Sihanoukville – Sinupville – Sukumville..?

Posted on February 24, 2017 by under365suns

It was around 2 weeks in total that we spent in Cambodia. We got used to it. Shouting bus drivers, tuk tuks following us and drivers trying to convince to take one, the rats running in the parks.. Yep, Cambodia. We were not surprised anymore when our night bus reached Sihanoukville and the driver „nicely reminded us” to leave the bus. And of course at least 5km away from the city.

So we reached it. Then normal procedure – finding a decent place to stay. We found one. 300m from the beach! For a reasonable price – 3€! What more would you want??

And then the fun started! Parties on the beach every night! Dancing! Drinking! Dancing! Eating pancakes! Ne ne, just joking (but the pancake part was real. They were amazing!). What we did was, we were super lazy here. We took it easy. Beach and sun tan (Rugilė, not me. Too many eyes), swimming (Rugilė, not me. Water was not super clean). One day we reached another super nice beach. Quiet and clean.

But first things first! We went to ask the agency to arrange our visa for Vietnam. I would say it was easier than expected. Though we were a bit concerned to give our passports away. Anyway, we gave them and let them do their business. Visas in about a week.

Sihanoukville was the stop where we really took a good amount of time to enjoy. Not just this certain place but in general Asia. We were always rushing to GO GO GO! But not here. Rugilė went her own ways and I went mine. And in the evenings we were going together to the beach to sit in those comfy chairs and say bye bye to the sun. Again and again.. It was never enough.

Every evening on the way to the beach we met a man preparing and selling pancakes. With bananas, sugar, condensed milk, chocolate, etc. Anything you can imagine. What looked weird for us was that most of the locals were asking for a pancake with an egg baked on it. So he bakes an egg separately, puts it inside the pancake and then chocolate on the top. True story! Once I tried. The taste was surely better than expected.

Apparently The Full Moon is being celebrated everywhere! Sihanoukville was not an exception. The only thing is that fire tricks were all the same. Fascinating. But all the same. Still we joined the group, jumped through the fire, walked under the ropes that were on fire and all those crazy things. We made friends, we danced, we jumped again.

By the way, this was the first place where we saw the adverts on basically all bars that they searched for barmen (no salary, just for bed and drinks). Truly on each bar! Most of them specifically wanted Europeans. And a lot of them were already filled with them. Nothing for us. We moved on.

Next morning we moved to an island. And what an experience to come! Morning start: nice breakfast, usual misunderstandings with transport and next thing we know is waves, sickness, a huge island with maybe 200 people on it and sea water reaching bars. Sihanoukville – we will be back soon!

Rūta

Photo: Rugilė

Photo: Rugilė

Phnom Penh! The night bus to a new day!!

Posted on February 1, 2017February 1, 2017 by under365suns

“Get out, get out!!!” – these were the first words we heard in Phnom Penh – the capital of Cambodia. But let’s start from the beginning. Up to this point of the trip we already tried a lot of kinds of transportation: buses, local trains, fast trains, tuck tuck, scooters, hitchhiking, planes, taxi, boats, ferries, trucks, bicycles and cable cars. This time, a new experience – the night bus was waiting for us.

A big group of travelers with tired faces and concerned eyes were bustling around the bus which from outside seemed to be as a normal bus. It have started – not so polite cambodians gave us a bag for the shoes and a permission to enter the bus. Guess what?! Beds!! Ok, maybe not so big, not so comfortable but anyway, the bus was full of beds. Some travelers were more happy, some not so. It depended on whether you had to sleep next to a stranger or not. Rūta and I were lucky, we got single beds.

According to the plan, the trip by bus was supposed to take 6 hours. Plenty of time for a good night sleep and recharge our energy for a new day. But suddenly we heard “Get out, get out!!!” Everybody woke up. I asked Rūta what happened. Other travelers were asking the same. Nobody knew what was happening. When we saw our backpacks on the street, we understood that it was not a joke. We really needed to get out. So after 10-15 min of chaos we got some explanations. It was 4 am and we were at the beginning of Phnom Phen. The trip took less than 4 hours. The words “Get out, get out!!!” were changed by “Tuck, tuck, lady?!”.

