You gotta love this! A slow boat to Luang Prabang: serene landscapes of the Mekong river, slanted rays are bouncing off the shinny water surface, mighty buffaloes are bathing along the banks, graceful white birds are gliding above the palms… It’s picture perfect – until everyone on board is gripped with what has to be the world’s most foul smell. Rotten egg meets dog fart times infinity. Moments later, rushed by a powerful current, a giant bloated pig’s corpse torpedoes past the boat. Once it’s gone, the smell is gone with it. It all happens so quickly, I can hardly believe it was real – but a dozen of puzzled glances prove that it was not just my imagination…
it's all but ahead!
“I’m through two thirds of my journey and today, for the first time, I’m contemplating the inevitability of returning to my life as it was: planned, predictable, office hours and all.”
This is how I was going to begin this post few weeks ago, in Pai. I’ve been prematurely grieving about the end of my travels and work-free life, but as a poem goes, “futures have a way of falling down in midflight”. Continue reading →
They don’t call them slow boats for nothing! A leisurely ride from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang takes two full days, with an overnight stay in Pakbeng, a cluster of overpriced, overcrowded, under-renovated guest houses. The boats are packed and the seats are uncomfortable, but you shouldn’t worry about the latter – odds of you getting one are fairly slim. Take out your warm sweaters, soft scarves and inflatable neck pillows – and make yourself a cozy nest: it will be your “home” for 7 hours on day one and 9 hours on day two. Oh, and try not to expect such Western oddity as personal space: at some point of the trip a Laotian turkey – or child, or grandma – will be sitting so close, you won’t be able to tell their feet from your own (I got couple pedicure-immergency scares, especially with the turkey). Continue reading →
I’ll let you in on a secret: I’ve made a New Year resolution. It goes like this: I will try not to be such a freaking control freak. I’ll try to turn my double-checking, triple-researching producer self off every once and again. I’ll embrace the unknown, go with the flow, roll with the punches – that sort of thing. Let me tell you how THAT has been working out for me… Continue reading →
Pai today wants to be to North Thailand what Venice was to South California yesterday: peaceful rebellion against commonplace, conservative values and society’s urge to grow up. Pai seems to be permanently adolescent with overwhelming majority of its visitors – Thai and farang alike – sporting dreads, braids, elaborate tattoos or, in the very least, an odd dozen of jingling anklets. Continue reading →
I have a confession to make: I’m addicted to civilization. After months of living in fairly spartan conditions, one’s attraction to clean bed-sheets and hot showers isn’t much of a revelation. But I’m afraid there’s more to it… Continue reading →
There are cities out there that are so outstanding, grand and happening that everyone who visits them is overwhelmed, awestruck, captivated. New York is definitely high on the list, but there are also Rome, Istanbul, London… Spend five minutes in either, and you won’t lack adjectives describing your fascination. Then there are other – smaller, subtler – cities, that are as lovable, yet one has trouble explaining what it is about them that is so alluring. Frankfurt is one of such towns for me, as well as Ukraine’s Ternopil – and now there’s also Chiang Mai. Continue reading →
Left to right: Mikkel, Lena, Maria
Seriously – it doesn’t exist. Well, maybe for a day or two – the rest of the time you’re a part of a group. Groups – these clusters of coupled or singular travelers with similar budgets and itineraries – form so easily, one barely recognizes it. Until, that is, one finds oneself as a passenger on a mountain-bound scooter, despite one’s utmost fear of two-wheeled motorized transportation.
In the middle of a long-term trip, bonding with fellow-travellers is so effortless, it happens as if of its own accord. Day trips and hikes, observing moonrises and getting stoned at sunsets, tubing down very shallow rivers and breaking laws of countries with very gruesome prisons – are but a few activities most enjoyed in a company. Continue reading →
Sony Cybershot W530
After reading hundreds of reviews, I’ve went rogue and bought a camera that had not been evaluated yet: Sony released its Cybershot W530 three weeks ago, on January 7, so no single site (from dp review to amazon) managed to put in their fifty cents on the moment of purchase. I went with generally positive predictions and a gut feeling that Carl Zeiss is my friend.
Initial reaction? I’m ecstatic! Continue reading →
Posted in travel tips
Tagged Carl Zeiss, customer review, Cybershot W530, digital camera, evaluation, feedback, inteilligent auto, point-and-shoot, review, sample images, Sony, zoom
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Pai. Night. Cold. Four mildly drunk travellers – Ashley, Ari, Albert et moi – are shivering in front of a large bonfire at a lovely live music joint called “Edible Jazz”. We are wearing the entire content of our backpacks and look – it’s safe to say – pretty pathetic. It came to us as a little surprise, that we can be freezing in Thailand, when in our own countries – Canada, Norway and Ukraine – the current temperatures are minus something crazy. Yet here we are, the embarrassment of our northern motherlands, cold in Pai.
Fastforward to a week later: I’m buying my first-ever pair of Uggs…
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