Tag Travel trouble
Our minibus is parked in the side of the road with the engine still running. The driver is outside, trying to call for assistance while the passengers are stuck inside with the closed-in heat and smell of diesel. The engine is running badly, it sounds like an old tractor and the whole bus is shaking with the thumping rhythm of the piston strokes. The letters VIP, printed in white on the rear window, seem very ironic now.… Read the rest
There are two possible solutions to my border problems that I can think of: to sell the bike here and possibly buy a new one in Cambodia, or to stash the bike here, go to Cambodia for a few days. Then, when I have been away for long enough to avoid the 30 day rule for Vietnamese visa exemptions, come back, collect the bike and ride it back to Vietnam and from there into Cambodia.
I was lucky enough to find a way to combine the two methods which gives me more options than anything else. I put an add … Read the rest
On the way to Luang Prabang I got some kind of infection in my right eye. I went to a small clinic and got some antibiotic eye drops and was sent on my way with the promise it would heal within a couple of days.
At first it seemed to work, the pain lessened and it got a bit better, but when I woke up this morning it seemed to have gotten worse. I went to the hospital where I was told they didn’t have an eye doctor but they sent me to a separate clinic in town. The doctor … Read the rest
The good thing with not making any plans is that you have the freedom to do what you want. The bad thing about not planning is that you can get into trouble which is exactly what has happened now. My idea was to ride down to Dien Bien Phu and cross the border to Laos from there. The night before leaving Sapa I googled for a bit and found out that it might not be possible to bring the motorbike across at Dien Bien Phu but that information was at least a year old and I figured things might have … Read the rest
After two wonderful days on Halong bay it was time to leave. The guy at the tour company told us the ferry back to Tuan Chua left at 8 am, 11 am or 3 pm. We figured we could take it easy in the morning and slowly make our way to the ferry terminal at the other side of the island and catch the ferry at 11. It took us a bit longer than expected to pack our stuff however, so when we left the hotel we were in a bit of a rush. When we were just a few … Read the rest
I normally don’t get hung over when traveling, I don’t know why but seems to work whenever I’m abroad. Yesterday I relied on this a bit too much and partied a bit too hard with some friends from the hostel. I had planned to take the bike and just ride around in the national park but when I woke up I was in no state to ride a motorbike. So, I skipped that and joined another cave tour instead. The Phong Nha cave is up the river from the village so the tour starts with a 45 minute boat ride … Read the rest
Today was our last whole day in Italy, and we spent it in Florence. This is a much bigger city than all the other places we have visited, with lots of things to see. I’m sure you could spend several days there checking out the various churches, palaces and museums but we only had one afternoon, so we focused in on the main goals, the cathedral and the Uffizi art gallery. Because this is such a popular tourist destination, there was of course a lot of people, with massive queues for the biggest attractions; to skip the queue we decided … Read the rest
Saturday was our last whole day in Sweden, so we planned to go to the archipelago. Our goal was to use the Hop On Hop Off bus to get to the pier where we could take the boat, but after waiting at the bus stop for a good thirty five minutes we found out the buses weren’t running properly, so we changed to the metro instead. When we got to the pier there was already a long queue so the boat got pretty crowded but still not too bad. We had a pleasant enough journey out to Vaxholm, the most … Read the rest
Perhaps I had a little too much fun on Friday night because I wasn’t feeling too good on Saturday morning. So, instead of going out sightseeing again, Yini took her mom shopping in the big shopping center Nordstan while I and her dad relaxed on the sun deck of the hotel.
When Yini and here mom were finished with shopping, we took our bags to the train station and got some lunch before we got going. However, because we had lunch at the station instead of bringing on to the train we missed the one we planned to take and … Read the rest
This summer, me and my wife decided we should bring her parents to Sweden to let them see a bit of my country. Unlike my parents they do not speak any English and are not used to independent travel, so me and the wife will spend a lot of time guiding them.
We took off late on Sunday evening, but due to a traffic jam at the airport we were delayed and missed our connecting flight. After a long wait in the transfer hall of Amsterdam airport we finally arrived in Arild on Monday evening, tired but happy.
On Tuesday … Read the rest