tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56250114284580265172024-03-20T04:57:25.258-07:00YoumiTripFrom Russia to New Zealand overland with my DJI phantom in my backpackAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-12501016096044130842017-02-18T01:49:00.004-08:002017-04-25T21:47:43.425-07:00droNZ #11 - Hiking to The Gap (Castle Hill peak)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Rp6vbIf6XfPQiyNSqy6hesXdMlXIzSqFNZyBUtWdJTOQv7TTrqNp_Ts9T6w0JWG8GKZmvx7DDLEdLx-k66VnEeQ1_G817kCWDeKnTg45maICplfAh511TOvGJfl86TTEJIreoZdS7w/s1600/droNZ_11_The_Gap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Rp6vbIf6XfPQiyNSqy6hesXdMlXIzSqFNZyBUtWdJTOQv7TTrqNp_Ts9T6w0JWG8GKZmvx7DDLEdLx-k66VnEeQ1_G817kCWDeKnTg45maICplfAh511TOvGJfl86TTEJIreoZdS7w/s640/droNZ_11_The_Gap.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When I started this droNZ series I had in mind to write a short blog post with each episode I filmed. But then I realized that editing the videos was already quite time consuming and I just abandoned the idea... Until today, or more exactly until I went on this tramping adventure with some friends over to the Gap last week-end. It was such an amazing spot both by the beauty and the surroudings but also by the challenge it was to reach it that I thought "I have to write a little something about it".</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">My friends and I hiking the Gap</span></b></i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Gap is located passed the Castle Hill Peak. The track starts at the Porters' pass on the way to the Castle Hill rock formation. We got there in the morning around 9:30 am. The track goes up right from the start towards Foggy peak. It was not an easy task because my backpack was heavy; we planned to staty overnight so I packed tent, sleeping bag, camping stove, enough water for 2 days, and of course, my camera and my drone. But I can't complain because the purpose of this little adventure was for my friends to do some highline at The Gap, so they had to carry all the highline gears and their backpack must have been way heavier than mine. After Foggy peak and a quick lunch break, I slowly made my way towards the Castle Hill Peak. From up there you get some really nice views of the Castle Hill rock formation which looks so small. The track up to Castle Hill peak can be pretty steep at times but it is wide and very exposed to the wind, which we would enjoy on the way back the next day.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Some of the views you get while hiking up to Castle Hill peak</span></b></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>the Castle Hill rock formation looks tiny from up there</b></span></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The last portion of the hike has a lunar sort of look</span></b></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Now, passed Castle Hill peak, that's when the fun begins. You first ascent to the 1941 peak, before you have to walk along the ridge for quite a while and on very uneven terrain and rocks before reaching the Gap. On either side of the ridge are very steep slopes but if you're careful where you step (rocks are pretty loose), you'll be just fine. I finally joined my friends at the Gap after a solid 5 hours of hiking (With a lighter backpack it is possible to do it in about 4 hours) and was happy to see that it was definitely worth the effort.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i><b>The Gap from my drone</b></i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Another aerial view of the valley</span></b></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> Unfortunately the wind picked up pretty quickly after I got there and I only had the chance to fly my drone once but now that I looked at the footage, the view is just amazing! My friends went on the line a few times - There was no way I got on that thing at that altitude! - and we then made our way down a steep scree in order to find a good spot to camp. And indeed we did. Surrounded by tall grass that blocked the wind allowing us to cook our dinner we found a great spot with a majestic view of the valley.<br />No need to say that we were all pretty tired and went to bed early. The night went well although the wind guts were quite strong and my tent was shaken pretty much all night.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Hiking down a scree to find somewhere to camp</span></b></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Our amazing camp spot</span></b></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i><b>Taking some time to enjoy the view</b></i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The following day, after a nice breakfast we hiked back up that rock scree - which was way less fun that sliding down - and once we got back to the top of th Gap, we got greeted by a very strong wid (80-90 km/h according to the forecast that we later checked). No highline and no drone flying for today! All we did was packing the line and started to head back. Walking on the ridge with that kind of wind was very challenging. I remember walking with my heavy backpack on a steep slope and having to push against the wind so it wouldn't push me upwards towards the edge of the ridge. It was the strongest wind I have ever experienced. Once we made it on the other side of mount 1941, the rest of the hike to Castle Hill and Foggy peak was still very windy but less hard to walk. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Hiking in the strong wind on the way back</span></b></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Another aerial shot just for fun</span></b></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The whole group during our last stop on the way back</span></b></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />I was very happy when I got back to my car but also very happy to have had that great experience and I loved filming all this with my camera and my drone. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You can watch this droNZ episode here :</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Have you ever been to the Gap before?</b></span> </span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-21560581789392515212016-04-01T22:24:00.000-07:002016-04-01T22:24:07.678-07:00Drones & Chocolates<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZw1JaszSpB6GuQll1LdNILkbCQBCbDIUEH9ws_B52OGibav8biZg3j41FDgrRt_I-seonDppuc_gxKrf9wt9KgGy7LyQumBddx7M0Wd17NzxDXD_3XstiRyu4WARMAPT93otGyDAuew/s1600/Post_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZw1JaszSpB6GuQll1LdNILkbCQBCbDIUEH9ws_B52OGibav8biZg3j41FDgrRt_I-seonDppuc_gxKrf9wt9KgGy7LyQumBddx7M0Wd17NzxDXD_3XstiRyu4WARMAPT93otGyDAuew/s640/Post_Cover.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Last week a friend of mine who works in a Chocolate company back in my home country France called zChocolat, kindly sent me a box of delicious chocolates for Easter. So it is only fair that I allow some of my time to talk about chocolates. <br />I am not going to promote zChocolat and tell you how amazing their chocolates are (they are), and why you should order from them (you should), no, in this post I just want to talk about how it could be to combine two of my favorite things</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Drones & Chocolates</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Who does not like to receive and eat chocolates? probably only a few of us. Now imagine living in a world where chocolates can be delivered by drones just as easily as the mail man delivers your mail every day. I believe that world is not that far, and it has probably already been done, but it is far from being an everyday thing, at least for now. Let's travel back in time just a few months. So you wake up in the morning and as you look at your phone, the date February 14 shines in front of your eyes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">S**t! you completely forgot about Valentine's day and your loved one is absolutely mental about getting chocolates on that particular day (yes, cliché). And of course it is Sunday and every chocolate shop of the country is closed (This is my imaginary world, I do whatever I want). So your last option is to jump in front of your computer and order some online. And only a few minutes after your order is complete, a nice little drone takes off from the fully automated warehouse and delivers the treats at her doorstep. That's right, drones saved the day... and your relationship ;-)<br /><br />I can have a lot of imagination when I start, but things do not have to be so dramatic. Drone delivery in general is pretty exciting, so receiving chocolates by drone is both cool, and yummy. I went out with my DJI Phantom the other day and attached the little bag of chocolates I received under the drone. I had to remove the gimbal and also use an empty box of chocolates because my drone is an old man and not so powerful. I have to say that it did look pretty cool. Of course I did not fly high and far because it is dangerous and forbidden to attach ant loose object to a drone. I only hovered up around 4m (13 feet) in front of me in a clear field and took some pictures. