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Falling in Love with the Past…

Part 7 of our Adventure has us riding through Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic

You can watch some of the highlights of our trip HERE

Krakow, Poland

After researching about where to go in Poland we realized that Krakow was where we would find the “true” culture as Warsaw was rebuilt due to getting almost completely demolished during WWII. But we still wanted to say that we had visited, so we took a quick drive through Warsaw and then headed straight to Krakow.

Quick picture when driving through in Warsaw

Krakow is one of the oldest cities in Poland and it was fortunate enough to avoid getting destroyed in WWII. The Germans did occupy Krakow, but for the most part they left the monuments and beautiful buildings alone.

Walking through Krakow square, and visiting yet more cathedrals made me fall in love with the splendor of the past and the romance of the slow, simple life.

I am thankful to be born (and living) in the late 20th century, but the cadence of life–even just 100 years ago–does hold it’s appeal, especially when visiting a place that seems to blend the modern lifestyle along with the old seamlessly.

There were gorgeous carriages pulled by magnificent horses, conventional and impressionist artists, musicians of all kinds, break dancers, new modern hostels and old guesthouses, cafes and restaurants that would have served coffee or glass of cold beer to a generation or two older than us.

Having a cold beer at a cafe that was open since the early 1900’s, and still run by the same family…

Krakow is also one of the cheapest cities in Europe so, if you can, stay awhile and enjoy it to the full. We wish we stayed a few more days. ***Most of our activities and meals cost less than in Bangkok!!

Cheap apartment in downtown Krakow…less than 30euros/night

Didn’t make it in the picture, but we had the entire apartment to ourselves. Furnished with a kitchen, washing machine, iron, oven etc..

Another highlight in Poland was visiting the Weiliczka Salt Mines. It was amazing and something you shouldn’t miss out on if visiting Poland.

All these sculptures were carved from rock salt. Some by professional artists, some were made by the miners..

The mine opened in the 13th century and just recently stopped being active in 2007 which makes it one of the oldest and long lasting mines in the world and it was absolutely fascinating. While being guided through a fraction of the 287 kilometers of pure salt corridors we got to see hundreds of years of history being carved into the salt.

Everything besides the mining tools were made from salt. We visited several chapels, a couple of large cathedrals, massive rooms, endless tunnels, stables and variety of decorations, sculptures and furniture completely made of salt.

Chandelier made completely from salt decorates the deepest underground Cathedral in the world.

The Last Supper carved in Rock Salt

Slovakia

We sort of over-scheduled ourselves and we had to drive through Slovakia rather quickly. We only stayed 1 night, but the camping spot we found was beautiful.

The country is gorgeous, and the roads are perfect for those on a motorbike. Straight roads are really boring when on a motorbike, so we truly enjoyed driving through the Slovakian country side which had rolling mountains and winding roads that were just winding enough to keep it interesting but not too steep or too challenging.

Our short experience was enjoyable.

Prague, Czech Republic

The land of craft beer, castles and yes…more cathedrals…

1 Euro craft beer from the tap…they don’t even tell you the name of the beer on the menu…just beer :/

I was amazed by the wealth of the different styles of architecture . Abstract, Minimalist, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque stand side by side.

This was just on the way to Prague…you can find glorious sights every corner you make…

Gothic Cathedral on the outside

Renaissance Statues at the entrance

We spent most of our time in Prague. The Charles bridge was something to remember and strolling down that bridge will take you on an unforgettable journey.

Drone Pic of the Charles bridge over the Prague River

Ok, this one is familiar

And yes, I had to take a picture with the statues with my namesake 😛

The bizarre, yet somehow beautiful statues will probably tell a new story to each and everyone who passes by. I assume that most of the statues have a religious meaning, but most were just too bizarre to understand and I was happy to just stroll by and make up my own understanding of them.

Can you tell me what this story tells???

Grand Prague Castle (apparently it is one of the oldest still-functioning castles) it looked pretty new to us, but it is apparently from the 9th century…

Tired but still smiling after a long day of sight-seeing..those cobble-stoned streets up and down the hills of Prague are tough on the feet so be sure to wear sensible shoes when visiting!

 

 

Visiting the Baltic Countries…

It was time to leave Scandinavia…

We were looking forward to experiencing a bit of the “exotic” part of Europe…well at least in comparison to the countries we had just visited. Check out our video below:

Estonia

Our ferry from Helsinki, Finland took us to Talinn, Estonia in less than 4 hours. Sometimes I forget how small Europe compared to Asia.

4 hours is easily what you can spend in traffic going from one end of Bangkok to the other 😛

After disembarking from the ferry, we had a little drive through the old town of Talinn, it was beautiful but because the weather was a bit unpredictable we decided to push through and keep on driving and spend the night in a town closer to our next destination, Latvia.

In retrospect, I think we should have stayed the night in Talinn as that was the place we saw the most happening. The other cities we passed through were very quiet, and hardly anyone spoke any English.

We had booked the night at this out of the way campsite with Hobbit styled cottages in a little town called Padise. It was a toss up between camping in our tent or staying in the cottage. Staying in the cottage ended up being the correct choice as it rained all night and the temperature dropped quite low.

We had a delicious BBQ and a luxury salad before the rain started in earnest and a good night’s sleep in our king sized bed in our Hobbit-House.

After leaving the Hobbit-House we drove directly to Riga, Lativa. Ok, that might sound like a long way, but actually it was only around 300km and easily accomplished within 4 hours of driving.

Latvia

Driving in Estonia and Lativa felt like we were driving in Thailand. After the uber organized and safety conscious Scandinavia we had to adjust to a “crazier” sort of driving rather quickly. It was a night and day difference, but Stefan took it all in stride and made the best of it. At least it was easy to stay alert, there was no telling when someone would blatantly ignore the double solid lines or a truck would overtake another truck etc.

And oh, the WIND!…Estonia and Latvia border the Baltic sea and have a ridiculous amount of strong wind. We were almost blown off the road a couple of times. Well, not really, but it felt like it, and our necks were quite sore after a few hundred kilometers of fighting the wind to stay upright.

Arriving in Riga was a pleasant relief. It wasn’t a very long ride, but it felt longer simply because of the strong wind and the crazy driving.

Riga has so much character! There were so many things to do for very reasonable prices. We spent the day walking the cobble-stone roads and going in and out of the various museums that costs a fraction of the prices we experienced in Northern Europe.

Cathedrals were free to enter and there were endless choices of cafes and dinning spots.

