sleepless in saigon,,,

,,, eg vitna i tessa mynd einungis vegna titilsins - til ad hafa tad a hreinu, ta er eg alls ekki addaandi tom hanks en verd ad vidurkenna ad stundum kemur fyrir ad eg hef gaman af romantiskum gamanmyndum.

dvol okkar i saigon vard toluvert lengri en vid gerdum rad fyrir; einfaldlega vegna tess ad borgin er mjog lifleg og skemmtileg. her er agaetis urval af sofnum og stendur sennilega stridsglaepasafnid upp ur - i raun einskonar arodur a moti bandarikjaher og sudur-vietnomum tar sem ekkert er to minnst a stridsglaepi nordursins. safnid samanstendur ad mestu leiti af mognudum en atakanlegum frettaljosmyndum og ymsum mynjum, s.s. vopnum og klaedum en einnig er ad finna vidbjod eins og 'napalm' - vanskopud fostur i glerkrukkum og nakvaema eftirlikingu af 'tigris-burunum' sem voru pyntingafangelsi sudur-vietnam og fremur nakvaemar myndir af pyntingum eru ad finna. madur undrar sig alltaf a hugmyndaflugi folks - og ad taer skuli virkilega verid framkvaemdar.

cholon heitir hverfi tar sem ibuar af kinverskum uppruna rotta sig saman; trodnar gangstettir, gotusalar sem bjoda upp a allskonar ometi, pagodur (alveg eins og taer sem vid sjaum i kinverskum kung fu myndum) og falleg fronsk nylenduhus. og ef vid urdum treyttir a of asiskri stemningunni lag leidin i midbaeinn tar sem skyjakljufar planta ser vid hlid franskra glaesihusa og folk gengur i gucci og vuitton. en besta leidin til ad upplifa saigon var ad finna ser vespubilstjora, benda handahofskennt a kortid og tjota svo aftan a motorhjoli i kaotiskri umferdinni um goturnar - sem eru taktar arodursplakotum og myndum af ho chi minh fraenda!

vid kynntumst a fyrsta degi tveimur bretum, ken & phil, sem vid forum med i nokkrar havisindalegar naeturklubbsferdir. teir eru badir busettir i japan og kveiktu satt ad segja mikinn ahuga a tvi ad hoppa bara upp i vel og lenda i tokyo - en kannski tad se bara a listanum fyrir naesta haust?

saigon er frabaer, fyrir utan fyrrnefnda hluti, ta ma ekki gleyma teirra stadreynd a vietnamsk eldhus er gedveikt, vietnamskt kvennfolk er gullfallegt og vietnamska rikisstjornin er kommunisk. tad sem komid er af ferdinni ta er tetta min uppahalds borg, reyndar asamt damaskus - en taer eru svo olikar ad ekki er haegt ad setja taer i sama flokk.

eftir orfaa tima tekur vid rutuferd til hoi an - litill baer vid midbik landsins sem a ad vera ofbodslega fallegur, sjaum til - eg aetla ad sofa nuna!

gum.

In and out of the Wild West

Well there is definitely a story to be told, hopefully in as much detail as I can remember. In order not to repeat the same mistake of writing after such a long time I am going to begin with Saigon, the most recent city where we have been for two days, while it's still as fresh in my memory as possible and then continue with as thorough an account of the past two weeks as I can.

