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For some Laos is the “real” Asia. Of course, every country is very real. From the BTS in Bangkok to the hill tribes to relaxed Laos to  crazy traffic in Hanoi. Looking for the “real” Asia (re: rice fields, fastest vehicles being bicycles and a very slow life) means ignoring the places and people in-front of you. And enjoying the differences between the countries and peoples is a whole part of my (great) experience I had In Asia.

Having said that, once you step out of the plane in Luang Prabang you feel that time slows down a bit. Life gets a bit more sluggish, the traffic IS made up mostly of bicycles and life seems more relaxed (at least for the tourists).

At one point I got scared by a car horn. One gets used to quietness, and starts to appreciate it (more-so in retrospect as after Laos I went to Cambodia with crazy Phnom Penh).

Enjoy some of the photos I took in Luang Prabang.

After a long period of freezing under the snow and quietly longing for the weather in Asia, it seems we are nearing spring. Finally.

And so I start again to fret about new destinations, new travels, new adventures… Maybe I will not leave very soon (or who knows?) however I started again to look over guidebooks and most importantly over pictures I took last year.

And so – expect to see a new set of pictures coming soon!

sunrise at Angkor Wat

I know some people already started to worry what’s with me – where are the posts, where are the pictures. Nothing happened – actually nothing bad happened. I’m enjoying this trip immensely, and I do not really find the time to play with the pictures or write. I do have in mind some posts, so tonight I am going to post one of my impressions on SE Asia.

No, it has nothing to do with the picture – that is just eye-candy.

I am going to talk about the beer in SE Asia. Bet you didn’t see THAT coming.

My first love was with the SIngha in Thailand – ice-cold lager served in a nice bar on Sukhumvit Soi 4. Not only it’s a pretty good beer, not that expensive, but the greatest part is how it’s served: the bottle is brought in it’s own cooler, made from foam, to keep it cold. Brilliant idea. And on the hot days I had in Bangkok, it proved a morale-lifter.

After that – Beer Lao – in of course Laos. This had the nice characteristic of being served in 640ml bottles. Almost double the puny 330ml that some bars insist on serving in Europe. However, my love for beer Lao grew even more when I found a restaurant / beer garden in Luang Prabang which served it’s beer with peanuts. And a shot of Lao Lao (home-brewed whiskey). All complimentary. And all that for the nice price of 12 000 kip – about 4 Ron.

And so we arrive at my latest discovery – Anchor beer. Draft beer served at my current guesthouse (after this post that’s where I will be going). The beer comes in a glass which was kept in the freezer until it is used. It’s a pleasure to keep the ice-cold beer and sip in the late afternoon or evening. All in the quite good company of the Brit guesthouse owner.

I cannot wait to see what Vietnam has to offer…

This is not going to be a post with lots of pictures.  Actually none at all. I am writing this from an Internet cafe – and thus not photo editing and sharing. For that you have to wait a bit more.

However, this IS a post about my arrival in Bangkok, and my impressions after a day and a half.

The first thing I noticed about Bangkok was the overpowering heat. The moment I stepped out of the airport it hit me like a wave. For a few moments I could not breathe. Of course, that passed pretty quick.  The second thing I noticed is the traffic – or more precisely the gridlock that is Bangkok. I took an Airport Express (not…quite) from the airport and it took some time to arrive in the general area that my hotel is located. And the third thing I noticed? The huge mass of people. It is the same impression I had in China, yet it seems more dynamic – or more chaotic. But all these things – you will find out that not only no longer annoy me (ok, except the heat) but they started to grow on me…

The heat is fought with aircon. This discovery of the modern age that keeps us sane here is used with…gusto. Bars that have open terraces use 6 or 8 aircons only at the entrance, and up to 10 ceiling fans. The skytrain (BTS as the original name) uses such a low temperature aircon that I am actually shivering in it.

The traffic is pretty simple to manage – I just have to keep in mind that: 1. people give way to tuk-tuks – tuk-tuks give way to cabs and cars – these give way to buses, minivans and other users of the street. And all comply to the kind-of present traffic police. It’s actually fun:) 2. there are some amazing ways to quickly for from one part of the city to the other – the SkyTrain is one – a fast train that is perched on top of the highways, which are on top of the BKK traffic. And also the river express which not only is fast (a great thing to start!) but also offers very nice photo opportunities.

And finally – the people. More often than not smiling, helpful, and a very likable people. ‘Sanuk’ here is a big thing – always having fun, always trying to find compromises, avoiding conflicts, and measuring life by the fun part in it. I have never met a people more open to having their pictures taken, nor so fast to apologize for everything (like the English sometimes). Of course, there are a lot of tourists also. It actually is pretty crowded at some of the monuments and sights – the “good” season started, so a lot of French, Germans, Americans, Dutch, Danes, Swedes, Spanish (and these are the ones I id’ed) are here.