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">zChocolat drone delivery ready for take off.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXYLX3kEKEqnRlSe7hYCdZDBKn6f-O-pt9zj7WuNeunfb83EzRbP92hH3N7_SJXaoHNOg77doTImaE06afyzjVaRYlar1hFvFv5gqOvS5jLdhz11Yz0JqeUr9sZoaOCX3JdWRBRwroCQ/s1600/IMG_5863.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXYLX3kEKEqnRlSe7hYCdZDBKn6f-O-pt9zj7WuNeunfb83EzRbP92hH3N7_SJXaoHNOg77doTImaE06afyzjVaRYlar1hFvFv5gqOvS5jLdhz11Yz0JqeUr9sZoaOCX3JdWRBRwroCQ/s640/IMG_5863.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I also googled "drones and chocolates" and found some very interesting things. 2 videos really got my attention. The first one is about a guy's girlfriend who built a drone made out of chocolate! In the description he says that his girlfriend loves to bake and he to build drones, but in the video she's the one doing all the work so I give her the credits.</span></div>
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<br /><iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/e6lRbiHswho/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e6lRbiHswho?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The second one takes place in Hong Kong where some guys delivered chocolates. They go through the process they went through to set it up in great details in the description. It is worth checking out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This is not the kind of post I am used to write in this blog, but it is my way of thanking my friend for sending me those chocolates. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And I can't finish without giving you the website where you can order some if you want to :</span><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://www.zchocolat.com/" target="_blank">zChocolat</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>What's your experience with drones and chocolates? :-)</b></span><b><br /></b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-32936222479224303322015-10-05T04:03:00.002-07:002015-10-05T04:38:28.529-07:00Hiking up Indonesian Volcanos<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In Indonesia I dicovered my new favourite hobby, hiking up volcanos. Not only is it thrilling to tell to yourself that you are hiking up an active volcano but once up there, the scenery in front of you is just breathtaking. In this blog post I will talk about my hikes up mount Merapi, Bromo and Ijen.<br /> </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mount Merapi</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">About 55 kilometers from Yogyakarta - to the north side, Merapi is not the most popular volcano of the Java island but it is nonetheless a beautiful place to check out. And also, every time you will hear about climbing a volcano on Java, or even in Indonesia, it will be about watching the sunrise, I saw the sunset on top of mount Merapi and it was an amazing view.<br /><br />I rented a scooter from Yogyakarta for 70 000 Rupiah and hit the road north. After about roughly 2 hours of nice paved roads, I reached the village of [...]. As you enter the village I took a right at the sign indicating the start of the trail to Merapi. This small road is very steep and leads you all the way up to a small parking lot where you can park for 5000 Rp. There is a few stalls where I had some instant noodles as I was quiet hungry and wanted to get some energy before starting the ascencion. It was about 2pm when I started climbing. My initial plan was just to climb in order to get a nice view and be able to fly my drone, so I was not necesseraly thinking of going all the way to the base camp giving that I was starting quiet late.<br />And the begining of the hike is very steep, I was expecting that and it hit me quiet hard and took most of my energy. After the first kilometer, reaching POS I, it is not as steep but the dust on top of the rocks makes the path quiet slipery. After POS II you get past the foresty part and can start to admire the surroundings mountains and the view. The last bit to the base camp is very rocky but once up there you won't regret it. I got up there in late afternoon and was greeted with a sea of clouds and a beautiful sunset. it is actually forbidden to hike up to the crater, but with the help of my drone I managed to fly up there and see wht it looked like.<br />The hike down was another interesting journey, I only had my phone light to see, since I had not planned to hike all the way to the top in the first place, but it did a good job and I made it safe. I then jumped on my scooter and drove back to Yogyakarta.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mount Bromo</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">About 1h30 minutes by bus from Probbolinggo, the village of Cemoro Lawang is the closest access to the volcano. At the time I was travelling with my lovely travel mate Katharina from Germany and on the first day we wondered around and went down to the sand sea surrounding the volcano. <br /><br />In the village there is plenty of guest houses to stay at, cafe lava being the most popular amongst backpackers but you have plenty of cheap other options. We rented jackets for the next morning and I even found one that was long enough for me! We woke up around 2am and started walking towards mount Pananjakan facing mount Bromo. If you do this with a tour, the car will take you through the sand of sea and then up to Pamamjakan, but by foot, we continued along the road that crosses the village and started hiking up at the end of it. You can make it to the top from there but there is some nice, "less crowded" spots to enjoy the sunrise. We found a nice quiet spot but by the time the sun was rising it was full of people. We were told that the top of the mountain was even worse with hundreds of people and all the cars from the different tours.<br />After enjoying the beautiful sunset we hiked all the way down in the valley to the sand sea to hike to the Bromo crater. Hiking Bromo will take you 15 minutes, 10 if you're fit :), but it's just up the stairs. And from over there you'll have a nice view of the very active and boiling crater. The smell of sulfur is quiet strong but not unbearable. I flew my drone right above the crater and even flew down pretty low but I had sweaty hands while doing this. I got some nice footage. After heading back to the guest house we took a bus back down to Probbolinggo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Mount Ijen</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My favourite, from every point. The view, the crater itself, the way there, it all was such a great journey from start to finish. At first, I was not so excited to drive to the base but in the end I am really glad Katharina convinced me to get up there. We took the road from Banyuwangi, and although you may read that it is not in great shape, work must have been done recently because it is in perfect condition, especially the last 17 kilometers where it can get very steep. We left in the afternoon because we wanted to see the sunset. The 3 kilometer hike up is quiet steep for some parts but overall not too hard. Once at the top you will not regret the effort. It was just amazing, we were literaly above the clouds. <br />As usual, my drone was with me and I got to take some prety nice footage, but it did not go that well; after a smooth flight over the volcano and as I was slowly bringing it down, it suddenly dropped, and luckily enough it fell in some bushes not too far from Katharina and I. And once again Katharina turned out to be really helpful and retrieved my drone. The bush might have absorbed the shock since nothing was damaged, needless to say that I was relieved. What was strange is that there was still about 20% left on the battery and althouh it is not recommended to fly with less than 20%, it should not have dropped like that. Anyway, after that incident I decided not to use this battery anymore and got rid of it. Not sure if it was only because of the battery or if there was something wrong with the drone as well, I did what I like to call a "test flight" during which I fly very low and never too far from me and do some basic moves for about 5 minutes. After a successful "test flight" I went for another one above the clouds with swaety hands hoping that verything would go well. Towards the end, I got worried and felt like it was acting weird and Katharina, once again has been of great help and ran to catch the drone as I was bringing it down. What a great co-pilot she is :)<br />I got to see probably the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. We drove back at night time and by driving carefuly and slowly it all went well, But take some warm clothes if you plan to do the same as it gets quiet cold at night.