Frankly
our bodies needed a break from alcoholic beverages, the last few weeks had been
hard on us. So it fitted us perfect that we were leaving the party island of
Koh Phi Phi. We checked out from our bamboo hut, and sweaty as we were, we walked
to the harbour and caught the ferry to Krabi. We spend most of the day in a
hostel in Krabi town, using their wifi to catch up with people from home, while
we waited for our afternoon flight back to Bangkok. It slowly became clear to
us that we were actually almost on our way home, but we felt as ready as we
could for it. At some point we were fed up with travelling, but on the other
hand the thought about going home made us anxious. Going back to the cold and a
daily routine was demotivating for us, but at some stage we were dying to see
friends and family again, and were extremely excited to surprise everybody, but
we couldn’t help wondering how it would feel like to be back in “reality”. It
would probably only be exciting for a few weeks. We talked and became nostalgic
about our long journey. We have undoubtedly changed and grown in unexpected ways, and none of us feel like the same people we were, when we got on our first flight bound for Beijing. Our relationship has grown a lot the past 1½
year, and we actually feel addicted to each other. We have been together 24 hours
each day for the last 545 days. It’s crazy, that we haven't killed each other yet! Well back to some of our
last travels on our life’s journey. Our flight back to Bangkok went all right.
I tried my best not to whine about the aircraft’s movements, luckily it only
took about an hour before we landed. It suited us perfect that Christian and
Tanya picked us up in the domestic airport, Don Muang, as the queues to the
shuttle buses and taxi’s can be ridiculous long and tiring. The traffic around
the airport demands a certain kind of patience and are best described by two
words; time-consuming, and chaotic! Fortunately Tanya carries that patience and
she brought us “home” safe through the indescribable chaotic and at times
dangerous traffic. We checked in at Ruamchitt Travellodge again. Then we went
out to Christian and Tanya’s favourite bar & restaurant, called Viva. Erik
and Christian catched up over a few beers beers while Tanya and I went for a
full body massage, just across the street.
Saturday
7th March
Today’s
mission was to buy some Thai mattresses, which we fell in love with long time
ago. It’s a relatively thin mattress with a triangular pillow attached to it.
We bought 12 of them and got them for a very good price. 5600bath (1120kr) in
MBK shopping mall. We browsed around the mall and found a cheap tripod for my
camera, which we had to buy as well. The rest of the day we enjoyed the last
bit of sun by the swimming pool… We just wanted to relax, as much as it’s
physical possible in a big city like Bangkok. We spend another night on Viva
and spoiled ourselves with our last Thai massage.
Sunday
8th March
After
a delicious lunch at Mercure Hotel with Christian and Tanya, we spend the rest
of the day sorting out our stuff and sewing the last land/flag patches on our
bags, while watching Danish tv-shows.
Unofficial
this was the last day of our travels, and because of this we started noticing
all these small things that we were fascinated about in the beginning, and the
things that we knew we would miss seeing and feeling everyday… For example all
the electricity cables hanging above the streets, all the colourful tuk-tuks,
the chaotic traffic, how warm it actually was and the strange people all around
us.
It
was unreal to think about that the following day we would be sitting on a plane
towards Kastrup airport and Denmark, our journey had come to an end, and soon
we would be facing that god damn reality again.
Only
a few people had knowledge about our arrival plans, as it was meant to be a
surprise for everybody at home, friends as well as family.
We had told
everybody we were coming home in June, so no one expected us to knock on their
doors as we planned to do the upcoming week.
Everything
we did this day, we did for the last time… Actually everything we did the past
week we did for the last time. It was sad! We spend our last night on Viva, I
got my last pedicure and manicure, we drank the last Chang beer, ate our last
Thai curry, had our last night with Christian and Tanya and so on. It was scary
and sad -very sad!!!
The dessert was my favorite part of the lunch.
Tanya looooved the crabs
Cable Madness
Monday
9th March
After
1½ year of travelling we were ready to go home. Our backpacks were full of
countless and unforgettable moments, that has changed us and our lives forever.
And especially after
waving good bye to Christian and Tanya, we realized THIS IS IT! The journey is
over! Soon a new chapter in our lives would begin, the chapter called “getting
use to a normal life again”. It’s very hard to describe how we felt in this
very moment.
It
was our last cab drive in Thailand and we were kindly dropped off at the
international airport, and left 400bath (100kr) poorer.
We
were on our way home!
We felt both excited and afraid. Excited to see friends
and family but afraid of how we would fit in, in the normal life again. We have
changed as persons and our perspective of life isn’t the same anymore, so we
wondered how we would fit our new selves into the daily Danish routine again.
