crap crap craaaaap

'craaap' is the first you learn when you are a man arriving in Thailand// not because it is crap, but that the way of being polite, whatever the person tells you you just answer with 'craaaaap'. swa dii craap, kap kuhn craap // that is about how much I can say in Thai/// but that is enough::: Thai people are really funny, they all are very friendly with big smile and they have and amazing sense of humor. They take a piss of tourists and laugh at them,,, I think it is fantastic, for instance they would sell you a tour to see waterfalls and tell you to take sunscreen laughing like mad because they know it will rain.. or giving some weird reasons why you should pay more .. generally I laugh with them you know it is a rip of but if it is done with a smile you accept it, a bit like in Brazil. And to explain you that their tour is better or their t-shirts are better they use this sentence "same same but different", or for justifying a price " no money, no honey " ,, but it is so much nicer to be ripped of with a smile. no bad surprises! I met Gil again after a week of travel alone in Krabi> harbour to go to the marvelous Koh Phi phi. waow:: now you are talking!! that is the Thailand as you imagine it >> crazy landscapes dark rocks like sculpted, christal clear water, coconuts, white sand etc. On the boat we met Shauna a great canadian girl, who traveled with us for a short week. She taught us that every canadian traveler has got its flag on the bag to not be mistaken with americans hehe as well as some new english words like vicarious '' still not sure how and when to use it '' we had great fun. Koh Phi Phi was spectacular.. I killed a few sharks on Koh Phi Phi Lay like Leo Di Cap in the beach,,, but the pictures were too dark we had to erase them hahah. After that we changed side of Thailand to see the famous island of Koh Pan gang and Ko Samui.. party party on Ko Pan Gang blue moon party,, full moon party same same but different /// well in the end we didn't go there was an unsain drug'n'drunk atmosphere we didn't feel like exploring completely... well we had a bit of partying anyway. Now what makes the DIFFERENCE::: the Thai massage<<<>>> I had like a nausea, it was really difficult to watch as we were as well seating in the first row. After that various champions arrive on stage to kick each others butt. A unique experience that I am glad to have had but I wouldn't go another time. Still missing are a match of Se pa trakraw (this acrobatic football ) and a coq fight/// well it is hopefully coming next. Now it is time for me to discover the capital city:: Bangkok.. Last anecdote:: to take the boat yesterday, I had first to take a taxi which brought me straight to the boat where some pirates looking guys were waiting for me. I arrived and foung out I couldn't buy any food on board and I was now pretty far from the first shop, so one of the guy offered me tro bring me there on his scooter... So I ended up on a scooter behind a "phad thai" a fat thai but very nice; grabbing its fat belly to not fall down,,, quite a fun experience.
Bangkok, sa ya, read me there

Orang outang...