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-81127362340033742802015-08-21T23:48:00.000-07:002015-08-21T23:48:24.174-07:00A few beautiful days on Lake Toba<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I spent 4 days on Lake Toba, and honestly, I could have easily spent a few more days, but there is a lot more to see in Indonesia. While on the Samosir island I stayed at the Chili guesthouse with its very friendly owner Roy and his employees.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the first day I arrived in the afternoon so I just went for a quick walk around the village of Tuk Tuk. People are used to see tourists since it is the main destination on the island and there is plenty of different guesthouses and hotels to choose from. For diner I had a delicious fish from the lake with some vegetables.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amazing lake fish with rice and vegetables</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The next day I took a scooter and headed south with Iwan one of the employees of the guesthouse. We did not go into any "secret" places only known to locals but it was nice to explore with a local anyway. Never exploring without my drone we stopped a couple of time once we got higher and had a very nice view of the lake. We also stopped near another small lake on th island [name] where I trained Iwan on his first drone flight. I also had the opportunity to finally fly the drone from a scooter. Iwan drove while I was at the back looking at my fpv screen trying to make the drone follow us as close as possible. And it is not easy, there was quiet a lot of trees and electric/phone poles on the side of the road so I had to be careful. I was pretty much telling to Iwan when to accelerate and when to slow down. We then went fo a late lunch in the afternoon before heading back to Tuk Tuk where I copied and reviewed the footage and the pictures I took.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting ready to fly my drone from a moving scooter</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Iwan on his very first drone flight</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the 3rd day, I went to the north of the island by myself looking for nice spots to take aerial footage. Although the north part of the island is less scenic than the south, it is still very nice... and quiet windy. At one spot, where I was taking some pictures, a group of kids saw me and ran towards me asking me to take pictures of them. And that's when the show began, they were so excited and were holding each other making funny faces to the camera while I was snapping non-stop. It was very funny to see how excited they were for something that unfortunately they would only be able to see in the small screen of my camera. They thanked me, I thanked them for this good laugh and I kept going on my research. I founf a really nice area on the coast with a couple a very small island in the distance, and despite the wind I decided to film them. The bigger one was not far so I managed to fly the drone over it and take some nice footage.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lovely kids I met that day</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For my last day, there was no exploration involved but the main event is that I was able to play a football game with the team of the village of Tuk Tuk. They have a small league in the island where the different villages play against each other and they were kind enough to make a spot for me to play with them. Haven't played for nmonths I was really excited to do some sport again. It is quiet big there, there was quiet a lot of people around the pitch. I mean it was quiet official, there was a field referee as well as line referees. One thing that really amused me and that is completely different than at home is that if by any mean, an animal enters the pitch, back in France the game will be stopped until the intruder is taken out of it. There, there was a few chickens on the pitch looking for food pretty much the whole time, unless the players will get closer to them, and at one point a dog found himself in the middle of the picth. Whenever the dog would attempt to exit, people on the side would yell at him to scare him and make him stay on the pitch. It went on for a good 10 minutes, during which the game did not stop. In the end e lost 5-4 but I had a great time.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Training before the game</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It was not easy to leave the island but I had a lot more places to check-out on Sumatra so I had to keep going. The next journey would not be as fun; A rough 17h bus ride from Lake Toba (Parapat) to Bukittinggi. But once again, totally worth it.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com2Lake Toba, Indonesia2.7860786 98.616067400000021.7709511000000002 97.325173900000024 3.8012061 99.906960900000016tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-11391190774479407822015-07-24T04:29:00.000-07:002015-07-24T04:30:40.106-07:00From Kuala Lumpur to lake Toba<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4RHc7PH7cJi4gIrmE2v_ELoA-i51-bLG8rY-K-QkJnmT2Q89zsJhZwUooktv5VfiuV7V8C80cMWwf2iDPoeaZUrVNWMxVyEsB7U_XHdS1ZeD93977yEULp_NKhLz7tuOp1kPzyF7eQ/s1600/Post_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ4RHc7PH7cJi4gIrmE2v_ELoA-i51-bLG8rY-K-QkJnmT2Q89zsJhZwUooktv5VfiuV7V8C80cMWwf2iDPoeaZUrVNWMxVyEsB7U_XHdS1ZeD93977yEULp_NKhLz7tuOp1kPzyF7eQ/s640/Post_Cover.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The main reason I tookf the ferry to Tanjung Balai and not Dumai where I would have been able to get a visa on arrival, is because I wanted to avoid the 15 hours bus ride from Dumai to lake Toba at any cost - or almost, and from Tanjung Balai Asahan it is just a 5 hours bus ride.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A few tips on getting your visa</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The biggest down side of going via Tnajung Balai Asahan is that there is no visa on arrival available there. So I had to get a visa first, and the process was very easy. You will need the following before going to the Indonesian embassy :<br />- Passport<br />- Copy of the photo page of your passport<br />- Copy of your visa/stamp of entry in Malaysia<br />- 2 photographs<br />- Visa application form. You can get it at the embassy or on their website <a href="http://kbrikualalumpur.org/download/visa/single-entry-visa-form.pdf" target="_blank">here</a><br />- RMB 170 (cost of the visa)<br /><br />When you get to the embassy, get a number at the reception and head upstairs to wait. Being able to get a visa on arrival, the lady was intrigued why I wanted to go to Tanjung Balai, so I told her I then wanted to go to Lake Toba and did not want to do the 15 hours bus ride, to which she replied that I could fly to Medan, to which I replied that I did not want to take the plane. Anyway, after checking all the documents were there, she gave me a receipt and told me to come back the following day from 2pm. The next day I just went straight upstairs and gave the receipt, and 5 minutes later I was out of the embassy.