The Year 2013
Thailand, Japan and Denmark, 2013-12-31 12:00 by Laerke



2013 has been a year where we have travelled a little less, and there has been a lot of focus on studying – I wrote my thesis and finished my Master’s degree in International Development Studies and Martin will finish his MBA in the very last days of the year. However it wasn’t all studying, we did manage to still cram quite a few trips in :)

January
We got visitors from Denmark! Nicholas and Mette flew in and we whisked them up north right away – up to Chiang Mai. Here we had one night in Chiang Dao (a little north of Chiang Mai) and then we drove the million hair pin turns to lovely Pai.


Chiang Dao

Pai turned out to be a new favorite of ours! The fresh air, the small karst mountains, the easy going town and all that lovely nature around us contributed to a very enjoyable stay. We found an amazing place to stay with a gorgeous veranda overlooking a lake where we lazed away quite a few hours. We also visited temples, a waterfall and drove into the mountains.



We promised ourselves that we would return to Pai one day to more of this:



Later in January another two friends came, Andy and Trine. We wanted to do something together all six of us and decided on a camping trip to Khao Yai. Martin and I had liked it so much on our previous visit and we though it’d be fun to show the place to our friends. We rented a minibus (which was pretty huge!!) and drove up there. We had a couple of great days with lots of animal spotting – deer, monkeys, a giant porcupine, a large snake and we were lucky enough to see an elephant as well! We hiked to the waterfalls and chilled in the camp. Great place and great company.



February
In February I went on a girls trip to Ko Chang with a few girlfriends, and even though Ko Chang turned out to be a bit too developed for my taste we managed to find a lovely patch of sand to call our own and we had a great time – with a few near death scooters experiences on Ko Chang’s terribly hilly roads, sharing a bottle of SangSom in front of 7-11 and late night karaoke in a small shack with a very local crew.



March
In March we both crossed a new country off our lists – Japan! Martin went on a two week study trip with his class to Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. When the study trip was over, I flew out to meet him and we rented a car and toured around for a week. It was so exciting to finally get to see Japan – a country so many people talk about.



We started in Osaka, and then moved on to Kyoto – which I really liked, I could easily have spent many more days wandering the streets in the old part of town photographing the buildings, the streets and the people :)





We also did an extensive tour around Mt. Fuji and were lucky enough to be able to see it in all its grandeur – no cloud cover! Wuhu! We drove all around it and caught both a sunset and a sunrise. It would have been fantastic to climb it but the climbing season hadn’t started yet in March.

See more: Japan Trip



April



In April it was my turn to go on a study trip, my class was going to Myanmar! It was such a wonderful trip, and we managed to cover a lot of ground and meet a lot of people and organizations in a short time.

See more: Myanmar Field Trip


The Schwedagon was as breathtaking as I remembered it
And the people were as friendly as I’d remembered them
Later in April my sister Amalie came to visit for 5 weeks! :) After a few days in Bangkok, we headed to Sangklaburi for an awesome Songkran break in a floating house on the Khao Leam lake with a group of friends. We spend the days lazing away, swimming and playing in the lake and visiting some nearby sights.

See more: The Floating House



April was also the month I started doing my field work for my thesis, so I brought Martin and Amalie down south with me to the North Andaman Coast more specifically to the small town of Khuraburi where the organization (Andaman Discoveries) I was doing my field work through is located. We explored this town, went to a nearby beach and went biking in the surrounding area in the time I off after doing interviews etc.




After a few days we headed to Koh Phratong an island off the coast where I was going to be talking to some of the villagers participating in the community based tourism program.


Martin and Amalie slept in these cool looking huts while I stayed in a homestay in the village.
After a few days on Koh Phratong I headed to the village of Ban Talae Nok back on the mainland for more interviews. Ban Talae Nok is a lovely small fishing village, all the inhabitants are Muslim and they were very welcoming and ensured that my stay there was very pleasant. If you are ever in the area and would like to experience a very untouristy slice of Thailand surrounded by nice people you should check out Ban Talae Nok and Andaman Discoveries: Andaman Discoveries Website



Once I had collected the interviews I came for, we left the Andaman coast and headed for the other side of the peninsular. Martin and Amalie were growing a bit bored in the not so happening town of Khuraburi, so we switched the murky waters of the North Andaman coast, with the gin clear waters of Koh Tao. Snorkeling, sundowners and motorbike trips around the island was the agenda for the next week or so. Pure bliss…



May
We went back to Bangkok to send Amalie off at Suvarnabhumi Airport, but we weren’t quite done with Koh Tao, so a few weeks later, we went back! Pretty much the same deal as last time, with snorkeling, sunbathing and motorbike/hiking trips to viewpoints.