For dinner we treated ourselves to an authentic Medieval dinner in the Rozengrals Restaurant, a building that dates back to the 1200’s. The staff were dressed in medieval costumes, the tables and chairs were made of solid wood just like in the olden days and the medieval music and ambiance was incredibly on-point. You can take a look at the place here…it really was worth it.

Our Pork Shank!!

The entire restaurant was candle lit (including the WC’s, though they did have proper modern toilets) and all in all it was a memorable meal complete with home-brewed non-pasteurized honey beer.

Homemade short bread wrapped in cloth for appetizer

If you are headed to Riga, you must try this place out. We were lucky that we stumbled upon it during our walk around town. But it is recommended to make a reservation as it usually is full during all the prime times. We ate and drank our full (please do note that they serve half litres of beer as per norm) for less than 35euros!

We also were finally able to go Salsa Dancing in Riga, after many failed attempts (we were in the city during the wrong nights etc. so no salsa dancing was happening) we found a cute Cuban club called the Cuban Café just a couple of blocks away from our hotel.

Smiling because we are finally out Salsa Dancing!

The dance floor was tiny but the music was good and the dancing was lively! If you want a lively place for dancing and cheap cocktails and beers do visit this bar.

Another highlight in Riga was the RetroFoto salon we visited. Again, for only 35euros we were able to get a complete photo op with costumes, professional pose cues, props, photo shop editing when needed etc.

They were so professional that we were in and out in less than an hour. They do need a week or so to completely finish the digital enhancements of the photo, but for us that was no problem as we didn’t plan on printing out our photo.

We chose a Baroque theme and were quite pleased with our souvenir…what do you think?

While traveling there is always a bit of scary excitement—we lost our passports and legal papers!!

Because of the open borders, we hardly have to pull them out. So we only noticed that we didn’t have them with us when we were ready to leave Latvia. We had a bit of a panic, but we figured we could have only left them in our last hotel. Fortunately, we hadn’t driven very far, and in 30mins, we were back in possession of our precious documents. Lesson learned: always check that you have your important documents whenever leaving a hotel!!

Lithuania

It was a beautiful day when driving from Latvia to Lithuania.

We had a pit stop at the Hill of Crosses, an eerie yet beautiful place with history just bursting at the seams. Every cross tells a story of love and devotion to God or a loved one who has passed on.

It started out as a symbolic burial site for the rebels of the 1831 and 1836 rebellion against the Russian occupation. Some of the rebel’s bodies were not found and thus symbolic burial sites with crosses began appearing on the hill.

It is now possible to place your own cross on the hill so long as it does not disturb the crosses, and statues already on the hill so the hill continues to grow.

The beautiful sunny day turned into a rainy and stormy night so we decided to leave Lithuania for sunnier weather as being wet and cold while riding a motorbike is a rider’s worst nightmare.

 

Friendly Finnish Folks…

Friendly Finland

We weren’t able to stay long in Finland…

And we learned the hard way that Mid-Summer Night Season is not the best time for visiting…unless you want to join in the fun an debauchery that comes with it!

The young (and the young at heart) are busy staying up all night singing, dancing, drinking and attending massive music festivals!

This means that almost everything is CLOSED! It’s like Christmas in Europe or Songkran in Thailand–even the grocery stores and mall closed earlier than usual!

If we weren’t tired from driving and hoping from one ferry to the next, we might have wanted to join in the fun, but as it was, we were eager to find a quiet place to JUST SLEEP…

Our first stop was the Old City of Rauma. This almost 600 year old preserved town is beautiful and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but because of Mid-Summer everything was closed and it was ghost town…

Quaint old buildings…notice how bright it is? It’s around 5.30pm!!

A major fire in the 1700’s destroyed a lot of the houses but at least 600 have survived and are habitable to this very day

Usually known as a “Living Museum” but was a Ghost town due to Mid-Summer Night Festivities

We were able to explore the old streets and take a bit of footage, but we weren’t really able to get much info about the charming place.

Since we couldn’t really find anything open, we decided that it would be best to eat at the next restaurant we found open.

We found this cute pizzeria, and while we were enjoying the free salad bar (this was the kicker…as soon as Stefan saw they had a free salad bar we knew this was the place for us..:D) we met our first Friendly Finnish Folks!

This stood out to us because they actually initiated the conversation which didn’t happen in all the other places we had been through. Folks were friendly in Norway and Sweden, but we were usually the ones to start talking or asking questions.

In Finland it was so pleasant to have folks start talking to us. They told us that it was honestly the wrong time to visit Finland, because everyone was so busy celebrating the Mid-Summer Night that they had no time for tourists…

They also warned us that all the cheap lodging and camping spots might be taken by the Finnish young folks roaming around attending the different music festival.

I don’t know why we didn’t get wind of it before, but there was a HUGE music festival happening in Rauma and all the camping and hotels were booked!!

The friendly couple we were chatting with in the pizzeria offered us their back yard to camp in, in case we didn’t find anywhere to stay—so kind! 😀

Even though we were quite tired, since we couldn’t find anything in Rauma, we decided to push on towards Helsinki.

It was quite late so we stopped in another town called Turku, we again checked out the camping sites, but they were full (or the prices were double) because of Mid-summer so decided to see if we could find a wild camping spot…

Our first spot was already taken by some party revelers and there was no way we were going to get any sleep if we camped next to them…

The trick to finding a good wild camp spot (in our un-professional opinion) is to find a small road leading off the main road that leads to the conventional campsites. By following the smaller roads it usually leads you to a walking or cycling road that is not very frequented and THEN you can spot some level ground perfect for setting up a tent…

In this case we found a little path that turned off a jogging path into a small prairie and it was private enough that folks couldn’t see our tent while jogging or walking around.

Wild Camp near Turku, Finland

The grass was up to my waist and we had to press it down to get some space for the tent, but this made it nice and soft so we considered ourselves lucky…

It was a beautiful night. The sun stayed bright all night but the temperature was cool. In the middle of the night we heard some noises and discovered that a family of small deer were nearby which made the whole “wild” camping experience more authentic.

You can see more footage of our Wild Camping  and our Finland Adventure HERE:

The next morning we slept in till around 10am and we had fun watching some folks noticing us packing camp while jogging or cycling. Their faces read: “Oh, those guys camped there!!”

Wild camping is legal in Finland as it is in Sweden and Norway…but got the impression that most folks don’t really do it.

When we mentioned to the friendly couple in the restaurant that if we couldn’t find a place, we would “wild camp” they didn’t really know what to say and promptly offered us their back yard to camp in…LOL!

I LOVE HELSINKI!