<br /><br /><b>Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur :</b><br />233, Jalan Tun Razak, <br />50400 Kuala Lumpur, <br />Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur<br /><br /><b>Visa applications :</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Monday to Friday, 9am - 12pm<br /></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Quiet an adventure getting on the ferry</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In Kuala Lumpur, wether you want to go to Dumai or Tanjung Balai Asahan, the ferry leaves from Port Klang. You can get there by Komuter - KTM - from KL Sentral. It will take about 1h30m. The ferry terminal is just accross the street. I got there around 9am for a ferry departure at 11am. When I first arrived at the terminal it was quiet confusing and did not really know where to go; there was a lot of people waiting at front, but after asking, someone told me to go upstairs by the stairs hidden in the corner behind the crowd to get my ticket. So I got upstairs, and started to queue. The company running the ferry is called Aerospeed. From this wikipedia page (link) you can read that there is several companies running ferries to Tanjung Balai, but there was only 1 counter opened. When it was almost my time to ask for a ticket I took out my wallet to take the money... and to my surprise I did not have enough! Wait, what?! I went to the ATM this morning specifically to get money for the ferry... Ooooh, I see what I did there; I withdrew the money, but did not actually take it. Genius!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In front of the ferry terminal</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />So I had to go out and look for an ATM. I asked a few people and they told me I had to walk back towards the city. Luckily there was a bank about 800m from the terminal and I was able to withdraw some money and take it with me this time. Back at the ticket office to queue for another 20-30 minutes. I finally got my ticket after they checked that I had a visa in my passport. It cost me RMB 115 + RMB 20 (port fees). Then I headed back downstairs and gave my passport to the person at the departure gate. He told me that I needed a red borading pass. What?! I was at the ticket office and she only gave me this ticket. back up again to ask about this red boarding pass. It turned out the woman just forgot to give it to me with my ticket. No big deal. By the time I was back at the gate, the person had changed and this one told me I had to "chek-in" one of my backpacks at the front of the terminal since there is a one-bag per person policy. Raaaaaaaaaaah!!!! It cost me you RMB 20 for a big backpack.<br />After immigration clearance, I was finally on the ferry waiting to depart.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Queuing to buy a ferry ticket</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waiting for immigration clearance before boarding</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A loud ferry ride</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Although it is not too rough it's not peaceful either. They played this loud karaoke music was playing the whole time. I know it was karaoke because at the front there was a TV where the lyrics were displayed, karaoke style. They do give you a "lunch" which consists of rice and a small fish. Not really mouth watering. Knowing my ability to handle boat rides, I decided to save it for later. I managed to get some sleep which helped me not getting sick on the boat. Although you will see the sign at the ferry terminal promoting the cruise to be about 4 hours, it took the boat more than 5 to cross.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In case of emergency ther is exits... no, we're screwed</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">While on the boat you get a small lunch</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At the border in Tanjung Balai Asahan</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I was the only tourist - not counting the Malaysians - in the whole crowd so the officials spotted me from far. One of them just asked my the purpose of my visit and then told me to go sit down. There was two queues of people waiting to get into Indonesia. After a while, the same official came back and told to come with him and they "checked" me into Indonesia. I then went to take my backpack with the receipt I was given before. After that, every bag is screened and although I had a drone, they did not seem to bother. After a few more questions from the officials, I was out to look for a hotel. Being the only foreigner in the area - I'm pretty sure I was - a lot of people came to me to offer to drive me somewhere. An official came outside to my rescue and designated someone to drive after we negotiated a price. He drove me to Tresya Hotel, a bit outside Tanjung Balai for 35 000 Rp.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tanjung Balai port of entry</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Waiting for immigration clearance in Indonesia</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the way to the hotel</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My first meal in Indonesia</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">From Tanjung Balai to Lake Toba</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The hotel was very conveniently located since it was right accross the street from a bus station. In the morning, around 10am, i just showed up and told the persons there that I wanted to go to Permatangsiantar. They directed me to a bus that was about to leave and I jumped in. The ride was not too bad and it took about 3 hours to get there. It cost me 30 000 Rp. Then I took one of those shared taxi for 20 000 Rp to Parapat, where you can take the ferry to Samosir island on Lake Toba. The boat ride costs 15 000 Rp and takes about 45 minutes. Before boarding, i met a guy who introduced himself as Joshua. He owned a small restaurant / guesthouse on the island called Chili Bar where I stayed and had a great time.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Samosir island on Lake Toba from the ferry</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-43356749853131791012015-07-07T06:17:00.000-07:002015-07-24T04:29:37.236-07:009 months backpacking with my DJI phantom... and counting 2/2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTgJUh7kWd1PfNJWIAx5ofsDaTzCjwrwkhluyxormonsQ5Rfv5YYn9iy9KzM3HVxxM8mf95o2h7MAUOePFb8tuOT0mGrof1GRZLy2Bzcu0At1RywQGDqyRzhX_O7d1MMFkPpUxIlV8Bg/s1600/Post_Cover_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTgJUh7kWd1PfNJWIAx5ofsDaTzCjwrwkhluyxormonsQ5Rfv5YYn9iy9KzM3HVxxM8mf95o2h7MAUOePFb8tuOT0mGrof1GRZLy2Bzcu0At1RywQGDqyRzhX_O7d1MMFkPpUxIlV8Bg/s640/Post_Cover_02.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Second part of my journey backpacking with my DJI Phantom.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><a href="http://blog.youmitrip.com/2015/07/9-months-backpacking-with-my-dji.html" target="_blank">> Read Part 1</a></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Vietnam/Laos : On the road and in the air</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I crossed half of Vietnam and Laos from south to north by motorbike. I had some motorbiking experience before but nothing like that. I did about 3000 kms in 7 weeks and went from Hanoi, with 2 weeks riding in the North of Vietnam, to Luang Prabang, crossing to Laos at the most southern border between the 2 countries. During the rides I would either strap my drone backpack onto the motorbike with care, or I would carry it on my back when I knew I would need it at some point. It was great to ride and stop anywhere I wanted to, take my drone out, fly over this beautiful place I just spotted and keep going after that. That's what a road trip with a drone is all about.<br />While I was riding in the north of Vietnam I had my second major crash near Dong van, and more than just the crash, I thought I would never see my drone again. It crashed in very steep and rocky hill and I spent - with the help of 2 other French I met there - several hours during 2 days looking for it. At some point I thought that it was the end of my trip making aerial videos. And although I had no intention to stop my journey because of that, I knew I would miss it a lot. But as I was searching for it for what I told myself was the last time, a crazy turn of event occured and I found out a farmer living close by found it! You can read more about that in the blog post link further down.