Round the World

This morning I arrived in Darwin, Northern Territory. I arrived at the hostel at 5am and they wouldn't give me a bed till 10am. I hadn't slept all night. That really pissed me off. Don't go to the Cavenaugh!! Finally I slept on a couch in the lobby and went for a little sightseeing tour from 9-10am. Then I slept a little bit and spent the night on the pool. I'm staying in a 20 bed dorm. That's definitely too much. There is guaranteed someone to snoar.

Next thing I did was booking a tour to Kakadu National Park. I'll departure tomorrow because otherwise I have to wait for 2 more days and there isn't really too much to do in Darwin. And I'm really eager to hit the outback. Of course, I booked a hardcore tour, ie camping, hiking, self-catering and a small 4WD.

At the moment it's high season here. So it's not as easy to get transportation, tours and accomodation. To get a cheap flight you have to book about 2 weeks in advance. At least it's cooler than in Thailand and Singapore.

The last few days I visited Singapore. It feels like coming home. You can read all the street signs, the traffic is regulated and the prices fixed. Just as Westerns are used to. The skyline is pretty impressive and I also liked the Discovery center. It promotes entrepreneurship, independence, multi-culturalism and a knowledge economy. They also showed a movie about the vikings. It says that when Live Eriksson met Indian people in North mankind had surrounded the globe. That happened around 1000 AD.

I arrived on Koh Pha-Ngan this morning. Unfortunately I had to spend one night on Ko Samui. A young law student took me to my hotel on his motorbike. Friendly guy. In the evening I watched the football game with the guy from the reception and got pretty pissed, ie I didn't see the end.

I have decided to take a diving course. I think Thailand is the perfect venue to start my diving career.

Accomodation: Best on my trip so far. I've rented a bungalow on the beach for 250 Baht (5 eur!). There aren't too many guests, so everything is very personal and they have a great terrace to sit on in the evening and enjoy their great (and dirty cheap) meals.

The jungle trek was really awesome. The group was easy-going as well. There was more hiking than I had expected. I had thought that it was just some sort of tourist thing, but on the second day we walked for 3 hours. We spent the night in small towns in the mountains under mosquito nets. I smoke loads of cheap cigars. (just to keep the mitches away)

When we got back I had a Thai massage and jumped on the bus to BKK. In the morning I'll take the first train to Surat Thani.

Chiang Mai is not as fantastic as it said in the travel guide. Though it's quieter and cleaner than BK I don't really wanna stay here for too long. Maybe that's because all the sights are out of town. That's why I booked a 3-day-trip into the jungle. With elephants and bamboo rafting. Let's see how that's gonna be.

After that I'll head down to Ko Samui and Ko Pha-Ngan. The frightening thing is that I'm just at the beginning of my trip and I'm already running out of time. I could well spend 2 more weeks in Thailand.

Yes, it's right. I am a lazy bastard. But there is so much to do and see in BK. I did most of the cultural stuff, had a traditional Thai dinner, went to a club in Kao San road for bitch-watching and went to Pantip-Plaza. The biggest electronic store ever (or so far).

This evening I'll take a train up to Chiang Mai. I mainly wanna do a trek in the jungle there.

best regards,
scipio

PS: Got the DVDs and Rolex. DVDs are fine. But the watch is already broken. ):

After a really short 11:40 hours flight I arrived in BKK this afternoon. Leaving the airport is like stepping in a palm house. 110 % humidity, 30 `C.

I'm staying with a primary school English teacher. Originally he's from the Philipines. It's great to have someone with local knowledge you can ask stuff.

Tomorrow I'll start exploring the city and shop for some pirated DVDs and a new Rolex. *lol*

scipio

There are always phases in life where everything seems to be possible, and nothing is routine or definite. When you're just in between them they feel very exciting and maybe a bit frightening. But once you look back you'll miss the freedom you had during that time.

There are less than 20 hours left until the departure for my Round the world-trip. I have no idea what awaits me or how and with which impressions or how much money I gonna return. People are wishing me a nice holiday. I think, this trip is definitely more than an holiday. It will shape me just how every other trip shaped me.

This is my motto for the next three months:

• Explore
• Meet
• Learn

So you can see it's not about sights or all these touristy things but people who live there or I'll meet while travelling.

I hope this post didn't get too trashy, but there simply has to be a philosophy or a strategy. More tangible reports will follow.

Stay tuned,
scipio