Helsinki is a beautiful city. The architecture and the Orthodox Christian cathedrals were something we had never seen before. We haven’t been to Russia yet, but we can see why folks say that some of the outstanding buildings and churches have a strong Russian influence.

Uspenski Cathedral, Helsinki

Inside my first Orthodox Christian Church

Helsinki Lutheran Cathedral

Walking around Helsinki and taking a ferry to Suomenlinna Island Fort that was 15mins away from the mainland was like walking around in a new world and seeing a part of Europe we hadn’t seen before.

Michael Jackson pose in a dungeon window

Suomenlinna Fort Walls

Vintage Rolls Royce in Suomenlinna Island I just had to take a pic with 😀

Canons….

And again, folks went out of their way to talk to us so it was nice to talk about where they recommended we should visit and we didn’t feel so alone and foreign J

***Shame we didn’t take any pics with the friendly Finnish folks we were able to chat with…I guess we are still getting used to cataloging our experiences for our blog…

Helsinki was a contrasting experience of the OLD and the NEW…the old roads, the old churches, cathedrals and forts the old bars and hang outs…

Successful Selfie at Uspenski Cathedral

And then we checked in THE MOST MODERN and fully automated apartment we have EVER been to.

We booked this fully set up apartment just outside of Helsinki because it was a really good deal and it look new and clean.

We didn’t realize that it was completely electronic and supervised by camera and codes.

We booked but we didn’t realize that we had to PAY ONLINE to receive our code to access the building…

So we wandered around for an hour (trying to find a grocery store open etc) waiting for our “code” or for someone to email us back.

After not receiving the code, we went back to the apartment building and tried in vain to call the emergency number again and again…

Ah! It’s is still Mid-Summer holidays so I guess there wasn’t anybody answering the phones! What do we do???

We finally realized that we hadn’t actually finished the payment process, we had booked, but we didn’t finalized payment.

Our phones were dying and we had 2 euros left of internet credit and we were getting tired of being on the steps of our hotel!

It was the case of being so close…but so far…we could see the Promise Land but WE COULDN’T GET IT…lol!

Our payment finally went through (thanks to PayPal) as filling out our card details would have probably eaten up all our internet credit…

And wallah, we had OUR CODE!

Our code gave us access to everything! Free secure parking???

Tap in the code and the garage door would automatically open for you to drive in and automatically close after…

Tap in the code for front door…

Tap in the code for the elevator…

Tap in the code for the room…

Tap in the code for the kitchen…

Tap in the code for the laundry room…

We felt we were in a bit of Si-Fi movie.

We saw 2 other people the 2 days  we were in this apartment.

1 guy was another biker who had booked a room and showed us where the garage was…

The other was the cleaner lady who said exactly 1 word to us… “Hi”

We saw NO staff…

We saw NO other folks though we knew it was full as it was the last room available.

It was strange after living in Thailand when you get used to seeing “staff” everywhere!

Once we had our PRECIOUS CODE…we had a really comfortable stay…

But it was so weird not seeing a single person to ask any questions or get directions or get any help from.

We were joking, what if we FORGOT THE CODE– we would have been seriously screwed!!!

The apartment was also extremely efficient. No frills, everything was utilitarian without being ugly or institutional.

In the room they provided us with:

·       Complete set of dishes for 2 people

·       Dish towels

·       Dish washing utensils

·       Garbage bags and general cleaning supplies

·       Coffee machine

·       Microwave

·       Bath towel set

·       Hair Dryer

·       2 in 1 body soap and shampoo

·       Comfortable Bedding

In the “Common Areas” they provide us with:

Fully equipped kitchen with extra dishes and pots and pan

·       Washing Machine

·       Dryer

·       Working Desk Spaces

·       Brochures for things to do in town etc

·       Signs for everything from the Internet code to saving the environment etc…

You are expected to:

·       Wash and Dry your own dishes and put then back in their correct spaces

·       Clean and Dry the kitchen pots, pans and utensils used. They also provide you with a large array of cleaning cloths to make sure you wipe and dry the counters and sinks after use.

·       Empty your own garbage bins if they become full during your stay

·       Check out by 11am as your CODE would automatically be invalid

It was surprisingly easy to comply as everything is so clean and orderly when you check in that you want to leave your room is similar order.

My OCD tendencies loved it!

Stefan was a bit dismayed, I think he is still having withdrawal symptoms from not having a maid clean up everyday 😛

Ok, I think I ranted a bit too long about our apartment….

But I hoped you enjoyed reading about it nonetheless 😀

We capped off our Finland stay with an authentic Finnish meal and beer and we were ready to get on another ferry to Estonia!

Chicken Ormattila with Baked Beetroot Cake

Cheers to Delicious Finnish Beer!

Meeting a Moose, Boars and Mia in Sweden

Yes, Stefan got lost for over 6 hours…

But let’s start at the beginning…

I felt we were sneaking into Sweden when we rode in across the border…

After all the legal work, visas and immigration visits—(which we got so used to in Thailand)– the concept of open borders still seems bizarre to me.

Both Norway and Denmark have random passport checks, even though we were never checked, at least we saw some border officials and we were asked to show ID’s when boarding the ferries.

Crossing into Sweden stood out because basically one second we were in Norway and the next second we realized we had passed a sign saying “Welcome to Sweden.”

About 50km into Sweden we entered a National Park area and we still hadn’t seen a single person or proper town. It is a bit surreal driving well paved roads and seeing no civilization whatsoever…

We realized that we were pretty close to the Fulufjallet waterfall that we wanted to see so we decided to try to find it. After finding it, we were told it would take a 2-3km hike up to see it, it was around 7pm so we decided to take another shot at it the next day as and we still didn’t have a place to stay.

As mentioned there was hardly a soul in sight, so it took a while for us to find a campsite. We actually found one “proper” campsite but it had a terrible spot to put up tents so we decided to strike off on our own and “wild camp.”

This was easier said than done as the area we were in wasn’t it full spring or summer bloom. The ground was still very rocky and the trees were a bit grey and uninviting.

The ground was cover in all of this sharp moss that felt more like coral to me…

But after wandering around the little back trails we found something not too far off civilization– right beside a stream going under a bridge.

Check out our video HERE:

The trees were greener and the grass was long so we figured it was about the most comfortable spot we’d find. And the little clear water stream was perfect!

We set up camp and immediately started to scour the area for dry twigs for a fire as there were massive mosquitos about.