Saigon

As I have done in every country so far on this trip I began reading a book that relates to the destination ahead. Graham Greene's Quiet American was next on the list because it is predominantly situated in Saigon, more specifically in the Hotel Continental. We took a semi-comfortable bus (our concept of comfort has dramatically altered since we left Europe) and rolled into Ho Chi Minh city. As I read I suggested to Gummi that we book at least two nights at the Continental to take a rest from the 2 $ rooms we stayed in in Cambodia. We arrive at the bus station and before our bags are in our hands and our cigarettes are lit we are approached by a legion of taxi drivers. We haggle for a bit, we have become increasingly good at it, and mount two motorbikes with our bags. Saigon, unlike the other cities where motorbikes dominate the road, has a ratio of about 50 bikes to every car. The traffic can only be described as chaotic order. That paradox means that although the traffic comes from every side and against the normal flow, there seems to be order and fluidity in the chaos. The motorbikes on the road drive so close that we could have 'high fived' every passing driver, and Gummi and I did while cruising at 50 kmph. We come to the Continental that unfortunately has recently been renovated and become a 4 star tourist spot, devoid of the 60's Saigon journalist charm I should have anticipated didn't exist anymore. The prices are ridiculous and I imagine a hundred dollars are added to each room because of it's past reputation. We go up to the bar, order two Saigon beers and think about where else we should go. We decide to just walk around until we come across a reasonably high priced comfort hotel and find one. After the first hot shower in weeks, no sign of rats, mice, cockroaches, ants, grasshoppers, dogs, spiders, beetles or any other undesired room accessories we had grown so accustomed to in Cambodia we head out. We pulled the 'white card' and strolled into the Sheraton in white shirts like we owned the place, had a drink on the roof we an extraordinary view over Saigon and later had dinner and came back. We opened the bar situated in our room, flipped through cable television and fell asleep to a sitcom and air conditioning. Just lovely.
Today we woke up late in the morning and headed for the Revolutionary Museum. Saigon is lively, more modern than I remember Hanoi having been and relatively clean. We saw the Ho Chi Minh City Museum, the Notre Dame and the horrible War Crimes Museum. Nothing exceeded the other in terms of splendour, especially not the French colonial architecture which is absolutely everywhere, except the War Crimes Museum. After Cambodia I would have thought I had grown numb to histories horror, at least partly. I'll talk about that later, but the War Crimes Museum is not as much a museum as it is a series of pictures that will turn Jean Claude Van Damme into a weeping little child. I go as far as to say that Chuck Norris, who's tears cure cancer (it's a shame he's never cried) would have broken down and cried desperately for his mothers warmth while curled up in a fetal position. Pictures of Agent Orange victims, marines toying with torn bodies and even jars with mutated deformed babies. Although horror shouldn't be made competitive between one country and another, this matches the horrors of Cambodia. We shook hands, or what was left, of a man who had nothing but soft stumps were his elbow used to be. Dejected with our stomachs turned inside out we decided to retreat to our little 50 $ safe haven, pulled out millions of Vietnamese Dongs and walked back. Now we are here.

Thailand

The last night we spent in Thailand on the island Koh Chang was in an Irish Pub. This seems absurd given that we were on a beautiful tropical island but it's also misleading. The owner of the Pub had set up a comfortable row of decent rooms for only a few dollars a night. The pub was a minute away and I really enjoyed a glass of Guinness with my full English breakfast before we left for Cambodia. So much for Thailand. The bus ride and the visa check at the frontiers in the north are not worth describing. However the second we entered Cambodia we were very obviously in another world altogether.