It was clear now that we needed to reach city center. We cooperated with one more girl and took a tuck tuck to her hotel. She recommended it and we agreed to go there. For 20 min it seemed that a crazy night was going to be over. We reached the hotel and our Phnom Phen adventure started all over again.

It was still the middle of the night and the hotel where we were supposed to sleep was full. Could be a big problem but not for us and our amazing team: the tuck tuck driver, the traveler who we joined and the hotel night shift guy. So 5 people were trying to find a place for us. That was amazing – the power of the team work! The solution came very fast. And it was genius! The night shift guy let us sleep in the common room. Yes, yes, in the common hotel room where during the day people come to watch some movies, work, chill, play guitar, read, plan next trip and so on. But during the night it was a perfect place to sleep: a lot of pillows, mattresses and silence. The initial plan was to stay there one night. After the first night we understood that we didn’t need anything else. It was fun how during the day OUR room was full with some strange travelers, how empty it became during the nights, how nobody knew that we lived in that room and how we managed to wake up before everybody was coming there. We and our fellow, the night shift guy had a little secret.

After all we visited Phnom Phen. I had never lived in Soviet union but somehow this city reminded it, just a bit more gold and colours, and a king. We walked a lot: from one monument to the other. Unsuccessfully, we tried to find a bar where lindy hop party was supposted to be. We tried to avoid rats running around. As you can already guess, the city didn’t impress us. In fact one thing impressed me a lot. The Royal Palace. It is a complex of buildings which serves as the royal residence of the king of Cambodia. The Palace was spectacular, magnificent, and spiritual. The temples had mystical atmosphere. It seemed that we were one step closer to the King and God.

Also, Phnom Penh was the first visited city in Asia where we finally got a chance to make food on our own! You probably thought of something super fancy. Nothing like it! We found nice cheese, toast bread and coffee and had nice home-made sandwiches. Yes, after a while traveling it was nice to have just simple sandwiches. No rice or noodles..

A few days in Phnom Phen ran fast. We said good bye to the night shift guy, took a night bus and continued the journey. The next stop – Sihanoukville – a small seaside town.

Rugilė

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Angkor Waaaaaat! It’s Cambodia time!

Posted on October 9, 2016 by under365suns

We bought the tickets from Kuala Lumpur to Siem Reap in advance, so we had to plan the time until the flight quite thoroughly. Of course it all worked out well. And no complains about sleeping in the airport on the ground.

Because we took only one big luggage to Cambodia, I remember myself throwing away again some clothes and useless items that only took space in my backpack. Actually after every longer trip from A to B (longer walks with all the stuff) I felt lighter. I saw myself being that unsensible traveler in the sense of packing things. Ok, it was not that bad, I didn’t take 20kg in my backpack (only 16kg excluding camera weighing 2kg..), ketchup or running shoes (because I maybe want to run one day in 40deg..). But still I reached the point thinking: ”Rūta, 10pairs of socks? Really?”

And finally! Cambodia – we are here! First issue – visas. Only cash! Dollars? And Riel? Second issue – reaching the city centre of Siem Reap. We finally got a tuc tuc. „Hotel address?” Address? Does it look like we had one?? „Take us please to the city centre.” ”Address??” ”Center! Anywhere!” It seemed he finally understood. And so we drove for less than half an hour. We entered some streets.

It was really visible we changed the country. So much different from other places. Siem Reap – fourth biggest city in the country but I could not see anything else except of shacks and no-name streets. Imagine what a surprise there was when suddenly our driver stopped and said that we arrived.

We did not want to leave the tuc tuc. We did not want to believe that this was the country which we were so eager to see. It took some time to find a hostel but we managed.

Another surprise of the day – when the evening was getting closer, suddenly the light disappeared. The biggest problem was the ventilator, we did not care so much about the light. It was getting hot inside the room and there was no difference where to sit, inside or outside. We decided to go to bars’ street and we realised that the whole city was in a complete dark. Apparently it’s something quite normal here. Sitting in candle light in bars, with no music.. What about food in the fridges??

