Kathmandu II

Temple in the middle of the street in Kathmandu

Kathmandu is incredible... lot of people and traffic but beautiful... I walked through the old city yesterday and it was magic. Every corner there is a small temple (lot of the times neglected or being used for the most random businesses... from beauty parlors to ferreterias). Lots of beautiful courtyards... and at the same time lots and lots of people selling, buying, trading, talking, moving... Then there is Durbar Square, which is the main square of the city, with the palace where the king used to live and many many temples. I even saw the Kumari Devi, who lives in one of the temples of Durbar Square... she is actually a 9 year old girl who is believed to be the reeincarnation of a goddes. When I told some people that I saw her in her balcony they were so impressed!! You saw the Kumari !!!!!

Nepal esta cambiando mucho ultimamante. Hace poco retiraron al rey de su cargo y todo lo que antes era "royal" no lo es mas (emepzando por Royal Nepal Airlines... cuando te subes al avion ves que han pintado la parte de royal y ahora es solo Nepal Airways). Con muchos parecidos con el Peru, tienen tambien a los Maoistas (muy similar ideologia que Sendero Lumoso) y actualmente estan en un proceso de legimitizacion para formar parte de un nuevo gobierno. Lo que hasta hace poco era el unico reino hinduista del mundo parece que se combertira en una democracia, lo cual es bueno para la gente ya que el rey era un cabron... en fin en todo el mundo la historia parece ser la misma...

Dos senoronas charlando en la stupa

_____________________________________________________________

Tomorrow I go to Everest !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2 semanitas de trekking... manana vuelo a Lukla donde empieza el trek. I should be arriving to the base camp in aprox. 8 days. Then I will attempt the Cho-La pass (5,500 msnm)... and then back to Lukla to catch a plane back to Kathmandu. I am going with a guide/porter who is a sherpa and knows very well the area so don't worry.

Senores y senoras... Andre se va al Everest!!! nos vemos en dos semanas...................................

Kathmanu, Nepal

I am in Nepal !!!!!

The flight was great... I was a little scared about the stories I'd heard about Royal Nepal Airways, but it went perfectly. I arrived yesterday to Kathmandu, paired up with Julian (a canadian friend) and went directly to a guest house on the outskirts of thamel (the tourist guetto).

I have the feeling I will love Nepal... from the airplane it looked a lot like Peru (Cusco)... the streets are clean, the people so far is being very friendly... a little bit like India but without the hassle of being harassed every second to buy something.

Well, now I gotta go walk around, visit the city and find some partners to go to Everest...

Bangkok (3ra vez)

I am in Bangkok... arrived this afternoon after 5 hours in a bus to get to the city... and 2 hours in another bus IN the city... very very hot.

My last days in South East Asia after going to Nepal on Monday...

Me (el pelaaaao), Len & Sreinet... my little cambodian friends from Sihanouk ville

The places... the people... the faces... the laughs... the friends... the waves... in my head...

Trat

Back to Thailand... I am in Trat on my way to Bangkok...

I took a boat from Sihanouk Ville to the border and besides from the rain (very weird during dry season!), everything went smoothly... Tomorrow early bus... see you in BKK...

pD. Estoy rojaaaso!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! me puse harto bloqueador pero igual el sol pegaba juerte en el techo del ferry...

Sihanouk Ville

Playa... sol (muuuucho sol)... arena blanca... mar azul... mariscos a la parrilla...

I am on the coast of Cambodia! Sihanouk Ville... the first nights I was staying in one of the most popular beaches (buum buum music all night...), but now I moved to a beach 10km away from the town... amaaaaazing... quiet... not many people... and GOOD FOOD! the owner is an excellent cook... BBQ seafood... fish curry... fish amok... all day!!!

I will be staying two (or 3) more days and then back to Bangkok (boat to the border and then bus) to catch my flight to Kathmandu.

______________________

Danae... I would love to go to Indenesia... but I will be in Nepal untill the 30th March... and I have my flight from Delhi to Barcelona on the 31st... I will see if I can change something...
______________________

Phnom Pen

I arrived to Phnom Pen yesterday from Siem Riep... once you get here, to the capital city, you start experiencing what Cambodia is... beautiful city/country... amazing temples... but a sad sad history... mucho sufrimiento...