You would have understand it or maybe not if your not fluent in Malay and in Thai;; I have been in Malaysia and am traveling in Thailand for a few weeks already. I left Gil in Singapore and took an unbelievably slow train from Singapore to KL (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) about 400 km in 10 hours// Oh my god,, what a feeling I have the impression to be rich again>> finished all these various dollars and normal prices::: welcome back cheap life youhouhouh. I met on the train 2 canadians and decided to go to the same hostel as them, as it was specified "roof bar"!! yeh right!,, this hostel was, and you can believe me, cheap but "SHIT"!! 2.5 euros for the night but not worth much more>> the bed were so thin and the structure so fragile that the movement of anyone was shaking the whole dorm;; being really tired, I still didn't have real difficulties to fall asleep. In the morning, I started my visit of the city and I discovered a complete new mix of culture// like in Singapore Chinese, Indians and of course Malays mix in this megapole landscape, but one capital thing is different: Malaysia is a Muslim country; and it is amazing to witness how religion affects every part of our culture>> the food is different, the architecture is different, the lifestyle is different, the bars serve tea and nonalcoholic drinks. KL, it is the first time I traveled in a muslim country with that level of development, and it is fascinating all the patterns and architecture reflects the muslim influence, such as the Petronas Tower (highest twin towers in the world above 400 m)... haha yes at the bottom of the towers there were 2 girls who approach me asking if I could shoot a picture of them, of course I accepted but as I return the camera they even didn't look at the picture I just shot to see if it was good....>> strange, they tried to help me getting a ticket from the desk and then insisted to speak about my country 'where is your girlfriend?'... yehyeh right/// then I started an escape pretending to take pictures from the towers to go always further away until I was at a dead angle to run away::: I guess I'll never find out what they really wanted... I continued my visit through the city hearing malay language.. actually nice to hear it is all terminating in 'ang' or 'eng' like orang outeng (man of the jungle),,, having some amazing food: nasi goreng, Laksa, roti etc. At night I met Wendy (old friend from the Masters in London) and her husband Ramlee, it was very nice to meet them (the locals) and we had some more amazing food of course, between two phone calls and emails check from Wendy (pretty busy this lady). The following day I continued with the visits;;; ok little anecdote:: in the morning I decided to go for the local breakfast solution: some sticky rice with champignons and other weird stuffings in a banana leaf,,, woaw that was a bit hard as a first thing in the morning,, with on the side some lichee cousins not too of the Malay name of them in Thai it is something like Rantanplan.. Anyway to eat this feast I chose to sit in the front of the national Mosque around 11.15 am ( yeh right I am not everyday starting my day at 6 in the morning!!!), I took my time, because it was hard work for a french boy like me to have this for breakfast... I finished and went to visit the great blue roofed mosque... At the entrance, someone stopped me to tell me it was closed HEIN?? yes it is >>> 12 pm "now closed" et merde!!! 45 minutes in front of the building eating this weird thing watching the entrance and the guard and when I arrived to see it ,,, oups/// Life is all about organisation@@ Anyway I went to see others exhibitions and monuments of the capital city and had a great time (I bought a ball of Seh pa ta kro,,, this acrobatic football volley, but I still haven't watch a game so far). To be better organised, I decided at night to take the over night train to Penang an island at the north of Malaysia to make my way to Thailand ''' would you be surprised if I tell you I couldn't sleep>> to save about 1 euro,, I went for the cheapest version :: 40 people in a dorm ("I know mum, it wasn't a good idea") the couchette were of course asiatic size so I had to sleep in a foetus position in order to fit in the bed with my bags as I wasn't too keen in letting them in another place. The lights never swished off, the guy underneath was snoring, it was pretty stinking, and I was really scared to not wake up for my stop at 5.30 am, so I basically only managed to sleep in Penang as I arrived in a room I was sharing with a drunk english and a drunk Denish // I'll skip the details. Penang was very nice with all its temples and Mosques, it was great to visit it. After Penang I took the boat to Langkawi; another Malay island from which I could take a boat to Satun (Thailand). Langkawi was meant to be a small paradise and it looked like it.. just I had a paradise monsoon rain, as I was negociating the price to rent a scooter... So I basically only saw my hotel room and some Malay television// oh well I'll have my islands in Thailand.
sa ya read me there.

