Townsville - Melbourne!

We spent some happy days in Townsville for Christmas, most of the time reading and relaxing:) We went and saw Townsville Aquarium, which was fantastic! We even got to see them feeding the sharks, and it is the worlds biggest indoor living coral reef.. Thousands of fish, it was great!
The rest of Townsville was sleeping, but our timing was bad, we went to see town on a Sunday... Not much happens on a Sunday in Townsville.. So we went to the internet cafe instead, and guess what, we found cheap tickets to Melbourne!!! After some thinking, we bought the tickets on Monday morning and left for Melbourne Monday evening! :) And it all happened so fast we had to sleep at the airport that night, cause we couldn't find a hostel with 24 hour reception with rooms... Called a lot, but no.. It was ok, we are a bit tired today, but have found a ok place to stay now, so it is fine:) Which means, we will celebrate New Years in Melbourne!! Yeah! (I know I know it is not Sydney, but we can't have it all, can we?)
So HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! :)
-g

God jul og godt nytt aar!!!

Til dere alle!
Vi har reist fra Jabiru og Darwin og Northern Territory, dro fra Jabiru i osende regnvaer fredag 19. desember, overlevde syklonvarsel og stengte bussstasjoner i Darwin over helga, og dro til Townsville sondag 22 paa morran. Var i alt 35 timer paa buss, og 20 timer venting i Tennant Creek, har bare en ting aa si om det stedet, ikke dra dit.. Der finnes INGENTING.. Absolutt ingenting, ikke det minste, ikke noe, ingenting. Hehe:) men vi fikk da lest mye bok den dagen;)
Kom fram til Townsville tirsdag 23 paa kvelden og har bodd hos tremening Marit Enger Thomas etter det, og feira jul med hennes familie her, det har vaert veldig stas:) Grilling den 24., hehe, og aapning av gaver den 25 paa morran, anderledes, men det er ikke mye som minner om jul her uansett, saa det har vaert helt fint det:) Herlig aa vaere med kjentfolk:)
Naa prover vi aa finne en maate aa komme oss til Sydney og Melbourne paa, saa faar vi se om det trengs mer jobbing eller ikke:) Mulig det gjoer det;)
God jul og godt nytt aar alle sammen!
Kos dere i kulda og med all den gode maten!;)
g

Meeting a snake...

OK, this one is not for our mothers or others that are a bit afraid:) (Well, nothing happened, so everyone, just read on..)
One day last week when we just finished work I saw one of our colleauges, Stan, chasing something with a broomstick over the lawn.. It was a snake, so we went closer to get a proper look, and Stan told Kris to get a big black bag to put the snake in, so we could store it in a "safe" place till the Rangers got here(viltnemnda?)So Kris held the bag while Stan tried to manouver the snake into it with the broomstick, and then he closed the bag and left it on the counter in reception. We all waited there for the Rangers to come and tell us what kind of snake it was, we weren't sure, and it is all kinds of snakes up here... We opened the bag and took a closer look too, to see if we could find it on the snakeposter we have.. We could.. And the Ranger guy confirmed it( he barely opened the bag, was really careful and just opened it a little bit and used a flashlight to see it properly...) It was a Western Brown snake, the 3. deadliest in the world...... In a plastic bag on the counter in reception, but even worse, a snake that Stan chased with a broomstick, and that Kris was 10 cm from when he held the bag open... SCARY!!!!!!!!!
But it went well, and now we know that next time we see a snake we just leave it and call the Rangers straight away, and then they can put it in a bag... :) Good to know:)
Look it up on the internet, if you want to, it is scary! And look up Wolfspider as well, that's the one that chases me when I clean the toilets... That one is not deadly, though:)
Other that that our closet was full of ants yesterday, so I'm using my day off to clean the room and the closet and wash all our clothes.. Yeah!
And I'm not cleaning the toilest anymore, yeah!!!!! They have closed two toilet blocks so it is only job for one, so Kris is cleaning toilets on his own, while I am working as a housekeeper with the other girls:) Which means I get to clean rooms instead of toilets.. But at least the rooms have aircondition:) So it is better! Yeah!
We leave Jabiru on the 19th of desember, going to Townsville to celebrate Christmas with my relative, Marit(tremenning:) We are looking forward to a holiday and a proper English/Australian/Norwegian Christmas:) Yeah again!
God advent to all of you:)
g

Update

God advent alle sammen!
Det tok litt tid foer vi fikk med oss at det var advent allerede, eller, vi fant det ut den 1. desember altsaa, men ikke foer dagens arbeid var utfort og vi satt og skrev paa timelista, og der stod det jammen 1 desember! merkelige saker, det foeles ikke sann!
her blir det bare varmere og varmere, det er naer umulig aa jobbe i fullt tempo, eller det er umulig, alt gaar litt saktere naar gradstokken kryper over 40 grader og det er saa hoy luftfuktighet.. Men det betyr jo at selv om vi vasker faerre doer(de stenger litt etterhvert, pga faerre folk her)saa jobber vi like mye:) Det er jo bra!
Ellers har nesten alle vi har vaert her med den siste maaneden reist, det var masseforflytning for de fleste. Det har kommet 4 nye hyggelige mennesker, og vi har bare et par uker igjen, saa det gaar nok fint, tenker jeg:)
Forrige lordag var vi paa cruise med Guiseppe og Berit(de vi vasker skolen med, eller vaska, de har reist de ogsaa.. saann er livet i Jabiru..) paa Yellow water, og det var aldeles utrolig! Saa pent og saa mange krokodiller, fantastisk! Det var en god tur!
Ellers har ikke mye skjedd.. Nei, det var vel det..
Hahaha, saa spennende;)
Fortsatt god advent saa lenge!
g

Things are happening in Jabiru!!

Just so you don't think we have drowned in the toilets or something:) I give you a short update on what's going on:)
We're heading into the rainseason, and we've had a few storms, like proper storms(but not the one you've heard about on the news, in Brisbane, it was supposed to come here to, but it must hav skipped us completely, not a sign of it:) But we had a lightning hitting a tree in the park(that's what we call this logde / caravan park, the tree was just behind one of the toilets we clean every day!), and it was split in two and very black.. So that's was a close one, and when the thunder really sets in our house is shaking, so it is interesting, for sure!
On Kris's birthday(the 7th of november, everyone..), he had to work 3 shifts(toilets, 6.5 hours, cleaning school, 2 hours, foodrunning in the bar, 4 hours) so he didn't have much fun, but the rest of us had a blast, hehehe! There was 2 guys from one of the most popular radioshows in Australia here, they had a broadcast from the park during the day, as far as I know, and they also were dj's and held a concert in the bar/ restaurant at night, really funny country music, but all of jabiru was here, and it was dancing and singing and we had a great time!!! It's not often things like that happen here, that's for sure... :) great night!
And we've also managed to see something else in kakadu national park since last time you all heard from us, cause we had a saturday off, and so did Laura and Laura, two of our coworkers or what you call it, and we hijacked Adrians can( he was working in the bar that day;) and went on a road trip!! Saw a lot of bush, it is muh greener already, allthough we haven't had that much rain, and I saw 3 wild horses, and a lot of those "houses" the termits build, they are higher than people, almost high as trees!!!! :) The sad thing is, since it has been raining a little, we couldn't drive all the way to where we had planned, to ses some waterfalls and go for a swim, so after 150 km on the road, we had to go back, without really seeing anything.. Didn't really matter, cause we drove to see some pools(natural) somewhere else, had a 3 km hike in there to see them, wasn't that much water, ut we had lunch, and then we heard a big splash in the water.. laura and Laura decided to go back, but K and I had to look.. Couldn't see anything at first, but all of a sudden the water was full of riplets(?you know rings in the water..)(ringer i vannet), and they grew bigger and bigger and came from the opposite side of the pool... And then we left.. Yes, there are crocodiles here.. A lot of them, apparently.. :) Hihi!
I think that is all that has happened, that is important.. Well, last night we had some sort of storm, all of a sudden the air was filled of flying ants, and they crashland anywhere and loose they're wings, so you can imagine how it was to clean all the toilets today.. Took us a lot longer, cause of the wings, they were everywhere, and they are so light, they just fly everywhere!!!!Oh well, not so interesting.. (our toilets are kind of outdoor toilets, it is so hot everyday so they don't really need doors or windows..) (Liksom en aapen losning, kan du si:)

I think that must be the most interesting stuff that has been going on.. HAHAHAHA, THAT'S FUNNY!!!!:)
Have a great winter everyone, we miss it so much, stupid as that is, who wouldn't want summer all year? ( I don't apparently...;)
g

Cleaning toilets in a national park..

So, long time no see, we're in Kakadu National Park, working as profesional toilet cleaners 6 - 7 hours every day! On Aurora Kakadu Lodge.. Apparently a 5 star caravan park or something, haha, nothing wrong with the toilets at the moment at least;) So it is not the most interesting job, and Jabiru, local community is not the biggest either, 1500 people, and that's it, a supermarket, post, bank, library.. Yep.. Oh, and a bakery and a petrol station.. Yeah, lods to do;) But we're working all the time, and it is fine:) Saving money like crazy, eating porridge for breakfast everyday, like all norwegians, and making huge portions of fiskegrateng so we have dinner for a week at the time:)
It is not so much happening, and not so much to tell you, I guess the blog will stay silent for a while(as internet only happens Tuesdays and Thursdays, in the Library...) and we're mostly working and sleeping and watching TV.. Like you are, I guess:) Not much to write home about, hahaha!
Can tell you about the wildlife we get to see:) I was so lucky to have a baby python(yes, the snake) on my doorstep the second night here, haha, which was quite interesting, other than that we see and hear a lot of Kakadus( the white parrot bird thing), lizzards, geckos, ants ants ants everywhere, and other strange creatures I don't know the name of;) We still haven't seen anything of the park itself, and rainseason is here, so I guess the number of tourist tours we can join are fewer and fewer every week. We'll see, I hope to get tp go fishing with our boss, Peter, cause then I might get a bigger fish than Pappa ever got, haha, in his life, and then he might want to come and visit us;) We're talking 5 meter long fish( no we're not) but the barracuda gets quite big... I hope to, if it happens, then I have something to tell you, hehehe:)
So we're not so much on the internet anymore, since it is only two days a week, but nothing is happening anyways.. Now you know that we are alive and kicking, at least:)
Have a great autumn!
Here everyone says it is spring, but it is 40 degrees everyday, and I can't believe we're able to work at all, but so far so good:)
g

No mangopicking?

So, turns out the farmers in Australia are a little bit unsure wther they need us or not.. So we kind of still have a job, but they don't know when we can start.. So we have been waiting for some time, and fell we don't have more time to wait(well, we don't, K has got no money..)so we're maybe going to work on a tourist resort in Kakadu National Park instead.. Just have to say yes, but it is 6 weeks or more with cleaning.. Maybe not so interesting.. heheh;)
I guess we will take it! And then we get to see Kakadu too, yeah!
I will keep you updated..
g

Mangopicking and packing!

