Lariam

It took us a week to recover from the malaria pills. A long, full week with nightmares and weird thoughts going through our minds. We barely did anything and left our guesthouse only to eat. No going out, no drinking any alcohol. We tried to rest as much as possible – doctor's advice – and read books or played cards to distract our minds. But even those things could be hard, as it was hard to concentrate. Not knowing whose turn it is, not knowing which card to throw, not knowing who played to cards on the table – it was all part of the game. Also a simple thing like the sound of music, or people talking could be too disturbing. So no, this last week wasn’t much fun at all. But we’re sane again and happy that it’s all over. Things can be much worse when you actually have malaria. A friend of ours was that unlucky and told us he had to take four Lariam pills a day for four weeks in a row. That really must be hell.
Anyway, we’re in Vietnam right now and we’re reunited with our friends Bob and Bram whom we met in Bangkok. They waited a whole week for us in Nha Trang (who wouldn't - for such lovely girls) and will travel with us for about a month!

Welcome to Laos!

Te busqué/Debajo de las piedras y no te encontré/En la mañana fría y en la noche /Te busqué/Hasta enloquecer…

(I searched for you/Under the stones and I couldn’t find you/In the cold morning and during the night I searched/Until I was going crazy)

Nelly Furtado kept on repeating this song in my head and indeed I felt like going crazy. I knew I wasn’t and also I wasn’t the only one who was feeling weird – out of balance, disoriented – but mostly just weird, like being drugged or something. My sister Loes was only a little light in the head but the other Loes was feeling much worse. I guess I was somewhere in between.
It wasn’t until one of us three mentioned the malaria pills we were taking that we related them to the symptoms we were suffering from. We should have started to take these three weeks before entering Laos; one pill a week. But since we didn’t know exactly when we were going to Laos, we decided to take the other option: take the pills for three days in a row. The first day was fine and the second day we didn’t have any problems, but that third one was maybe too much.

…mefloquine can cause psychiatric side effects such as mood or behaviour changes, anxiety, depression, feelings of persecution, crying, aggression, forgetfulness, agitation, confusion or hallucinations. In 75 per cent of cases such side effects appear by the third dose if they are going to affect you…

Anyway, let’s try not to think too much about it and hope the effects will fade away. We’re feeling better already. We’re still in Luang Prabang and this morning we went to see the waterfalls of Kuangsi. We’re very lucky that the sun is shining here because it’s rain season. Let’s see it as a sign...

Me Jane, you Tarzan

‘One costs about 300,000 ฿’, Nueng said and pointed at his chest. ‘So that’s 600,000 ฿ for two. And down – that’s between 1,000,000 and 2,000,000 Thai baht.’(To give you an idea: 100,000 baht is about 2000 euros). We were on a trekking in the north of Thailand and sat down after dinner, talking to our guide. I asked him about the lady boys in Thailand. ‘So why do so many people get operated – apparently it’s not that cheap’, I wondered. ‘I don’t know’, Nueng said and as an example he mentioned Julie, the owner of the guesthouse where we stayed in Chiang Mai. She obviously – low voice, fake boobs – used to be a man. ‘I know she had the operations, but we don’t talk about that in Thai culture.’Back to the trekking. It wasn’t quite as hard as the one we did in Nepal but it was a whole different kind of trekking and we had a lot of fun making our way through the jungle. We rode elephants, crossed streams and rivers, went bamboo – and wild water rafting. We saw loads of banana trees, ate omelets out of banana leafs (made by our guide) and each night cooked dinner the old fashioned way – on a self made fire in a big metal pot. We slept in bamboo houses in Lahu tribe villages – with no electricity. The Lahu are originally from China and Tibet. They live from growing corn, rice and opium. The men are hunters. We saw their little kids climbing in trees like monkeys and running through the jungle like little Tarzans. The village we stayed in the second night didn’t have a shower and we had to wash ourselves in the nearby waterfall. So yeah, it was a real jungle experience. The next plan is getting into Laos. We’re taking a bus to the border tomorrow and hope we can catch a boat there to Luang Prabang. If not we’re screwed because our visa stamp is only valid until the 19th.

Chiang Mai

As you can see in the pictures, we've been very busy. Picking up little -lucky- sister Loes from the airport, taking her out for drinks, when the next morning the alarm clock went off very early because we wanted to visit Bangkwang prison - one of the most notorious prisons in Thailand. We went to visit Adriaan van Ommeringen, who has been there almost 8 years now. I didn't expect to see someone smiling and laughing, but that was about all Adriaan did when he was talking with us. I hadn't always been easy for him he said, but he tries to make the best out of it.

Together with a friend and his Thai wife he was arrested 8 years ago for dealing XTC-pills. A while ago he discovered he had cancer. It was very difficult to get a treatment but some Dutch friends set up a campaign to help him financially and he was operated - and is now free of cancer. He will be relocated to the Netherlands between the end of this year and mid-next year.
Our next plan was to take a bus up north, to Chiang Mai. We decided not to do it in once but make a stop in Sukhothai. We rode bicycles in the old town near the ruins while it was unbelievably hot - after a few hours we'd had enough.
Chiang Mai is where we are right now. It's still hot, and mosquitos are ruling this town. Thank God for inventing deet. We hired motor bikes and have another trekking ahead of us - so you're not gonna be hearing from us for a few days, as we'll try to survive the jungle...

Visa

Back in Bangkok after a trip to some southern islands and Malaysia - but only for an hour. I can see you thinking: why? Don't worry, I'll explain you.
When you enter Thailand, you obtain a stamp with which you can stay for 30 days. But what happens after that? If you're stupid and overstay the 30 days, you have to pay a fine - depending on the amount of days you overstay. But if you're smart - like us - you think about it in advance and come up with a plan.
We had two possibilities. The first was to get a 7 day visa. Which costs 2000 THB (about 40 euros). The second was to leave the country and re-enter to get an extra two weeks. That last possibility sounded best (and cheapest) - so up we went to Malaysia, all the way to the south.
We left Thailand and thought, this is easy! All we do is cross the road and come back into Thailand. I got my stamp and was waiting for Loes when the customs officer called me back. 'Passport!', he said. I gave it back to him and when he realised that someting was wrong, he put 'cancelled' over my stamp. What was this?
'You need to go to Malaysia first and get a stamp!'
Aha. We needed to walk 400 meters, enter Malaysia, get a stamp, and come back. So that's what we did. I took quite a while since we were carrying our backpacks with us.
We came back and the guy looked at my passport, looked again and then nodded his head. 'Two stamps!' he shouted. How could we be so stupid? We needed not only to enter Malaysia but also leave it. Two stamps...
There we went again. Down the road, grumpy, tired and hot because of the backpacks. When the customs guy saw us for the third time he started laughing and talking to his colleague. 'Those stupid girls!', he must have been saying. But we didn't care, we got our two weeks extra in Thailand!

After going to the islands of Koh Phagnan and Koh Tao we went to Khao Sok national park for a few days. Right now we're back in Bangkok, waiting for my sister Loes to arrive!

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