Cambodia... The Heart of Guns, Girls & Ganja

As soon as we arrived at Poipet, a casino town where Thais come to gamble and drink, the roads disappeared and the world seemed a little more rugged. I asked my driver where I could go to the bathroom and he answered 'there' pointing at some vegetation a metre away from the customs office. Seeing that I would get little help from him I walked into the next fancy casino since peeing was not all that was needed. As I enter the whore filled, drunken scene inside the casino I noticed a sign, one of hundreds that I saw in Cambodia, asking me politely to not bring grenades or weapons inside. Fair enough, I had left mine behind so I went in. When I came out the driver bade us follow him to what can only be described as a large piece of metal on, I assume, four wheels. We boarded and left. We were told by our new driver, a drunk man with a steel penis on his keychain, while peeing out of where the door should have been that the 150 km journey would take a little more than six hours. This was because the road, or where the road once was, was so full of dust and pot holes that we could go no faster than 20 kmph. On our way we saw an abundance of CPP signs, The Cambodian Peoples Party, naked children, shacks and flooded marshland. I was reading a book, appropriately called 'Off the rails in Phnom Penh, into the heart of Guns, Girls and Ganja and so I read and picturing the society depicted in the book all of a sudden didnt seem so difficult
We come to Siem Reap, book ourselves into the most expensive room of the entire Cambodian trip (6$) and after dodging cockroaches and showering with v. cold water we go downstairs onto the veranda for a meal. Before we have asked about the plans for the following day we are asked very directly if we want girls, drugs or guns. We politely decline the drugs and the girls but an interest in guns awakens in me. After all, I have watched an AK 47 on screen since I can remember, read about it in history books and fiction and I MUST try it. He arranges for me to go shoot... but is a little down that we two aren't in the mood for 'boom boom' and drugs. We meet the other residents most of whom where on the ride with us from Thailand. There is an Irish couple, a swiss, English and French guy and some Cambodians. We pool our plans together for Angkor Wat, the temple ruins that we came originally to see, and then pool our interest in a wild night together. All of us get on motorbikes, Gummi and I on one (in Cambodia like in Vietnam one will see up to five people together on one bike, including infants, none wearing a helmet, says the over protected Icelandic guy). We go out, have fun.
The following day we wake up early to tour the Angkor temples, a world wonder. The temples are amazing and despite the heat and uncomfortable presence of lead in our heads after the previous night we can hardly speak because of what we see. A little girl comes up to us asking us to buy some water from her. I tell her that I'm not thirsty and then I lie that I'll return tomorrow. She says that there is only sorrow tomorrow if I don't buy water from her and a little confused at the girls level of english (she was about four) I buy water from her, leaving with my tail between my legs. I have never been very fond of emotional blackmail but in Cambodia I had my hands repeatedly in my pockets giving money away or tipping v. v. generously. After all, a dollar is money to them while it will get me a tenth of a packet of smokes or a tenth or a beer back home.
The thing that threw me off balance during my stay in Cambodia was the willingness the people had to speak and get to know you, with no reservations or apparent regret of answering my questions about the auto genocide there and Pol Pot. Everyone we encountered had had family or friends murdered by the former regime but didn't sound unwilling to talk about it. Anyway, we spent a few days in Siem Reap, went to the war museum and the floating market where we held some large snakes and then ate them, went to the killing fields of the north and saw a monument erected with large windows, filled inside with skulls of many thousands of Cambodians.
I went to shoot and a part of me must have either died or been born with that experience. I arrive at some place outside of town to a wall of guns. They offer me grenades, rocket launchers and a cow that will cost me an extra 100 dollars but I get to kill it any way I choose, and eat it afterwards for no extra cost. I haven't gone Rambo enough to shoot a cow (although I could pick the Rambo Gun on the wall) and so I choose my AK 47, lock and load and fire. The noise is deafening, the force is trying and once I switched to automatic I just sprayed everywhere. The rush went to my head and I hurried off to the wall, picked out a 50's Chicago mobster Tommygun and loaded it up. That was even more of a thrill and I had no intention of stopping. Next on the list was an Uzi and last a simple colt 45. Good fun and now I'm a hundred dollars poorer.
We left Siem Reap for Phnom Penh, the capital. Phnom Penh was a different story altogether. It had much more of a metropolitan feel to it, vibrant and beautiful. we past some avenues such as Charles de Gaule, Mao and Kim Il Sung Ave., a swarm of motorbikes left and right and neon lit bars and clubs in certain areas. The great monuments were also brightly lit, the fountains and the overall look was promising. We had been picked up at the bus station, the French guy, the English guy and us, and were driven into the backpacker heart of Phnom Penh, by the lake. For four dollars a night we found a great place on the lake and settled in. Again we were asked if we desired some company with the opposite gender or guns, which we declined, but as for the drugs, there was obviously plenty in circulation among the locals and tourists. We grew to love that little guesthouse because of their unbelievable kindness and spirit and met many people there. A guy our age, who worked there and went by the name Chili, didn't do much apart from smoke weed and drink from morning till midnight and despite wanting to go clubbing with us, was always stone cold out by ten.
In Phnom Penh we stayed four nights, saw the temples and the Royal Palace, the markets and the city life and each of the above was equally impressive. The thing that has permanently left some tear in our heart was the killing fields, and the Tuol Sleng prison. We saw methods of torture that we had never before imagined, cells of a metre by metre, and room after room of faces. The Face Rooms almost made me cry, I had to walk around with my sunglasses on to conceal the tears. All the walls, including displays on board in the centre, had mug shots of the victims before their detention. Children, women, men, the old... mugshots of everyone completely expressionless, all facing directly forward, made the rooms ghost like. The Killing Fields had billboards were the statistics of the murders were recorded, pictures and information on how they were tortured, murdered and buried in detail. A monument was erected with the skulls and bones that had been excavated and they were in the thousands.
Apart from the horror and grotesqueness of the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng, Phnom Penh was great and I intend on returning.
From Phnom Penh we went to the coast, a beach town called Sihanoukville. We arrived at the Bus station and were greeted by motorbike drivers and heavy rain. We got on some motorbikes and drove around at night, down badly lit streets, sometimes flooded, in the rain until we found a guesthouse with 2 $ rooms. We didn't explore Sihanoukville, we just stayed on the beach drinking cocktails, playing pool and jet skiing. We met some interesting characters there such as John, the Lebanese UN worker. John had a story to tell, especially of murdering people and after I voiced my disbelief in his line of work he asked me to open his small black fannypack. In there was a gun, some ammunition and some business cards. We chatted for a while and after having made friends, made clear when he let me hold his gun, we went into deep political discussions on the Middle Eastern situation. He gave us his email and business card, clearly stating that he was a Close Protection Officer although I am aware that those can easily be manufactured illegally and before he left, he showed us his interest in photography, and I quote 'My second hobby after killing people is just photography'. The Wild West is what Cambodia is
The last night in Sihanoukville was unimaginable and in retrospect, unbelievable. We were on the beach at night drinking and smoking and meanwhile there is a lightning show in the sky. The lightning literally came every five seconds but still no thunder. Then in an instance some downpour of biblical proportion fell on us, the lightnings came closer and thunder shook as if we were in Baghdad the very first days of the airstrikes. I sprang to my feet into my trunks and dove into the ocean along with some French people. After about twenty minutes thunder struck with such immense force that the entire beach' electricity went cold. Candles were lit and the only sound was the storm above me. There on the beach, waist deep in 26 degree water, Mai Tai in my hand I felt historical. The next day we had had enough, returned to Phnom Penh by bus to the same guesthouse where we were greeted like locals by the owners, stayed two nights not leaving except for the occasional internet trip to maintain some correspondence with our worried parents and now we are in Saigon.