We have got a job! In a few days we're leaving Darwin, going to a farm in Arnhemland, really far from everything, to pick and pack mango for a month! I guess there will be no such thing as internet and so on, so have a great Octobermonth everyone!! We'll write more when we come back, just remember that we're having a good time, and that we haven't disappeared from the surface of the earth, we're just a little far away;)
We'll tell you everything about mango when we get back to sivilization! In the meantime, have a great time!
g

Australia - Darwin

We have been australians since Wednesday! And we're having a good time, searching internet and using payphones and trying to get a job.. So far no luck, but today it is Monday, and we're giving it another try! Nothing happens in Darwin during the weekends, at least not on the jobfront, so we have had a few days of, been couchsurfing, great experience as always, we're going back there tomorrow to spend another night:) (Due to many backpackers there is not so easy to find room, so we have to book in advance, and pay, and we can't get the money back, so we have already paid for this night in a hostel, even though our hosts, wonderful family, would like us to stay longer.. But we're going back tomorrow night, yeah!)
On Sunday we were couchsurfing, as I already told you, and they know everything around here, so they told us about a great museum, and we spent 5 hours there, looking at aboriginal art and history of northern territory and a lot of dangerous animals!!!! And after we went to the night market at Mindil beach and ate kangaroo, crocodile, emu and camel(dromedar, med en hump denne gangen, var kamel med to humper vi spiste i mongolia..) None of it was that good, but it was funny!
Got to run and find a job!
have a good week:)
g

Details - Indonesia

Just so you don't think we're not having a good time, I will give you some details(the last 4 times or so I wrote, I might have told you more about scams and endless busrides, than anything else..)

- Indonesian houses have the best colours ever, all in pastell(english?), light pink, light blue, pale green, purple, orange, you name it.. And of course the fence in front of the house is not in the same colour at all, maybe a mint green this time, or turqiose... It is a little bit like in Kenya, in the rural parts at least..
- The roads are far better than in Africa though..
-We have seen tobaccoleaves left out to dry almost everywhere, strangest place so far: A footballfield covered, hehehe, quite a sight!
- The Java coffee is not at all like home, and not so good either, maybe these people have to give away all their good coffee to western countries? Horrible..
-For the first time since China, we have been stopped by strangers who wanted pictures with us;)
-Everywhere there is a huge smile and a friendly hello!

And the last week at Bali: Well we haven't done much.. Beach, sun, eating in restaurants 3 or 4 times a day, reading books and doing nothing.. It is like a small vacation from all the traveling:) And it is so so good! And soon boring, so tomorrow is the last day, we have got tickets for a flight to Darwin, Australia tomorrow night.. That is our first flight, we made it all the way from Oslo, Norway to Denpasar, Bali,Indonesia overland, AND WE ARE SO PROUD OF OURSELVES!!!!

And now we're looking for work in Australia, short on money, yeah!

That's all:)
g

Mt.Bromo-Denpasar-Kuta(Bali)

We bought tickets from the hotel even though it smelled a little of scam again, but some other tourists said the price sounded fair, so we thought we should go for it! Paid for aircon bus from Probolinggo to Denpasar, supposed to take 8 hours total. After 1 hour we had to change bus and all this time we didn't see any tickets.. But we managed to not pay again, and finally got tickets on the new bus, without aircon this time, what a surprise.. And finally it left.. The entire trip took more than 12 hours, including a ferry from Java to Bali, and after we changes buses we didn't have one stop, and no real food only cookies.... When we got to Denpasar, the main city in Bali, it was late, and I was sick, and we had to ask three hotels before we found one with a room.. And then we just slept the entire night. Still not feeling well this morning, haven't had much to eat the last days (Indonesia is not so easy) and tried to eat Balifood for breakfast, which is so spicy, it was total disaster... So we decided not to go to far today, so we left Denpasar and went to Kuta, main tourist spot on Bali, I think, but it was only one hour in minibus, so we managed:) Found a nice hotel and have been drinking a lot of fruitjuice to get well as soon as possible! And here there are more restaurants than people, so now we won't go hungry anymore, yeah!!
So now we're staying here a few days, relaxing on the beach before flying to Australia (can't find a boat...)
And now I'm hungry again,so I'm off..
It has happened a lot since Kuala Lumpur, this was the main events, I guess..
g

Surabaya-Probolinggo-Mt. Bromo

The nighttrain left Jakarta at 6 pm, and while waiting for it we saw other trains passing, and we were so glad we had tickets on bisnisclass and not economy.. Some of the trains that passed us were so full people were hanging out the doors.. On one train, even the roof was full, on all of the carriages.. So things are a little different here from Malaysia and Thailand, it is much poorer and things work different.. Like with the ferry, we stayed alone in a 6 bed room, but every hall and stairway was covered with people.. So people are poorer, the country is poorer, and everything takes time..
Same with the nighttrain(the ferry was 5 hours late), it took 11 hoursfrom Jakarta to Surabaya, there we changed trainstation and got tickets to Probolinggo and from there to Bromo, bought it all in one, and it was a scam, but not the worst..Someone picked us up at the station in Probolinggo and drove us to a tourist agency, and he tried every trick in the book to sell us acommodation and tours and tickets back and everything, but we didn't buy anything and finally he stopped and let us go.. We still had to wait 1 hour for the minibus to fill up, when 27 people were inside, outside and on the roof of the car, the driver started, hehehe! It took us 1 1/2 hours to get to Cemon Lewang, a small village right on the craterwall(?) of a vulcano... We saw the sunset from the crater of Mt. Bromo, and active vulcano, the first we have ever seen, and the smell is horrible! Like geysirs on Iceland! (Lukter skikkelig svovel, svir helt ned i lungene!!)
These mountains are about 2770 meters above sealevel, so it was really cold, and even with sleepingbags and wollensweater I frose the entire night. Didn't sleep too much anyways, we got up at 4 am to go to a viewpoint to see the sunset and another vulcano, and we just made it, ten minutes past 5 the sun rose and the view was fantastic! Pictures coming on flickr any day now:)
We went back after a while of intense photographing;) and had a lousy breakfast at the hotel, before we left Mt. Bromo.. Which is another long story, coming right up:)
g

Ferry to Jakarta - Bogor

So, for the ferry we got economyclass tickets, as we thought that would be fine. Turns out then you have to sleep on the floor, in the stairs or whereever you can find room.. And they don't serve food to economyclass.. And in the restaurant you can only buy cookies and coffee.. Luckily we met Erkan from Turkey, and he helped us (bribing) our way up to second class, so we got a room and food 3 times a day! Perfect! K should tell this story, he went with Erkan and was told not to speak, and shook hands with two different officers on the boat and gave money under the table literally! And then we got the key and food and everything was fine! Except we didn't have anymore cash, so we couldn't by drinking water, the food wasn't at all good, but at least we had food, so the 27 hour long trip on the boat was not the best 27 hours of ours lives.. I guess economyclass would have been worse.. But we made it, slept and read a lot and felt groggy, but finally we arrived in Jakarta late at night! And Erkan helped us again, he invited us to stay in his house, and his wife picked us up in their car (after a motorbikeride I don't want to write about, with heavy backpacks and crazy drivers in Jakartas trafficjam late at night) and we all went to an Indonesian restaurant and had lovely fish, and I got chili in the wrong pipe and started crying in front of our new friends, and then we went to their house, in Bogor, it was quite a big house, he is a businessman, and she, Devy, lovely woman, is a teacher at the university, and we stayed one night in the guestroom, thank you so much for everything, Erkan and Devy!!
Next day Erkan drove us back to Jakarta, one hour from Bogor, and we spend 3 hours in the trainstation to get tickets for the nighttrain, and finally we got it, and then we only had time to see the National Monument, which is really next door to the Gambir trainstation, and then we left Jakarta.. Heard it is nothing much to see there anyways:)
And the trainride is another story, again..
g

Kuala Lumpur - Johor Bahru

We did spend a few days in KL again, with Taylor and Ayumi, ate a lot of vegetarian food and tried several times to apply for a working holiday visa in Australia, finally we managed and now we have big plans to get rich fast in Australia, hahaha!
We saw just one movie on the KLCC cinema this time in KL, but we were there mostly to pick up Kristoffers camera, but the camerashop was closed both on Saturday and Sunday.. So we hung around and had a good time, and went to KL Tower (4th highest tower in the world..)to see the sunset, and stuff like that. Ate a lot of Indian food too, it is so so good!!
On Monday the camerashop was finally open, and we picked up the camera.. But the lady was really sorry and said that it couldn't be fixed, that they hadn't repaired it.. So we took the camera and didn't pay anything.. And strangely enough, the camera works perfectly! And when he delivered it for repairing, nothing worked, it was dead.. Strange.. And it is still working.. AMAZING PHOTOSHOP!
Last night with Taylor and Ayumi, this time for sure, and we sang karaoke!!! Hehehe!Tuesday morning they left early, and we left a few hours later, heading for Johor Bahru. 4 hours busride, then we had to take a local bus, but it didn't go exactly where we thought, so we had to walk a little bit before we found next local bus, which took us to the ferryterminal. We got tickets and went to Batam, Indonesia:) Arrived in the evening, got our visa, even though we had to smile as pretty as we could since we didn't have the right USD, we had a bill from 1996, he only wanted from 2006.. But everything goes with a smile, and into Indonesia we got:)
Spend one night in Batam, no tourists there and nothing happening.. Ate a lousy breakfast Wednesday morning and bought tickets for the ferry to Jakarta.. Which is a good story..
Coming up:)
g

Mersing and Tioman island:)

So, after the scary fingerprint registrating in Singapore, we came into Malaysia again, and Johor Bahru, the boarding town. We tried to find a bus to Mersing, but it was holiday, so all the buses was full, and we had to take a local bus to Kota Tingi and then wait an hour and then take another local bus to Mersing, and eventually, it took the entire day, so we lost the last ferry to Tioman Island.. But that was ok, we stayed one night at Omars Guesthouse, the cleanest place we have seen for some time now! And he has worked with Robinson Ekspedisjonen, both the swedish and the norwegian, so he had a lot of funny pictures of half-celebrities from Scandinavia, and some good stories, funny;)
Wednesday morning we took a ferry at 7:30(of course it was delayed..) and arrived at the ABC beach some time around 10 o'clock. Found a cheap ok bungalow and headed for the beach, didn't do anything except laying in the sun and swimming and some snorkeling the entire day, lovely! Thursday was the same, but more cloudy, so we read books and had coffee and cake and a good time;)
Friday we left for KL again, 5 hours on a really cold bus, maybe 14 degrees, too cold, we were freezing when we arrived! Staying at the same place as last time, but different room..And this time we found bedbugs... Many of them.. Think I killed maybe 20 last night before we went to bed, but they just didn't stop coming out of the wall..
So we changed room this morning.. And slept fully dressed the entire night.. Heheh!
So, it is raining in KL, like last time, what to do? Cinema, anyone? Yes please:)
g

Singapore for the weekend!

