A summary of the last weeks

Just realized that the last proper update was from Langkawi on the 17th of January. And to be honest not much has been going on since then.

After Langkawi we took the ferry to Satun, crossed the Thai border and got on the bus for yet another endless bus ride (last one on this trip though!). This time Patong beach in Phuket was our final destination. First night we met up with Elin and Fanny for some drinks and delicious  Pad Thai. The rest of the time in Patong was spent relaxing on the beach, drinking fruit shakes and spending some time with Marjolein, a Dutch girl we've been travelling side by side with since KL.

Next stop was Phi Phi islands where we ended up staying for as much as seven nights! If it was for the fact that we fell in love with this beautiful little island or that we simply didn't have the energy to travel anymore we leave unsaid. A normal day on Phi Phi was spent eating a long and delicious breakfast, reading Håkan Nesser on the beach, eating a long and delicious lunch, reading some more on the beach, heading back to our guest house for showers and finally having a long and delicious dinner. Not bad at all. Marjolein joined us at Phi Phi as well and the evenings were either spent partying on the beach or just talking over a beer or two.

But again, every sun has its cloud and at Phi Phi this cloud was definitely all the party tourists, most of them Swedish actually (people didn't even bother to ask for directions in English, the possibility that you spoke to a fellow Swede was very high). The fact the the beach turned in to a massive dance floor at seven obviously made it look pretty bad the next day (read; cigarett butts, empty beer cans, used condoms, urine etc).
Luckily enough there was more than one beach to go to if you wanted to avoid all this nastiness.

We left Phi Phi today and are now back in Phuket for three nights before ending our trip with a quick visit to Jakarta.

See you back in London on Saturday!

Langkawi island

So far we've never spent more then three nights in one and the same place (if not counting Vang Vieng we're we stayed four - only because we were to hangover to move). But we're now on our fourth day in Langkawi and do not intend to leave for yet a few days. It's so beautiful here, unbelievable.

The beach is just five minutes walk away, the sand is white, the water is turquoise, the beer is cheap and the food is amazing - what else can you ask for? So far we've spent all days just relaxing on the beach from morning till late with just a few breaks for food and ice cream, we are definitely not complaining.

One thing that stroke us both by surprise is the amount of Swedes here, we are everywhere! In every bar you go to you'll find a Swedish girl behind the bar, on the beach you're surrounded by Swedish speaking people, in the book shops you'll find books in Bahasa Malay, English and Swedish and I guess about half the rooms on our guesthouse is occupied by Swedes.

- is there even anybody left in Sweden?

On Thursday we're leaving for Phuket in Thailand to meet up with my friend Elin and her cousin that are just in the beginning of their South East Asia-trip, it's going to be awesome!

If anybody have been to Phuket or Phi Phi islands before and has any  good tips to share - please feel free!

A funny anecdote

Just have to share this incident with everybody, definitely an evening to remember.

When taking the bus from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng we got to chat with a Canadian couple and their twelve year old son. They were out travelling South East Asia for ten weeks while being inbetween jobs. When we arrived to Vang Vieng we kept on bumping in to them where ever we went.

After spending the whole day tubing on Saturday we sat down for some food and of course we soon heard the familiar voice of Andy (the husband in the Canadian family). He had been sent out by his wife and son to buy sweets and was expected to bring it back as soon as he got it. But apparently Andy had different plans in mind and gladly joined us for a beer...or two..or three.. Until we all lost track of time and amount of beers we had bought. After what must have been three hours Andy suggested we should eat the sweets he bought with the idea he could just buy more later. With the sweets gone and more beers finished we decided to move on to a club to hit the dance floor. Andy seemed to think this was an excellent idea and joined us there too.

After dancing for a while (Andy being the oldest person there and also one of the most popular after showing of his dance moves) I heard another familiar voice behind me shouting "this is inappropriate!". And guess what? Andy's wife had been everywhere looking for him, starting with the bars and moving on to the clubs. He turned his head down and slowly followed his wife back home, trying to explain what happened to the sweets and what he did on the dance floor with a bunch of youths at one o'clock in the morning.

I wish I knew what he answered.