Baja California

So I made it to Mexico. The first two weeks were spent in the Baja peninsula on the western part of the country. My first stop after crossing the border in Tijuana was Ensenada. A quiet cost town with loads of wonderful people.

I spent my days there wandering the streets, eating fish tacos and sleeping on benches in the sun. One afternoon I found a place that had a dance session going on. It was the retired people in Ensenada that met up every Sunday to dance together. So of course, I joined. Spent about 5 hours dancing salsa with them, it was great fun!

The nights were spent at Hussongs Cantina, the oldest bar in California. A great place with all sorts of people, cheap drinks and good music. Live music all the time. BAnds that walk around and the guests can pay to get any song that they want. Wonderful.

salsa in ENsenada

Live music in the bar

Fun people at Hussongs Cantina

After a few days in Ensenada I got on a bus to head south. I stopped in Catavina, a tiny tiny place in the middle of the desert. There are rocks, cave paintings, cactuses and sun and that's about it. But it was a charming place and worth the stop over even though if it was only for a night.

The desert, mexican style.

I left the desert in a truck. Decided to hitch hike the rest of the way down south because the buses were really expensive. So, a truck driver picked me up. Was a bit skeptical to it, but he turned out to be a nice guy, so I was encouraged to keep up with the hitch hiking. I passed by Guerrero Negro where I went whale watching, then headed down south to Mulege. Mulege is a palm oasis in a desert valley. It is calm and quiet and nothing really happends in Mulege, which was perfect. 4 days doing nothing much except going to the beach, eating fish tacos (yes, I do love them) and watching Dexter with the retired american I was living with before I got into yet another car which had "Ditch the bitch and let's go racing" written on the front window, and headed south to La Paz, my last stop before heading to mainland Mexico.

Mulege

Baja has been lovely, but I feel like it is Mexico light. Looking forward to exploring the mainland and seeing more of this huge country!

Los Angeles

This is where I stayed (for two days at least), Manhattan Beach.

And yes, it was loads of surfers and life guards in red swimming wear, just like on TV!

LA bus at night time

Hollywood

Leaving chop-stick-land

After about six months on the road in Asia I'm leaving this continent. It's been wonderful and the experiences many. Since this is the end of Asia, for this time, I thought I should sum up a few of the highlights so far.

Summing up six months is not easy, and the highlights has not necessarily been one specific place or monument, but more the atmosphere of a place, the people around me and the way it makes me feel.

The highlights are moments where everything seems right, where life is perfect and I feel that there is nowhere else in the world that I would rather be. So here goes!

1. Dancing on the underground in Moscow, Russia.

2. Chanting and meditating with the monks in Mongolia and Laos.

3. The magic of the Olkhon Island in Siberia, Russia.

4. Life in Beijing and everything that includes.

5. Being invited to tea by a Tibetan family in Ani Gompa, Sichuan province, China.

6. Living life at TacomePai, a wonderful farm in northern Thailand.

7. Walking among the temples of Angkor Wat.

8. Hanging out with elephants in Hongsa, Laos.

9. Taking trains. The atmosphere on long train rides in Russia and Asia is something special.

10. Celebrating christmas on the roof of a boat with wonderful people in Halong Bay, Vietnam.

11. Sleeping in a hammock under the stars in the jungle in Cambodia.

12. Lazy days by the river in Muang Ngoi, Laos

13. Enjoying the sunset over the Mekong river and then watching the stars appear on the sky, Luang Phrabang, Laos

14. Looking out over Tiger Leaping Gorge after four hours climbing straight up, Yunnan, China.

15. And of course, meeting you. You all know who you are!

Brunei

Do you know the capital of Brunei? Do you even know where Brunei is? No? Well, neither did I until I had a day stopover there for a day on my way to the Philippines.

I can tell you now that Brunei is situated on the island of Borneo, bordered by Malaysia on all sides. And the capital's name is Bandar Seri Begawan. Pretty funky name if you ask me. Brunei is a muslim sultanate and it has a lot of strange rules. For example there is no alcohol whatsoever to be bought in the country and if you throw trash on the ground you can get a fine of about 5000 Euros! So you probably understand that it is a very clean country. Or, I shouldn't say country cus all I got to see was the capital .

The capital has, as I said, a strange name and it is an equally strange place where modernity and tradition goes hand in hand. You see woman covered from head to toe in beautiful clothes whilst others are walk around with their hair hanging loose in the wind in mini skirts and high heals. There are men and women in business clothes, driving fancy cars and absolutely every one I spoke to spoke perfectly English.

In the heart of the city there is a beautiful mosque that is the pride of the sultanate. It has an escalator inside (strange) and a big golden dome that can be seen from basically anywhere in town.

Next to the mosque is the river that surrounds the town. And in the river the old village of Kampung Ayer can be found. It is a village on stilts with wooden bridges going from house to house and on the river below there are boats cruising around transporting people from the main land and out to the village. Fascinating place!

And the people are amazingly friendly , so helpful and caring. There was always people asking if I was okay, if I knew my way, if they could help, smiling and saying hello as I passed by. It was when the taxi driver told me to wait for the bus because the taxi would be too expensive that I was convinced that they were the nicest people I have ever met.

By the way, did end up taking the taxi, and yes, it was way too expensive, but since the driver was so nice it was worth it!

A short and exciting stop. Brunei was definitely worth it!

Laos

Time goes slowly in Loas. There is no hurry.

The day starts at dawn, when the sun comes up over the horizon. The monks walk through the streets to collect food for the day, the breakfast stalls pop up every here and there and the marked is already bustling long before I've finished my breakfast.

And then it starts to get warmer. The cool morning air is replaced by the heat of the mid day. All I want to do at this time of day is to go swim in the river. So I do. Because there is nothing else that really needs to be done except to lay in the hammock and read my book. But that can be done in the early morning or the late afternoon when the temperatures are cooler and the urge to jump in the river is not so strong.

By 10 o'clock in the evening the day is over in the little village in Northern Laos where I am staying. The generators are turned of and the few small shops and restaurants around closes. The village goes to sleep, and so do I.

Five days passes like this and life is good. But then reality hits in and all of a sudden it is elephants parading the streets in the morning, not monks. Elephants decorated in colorful clothes and patterns and we get to pet them, feed them and hang out with them for two days. Elephants are fascinating and beautiful creatures!

Afternoons are spent in the monasteries with the monks, chanting and meditating. And the people. Wonderful people that has come to mean a lot to me.



There is so much beauty in my life.