Last weekend we went to Singapore, like we do occationally;) Or something!
We arrived late Friday afternoon, after some lovely days in Melaka(we actually saw a few museums and ruins and churches and an indian festival and a chinese festival in the streets, a lot was happening there!)
The bordercrossing went well, and the bus took us all the way in to Lavender Street. From there we walked to downtown, looking for 1) a bank, we had no singaporemoney, 2) something to eat, as soon as we could find money to buy something and 3) internet, so we could find our couchsurfinghost for the weekend. We found the bank, and food(luckily, I was so hungry and angry I almost killed someone walking beside me.. You all know him.. Poor guy..) and finally the internet, just to find out it was a misunderstanding, and we suddenly didn't have a place to stay for the weekend.. So we walked for maybe 45 minutes more, and found the guesthouse that was housing our friends, Taylor and Ayumi:) So before we found a place to stay, we had been walking, with our backpacks for 3 hours! Exhausted! Ate and went to bed.
Saturday: Spent the entire day with Taylor and Ayumi, was at Singapore Art Museum, saw some really interesting stuff, I think we spent maybe 6 hours there or something, some of it was really good! Gripping:) And then we had Hokkeido icecream, maybe the best icecream in the world! It was good! And chinese for dinner..
Sunday was similar, indian breaktfast, a big park and a long walk, another museum, Asian Civilisation Museum, also interesting, but I finished maybe 2 hours before the others, not that interesting.. And then we saw Rock On, a Bollywood movie in the night, hilarious!!
Monday K and I went to Orchard Road, the big shopping mall street, a street with shopping malls lining up next to each other! Singapore is a lot about shopping, so we just had to see it, since we were there.. Didn't buy anything, so it went well:) Not that much money left.. Just enough to a cup of coffee and a magazine, and then the day was perfect:)
Tuesday we headed out of Singapore again, and this time we had to press our thumb against a glassplate and it took a picture I guess, so now our fingerprint is registrated in Singapore.. Scary..
g

Kuala Lumpur - Melaka!

So, Kuala Lumpur was ready for us, and we were more ready for KL than we knew! The capitol gave us a lot of heavy rain every day from 1 pm and onwards, so we had some relaxing days, reading, staying inside, mostly at the guesthouse or at KLCC shopping mall, a great place!! The biggest bookstore ever, Kristoffer found some philosophybooks and is gone to the rest of the world, I can hardly get contact (so much for the gardener-fling of his)! What KLCC also offered was a great cinema, with movies in english (and malay and chinese subtitles, was a lot of subtitles!)So we watched 3 movies in 4 days, yeah! First, Penelope(ok), then Forgetting Sarah Marshall(very funny, but censured( how do you spell that?), anyway, any bad word or adultscene was gone, which meant maybe most of the movie, but still funny!) and Wall-E(beautiful!!) Sa we had some lovely days at the cinema! But haven't seen so much more of the city, never mind, next time:) I also went crazy in the bookstore and bought 4 ELLE and Marie Claire (glossy girly magazines) and have really enjoyed some western impulses! :) Didn't know I missed it so much, haha!

After 4 days in KL we took a bus to Melaka, and have maybe found the most charming little harbourtown in the world.. If you think chinese-malay-portugise-dutch all together, you might get an idea.. It is lovely! Tiny streets and lovely houses, and again churches, buddhist temples and mosques lying almost next to each other! Something to learn from, rest of the world!!!
Our hotel is just opposite a mosque, so we are awakened in the morning at 5:45, time to wake up and pray everyone! Brilliant;) At least very excotic!

We're staying here 2 more days I guess, just hangin out havin a good time, and then we're going to Singapore! Hopefully doing some more couchsurfing, really hope so!!
Have a nice day!
g

Malaysia!!!!

Vi kom oss trygt over grensa, venta 3 timer paa en togstasjon som fungerte som baade Thailandsk og Malaysisk grensekontroll, artig, inn en doer, stemple passet to ganger, og saa ut samme doer igjen, hehe! Kjekt opplegg! Ingen problemer, saa det var fint. Men togturen i seg selv tok jo lenger tid enn forventa, og vi sparer jo alltid penger, saa ingen sleeperbunks paa oss, og dermed ikke saa mye sovn heller. Dro fra Haad Yai i Thailand kl 1450, og var framme i Ipoh, Malaysia, klokka 0700 morran etter, ca 5 timer forsinka:) Men like greit egentlig, hadde vel ikke vaert saa artig aa vaere framme klokka 1 paa natta heller:)
Hoppa rett paa en buss fra Ipoh til Cameron Highlands, her har vi vaert naa i 4 dager, i Tanah Rata. Bor paa et hyggelig guest house og ellers er det et eneste stort jordbruksomraade og smaabytilstander det gaar i. Forste dagen bare sov vi, siden nattoget ikke ga noen sovn. Andre dagen regna det i enorme mengder, saa vi saa film, leste boker og slappa av. Ble klissblote da vi gikk til lunsj nedi "byen", maatte torke baade klaer og sko etterpaa, det var oversvommelse paa veien og rett og slett mye vann!
3 dag vaakna vi til straaaalende sol og fuglesang, og bestemte oss for aa bruke dagen i jungel'n, saa vi gikk og vi gikk , paa stier eller lignende, fulgte merkinga altsaa, men det var saa bratt og vanskelig at det noen ganger var mer klatring enn vandring! Naar jeg tenker meg om vil jeg ikke kalle noe av det vandring egentlig.. Lonely Planet kalte det Jungel- gym, sier meg enig:) Men det var mye artig aa se, regnskog, anderledes planter og to kjempefugler som skremte oss skikkelig! De floy vekk da, heldigvis.. Saa ogsaa kjottetende plante, yeah!
I dag har vi vaert paa tour, skikkelig turistete, men billigere enn aa leie seg en taxi for en dag, saa vi ble med hostellet paa tur. Har vaert i rose hager, tefabrikk, teplantasje, bie farm, sommerfuglfarm og sett ganske mye rart. Kristoffer var saa heldig aa ha ikke mindre enn 3 skorpioner plassert paa magen paa en gang, HAHA, han ble litt svett da ja! Men det hele var visst under kontroll, var en vakt der, som viste oss skorpioner, gekkoer, frosker, insekter og slanger, og han hadde vel peiling paa skorpioner da, siden han satte de paa K uten frykt for aa miste en turist og jobben.. :)
Tefarbrikken var fantastisk syns jeg, lukta saa sinnsykt godt og maskinene var gamle, nesten antikke, veldig artig aa se. Teplantasjen var hele 600 km2 stor, det var 200 arbeidere som bodde der med familier og alt, de hadde butikk og hus, moske, tempel og kirke inne paa omraadet. En teplukker faar 22 cent pr kilo de plukker, det hoertes ikke mye ut, men de flinkeste plukka 200 kilo om dagen, og tjente da ca 40 RM, som er ca 60 kroner dagen.. Hm.. Men de var visst fornoyde, fikk hus og var organisert gjennom arbeidsgiveren eller noe, saa det var visst ikke den verste jobben i det hele tatt.
Saa ogsaa en teplukkemaskin, den var tung og stor, litt som en gressklipper man baerer over buskene, hehe, maatte vaere to for aa klare det. Saa klippa den tebladene og blaaste de inn i en pose som hang bak, akkurat som en gressklipper. Men man maatte uansett gaa etter med saks, og kurv paa ryggen, for aa faa med seg alt.
Tebuskene kan bli 150 aar gamle, denne plantasjens var 70 aar, de maa plukkes hver 3dje uke, og hvert 3dje aar skjaeres de helt ned, og da trenger de 3 aar for aa vokse seg opp igjen. Om man ikke skjaerer de helt ned vokser de seg store som traer, og da faar man ikke plukka tebladene lenger..
Maa advare mot mange blomsterbilder som dukker opp paa flickr (snart, har ikke tilgang til harddisk her, saa vent noen dager..), K gikk bananas i rosehagen, for aa si det mildt;) HAHA, er det en garnterspire paa gang her? Hva skjedde med filosofen??
I morra setter vi kursen mot Kuala Lumpur, hovedstaden med kanskje det kuleste navnet i verden, I can't wait!
g:)

Koh Tao- Koh Phangan- Haad Yai

Sorry, dette blir paa norsk, er for lenge siden til aa bruke hundre aar paa aa skrive engelsk, hehe!
Uansett, vi har reist litt mer i Thailand, litt oyhopping, artig! Dro fra Bangkok til Koh Tao med buss og baat, uten nevneverdige uhell.. Det er disse turistbussene som det er saa vanlig at bagasjen blir rota gjennom mens man sover osv, men det eneste vi mista var en karabinkrok og en av kristoffers slipperser, saa det var heldig! Greit med hengelaas paa sekken;)

Kom til Koh Tao tidlig tidlig og fikk ordna skyss og bosted paa andre sida av oya, det var litt av en vei, vi var begge ganske svette og nervose da vi kom fram.. Anbefales ikke a prove de veiene med noe annet enn tanks eller firehjulstrekk!!

Men saa verdt det naar vi kom fram! Hin Wong het stedet, og der var vi aldeles alene! Forste kvelden var det bare vi, andre kvelden var det vi og et par til, tredje kvelden var vi 6 personer. Herlige sted, det var stille og fredelig!! Og der oppdaga jeg snorkling, som maa vaere noe av det beste man kan gjore naar det kommer til vann og herlighet!! For noen farger!!! Og man kan hoere at fiskene spiser paa korallene! Og de lukker seg og flagrer i vannet, nei, det var bare helt utrolig!! Jeg som aldri har likt vann, som virkelig helst ikke vil ha hodet under, kunne ikke faa nok, og ville bare ned igjen under der hvor lydene er anderledes og fargene sterkere! Saa saa mye fint, masse fisker, saa naerme, som aa bade i et akvarium! Det var helt utrolig og jeg er helt solgt!!!
Et problem fulgte av snorklinga og det er relatert til at jeg flyter som en dupp.. Samtlige deler paa kroppen dupper i havoverflata, og nekter aa holde seg under vann.. Med det resultat, at selv med masse smoring og null soling bortsett fra den ufrivillige under snorklinga, ble jeg saa solbrent at jeg bokstavelig talt ikke kunne sitte paa 3 dager.. Et stykk stekt bak der ja!! UFFFF!! Og Kristoffer var ikke noe bedre, men hans shorts var lenger, saa han kunne i alle fall sitte, selv om han naa har skifta all huden paa ryggen.. Han solte seg ogsaa, og snorkla lenger enn meg, saa det ble noen sovnlose netter og en krisetur til apoteket aa kjope sterkere solkrem og aloe vera gel.. Naa er vi fine igjen! Ogsaa saa brune!!
Brukte altsaa noen dager paa Hin Wong bare til aa komme oss igjen etter solbrentheten, jeg laa for det meste paa magen inne i senga, mens K satt ute og leste i skyggen, hehe! Snorkla litt naar det var overskya og seint paa ettermiddagen. Vanskelig aa la vaer naar man akkurat har oppdaga en ny verden!

Dro videre til Ao Leuk, for aa moete vaare venner Taylor og Ayumi igjen! Dit kom vi oss med taxi baat, en liten baat og store bolger, og ingen kai, saa vi bar bagasjen inn paa hodet i bolgene, artig! Naar vi endelig kom oss fram til stranda, var det ingen ledige rom selv om vi hadde booka, saa vi ble litt sinte. Heldigvis kom Taylor og Ayumi(spurte og viste bilder, men ingen av de ansatte visste helt hvor de bodde eller hvor de var), saa det ble lunsj, og K fant et annet sted vi kunne bo, Nice moon bungalow, som laa ca 100 meter vekk i luftlinje, men veien tok 45 minutter aa gaa.. Hehe! Var et hyggelig sted, langt unna alt, saa vi ble der i 3 dager, og gikk til stranda og besokte T&A hver dag. De dro tilbake til Bangkok, Ayumi ble sjuk, veldig sjuk, vi var saa bekymra, med rette, viste seg aa vaere Dengufeber. Ho er bedre naa, vi har faatt oppdateringer! Var saa trist aa skilles fra de igjen, denne gangen for godt, de vender snuta mot India, mens vi fortsetter nedover.. Triste saker.. Ja, paa Nice Moon hadde vi forresten en gekko paa veggen paa storrelse med en liten drage!!!!!!! UAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! Skvatt som bare det naar den klampa forbi forste gangen, hjelpes! Bilder paa flickr, pen utsikt og stor drage, heh!