<br />So I got it back and it was still working, my main concern was about the gimbal - those things are really fragile - but even this one was ok, except for a corner of the mounting plate that was broken, but nothing you could not fix with a bit of glue. A quick test flight to make sure everything was in order and was back on the road and in the air the following day. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rice Terraces in Sapa</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the background, where my drone crashed</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEins_zIFv5I-V0VA0KNCs8vp-4CfIwhXk4f1Y_Dg13UvumMc0uksNPX8xqhlH8scGR9-BILnG7UMB7_l6xWEQv4eNbsKDyCxvfXMr6sXRNrIvCUlz_2CjUZkeE0Xk4c2ECTC4xVGQDHMg/s1600/MotorBike_North_Vietnam-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEins_zIFv5I-V0VA0KNCs8vp-4CfIwhXk4f1Y_Dg13UvumMc0uksNPX8xqhlH8scGR9-BILnG7UMB7_l6xWEQv4eNbsKDyCxvfXMr6sXRNrIvCUlz_2CjUZkeE0Xk4c2ECTC4xVGQDHMg/s640/MotorBike_North_Vietnam-13.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">River near Dong Van</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo6A5xvCvgR-VJzOZOkZH7obVAkK1hfc08_OoZS_E8GHryBcNjvYh6hLPknZH7vP6ZDfrMovzkzQcDrRMcI0FBp6jUrI9quD_BpwsxnRY3Zl7Cv-TR75OILukHWKJZLZYLoeIPCki2VQ/s1600/MotorBike_North_Vietnam-08.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo6A5xvCvgR-VJzOZOkZH7obVAkK1hfc08_OoZS_E8GHryBcNjvYh6hLPknZH7vP6ZDfrMovzkzQcDrRMcI0FBp6jUrI9quD_BpwsxnRY3Zl7Cv-TR75OILukHWKJZLZYLoeIPCki2VQ/s640/MotorBike_North_Vietnam-08.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv-tJ6P52R1bFKJ5YyHWp8Py8RULx6I_H6-Yz2x6MIY5WN6CwyDeHtMqASrbn_WtzPs1Y_lE4JaBghJGzP4NFe59qWy5ueARFwheP660APgxmVPE8SVBZ-HIS6rJIYYWym2sU2oInxmw/s1600/Hang-en-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv-tJ6P52R1bFKJ5YyHWp8Py8RULx6I_H6-Yz2x6MIY5WN6CwyDeHtMqASrbn_WtzPs1Y_lE4JaBghJGzP4NFe59qWy5ueARFwheP660APgxmVPE8SVBZ-HIS6rJIYYWym2sU2oInxmw/s640/Hang-en-01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hang En cave in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaeOE427w-CKJVVAyZXnfCRzXRD75v4wV1af_gO7tWkSw9EcbnubHuTWcofWrzHSPa3wDLOMlMGZzevyq33NaBI5B_3EuScW-VLdZxaiVVglVnBEGTL0mkvURQ0480uTo7A2HD9xsJ0g/s1600/Hang-en-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaeOE427w-CKJVVAyZXnfCRzXRD75v4wV1af_gO7tWkSw9EcbnubHuTWcofWrzHSPa3wDLOMlMGZzevyq33NaBI5B_3EuScW-VLdZxaiVVglVnBEGTL0mkvURQ0480uTo7A2HD9xsJ0g/s640/Hang-en-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Laos was less eventful for my drone. It all went smoothly and I filmed some truly amazing places. I started with the 4000 islands. It was very relaxing there and I filmed some beautiful waterfalls. Then I headed north to Pakse where I filmed some more waterfalls. The Thakhek loop was also a great opportunity to film great spots. In Kong Lor, where the Kong Lor cave is, one evening I went out willing to film the surrounding fields. It did not take long until the kids were attracted by the drone and started to bike through the fields while I filmed them. Not surprisingly kids love it and always look at it with big eyes. In those cases I always try to show them what I can see on my screen. They then gather around me and I bring the drone close by so they can see themselves on the screen and it makes a nice picture for Instagram :-)<br />Most beautiful place I got to film in Laos was the Kuang Si Falls near Luang Prabang. This waterfall is out of this world. Multi-leveled waterfall with turquoise water, and the best part is that you can swim in it!<br />But my favourite shot was in Vang Vieng, which is kind of funny beacuse I hated the town. but at the end of the day, after filming different spots and heading back to the hostel, I saw hot air balloons in the sky. I literaly ran to a good spot to take off from to be able to film them, but too close obviously. And I got a nice shot of a hot-air ballon with the sunset in the background. This one is going to be hard to beat in my list.<br />After Luang Prabang I took a 2-day slow boat trip to the border with Thailand. But before the start of the second day, I wanted to fly the surroundings and that's when my gimbal pretty much decided to die on me. It would just not respond when plugging the battery in. I did not have time to look further as the boat would soon leave, so I just put it back in my backpack and decided to look into it once I get to Chiang Mai in Thailand.<br />Filming with a drone in Vietnam and Laos was eventless. I only filmed in remote places and never encountered any issue with the authorities.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEileHauJY9xKj7itrxipx_vAiY8frIP-RPxw7mi_V7O0FtsQxGS8_BKeZI9Mq4vXMzDHxotmClZbHWAqPt4ht03Kld0ndmPSAJg5mJYU3uA6GTdoBIqfvsa7qslft4hufcoF_LyQW26pw/s1600/4000_islands_drone-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEileHauJY9xKj7itrxipx_vAiY8frIP-RPxw7mi_V7O0FtsQxGS8_BKeZI9Mq4vXMzDHxotmClZbHWAqPt4ht03Kld0ndmPSAJg5mJYU3uA6GTdoBIqfvsa7qslft4hufcoF_LyQW26pw/s640/4000_islands_drone-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">4000 islands</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig24r4Kmj_KJnNL3ToGd6DODCUBR6HpFePnaGyM8ZgBkRYfnINnNlH8HHTyae8MzAVELrXHZzeHlUKLjgvGuVSipoBYPsiZbVTA8dWul1b6gwBl0y6R1N5ticpprzz496jHn8DyKbMnA/s1600/4000_islands_drone-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig24r4Kmj_KJnNL3ToGd6DODCUBR6HpFePnaGyM8ZgBkRYfnINnNlH8HHTyae8MzAVELrXHZzeHlUKLjgvGuVSipoBYPsiZbVTA8dWul1b6gwBl0y6R1N5ticpprzz496jHn8DyKbMnA/s640/4000_islands_drone-03.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the right Laos, on the left Cambodia</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoUrR4XdLp3CmNR4OLiLg6CJd6wNaq14sVbSe9CkM1xtOJvKOxjKhUi4nRa0My9FA8981PWZ6BGEJtUiKUVYYxmpAikZ7a9RgjLayM34pv_m1dCDLztI0fdf0kSts-vStYcbIxRo8vPw/s1600/4000_islands_drone-04.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoUrR4XdLp3CmNR4OLiLg6CJd6wNaq14sVbSe9CkM1xtOJvKOxjKhUi4nRa0My9FA8981PWZ6BGEJtUiKUVYYxmpAikZ7a9RgjLayM34pv_m1dCDLztI0fdf0kSts-vStYcbIxRo8vPw/s640/4000_islands_drone-04.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEvCrV-fjTzan3ejrnRh1UWszBeS8qaDu1tK1kcBvcrhW-h_kVba1e83iaFZfEWubtHWatXSAbYgm-Xi2yADtEGa1-kv16SY69HZ82qckMNGNFRuGNGIgGbrV500b1VOEtSZFT43bQNw/s1600/4000_islands_cover_post.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEvCrV-fjTzan3ejrnRh1UWszBeS8qaDu1tK1kcBvcrhW-h_kVba1e83iaFZfEWubtHWatXSAbYgm-Xi2yADtEGa1-kv16SY69HZ82qckMNGNFRuGNGIgGbrV500b1VOEtSZFT43bQNw/s640/4000_islands_cover_post.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kids love the drone</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj1XykxKO8Vof3slrzqEcJss4u5eP5M_uga9saxwCuun8navjAK3nxo1PIgNKB6-Z2fjQqU6fD5t1aYuNO2ajG2HudcooVP8mWwYgVliF5qJc6wQVpvNmp0VWFkCz51vR8gPbSzk_Cag/s1600/Thakhek_Loop-12.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj1XykxKO8Vof3slrzqEcJss4u5eP5M_uga9saxwCuun8navjAK3nxo1PIgNKB6-Z2fjQqU6fD5t1aYuNO2ajG2HudcooVP8mWwYgVliF5qJc6wQVpvNmp0VWFkCz51vR8gPbSzk_Cag/s640/Thakhek_Loop-12.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHvXGDt-KpuPPqsxnhe8Eo2V66AFvKTSkoh0_LdKFuqIXR2ugprx6bpLSgaS-tnqZPBVv6ic6MdMgqpYTuy0KPZs0SKh7vaQhPnSfcBJU_0ydspHv6EzeUTPR4N5OT4v8xR4gEE-MhFQ/s1600/blog_image-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHvXGDt-KpuPPqsxnhe8Eo2V66AFvKTSkoh0_LdKFuqIXR2ugprx6bpLSgaS-tnqZPBVv6ic6MdMgqpYTuy0KPZs0SKh7vaQhPnSfcBJU_0ydspHv6EzeUTPR4N5OT4v8xR4gEE-MhFQ/s640/blog_image-04.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Add caption</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSS0lg8-g3JE4nWWdlMCPZ295a_yM9yy_J4nW6LlFqGHxYDJ7RIV4DXiBkgGmZB1BQWsEN5wHRzvvr67e6SvrEvkkYsP1OS-Kz7vqQTc-kNQ3QMHJD9JeObCXe4M-WR99CjSXnJocOLw/s1600/Bolavens_Plateau-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSS0lg8-g3JE4nWWdlMCPZ295a_yM9yy_J4nW6LlFqGHxYDJ7RIV4DXiBkgGmZB1BQWsEN5wHRzvvr67e6SvrEvkkYsP1OS-Kz7vqQTc-kNQ3QMHJD9JeObCXe4M-WR99CjSXnJocOLw/s640/Bolavens_Plateau-01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bolaven Plateau</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVhMRPKwsp1uDdntQM0_2_VIS6mbCofx5FLGuQWDhgn6xOz1pdLgDXPuz3Y7G1E-w0Ztkbxqftbi7efy__AUW1IfAi7UbrEU44FvRrEVz2j_0lLKYEl1RWSS8Fc-dMR-WuToyrTQLMHw/s1600/Bolavens_Plateau-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVhMRPKwsp1uDdntQM0_2_VIS6mbCofx5FLGuQWDhgn6xOz1pdLgDXPuz3Y7G1E-w0Ztkbxqftbi7efy__AUW1IfAi7UbrEU44FvRrEVz2j_0lLKYEl1RWSS8Fc-dMR-WuToyrTQLMHw/s640/Bolavens_Plateau-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bolaven Plateau is a great place to see beautiful watefalls</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgna5f1PeolNRn-Svq-dp6aLkjzT7A05mVw7m4shzD3OdrDpPrzLb7a7VCCLB5Dk7KzO1vcIy_DbugK2vE1FfglR8S71TCwpHsjcdIIAmgR1yC5ydFjoH4lGvaAn1SRF6acZpBv9gMFgw/s1600/Luang_Prabang-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgna5f1PeolNRn-Svq-dp6aLkjzT7A05mVw7m4shzD3OdrDpPrzLb7a7VCCLB5Dk7KzO1vcIy_DbugK2vE1FfglR8S71TCwpHsjcdIIAmgR1yC5ydFjoH4lGvaAn1SRF6acZpBv9gMFgw/s640/Luang_Prabang-10.