Indonesia :: Komodo Dragons

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Victoria: Is there anything these things won’t eat?
Denby: Yeah, anything faster than they are, I guess.
– Komodo (1999)

The komodo dragon varanus komodoensis also known as the komodo monitor is a species of lizard found in the indonesian islands of komodo rinca flores and gili motang. Komodo dragons are the largest living lizards in the world. They have long flat heads with rounded snouts scaly skin bowed legs and huge muscular tails. The komodo dragon is an all purpose killing machine.

Needless to say this was a bucket list item.

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Indonesia :: Borobudur Temple

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Have compassion for all beings, rich and poor alike; each has their suffering. Some suffer too much, others too little.
– Buddha

Yet another bucket list item (getting tired of them yet?). In the beginning the temple of Borobudur kept propping up in pictures and I wondered what this marvelous thing was. Then I read up about it and realized that if I ever had the chance I had to go see it for myself.

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Last of Thailand with Øyvind

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AK: “Why do you have to CONTOUR your face? WIth shadows and highlights and sh*t? Your face IS THREE-DIMENTIONAL!”
Øyvind: Yeah, but if your personality is -two-dimentional-…“

I dragged Øyvind with me to Krabi and then made him jump off the deep end and join me in Kuala Lumpur. Now I’m his parents’ favourite child. Too bad for their two sons, but hey…

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Getting a Sak Yant Tattoo in Bangkok

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“A rabbit aims for the moon.“
– Thai Proverb

Having a Sak Yant Tattoo done was something I had wanted since before I started my journey. It’s one of the things that propped up while researching the endless amount of things I could do, see and taste while travelling and it quickly made its way onto my bucket list. Not because I’m religious (cause I’m not), but because it would be a permanent souvenir I could bring with me as a memory of my trip and the cultural experience I would have getting it done.

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Wat Arun

Bangkok with Øyvind

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“Shopping in Thailand is super cheap and generally high quality. Bangkok is also safe. If you see anybody wearing camouflage holding a machete, don’t be scared. They sell coconuts.“
– Bobby Lee

After Chiang Rai I hopped on a plane to Bangkok to meet up with my friend, Øyvind, who decided to merge his holiday with my trip. We stayed in Bangkok a week, then headed to Krabi, then I managed to get him to join me in Kuala Lumpur, because… Well, just because.

Here’s a tidbit I was told by my guide the day I got my tattoo: Bangkok is NOT called Bangkok anymore. It is now known as “Krung Thep Maha Nakhon” (or Krung Thep for short, The City of Angels). My mind was blown…

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Plain of Jars (Phonsavan, Laos)

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“When the water rises, the fish eat the ants; when the water falls, the ants eat the fish.“
– Laotian Proverb

I knew I wanted to see “the Stonehenge of Asia”… Uhm… Not sure if anyone other than me calls it that, but whatever…
The Plain of Jars is a megalithic archaeological landscape. There are thousands of stone jars scattered around the upland valleys and the lower foothills of the central plain of the Xiangkhoang Plateau. The jars are mostly arranged in clusters ranging in number from one to several hundred and here’s the kicker: no one knows exactly what their purpose was. There are many theories, all from food storage to burial site (which is the most popular one, given the fact that a scientist on one of the sites found human bone in one of the jars, however there are those saying this is coincidence rather than absolute proof). At least all of this is what our guide said… 😉

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Luang Prabang (Laos)

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“When the buffaloes fight it is the grass that suffers..”
– Laotian Proverb

Luang Prabang literally means “Royal Buddha Image”. It consists of 58 villages and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was listed in 1995 for “unique and remarkably well preserved architectural, religious and cultural heritage, a blend of the rural and urban developments over several centuries, including the French colonial influences during the 19th and 20th centuries.”

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Kuang Si Falls (Laos)

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“You know, you teach. You do not know, you learn..”
– Laotian Proverb

Laos is the most heavily bombed country in the history of the world. From 1964 to 1973, the United States dropped more than two million tons of ordnance on Laos to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh Trail and try to stanch a Communist insurgency—more than was dropped on all of Germany and Japan during World War II.

None of this was foremost in my mind while I was dipping around the pools at Kuang Si Falls.

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