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Having had so many great moments in Vietnam, Laos was nice but didn’t fullfill our expectations. That is why we are now about to leave Laos taking the night train to Bangkok in the next couple of hours.

In Bangkok we’ll stay the next 3 days to arrange the visa for our next destination. To be continued……

Here some impressions of our short stay in Laos:

Enjoying life, Vang Vieng

After 26 hours of traveling on bumpy roads from Vietnam to Laos we needed some time to relax! The trip itself was scenic but except for that, probably one of the worst experiences during our travels. Laos is not that developed and roads are in poor state and there are countless bends. This for locals was a vomiting experience and we were in the middle of it, yay!!!

Here we are again!!  As you know we have a stressfull life so it’s not easy to keep you updated as often as we’d like to. Yeah, we know, poor us ;)

Only 10 days left in Indonesia before moving on. After Bali we spent some time at the Gili Islands, a group of three small islands next to Lombok. During our stay there I got my certificate as an Open Water Diver and Patrick is now an Advanced Diver. This means I can now dive wordlwide, yesssssss! Diving there was amazing because we saw huge green turtles and Jerôme, my diving instructor was really awesome!! I loved it and after this experience we can’t wait to explore more of the underwater world.

Indonesia is a nice group of islands but not very ideal for backpackers like us mainly because of the transport. It is difficult to go from A to B because there is no public transport/ hardly any. We always have to take a private taxi/ organised transport which is really expensive.

Now we are  in Lombok where we drove on a motorbike to some very nice beaches. After two days here on the island tomorrow we will go to Ubud/ Bali. We need to get in touch with some more Indonesian culture and cannot lie on the beach for days, activities needed!!!!!

Lombok

Here we are in a warm and humid place. During our last days in India we were very much looking forward to Indonesia and overall to relax on great beaches! We arrived in Jakarta and were well surprised about this city. Quite clean and really friendly people. That was a big change for me. Moreover the food is fantastic. Aaah it’s fine to eat proper meat again and juicy fruits hmmm! Yet the traffic is crazy here, you end up in a traffic jam all the time and it is very polluted. Indo is famous for singing karaoke and we did it. Patrick even sang more than one song!! You cannot be shy because you have your own private cabin!! I loved it :)

After 2 days in Jakarta we decidedto go to nice islands for great beaches and we heard about Karimunjava. From Jakarta we 1 st had a 6 hrs train and then 2 hrs busride. Arriving in Jepara we wanted to take the ferry but it was already fully booked. Yes, we forgot that Indonesians also have school holidays. So we booked tickets for the day after. Well, and the day after the boats were unable crossing due to 5 m swell/waves. Oh nooooooo!! that was a bit disappointing. As no one knew if the weather will improve we decided to take another 8hrs bus drive to Yogyakarta where we got bed bugs again!!

Enough is enough we decided to go to Bali by bus. We made a stop at the Bromo and Ijien craters. We woke up once at 3am and the night after at 1am to see the blue light and the sunrise. Just amazing and worth waking up so early!!! Yeaaaah, now we are in Bali and it is really a different ambiance! A lot of tourits but its just great to relax at the beach and do nothing else…..

PICTURES UNDER PORTFOLIO ONE // JAVA

Namaste everybody!

We are in Rishikesh, a holy city on the edge of the Ganges river. You come here to find yourself and if you need help to do so there are hundreds of Ashram-Yoga- and Meditation centers. Also can you speak with Gurus about the meaning of life.

What do we think about this place? It’s ”SHIT!!!!!!” as we both were suffering from severe food poisining and had to stay in the guest house for one week. Luckely we had friends to talk to: bed bugs from Agra……great that was!

Today we finally feel better and continue the journey towards the north of the country. Very much looking forward to the Himalayas!

No pictures this time :)

After 18 looooooong hours sitting in a bus with more tourists than we ever have seen before, Udaipur welcomed us with open armsTotally different than Gujarat, Rajasthan showed us the oriental part from India.

Udaipur is famous for the setting of the James Bond, Octopussy movie with Roger Moore. If you watch the film you will have a better idea of this place. We did it as well one evening here as it is played everywhere every evening at 7pm. Our best James Bond experience was swimming in the marble pool at the Maharaja Palace. And we had it just for ourselves!

Udaipur with its small streets, roof top retaurants, colorful textiles, lakes and palaces is very charming. Little things like Aladin shoes and the moustache-turban men give you the feeling of beeing in 1001 NIGHTS! Most of all the city itself has a relaxing athmosphere. And YES, that is possible in India :) People are more friendly and helpful, we are just feeling better!

New pictures are on the website: Portfolio I Udaipur

After the worst check-in ever at London Heathrow we landed in Mumbai. This city has been a pleasant surprise due to its beautiful buildings, museums and art-gallery. We saw our 1st beautiful sunset at the marine drive with a nice skyline in the background. A great ambiance!

2 days later our journey continued to Ellora & Ajanta caves. That was truly amazing and worth the 10 hrs travelling. It felt like an Indiana Jones movie: adventure & danger as we got attacked by hungry monkeys who just wanted our chips :-) These caves are rock-cut Buddhist/ Hindu/ Jain monuments taking us back to another world.

India itself is a crazy country difficult to describe. On one hand the breathtaking landscapes, the great food, the nice smells,  beautiful colors and  clothes and on the other hand the trash, the baggers, the disgusting smells and the noise. A mix of all and you are part of INCREDIBLE INDIA and we can’t wait to see more of it!!

Yours,

Emi & Patrick

P.S: more pictures on this website under portfolio 1: Ellora & Ajanta caves

3 weeks from now it starts, an amazing trip and a great journey around the world…..1st STOP INDIA