Mean.net – We still hate everyone

Yesterday I went to the Qualifying for the races.  Oh, I went on a city tour as well. City tour was nice, seems to be building everywhere around here. Saw the new apartment complex called The Pearl, which will house about 45 000 people and the cheapest apartment goes for half a million US dollars. Nice to see that the two car dealers there were Ferrari and Rolls Royce.  Also saw the horse tracks, including the horse swimming pool. Seems to be a lot of money in that business. Then it was time for the races.  Checked in to the VIP facilities and got a beer and started watching the free practice.  Went for some pictures on the balcony by the pits. The GP bikes are insanely loud I realized, and really really fast.  My camera was a bit too slow unfortunately.  Met the Norwegian 125cc rider Sturla just before the qualifying, actually got to speak to his parents for a while during the Moto2 qualifying.  Really fun to see a guy from almost home doing well. He qualified at 16 position so hopefully he will get some points to night. Now it is time fore some relaxing bu the pool.

Today I went on some desert safari. Which meant that we took a Toyota Landcruiser and went into the desert riding some dunes. The driver was a crazy Qatarian guy that drove the usual safe Middle East or Asian way.  I is actually pretty impressive how much you can lean a Landcruiser before it rolls over. Went to see Saudi Arabia and then to the beach for some lunch. Now I am back at the hotel awaiting the dinner and then we are going to Losail to watch to nights free practice which I hope will be fun.

Left Asia this morning. I realized today that I am really traveling light. Everyone at the check-in in Kuala Lumpur seemed to have bought half the country with them back home. I think that I could have climbed down in some of the suitcases people were bringing.  So what is the conclusion about Asia then? Houses pretty much look the same, at least in Thailand and Vietnam, and also Korea my host in Malaysia said. The chaos is pretty similar. Malaysia actually felt more laid back than Vietnam and Thailand At least when comparing big cities, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh and Kuala Lumpur. People differs a bit of course. Am I going back soon, probably not.  I guess I will go somewhere else next time, like the US.  First impressions of Qatar seems nice. Taxi from airport to the hotel was a Jaguar, really nice. When booking everything I seemed to have missed arrival date in Qatar, so my hotel was booked from tomorrow. Well, it’s just money. This hotel could charge my credit card without pin number which is good. That means stuff will be expensive but I will be able to buy stuff. I will need to get some clothes washed I think. But I think I will treat this as my birthday present this year. Here is a photo from yesterdays trip downtown.

Just 3 more days in Vietnam. It is actually going to be really nice to go somewhere else.  Went to a Vietnamese wedding today, which felt like karaoke night with a lot of food and beer and deafening volume on the stereo. Vietnamese seem obsessed by marriage and food. They eat almost constantly it feels like, and there is endless talks about ‘Shouldn’t you marry a nice Vietnamese girl?’. No I really don’t want to. But since No is somewhat unfamiliar to everyone here they keep on suggesting that. Yeah, and keep stuffing food on my plate. I think I will never eat chicken again after this trip.  Chicken, fish, duck and whatever small animal you are eating is always chopped like bread with the bones. Which means that there is bone splinters everywhere in  the meat. Cow and pig is to big for that treatment so there is usually no bones in beef dishes.  After a couple of days of thinking that my stomach was ok this morning it was not. Still same stats quo so I went for some antibiotics that the Lonely Planet guide recommended for travellers diarrhea since there seems to be much witch doctor over the hospital care here. My hosts seem very unwilling to go to the hospital, so I guess I will take care of that in Malaysia or Qatar if these Ciprofloxacin does not help.

Last couple of days have been pretty slow.  Been going around a bit and looking at stuff. Apparently there is a Old Time Festival each full moon which was yesterday. With some traditional singing and stuff so I saw some strange variant of bingo. Did not quite understand but it was described to me in a way that reminded of bingo. After three weeks of travelling and the last one of mostly eating at places that you can’t imagine the filth level I finally got sick. So today I got two stacks of pills to take. Which I figured out was carbon pills, antibiotics and some anti bacteria that the rest of the world stopped making in 2003 and a magic purple pill. So now I can really say ‘I took the purple pill’, wonder if I will wake up outside of the matrix tomorrow. One can only hope.