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quang Si Waterfalls near Luang Prabang</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><b>Want to see my videos ?</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://bit.ly/1HJXjLF" target="_blank">YoumiTrip - Vietnam</a><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIWC6Hfac4k" target="_blank">YoumiTrip - Laos</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Some more technical issues in Thailand</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the morning of the second day of the the 2-day boat trip to the Thai border, before the departure of the boat I wanted to film the surroundings with my drone. So I got to the pier, took it out of my bag and plugged the battery in. That's when I noticed that the gimbal was not responding. I unplugged the battery and plugged it back but the same happened, meaning nothing happened. I had no time to look further into it so I decided to take care of it in Thailand the next day.<br />My first stop was in CHiang Mai. The first thing I did after checking in was to take out my drone and see what was wrong with the gimbal. After a bit of research online I saw that gimbals can sometimes go into "hibernation mode" and that there was a way to hard reset it. So I tried that several times like indicated but with no luck. My next hope was to find a drone shop in Chiang Mai, which I did, unfortunately the person there did not manage to fix the gimbal either. The name of the shop was <a href="http://www.cmflying.com/" target="_blank">CM Flying</a>.<br />Making videos being the priority of my trip, I needed to get my gimbal fixed or replaced as soon as possible. That's why I decided to sacrifice the trip I wanted to do to Pai and go straight down to Bangkok hoping that I could find a shop where they could solve my problem. And I did find one, <a href="http://www.hobbythai.com/" target="_blank">HobbyThai</a>. I did not have any more luck there but the technician spent a good hour and a half trying to fix it and actually managed to troubleshoot another issue I had for a while. And when I asked the owner how much I owed him for the time his technician spent on my drone, he told me it was ok, that I did not have to pay anything! <br />But I was still stuck with my broken gimbal and it looked like I had no other choice but to replace it, which would be a major cut on my budget. That's when a sponsor comes handy. CtrlMe is a drone shop in Venice, Los Angeles - more at the end of this post. They agreed to send me a new gimbal and I received it only 4 days later. Needless to mention I was excited to get my drone back in the air.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9z0bT897QnRaKni8r7mX9dboiW7uqKM-Eb6U9BC3KRLQ2cAaL97WeJxQfJBpjLwlEE7kgtY-yUOfGEPpM2wU5WgdYVvZtes7qpAE2ron3D_4-Lia__41m5fMV6X6qYzJhHLe31sIfbg/s1600/IMG_7879.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9z0bT897QnRaKni8r7mX9dboiW7uqKM-Eb6U9BC3KRLQ2cAaL97WeJxQfJBpjLwlEE7kgtY-yUOfGEPpM2wU5WgdYVvZtes7qpAE2ron3D_4-Lia__41m5fMV6X6qYzJhHLe31sIfbg/s640/IMG_7879.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The entrance of the HobbyThai shop</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The owner (right) and his technician (left)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ7i9-J_Gb-d5IYJy0P589M4VijPj8AUwy7LgX-jStMpG-vBQk7IPOPlac2CBmckyMN0xVrcHFSvDuljkaTxImjR6m7U2BeIklo6KD01-_fqsHDvrmhk728zRsmjCKhIMaqyMsQbeBXw/s1600/IMG_7878.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ7i9-J_Gb-d5IYJy0P589M4VijPj8AUwy7LgX-jStMpG-vBQk7IPOPlac2CBmckyMN0xVrcHFSvDuljkaTxImjR6m7U2BeIklo6KD01-_fqsHDvrmhk728zRsmjCKhIMaqyMsQbeBXw/s640/IMG_7878.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The technician working on a Inspire 1 </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After that I went to the beautiful islands of Koh Tao, Koh PhiPhi and Koh Lanta. My favourite was Koh Tao, not too busy and truly amazing. It is a snorkelling paradise and it is also beautiful from up there in the air. I took a lot of great footage from the different bays and beaches I went to. And you can easily get around by renting a scooter. Koh PhiPhi was a lot more touristic, a bit too much for my liking but it is nonetheless a beautiful island. I hiked to the very north of the island which was quiet a walk especially at the end when there is no more path and you have to walk on the rocks but it was definitely worth it. The aerial view I got from there was priceless. Koh Lanta was very quiet and the best spot I filmed was the mangrove which looks amazing from the air.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkhkkTpawoxxNW8G-4GrnlRlas5f1kxvLoY6gE8PJtrlYAha4d4gttDWy87fdlqftK6Yx1jlI6j_h1FI2qnTq1h141jx-LxUcsIp0UtEbIpNEF4FkAmP0eD6zit39oA3d3H_Y1eveJzg/s1600/Sai_Deng_Beach-05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkhkkTpawoxxNW8G-4GrnlRlas5f1kxvLoY6gE8PJtrlYAha4d4gttDWy87fdlqftK6Yx1jlI6j_h1FI2qnTq1h141jx-LxUcsIp0UtEbIpNEF4FkAmP0eD6zit39oA3d3H_Y1eveJzg/s640/Sai_Deng_Beach-05.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shark island on Koh Tao</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLKarF4ypS0WTNSjgyXDvVES2cKv_GMwNrNCAIlMDBVPuSJzApVBtT1jh4s3BfmSLYcX0-1yKWJ1E31ykg_VspEExPCgFflqXSQNNv-GQOah_0BRLU_Iw-FZQGbss_ulTnzsgdAgwdtg/s1600/Tanote_Bay-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLKarF4ypS0WTNSjgyXDvVES2cKv_GMwNrNCAIlMDBVPuSJzApVBtT1jh4s3BfmSLYcX0-1yKWJ1E31ykg_VspEExPCgFflqXSQNNv-GQOah_0BRLU_Iw-FZQGbss_ulTnzsgdAgwdtg/s640/Tanote_Bay-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Koh Tao</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSDqfBJRhOiW2_VW6AgurHW8-ruRlIiLn8_IcyL9KOxAmRa5_PMZkUhlnjABTXx9A__dla1TOaxu3utsUK5O210KKTRbZEjaYuhux1NX_dpM7rCzL5LKiVOtRLwc4WZF2F3n4XwTr4jA/s1600/NangYuan_Terrace-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSDqfBJRhOiW2_VW6AgurHW8-ruRlIiLn8_IcyL9KOxAmRa5_PMZkUhlnjABTXx9A__dla1TOaxu3utsUK5O210KKTRbZEjaYuhux1NX_dpM7rCzL5LKiVOtRLwc4WZF2F3n4XwTr4jA/s640/NangYuan_Terrace-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset on Koh Tao</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfIgX-_fty9oc1nQIjc2sLdGhOoSnlzdaHfU9c8IbwkuWfm2gmyw39sGAxMMZedIwgZ_E2LUYuV64cMdy4oBI0ZmIu1A14Vi__Raido5CPuiNlqp8xXsK0UM9YGNNcCXRaC-OfQ5mz6g/s1600/Koh_PhiPhi-inst-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfIgX-_fty9oc1nQIjc2sLdGhOoSnlzdaHfU9c8IbwkuWfm2gmyw39sGAxMMZedIwgZ_E2LUYuV64cMdy4oBI0ZmIu1A14Vi__Raido5CPuiNlqp8xXsK0UM9YGNNcCXRaC-OfQ5mz6g/s640/Koh_PhiPhi-inst-01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Koh PhiPhi</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr0ZVwbq8O5hgHp4l0BAkQ6NeZmZUPerVhk5ZNjXk8Zsm1x5Gq7LWfDc8k_C_8P4UPKDSHNQrohKeAkgPKUr516JZ1Lwv4mzrKhBDBh-odzWe-LMf4b26AKDpQqPys3D6Dtcf_yShysA/s1600/Koh_PhiPhi-inst-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr0ZVwbq8O5hgHp4l0BAkQ6NeZmZUPerVhk5ZNjXk8Zsm1x5Gq7LWfDc8k_C_8P4UPKDSHNQrohKeAkgPKUr516JZ1Lwv4mzrKhBDBh-odzWe-LMf4b26AKDpQqPys3D6Dtcf_yShysA/s640/Koh_PhiPhi-inst-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Koh PhiPhi</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCuUd-f1ulBhYcGu3XKTh8hIA_kHBVAkCA35A5BusxxEmCQOcaPskWk7Ju3Z7sL2ju8SieXlkCYpGtmDlS-3xQqAyUo9WnhwdChOUD6pmvskvbFgChuw2dTuGax3HawDx0jc6YIPX0qw/s1600/Koh_PhiPhi-inst-05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCuUd-f1ulBhYcGu3XKTh8hIA_kHBVAkCA35A5BusxxEmCQOcaPskWk7Ju3Z7sL2ju8SieXlkCYpGtmDlS-3xQqAyUo9WnhwdChOUD6pmvskvbFgChuw2dTuGax3HawDx0jc6YIPX0qw/s640/Koh_PhiPhi-inst-05.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Koh PhiPhi</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7LwkQunxXVV3C-zzpn1tH4fooad9NBn_9crHQtpD-EZ9PbOZWN5hD-QNwKXsVDDZxLL6N8Jfz9nwOCaXahcbPRoYo3KG49-Yh2emmO3f8L4k0FEJmBfKZVr1C7eRC1k6F3AF3-SRRJQ/s1600/Koh_Lanta_inst-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7LwkQunxXVV3C-zzpn1tH4fooad9NBn_9crHQtpD-EZ9PbOZWN5hD-QNwKXsVDDZxLL6N8Jfz9nwOCaXahcbPRoYo3KG49-Yh2emmO3f8L4k0FEJmBfKZVr1C7eRC1k6F3AF3-SRRJQ/s640/Koh_Lanta_inst-03.