Jan 29th, Saigon airport, Esa

Here we are, at the end of our trip. The guys are continuing to Bangkok for a couple of days and then back to Europe. I'm flying to Kuala Lumpur to meet up with Sandra and my family, which means that my time in the warm climate is not over yet. Nice!

But a couple of words about the last two days in Vietnam. Train ride from Nha Trang went quite smoothly in a compartment with a couple of kids and their parents and several pieces of luggage. Unfortunately the aircondition made the train car a bit too cold. Even though we come from the far North, we are not used to the cold! After having arrived at the station we made sure that we chose a legimite taxi. It was sort of annoying to think about the previous taxi ride in Saigon.. I think we paid about the ten times the real cost. Perkele! If you come to Saigon, use a taxi company called Vinasun or Mailinh. They are ok. Sampo came up with a good idea; we should make stickers saying ”I'm a scammer” and stick them to the back of some illegal taxis. That would be fun!

The hotel we had chosen was in a little side alley close to a busy tourist street. That was fine for us. We didn't feel like exploring the city that much anymore. We actually did something that none of us had done for a while – we watched TV! Very interesting indeed. We also went to the movies and saw one of the crappiest films ever – The Underworld. Seriously, that was bad. And we were not the only ones who thought so since several people left the theater during the movie.

Something about my travel companions: For some reason the guys wanted to grow a huge beard. I tried that too, but it looked and felt so incredibly awful that I decided to shave it already a while ago. But the guys still have their beards. Sorry Silja and Kristine. The guys are so butt-ugly. The funny thing is that two years ago, during our previous big trip, we would have paid Peltsi a lot of money to grow a mustache, and now he did it for free :D. Peltsi has a plan what to do with his beard and mustache when he gets back home, but I'll let him tell about it himself.

To sum up a bit: Laos was extremely relaxing except for the bus rides which too forever. People were friendly and things were cheap. Mekong is cool! Laos is also the least developed of the countries we visited. Cambodia has a very interesting history. Phnom Penh was one of my favorites even though it was quite filthy. Very lively and interesting. Another good thing is that it's not too big. Easy to get around by tuk tuk. Vietnam is big – a country of 86 million or more. We saw only a little bit of the country but at least I felt that it was the most expensive and the most hectic place we came across. Saigon is what it is – crazy. The coast is really beautiful and definitely worth a visit. If you want to take a diving course, Nha Trang is maybe the cheapest place in the world to do it. The big tet-holiday affected our trip a bit. If you know that you are going to Vietnam around tet, book all your transport and accommodation well in advance.

Travelling is cool! You should try it ;)

Cheers!