Dro videre til Koh Phangan etter en uke paa Koh Tao, ble en ekstra natt paa Koh Tao fordi vi ikke booka billetter med baaten, men det var ok, nytt sted, ny megagekko, hehe!

Koh Phangan var igrunn mye det samme, provde aa komme oss vekk fra alting der ogsaa, saa vi dro til Bottle Beach, bare mulig aa komme dit med baat. Men ting maa ha utvikla seg siden de ga ut siste turistbrosjyre, for man kom seg ikke akkurat vekk fra ting.. Der var det 4 restauranter, 4 restorter, butikk og internetmuligheter.. Skuffa! Ogsaa saa mye folk! Var der noen dager og sola oss, men det var ikke de samme snorklemulighetene, saa vi er ikke solbrente denne gangen!

Tok baat og buss videre til Haad Yai, der vi er naa, dette er ekte Thailand, ingen menyer paa engelsk og ingen turister, herlig! Thailand har vaert veldig turistete og det er veldig mainstream, og jeg er kanskje teit, men savner utfordringene vi hadde i SoerKina, det var liksom litt mer ekte.. Menneskemotene er ogsaa anderledes i Thailand, en annen type folk som drar hit kanskje, det blir ikke det samme. Men med en gang vi kom til Haad Yai fikk vi oss en venn, saa det er jo kjekt;) Endelig, liksom!

I morra krysser vi grensa til Malaysia, gleder oss veldig til det, til aa reise litt paa ordentlig igjen! Blir bra! Thailand er ok altsaa, men det er fryktelig enkelt, nesten litt kjedelig.. Veldig pent her da!:)

Ha en god skole/studie/jobb-start alle sammen! :)
g

Vientiane - Bangkok

Wow, time goes by!
We left Luang Prabang with our friends Taylor and Ayumi, early early(got up at 5.00 am) one morning, and had a nice busride (only 10 hours) through Lovely Laos Countryside, it is really beautiful! Hope K has uploaded some pictures..
When we got to Vientiane, we spend some time looking for a place to stay, and then we had pizza:) Lovely! And that was all that day, not too interesting;)
The next day Taylor and Ayumi left for Bangkok, Kristoffer and I stayed behind to explore Vientiane one more day. It wasn't much to see;) They have the Mekong River, but it is not really anywhere in town you can see it, and they have a Arche de Triomphe, but that didn't take too long, and then they have a lot of Wat's, small temples with monks, and some of them are really nice! But nor much to see or do in Vientiane.. (Small capital, only 200 000 people..) So we left for Bangkok and Thailand the day after T&A:)

Bordercrossing went well, didn't have to pay any extrafees, and they stamped us out and in without more hazzle. We met a dutch couple and shared a tuktuk to the trainstation, got tickets for the nighttrain and found a restaurant nearby. Went well:) The train had all the windows and doors open the entire night, it actually got cold! But the seats weren't that bad, so we could sleep! But it was really noisy, and when we arrived in Bangkok the next morning we were covered in dust, hehe!

We found a nice taxidriver in Bangkok, and he took us to Villa Guesthouse, recommended by T&A, a lovely teak-house, and a lovely old woman, it is perfect! And only ten minutes away from everything!
First day we didn't do much, hang out with T&A, had dinner at an egyptian restaurant and climbed a tall building to watch the sunset from the roof, that was great!!!! (Taylor knew someone living there a few years ago, so we were almost visiting friends, not sneeking up on a random roof..)
Other than that we enjoy cheap Thailand, we have delicious friutshakes everyday, with or without youghurt, food is delicious, and the markets are crowded with cute dresses and stuff we don't need, but I still want to buy.. I can see why so many people go to Thailand:)

One or two more days here, and then we're heading for a beach!! Can't wait, vuhu!!!
Have fun back home!
g

Luang Prabang:)

Well isn't this place just perfect? Not only have we met up with our friends, Ayumi and Taylor again, which is perfect (they also gave us quite a surprise, we thought taylor was in Thailand, because Ayumi have been travelling solo for a few weeks, so we had only heard from her, and planned with her to meet up, maybe in Laos, we really hoped to. And then we hould meet them both in Thailand at the end of this week, but then she told us, I'm coming to Luang Prabang tomorroe, and we cheared!! And then we met the next day, and she brought Taylor along as well, and we didn't have clue, he just showed up on the street, with a hug smile, lovely!! And now we're all four together again, feels good:) wow, this was a long "detour" or a long short-story-in-between..;)
Not just have we met our friends again, this town also have a Scandinavian Bakery!! Which means, today we had good cheese and different kinds of bread for breakfast, and even Gott och Blandat!!! They got it yesterday, in the bakery, fresh sweets from Sweden, it is so funny, and I had to buy of course, even it was very expensive(not too bad, but still expensive), just because it is so funny!
This is a good day!
Gott och blandat forever!;)
(Maybe we miss home sometimes, at least the food and the sweets.. And the people;)
g

Ah, Laos..

We have left China, and entered Laos, lovely! I was tired of China, and it feels good with some change here!
We left Kunming, Yunnan on Saturday, 19th, and arrived here in Luang Prabang yesterday, Sunday the 20th. It doesn't sound to bad, but we spend over 28 hours on the same bus, which was kind of exhausting.. But it was still a good trip, we saw the chinese border open on Sunday morning, it was quite a shw with soldiers and so on, hoisting flag and marching and running a little bit.. Funny:) And we had no problems crossing the border, luckily we had already fixed visa and so on, so we just smiled and they stamped our passports and on we went.. Only problem was the customs on the Lao side, not for us, but they stopped the bus and loked through everything, and even then we weren't alloud to continue, so we waited at the customs for about 6 hours, no reason.. Boring!
At last we were allowed to drive on, and on the Lao side the scenery changed:) We saw a lot of small villages with tiny huts made of bamboo and giant mountains and small ricefields and so on. It was absolutely beautiful!
And then we arrived in Luang Prabang last night, found a quiet nice guesthouse and some food:)
Today we had baguettes with real butter and mustard and vegetables and cheese and chicken for breakfast, Laos is a former colony of France, so the food here is absolutely lovable! Can't wait to try the coffee, or the french restaurants! Time for lunch everyone!
And now, we're only 5 hours before Norway in time, South East Asia is not on the same time as China. :) Details, but still..
And tonight our friend Ayumi from Japan is coming to Luang Prabang, we really can't wait!! So looking forward to see you again Ayumi!!!;)
Hihihi!
g

Chengyang - Zhaoxing - Guiyang - Anshun - Kunming.

So, time passed by again!
Since Guilin, we ahve traveled in the countryside, which is absolutely beautiful when it comes to scenery, but it takes a lot of time.. Endless hours on busses, bad roads, mountains to cross, you name it..
From Guilin we got a bus to Sanjiang, and there is really nothing to see there, so we hoped to get further on.. But we didn't, so we went to a small place called Chengyang, just 20 minutes out of town.. It was a silent place, with a famous brigde and small small Dong villages. Dong is a minority group in China, really interesting to see their traditional clothes and the way they wear their hair and so on:)
We stayed 2 nights in Chengyang, did some hiking in the mountains and in the small villages. Also we met more travelers, from all over the world, so we had a good time with new friends. And we went swimming in the river! And this time Kristoffer also went swimming:)

From Chengyang we went to Zhaoxing, another small Dong village, and we went with all our new friends we met in Chengyang (Marco germany, Isaac usa, Kit scotland, Kirsty canada and Leilei China). We missed the bus from Sanjiang, and had to go on another bus to somewhere else, and the bus we missed would wait for us on the way so we could get to the right place, they just had to go past all the policestations on the way first, cause we would have been sitting on the floor, and that is not ok for the police.. However, we never saw that bus again, instead we ended up on some really muddy roads were no bus could go.. So we had to by boat on the river for a little while, and then try to find another bus on the other side of the muddy road.. But we never found any bus, which had the result we had to take a minivan, more expensive and oh so much more uncomfortable!! The driver took us to Diping, a small town, but we were to late for all the buses that day, so he drove us all the way to Zhaoxing. And it was all good in the end:)

In Zhaoxing we also spend 2 nights, had quite a hike around the countryside, walking along dirtroads, small paths between ricefields and ending up in small small villages.. It was a good day, the scenery is to good to be true, and the people are so friendly! We took some good pictures with some old men hanging around the "supermarket" in one small village, hehe, very funny! (flickr everyone..)
We also met a Chinese-swedish family here, with three children, the oldest was 6 years old. They were taking a year off, to travel in China, and the kids were so happy to talk some swedish with Kristoffer, the oldest couldn't stop, he had to tell everything about Kung Fu and Spiderman 3 and so on, lovely:) We saw "Kung Fu Panda" with them the first night, loved it!

From Zhaoxing we tried to get to Kaili, so we got up at 5:30 in the morning, to catch an early bus. We made it, and got all the way to Liping, drove through some really beautiful scenery again! When we got to Liping we had 20 minutes to buy breakfast before we entered next bus, to Kaili, had time to buy bananas, and that was it. It was a 7 hour busride, and luckily the bus stopped so we all could have a proper lunch, or I guess we would have starved!
When we got to Kaili the group was separated, some stayed in Kaili, and some headed forward. Kristoffer and I got a bus to Guiyang, the main city in Guizhou province. When we got there, late at night, all the tickets for Kunming were sold out.. Not only that day but also the next.. Luckily we met James Bond, a local chinese guy, who helped us find a hotel and food:) Saver of the day!