Next day we decided to go to Angkor – probably the most famous place in Cambodia (at least that’s how I would consider it). Waking up at around 4a.m., renting bikes for 1$ and we were good to go! It’s every photographer’s dream to take a sunrise photo with Angkor Wat. We were there in a huge crowd, trying to reach the front row. Success! We sat down and waited.

For me it was a perfect spot to stop for a while and to make again some kind of summary what I gained so far from this trip. I wrote some letters to my friends and explained what I saw. Not what I saw around me (breath-taking temples behind me) but what kind of picture was now inside of me. It got brighter than before, a little bit.

It was not that easy to wake up so early and bike all day in this crazy heat. But even the monkeys didn’t ruin the mood. Want to hear a funny story? So we left our bikes in front of one temple and went to look around. We came back after 10min. I saw from far our bikes lying on the ground. Maybe wind? We came closer and noticed that all of the items we had in the bike bag were around the bikes: empty bottle of water (!!), lamp all in pieces, the scarf, the hat.. Who would do that?? ”Monkeys”, we heard somebody’s voice behind us. ”They were here”. What?? Do they check every tourist what they have?? Anyway, no time to be angry.. We rushed to get some water!

At night we already ran out of Siem Reap to another adventure. Bus with beds and all night good sleep.. Until we heard the words ”get out get out!” …

Rūta

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Summary of Malysia

Posted on October 5, 2016October 6, 2016 by under365suns

Two weeks in Malaysia and I can admit – we have good knowledge about the country. Here are the points we want to share with you. Learn from our experience!

You can play smart and learn a few malay words. But most of the people speak good english.
Don’t talk to the strangers! They might get weird by the end of the conversation and might ask whether you are not from police.
Malaysian food does not really exist. It’s more a mix of indian, thai and chinese.
You like desserts? All kinds of desserts? Confirm this to me after visiting Malysia. Unless you really like ice-cream with corns and black beans, some kind of sourness, and more who knows what..
There is a diffence of temperatures if you go up to the highlands. Make sure to have warm clothes. Although socks and sandals always work..
Reggae bars can be found easily anywhere.
In Malaysia the religion is Muslim. When you are in the taxi, the driver most likely will ask you what your religion is. Never say that you are Jewish (if you are). They hate them apparently.
In Malay men think European women are ”easy”. Be careful!
Sea water is not transparent and it’s more like Baltic sea (at least west coast).

Rūta

Cameron Highlands – greenery, freshness and tea time.

Posted on September 6, 2016 by under365suns

Let’s escape from the noise of the big city for a while. Close your eyes! Breathe deeply! Count – 3..2..1! Imagine the greenest hills, the most blue sky and freshness after the rain. Welcome to Cameron Highlands! With a short stop in Kuala Lumpur we went to a small town Tanah Rata – the administrative capital of Cameron Highlands.

Stopping in Tanah Rata was not an accidental. Before coming to South East Asia, I had two pictures in my mind which represented Asia to me. It was the infinity of tea and rice. So let’s make it reality.Tanah Rata welcomed us with freshness, fog and rain. It was hard to believe but at that moment after a month of heat I was so happy just to breathe fresh air and hear the sound of strong rain. I appreciated it more that ever in my life. We started exploring the town right away in fog and rain.

Good things always have the end. But every end means new beginning. The rain stopped and the new sunny and hot day dawned. It was time for new experience. So we went on a tour to see what we came for – infinity of tea. Before this we have visited butterflies’ farm. That was pretty amazing. Being surounded by hundreds of butterflies, what could be more magical. An illeagal and secret walking in one of the oldest mossy forest in the world also added some mystery and magic to this day. And finally we got an opportunity to see an endless plantations of tea. The real view was much more stunning that I could imagine. The greenest hills, the most blue sky and a feeling of accomplishment. Close your eyes! Breathe deeply! Count – 3..2..1!