Thinking
back it’s indescribable what we have been through during this trip. We have
seen and experienced some mind blowing parts of the world, met overwhelming
friendly people and been blown away by the beauty of this world - thousands of
times. We have discovered that in the end it’s not about how many breath we took, it’s about all the moments that
took our breath away.
To
sum up our journey we began in China, where we walked on the Great Wall, visited the Worlds
leading Giant Panda breeding base, experienced the stunning Yangshou River and
had our longest train rides ever.
Then
we crossed the border to Vietnam, where we trekked through the mountains to an
old tribe, saw breathtaking Ha Long Bay, did some rock climbing, were scammed
for the first time and did some seriously loooong off-the-beaten track bus
rides through the country, and into Laos.
Then
we did the mandatory tubing down the river in Vang Vieng, saw unreal dinosaur
landscape, became friends with the locals and had a blast on the 4000 islands.
Then
we paid Vietnam another visit to meet up with friends in Mui Ne, see Ho Chi
Minh city, the II World war tunnels and explored Phu Quoc Island.
Then
we crossed the border to Cambodia (we were meant to go to the Philippines but
due to the devastating typhoon Haiyan we postponed our visit). We saw the
touching killing fields, went to a cooking class in Phnom Penh, fell in love
with Otres beach and experienced Angkor Wat by pump bikes.
We
flew to Thailand where we celebrated Christmas in Bangkok with travel-friends,
spend time with family on Koh Tao during New Years, got certified divers and
tried our first live aboard diving trip, plus we trekked and slept in Khao Sok
National Park and ate bamboo dinner.
Next
stop was the Philippines, we
took the unbeaten track through the area where the typhoon hit and saw devastating
sights, we visited a far out island with no water and no electricity, we lived
with the locals, dived with thresher sharks, snorkeled with turtles, saw unreal
nature and left a piece of our hearts at Malapasqua and Siquijor islands.
Then
we went back to Thailand to meet up with family, we experienced the
demonstrations in Bangkok, visited the Summer Palace, saw Chang Mai and Pai,
took care of rescued elephants, visited temples, did some island hopping and
saw our first manta rays while diving.
By
boat we crossed the border to Malaysia, we travelled with our all time favorite
British friends (Tom & Verity), did a fair bit of trekking in Cameron Highlands, watched
Formula 1 in Kuala Lumpur.
We flew to Borneo, climbed Mount Kinabalu, cruised
down the Kinabantangan river, spotted crocodiles, monitor lizards, orangutans, gibbons and
proboscis monkies in the wild and became one with the nature.
We
crossed the border into oil-rich Brunei, visited Sultan Omar Mosque, hung out
with rich locals and sailed through Kampong Ayer water village.
Indonesia
was next, and the boattrip from Lombok to Flores are one of the most unique and
fantastic trips we have been on, we snorkeled with manta rays, climbed up steep
waterfalls, bathed in the ocean every day, saw komodo dragons and met some absolutely
awesome people from all over the world.
We
visited the far out Kilimutu lakes, dived in strong currents in the Komodo strait
and climbed the rewarding Mt. Rinjani.
We
paid the Philippines another visit, we lived like rock stars in Manila (thanks
to Christoffer), spend time with our British friends on Palawan, saw the UNESCO
World Heritage underground river in Sabang, and loved every second in charming
El Nido, we dived at Japanese shipwrecks in Coron islands and explored gorgeous
Boracay.
Singapore
fascinated us, with cheap sushi, brilliant Indian food and it’s cleanliness. We
splashed out on our last night in South East Asia and stayed at Marina Bay Sands
Hotel.
We
flew to the World’s smallest continent, Australia. We bought our own car (Migaloo) and
travelled 25.000 km around the coastline of the country in 6 months.
Friends
from home visited us, we met new friends, and visited old friends. We camped on
Fraser island, watched humpback whales migrate to warmer water, we dived in
massive waves and were amazed by the desolated and death-inviting outback. We
were blown away by the white sandy beaches on the west coast and the rich
wildlife everywhere.
We did canoeing in Karijini National Park and visited
unbelievable many gorges.
We loved every second of the laid-back and friendly
Australian people and their wine.
Then
we flew to Fiji for the money we earned on our car sale, the Fijian people are
some of the nicest we have met, we dived with black and white tipped reef
sharks and witnessed hand feeding of bull sharks, we lived on a remote island
resort, drank cava and became friends with the natives.
Then
we paid New Zealand a visit, we lived with good friends in Auckland and are
forever thankful for their hospitality and how they took so good care
of us. We did a scary self-guided dive at Poor Knights, celebrated Christmas
and New Years like Kiwi’s.
