soon it will be ruined by mass tourism. I stroll around town to get an idea of the excursion possibilities. I meet some nice people who just booked a 2-day rafting trip to Mae Hong Son with a French tour operator. I decide to join them. I spend the evening in a German bar. On the wall is a "Santana-in-Luxembourg" Poster, advertising for a concert I have been to ages ago.

After a scenic ride in a songthaew the next morning, we are divided into 2 groups because we do not all fit into 1 boat. We receive some basic safety instructions together with a small brainwash therapy: "never loose your paddle!" In great anticipation of ever faster rapids (Go! Go!) we float down the river that is at its height as it is the wet season. Our guide Shy, who is always smiling, has great fun with us stupid tourists who cannot co-ordinate the steering and who are screaming at the drowning spiders that are swimming (in abundance!) in our little flooded boat. At a small camp we have lunch and later on we are allowed to swim down the current. We form a great team with some Danes, a friendly Hawaiian lady, a Kiwi, some British and Americans. My 2 new crazy friends Reena and Scotti however form together with myself a particularly chaotic Bermuda triangle. We are actually floating down the river feet first, bumping into each other, pushing, screaming and discussing loudly about the wonderful mountain scenery. We are always the first in the water and the last in the boat again. We are by the way as well the inventors of karaoke-rafting (e.g. Raindrops keep falling on my head), and the initiator of dramatic water fights against the other boat. In the late afternoon a handful of us group for a walking tour through the jungle. The biggest animals we see are ants, but it's a nice sunny view from the top of a nearby mountain. The black clouds that are suddenly approaching from the north start to pour their wet gift into this idyllic scenery. Melting with the sunrays, every single heavy raindrop turns into a sparkling diamond and contributes to the ever louder drumming on the forest canopy. Soaked, we slide back to the camp where we get some nice food while discussing our adventures. The next morning we even manage to flip our boat, provoking panic and the dramatic anticipated expiration of my faithful camera. Because some crazy rafters are floating in the water instead of rowing against the stream, we miss our disembark-point and get an extra half an hour of rafting. Oops!

In Mae Hong Song we invite our guides for a drink at a relaxing terrace next to a peaceful lake. That night we have first a banquet with local dishes and then we throw a noisy party on the first floor in our nice hotel with local and not so local drinks. The next morning a freshly painted "silence please" sign will forever commemorate this spontaneous social event. Together with my friend Scotti I rent a motorbike and explore the beautiful lush greenery of the northern countryside. We pass some local hill tribe villages, rice fields and a nice hanging bridge before arriving at the Burmese border. At this place live as well the last members of the famous long neck tribe.

On the 30th September we board a Thai Air plane back to Chiang Mai, from where I have a transit flight to Bangkok. Total cost: US$ 50. In Bangkok I check in at Shanti Lodge, where the showers have been transformed into an orchid garden. I do some last shopping and meet Danny, a jewellery maker who just got married in Vietnam. I pick up my flight tickets realising that my fantastic trip has come to an end. At the Sawasdee GH I order a last time my favourite menu n# 3 (chicken curry + side dishes for 99Baht) and then I have to say farewell to this strange, enchanting Asian world. On boarding my plane I am looking forward to meet my friends, family and new work colleagues, but most of all I am curious to know what has changed back in tiny, little Luxembourg.