The next day we found a bus to Anshun, only 2 hours from Guiyang. But we couldn't get traintickets that day either, so we had to stay in Anshun, which is not the most exiting town.. We walked around a little bit, and that was it:)

The next day, we got standing tickets on the train to Kunming, and we were so tired of trying to get there, so we bought them and were ambivalent.. The book said it was 11 hours trainride, but it is often so much longer than what the lonely planet suggests, so we were afraid, but still, that is the way the chinese travel, so it felt ok to try it, to see how they manage:)

We stood on the train, absolutely no space to move or even sit on the floor, for 3 hours, when luckily a lot of people went off the train, and we got a chance to get into the carriage(stood by the doors, with a lot of others, even families with small small babies, standing for several hours.. They are strong..) And when we got into the carriage, a 15 year old girl came and asked if we would like to sit with her and her family, they could just squeeze together. So we said yes, and then the mother and some other guy had to stand.. But it was okey, they said, it was more important that her daughter got to practise english! Which we did for 7 hours! We talked about everything, and her little brother also spoke a little bit, he touched my arm and said "friend" when he wanted to show me something, or tell me something, lovely! And we played cards and had a good time:) Lovely! So 10 hours trainride with only standingtickets went so much better than we thought! Luckily!
And finally we were in Kunming!!
It is not really much touristy things to do here, but we have to plan our trip to Laos, which we enter in maybe a week or so.. So we're here to fix visa and change money and all that boring stuff. We spend so many hours in the bank today, the embassy was closed, so we have to go there tomorrow, and then wait even more days to get the visa, and so on, so, from now, it is not much happening in a few days.
Kristoffer got a haircut today, looking good! And when I asked for one as well, the hairdresser said no, too beautiful hair, so I didn't get a haircut.. But it was very nice in a way:) Although I want a haircut;) And I almost bought new glasses today, just because it is cheap and I might need an extra pair:) And then we're soon ready for Laos! South East Asia, here we come!!
g

Yangshou - Guilin

We stayed 3 or 4 nights in Yangshou, got to a point where we both were quite tired of seeing new stuff and being tourists, so we didn't do anything for a few days.. Yangshou itself is very touristy, so we met a lot of other travellers, which is nice of course, but the real beauty of Yangshou is the countryside, with a scenery so green, strange mountains and snall villages.. We got ourselves out there the 3 day, I think, and it was lovely, hired bikes and biked for 5 hours straight, no problem, it was almost all flat, hehe! Have a lot of beautiful pictures, K will upload them at some point.. And we met a norwegian couple on honeymoon, she is originally from China, but lives in Oslo, theire storys about the two weddings was great! In Oslo they married in a church, normal big weddingdinner, everything fine, long speeches of course, but still fine. Then in China her father had invited 200 guests, and the newlyweds were more on display than anything else, all dressed up in traditional chinese opera costums, on a stage, and all the guests eating, haha, she told us they were so hungry they had to sneek out at night to find some food, hihihihi, so funny! They took us out for dinner, and since she is chinese and speaks the language, we really enjoyed an easy night out, without the hazzle of dechifring a menu.. Hehe;) And later we met som Irish girls (had met them two nights earlier as well, nice ones, love them!), and we all went to a disco, terrible music, but of course K made it his mission to make everyone have a lovely time, so he ruled the dancefloor like no one else, hahaha!!;) Perfect!
And the next day we went to Guilin, the guy on the bus cheated us for money, so annoying, why is he demanding 50 from us when everyone else is paying 10? Bastard. But we were to tired to argue, and paid. We arrived, and I got sick, and all plans have been delayed as I have stayed in bed for 2 days with fever and pain everywhere (dramaqueen, sorry.. But I really had a bad time.)
And tomorrow we will move on, hopefully!
All for now, enjoy summer everyone!
g

Perfect Guiping!!

We went from Guangzhou to Guiping on Sunday, expected 6 hours on a bus, it took only 8, so we were happy;) Guiping doesn't have many tourist attractions or anything, it is famous for the very kind people living there.. And they were the nicest people we have met in China, I think! Of course, we meet wonderful people everywhere, but it seems to me that all the people of Guiping is nice! It was helpfulnes and smiles and "hello" all the time! We got help to find the hotel when we arrived, help to find a great restaurant. And the next day, when we had cilmbed Xi Shan, a small mountain, and we were walking along a road, saying hello to everyone driving by on their motorbike, (beautiful scenery, ricefields, bananatrees, bamboo, and tea-fields, we have some lovely pictures!), someone stopped to take pictures with us, and managed to ask us if we wanted to go swimming with them(not the best english in Guiping, but the friendlyness makes up for it!), we said yes, of course! We sat behind on the motorbikes, and after a few kilometres, it was a kind of a swimming pool, with a restaurant and all, so we stayed all day, getting to know our new friends better:) Then they drove us back to the hotel, we had a shower and dinner, and then they picked us up again, and we went to a karaoke-place, HAHAHA, GREAT FUN! You all missed out on K's and my version on Crazy with Britney Spears, hahahahaha! Unforgettable!!
It got late, but no problem, they drove us home too.. Nice people!
On Tuesday we left Guiping, to go to Yangshou, where we are now, and we spend the whole day in the busstation and on the bus.. 5 hours waiting for the bus, it was delayed, of course, but it was ok, the employees took good care of us, getting us tea, and food and entertaining with chinglish and chinese, and the bus ended up waiting 10 minutes for us, as we were busy, haha!
And the busride took of course 6 hours, not 3 as they told us, but even though we got here late, we found a nice youth hostel, and everything is ok!
Have to get outside, the weather is too nice, and the scenery to beautiful to sit here!
Have a nice day!
g

Forgot to tell as well..

The last ight in Macau, as you might have seen on flickr, we went to one of the many casinos.. We chose the most famous one, I think, The Venetian, an exact copy of a casino in Las Vegas. It was CRAZY!!! First of all, they play classic music all around this massive building, looking like a castle or something, and the little lake and the rivers and the lights, makes everything so romantic! And inside, they play the same music, and the roofs are painted with baroque motifs, the floor is undescribeable, and everything is shiny! And the gamblers are crazy too, mostly chinese people, they are crazy about gambling, but it is forbidden on mainland, so everyone goes to Macau.. No wonder they make a lot of money there! Never seen so many cards in my life, it is just like a movie!
And floor nr 2 is even crazier, they have made a copy, don't know how exact, but still, of Venice, with rivers and brigdes and gondols and a blue sky above.. Crazy.. Hahaha! And small houses, of course just the facade, but it looks good! And they have a huge shopping mall going on inside "Venice", with every shop you can think of. Crazy, that's my favourite word to describe it! HAHA!

How funny is that! Now we never have to go to Venice! (Just kidding! No reason not to go, I guess! But they even made a little breeze, so it felt like being outside, with a little wind..Wow..)

And today, not so funny, never got to the place we planned, cause it is raining, and I had to buy shoes, so we have wandered every street to find the right pair, and that is not to easy, cause one shop has only got the wrong sizes, another takes twice the price and so on and so on.. So you have to shop around for a while, to get a fair price and right size! But we made it. And that was today!
Not everyday is so amazing, just like normal life:)
And I bought the perfect pair of Converse, very good fake so I don't know if they're fake or not, and paid maybe 35 norwegian kroner. Happy!
g

Updates and things we forgot to tell..

Just remembered we forgot to tell you that we just missed the Olympic torch with a few hours! In Yichang, which is a while ago.. We got there at 1 o'clock in the night and didn't know untill we left after a few days that we just missed the torch!! It was there the same day we arrived, but we arrived too late.. Our two chinese friends, who we met on the train from Yichang to Fenghuang, asked us when we had just met, how long we had stayed in Yichang, and we answered "three days or so" and they screamed: "DID YOU SEE THE TORCH???" And we said: "Torch?Torch? What torch?" And then we realized, it was the Olympic torch, and it had visited Yichang the day we arrived.. And we missed it!! And then we screamed: " OH NO!!!!!"
Hahaha, typically! Their friend did actually carry it, so at least we know someone who knows someone who carried the Olympic torch!!! It had, of course, been a wild day, I don't know how much they show on TV outside China, but here they show hours every day from the torch relay.. Every day! So we have definitely seen it on tv, but we just missed it in real life..

And then a funny story from today:
We have crossed the boarder from Macau back into China on foot( didn't see the boarder, we got off one bus on one side of a big building, and walked through passportcontrols twice, and then we were through), but the funny part was a little boy who spotted Kristoffer.. He stood just beside him, pointing at him and laughing his head off!!!!! He laughed so he almost couldn't stand on his feet, and so loud everyone turned to see what was going on!! IT WAS HILARIUOS!! I laughed for ten minutes straight again, and Kristoffer as well, hahaha!!! And everyone else, of course! So welcome back to be unormal looking again!

Now we try do decide what to do, cause it is raining all over South China, and it doesn't seem to stop anytime soon, so where to go? What to see?
We have no clue..
So what tomorrow brings, we don't know at all. (But then, who does?)
Good night!
g

Still going strong in Macau!

So, we are a bit lazy, and couldn't be bothered to leave today, so we are still in Macau, and the raining is not too bad now. It actually was a typhoon yesterday, nr 3, so schools were closed, but most grown-ups had to go to work. In Hong Kong it was a typhoon nr 8, guess that's quite bad!

We have seen a different site of Macau today, went to the islands, and visited tiny village Coloane, and a bit bigger Taipa. Ate eggtart in Coloane, famous all over Asia, it was absolutely delicious! And in Taipa we ate pork chop bun, (svinekotelett mellom nystekt brod, mmmm), known all the way till Hong Kong, K read about it in a "hot stuff to see and do" magazine in HK, and then we had to go and try it! The restaurant only served it at 3 pm, so when we got there at 12, no one was there, and they didn't serve it, but when we got back at 3 pm, it was absolutely crowded! Funny! And very good:)

We have seen some churches and tiny streets and some really big casinos, and we like Macau! If only the rain could stop;)

Not much more to tell, except a few details:
1) I forgot to tell you, but in Guoliangcun (looong time ago!) Kristoffer screamed like a girl because of a bug (larvae, eller larve om du vil ha det paa norsk.) HAHAHA, I laughed for 10 minutes straight! Like it was going to attack him, hahahaha! I think not;) (Have I told you before? Hm..)
2) The eggtarts today was absolutely unforgettable, maybe someone should google a recipy and start practising to make it perfect till we get home, whenever that might be? Just a thought..
3) It's really raining, and I have no shoes, cause they never dried again after all the rain in Hong Kong, so I threw them out, and now I wander about in my flip-flops in typhoons.. Haha, stylish!

Okej, enough now!
g

Macau!

We got safely over to the other side, and arrived in Macau just an hour after leaving Hong Kong, by boat. When we left it was public posters everywhere saying "Typhoon signal nr 1 is hoisted", so we were a bit afraid the boats wouldn't go as usual, but they did, and it wasn't to much wind or waves or anything, actually.. So Typhoon nr1 was easy! At least on us, maybe it got worse after we left, I don't know..
Nothing much have happened since last time, K still won't write on our blog, but he is working on flickr right now, so you can enjoy our pictures;) And I still don't know why he didn't go swimming, it is a mystery, Jorid, I'm sorry.. I will push him to answer you;) Hahaha!

I can tell you about our hotel here in Macau, it has got ants everywhere, also in bed, and the walls, they don't go all the way up tp the roof, nor all the way down to the floor.. (Paa godt norsk: skillevegger..) So I guess you would call it paperthin walls, haha! We can hear our neighbour counting papermoney.. Hahaha! But it is so so cheap!

The first night we ate in a bit expensive italian restaurant, lovely fish, and saw all the casinos by night, quite a sight! And yesterday we walked all day, saw some churches, some ruins, some small streets, this doesn't remind us of China at all, but that is of course because it is a former portoguese (how to spell that in english??) colony, this is like Southern Europe.. Not like China:) And then we ate in an expensive restaurant again, have to get back to budget now!

Today it is raining like crazy, I have never seen anything like it, so maybe this is the Typhoon, but I don't think so, it is not windy, so I guess we're safe. We had planned a lovely day on the beach, but no, that's not happening now.. So it's a happy day on the internet instead;) The two last days have been too warm, it is impossible to sleep or do anything, I cannot remember to have felt this warm ever, but I guess I was in Africa.. And Bosnia, right, Silje? Not the best temperatures for me, but K is coping well with it:)

Guess that's it, tomorrow we are going back into real China, spending at least 3 more weeks before we enter South East Asia. Anyone going to Thailand in July? See you there;)

So long!
g

Still Hong Kong!

So, last time we had just arrived, or almost, and now, all of a sudden, we are leaving Hong Kong tomorrow! Going to Macau, the Las Vegas of Asia.. And no money to gamble away, luckily! Haha!;)

We have had a great time in Hong Kong, this place is really like no other place on earth, it is som diverce and so mixed and so on and so on, it never ends surpirising, I guess.