There is a lot I haven't mentioned because I can't recall right now or because some details need not be expressed on a blog read by family. But the Wild West that is Cambodia, it's smiling poverty stricken people's and their torn & forgotten history and the comfort life that can be led here for a few dollars makes me understand how people get stuck here. But don't want to now. I look forward to Viet Nam, Laos, Chine (our new plan) and eventually meeting my father in India.

Thats all for now, I will do my best to write more!

Behave

Rutur

''Saigon,,,

,,, shit. I'm still only in Saigon. '' - sagdi Kapfteinn Willard i upphafssenu Apocolypse Now!, rett eftir ad tykkur frumskogur einhversstadar i deltunni hafdi ordid fornarlamb napalm-sprengju. andskotinn, eg er i Saigon.

allt i godu, gerum tetta i rettri rod - utbuum samhengi; i sidasta taetti la finnbogi rutur solbrunninn i strakofa a eyju rett sunnan vid thailand a medan hasarhetjan og mannvinurinn gudmundur vestmann sat kofsveittur vid tolvuna og hamradi lyklabordid. & nu heldur sagana afram;

kambodia er land sem er ber sogu sina a herdum ser; eitt sinn heimsveldi sem byggdi undarverd mannvirki og hellt indokina i lofa ser & sidar 50 ar mettud af valda- og landranum, spillingu, grofum tjodarmordum, stridi, fataekt og vosbud. pol pot, brodir numer eitt i raudur kamerunum, sa til tess, i hraesni sinni og gedsyki, ad landid og folk tess yrdi sett aftur a reit numer eitt i leiknum. allt tad sem nutimasamfelag telur til gilda sinna og i raun allt tad sem ser nutima samfelaga hefur upp a ad bjoda, var rustad. & tetta saum vid um leid og vid skiptum um rutu vid landamaeri landanna tveggja, t.e. kambodia og thailand. eftir anaegjulega ferd um vegi sem lagu um tetta skoga og i kringum fjoll beid okkar eymd nidursodin i dos - eda eins og rutur kallar tad, nordur-koreaskur bjor. tarna var folk a droslast um med heimsmidadar vidarkerrur, hladnar hlutum sem vid kollum drasl, a moldarvegum. & samt var tetta ekki eins og okkur hafi verid teytt aftur i timann. thailenskir peningamenn saum ser faeri og logdu tonokkud fe i ad byggja spilaviti vid malarveginn hinum megin vid landamaerinn tar sem tau eru logleg og tvi algjorlega surrealiskt astand vid tessi blessudu landamaeri! karlar med myndarlega bumbu ad eyda arslaunum folksins med vagnanna a broti ur sekundu.