In conclusion I would like to say – use your imagination. Use it! Imagine the most beautiful places in the world! You never know when it can come true. You never know how far it can force you to go. Maybe one day you will wake up in a small town surounded by tea plantations.

Rugilė

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Green island – Singapore

Posted on August 11, 2016September 11, 2016 by under365suns

And again we go big. We leave Malaysia just for two days and arrive to this beautiful city / country / island for which by the way we need a visa (at least we got a free visa).

You can already guess that the trip was exhausting. This time it involved climbing the fences to reach the highway, crossing the highway by foot and running from rain. A few cars, 300km, nice chats with locals and we were at the border.

It was my second city / country visited after Vatican. Although this time it was clear where it started.. A bus to reach the border, walking to the security control, passport control, walking back to the bus, catching ANY bus and finally walking to the hostel.

And again running from rain! I thought we were paying back for those previous months when we didnt’t have a single drop. Quite a few times we had to run to find a roof to hide! Locals though didn`t look surprised. After a few minutes it stops and they just continue. And we stay surprised that its so different from other places just a few hundred kilometers away.

First evening there and we went out. Of course – we cannot lose any minute. Passing by favourite places of all times – Asian style markets and here we were, finding our way to the skyscrapers. Sun went down, buildings were lighten up and so our eyes were glittering from the believe that beauty is in anything and anywhere.

On the way back we stopped in the bars` street. We heard a girl playing the guitar and singing so beautifully. We stopped and listened a few songs of hers. It sounded simply wonderful. Both Rugilė and I were swaying into the rythm. Nice end of the day.

Actually we did quite some reading about Singapore and found out this: Cameras everywhere? No chewing gum? Overall cleanliness? Jaywalking? No smoking in certain areas? Fine for not flushing in a public toilet? I could tell you more but you get the idea. It did not look so much different from some of the cities in Europe, so about some facts we were quite dissapointed (very clean city?? Well maybe we entered the wrong streets..).

Anyway, the next day we visited some more places and had time to enjoy this city in the day-time. I was impressed the most by the amount of plants ON THE BUILDINGS: balconies, terrases or roofs. Trees the size of the ones my grandma has in her garden! Or some super nice parks.

The most beautiful park we saw was called Gardens by the Bay using 101 hectares. Impressive! I remember the first question of Rugilė the very first moment we entered it: Where was Avatar filmed? Wasn`t it here?? We were both stunned of this beauty. Those few hours spent there was simply not enough. We were rushing because we wanted to see it all. Every inch of it.

By the way, for Avatar’s floating Hallelujah Mountains the designers drew inspiration mainly from the Karst Limestone formations in China. Not so far though.. And the question was reasonable. Only those would laugh who haven`t been there and haven`t seen what we saw..

I will sum it up now. City – green. People – diverse. Overall – happy R&R.

Rūta

<<<<<<<<<Lithuanian >>>>>>>>>

Žalia sala – Singapūras

Ir vėl mes žengiame didžiulį žingsnį į priekį. Išvykstame iš Malaizijos dviems dienoms ir vykstame į šį nuostabų miestą / šalį / salą, kur, beje, mums taip pat reikia vizos (šįkart bent nemokama).

Galite jau įsivaizduoti, kad kelionė į ten buvo tikrai varginanti. Lipome per sieną kirsti greitkelį, jį kirtome pėščiomis, ir bėgome nuo lietaus. Keli automobiliai, 300 kilometrų, smagūs pokalbiai su vietiniais ir mes jau buvome prie sienos.

Singapūras – mano antras aplankytas miestas / šalis po Vatikano. O šį kartą buvo labai aišku, kur jis prasidėjo. Autobusu pasiekiame sieną, einame prie kontrolės, atgal į autobusą, susitabdome bet kokį autobusą, judantį į Singapūrą ir pagaliau einame link mūsų hostelio.

Ir vėl bėgome nuo lietaus! Aš galvojau mes taip mokėjome už praeitus kelis visiškai sausus mėnesius. Keletą kartų reikėjo skubiai bėgti ieškoti stogo. Vietiniai neatrodė nustebę tokiu oru. Po kelių minučių lietus liaujasi ir jie lyg niekur nieko tęsia savo keliones. O mes vis dar stovime nustebę, kad oras gali taip skirtis, pavažiavus vos kelis šimtus kilometrų.