Sid to Sing

Did anyone tell you Sydney is>> beaches, sun, no stress and quality lifestyle...... yeh right!! out of 5 days we had 4 of intensive raining... so much that the news scared my mum ("flood in Sydney..."). The good thing was that we arrived for the Sydney film festival; so our main day attraction were museum and cinema,,, whereas the night attraction were ponctuated by clubbing and meeting the locals ::: Bianca (friend from Sydney I know from London) and her friends... It was really fun to see her there at some crazy party. With the rain we couldn't throw our weapons the boomerangs/// bouhouhouh! well at least we didn't kill anyone.
On sunday,,, we flew to "Singapore lah!!" and it was time to take off our sweat shirt//// as we didn't need them to sweat.... sweating is not the right word I would rather say melt like an ice cream..... caraca at least 35 degrees and as humid as a hamam.... but what a fantastic start for Asia!!! I loved Singapore///everyone told me I should stay to the max 3 hours but we staid 4 days heheh. It is an amazing mix of all asiatic culture: indian, chinese, malay, japanese, etc. I adore the things I don't know, and there I didn't know anything// I have never been to Asia before //FANtasTIC. But of course what made the experience what it was, was the locals ( Kai and Dino friends from Singapore I know from London) hahah after the first day were we went with Gil to the night Safari (the Singapore Zoo at night >> really good but we were not allowd to use the flash to photograph the animals // so my pictures look like some dark grey stains in the black//ye right),, Kai and Dino brought us to the none turistic Singapore /// dodgy lively lahhh// We had so much fun discovering the whole Karaoke culture where you see some pseudo romantic chinese singers in the video and you hear some guy yelling in the microphone to impress the ladies, who they normally pay anyway!! Hahahah really cool to see that. Timing was perfect as we were in Singapore for the arts festival>> loads of happenings everywhere in the city in weird places... ok now the little anecdote>> As all the doctors prevent us from the diseases in Asia,,, we were a bit mistrutful to eat street food and were concerned when to start our malaria pills etc. one of the show of the festival sounded pertty interesting so we decided to get there as we arrived closer to the last place, we suddenly realised it was happening in the last place you would like to go when you are scared of diseases >> the general hospital of Singapore.... hahah as we were crossing the various halls of the hospital, we started to feel a bit unwell and as we sat, we were the only persons not wearing the hospital pale blue green suit every patients were wearing.. HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! the skin started to hitch us and we got nausea,,,,, but the show starts "welcome to all our patients...." we looked at each other and couldn't stop laughing//// my god, how on earth did we manage to arrive in the place!!! the weird show starts ,,, a few people desguised in sheeps begin a bizarre dance,, at some point tehy come down and look for people to make them interact on stage >>>> ok that is a bit too pushing as we come a bit too much out from the lot >>> we flee rapidly from this embarrassing situation. That was really surreal!!! At night we went to the Ministry of sound of Singapore for a good night of clubbing// and there we discovered another aspect of Asia we didn't know::: "the Ladyboy" OH MY GOD!! not one or two but loads, and to be honest they look amazing;;; we had to question ourself each time watching a girl if it was a boy!! Gil saved me at some point as one was grabbing me /// thanks for that, because we saw other foreigners im problematic situations hahahahahahahahah...... anyway, Singapore was absolutely fantastic and really rich in emotions. Thanks a lot to Kai and Dino /// a propos:: in Singapore, there is one yellow lemborghini and one white land rover defender >>> Kai drives the Defender!! show de bola!!
The following day Gil took a flight to Bangkok and me the train to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) we will meet again in about five days to enjoy some Thai islands (Israeli are not welcome to Malaysia).... Kuala Lumpur>> the Petronas Tower /// that is where Wendy lives (friend from London again)/// yes Central St Martins was a pretty world wide experience but I realise even more now, it is amazing, when you see a country you start to understand your friend whoi comes from this country differently.
KL sa ya, read me there

Melbun >>road trip to Sidni

I often think of all of you and miss you/// it is nice to meet new people everyday, but sometimes you are just happy to have some old friends on your side;;; and guess who came from the grey London to share a few weeks experience in Australia???? epppa Gil my old friend from London arrived the following morning absolutely pissed off because all his clothes arrived completely wet... hahaha yes we spent half a day finding a laundry to clean and dry them> nice start!! A bit of clubbing, a bit of boozing and off we were// we rented a car for a week to do the coast from Melbourne to Sydney.... youhouh what a fantastic trip starting with the great ocean road to see the 12 Apostles and its other beauties// then Philip Island, Lake entrance, Merimbula, Jervis Bay and finally Sydney... After 7 months away from my mother country:: What would I have given for a good bottle of Bordeaux and some amazing cheese ,,,, well we had to force our destiny so we went to a winery to do some tasting heheh, as we were tasting the Aussi wine I told them that in France we normally have cheese with wine and that if they would have some it would be amazing <<<, that was a great idea oh yes because their answer was :: why don't you join us we are having lunch mainly cheese with a bench of friends hihihihihi youpiiipipipi.... I was so happy,,, hard to describe: I was at home. ok another lucky adventure:: as we were really struggling to find a place to stay at night the following day in Jervis bay (the only hostel in 50km around had closed .....) we asked to two people in the street if they would know of anything ::: and they happen to manage some very nice cabins for holiday which they would be able to offer us for a backpacker price as we were a bit in the sh***! hehehe We ended up in a luxury cabin with terrace two double bedroom plasma screen etc. life can be so great, not too bad init?? After this great night in this amazing bed,,,, we went the day after for the aboriginal experience...>>. throw the boomerang bro" We went to a special place to meet an aboriginal guy who sold some Boomerang eppppa >>> I always wanted one now it is done >> a boomerang by Laddie Timbery (his grandma did one for Queen Vistoria <<< see it is someone)... my god the throwing was an experience heheh it is not really easy to know where it is going to fall so once it ended up in the garden of someone who wasn't here and I had to enter without permission in the garden in order to get my weapon back... the neighbour called the police and we left before they arrived ..... a bit of emotion there.. after, we had to climb a few trees to get our boomi down and I finally managed to knocked my knee alone trying to catch my boomi;;; but at the end of the day I am still walking and we still have the two boomerangs heheh fantastic... loved it!!
We arrived tonight in Sydney.
sa ya read me there