LOL, we felt very inadequate for true wild survival because no matter what we did…we could NOT get the fire up and burning…

a bit miserable and smoked out from our failed fire…LOL…

I gave up after an hour or so, but Stefan kept at it and it the end we got the fire going—but we had to vigorously fan it to keep it alive…we ended up setting up a little USB fan to try to keep it going but to very minimal success.

Since I had given up on my fire-making skills I decided to make a cooler system for our cold meats and cheese. The weather was quite a bit warmer (about 20 degrees) than in Norway (which was about 13-15 degrees) so I thought I needed to put them somewhere cooler.

The water in the stream was easily below 10 degrees, and perfect for keeping our food cooler. I tied my collapsible bucket to a tree, filled it up with rocks so that it would be below water level and so it wouldn’t float away with the current, and then placed my little cooler bag of cold meats and cheese in. I tied it all up to make sure some feral cat wouldn’t get in to it and was all in all quite pleased with my contraption.

See… it was quite secured…

It was mid-night by the time we decided to get some sleep. Time seems to just tick on by because the sun is still out so our brains just kept on telling us it was still early. We found out later on, that that night was the longest day of the year in Sweden—no wonder why it was so bright!

Ironically, around 2pm the temperature dropped to probably around 12 degrees, while shivering in our tent as I hadn’t put enough clothes on due to it being quite warm when we turned in for the night, I was thinking that my “cooler contraption” was probably unnecessary.

The next morning the sun was out again and when washing my face in the stream I realized that someone had visited our camp and managed to untie the cooler bag from my bucket in the water. It was a bit freaky knowing someone had visited our wild camp, but I was just thankful that nothing else more valuable was taken and I hope that our food went to someone more in need than us.

Funny thing though was that they left my Sea to Summit collapsible light weight bucket which easily cost 5x more than the food they took. I guess they needed the food but had no need for my expensive bucket…LOL!

So after realizing our “wild camping” skills were not as good as we thought we decided we were ready for some proper civilization.


Meeting a Moose some boars and Lost for 6 Hours

We booked an adorable Airbnb cabin around 40km from Stockholm. Interesting thing was that it was a cabin with a bit of woods right behind it but it was actually part of a residential neighborhood.

There was the main house with all the modern amenities of a proper home (full kitchen, dish washer, washing machine, dryer, bathroom with bathtub, sauna etc) and then two cute cabins adjacent the main house as guest rooms. Everything was also built from pine wood so it really gave an outdoor-sy feel but actually we were in the middle of a residential town.

Fully equipped kitchen

dinning area

back yard and woods

Our cozy cabin…

While staying at this cute cabin, we had another incident happen that stamped our “wild outdoors” careers as “EXTREMELY NOT LIKELY”…

Stefan got lost for 6 hours!

He went off for a run to the beach (about 20mins from the house) around 10.00am and didn’t rock up back to the house till around 4pm…

He didn’t bring a phone with him, so I had no way of contacting him. I was curious as to why he was taking such a long jog, but I assumed that he found a good place to sun tan by the beach, or something, so I wasn’t unduly worried about him. He also always claims that he never gets lost so I kept myself busy with the blog and the all the laundry.

Around 4pm, just when I was getting worried that he was lost, cold and hungry, he walked in and declared that he had been lost and wandering around in the woods for the last few hours. I had just started worrying when I realized he had left his wallet and jacket and that the temperature had dropped quite a bit, when we came back…

Apparently, he took a wrong turn when returning from the beach and ended up around 10km away. He realized he was really lost when he saw a full-grown moose and then a family of wild pigs (boars???) and had to go around them as they can get vicious when protecting their young.

After avoiding the wild pigs and getting nowhere closer to civilization after wandering around for 3 hours, he finally saw a house in the distance but he had no choice but to cross a few cold shallow rivers and mud bogs to get to it.

He started ringing all the doorbells he could find. The first few houses had no one at home, another house had a Thai maid that spoke hardly any English and when he started using the little bit of Thai he knew he realized she didn’t know where she was and couldn’t help him…

It was the 5th house that had someone home and fortunately he was a kind soul and he offered to give Stefan a ride back.

Meanwhile, at home, I was completely oblivious to all this drama and when I did start worrying he was back. This was a good thing, I guess, as the story could have gotten completely out of control if he was lost for longer and I had started calling the police etc….

Poor Stefan, he was all shook up when he got back and has a new respect for the wild outdoors.

I will not let him go running around without a phone on…no matter what he says about his “inner compass” or “directional intuition” ….

Arrrrrgh! It’s a shame how hopeless we are without our electronic gadgets…

And also, too bad he didn’t bring the GoPro as it would have been cool to see the moose and wild pigs 😛


Day out with friends in Stockholm

Besides our wild wanderings in Sweden, we had a lovely day with friends in Stockholm.

The highlight for me was meeting up with Mia, a friend of mine from my Taiwan days…

Lunch out with Mia, Daniel and Juliet

We had a lovely lunch in a restaurant right outside of Old Town Stockholm.

It’s always great to re-connect with old friends—it had been 7 years since we last met—but it felt like it was just yesterday that we were hanging out on the beaches of Danshui.

True friends stay friends regardless of time or distance. We could still connect despite our lives having completely changed.

We were single, young and carefree 7 years ago, but now she has a beautiful daughter named Juliet and I am married and have “retired”…LOL!

Selfies…

Happy to be carded at the ripe young age of over 30 😛

Mia, if you are reading this…Thanks again for spending the day with us and for showing us around. We had a great time and look forward to seeing you again!

Boys out in town a bit perplexed at the many selfies we took and deleted 😛

Kings Gate

Kings Gate Close Up (we had to take a pic as it is the same color as “Maxfit Blue” 😀

Mia and Juliet

After 3 days of staying in one place it was time to move on.

Instead of taking the direct ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki we decided to take the “long way round” and headed up north to the Aland islands.

Three ferry connections later and one night stay at Mariehamn (Gro Udden Camping) we drove into Finland.

Farewell Sweden, you have been an experience never to be forgotten! 😀

Norway-The land of fjords and waterfalls!

Norway is HUGE! It is a lot bigger and grander than we expected.

The fjords were magnificent and the mountains cliff faces were glorious!

A Viking god looking down at us…

It is really good fun to drive a motorbike in Norway because the landscape changes constantly and there is something new to see just around the next corner. I guess a lot of other motorbike riders thought so too, because we met the most fellow riders in Norway than any other place we have to as of yet.

If I were to have to describe Norway in 3 words it would be: Tunnels, waterfalls and hiking!