We borrowed a car and drove around the two islands.
We did the Tongariro Volcanic Crossing, trekked in Abel Tasman National Park,
fell in love with adrenaline through bungy jumping and skydiving. We saw a lot
of the country’s fur seals.
Then we flew to Indonesia (again), met up with a
friend from home, dived in crazy currents, saw hammerhead sharks and enjoyed
life by drinking a decent amount of alcohol every day.
Second
last stop was in Thailand where we again met with a friend from home,
experienced Bangkok’s nightlife (again), paid Phi Phi Island another visit,
rock climbed and partied hard for the last time, before going home.
We
prepared ourselves, as much as possible, for the culture shock we would
experience when planting our feet's on Danish ground again. We knew that nobody
would ever understand what we have seen, experienced and been though. And
actually we weren’t ready to talk about it with anyone anyway. We were just
blessed to have each other to share it with. Nobody else needs to understand!
In
the flight we were annoyed by all the Danish speaking people, and how well they
understood us... All of a sudden we couldn’t speak about people behind their
backs... Definitely an issue, that will take time to get use to again. In general
we were mostly depressed, but we tried to convince ourselves that it was the
right decision. I cried a minor tear when the crew announced that we were
getting ready for landing in Kastrup, we were in rush to get out of the plane.
The last couple of weeks (more precisely the past 10 months) we have spend endless time, on thinking about how we would surprise everybody at home, we've been looking forward to see people's reaction for ages and soon it was time to surprise everybody.
Erik’s
uncle Jørn, niece Christina and nephew Nicolai was some of the few people that
knew we were coming home, so they picked us up in the airport.
What we didn’t
know, was that we were about to get the biggest surprise in our life, so as we
were walking towards their “car”, a bunch of people started yelling and
screaming at us.
It took us a few seconds to realize the situation; it was our
family and friends, who had come to surprise us, so all of a sudden the messers
become the messes. It was totally overwhelming and very unexpected to see all those people there.
They had all come the whole way to Kastrup to pick us up and give us the warmest welcome ever. Jørn had arranged a party bus, where we all fitted, we ONLY listened to Danish songs and had the greatest party in a long
time, on the 4 hour drive back home to Fredericia.
The party continued at Jørn’s
house where more people showed up, to welcome us home. It was fantastic and a
perfect way to surprise us.
Thanks to all the people who were there, we really
appreciate it!
Next
morning when we woke up the reality kicked in, and we both cried a bit.
We
honestly weren’t sure if returning home was the right decision for us, we were
scared of the normal lifestyle that we would soon be a part of again. We were also
overwhelmed by the big surprise party that was thrown for us, and at the same
time we were extremely disappointed that we never got to surprise our family
and friends. Those plans got ruined completely.
It took us a few days to get
over all these mixed feelings.
Looking back it was actually the most perfect
way to return home, and we were happy that family and friends had had something
to look forward to, even though we had planned our surprise for 10 months.
First Danish breakfast in ages!
People
say they wish they could go travel the world as we did. The truth is everybody
can do it; you just need to want it bad enough and have the courage to do it.
The only thing holding you back is yourself and your fear of the unknown.
Forget whatever you thought “home” was and get out there and explore this
magical world that you and we live in. When you pack your life into a backpack
and turn your life into a journey with uncertainty, you grow in unexpected ways.
You think you know yourself before you start travelling, but you have no idea
of who you really are, until you venture out of your comfort zone and start
pushing those boundaries.
You will face new challenges and get to know parts of
yourselves you didn’t know existed, you will be amazed by the world and it will
take your breath away – a million times!!!
For
the first time in your life you will feel the real freedom, you will be free as
the bird to do whatever you want, without any worries, plans or bills to pay…
You
learn to make yourselves comfortable in every place you are, you learn not to
let fear stand in your way, you get the courage to try new things, push your
own boundaries and do things that you never thought you would do. Plus getting
to know yourself through travelling makes you capable of everything afterwards.
The
true beauty of travel comes from the sights you see and the people you meet,
not the clothes you wear or the expensive gadgets you have. The less you have
the happier you are.
When
you travel you meet people who will change your perspective of life and lead
you in another unknown direction.
You will realize there are things more
important than money and “security”, these things are called adventures and
experiences.
Remember
travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer and in the end we only
regret the chances we didn’t take. It's never too late and there's always a reason to go and explore.
There's is no doubt that we will be forever wanderlust and we will never loose the desire to see new parts of the world.
We
gave up everything to go travel, and it’s the best decision we have ever made.