Speaking of which – it’s fun to see the number of people who are having Thai girlfriends. Generally faar younger than them. It’s a well-known thing, but it is actually fun to see first-hand. Now, maybe the location where my hotel is located does tend to attract a certain kind of people (unlike previous travels where I found myself in Chinatowns, now I am in/close-by a red-light district).

And last but not least (for the moment) – the food. It’s delicious. It was to be expected, but it’s even more delicious when eating it And thank God – no more sticks!

I will soon write about the Palace and the different temples (Wats), post some pictures, and generally do a better job of telling my adventures in the land of smiles.

I’m bad at it. I am leaving on Saturday and I still have no hotel reservations, no real plans, and I still have printouts from Lonely Planet lying around the house – unread… Even my passport is still at the embassy (Vietnam embassy, going there on Thursday to pick it up).

These 2 weeks I tried to do so many things that of ocurse I screwed up some of them. And I’m leaving on holidays tired, with a slight cold, and with unfinished business left at home. So, beside NOT doing research for my upcoming trip, what’s new?

• finally managed to go to Online MeetUp conference, an event organized by Orange, taking place at Orange Concept Store, in order to mingle with people from the online world…interesting experience
• today I am spending a lot of time at RoNewMedia at some workshops and the gala for best Romanian websites. I actually was in the jury, so I am really eager to find out the winners – this though means I will arrive after 10pm home. Again.
• met with elementary school ex-colleagues – so many years later and so little have people changed. And I mean this in a good way! Was a joy to talk with most of them!
• moved office – descended one floor – which meant irregular access to business email and network – so yesterday was a pretty useless day. Of course, I have to compensate the following days!
• I still have a backlog of photos to process, especially from Nijikon2009 – where incidentally I met an old friend who was promoting Warhammer (the miniature game)

And now? Back to booking.com, travelblog.org, lonely planet et all.

Last weekend I went to Vama Veche, for the first time this year. Although everybody thought the weather was going to be atrocious and that I was signing up for thunderstorms and rain, the weekend proved to be quite the opposite. While Bucharest or Constanta enjoyed rain after rain, I had to escape the sun. Yes, Saturday night there were a whole 2 hours of rain. Nothing that the new tent could not withstand.

So what changed from last year?
- some of the popular places rebranded (corporate terms and Vama Veche, heh) like Roata which became Control
- the concrete “bycicle” paths which everyone deplored – I found them quite useful when the road was muddy
- the prices are okayish, people are nice as usual, and fortunately Vama has not shifted even more into mainstream

I liked that there were not so many people, so the beach and restaurants were not crowded as usual. The same popular locations as last year are the entertainment venues: Ovidiu, Expirat, Frontiera, Bibi’s and so on. Still had the usual cheap and delicious “hamsii” at Rogojini.

A very nice improvement is the camping on the beach, which now has a 1ron / night tent tax which noone seems to collect. It’s a great feeling to stay on the beach, with entertainment 20m away, with the sea at a few meters and still pay what amounts to nothing. I did have the misfortune and lack of wisdom to pitch the tent too close to one of the pubs, so I had non-stop music. But Vama without some rock waking you up at 4am wouldn’t be the same…

Pluses:
- my new Quechua tent is brilliant, I love it!
- got by car, I hate buses most of the time
- good food and entertainment
- met a LOT of old and new friends
Minuses:
- slept about 6 hours total (or is this a plus?)
- caught a cold
- I look a bit like a boiled lobster

flights to China from Finnair

Found a pretty good offer to fly to China (Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong) from Finnair for 1655 ron, which translates to 396 euro. The offer is a special deal, so it is available only to June 3rd. The biggest problem though is that in summer China can be pretty hot. These days Beijing enjoys a scorching 37C.

Having said that, the price is pretty hard to beat…

Update: long-awaited gallery is here!

In last post I made some mentions about the open-air market in “place de la Bastille”. Unfortunately I do not think that I had any picture showing this market. This is going to change now. About the delicious strawberries I already talked so I will not insist on that.

Also on Sunday just I was strongly considering the benefits of talking my rollerblades in my next trip I stumbled upon a pretty big event. With the ocasion of the “Red Cross Day” some of Paris skaters met to do a march (on skates, of course).

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I started using TripIt to organize my trips. This website has a few nice features, among them nice graphic organization in a chronological order of flights, transportation, lodging, maps, directions, etc.

However, the greatest strength is the easy import of reservations. Using a simple e-mail forward, you can import flight details (from e-tickets), hostel bookings (from e-mail confirmations) or car reservations.

The website also tries to add content of it’s own: local weather, local maps, directions from airport to hotel amongst others. However, these are not always available.

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This entry comes two weeks late. It is the last (hopefully) batch of photos from Spain which I did not process. One of the last days in Madrid I spent going on a day trip to Aranjuez.

This is a lovely small town, one hour away by train, where one can really get lost in the huge gardens. The main attraction of the town is Palacio Real de Aranjuez (Royal Palace). Unfortunately, the decorations are made in a dazzling Roccoco style, which I find slightly nauseating. However, the lovely royal gardens more than make up for it.

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