See more: Koh Tao



After a short week on Koh Tao, we boarded the ferry to Koh Phangan. Here we also explored quite a few different beaches, but we have to say that Koh Tao is our favorite island in the Gulf of Thailand.



June
In June Lily finished up her fieldwork with another trip to Khura Buri and Baan Talae Nok. She stayed with another lovely family in the village this time and had fun playing with their young son, Arfan. Now is proper rainy season on the Andaman coast, so it rained buckets, while I enjoyed the misty mountains and the steam rising from the fields, most sun seekers would probably have been disappointed.



July, August & September
Lily (and Martin) was hard at work with school, papers and all the administrative hassle that comes with it, so our time was spent in Bangkok. We did attend a wedding and celebrated Lily’s birthday with a bbq party, so some fun was had.



After Lily’s thesis defense and the final submission of the thesis, we flew back to Denmark to hang with friends and family as well as enjoy the beautiful fall weather – and also to welcome the newest addition to the family, fluffy Darcy (cat). We revelled in fruits and berries of the gardens, as well as home pressed apple juice – yum!




October & November
Loi Kratang came, but while we had planned to go to Chiang Mai to see the release of thousands of lanterns, Martin couldn’t get time off from school and a last minute attempt from Lily and some friends of ours to book tickets to go anyway, failed due to everything being sold out. Well, we had a nice evening in our local park releasing our small floats on the lake, wishing for good luck, good health and all the usual stuff.



In the end of November the demonstration against the current government added color and noise to the streets of Bangkok. Traffic came to an even more grinding halt, but everything luckily stayed relatively peaceful, with the exception of a few skirmishes between opposing sides and the police. They quieted down in mid-December with the stepping down of the cabinet, but we are still to see whether the demonstrations will continue in the future, as politics in Thailand is notoriously unstable.



When Martin finally had a week of school, we headed east to Koh Chang National Marine Park, with Koh Kood being our final destination. Here we found a slice of paradise, only interrupted by a few Chinese and Russian tourists. However, when the resort we stayed at became a little crowded, we rented a motorbike or borrowed a kayak and explored the island, with its waterfalls and many beaches.

See more: Six Days in Paradise



December
On a nice little daytrip we visited Phra Pradaeng, a peninsular created by the Chao Phraya river. It's relative isolation has meant it has been kept green and relaxed, dispite being only minutes away from the skyscrapers of Bangkok.
See more: The Green Lung of Bangkok
After spending Christmas with friends in Bangkok, and Martin finishing his last class for his MBA we flew to Siem Reap, Cambodia.



In Siem Reap we booked into a place 6km out of town in an attempt to find some peace and quiet. What we did not take into consideration is the fact that the airport landing strip is more or less right next to the hotel, so whenever a plane is landing or taking off – there is definitely no peace and quiet! But other than that it is a lovely place :)



Yesterday we took a tuk-tuk into town. The tuk-tuk’s here look a bit like a small horse carriage hooked up on a scooter, they are very comfortable with a big soft seat. I had to find a travel agent to fix me up with a Thai tourist visa, after that was sorted we had a lovely pizza at a cozy Italian place and then did a teeny bit of shopping. I bought a Lonely Planet guidebook to Nepal, it is a copy but a really good copy and it was only 6 US$. It is odd how dollars is the main currency here. Actually they also have the Cambodian Riel, but as tourist here it seems dollars is all we’ll get into contact with.

Siem Reap is a pretty odd town as it is full of contrasts, the local people are generally not well off and a lot of the town is looking quite dusty and run-down. However Siem Reap is the gateway to Angkor Wat and tons of wealthy tourists roll in to town everyday craving frozen yoghurt, Italian wood fired pizzas, fish spas and pharmacies selling high end products. All of this and so much more is readily available here, so it is quite the hodge-podge town!