The Khmer Rouge regime killed 2,000,000 (2 MILLONES) people between 1975 and 1979... they wanted to create an ideal extreme communist country so they forced everyone from the big cities into the countryside... every educated person was a target... the atrocity doesn't stop when Pol Pot's regime was overthrown... imagine a WHOLE country with no doctors, no teachers, no engineers, no hitorians, no psycholigists....
I visited the killing fields today and I think is important that to share this... and that we know that 25 years ago this was happening in our world.

________________________________

I didn't write anything with the Angkor ruins post cause' I didn't find any words to describe them... la experiencia fue increible... y la gente con la que estaba tambien.
and about my hostel, well it didn't have a pool... and yes, it was so hot!!!!, actually a night in my guest house costed as much as the entrance to the pool :) ... thanks Jamie for the advice anyways!
Rita, Manu grazzie per the comments I will see you soon I hope
Juanse, LA man, eso debe ser peor que Phnom Pen! yo in Miami Abril 16... a ver si combinamos algo.

Angkor

Sunrise in Angkor Wat

Bayon ruins

Arbol protege templo

Angkor - Cambodia

Don Det - Paradise Island

....

the island...

My bungalow...

One of the most relaxed places on earth = Don Det.

It is one of the 4,000 river islands (Si Phan Don) on the Mekong, south of Laos almost in Cambodia... very small... (you can walk around it in a couple of hours)... many bungalows, but not too many people... no cars, no electricity, no noise, and lots of happy people (and happy everything)... 5 days of swinging in my hammoc in front of the Mekong, swiming, walkig around, biking around, going to the beach, visiting the waterfalls... it is really one of the best places I have been in my life, the locals are so friendly and there is an amazing interaction between tourists (farang) and locals... We made a really cool group of friends (spanish, italian , australian,israely...) and basically after a couple of days you knew most of the people in the island...walking around... waving to everybody ...

Now... after: 1 boat, 1 tuk-tuk, 1 mini-bus, another boat, another minibus, and another minibus, and a night sleep in Kampong Cham, and finally a bus... I am in Siam Riep-CAMBODIA!! more news on the next post tomorrow.

Bolovan Plateau

My trips gets better and better... 4 magic days with motorcycles around this "plateau"...

It is really hard to describe in words and even more difficult to write all the experiences of these 4 days. Omri (el amigo Israeli), came up with the idea of renting the motorcycles and I was a good follower. I didn't have any expectations... we got a map (well, a photocopy with some lines...) and left Pakse!
The first night we spent in TadLo falls, an amazing place in front of some amazing waterfalls. Ahi me monte a un elefante y a pasear por un par de horas... increible como un animal tran grande puede ser taaaan silencioso.
The second night was even more amazing... buscando donde pasar la noche, nos metimos en una pequena aldea y descubrimos unas cascadas alucinantes en medio de la nada ... y lo mejor de todo, frente (pero FRENTE) a las cascadas ... una "guest house"... unas cabanitas super simples, desieeertas, donde pasamos la noche de maravilla, podia incluso ver las cascadas desde mi cama!!!.
The third day we went through an amazing dirt rad also in the middle of nowhere, for the 75Km. we drove we say probably 5 other people on the road. Then we visited more waterfalls... more and more, and different and beautiful.
4th day we went to the Wat Phu, an ancient temple... from the Angkor era. Very nice and simple. The best part though was crossing the Mekong (river) with the motorcycles in a "ferry", meaning two wooden boats attached together... el ferry mas artesanal del mundo, yo rezaba para que no nos hundamos ahi (yo se nadar... pero la moto no).

Everything... mixed with lots of smiles from the locals.... and looos of soup... soup ... soup.... pho... I can't eat more soup!!! the second day in the waterfalls We ansk them to make ANYTHING but soup for us for dinner... so they killed a duck and fried it for us! half a duck each yaaam!

Motorcycles... and hut in front of the falls...

TadFane falls

Now back again in Pakse! hot shower! internet... and tomorrow we go to Si Phan Don (in english 4,000 islands) it is amost in the border with Cambodya... thousends of river islands in the Mekong where I plan to relax for 4 or 5 days. No electricity = no internet por allala... asi que nuevamente no prometo comunicacion en estos dias hasta que llegue a Cambodya. Probablemente cruce la frontera el 7 u 8 rumbo a Siam Riep donde habran miles de turistas y por tanto miles de internet cafes... asi que nos vemos en Camboya! de todas maneras tratare de mandar senales de humo...