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Koh Lanta</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM7HASghMl5r_Qgp2dUmVsza9lZPkaV5lbg7XNuDoBjwjY4SXxLfmmaK-IHxoF322f1fQ42iWBDlqi2HyRL5-UlL17lfRLncSXElq-WL9DBnEoc-xuAu9AuQo5SoFN0RaBnFDdKdifCQ/s1600/Koh_Lanta_inst-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM7HASghMl5r_Qgp2dUmVsza9lZPkaV5lbg7XNuDoBjwjY4SXxLfmmaK-IHxoF322f1fQ42iWBDlqi2HyRL5-UlL17lfRLncSXElq-WL9DBnEoc-xuAu9AuQo5SoFN0RaBnFDdKdifCQ/s640/Koh_Lanta_inst-04.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Koh Lanta</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />While in Thailand I had no issue flying my drone on the islands but later on, browsing the internet I found out that it is simply forbidden for an individual to fly a drone in Thailand. Yep, always check beforehand. Even though I think those "regulations" are a way too extreme. More on the subject : </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.richardbarrow.com/2015/01/restrictions-on-flying-drones-in-thailand/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">restrictions on flying drones in thailand</span></a><br /><br /><b>Want to see my video ?</b><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gT9mzr9RKQ" target="_blank">YoumiTrip - Thailand</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Malaysia, a bit of rest for my little buddy</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Arriving in Malaysia from Thailand by bus, I first stopped in Penang for a couple of days. I then went to the Cameron Highlands where I was able to film the tea plantations with my drone for about 3 minutes before someone from the staff came and told me that it was not allowed. Anyway, I was able to get at least a nice picture for my Instagram :-)<br />When I got to Kuala Lumpur I met with an Australian friend who offered me to do some freelancing for him for a month, offer that I gladly accepted as it would be a great way to make some money for my trip. So during this month I did not fly my drone very much, which was not a bad thing after all. But I wanted to at least take some aerial photos of the Petronas tower.<br />I also managed to "improve" and "renovate" the inside of my already customized backpack that will allow me to use it for a few more months. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUkPqa_FfFu4-oTolZXxXJSBdoMWs0QFFG1t3GuJqRKm_KBizINiLqYVKKGZTUTxCAL2OpnyZIOhs7IDBr6-BTwqyx7ng1-VMnElocoLWqbv5p9Rkm403nSadhvzmUA8SSYUJD4cL6uQ/s1600/Kuala_Lumpur-inst-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUkPqa_FfFu4-oTolZXxXJSBdoMWs0QFFG1t3GuJqRKm_KBizINiLqYVKKGZTUTxCAL2OpnyZIOhs7IDBr6-BTwqyx7ng1-VMnElocoLWqbv5p9Rkm403nSadhvzmUA8SSYUJD4cL6uQ/s640/Kuala_Lumpur-inst-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Day time</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKHV_-TbRrYHyeuhacME7YAtmNcaltXBJVnU8_CzBO20tEO92gYfoEnRRN-MbxCpiNYGX7JeHUv6UZktAWZABNyAcOoD7qbyET7FYxX5ZEE53swmpy5NK5BXJhn9NngoqyH9qyaJ3sPw/s1600/Kuala_Lumpur-inst-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKHV_-TbRrYHyeuhacME7YAtmNcaltXBJVnU8_CzBO20tEO92gYfoEnRRN-MbxCpiNYGX7JeHUv6UZktAWZABNyAcOoD7qbyET7FYxX5ZEE53swmpy5NK5BXJhn9NngoqyH9qyaJ3sPw/s640/Kuala_Lumpur-inst-03.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Night time</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggQM6ulrT0X_G6btYt1gJdkvV1Mq5kdRtVKY-QzM7vCcsVpc9JE_U44aFGIq94Zpdq02qyQO9CD_28y9h80gTqmHp1USN1RV2BKAlZ_xIQPdDvefhyUHp8y5FIjhYM795i6GfFwUhGMQ/s1600/IMG_8401.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggQM6ulrT0X_G6btYt1gJdkvV1Mq5kdRtVKY-QzM7vCcsVpc9JE_U44aFGIq94Zpdq02qyQO9CD_28y9h80gTqmHp1USN1RV2BKAlZ_xIQPdDvefhyUHp8y5FIjhYM795i6GfFwUhGMQ/s640/IMG_8401.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2nd version of my customized backpack.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Handling the unexpected (crashes, technical issues, ...)</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Of course, travelling for this long with a drone, you will experience unexpected events. Ideally you will have a spare for every piece of equipment you carry with you (gimbal, video transmitter, motors, ESCs, ...) but let's face it, it is hardly manageable. And on top of that if you want to repair it yourself, you'll need a soldering machine. this could make your backpack ridiculously heavy before even starting to pack the other backpack with your clothes.<br />So here is a non-exhaustive list of the essentials to bring with you : (for DJI Phantom 1)<br />- Pair of antennas. If you are flying with a fpv setup you might want to have some spare antennas as they are quiet fragile.<br />- Set of propellers. In a crash, along withe the Gimbal, the rpopellers are always the ones that break first.<br />- USB extension cable. For framework updates or simply some troubleshooting on the NazaM application. Assuming you are travelling with a computer.<br />- AAA batteries. For the DJI Phantom controller.<br />- Zenmuse H3-3D USB Output cable. Let's be honnest, this cable is a joke, it is meant to break or get damage. So a must-have to carry with you.<br />- Others : screw drivers, screws, soft dampers, Zenmuse 8-pin cable, GPS cable, USB LED cable, ...</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL_a9xMC9U3uciIZZHna2WALPmqEuprG9NT-vpy8aXFr_o7b0szgJMHTzMInGTwQ2JJvu6N6aMeu9hQ8M37dFI8API2P4GXQJ-NRskHGSQDI5HCkcITReb8hyphenhyphenv908pbp0hmnW-Zudk9g/s1600/IMG_8406.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL_a9xMC9U3uciIZZHna2WALPmqEuprG9NT-vpy8aXFr_o7b0szgJMHTzMInGTwQ2JJvu6N6aMeu9hQ8M37dFI8API2P4GXQJ-NRskHGSQDI5HCkcITReb8hyphenhyphenv908pbp0hmnW-Zudk9g/s640/IMG_8406.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the spare equipment I carry with me.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Like I mentioned above in that post, a good way to face unexpected issues with your drone while travelling is to have sponsors. No need to get sponsored by GoPro or DJI themselves, I tried but it surprinsingly did not work out ;-) But I encourage you to try anyway, it might for you. If it does, tell me how you did it, I want to know!!!<br />Even small shops/companies might be able to support you before and during your trip. For me, CtrlMe sent me some spare equipment while I was in Hanoi in Vietnam and also a new Zenmuse H3-3D gimbal while I was in Bangkok. I'll write a post about how I got sponsors later on.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Your drone at the border crossings</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I crossed 7 different borders all overland and not once had problems with the authorities. Actually, beside the border between Hong Kong and China -either way- where they checked the luggage with x-ray, I did not even have to open my backpack where my drone was. They always checked my bigger backpack and barely looked inside anyway.</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Russia to Mongolia :</b> by train. Mongolian authorities just had a quick look at my bigger backpack.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Mongolia to China :</b> by train. Did not even have to open my bacpacks.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>China to Hong Kong :</b> by train. X-rayed my backpacks before boarding in China without any issue.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Hong Kong to China :</b> by feet. X-rayed my backpacks entering China without any issue.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>China to Vietnam :</b> by feet. X-rayed my backpacks entering Vietam without any issue.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Vietnam to Laos :</b> by motorbike. No control of my backpacks.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Laos to Thailand :</b> by bus. no control of my backpacks.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Thailand to Malaysia :</b> by bus. X-rayed my backpacks entering Malaysia without any issue.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now I am off to Indonesia to keep going on this amazing journey sharing my photos and my videos as well as my experiences.