After
returning home we had to get use to a lot of different things again, like for
example:
When
parking your car you don’t necessary need to park it in the shade (as it never
gets too hot here)
Driving
in the right side of the road (oopsi)
Using
deodorant (I personally over do the spraying, just because I’m able to)
The
first couple of days Erik wanted to keep packing his stuff together in his
backpack, after he used them (we don’t necessarily have to do that anymore)
The
weather to be cold instead of hot and sweaty
Having
a couch to chill in and watch TV from (not that hard)
Have
exaggerated much clothing to choose from, ridiculous!
The
use of a duvet at night
Wearing
socks and closed shoes (this has not been fun at all!!!)
Toilet
paper in public toilets
Weather
conditions (no kidding)
Grey
concrete buildings (we miss colours)
Clothes
hangers (what a luxurious thing to have)
That
we don’t need to cover in sunscreen/mosquito spray several times each day
Worst
of all, the daily routine!
Erik
has made sure that we got all our travels written down in kilometers and hours.
He haven’t noted our many trips in tuk-tuks or ricksaws, or all of our free
rides, but besides that we got it all documented ;)
1.Chp –
Warszawa 672km = 1h. 15 min
2.Warszawa –
Beijing 6942km = 9h. 5
min
3.Siem Reap
– Bangkok 364km = 1h. 10 min
4.Phuket – Singapore 957km = 1h.
20 min
5.Singapore – Manila 2391km = 3h. 10 min
6.Manila – Legazpi 339km = 55
min
7.Cebu – Manila 571km = 1h. 02 min
8.Manila – Bangkok 2211km = 3h. 16 min
9.Bangkok – Chiang Mai 581km = 50 min
10.Kuala Lumpur – Kota Kinabalu 1624km = 2h. 18 min
11.BSB Brunei – Kuala Lumpur 1483km = 2h. 11 min
12.Kuala Lumpur - Denpasar Bali 1990km = 2h. 48 min
13.Ende – Kupang 258km = 46 min
14.Kupang - Lombok 815km = 1h. 12 min
15.Denpasar Bali – Manila 2624km = 3h. 10 min
16.Manila –
Puerto Princesa 591km = 50
min
17.Coron – Manila 294km = 50 min
18.Manila – Kalibo 355km = 39 min
19.San Jose – Manila 251km = 40
min
20.Manila -
Singapore 2391km = 3h. 15
min
21.Singapore
– Sydney 6305km = 2h. 26 min
22.Cairns –
Goldcoast 1458km = 2h. 31
min
23.Goldcoast – Cairns 1458km = 2h. 24 min
24.Sydney – Nadi 3158km = 3h. 43 min
25.Suva – Kadavu 106km = 32 min
26.Kadavu – Nadi 160km = 44 min
27.Nadi – Auckland 2144km = 3h. 06 min
28.Auckland – Sydney 2159km = 3h. 40 min
29.Sydney – Bali 4622km = 6h. 15 min
30.Bali – Kuala Lumpur 2039km = 2h. 55 min
31.Kuala Lumpur – Bangkok 1388km = 1h. 58 min
32.Krabi – Bangkok 655km = 1h.
36 min
33.Bangkok –
Copenhagen 8614km = 11h. 34 min
Trains:
1.Beijing –
Shanghai 1318km = 4h. 55 min
2.Shanghai –
Guilin 1621km = 19h.
58 min
3.Guilin - Chengdu 1544km = 24h.
36 min
4.Chengdu -Kunming 1100km = 20h.
09 min
5.Chiang Mai – Bangkok 696km = 16h. 04 min
6.Bangkok – Suratthani 644km = 12h. 28 min
7.Bangkok – Suratthani 644km = 11h. 56 min
Busses:
1.Guilin – Yangshuo 73km =
1h. 28 min
2.Yangshuo – Guilin 73km =
1h. 35 min
3.Kunming – Hekoú 443km = 6h. 55 min
4.Lao Cai - Sapa 38km = 50 min
5.Sapa - Hanoi 350km = 10h. 35 min
6.Hanoi –
Haiphong 105km = 2h. 3 min
7.Cat Ba
Town – Cai Vieng 25km = 55 min
8.Haiphong – Hanoi 105km = 2h. 11 min
9.Hanoi – Vinh 261km = 8h. 34 min
10.Vinh – Phonsavan 375km = 12h.
25 min
11.Phonsavan – Luang Prabang 260km = 6h. 40 min
12.Luang Prabang - Vang Vieng 228km = 6h. 5 min
13.Vang Vieng – Vientiane 156km = 3h.