We lived for a week on Hong Kong Island, in Sheung Wan, near Soho, on a guys couch, really great, the couchsurfing-thing, I recommend it to everyone! What a great way to travel! And not because it is free to stay, but because you get to know local people, which means you get to see the place from a different angle, it is amazing! We hung out with our host if we wanted to, or we stayed at his place just watching tv. And we used his kitchen, making dinner, wow, and we ate bread and cheese everyday, loved it! Then the time came to move on and move out, and we moved to another couchsurfinghost, and spent one night in Shek O, a tiny village on Hong Kong Island, far away from all the tall buildings and all the people! It was maybe 3000 inhabitants, two beautiful beaches and a lot of illegal houses, so small it was unbelieveable, but there they were. If it wwsn't for couchsurfing, we would never have seen that part of Hong Kong, that's for sure! And when we arrived there, late at night, we saw a rare sight, a whole lot of fishing boats, lighting up the ocean, fishing for squid! Amazing!! Our host had only seen it two times, and he has lived there for a year! His house was tiny, so we only stayed for one night, and then we moved on, to Chungking Mansions, a place in downtown, I have never seen so many people in one place!! If I should compare it to something, it must be Gronland in Oslo, except it is not an area, but 5 or 6 giant bulidings linked together, with a lot of cheap hostels and apartements, which makes it a colorful place to stay! And that brings the best food and the brightest smiles;) And it is not too expensive, as the rest of Hong Kong, but we still can't afford to stay here longer.. And just in the neighbourhood is a hotel, which used to be the most expensive in the world.. Wow.. That's some building! And they have a telescope in each room! To see the night skyline of Hong Kong Island, have some great pictures, will upload on Flickr anytime soon.. This is some city..
And it is true, you really can buy everything here, it is crazy, if we had more money, I would have bought a whole lot.. Glad I haven't, cause my backpack is heavy enough! ;) But you should see the cute dresses and the tops and tshirts and skirts and stuff, and they really have everything.. I want to go shopping!! We have to leave tomorrow, before I start spending money.. No shopping. Final.

We have spent two days on two different islands, yesterday on Lamma Island, an island without cars! Just like Ihla Grande, remember, Marit?? Lovely;)
We found a beach and settled for some hours, ate watermelon, and I even went for a swim!! So now I can add SouthChinaSea to my lakesandwatersandoceansIhaveswimmedin! Kristoffer didn't swim.. Why? I don't know, it was lovely! Think he was too lazy to be bothered.. Or something, ask him;)
Today we went to Lantau Island, but it turned out to be very expensive, cause they doubled the prices on Sundays, don't know why again. We went to see the worlds largest sitting outdoor bronze Buddha statue, but then we couldn't afford to go to the beach and back, as we would have spent more than 100 HK dollars on bus on one day, and that is way over budget, so we wnt back, and did some windowshopping.. And visited another temple, which was free:) Would rather see the 3 km long beach than the Buddha, but we didn't know when we went, so.. It happens, just the way it is! Have to find a beach somewhere else, think we can manage!

Now we're drinking coffee and enjoing free internet in a cafe, lovely, but I have already spent too much time on this computer, it's soon a long queue, hehe!

I'll write again in Macau, I guess! And push K to write, don't think he has written since March. Typically.. You know him;) He is lovely! Hahaha!

Okej, have a good time! Enjoy summer wherever you are! And please ask if you want to know more about places we go, it is hard to remember everything under such free-internet-makes-a-long-queue-pressure;)

Oh, almost forgot, we saw a Human Rights campaign here, (do not read this if you are a kid..)China is really doing some terrible things to people with the wrong religion and so on, pictures of torture and so on, it really takes the appetite away, so if you can, please tell the right people with power to do something, it is horrible.. But I don't think boicotting the olympics will help. We have to be harder! Anything would help! So if anyone knows the primeminister or something, give her/him a call!
Thanks!
It is also good to be in a place where people can say and do what they want, we should all appreciate it more, we are more lucky than we are thankful for, I'm afraid. So be thankful, and help make changes elsewhere. ;)
Sorry, a lot of moral there..

Okej, I'm done!
Have a good week!
g

Guangzhou.

Ups, this is supposed to be before Hong Kong, but I forgot to tell about it.. 

We didn't have hard seats to Guangzhou as we expected, we had lovely soft beds!! And the trip didn't last all day and night, it was only 8 hours or so, so we arrived around 1500, and were not ready to leave the train at all! The doors actually closed before I got out, but a not so nice train-lady helped me, while yelling at me that I was to late, I guess, it was chinese..

We spend 4 days in Guangzhou, it is really not much to see or do, and it was quite expensive. And funny, the hostel we stayed at were really a hotel, but they had a room with a microwave and free internet, so they called themselves hostel, haha! 

We saw an orchidee-park with no blooming orchidees, haha, and a suit made of jade and silk-thread, found in a tomb of a prince or emperor or something, but the funniest and scariest part was that we could enter the real tomb, and that was of course underground and small and scary.. At least cause it said "here we found 4 concubines" and in a monter it was some bones and other remains from humans, it looked like black little stones and sand, it was so old.. Scary!

And besides that we didn't do much. We had breakfast at Starbucks every day, cause that was the cheapest option.. It is nothing we are proud of, but that's the way it is;) And here in Hong Kong we might even be forced to eat at McDonalds, as everything is so expensive..

Okey, enough blogging today!

g

Hong Kong!!

We can actually see our own blog!!! WOW, I really like Hong Kong, no censure at all, like it a lot!

Now we could read all the messages you have left us the last 1 1/2 months, thanks a lot, it is so nice to know that you all read and follow our travel from home, we really appreciate it;)

We arrived here in Hong Kong on Friday evening, today is Sunday, right? Yes, it is, hard to count all the days, they kind of mix up when they're all the same, no work, no stress, good food, good fun, new friends, you know, the way life should always be;) No, just kidding, I like to work as well, later..

We are trying out couchsurfing for the first time, which means stay in a strangers place for free, great invention!! It is a internet-site where we have signed up, and then we can search for hosts in the citys and towns we go to, and maybe someone have time and wants to host, and then we meet a new friend, and gets much closer to the culture, all in one! Very good idea!

Our first host is a great guy, he asked us to stay till Wednesday, love it! And here in Hong Kong the hostels are crazy expensive, just like everything else, so it is a very good way to save money:) And we can even cook, love it, it's been too long since we made our own food!! And they have bread here, real dark bread!! And butter, and cheese, it is lovely, we are almost only eating bread with cheese, haha!! Didn't knew that was what I was going to miss the most, but it really is! Wow.. It is soooo good!!

Hong Kong is not like the rest of China at all, here it is very western and chinese at the same time, which can be both confusing and great! It is hard to describe it, but we like it! The streets are much more narrow than I thought, and it is always crowded, so many peoples live here, you are never alone.. Right now we live on Hong Kong Island, on the foot of Victoria Peak, it is quite steep here actually! We have still not been up there, the weather is not to good, it is actually quite bad, haha, terrible rain, the night we arrived some streets were flooded.. And from the train on the way here we saw many places with water covering road-signs and so on, it looked quite serious, but we have not heard anything on the news, so I guess it is under control. The last two days it has not been raining that much, so now it is not a problem anymore:) 

I have forgot to tell you some details about China..

1) Men have long fingernails.. I mean, really long!! It is so ugly! We think it is because the emperors just to have it long time ago, and it shows you don't have to do anything.. So it is a good thing, but it looks so bad.. 

2) Chinese people talk VERY LOUD IN THEIR MOBILES IN PUBLIC PLACES!!!! It is unbelievable, they are practically shouting, and it doesn't matter how close you stand, they will still shout like you weren't there, and didn't feel the pain from the shouting..

3) If they don't speak english, and they are trying to make us understand chinese, some of them move closer and shout louder, like that would make us understand, haha!! And again, I mean, really loud..

4) Oh, I forgot the last one, but I can write it the next time..

Have fun go mad!

g

Jishou og Changsha

Naa er jeg saa ofte paa bloggen at jeg er helt stolt, men det kan ha noe med aa gjore at det ikke skjer saa mye;)

Har glemt aa fortelle at jeg har sett noe som maa vaere en av verdens storste edderkopper, ikke som en tarantella altsaa, men en rimelig stor en som bodde paa vaart rom i Fenghuang, og det var seriost edderkopper overalt naar jeg tenker etter. Det laa ved elva, masse smaafluer, ergo masse edderkopper. Den storste som bodde i taket vaart var kanskje like stor som bunnen i en kaffe kopp! Heheh! Men den var ikke farlig for oss, fikk vi vite, bare for fluer! Og naar vi vaakna paa morran var det ingen fluer der, saa det stemte nok det. Da var ogsaa edderkoppen borte, noe som var litt skummelt.. Men den dukka opp igjen seinere, hehe! Dette stedet hadde ogsaa sin andel av flaggermus, og det var i grunn noen riktige naturopplevelser i forhold til insekter og lignende;)

I gaar kveld satte vi oss paa toget fra Jishou, der det ikke skjedde noe, kun litt internet foer toget gikk, til Changsha. Her dukket vi opp kl 6 i dag tidlig, det er ikke saa lett aa finne ut hvor lang tid det tar med tog, det staar igrunn bare avgangstid.. Saa vi kjopte hardseats, i god tro, og endte opp med aa sitte der i 10 timer, uten saerlig mye sovn! De setene er virkelig harde, og saa rette i ryggen at det er en gru!

Og samme smell gaar vi nok paa i morra, naar vi drar herfra 6:22 paa morran, og ikke aner naar vi dukker opp i Guangzhou.. Paa like harde seter! Flott!

Ellers skjer det ikke mye, vi skal bare ha tilbakelagt alle disse kilometerne foer vi naermer oss HongKong.. Og i dag regner det, saa da blir det som i gaar.. Internet;)

Spennende liv? Joda, vi er i alle fall i Kina;)
g

Fenghuang

Vi har kommet oss til Fenghuang, det var ikke helt meninga, men paa toget fra Yichang motte vi to kinesiske jenter som snakker engelsk, og de skulle ha en liten ferie fra eksamenslesinga, saa vi ble med de hit, og dette stedet er virkelig populaert for kinesiske turister! Det er stappfullt av folk, overprisa og alle hus har juletrebelysning om kvelden og natta, haha, det er urkomisk! Men paa en bra maate! Og kineserne elsker det virkelig, det er nesten enda mer komisk!
Men det er pent her ogsaa, en flott elv, gjett om vi skal bade etterpaa! Masse traer og en nydelig gamleby, bygd av stein, med en flott mur og flotte hus hele veien! Pent;)
Vi drar videre i morra, til Dehang, et mindre sted, garantert uten internet, ogsaa drar vi til Hongkong etter det. Blir bra! Er jo ikke engang Kina, saa det blir et skikkelig avbrekk, fra ferien, hehe!
Det var en kort oppdatering!
g

For lenge siden!!