Check out our video compilation HERE:

Tunnels: There are over 900 tunnels in Norway! The longest one we drove through was 11km long and I was thanking my lucky stars that we were driving through it during the day when we were alert and not drowsy. Driving through a tunnel that long is monotonous and the endless conformity can put you to sleep.

Some of the tunnels were huge and even had a complete round about in them. Watch our video and you will see some of our footage of the cool Blue Tunnel.

Waterfalls: Norway has SO MANY waterfalls. Some are “real” waterfalls, while others are made when the snow melts.

 

The Latefossen waterfall was this really cool waterfall that cascaded over the road. Actually, it didn’t quite end on the road, it fell under it and they built tunnels under the road so the effect it gives is that the road is floating in the middle of the waterfall. Watch our video above to see it in it’s full glory…

Latefossen falls

Hiking: I think everyone in Norway is a professional hiker! Seriously, that was THE most often stated activity in almost every place we passed through. Some of the popular hikes are crazy long like 10-12 hours and cover 23km!

We chose to do the less demanding Preikestolen hike (aka the Pulpit Rock) which is only about 6km up and down but it takes about 4-5 hours to complete when you add in taking all the pictures and rest stops. https://www.visitnorway.com/listings/preikestolen/185743/

sitting on the edge of the Preikestolen rock…with my ECCO shoes!

pensive pose..doesn’t he look so handsome 😀

For us, we ended up hiking for about 8 hours because we went “off-trail” and tried to go to the Kjeragbolten rock which is wedged between 2 cliffs. We thought it was in the Preikestolen area but after 3 additional hours of hiking one mountain after the other, and NOT finding it (we even put our drone up to see if we could find it that way) we decided to turn back as we had no food or water with us.

Hills and cliffs near Preikestolen

Rock piles were everywhere..I’m not exactly sure why though…

After a grueling hike back, we realized we were trying to hike to a site that wasn’t even in that town! When our GPS finally loaded, it said it would take 2-3 days to get to Kjeragbolten to see the rock formation below

⇓  ⇓  ⇓

Sadly, this is not us…but we really wanted to find it to take a picture like this 🙁

So the lesson was check your map properly before you head off on hikes, even though we had our phones with us, the signal wasn’t so good so it “looked” like we were getting closer to our destination.

Also, always bring 2-3 liters of water and some energy bars or nuts when out hiking. The hike always seems easy when you are hydrated and full of energy in the beginning but after 3-4 hours of no water or food you will find yourself making mistakes, tripping and the hike will get exponentially harder. The way down is also much harder for your knees so we learned that we needed to pace ourselves.

Actually, we weren’t complete noobs, we did bring 1.5 litres of water with us but because we thought the hike was “only” 6km we drank it all up without realizing that we didn’t save any for our “off-trail” adventures or our trip back.

Once back to civilization we drank like elephants in the restroom and devoured a 40-inch pizza!

Another thing you need to be ready for when visiting Norway is RAIN!

We had 3 sunny or “dry” days in Norway. The rest of the time it was quite cold and rainy. So if you travel by motorbike it’s just easier to keep your rain suits on. The rain would come and go pretty much all day long so it’s a hassle to keep putting them off and on.

The rain suits also keep you warm so it’s just better to keep them on. You might not look the most fashionable, but it will save you the trouble of drying out your riding gear. Ok, we actually got “waterproof” protective gear but even though you don’t feel wet because of the waterproof inner liners, the outer layer still gets wet, heavy and uncomfortable—and it takes ages to dry out!

Camping in Norway is exciting. There are so many beautiful campsites and wild camping is legal! https://www.visitnorway.com/plan-your-trip/travel-tips-a-z/right-of-access/

We went wild camping only one time in Norway (check out our video) due to rain and cold. Actually, we chose the worse night to “wild camp” we found this beautiful waterfall and we decided that we’d try our hand at surviving in the wild (plus we didn’t mind a FREE campsite) and I think it was the worse night possible!

Bundled up to stay warm..might need to get warmer sleeping bags ?

The sun came out right when we finished putting away our tent ?

It rained and poured the entire time and we put up our tent wet and took it down wet. Fortunately our sleeping area stayed dry…but it was so cold and wet that we barely were able to sleep that night. The rain and the waterfall spray was just too much!

Check out the different campsites we stayed at:

The first campsite we stay at in Norway was Landa Camping  a beautiful site right near the majestic Lysefjord. There is an old viking house in the campsite that date over 2000 years old that have been restored using original tools and methods. The land is the oldest township found in Norway.

2000 year old house in Landa

 

Camping at The Grande Hytteutleige campsite which is right next to the Geiranger Fjord. We were lucky that one of our good days in Norway was when we set up camp at this beautiful place. The Geiranger Fjord is a spectacular UNESCO protected areas teeming with many things to do.

You can camp with your own tent right beside fjord like we did, or you rent on of the many cabins and enjoy the wonderful view.

It was still a bit cold when we were there last week, but when it is warm and sunny, I bet swimming in the crystal clear waters would be heavenly.

Friendly Dutch camp neighbors showing us the fashion in Norway (RAINSUITS!!!)

You can also explore the Geirangerfjord all on your own by renting a motor boat, canoe or kayak. Fishing is allowed, but sadly our time there was short so we were not able to do this while were there.

CampingPlass in Undredal which is a quaint and friendly town. The highlight for us is their local brown goat cheese. This town used to be only accessible by ferry so they learned to make use of all their resources.

Their brown goat cheese is made from the whey that is usually thrown out when making regular cheese.

They specialize in goat cheese as their town is quite hilly and goats thrive better in their environment than cows or sheep.

I was also able to try out a delicious craft beer from a nearby town’s (Flam) microbrewery. It was called Aegir, I think, and this is their website. http://flamsbrygga.no/en/aegir-brewpub/ Sadly, we didn’t pass by this town so we didn’t get to visit.

Our last campsite was in a small town called Tingvoll. We thought we could drive directly from Geiranger to the border of Sweden in one day but because the fastest speed limit we had up in the mountains was 80km we ended up staying overnight at this campsite.

Imagine our surprise when we saw that they offered Thai massages and Thai food take away! The super friendly owner was married to a Thai and she had opened up a taste of Thailand and we were so happy to have some Thai food.


We got to practice some of our Thai and we got a cool discount when we told them we would make some drone footage of their campsite that they could use as a promotional video.

Our last sight seeing stop in Norway was at this beautiful Stave church about 50km from the border of Sweden.

Amazing how they preserved this centuries year old church…

Camping and dressing for all seasons…

We have just left the coast of Denmark and are on the way to Norway in another massive ferry.

