What's it like to work and live in Vang Vieng, Laos.

"Oh man, I nearly died in Vang Vieng, Thank god we only stayed for 3 days."

I heard that a lot. But now imagine staying there for way more than 3 days. More like 3 weeks. 

Now, I hear you "You just got drank everyday and the people that works there are just your typical stupid drunk backpackers that from doing nothing earn more than locals." Well yes. And absolutely not. 

How can you say no. Free food, free drinks, free accommodation. Backpacker heaven. Liver hell.

So me and my travel buddy (I quote from comments: "The cute redhead on your travel photos") got jobs at the restaurant/bar OhLaLa! . What is like to "work"in VangVieng? Here is our schedule:

To travel bloggers and others: On earth and things that scare me.

 Ok there, so before starting shooting comments informed or ignorant about how informed or ignorant I am and how patronizing of me, please let me make my point.

I'm not tree hugger. I don't fit with your stereotypical hippie, green, whatever you want to call it activist, environmental conscious people, I'm far from doing the maximum. But I was thinking. And here I write to my fellow travel bloggers, but any backpacker or travel enthusiasts really. Yes. I am talking about preventing our world to go to well, hell.

The Best Tuk-Tuk driver in Siem Reap

Meet Cobra. No worries, this one won't bite you. But he will take you to all the best places in Siem Reap and has an endless knowledge of the city.

We met Cobra at the Garden Village guesthouse in Siem Reap. He took our friends to Angkor Wat. And f rom that blossomed a friendship. We asked him to take us to a tattoo place. "A good one".

Yes, we did the classic thing of getting a tattoo while backpacking. No it's no my name in thai/khmer/laos.

No, its not a buddhist prayer or a salamander.

Anyway. So there we are, driving in the back streets of Siem Reap, bumping along the road and getting splashed in the floods. We get to a small house. There we meet our tattoo artist, one of cobra's friend.

Living in Hong Kong: First month round-up.

So there it is. A month in crazy Hong Kong. And so far I think we are having a love-hate relationship, Hk and me.

A month and 3 days ago to be exact, I was leaving dream like PhiPhi island to start my life as a master student. Back to words like lecture, seminar and essays. I'm really passionate about my studies (a dignified way to say that yes I'm a massive geek/nerd/bookworm), so I did not mind it, even after the freedom of a year spent traveling around the world. I remembered fondly my years as a student in Kingston, the long hours in the library, the strong bond between students, the warmth of our local pubs after a long day studying, the sports teams etc... basically your regular english university life.

But I'm not in England anymore. And this has nothing to do with before.

October Travel Playlist

I still have the summer feeling in my mind, so here is what kept me dancing through the Hong Kong streets:

Foster the people -Pumped up Kicks
Blink182-Up all night
The Descendents- Hope
Taking Back Sunday- Summer, man
SomethingALaMode- 5am
Dead Prez and WTF!?- Hip Hop Remix
Strange Talk- Climbing walls


Guilty pleasure of the month:
Sarah Bareilles - Gonna get over you

Click to watch the video!