Vos tik apsistoję išėjome į centrą. Be abejonės negalime prarasti nei minutės. Praeiname savo mėgstamiausias vietas – azijietiškus turgelius – ir judame link miesto dangoraižių. Saulė nusileido, įsižiebė žibintai, apšviesdami pastatus, o ir mūsų akys sužibo patikėdamos, kad grožis yra visur aplink.

Grįžtant staptelėjome barų gatvėje. Išgirdome merginą, grojant gitara ir nuostabiai dainuojant. Mes pasiklausėme kelių jos dainų. O jos skambėjo tiesiog dangiškai. Rugilė ir aš siūbavome į ritmą. Graži dienos pabaiga.

Tiesą sakant mes gan daug skaitėme apie Singapūrą, prieš čia atvažiuojant ir štai, ką sužinojome: visur video kameros? Jokios kramtomos gumos? Visur švaru? Jokių gatvių kirtimų, kur neleistina? Nerūkoma tam tikrose miesto vietose? Bauda už vandens nenuleidmą viešuose tualetuose? Galėčiau vardinti ir daugiau, bet manau supratote, ką norėjau pasakyti. Miestas neišsisykrė nuo bet kurio didesnio Europos miesto, taigi dėl kai kurių faktų nusivylėme (labai švarus miestas?? Na galbūt mes užsukome ne į tas gatves..).

Kitą dieną aplankėme dar daugiau lankomų vietų ir turėjome pakankamai laiko pasimėgauti šio miesto dvasia dienos metu. Buvau labiausiai sužavėta floros kiekiu ANT PASTATŲ: balkonuose, terasose ar ant stogų. Šiose vietose medžiai tokio dydžio, kaip pas mano močiutę sode! Ir keletas nuostabių parkų miesto centre.

Pats gražiausias parkas, kokį mums teko regėti, vadinamas Gardens by the Bay (parkas prie įlankos), užimantis 101 hektarą žemės. Įspūdinga! Prisimenu pirmą Rugilės klausimą, kurį ji man uždavė: Kur buvo Aavtaras filmuotas? Ar tai nebuvo kartais čia? Mes abi buvome sužavėtos šiuo grožiu. Tos kelios parke praleistos valandos buvo per mažai. Mes skubėjome, nes norėjome pamatyti viską. Kiekvieną gabalėlį.

Beje, Avataro plūduriuojantiems Hallelujah kalnams dizaineriai sėmėsi idėjų iš Karst Limestone darinių Kinijoje. Taigi nedaug prašauta su spėjimu.. Ir Rugilės klausimas buvo tikrai pagrįstas. Tik tie gali juoktis, kurie nėra čia buvę ir nematė to, ką mes matėme..

Dabar viską apibendrinsiu. Miestas – žalias. Žmonės – įvairūs. Bendrai – laimingos R&R.

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Malacca – red city and real heat !

Posted on July 18, 2016 by under365suns

Everything was according to the plan. We arrived by bus, took a taxi to the hostel. A few minutes later we were picking our beds. It is kind of a big deal to pick up the right one. There are some important rules for that. Here we go! Rule no. 1 (the main one) – the bed should be close to a fan. Rule no. 2 – the bed should have a socket close by; Rule no. 3 – check for the bugs and misterious stains on your blanket; Rule no. 4 – mosquito net is always useful. So, according to us, we occupied the best beds in a room and went to explore the city.

Malacca is one of the historical cities in Malaysia. At the begining Malacca was a simple fishing village inhabited by local Malays. Later during the differnet periods the city was under chinese, portuguese or dutch control. It is visible even these days – Christian churches, chinese temples, red decorations everywhere for upcoming Lunar New Years, mosques and red-brick buildings. This fusion makes Mallaca special and charming. Tuck tucks decorated with famous cartoon characters made this city even more fascinating.