Hei hei hei, beklager dette, men det er aldeles umulig aa komme seg paa bloggen, det er jo som regel stengt.. Jaja, det har dere vel lest foer, hehe!
Var saa lenge siden at jeg ikke orker aa skrive engelsk, beklager det!
Siden Guoliangcun har vi bodd et par dager i Zhenzhou, der skjedde det ikke saerlig masse, maa innromme det, men saa kom vi oss til Xi'an, der vi har vaert i 8 dager, flott hostell, masse hyggelige mennesker osv! Har vaert og sett pandaer, de bodde i bur, saa det var litt trist ogsaa, men de hadde i alle fall aircondition, det var jo bra! Var WWF sitt prosjekt, saa det kan ikke ha vaert for ille.. Og de var utrolig sote, det maa sies, disse pandaene! Saa ogsaa golden monkeys og et merkelig dyr som saa ut som en blanding av ku og hest og alle andre klovdyr, med en honninggul farge, hehe!
Var ogsaa aa saa Terracotta Warriors, historien er jo utrolig, 7000 terracotta soldater, som alle ser forskjellige ut i fjeset og har forskjellig rang innen militaeret regner de med aa finne, ikke alt er gravd fram enda, men det vi fikk se var stort sett imponerende! Til og med hester og vogner ble laget og gravd ned, med en hel haer! Det er verdens storste grav, trur den er 56kvkm eller noe! Det er ganske droyt! Men mesteparten er ikke gravd fram, og pga OL eller noe, saa er alle teskjeer og pensler lagt ned, aner ikke hvordan det ble logisk, men det er mye rart som skjer her som ikke er det! Har mott en som underviste engelsk og hadde 1 aars visum, men saa bestemte myndighetene seg for at de var terrorister, i betydningen utlendinger som gir kinesere et annet bilde av Kina og Kinas handlinger enn det de vil at kinesere skal ha, saa da var det sparken til 200 utenlandske laerere uten mer grunn enn det. Og ingen har noe de skulle ha sagt, det er det som er saa droyt! Her gaar det an aa gjore hva som helst om man har makt, men uten det saa skal man ikke si saa mye.. Rart aa se!

I alle fall, det er endel jobb igjen for aa faa fram alle terrakotta-gutta, og naar de klarer det, om de kommer igang igjen, saa trur jeg det blir et helt utrolig syn!!

Saa ogsaa et vann og lysshow i Xi'an, Asias storste, med enorme fontener og alle slags lys og fyrverkeri og ganske komisk musikk!Artig!

Etter Xi'an satt vi 16 timer paa tog, dagtog, hardt sete, for aa komme oss til Yichang, her finnes ikke saa mye aa se, men Three Gorges er her, saa derfor kommer endel turister! Vi motte 5 nordmenn, hehe, 4 ingeniorer, ganske artig, og typisk at de skulle se dammen, det er klart! Vi saa den jo mye pga storebror ingenior, hihih! Men den var verdt det, den er ubeskrivelig stor, og naar den staar ferdig skal den visstnok kunne dekke energibehovet til 1/3 av Kina, som er sykt mye!! Imponerende;)
Byen har mer aa by paa enn det, selv om det hadde vaert nok, saa vi har vaert her i 3 dager og kost oss, de har noen flotte parker og Yangze River renner gjennom byen, saa vi har vaert og vassa, hehe! Det er saa pent noen steder, at det er helt utrolig!! ;) Ubeskrivelig!

I dag skal vi reise videre ut paa landet igjen, til en liten landsby som visstnok er helt utrolig pen, saa det gleder vi oss til! Og etter det vender vi nesa mot HongKong, visumet gaar snart ut, og det er nok best aa vaere paa den sikre siden naar det kommer til saanne ting her i Kina ogsaa.. Hihi!;)

Skal prove aa skjerpe oss med bloggen, Kristoffer har naa tatt helt ferie fra den mesteparten av tida, haha, men vi faar ta oss sammen! Det er bare saa kjipt at vi ikke faar sett den paa nett her, faar ikke lest kommentarer heller, saa om det er noe veldig viktig eller veldig koselig maa dere sende mail! Men det er hyggelig med kommentarer uansett! Tusen takk for det!

Snakkes snart igjen;)
g

Guoliangcun, up in the mountains!

So, since Pingyao, we have travelled quite some kilometers, but we are still quite close to Beijing, at least according to the map, but I feel we are so far away and so inside China in every way, hehe!

We took a bus from Pingyao to Taiyuan, last Thursday, I think, then we had to spend the night there, because there were no tickets to Xinxiang, next stop. But we got up early, and took the morning train, which of course took the whole day, and more than that, think we spend ten hours or more on that train. So we spend the night in Xinxiang. Then, on saturday 17 of may, the nationalday of Norway, we took taxi-bus-bus-taxi to get to Guoliangcun, a small village with threehoundred inhabitants, and it happened to be maybe the most beautiful place we have ever seen! The mountains are incredible, it is so green everywhere, and so many scenic spots to visit, lovely!The village is about 16thousands meter above sealevel, but we climbed a really high peak, and then we climbed even higher, so we have been quite high up again, and seen quite a view! And waterfalls and caves and small rivers, it is jst perfect. And very popular scenery for filmmaking, a lot of Chinese films have been made there, and eighty % of the villagepeople are in several of these films, very funny! So the place was quite famous in China, but the Chinese tourists were very surprised to see foreign people there, like how could we know about this place?? Lonely Planet, of course..
An artschool were there at the same time as we, and we got several new friends, which is always great! We spoke chinese and english and got along very well! We were also maybe the most popular tourist attraction there, everyone wanted a picture of us.. I actually got pain in my smilingmuscles.. Heheh!
We stayed for 4 days instead of 2, and really enjoyed all of it!

Yesterday we left the mountains and drove taxi-bus-bus-bus-bus to get to Zhengzhou, not Chengdu, earthquakesarea, and we planned to leave for Xian today already, but there were no traintickets, so we have to stay one more night here, planning to buy badminton-set and find a park! Hihihi!

That was one week very briefly! Enjoy yourself wherever you are!
gunhild

Earthquake in Chengdu

We are ok!! All though you could feel the earthquake from Bangkok to Beijing, 7.8 on Richters, we were not that close to the center. Kristoffer actually felt it, and so did most of the people here! It felt like you got very dizzy or something, like the world was spinning a little bit. I didn't feel a thing, because I was out shopping (and then I am very busy, too busy for earthquakes) and the street I was in was under construction, so it was a lot of noise and the earth seemed to be shaking anyway..

So now you know, we are both ok, but we feel sorry for all the people who died or lost someone in the catastrophe, it is all over the news all the time, and we see a lot of horrible pictures and so on.

We are leaving Pingyao today, trying to get to a small mountainvillage with 300 inhabitants, so I guess we will not have access to the internet in some days;)

gunhild

Noen reisedager har gaatt..

Det var lenge siden, sorry, men av en eller annen merkelig grunn kan vi ikke aapne bloggen igjen, typisk.. Jeg har naa sneket meg inn bakveien for aa oppdatere dere litt;)

We have left Beijing, bit more than a week ago, went first to Datong, a coalminecity, which happened to be even more polluted than Beijing! But the hotel was great, and we went to see some old old caves with stonecarvings from 460 a.d, old old old!! That was spectacular, the caves and the thousands and thousands of Buddhas and other figures they had carved from the stones and inside the mountains, incredible! see the pictures at flickr!

We spend two nights there, and then we went higher up in the mountains, to Wu Tai Shan, a buddhistic holy mountain area, with a few inhabitants, but a lot of temples1 We saw 5 temples in one day, they were just side by side! And to avoid the tempeloverdoze was quite hard! The next day we had worse weather, but we managed to climb up some steep stairs to a tempel quite far up in the mountainhill, the village itself was 2500 m above sealevel, so it was quite high up! Great view! And then it rained the rest of the day, so we watched olympic tv channel and played cards;) Great!

The next day, I think that was thursday, we left Wu Tai Shan and travelled by txi, bus and train via Taoyuan to Pingyao, were we have spend 4 or 5 days now, and we will still stay a bit longer I think, a great hostel, and a lovely city within the city, it has got walls and everything! We still haven't done the tourist part, we just relax and enjoy life, but today or tomorrow we will take the walk upon the old city walls! Looking forward to it!

We are still having a great time!

Have a good time whereever you are in the world!
gunhild

Still in Beijing

We are still here, kind of stuck to this great city in this great country! But on saturday, I think we will actually manage to leave..
Not much happened since last time, every day looks a bit like the day before, but still, we are in China, Beijing, not in Olso, Norway, so I guess it is still interesting!

Since last time we have been to the Birds Nest and the other olympic arenas, great fun, it is still not opened to public, but the chinese are crazy about it, so they have but up see-through fences, so the public can see the buildings from a small distance. And they line up for familyphotographsession outside the fences and smiles like crazy, it is great! The Birds Nest was very impressive, but the svimmingarena also has something about it.. Definitely!

We have also been to an acrobatic show, that was absolutely crazy, and we loved it, they can do anything, it is so impressive!! The show was just for one hour, I wanted more so badly, just more and more! They were jumping 2 meters, 10 girls on one bike, flying in some sheets hanging from the roof, it was marvellous! I would like to see it again! And again! And so on..

A part from that we are serious students (ahem..) and do our homework every day. So the rest of the touristtraps we actually may manage to avoide!

Today we went to Silk market, crazy place! And tomorrow we are going to visit our teacher, Jerry, and make lunch or dinner or something together! Looking forward to it!

Sincerely yours;) g

The great wall

So we have seen it, we have been there! (Paa norsk, maa jeg bare faa si at det var en real mur-tur, hehehe, vittig!)

It is a great wall, and the best part of it, we have been to a secret part of it, without any other tourists and local peolple following you until you buy postcards or t-shirts from them, and without the queue all the way, we were only 18 plus the guide, an old man, didn't speak a word english! The hostel arranges this kind of tour, very good!

Since it was a part of the wall that is secret, it hasn't been restored, which means we had to walk all the way, no lifts up, and we also had to walk partly just beside the wall, since it was too dangerous to walk on top of at some parts. Great! The real deal!

And Chinas countryside is at its most beautiful right now, I guess, everything is blooming and the mountainsides were covered in pink and purple and yellow, fabolous! So pretty!

We had a great tour to the great wall!

And the rest of the time things are kind of normal, it still feels like we have moved here and are going to stay here for years, but truth is we only have one week left in this crazy big town, and still a lot to see and do.. I myself have to admit that I become very lazy about the tourist things, I couldn't care less after school, and I always want to go straight home and relax, instead of going to some big market where the sellers are crazy, and you kind of have to buy stuff to get out alive..

But the last week is here, now we hav to se the rest! I think I can manage.. Okey, then!

To all of you worrying if we are taking care of our selves in this big city: we are! But its still nice to be reminded;)

So long!

g

English, please!

So, we've had a few "complaints" about our nonenglish blogg, so I will try to write some in english as well. Good luck to me! And to all you norwegians that don't like english, hehe! And to you englishreaders, that have to try to understand my norwegianenglish.. Puha!

Okej, so we are in Beijing, literary feeling the exitment about the olympics.. Well, we are not so into sports, but the people here are! They have tvs in the metros, showing and explaining the different sports and so on, very funny! We still have not seen the birds nest or the other olympic arenas, but maybe we will make after school some day.

We have class each day from 9 to 12, very early, and we are so not used to it! Puh! And we both got the cold(er forkjola, suger..), so we mostly focus on school, and not on the tourist-sights.. Still have not seen the great wall.. Typically! But this weekend, we have to go!

