The Blue Lagoon, village & school visit, and scuba diving in the YASAWA ISLANDS

I spent the last 7 days ISLAND HOPPING in the YASAWA ISLANDS which was great

On Wednesday I went to the northernmost resort that can be reached by the Yasawa Flyer, to Oarsman’s Bay Resort. It was very quiet there, but the few people I met were very nice.

On Thursday I went snorkeling in the BLUE LAGOON (yes, the one from the movie), and I was the only one there! At first it felt a little strange, but then I really enjoyed it. The snorkeling (snorkelling for the British) there was amazing! I saw 3 cute trumpetfish, a brown boxfish and lots of other reeffish  

In the evening we drank “KAVA” with some of the staff. Here on Fiji the people seem to drink it a lot – it helps to relax. Apparently “kava” is one of the reason for the very relaxed way of the Fijians. I was thinking someone should introduce this drink to people living in New York City

On Friday I went to visit a VILLAGE (Nacula village on Nacula island) and a SCHOOL. You are only allowed to visit villages here in Fiji if you are “invited” and so we went there with a local guide. It was very interesting and the children at the school were lovely. They sang for us and were so well behaved and simply adorable!

In the afternoon I left on the Yasawa Flyer and went to the Octopus Resort on Waya Island. I liked it so much there that I ended up staying the remaining 4 nights. Again, I met a lot of very nice people and went scuba diving five times. Esava, the divemaster I went diving with, picked very nice places and on the last day we went to a deserted beach in between the two dives for our break. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great, but I still had a really good time there!  On Monday I went snorkeling with Marni, Mark, and Joe – not the calmest sea, but we had fun. In the evening we had even more fun at the “International Crab Race“. I bought two crabs, #18 and #31, but neither of them won   It was hilarious, though! I could have easily stayed there longer!

Still on Phu Quoc Island – in pain

Christmas on Phu Quoc Island (in the Southwest of Vietnam, close to the Cambodian border) turned out to be very nice as I met a couple from Switzerland in the morning of the 24th and they invited me to spend Christmas Eve with them and have dinner at a nearby restaurant at the beach where they had already made a reservation the day before. So I had a fun Christmas dinner on the beach with Nicole, Alex and Ines, also from Switzerland, traveling by herself The next two days were also fun Walking along the beach I met a Canadian couple, whom I had met before in Laos and Cambodia, and also a German couple whom I had met before in Vietnam. It felt as if running into “old” friends. Unfortunately, they’ve all left the island by now

Tomorrow I wanted to leave, too, but laying by the pool today by myself I realized I’m not ready to move on. – Unfortunately, I’ve had pain in some of my joints (Gelenkschmerzen) for a while now. It started about 2 weeks ago, I think, but am not sure, as it was so light at the beginning that I didn’t really pay attention to it. But then it got worse and so I started taking painkillers on Dec. 23, which first helped, but now not so much anymore. Then joint pain gets better when I take them, but after a while the pain comes back. Sitting on the beach by myself I was debating (with myself of course) whether I should return to Saigon as quickly as possible and go to a hospital there or just continue traveling (hoping it would get better by itself) according to the plan I had just come up with the day before for Vietnam. At one point I wanted to stick to my travel plan for Vietnam, but in the end I realized I’m not ready to move on at this point – no matter what plan I came up with. And it’s just a plan anyways; I can change it if I want to or have to. I’m a little tired and wish the pain would just go away. Honestly, I don’t want to have to deal with it! So at the end of this debate I had with myself while laying at the pool (not the worst place to have such a debate with yourself) I decided to stay here a few more days – relax, read a book, write some postcards - and wait it out. The painkillers help to a certain extent but not 100%. So I’ll stay a little longer and see how it goes. I changed my ferry ticket from tomorrow to Thursday, 1/1, when I’ll head back to Saigon and if necessary I can still go to a hospital on Friday… But I’m still hoping it’ll get better by itself!

This is the first time since I started traveling that things don’t go quite as well as I had hoped, but I guess it was just a matter of time that something would go wrong, and overall I’m still pretty happy and will just have to deal with whatever comes my way…

Hope you are all fine wherever you are and enjoying the holidays! I’m thinking of you :)

Thanks for the many lovely Christmas emails! It’s wonderful to hear from you, especially as you’re all so far away – well, I know I am the one who is far away from everyone else  Especially at this time of the year and considering my current situation, every single one of your emails made me smile and happy THANKS A LOT for your kind wishes, lovely pictures and friendship!!! My reply might take a while as typing does not come without a little bit of pain these days…

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas everyone from Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam :)

Chilling on 4000 islands

On Monday we took a local bus (the one with the locals and the chickens – some alive and some half-alive, the chickens I mean) from Pakse to Ban Nakasang (3 hours) and then a boat to DON DET. Don Det is one of 4000 ISLANDS in the very South of Laos in the Mekong River. One can only stay on 3 of these 4000 islands as far as I know and some of them are very, very tiny It’s unbelievably relaxed here and all you do is make sure your bungalow has a good hammock (Haengematte) and then chill in your hammock watching the Mekong River flow by

Yesterday and today we rented bicycles and rode to Don Khon, another island which is connected to Don Det by an old railwaybridge built by the French many years ago, went to a waterfall (Som Pha Mit) and a very tiny, cute beach a little further down. There were only 10 – 15 travelers and it really felt as if discovering a hidden gem – being somewhere where not many (still a few) travelers go…

The bikeride there took us through rice paddies with grazing cows and buffalos, and of course they were also standing and walking on the road (a rocky dirt road, unsealed of course) where we rode our bicycles. At first I was a little worried cycling past the buffalos almost blocking the road, but after passing a few, I didn’t worry anymore as they seemed peaceful. So we started taking pictures – and they still remained peaceful   (No idea when I’ll find time to upload the pictures, but at one point I will!)

I also met a few travelers I had met earlier on my trip: Antonio who was on the liveaboard in the Similan Islands with me about 5 weeks ago, and Kerstin and Marco again, and others. Traveling in Laos feels like being part of a big family   You can pretty much talk to any traveler you see: on a bus, in a restaurant, on the street, etc. It’s nice and easy

The next time you’ll hear from me will be from Cambodia, as I’m heading there tomorrow. I’ll probably stop at Kratie and then head to Siem Reap (Angkor Wat) on Friday, where I’ll spend Saturday – Monday exploring the Angkor temples…