February 2nd., Riga, Peltsi

This is most likely the last post of the blog. The trip is over (except for Esa who is always on a trip) and everyone (except the #"!@ Esa) is safely back home. I'd like to still mention some things about the countries and the trip.

I started the trip from Laos. I must say that I fell in love with the country - it's definately the most relaxed country I have ever been in. Doing anything in a hurry in the country was simply impossible. Waiting two hours for dinner wasn't exceptional - surely the restaurant family had to dine at some point themselves also and if you happened to come in just while they started their own dinner then bad luck for you.

Cambodia was also a nice country but somehow I feel like we didn't see or experience much of it. A bit more civilized perhaps but still quite 'raw'. And after that, Vietnam was even more civilized a place but also a lot noisier and more hectic. I don't think any of us liked Saigon for example.

Some things that I kept on thinking about. Especially in Laos and Cambodia it was really hard to see anyone reading anything. I think I saw one local guy reading something in Cambodia and none in Laos. There were no local newspapers also anywhere to be seen. In Vietnam I think I saw maybe three locals reading something. I guess that's progress...

Another funny thing was the local girls' attitude towards the sun. We wondered in the beginning why all local girls had lots of clothes on - it was rather rare to see a local girl in t-shirt for example. Eventually we found out why: so that they wouldn't get sun! All girls wanted to be as white as possible so the less their skin saw sun the better. Not quite how we do it around here, eh?

As we talked between us guys, this was most likely the last this kind of trip we are going to make. If you're asking why, the reasons are rather simple: jobs, girlfriends and....AGE! Yes, we are getting old :) We are simply not the young all-energetic awesomely handsome guys from the past anymore. And full-time jobs take time and full-time girlfriends demand some time :) Perhaps next bigger trips will be some couple trips. Should be a bit....different!

Well, thanks for reading our blog. Let's see what we come up with in the future. Perhaps next blog will be called "how to (or not to) travel with 5 guys and their girlfriends".