Learn chinese 1-2-3:
Ok,. pay attention to the tones! There are 5 different, 1.: high flat tone, 2.: upwards tone, 3.: down and up in one tone, 4.: down tone, 5.: neutral tone(easiest, no tone..) 1 and 3 are long, 2 and 4 are fast. And if you say the wrong tone, you may say something completely different than what you meant, so be careful! We also learn how to write with caracters(tegn), but that I won't teach you! Too difficult! Tai nan! (Chinese.. hehe!) We know how to greet people, how to ask about theyre name, how to tell about our family, order something in the restaurant, and a lot of words. Chinese is also built by cyllables(stavelser), and each cyllable has its own caracter. Some cyllables may have the same pronounciation, but totally different meaning, and different caracters.. So its harder than we thouhgt, but its great fun and our teacher is great too, so its worth it! And maybe even useful, even though we only have two weeks time for the course, because now the phrasebook will be much easier to figure out! Great!

So, about the political situation, oh no, this I probably should write in norwegian, so they dont close our blog.. Oh, I guess it will be fine, who cares anyway, or why would the chinese care?

The thing is, about Tibet and everything, that the media here in China gives a complete different story about Dalai Lama and the tibetans.. We've always heard that tibet wants to be free, and that all dalai lama wants is peace and so on, this is familiar, but that is not the story the chinese are served.. They say that Tibet is chinese, and have been for such a long time, so what is all the fuz about? Tibet is chinese, final. And they also seems to believe that actually, the thing dalai lama wants, is to go back to the old days, like Tibet was before China entered, and back then slavery was the norm. So the chinese say, thanks to China, things are much better in Tibet than they were before, and Dalai Lama wants to go back to an old system, which is built on slavery, for instance..

So thats another story.. Totally different, and very weird for us to hear. But thats what the chinese have been told, and what they believe. So they dont really understand why western countries are threatening with boicot and everything.. And they are not afraid of a boicit, because they think no one actually dare, China is big and upcoming, so a boicot is not so easy..

Thats some thoughts about chinese language (Hanyu) and the olympics, all written in english(Yingyu) Hah! I'm good!
Comments, please! And complaints, if english is too much to someone.. hehe!

Ok, later! I'm hungry! (Wo er) (Pay attention to the tones! Which I cannot show you, haha!)
gunhild

Det virker!

Hurra, vi har klart aa aapne bloggen igjen, alt loser seg om man tar en annen pc.. Eller noe, det var damenes mening, de damene som styrer hostellet vi bor paa.. Saa da er vi atter paa igjen, folkens!



Tusen takk for bursdagsmeldinger, baade her, paa mail, paa facebook og paa melding, eller msn, fantastisk! Jeg er ikke glemt sjol om jeg er langt unna, herlig!

Vi feira ikke saa voldsomt, men hadde en fin dag! Maa si at dager det ikke er saa store forventninger til er lettere enn andre, saa det var ikke saa mange forventninger, og det er bra nok. Var aa saa et fantastisk tempel, slik alle templer her er, og feira med kake og kaffe paa Starbucks, hehe! Veldig bra! Brukte noen timer paa internett, msn med venner og familie, veldig deilig aa ta seg tid til det, ogsaa gikk vi ut for aa spise pekingand, men vi var for seint ute, saa kjokkenet paa restauranten hadde ikke tid til aa lage det foer stengetid, saa det ble vanlig kinesisk mat istedenfor, noe som er helt fantastisk, saa det var helt ok!
Ogsaa var det tidlig i seng for spraakkurset startet mandag morgen klokka ni, saa ingen mulighet for rangling eller mere feiring.. Som er bra, for spraakkurs er ikke barebare!

En god dag, og jeg har faatt vite om flere gode feiringer med kake og sjokolade og sang og greier, saa jeg er fornoyd! Gode tider:)

Skal lope og legge meg straks, det er tidlig opp hver dag naa, og studere tegn og lyder og uttale og grammatikk, saa det er best aa vaere uthvilte. Foler oss mer og mer hjemme, dagene blir liksom normale: Tidlig opp, metro til skolen, lunsj, lese lekser(massemassemasse pugging!), slappe av, kanskje lese litt eller se film, ogsaa ut aa spise denne fantastiske kinesiske maten som er overalt, enhver restaurant i Kina er en god restaurant! Og saa legge seg.. Rytme er bra, det har jeg laert i Steinerbarnehagen!:) Saa hurra for det, vi prover aa blende inn som Beijingere, med blandet hell, hehe! Og det er deilig aa ikke vaere saa himmla turistete hele tida.. Puh for et mas det er aa vandre rundt og se alt mulig!;)

Talast, trofaste lesere!
g

Hmm...Kina + blogg=?

Hallo!

Da har det gaatt noen dager igjen, beklager det, men tida flyr, og vi har dessuten ikke klart aa aapne sida vaar herfra mer enn en gang, saa vi lurer paa om det er noe statlig sensur paa gang, det hender nemlig de kontrollerer baade mail og blogg og alt mulig.. Saa vi leser ikke blogg for tida, men kanskje dere gjor det?

Vi har det uansett bra, har turista litt og begynt paa spraakkurs, veldig artig! Men det aa vaere paa skolebenken igjen er ikke bare lett, opp om morran og lekser paa ettermiddagen.. Hardt liv:) Men laereren er en kul fyr med artig engelsk aksent, hehe, og han forklarer og holder paa mens vi prover aa holde tunga rett i munnen mens vi skriver tegn og prover aa uttale de 5 forskjellige tonene riktig, det er de som er viktigst for aa blir forstaatt, og de er kjempevanskelige!! Jeg sliter maks, K er ganske god.. Typisk! Men laereren vaar er fornoyd med oss begge, han skryter faelt og sier vi er fast learners, hehe! Haaper da det, for to uker spraakkurs er i minste laget, saa vi burde kjappe oss for aa faa noe ut av det.. :)

Vet ikke helt hva jeg skal skrive, siden jeg ikke ser resten av bloggen.. Og kanskje dette ikke funker heller, hvem vet?En viktig oppdatering er jo at min mobil ikke lenger fungerer, takket vaere OneCall i Norge som har bestemt at alle skal bytte simkort.. Igjen.. Saa naa er jeg uten nytt simkort og det gamle er ikke lenger i bruk.. Og vi bor ikke lenge nok paa et sted til aa motta nytt, saa da sitter jeg her da, og er utenfor rekkevidde.. Prov mail og internett, eller K sin mobil om det er helt krise! Ogsaa skal jeg se om jeg faar fiksa noe annet.. Eller noe.. Puh, for et opplegg!

Haaper dere faar opp bloggen, og at den snart er utenfor sensur fra Kinas side, eller hva det naa er som skjer.. Vi faar se!
So long!
g

Beijing, so far!

Har faatt litt klager paa at vi ikke blogger ofte nok, hehe, saa da setter jeg meg ned og skriver vettu! Takk for alle kommentarer forresten, det er kjempestas, og veldig artig aa lese at flere har anlagt bart! Er det enda flere der ute som tester ut dette fjeshaarfenomenet, saa si i fra, saa kan vi lage The great wall of Bart! Velkommen!



Vi har altsaa tilbakelagt mangemange kilometer igjen, fra Ulanbaataar tilErlian med nattog, grensebyen i Kina/InnerMongolia(hvis noen skjonner seg paa landegrensene her i Asia, med Kina som "eier"/"styrer" mer enn sitt eget land og Russland med sine "autonome stater" for andre "folkeslag" saa feel free til aa oppdatere oss paa hvordan dette egentlig fungerer..), og videre til Beijing i minibuss med 6 mongolere pluss sjaafor, det var en meget lang og trang tur.. Kom fram rundt 23 paa kvelden, i helt ny by og helt nytt land, saa det var en litt skummel start, ble jo ogsaa lurt av taxisjaaforen, men vi lukta scam lang vei, og ga oss ikke, saa vi fikk i alle fall begrensa skadene paa budsjettet som han provde aa paafore oss! Det gikk fint, og det er forste gang noen har provd aa lure oss for penger, saa det er ok. Forste natt paa hostellet bodde vi vegg i vegg med baren, saa det var ganske mye braak, og vi hadde ikke laas paa dora, faktisk ikke engang dorhandtak, saa det ble saa som saa med den nattesovnen, men dagen etter ble vi flytta til et flott dobbeltrom med eget bad, herlig! Og her skal vi bo i antagelig tre uker, ca, har meldt oss paa spraakkurs, og planlegger et lenger opphold i Beijing. Sights and activities are without limits i denne enorme byen, saa det blir nok ikke noe problem. Har tilbakelagt endel kilometer til fots ogsaa! Hehe!
Har sett Den forbudte by, kom ganske tidlig og brukte hele dagen, men har ikke faatt sett hele, den er bare for stor, og full av turister, men med flotte utstillinger og spennende historie, og Qing og Ming dynastier og flere enn det, noen var fra 2000 aar f.K, saa her har det vaert liv lenge!
I gaar var vi i Temple of Heaven, fler palasser og fler turister, men en herlig stor park som saa ut til aa vaere stedet byens pensjonister motes for aa spille kort eller trimme, det var dans og leik og spill og bevegelse til musikk med racket og ball og ikke maate paa, veldig artig!
Flere artige opplevelser kommer som folge av mine lange lyse kroller (ikke saa lange og ikke saa lyse og ikke saa krollete, mer bustete pga vannmangel og litt vanskelig aa faa vaska saa tjukt haar..), men lyse nok til at enkelte kinesere, og dette har skjedd flere ganger, stopper oss og sier picture ok? Eller bare noe paa kinesisk med store smil og pekende paa kameraet, ogsaa stiller jeg meg opp ved siden av koner og barn, eller bare med Kristoffer og de knipser i vei, haha, veldig artig! Vi prover aa ta bilde av det vi ogsaa, saa vi har bevis, hehe, det er saa komisk!

Vi bor i en Hutong, en by i byen, med trange gater og masse liv, er en shoppegate, saa det er litt vanskelig aa ta seg fram, for turister lyser penger, og dermed blir man stoppet med "Mr Handsome and Beautiful Lady, come come, looka looka, special prise for you!" og nesten dratt inn i butikkene! Litt slitsomt i lengden, men mange steder har de masse fine ting, saa det er best aa passe seg saa man ikke fyller sekkene med tull! Ellers har vel Kina rykte paa seg for aa vaere billig, men det er bare om man er god til aa prute, prisene starter godt oppe paa norskt nivaa, saa det er en lang vei ned. Men om man sier nei mange nok ganger, saa pruter de seg selv ned. Men jeg tror kanskje de lurer oss for det, for jeg endte opp med aa kjope perler i gaar, og det hadde jeg jo ingen anelse om at jeg ville ha engang.. Haha, typisk! Men de er veldig lekre!

Skal ut og prove aa kjope litt klaer i dag, for det er kaldt og varmt annenhver dag her, i dag er det 8 grader, i morra, paa min 25aarsdag, er det meldt 22 grader, saa da burde jeg kanskje se etter baade varme klaer og en fin kjole?!?!? Saa mange behov man faar naar markedet er saa enormt.. Typisk!

Alle er forresten hjertlig velkomne til Beijing for aa feire min 25aarsdag i morra altsaa, vennligs si fra om du kommer, for aa finne noen i denne byen er tilnaermet umulig, det er for stort, og for mange mennesker! Om du ikke kommer deg til Beijing, oppfordrer jeg alle til aa lage kake og feire meg der du er! Ta bilder og send paa mailen, det hadde vaert artig! Hurra for meg!! hehehe! Vi skal feire med peking and, blir bra! Saa faar vi se om det blir flere spennende planer i lopet av dagen:)

God feiring alle sammen!! gunhild