Malacca had not just its unique history and architecture but its own taste as well. Little banana donuts, ice cream with corns and traditionl lemon tea. I guess Rūta will remember ice cream floating in corn liquids for a long time. Anyway, exploring national cuisine is a challenging experience. Sometimes it is good, sometimes – not so.

Meeting new friends is also an experience which made our trip more than special. This time we met an extraordinary italian traveler, who has been travelling for more than 15 years and lived almost in every continent. He knows how to find weed in every single city, finds old stuff on streets and makes it new. He can improve his slippers in a few hours and has thousands of crazy stories.

The last but not the least thing about visiting Mallaca was heat! Real heat! Extreme heat! It was super hot both during the day and during the night. We found our ways to solve this significant problem. Sneaking to AC room, sleeping in a common room on the floor or not sleeping at all. So a few nights without sleeping and a few days of following shadows of the red buildings went fast. Early morning we pascked and left. Next stop – Singapore!

Rugilė

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KL – Kingdom of Lights

Posted on June 28, 2016 by under365suns

We left Langkawi island early in the morning. I remember observing the sun going up little by little. Ok, that did not last long, I fell asleep. And here we were again in the main land!

We had to walk a bit to reach the road going out of that small village named Kuala Perlis. Hitch-hiking had begun. It was fun! People just stopped to ask where we were going. Most of them spoke very good english (a big surprise after Thailand). And soon enough we were on the road again.

We got lucky to be taken quite close to Kuala Lumpur and at least an hour further from where the man was going. Thanks to you! We hope you were not into big trouble at work after that!

The last kilometers we did by bus. It seemed the easiest way as the city`s just too big for hitch-hiking. And we arrived at Kuala Lumpur!

We were there quite late though, so what we only did that day was reaching the host – Fally, charging the phones to let families know we were alright, taking a shower and having some chats. Chats with a new host and his friends, and other couchsurfers – our first Lithuanians met on the trip! First great evening in KL – confirmed! And even without sight-seeing.

Another beautiful day began! We met a friendly polish girl (another couchsurfer) and all headed to the city centre!

Size of the city, its streets, buildings and the rush impressed me again. And how any city in Asia would look like without China Town and Little India?? I really don`t know! We visited all those places. The colours in general, the items for sale, clothes, flowers, food – everything just grasped our attention. We continued.

One local stopped a city bus for us (it`s an art both to catch one and get inside it). Now heading to Batu Caves. We started with the first one. Got inside the cave straight away. Full area of statues. Then stairs to go up and we found there.. nothing.. Ok, the view to look down was nice but that`s it. Not as impressive as I thought it would be.

Now it`s time for some real climbing! In front of the main cave there was a huge Lord Murugan statue (second tallest statue of a Hindu deity in the world, if you ask). We were staring for a little while, then at the people climbing all those stairs up.. How do they do that?? And time came for us to do it. It took a while. But it was worth it..

When I reached the top, I sat down on the bench. Felt exhausted but happy. I felt a bit pitty for those on the way. Rugilė was also somewhere there. Well actually only because she was taking the pictures. My goal was to reach the top. I was waiting and waiting.. 🙂

This cave was really big. We walked inside. Some more stairs. We met the monkeys. They lived there trying to get anything from the tourists. It was fun to watch. After some time I realised I was mostly taking pictures of the monkeys. Well they were lovely! And very photogenic!

Next stop – indian restaurant. Yes, if I´m out of Thailand, then I eat Indian food!

We visited Petronas towers during the day and the night. Completely different view! So exciting! So many lights, the view and all different colours again! Night brings its charm – that´s for sure! Also it`s a must to go to the other side of the shopping centre to see the fountain and it`s colours (suggestion – at night, it´s so beautiful because of the lamps).

So what`s left here to do? To visit backpackers` street! How could we miss that! There were a lot of us. Fally and his friends, more couchsurfers and friends. After enjoying great music in the bar we went to the club (which by the way got a new name of fridge after we entered).

More markets, including Central market inside the gallery (that was refreshing!), more great food and we were done here.

