Back home

Well, I'm back home again! 

I didn't want to end this weblog with the accidents in Laos and of course there were some more adventures after that day before flying home, so here's my final post. 

I stayed in Luang Prabang for a couple more days, and in the end I did go to the waterfalls I was planning to visit on a mountainbike. This time I took the tuktuk, though, together with a girl I met in Pai before and that now also had arrived in Luang Prabang. Vincent the Austrian, who did visit the Kouang Si waterfalls after I fell off my bike, had said to me: "I'm really, really sorry to say so, but these waterfalls were amazing! They might be the most beautiful waterfalls I've ever seen. You have to go there if you have the opportunity another time". So I did, and he was right: these waterfalls were indeed gorgeous. We could easily spend our two hours there, and ended the day with a nice Lao massage again. 

With Vincent I have been in one restaurant three days in a row, because they had such amazing food! Really fancy Lao dishes and the best soup I've ever eaten. The manager, a Dutch guy, was also such a nice person and gave us free dessert the last day because we had been there three times in a row :) The restaurant is called 'Tamarind' by the way, so if you ever visit Luang Prabang, go to that restaurant! 

In Luang Prabang we were staying in a nice little guesthouse, owned by an old Lao lady who barely spoke any English. The only problem, though, was that apperently after a certain time at night, the lady would close the gate of the little alley you had to go through, to reach the entrance, so one day when we came home late, we had to climb over the fence to enter. 

The night before my flight from Luang Prabang to Bangkok, I received an e-mail from the guesthouse I had booked in Bangkok, asking for my flight details in order to be up to date with possible delays etc. When I checked the flight details again, I found out that I was flying at 7:40 am in stead of 2 pm what I initially thought. I was so lucky that I found out just before going to bed, otherwise I would have missed my flight. I had to wake up very early though, and when I wanted to leave the guesthouse, I realized that this time I was actually locked in! The old lady was still sleeping and the gate was closed, so I had no choice but to climb over it again, this time with my backpack and all other stuff I had with me (had been doing some souvenir shopping at the night market of Luang Prabang). Luckily no accidents again and I reached the airport in time. Wonder what time the old lady has found out that I actually had left. 

In Bangkok I took the taxi to a nice bed and breakfast that I had booked. My last night in Asia I thought I deserved my private room (useful if you want to (re)pack your backpack before flying) and the room was just what I needed or maybe even more. A super clean spacious room with a huge bed and the most friendly owner who told me what to do in Bangkok. And a very good breakfast the next morning as well. 

My last day in Bangkok I did spend on a bicylce again. A 5 hour bike/ boat tour through many small alleys in Bangkok, a great experience! It is so much different from walking the tourist streets and just visiting the temples (temples really didn't impress me anymore at the end of my trip). Seeing the daily life on the streets: people eating, sleeping, chatting, selling and buying, playing and smiling. At the end of the tour one Dutch guy (there was a 'jaarclub' from Utrecht doing the same tour as I was) fell in the water which was quite hilarious, and I met another Dutchie who I went to the top of the highest tower of Thailand with. My stay there was concluded with a cocktail and a view of Bangkok by night. But then it was time to go. Back to the airport, back to The Netherlands. It really didn't feel like the last day, it didn't feel like I had been traveling for almost three months. It only became real when I saw my parents, sister and boyfriend on the airport in Amsterdam. And of course it was cold and raining, haha. 

I have had a really great time, thanks to all the lovely, friendly, crazy and inspiring people I met during my travels and all the amazing things I've seen and done. Below I have drawn my whole itinerary on some maps, for curious people :) I think I catched the travel bug, I'm already looking forward to the next time traveling, although it will probably not be in the next four years...

The complete itinerary: Japan - Malaysia - Indonesia - Thailand - Laos

Japan:
Tokyo/Saitama - Nikko - Tokyo - Matsumoto - Takayama - Gero - Takayama -
 Kanazawa - Kyoto - Nara - Hiroshima - Osaka

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur - Melaka - Kuala Lumpur - Langkawi - Penang - Cameron Highlands - Kuala Lumpur

Indonesia: Jakarta - Cianjur - Yogyakarta - Bromo vulcano - Ijen plateau - Denpasar - Ubud - Padangbai -
Gili Trawangan - Padangbai - Denpasar - Bandung/Cianjur - Bandung

Thailand and Laos: Bangkok - Chiang Mai - Pai - Chang Khong - Pakbeng - Luang Prabang - Bangkok