tessi taepa 150 km leid sem vid attum framundan, til afangastadarins Siem Reap (t.e. angkor), tok okkur rumar sex klukkustundir. einfaldlega sokum tess ad veginn var ekki haegt a kalla veg. i oggulitilli sovieskri rutu vid hlid sveitts breta i 6 klukkustundir. og vegurinn lag medfram skurum, sem ekki er haegt ad kalla skura, tar sem nakin born hlupu um og gamlir menn rendu fyrir fisk i vidbjodslegu vatninu. 6 klst,,, tad er kvart-dagur, ef svo ma segja - og var tvi sjokkid mikid. eftir a ad hyggja, ahugavert - en a tessum klukkustundum, serstaklega eftir ad hafa lesid sogu tessa lands, verkjadi mig ad innan.

hreint og odyrt herbergid var tvi vel tegid - & minnumst ekki a bar fullan af exotiskum bjor. kvoldid for i spjall vid einstaklega fyndinn (og storundarlegann) svisslending sem gekk undir nafninu laurens og irska vini hans - og oteljandi bod um eiturlyf, stelpur og skotvopn. hversu freystandi taer freystingar voru, ta letum vid taer a.m.k. eiga sig - stor dagur framundan og tvi otarfi ad taka of storan skammt, fa sjukdom og skotsar.

a 13. old eftir krist redi khmer-veldid yfir mest ollum sud-austur skaganum og var angkor-svaedid 'rom' teirra. i dag standa enn tessi fjolmorgu hof og hallir og eru frekar vel vardveittar - og ef meira fjarmagn vaeri til i landinu vaeri sennilega haegt ad hressa tonokkud upp a 'rustirnar'. en enn og aftur er saga landsins skrifud a hvern vegg og ma audveldlega sja ummerki raudu kameranna a angkor-svaedinu - allar truarlegar styttur eru annadhvort hauslausar eda horfnar, tru var bonnud a arunum '75 - '79. angkor wat, sem er langstaersta hofid, er eitt af nyju sjo undrum heims - og undravert er tad. merkilegt hvernig sagan a tad stundum til ad fylla mann af minnimattarkennd. seinni dagurinn i siem reap for ad mest ollu leiti i ad skoda og velta fyrir ser hraedilegum verkum khmer rouge - sja 'aflifunar-vellina' og stridssafnid. tetta er saga sem hreinlega gnystir i mann og lamar.

eftir toluvert anaegjulegri ruturferd til phnom penh var komid ad kvoldi og tvi ekki mikid gert annad en a glapa a imbann og lesa. og svo for fyrsti dagurinn i phomn pehn satt ad segja i tad sama og sa sidasti i siem reap - i ad veslast halfpartinn upp. vid eyddum taepum tveimur timum tuol sleng-fangelsinu, sem nu er ordid safn en er auk tess lifandi daemi um hrodaverk, mord og pyntingar kameranna, og 'aflifunar-vallana' tar sem eru teir staerstu (og jafnfram hryllilegustu) i landinu. tusundir beina og hauskupna - og svo toku bolvadir fantarnir myndir af ollum fornarlombum sinum adur en tau voru drepin. einungis myndirnar sem eru til synis eru i tvi magni ad haegt vaeri ad veggfodra hallgrimskirkju ad innan med teim.

en phnom penh er margt meira en hryllingssaga. borgin er idanadi af mannlifi, kaotiskri umferd, framandi mat, skemmtilegu folki, audvita lika byssum, vaendiskonum, dopi - en auk tess alls, tilvalinn stadur til tess ad taka tvi einfalega bara rolega. tvi foru fimm heilir dagar i tad ad skoda toluvert faerra en vid hefdum viljad og aetludum okkar og toluvert meira i ad hangsast um a 'no problem' gistiheimilinu okkar vid vatnid og spila billiard vid hinn si-fulla starfsmann chi li og supa angkor-bjor.

sihanoukville var sidasti afangi ferdarinnar okkar i kambodiu. fallegur strandbaer fullur af turistum, saetum stelpum og strondum og tokum vid tvi einfaldlega upp fyrra liferni okkar - i tetta sinn to a strond. gistum a fremur hippisku gistiheimili - og eins og flest allt i kambodiu, ta er varla haegt a kalla tetta gistiheimili, frekar skur! i baenum hittum vid m.a. john, libani sem vann fyrir sameinudu tjodirnar, sem sagdi ad hitt ahugamalid sitt, fyrir utan ad skjota folk, vaeri ljosmyndum - en tetta er einhver uturdur sem haegt vaeri ad sleppa!