We have one more video for you showing beautiful Denmark and our last few days adventures…

 

And here we are busy “blogging” and having lunch while in the ferry. We feel very good about our multi-tasking skills right about now ?

Adjusting to experiencing all 4 seasons in one day…

Sun was out, but the wind was cold so we are happy to fully dressed with our motorbike jackets on (on the ferry en-route to Norway)

The weather has been a rollercoaster ride in the land of the Vikings.

Sun, wind, rain and temperatures ranging from 5-20 degrees keeps us on our toes and playing dress up on an hourly basis.

We have learned that it’s better to pack clothes that can be used as layers, to be put on when cold, or taken off, when warmer. Shorts, blouses, or bulky thick sweaters are useless. Tank tops, t’shirts, turtle necks and fleeces piled on top of each other are much more convenient.

Took off all our jackets as the wind died down and we could enjoy the sun (temp about 16 degrees)

Thermal underwear is still good to have even though we are travelling Scandinavia during the “summer.” We’ll have to stop and get some as soon as we arrive in Norway.

We also have learned the hard way that shopping close to closing time is NOT a good idea. The shop attendants recommended some items that were not as well-fitting/weather proof as we would have preferred because they wanted us to buy as quickly as possible so they could close the shop. Fortunately, only a few items were bad choices, but still we have learned to not do this again.

First time camping with the Redverz Atacama motorbike tent

Our investment in getting a Redverz Atacama Motorbike Tent has paid off. It is spacious (Stefan can stand comfortably in it) comfortable and warm. We just need some practice on putting it up.

According to the manual it’s supposed to take 1-5mins to put up. I think it took us about 20mins. We’ll film it the next time we put it up and see if we can do it in 5 ?

We also might need to get some longer stakes to make sure all the guy lines and the tent stay in place. So far, only two of our stakes were pulled up due to the rain making the ground soft and the strong wind blowing the tent up from off the ground, our current stakes work but we don’t want to wake up with our tent attempting to fly away so we’ll look into getting some longer ones…

Our other camping gear has also passed their first test…

Camping chairs –excellent buy!!!

Camping stove –works well (but we need a way to make a table to get it off the ground)

Camping dishes/pots and pans –so far so good

Sleeping bags –much better when zipped together to make a double sleeping bag. But since our sleeping bags are rated for only 10 degrees we’re gonna see if they work below that temperature. Our tent is supposed to be able withstand both hot and cold climates so with fingers crossed we’re ready to find out in Norway. ?

Camping Prices and Conveniences…

Camping is the most affordable option in Denmark. But in comparison to Thai prices, it is darn expensive. For 2,000thb you can get a decent hotel almost anywhere in Thailand. But in Denmark this will get you a camp spot near the electric post.

Just like a rented house or apartment you will need to pay by the meter how much electricity you use. You will also need to to have a card to pass into the camp grounds. Fortunately warm water and kitchen, toilet and shower facilities are included in the original camp site price.

We also learned you cannot have your engine running after 10pm at most organized campsites. So if you have a night out in town and then come back late to your campsite be prepared to roll your bike once you reach the gate.

I shall have to end this post here as I am finishing this outdoors (with freezing fingertips) trying to avail of the wifi from the locked reception 😛

Till laters…

Ride on and Stay Fit

The Hollapino Journey Begins…

***Hollapino Definition: Holland and Filipino (credit goes to Russel Peters :D)

Our journey began at 7am on the 3rd of June 2017…

 

Thanks Bill from Asian Tigers for sponsoring some of our trip..means a lot to us 🙂

It was a chilly morning, but the sun was out and it looked like a perfect day for riding.

We hooked our boxes on, strapped on our waterproof bags full of camping gear and we were ready to go.

Carmelo, Stefan’s uncle came by with his Ducati to drive with us for the 50 kilometers, which was fun. It’s always more fun when you ride with other bikers 🙂

That’s something that’s universal. Big Bikers will pretty much always acknowledge each other on the road. We all consider ourselves as part of a special club and a nod, or a smile, or a quick upraised hand (that doesn’t quite translate into a wave) communicates that we are brothers and sisters on the road. If you ride a Big Bike (no matter what brand you drive) you will know what I mean.

Leaving the Netherlands on the way to Denmark

Driving a motorbike in Holland is rather uneventful, especially when one compares it to driving in Bangkok, Thailand (which was our previous experience) and it almost is boring.

This is not a criticism, rather it is a realization that we were so used to being ultra-alert on Bangkok roads that we almost felt lulled to sleep by the Dutch safe and by-the-rules driving. They drive so well in Holland that it was almost hard to believe that any accidents could happen. No one over took us from the right, no one cut us off unnecessarily, no one changed lanes on a solid line, everyone merged politely and zippered when needed. It was so relaxing, we had a hard time staying alert. I guess this is something we have to get used to.

Passing through Germany

Unlimited speed on our powerful GSA1200 is awesome! I think we clocked our fastest speed of 180km and it felt like we were cruising…

Don’t worry, we remembered that we are no longer in Thailand and we stayed true to the speed limits and the flow of the traffic…speeding fines in the EU are NOT a joke!

It also started raining a bit and we were able to test how our new gear would fare against the wet and the cold.

Dry and enjoying a German sausage in Hamburg despite the rain in our Rev It rain suits

We will make a post detailing what we learned about our motorbike gear. But happily, we made pretty much the correct choices and we were warm & dry most of the time.

Arriving in Denmark (our first stop)

Denmark is GREEN during the summer!

Denmark is beautiful!!!

It was surprisingly green at this time of year. The wind was cold, but the sun was out and the drive was invigorating despite us arriving around 8pm that evening. ***The sun sets around 10-11pm at this time of year…

Crossing the Dane border means taking a 40min ferry from Fehmarn, Germany. This ferry was the biggest ferry I have been on and it felt like I was on a floating airport. They had duty free shopping, a cafeteria with a buffet and could load massive trucks and buses on it. They called it a Hybrid Ferry.

Danish efficiency was impressive, considering how massive this ferry was, we were all loaded and leaving the pier in 5mins. I was also impressed with how we had to strap our own bike on for safety—fortunately another Big Biker was behind us so we just followed what he did to strap his bike on 🙂

40mins later, we were docked in Denmark and 5mins later we driving down the highway towards our friends (Mr. Bo Grabowski) summer house. Thanks so much Bo, for letting us stay at your cozy summer house, it is truly beautiful and we loved spending time with your family!

Note: There is a random border check and we were recommended to have our passports ready, but us bikers weren’t picked so we just breezed on by.