Went to see some nice waterfall and remnants from the last war yesterday, which were on the other side of Da Nang. Going up north were no problem, more than the usual chaos, since we took the coastal road. Going back to Da Nang for something to eat and wait until the fireworks began we took the city road. Driving anywhere in Europe now feels safe. I think that in driving school they never teach-ed you about taking the sidewalk if the road is full. Well, I only did it once so I am not really like the locals yet. Went to have some ‘student dinner’ in what must have been the smallest flat I have ever seen. Nice people though. First thing they commented on when I told them I was from Sweden was ’Ahh, Ibrahimovic!’. Yes, soccer is really big down here. Later we went to see the first three nations competing in the Fireworks World Championship. Portugal, Japan and either USA or France, not sure about the last one. First time I have ever seen fireworks do smileys and hearts. And yes, it was Japan that made those of course.  Traffic was like ‘you need to be there to believe me’. Which meant more kamikaze riding back home to Hoi An. I am afraid I will still ride like this when I get back home. Anyone for a ride ?

Today is second day with weather as in Sweden.  Well, as a decent summer day, 23 degrees and cloudy. Should be like this until monday I think. Feels kinda nice actually, be able to breathe normally and not constantly sweat.  Had some really local experiences yesterday with karaoke on Vietnamese and later on coffee at a ‘nightclub’ or something with a girl DJ playing house music mostly from Europe. Still a strange feeling since everyone sat down and had coffee or beer instead of dancing as it would have been back home. Also realized that almost all Vietnamese songs sound about the same and goes in the same speed. Kinda like folk music back home, or danceband like Vikingarna. Should get me an air ticket for Da Nang to Saigon also. Tomorrow we are going to see some fireworks competition in Da Nang, should be fun since China is close and they kinda invented fireworks.

So, after endless hours on airports and a couple of flighs I am back in Vietnam for the second time. Seems that tourism is hitting Vietnam pretty hard. Lots of new hotels, a casino and some bars since 2 years ago. Got my first ‘beauty treatment’ yesterday. My dads wife and her daughter runs a beauty salon, and I did not have anything to say about getting a facial cleaning yesterday. That was a new experience

So, my time here in Thailand is coming to an end. Went to Patong last night with an old friend from school. Had dinner at Karlssons and then went for beer. Bangla road is really a meat market.  A lot worse than all the cruise ships back home.  So, what is the conclusion of Phuket then? Lots of european tourists, Swedish, Germans and Italians mostly. Thai food sucks, much better in Bangkok. A semi constant smell from drainage below the streets gives this place an interesting aroma.  There is a seemingly endless supply of Taxis, TukTuk ,Massage parlors, counterfeit stuff and banana pancake stalls . And taxi is incredible expensive compared to Bangkok also. And as the Polish girl I spoked to at the internet cafe yesterday said, there is a lot of white old men with young Asian girls. This seem to be an Thai phenomena. She had never seen this in Bali, India or any other Asian country. And I agree, it gives a kind of filthy meat market feeling like ‘Come to Thailand and get a young girl’. I guess this is perfect for dudes that can’t get a girl back home. Anyhow Kata is much nicer than Patong, more laid back somehow. Will I be back here then? Probably not, too much tourists here. Back in Thailand someday? Maybe, but not in a while. I have not seen the magic with Thailand yet. Everyone always say that local people are so friendly, but of course. They are out for your money, sure they will be friendly. But hey, I might be paranoid or disillusioned.

So today I went to the south cape of this island. Nice view from the lighthouse there. It was based on a nice Swedish AGA light. Had breakfast at Italian Job, must be nicest cafe so far in Thailand. Go there if you get to Kata Beach. And yes, it is run by an Italian dude. Met up with an old friend from school, haven’t seen each other in 10 years. And we actually live about 10-15km apart. So now on the other side of the globe we decided to go for beers tomorrow.  I guess it will be pretty soft, since he is pretty jet lagged as they arrived this morning.  Some photos from todays trip. First one is pretty typical, nothing is finished yet. Not the Buddah, not the lighthouse and so on. Second is an attempt to show the nice roads here, but it does not show how steep it really is. The length of that piece of road is like 200m and drops like 3-4m at least from the top.