kambodia hefur upp a margt ad bjoda - her eru tomar strendur og eydieyjur, gonguleidir um frumskoga og fjoll. en tad verda ar tangad til ad landid verdur i raun turistavaent, eins og granni teirra thailand. i fyrsta lagi orogrui af landsprengjum en landid likist sennilega of mikid vilta vestrinu - vopnadir 'utlagar', oheft skotvopnaeygn og mikil 'tillitssemi' stjornvalda til eiturlyfjanotkunar. eg kem aftur - en tad munu lida tuttugu ar. eg hef sed landid oheflad og vona einfaldlega ad tad nai ser a strik.

med stuttu stoppi i phnom penh lag leid okkar til saigon, fyrrverandi hofudborg fyrrverandi sudur-vietnam. a fyrsta kvoldi var fundinn randyr sushi-stadur til tess ad snaeda a og ad rolt um midborgina sem litur ut eins og braedingur af paris og new york med dassi af tridja heims stemningu! gullfallegar asiskar stelpur aftan a motorhjolum hja omyndarlegu gummitoffurum - iss!, bara ef taer vissu hvad vid skandinaviu-prinsarnir hefdum upp a ad bjoda,,,

her for eg yfir strikid,
afsakid mig,
laet mer tetta ad kenningu verda,
gum.

Vikings lured to the jungles off the coast of Thailand

We have decided to prolong our stay on this beautiful island by another day. We want to return to the beach in the south, see some of the islands waterfalls and temples but all apart from cultural justifications, we just want to stay here longer. The food is good and cheap, the weather is great and we'd like to lie in peace on the beach and read. Curiously enough I thought I would be immobile today because of my lobster-like skin colour but it turned out in my favour. The red has subsided and with some good luck out of the faded red will emerge some tan!
We have a lizard in our room who I've named Cornelius on account of his apparent wisdom and sense of control. Yfirvegud edla. He stays in the same place in the top right corner of our bungalow, and to remind us of his control he makes weird lizard howls. always three in a row. Gummi isn't as fond of Cornelius as I am but indisputably he is the Lizard King of Bungalow # 5.

Next post probably from Cambodia, but maybe we might just settle down here.

Rutur

furduheimur en sidar paradis,,,

ja - bangkok er vissulega furdulegur stadur. vid eyddum fyrstu tveimur dogunum okkar tar, i omenningunni i kringum khao san road, sem er skemmtilegur og liflegur stadur - en treytandi til lengdar. reyndar tvaeldumst vid um kinahverfid i bland og forum i dyragard, saum hvita bengaltigra og tvaer ofbodslega heimskar hyenur sem virtust ekki atta sig a tvi ad taer voru fastar inn i buri og gengu tvi stodugt i hringi. tetta var to tad sennilega tad produktivasta sem vid gerdum tessa tvo dagana.

douglas, fyrrum herbergisfelagi okkur fra amman, let svo sja sig a tridja degi (skemmtileg tilviljun hvernig ferdalog okkar virdast allt enda a sama stadnum) og markadi tad sennilega upphaf menningarlegra skodunarferda um borgina. vid forum med honum i steikjandi hita og 70% raka, a bat ad hallarsvaedinu, eda grand palace, sem var undravert. halfgert safn af gylltum og diteiludum buddistahofum og konungshollum. a veggjunum i kringum svaedid er einskonar myndasaga, voldugar verndarstyttur vid alla innganga, gull, postulin - erfitt ad gripa tetta, einfaldlega vegna fjolbreytileika. eftir goda 3 eda fjora tima var lagt i leidangur inn i indverskahlutan i leit af 'chicken-korma', sem med miklu harki fannst. naesti dagur snerist heldur ekki um khao san - vid skodudum wat pho, sem er hof (reyndar fjoldi teirra) og kruna svaedisins er an efa hin gridarstora stytta af liggjandi budda - impressift dot! tad sidasta kvold var svo farid i raudahverfid, sem reyndist to litid ahugavert fyrir utan gotubasana sem seldu steikt godgaeti, s.s. kakkalakka, engisprettur, orma, maura, ect. einnig, tegar vid satum a kaffihusi og drukkum kok med rori, saum vid litinn fill rolta um gotuna a milli portkvennanna - hvort tad tykir edlilegt veit eg to ekki.