Interesting fact: The border patrol seem to be manned by teenagers, are they really super young? Or do they just look super young? Anyone else notice this?

Dinner with Bo & Family

Sorry for the terrible photo, I guess after 12 hours of riding taking the nominal photo is challenging

Cold enough to make a cozy fire…of course Stefan volunteered 😛

Bo’s Beer Can Chicken BBQ…it was delicious!

1st Day in MØn, Denmark

Denmark is similar to Holland in that you can easily experience all the seasons within one day. It started off cold and rainy and we thought our plans to visit MØn’s Klint was over, but around 2pm the sun started to come out and the rain dissipated.

Bo was our very knowledgeable tour guide and we had the pleasure of his daughter, Mia, and her friend, Anastasia, for company. We climbed into their car (as the chance of rain was still around 80%) and we headed off to MØn’s Klint which is a massive chalk and flint cliff where dinosaurs and other pre-historic fossils were discovered.

Watching a 3D movie about dinosaurs

It was really educational and a beautiful hike despite it being quite a cardio workout to climb up stairs. The climb down was deceivingly easy, but the climb up was our 1st mini-workout for our stay in Denmark (994 steps down to the cliffs and of course you have to climb back up!)

Mon’s Klint on the way down (994 steps) to the chalk and flint cliffs

About 6km of beautiful white cliffs

After that hike we had built up an appetite and were quite warmed up, so it was unanimously decided that we should have the famous MØn’s Is (MØn’s Icecream) at the dairy farm and it was DELICIOUS!! It is seriously THE BEST ice cream I have ever had; the flavors (I got 1 scoop of Baileys and 1 of Chocolate) were to-die-for!

Stefan’s Selfie Fail 😛

Trying to get the “Danish” cows in the background…

After all the excitement of the day which began at 2pm it was time to head over the grocery shop to get stuff for dinner. Most shops is Denmark (esp. in the countryside close at 5-6pm but we fortunately we found one (Fakta) that stays open till 9pm. But today we will try the much recommended SuperBrugsen instead…

This concludes our 1st day in Denmark. Do keep visiting and we will write about our other adventures as frequently as we can …

 

 

 

Jet-setter Kitty…

On our way to the airport!!

Yesterday we climbed into my parents truck with 2 suitcases each, some carry on baggage and…OUR CAT! Yup, we were about to let Nikita take her first flight. And it would be an almost 24 hour affair, but she made it–or more like–we made it 🙂

She was a star! As soon as folks realized we were traveling with cat they were all smiles and wanted to take pictures with her

We’re proud to say that she did really well. She DOES NOT like cars but as soon as we got to the airport she was an angel. She meowed a bit, but she didn’t scratch and try to escape the carrier while we were checking in, buying her ticket (yes, she has to have a “ticket” which cost only about 100 euros, as she flew in cabin with us) eating breakfast, shopping around to finish our last few baht etc. I guess we were expecting the worst so we were pleasantly surprised.

Once we boarded the plane, she was a bit restless, but fortunately those sitting next to us were very accommodating and her meowing and fighting the carrier was only during the first 15 mins and perhaps a bit mid-flight because by then she had been the carrier for about 8 hours.

We felt a bit bad for her as she’s not allow any food or water in case she gets motion sickness, but that’s apparently the only way to travel with cats in the cabin.

If you’re planning to travel with cat in cabin on an airplane here are the tips that worked for us:

  1.  Get your cat used to the carrier–we bought her carrier about 5 months before the flight so she had time to get her used to it.
  2. Get your cat used to riding in a car/vehicle–we ride on motorbikes so she doesn’t mind motorbikes at all. But because we didn’t get her used to riding in a car, as soon as she gets in one, she becomes a little hellion. I don’t know if it’s because cats easily become claustrophobic or because she was motion sick, but she seriously did some damage to the carrier trying to escape.
  3. Feliway spray is a life saver–it works! We accidentally forgot to spray and bring it along when we took her to the vet for her last de-worming and tick and flea treatment and she was crazy the whole trip there and back. But when we sprayed her carrier on the way to the airport she was almost 80% calmer!
  4. Don’t feed your cat 8 hours before the flight–yes, this seems cruel, but we did this and she didn’t get sick, puke, or anything, so this suggestion works. They also say don’t give water, but I felt too bad for her so I let her have some water before the flight.
  5. You need a leash–most cats don’t like being on a leash but you will need one as there are a couple security checks where you will have to take the cat out of the carrier and carry through the x-ray etc. Without a lease you might find yourself chasing your cat around the airport…cats are darn fast when they want to be!
  6. Bring a blanket–it get’s cold on almost any airplane so be sure you have something to cover the carrier to help keep your cat warm and it will also help “mute” any meows…

So that was our Jet-setter Kitty adventure. Hope our tips help you if you are planning to travel with your cat in the cabin of an airplane 😉

Safe and sound in Schiphol airport and the whole family (including Oma on the left most) came to welcome us 😀

 

Last Bash with “Maxfit”

Our Maxfit journey has been AWESOME!! We’ve met, trained and become friends with so many wonderful folks that we’re not sure how to say “Good Bye”…

We started out doing bootcamps in the park with 5-10 die-hards…Rain or Shine we were out doing push ups and burpees in the early hours of the morning and after sunset at night…

Humble beginnings at Benjasari Park

We then managed to move indoors at Fit Studio and we had some grand sessions there! We even had a bootcamp in the parking building across the street…running up and down those ramps and dodging cars that were not expecting 10-20 sweating folks jogging around and “squat-walking” across the empty spaces…

Sessions at Fit Studio before we got our own place!!

I really enjoyed those long early morning walks, after bootcamp, with good friends, Adam, Swanti, Karan and a few others who would walk with me all the way from Pleonchit back to Prompong where most of us lived…

We then got a bit more settled down and were able to open our bootcamps in the Capitol Club.

The Maxfit Family grew to up to 300 members at one time and we had groups of 30+ people doing crazy antics with us…

Crazy Big Bootcamps at the Capitol Club

Our stay at the Capitol Club wasn’t long but we forged a bond and when me moved to Sukhumvit Soi 31 we stayed together and had an opening party that raised over 100,000thb for Charity in a couple hours 😀

Yup, we transformed our gym in a Bollywood Palace for our Charity Event 😛

Raised 100,000thb from our Bollywood Party for our Launch Party at Sukhumvit Soi 31! Thanks to all who had a part!