Days were passing by fast. We stayed in KL for 3 nights in total. Every moment was worth it. Strange but good thing we noticed was plugs in the train stations outside. Strange but not so good — local men and weird conversations with them. Everybody`s different, right? We accept and move to our next destination.

Rūta

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KEEP GOING !!!

Posted on May 25, 2016 by under365suns

We still can do it! We still have enough time! Let’s keep going! We are moving! 50 km more! Surely we will cross the border today! Malaysia, we are coming! All these phrases were following us during the big day, the day when we crossed our first border in South East Asia.

All the hichhiking days on the trip were supposed to start early. Some of them did, some did not.. This time we managed to reach good hichhiking spot quite early. Uhuuuuu! The good beginning is half of the batlle. We were quite lucky the whole day. Drivers and cars changed frequently and most of the time we were moving. However, it was one of the hottest days. My black sandals were so hot that it burnt my feet. Burned feet, faces and everything else but a happy belly. We ate ice cream and fresh fruits in almost every stop we made.

Our destination was Langkawi island. That meant we needed to catch the ferry. The schedule of the ferry was checked in the official website. The word official here is very important. So from the official website we found out that the last ferry is at 4 p.m. We had no idea that this information could be wrong but it was! The last car picked us up quite late but we still had a small hope to be on time. The last few hours with two charming teachers passed very fast. The driver brought us directly to the pier. Hurray! We were on time even one hour before! We entered pier and in a few seconds understood there wasn’t any ferry. The last one was at 3 p.m. It left 5 min ago. 5 min! Yes, we were late 5 min! No, no, no! We wanted to cross the border and reach the island.

A few minutes of realizing what just happened, passed very fast. Nevertheless, we noticed that something serious was going on. A blond tall girl was arguing with the pier staff. We came closer. To make a long story short, it was a visa overstay problem. The girl, Isabela, had two options – pay a big fine, stay one more day and pay fine for it or pay a big fine, rent a local boat and cross the border today. Renting a boat was quite expensive. Anyway, at that moment it looked as the best solution. So, together we put our last money (it was not even enough) and rented a long boat, which as we understood was supposted to take us to Langawi with a short stop at the emigration point. The hope to reach Langawi that day came back, unfortunately just for a while. After two hours in the sea we reached Malaysia. Boatman who did not speak any language showed us the emigration point. We jumped out of the boat, got our stamps and permitions to stay in Malaysia and came back to the boat for continuing the odyssey to Langkawi. It ended very soon, like in two minutes. The boatman and the policeman who could speak English, came back and told to us that by this boat it was imposible to reach Langkawi. What? Even more, the last ferry from here to Langawi was already gone. We were angry, tired and stuck in the middle of nowhere. Yes, in the middle of nowhere with no hotels. After a few hours of walking around and searching for a place to sleep we got a room and had girls pyjama party night in Malaysia.

Next morning we woke up with sunrise and took a proper ferry to the island. Was it a happy ending of this story? Not, yet! We spent 2 amazing days in Langkawi. First day we hitchhiked through the island, took a cable car, walked on the sky bridge, found a perfect place to stay and met some new friends. The other day was even more exciting. Isabela and I drove all around Langkawi, had relaxing swimming in the jungle’s waterfalls, we were atacted by local monkeys, visited wild and black sand beaches and enjoyed wind and sun while driving. The culmination of the evening was gathering in the beach with travelers from all over the world. And the last but not the least memory from Langkawi – literally facing with a milliped. The milliped appeared from nowhere. Ok! It fell from the sky straight to my face while I was peacefully sleeping. I jumped out of bed and tried to realize what happened. The rest of the night… No! The rest of the week I had nightmares about snakes, millipeds and other creatures in my bed.

The mornig came soon and we were on the road again. We kept going to our new destination – Kuala Lumpur. So, keep going whatever you want to reach. You are going to achieve it, sooner or later, with more or less adventures!