eftir fjora daga i bangkok akvadum vid ad halda leid okkar afram - to vitandi ad tangad myndum vid koma aftur. vid tokum rutu- og batsferd til koh chang. rutan renndi, ekki to taeginlega, i gegnum tykka skoga og litil torp - falleg leid. og eftir tonokkur vandraedi med illa enskumaelandi taelendingana i rutunni, ta komumst vid i batinn. a spegilslettum sjo matti sja eyjuna i fjarska i gegnum mistrid, staekka haegt og rolega og a medan vid stodum a dekki heldu orfair flugfiskar syningu fyrir okkur.

tad var sidla dags sem vid komum, forum inn a bungaloinn okkar, sturtudum okkur og myrkrid kom. fengum okkur ad borda ut a strondinni og leigdum okkur vespu fyrir naesta dag. gerdum svo heidarlega tilraun til ad horfa a biomynd med sukkuladi og kokomjolk i hendi - en endudum i dai mjog snemma.

gaerdagurinn var, likt og kvoldi honum a undan, tekinn snemma. klukkan rett rumlega sjo vorum vid bunir ad kveikja a sjalfrennihjolunum. eyjan er algjor paradis! vid brunudum um trong vegi hennar (a vinstri akgrein) sem ymist lagu i gegnum tykka skoga eda hvitar strendur. stor litrik fidrildi sveimandi fyrir framan okkur, heidskyrt og brennandi sol - ein og ein kramin kopraslanga i vegkantinum. vid tokum sloda upp ad trjavoxnum fjalltoppunum, og syntum i heitu hafinu. i faaum ordum; dyrlegur dagur!

nuna sit eg her a internetkaffi husinu einn - rutur er enn i ruminu, svo solbrunninn ad hann haggast ekki (eg hafdi vit a tvi ad vera i fotum).

tangad til sidar,
gum.

p.s. www.flickr.com/photos/100daysinasia3 - endilega kikid a nyjar myndir!

From seedy streets to sandy streets

The past few days have been very eventful. We met up with Doug, a friend we first met in Amman, and the three of us successfully managed to get something done in Bangkok. We woke up early and took a boat taxi to the Grand Palace. It's very difficult to describe it and the adjacent temple, so much decoration and detail, it was very impressive and after it all we felt culturally saturated for the rest of the day. But nevertheless we didn't just retreat to Khao San Road for a Heineken and strip show, we walked down to the madness of the indian quarter in the centre of the city and ate. That evening we went out just south of the Grand Palace and while sipping on some Chang beer, we saw a baby elephant stroll down the street. When I say baby elephant it shouldn't be interpreted in any way like any 'baby' thing we're used to. The 'baby' elephant was two metres tall and about a good healthy tonne, just being led down the sidewalk. We also saw a variety of different unusual food being grilled on the street, such as cockroach, worms and grasshoppers, but we had already eaten our fill.
The next day, although taken with quite a headache was equally productive. We went to see the Wat Pho (Pho Temple) and there we saw a giant reclining golden buddha, v. impressive. We then headed to the east of the city into the financial district via the skytrain, Bangkoks hot overground metro system. We went up to the 33 floor of Bangkoks Sheraton to get an even better view and finally headed south to try and catch a thai kick boxing match. Unfortunately we were unhappy with the prices they offered us for first second and third class as they were all four to five times higher than what the locals were paying. Although the prices are really not that significant by western standards (30-50 $) it has become a matter of principle to haggle everyone for everything up to the last cent, we can't give up now, we just started getting really good at it.
We said our farewells to Doug and Bangkok yesterday and took a bus to Trat, a city on the south eastern coast. From there we waited at several ferry stops and dealt with a few idiots, eventually got to Koh Chang. The first impression we got was like the one from The Beach. A palm tree jungle on high hills in the centre and white sand beaches all around. When we arrived we were picked up in a crammed roofed pickup truck and driven to the other side. There we checked into our expensive bamboo bungalow, the finest accommodation we've booked so far and its still only 50 $ a night. Rented two scooters for two days for absolutely no money and ended the night eating on the beach. Today we woke up at seven and throughout the entire day we rolled up and down dense jungle hills and down to beautiful beaches. This island is full of enormous butterflies. dragonflies and spiders. We just made it back to our resort before the sun set and after having showered I noticed I had caught some colour today. Predominantly bright red on most parts of my skin that were exposed to the sun, but colour nonetheless. Now the plan is to eat and hit some Halloween party!

Until next time!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/100daysinasia3 (new)

Rutur