Laos (15/02/2007 – 22/02/07) - some pictures ...

1st stop: Vientiane

Wow, Laos is a great country - that I can definitely say after having spent eight days in this wonderful country, which has actually only been open since 1998 for tourists. Last week we had a week off from university as it was Chinese New Year and of course I took the chance to travel … to Laos. I travelled with two other girls – Marie Helene from Canada and Marie from France. We flew to the North of Thailand (Udon Thani) and from there we took taxis, busses etc. to get to the boarder of Laos:
Our first stop was Vientiane – the capital city of Laos. I would not call it a capital city but rather the “biggest village” in Asia. We only spent one night there and looked at the most important monument in Laos: Pha Thant Luang. We also met some monks …There were some women who sold small cages of wood with birds inside to set free – so we set them free. Trying to find something to cope better with the heat ...Already at the boarder we met some French guys working in Singapore and so we spent our evening with them having a nice dinner … The next day we took a bus to the North and the next stop: Vang Vieng

2nd Stop: Vang Vieng (two nights)

When we arrived in Vang Vieng our French friends had already organised a guesthouse for us -so we could go to the balcony immediately to watch the beautiful sunset behind the mountains and palm trees ... Dinner on the first evening …
The next day we made a tour including four different caves and tubing. We could walk through three of the four caves, but needed lights as we walked quite far into the cave. The last cave we entered via the water – on tubes. We formed a long chain (each one holding the other) and so we paddled through the cave while the guide was whistling and singing songs.
Afterwards we visited a village and found this really cute girl …
… and enjoyed the fascinating landscape …
The final station of our tour in Vang Vieng was the tubing in the water. A lot of young people were going down the river in “tyres”.

3rd Stop - Luang Prabang (in the North)

The next day we headed to Luang Prabang to spend three nights there ...

Luang Prabang itself is a very peaceful place with a lot monks. There is not even an ATM there, but that did not really bother us. Every day we enjoyed wonderful meals in Luang Prabang and of course in the morning we had some Lao tea at the Mekong River …

The next day we took a tuk tuk to get to beautiful waterfalls about an hour away from Luang Prabang. This was really fascinating – we could swim in the really cold water nearly by ourselves and enjoyed the view we had. The second day we visited a small village and took an elephant ride. The village itself was really charming but the young girls with babies in their arms shocked us a little. There were about 45 houses in the village with about 7 people living in each one of them. We were also invited to look at a house.
The elephant (an 18-year old female) was always hungry and did not have enough bananas … The last night all of us went to have a nice dinner together. The two Maries continued on to Thailand and me and the French guys headed back to Vientiane and then to Singapore. I had a great time in Laos and I will definitely go back to this amazing country in a few years time to see how it has developed and changed.

Austria meets Austria in "Biergarten" in Singapore

Anne (Martin's cousin) is working in Singapore and of course we also meet now and again. So we spent one evening in a nice "Biergarten" just next to SMU. There is a live band playing there nearly every evening.

Café del Mar on Sentosa Island

Last Saturday we met some friends in Café del Mar, but first I would like to show you our house - Kim Lim Mansion in Singapore. Café del Mar is directly on the beach and offers us guests a swimming pool as well as lots of sun beds to relax directly on the beach.

That evening we could even see the stars ... Tessa and me relaxing on our bed :)

Café Iguana (Mexican restaurant)

Sunday we went to a Mexican restaurant in clake quay - the area in Singapore full of clubs and bars. After a nice dinner, we walked to the Esplanade and on our way we made some nice pictures ... You can see the Esplanade as well as the most expensive hotel in Singapore (right side of the picture)
Tessa, Jaqui, Kati (Leo's girlfriend) and me on the bridge.

Two small girls in a big city ...

Balcony - a nice bar in Orchard Road

Balcony - a bar in Orchard Road ... yesterday it was the first time we were there. It even has a small whirlpool for guests needing refreshing moments.

Before though the three girls as usual ...

We are in Singapore ... but here you only see Austrians having a nice discussion about ... well Austria and Carinthia in particular. Later more Mexican and South American friends joined us.

... a nice way of relaxing after a hard day at university :)

Going out with Xiao Yu and Maresa (27/01/07)

Saturday January 27th we went clubbing with our friends Xiao Yu and Maresa from Singapore. This was also the first time for us to go to MOS (Ministry of Sound) - a great club in SG with different levels and dancing rooms with different music. So here are just some pics ...

Kuala Lumpur (31/01/07 - 02/02/07)

On Wednesday night we took a very comfortable bus to KL. Fortunately we could stay at some friends of Tessa (actually at the Austrian ambassador’s house in KL). We had a little house near the pool for ourselves and every night before going to bed we took a swim which was very refreshing.

The bus ride took about 5 hours, but we were in a really comfortable one, where we could lay down and watch about 20 different films. So we didn’t mind the long ride.

Thursday morning (really early - at 7.30) we meet our friends from SMU - Fernando and Miguel (from Mexico) - at the Petronas Twin Towers. They had arrived at 3 am and directly went to queue at the entrance of the towers, so we were actually the first ones to enjoy the view.
After we had breakfast in the Petronas Shopping Centre we got a taxi to go to the Taipusan Festival (more details beneath). In the afternoon we went back to the Petronas Shopping centre - well Tessa and I found a shop selling great shoes *smile* and in the evening before our friends went home again, we visited Chinatown and the market there (full of fake stuff).


Picture from the bridge between the two towers.

In the afternoon ... snapshots

Two girls in a big city.

In KL we also visited the National Mosque.

Tessa and I had to put on special clothes so we do not show too much of our body. I must say that wearing this sort of cloak was quite comfortable although I didn't like the cloth on our heads :)

So back to Singapore ... lots to do for SMU.

Taipusam - Indian Festival in KL

Another amazing experience in Asia ... Taipusan is a kind of pilgrimage for Hindu people from all over the world. They yearly come to Kuala Lumpur at Batu caves and celebrate their belief. Part of the ceremony is also to shave their heads.

Here you see the stairs (272 steps) up to the Batu Caves with a statue of Buddha.

People walk the 13 kilometers from KL to the Batu Caves carrying heavy frames decorated in different ways. Some even pierce themselves in various parts of the body (most of the time they pierce themselves in their cheeks and through the tongue) - so they cannot speak the whole of the way. When they arrive at the Batu Caves they take out the piercings and celebrate their journey. Unfortunately we did not go up the Caves but we didn't want to interfere in their religous ceremony.

That's us: Tessa, me and Fernando. Together with him and Miguel (from Mexico) we spent the day in KL.

As you can see all members of the family take part in this holy Indian festival.

Singapore with Buddy Su yi

At SMU exchange students are taken care of so called Buddies who especially help organising things at the beginning etc. I acutally met Suyi, my Buddy, relatively late because she's from Kuala Lumpur and couldn't come to see me in Singapore when I arrived because of floods in the South of Malaysia. Well, here we meet for the first time. We went to the Esplanade and for the first time I saw the skyline of Singapore :)

That's her, my Buddy Suyi with the skyline in the back.