Rugilė

Photo: Rūta

Photo: Rugilė

Photo: Rūta

Photo: Rugilė

Photo: Rūta

Photo: Rugilė

Photo: Rūta

Photo: Rugilė

Photo: Rūta

Photo: Rugilė

Photo: Rūta

Photo: Rugilė

Photo: Rūta

Photo: Rugilė

Photo: Rūta

Photo: Rugilė

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Photo: Rugilė

WATER, ISLANDS AND US

Posted on May 20, 2016 by under365suns

What a trip we made to reach Krabi (south west of Thailand)! So far this was the longest and the most tiring journey we had. But for sure it was worth it.

25 hours from Koh Chang island to the final destination: tuk tuk, ferry, tuk tuk, bus, train, minivan and tuk tuk again.. And we were there!

Train through the night.. Well that was for sure THE experience. No lying down, just sitting throughout the whole trip. That’s no fun. It was very hard for me as most of the trip I only looked through the window and saw nothing (it was a complete dark!). But what a relief when we finally reached the city! Well our swollen legs were happy only after lying down for an hour or two in the hostel that we by the way found very easy (as usual, nothing booked in advance).

First day we did ordinary activities what we usually did when arrived to the new place: walking around, getting to know the city, searching for places of interest and enjoying the weather.

When the evening came, we had a nice walk next to Pak Nam Krabi – also something ordinary. It´s always nice to absorb what´s in there and what´s surrounding us – markets, bars, restaurants, water, locals, parks and just finding anything new (e.g. rats running around on the pavement! Impossible to get used to that!). Day and night – a big difference what you can find, even going to the same places.

On the way back to our hostel we found a very nice fountain. In the middle – a metal statue showing different instruments. Not only this attracted our attention but also lightening and some easy music coming from it. Not exactly what we wanted to hear though.. I said to Rugilė: You know what I would like to do right now? Sit somewhere and listen to some great music. Only guitar would be perfect. And a singer. We continued walking by the river. After a few seconds we saw a man sitting on the edge, playing his guitar and singing. We started laughing! Dream carefully. Dreams DO come true..

We sat at the river, just a few meters away from him to enjoy some great music. After he finished the song, he surely deserved appreciation. We applauded and came to sit next to him. Traveler (like us), German (like most of the people we met), quit everything to have what he had, to have what we all have – freedom, the whole world, big blue sky. True life. We had a great conversation. Some more travelers joined us. A group of people seeing each other for the first time, telling the stories like to an old friend. Yes, that´s what we do. We are all friends in this big big world.

The next day was just spectacular. We took this 4 Islands tour by longtail boat – very popular in this region. What an amazing experience and what a great decision we made! All the boats on the beach were painted in all the possible colours. Their shapes, captains sitting inside, small chairs and the view – everything fitted perfectly.

Phra Nang island. We walked by the beach, forded up to the knees and here we were – inside this beautiful Phra Nang cave. We climbed, took some nice pictures, looked up to see the sky from the gap in the cave, got dirty from rocks and red sand.

Chicken island. It got this name because of its shape. You can see the chicken head when you get closer. True story! So we did not exactly reach the island. We stopped some 10-15m away from the beach and went snorkeling. Ok, it did not really work for me. I tried to wear this equipment, I drank some salty water and then decided just to put on my diving glasses. I dived deep enough to see the rocks, sea urchins, fish and much more! First time – approved.

Tub and Mor Islands. What was so amazing about them was the sandbank – a path between them which is visible during low tide. Parked boats on both sides and again beautiful sand beaches. We had lunch there sitting on the rocks, looking at clear blue water, afterwards had a quick walk, swimming and back to the boat!

Poda island. Well that´s what I call a view worth a million! Iconic rock and more of white sand beaches! Unfortunately we had very little of time. I needed more to just stop, concentrate and be in the moment like I always did.

Thailand must be proud of this region. Only around Krabi area there are around 200 islands, a lot of them do not even have names but each of them for sure is worth seeing at least from the boat (a lot of them have no landing access). So our four islands trip was more than that.

The city and its surroundings surprised us. A long way to get there did pay off with a pile (as we say in Lithuania). Remember: dream carefully. Dreams Do come true..

Rūta