After a few years of large group training Stefan & I decided that we wanted to focus on smaller groups and personal training. Our Maxfit family became a bit smaller but much tighter. Some of you we saw almost Every Day. It was Mi Casa Su Casa and we were privileged to be part of your everyday lives…

Madness At Maxfit in Sukhumvit Soi 31 😛

We LOOOOVE Planks and Burpees! 😛

We had a run of almost 4 Amazing years at Sukhumvit Soi 31 but due to the severe flooding in Sukhumvit 31 and the long commute so that we could continue training folks at Maxfit near Nichada, we moved our home and gym from Sukhumvit Soi 31 to Sukhumvit Soi 26.

Maxfit @ Nichada “Drones and Tires” Day

Smaller but loyal Maxfit Crew!

Anyone remember our crazy Nights Out with Maxfit??? 😛

Less expense, a smaller place to manage, which also suited our smaller group training better…

Our cute studio in Sukhumvit Soi 26…

Maxfit Bros!!

It was also around this time that we had decided that it was time for us to put some action into our dream of traveling around the world on our motorbike and training folks online.

It’s amazing what can happen in less than a year!

In less than a year both our Maxfit locations were taken over by 2 awesome trainers.

Maxfit in Sukhumvit is now in the capable hands of Mr. Adam Mather and Maxfit continues on without us…

Maxfit in Nichada is now the capable hands of Joanna Brittingham and will be reborn as Das Power Haus…

That’s the Maxfit Story in a nutshell…

Another Epic Maxfit Night Out! Work Hard in the Gym…Play Hard at Night 😛

Thank you so much to those who have been with us from the very beginning! We couldn’t have done what we did without you all!

Thanks to those of you who trained with us, became our friends and gave us advice during the rough times.

Thanks to my parents, Paul & Sunny, who were there for us helping us set up & build parts our gym (3 locations in total)

Setting up our gym from scratch! That’s my Dad behind Stefan making sure our lines are level 😛

My cool parents who worked along side us during this awesome journey…

 

They also share our love of traveling on motorbikes!!

Thanks to my personal friends who came and trained with us and advertised Maxfit like crazy to help us get off the ground..you know who you are!! 😀 😀

It has been an honor and a pleasure getting to know you all!

To end this post, here’s a crazy video of our Zanook Water Park adventure. To those who couldn’t make it, perhaps we’ll see you about town before we leave…

Love you all! xx

 

My love & hate relationship with Bangkok

Today is the 1st of May which is known as “Labor Day” around the world.

But for me it is the first day of the month we (Stefan and I) leave Bangkok, the city we have called home for several years.

I have mixed feelings. I have lived in Bangkok long enough for the “in love” feelings to have long faded away, but with time, love matures, and I suppose that is how I feel about Bangkok. I love it and hate it at the same time….

 Here are the top 5 things I love about Bangkok:

1. I love the fact that you can FIND FOOD ANYWHERE!

2. I love that Bangkok NEVER SLEEPS, there is always something to do or somewhere to go, no matter what time of night–even if it’s just a massage as some dodgy side of the road shop! 🙂

3. I love the malls. I love that I can actually shop in them. I have lived in many countries where the malls were for hanging out, perhaps having a bite to eat, but certainly not for groceries and amazing discounts for clothes, house stuffs, electronics etc…

4. I love the diversity, I have been an expat in several countries, but Bangkok takes the cake! There are so many of us that it’s impossible to be lonely, and for better or worse, this city has decided to make sure all our comforts from home can be found here.

5. I love the convenience of living in a city that has a 7-11, Max-Value or Family Mart at every corner. This might seem trivial, but it really does spoil you.

Bangkok is far from perfect; but it is the city that has given me so much so that even though I am not Thai,  Bangkok feels like “home.”

Now here’s the top 5 things I hate about Bangkok. I am listing them here because they need to be said. And also just in case someone who is looking to move to Bangkok stumbles on this blog, I wouldn’t want them to see only one side of the coin…

1. I hate the TRAFFIC! Bangkok is a huge city, but to have to allot almost 2 hours of your time to get anywhere is ridiculous! The BTS and MRT are overcrowded so I hate using them most of the time, the Taxi’s are 9 out of 10 trying to scam you so I don’t like using them either. The only saving grace for a non-driver like me are the motorbike taxis. I will miss them!

2. I hate the underlying racism/status differentiation & gender discrimination that permeates Bangkok society. I am not going into detail here, but it is there. I also hate getting compliments when I am not tan. What is it about being WHITE? I understand where the obsession originally came from, but I would think it would have faded by now…

3. I hate the visa process! I understand that to get everything in order the first time it might be difficult and confusing. But I had expected things to get easier over time. Not so! Every year we somehow had to pay more, there were more papers required, more regulations implemented. It just seemed an uphill climb all the time we had our small company open. I am thankful that we had a successful business in Thailand, but the visa process was a nightmare and an exorbitant waste of time. I would have happily paid more to lessen the grief.

4. I hate the flooding. Bangkok is a well-populated and fairly new city. Why has the drainage system never been properly addressed? It was frustrating and bizarre to be leaving Emporium, one of the most posh malls in downtown Sukhumvit, to 2 feet of rain water flooding the road directly in front.

5. I hate the double standard. Farang’s price: 400thb Thai price: 40thb. Why? Maybe 20 years ago double price (NOT 10x) for foreigners made sense…but now Thais, especially those living in Bangkok are much more affluent than the average foreigner…so why does this discrimination still exist? I thought it was going to slowly even out…but no, it’s only getting worse!

So that’s my Love and Hate list. But in reality my love for Thailand in general outweighs the bad feelings…

In the last 7 years of living in Bangkok:

  • I met Stefan, who became my life and business partner.
  • I had a part in starting a fitness business, from scratch, and got to meet, train and learn from, so many wonderful folks along the way.
  • I reconnected with a childhood friend, Natasha, who is now my best friend.
  • I was able to spend precious time with my parents who have also become my best friends after spending 10 years pretending to independent and “all grown” up.
  • I was able to get to know my niece, Kelsie, who is such an amazing and smart character.

And the list goes on…

So as you can see, with all the memories that have been created here, in Bangkok, it is almost surreal to be saying goodbye in less than 30 days!!! :0

With this realization I am going to:

>>> Eat as much Thai food as possible

>>> Wander my favorite malls and walking streets

>>> Get as many foot and Thai massages for 250thb (or less)

>>> See as many of you that became a part of my life before we go

>>> And “enjoy” the heat while I can.  Humidity is impossible to enjoy, but I can at least savor the feeling of NOT feeling cold…LOL 😛

Hope to see you to catch up before we go…

Thanks for being part of my Bangkok Journey…

X