45 min
14.Vientiane – Tha Khaek 337km = 5h. 20 min
15.Tha Khaek – Savannakhet 125km = 2h. 3 min
16.Savannakhet – Pakse 242km = 6h. 20 min
17.Ban Nakasang – Pakse 145km = 2h. 24 min
18.Pakse – Attapeu 198km = 5h. 17 min
19.Attapue – Ngoc Hoi 137km = 3h. 55 min
20.Ngoc Hoi – Danang 249km = 4h. 22 min
21.Danang – Hoi An 29km = 1h. 12 min
22.Hoi An – Nha Trang 509km = 11h.
41 min
23.Nha Trang – Mui Ne 220km = 5h.
37 min
24.Mui Ne – Ho Chi Minh 219km = 6h. 17 min
25.Ho Chi
Minh – Can Tho 173km = 3h. 20 min
26.Can Tho –
Rach Gia 106km = 2h.
56 min
27.Bai Vong –
Long Beach 15km = 25 min
28.Long Beach
– Bai Vong 15km = 20 min
29.Ha Tien – Sihanoukville 148km = 5h. 23 min
30.Sihanoukville – Phom Phen 225km = 7h. 16 min
31.Phnom Penh – Battambang 291km = 6h. 05 min
32.Battambang – Siem Reap 170km = 3h. 10 min
33.Bangkok –
Chumphon 452km = 7h. 02 min
34.Don Sak –
Suratthani 44km = 1h. 03 min
35.Suratthani – Khao Sok 232km = 2h. 25 min
36.Khao Sok – Khao Lak 74km = 1h. 50 min
37.Khao Lak – Phuket Town 100km = 2h. 14 min
38.Phuket Town – Phuket Airport 30km = 2h. 05 min
39.Legazpi – Donsol 48km = 1h. 15 min
40.Legazpi – Sorsogon 60km = 2h. 20 min
41.Allen – Calbayog 82km = 1h. 55 min
42.Calbayog – Catbalogan 73km = 1h. 24 min
43.Catbalogan – Tacloban 102km = 1h.
57 min
44.Tacloban – Naval 123km = 2h.
27 min
45.Naval – Ormoc 87km = 2h. 06 min
46.Ormoc – Maasin 126km = 2h. 30 min
47.Maasin – Bato 39km = 48 min
48.Ubay – Loboc 81km = 2h. 32 min
49.Loboc – Tagbiliran 24km = 58 min
50.Tagbilaran – Panglao Island 23km = 1h. 25 min
51.Panglao Island – Tagbilaran 23km = 55 min
52.Dumaguete - Dauin 15km = 35 min
53.Dauin – Dumaguete 15km = 45 min
54.Bato – Moalboal 58km = 1h. 38 min
55.Moalboal –
Cebu 85km = 2h. 40 min
56.Cebu – Maya 136km = 4h. 45 min
57.Maya - Cebu 136km = 4h. 39 min
58.Chiang Mai – Pai 130km = 3h. 16 min
59.Pai – Chiang Mai 130km = 3h. 02 min
60.Suratthani – Krabi 154km = 2h. 15 min
61.Kangar – Butterworth 149km = 2h. 18 min
62.Georgetown
– Tanah Rata 242km = 6h. 05 min
63.Tanah Rata – Kuala Lumpur 205km = 5h. 19 min
64.Kuala Lumpur – Melaka 136km = 1h. 55 min
65.Melaka – Kuala Lumpur 136km = 1h. 49 min
66.Kota Kinabalu – Sepilok 304km = 6h. 17 min
67.Sepilok – Mt. Kinabalu 219km = 4h. 13 min
68.Mt. Kinabalu – Kota Kinabalu 86km = 1h. 55 min
69.Sanur – Padang Bai 42km = 1h.
8 min
70.Labuan Bajo – Ende 384km = 15h. 16 min
71.Ende – Moni 60km = 2h. 12 min
72.Moni – Ende 60km = 1h. 58 min
73.Padang Bai – Kuta (Bali) 55km = 1h. 23 min
74.Puerto Princesa – Sabang 80km =
1h. 32 min
75.Sabang – Salvacion 41km = 1h. 16 min
76.Salvacion – El Nido 228km = 4h. 40 min
77.El Nido –
Puerto Princesa 228km = 5h. 25 min
78.Coron Town
– Coron Airport 22km = 40 min
79.Kalibo –
Caticlan 68km = 1h. 32 min
80.Roxas –
San Jose 98km = 2h. 25 min
81.San Jose –
Concepcion Calitaan 40km = 1h. 08 min
82.Concepcion
Calintaan – San Jose 40km = 2h. 12 min