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-35300826118783167632015-07-07T03:09:00.001-07:002015-07-07T06:19:15.768-07:009 months backpacking with my DJI phantom... and counting 1/2<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvKxZGMz6po3cWyCWz9eb_5_BxaePql3POKFBOj9slXc8a3KRZ4PnQ6sBvVr7OUZ1r0smTF685pAeuYfP9Girkg6Yf31HTjvSaUbZyq5LClVUZQmWqCs35OiFgTUYzS1OsyFB1m9tQeQ/s1600/Post_Cover3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvKxZGMz6po3cWyCWz9eb_5_BxaePql3POKFBOj9slXc8a3KRZ4PnQ6sBvVr7OUZ1r0smTF685pAeuYfP9Girkg6Yf31HTjvSaUbZyq5LClVUZQmWqCs35OiFgTUYzS1OsyFB1m9tQeQ/s640/Post_Cover3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In 9 months I have travelled overland with my DJI phantom drone in my backpack, from Moscow in Russia to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia between October 2014 and June 2015. As I am writing those lines I am doing some freelance work as a programmer (my real job) for a month. It's sort of a small "break" on my journey. So I decided to jump on the occasion and do a debrief of what happened during those past 9 months. The main purpose of my trip is to take and edit aerial footage and photography taken with my DJI Phantom of the different places I visit. It requires quiet a lot of commitment as editing videos is time consuming. But if you're as passsionate by travel and drones as I am, you'll enjoy spending your time doing it. I'm not saying that I have always been enthusiast about the idea to spend hours reviewing footage, far from that, but in the end, when I see the results, without bragging about it, I am quiet proud of myself.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My initial equipment</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></span></h3>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">DJI Phantom 1</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Zenmuse H3-2D</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">500mW video transmitter</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">7-inch screen with video built-in video receiver</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Batteries : 4 2700mAh / 2 2200mAh</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">DJI battery charger</span></li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuiKrYRKcolgaOLe_RZKMxto-7zEEGx8XQa2eKw0VL86OxrJbWBjhIBcl6QhutMEt9cBi4YmNIhgYN0cgT8TGx_6ioMbbP-WA-8C9NlsYHKHI27L_WvxMR3AuOoV4nMqDjK7139BrJvg/s1600/YoumiTrip_departure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuiKrYRKcolgaOLe_RZKMxto-7zEEGx8XQa2eKw0VL86OxrJbWBjhIBcl6QhutMEt9cBi4YmNIhgYN0cgT8TGx_6ioMbbP-WA-8C9NlsYHKHI27L_WvxMR3AuOoV4nMqDjK7139BrJvg/s640/YoumiTrip_departure.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1 backpack for the drone, 1 backpack full of winter clothes</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1st version of my customized backpack.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Moscow, a heavy start</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My trip started in the worst way possible; As you can read here, on my very first flight in Moscow, my drone landed... in the water. I'll spare you the details of the feelings I had at this moment. But through friends I had there I met a guy who took me to a drone shop where I was able to get it fix. It did cost me about $800 because I had to replace my Zenmuse Gimbal and they only had h3-3d gimbals that were even more expensive. Quiet a big cut in the budget already when I was just starting. Not to mention my GoPro hero 3 that went in the water too without its waterproof case. It was still working! Those camera are really tough! But because I was not sure how long it would last, I decided to get a GoPro hero 4 - or it was probably just an excuse to upgrade :-). So when I left Moscow, I had a fixed drone with a brand new GoPro and I was ready to finally properly start filming my trip.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I did film in the city and did not have issues with the authorities except when I tried to film the St Basil Cathedral. Yes, that was very stupid of me since it's near Red Square which is a major tourist attraction and ... the Kremlin. Lesson learned.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Minutes before it went under water</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Amazing Lake Baikal</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After this misadventure in Moscow and 70 hours of train broken down in 2 trips, I reached lake Baikal and was eager to film it properly. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I stayed on Olkhon island, the only island of the lake. This place was great to film with a drone even though it can get pretty windy out there. The most northern point was not surprisingly the windiest spot. I went there with a group of great people I met both on the way and on the island. We booked a tour for the day and had a great time. Despite the very strong wind I took my drone out for a short fligth - I have never flown my drone with that much wind, it was scary- took some nice footage and a picture of the whole group. Lake Baikal is quiet narrow - 79km - compared to its length - 636km - so when you are at the most northern point of Olkhon island, all you see in front of you is water. It does not look like a lake but more like a sea or ocean. It is very impressive. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrVtzw7C2pSqjKglgVYiT-o53PFkBwRDscm77rIoGAAFEWzvYjYsmyRtIjqo44bNR6kd-U_pavKleVmZhuEHbGsSoKIcaq3Ac7GDc1vFB029rIyAxYp3xb-0nyJjDBZ8g6qppxZ3xOLw/s1600/04-LakeBaikal02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrVtzw7C2pSqjKglgVYiT-o53PFkBwRDscm77rIoGAAFEWzvYjYsmyRtIjqo44bNR6kd-U_pavKleVmZhuEHbGsSoKIcaq3Ac7GDc1vFB029rIyAxYp3xb-0nyJjDBZ8g6qppxZ3xOLw/s640/04-LakeBaikal02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the most northern point of Olkhon island</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh300CuQ1qXusJZ4U154IM9nYLs2pGC6KGV9b49OQJrmrAijr3uOt3pBn6nI9pH2jMPG2RtsIBv5bU_aFsmMzt3o7uvHqtHj-vyJZeBXblBkEdPnBpS-LyKfD3Fkn7WbCVK-LI0i175lw/s1600/DreamTeam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh300CuQ1qXusJZ4U154IM9nYLs2pGC6KGV9b49OQJrmrAijr3uOt3pBn6nI9pH2jMPG2RtsIBv5bU_aFsmMzt3o7uvHqtHj-vyJZeBXblBkEdPnBpS-LyKfD3Fkn7WbCVK-LI0i175lw/s640/DreamTeam.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Group picture</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZBQojQE8aMWb3GjMWQ2gd2YKTvpY-VkveRrYPdy83gi9sN1qMA01fH4xCylvJDvx6RV-ZbIVgBDhyphenhypheno_Ylc_lSOkMXpPchUmecD50uLUa-u0Udjgwg7NWPGQekhRs4ULN0edJthj9A1Q/s1600/04-LakeBaikal09.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZBQojQE8aMWb3GjMWQ2gd2YKTvpY-VkveRrYPdy83gi9sN1qMA01fH4xCylvJDvx6RV-ZbIVgBDhyphenhypheno_Ylc_lSOkMXpPchUmecD50uLUa-u0Udjgwg7NWPGQekhRs4ULN0edJthj9A1Q/s640/04-LakeBaikal09.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flying from a rock</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Want to see my videos ?</span></b><br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/1TivcVM" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">YoumiTrip - Russia</span></a><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">7 days trips through Mongolia without electricity</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I did 2 7 days trips in Mongolia. First one to Central Mongolia and another one to the Gobi Desert. Both places were truly majestic and are still the top 2 of the places I have been to on this trip - And I doubt they will be beaten anytime soon, that's how much I loved it there. On both tours we were in a van with a driver and a guide. We would sleep in nomad families' gers without any electricity. So, I am not doing my crying baby and my spoiled westerner here saying that it was so bad not being able to recharge my phone every day. No, but - there's always a but - logisticly speaking, when carrying a drone with you, not being able to recharge the batteries can be an issue. So I had 6 batteries with me that gave me about 6-7 minutes of flight time - or so I thought - so I had to really choose the spots I wanted to film. But what I had not anticipated, was the cold. I was there in November, and at night temperatures would get down to like -15C (5F). And the batteries do not do well in that kind of cold. Some of them only last just 2 minutes before the drone entered "safe landing mode" - the drone slowly goes down and lands and you have limited control on it. To try to keep them as warm as possible I ended up putting them in socks and with me in my sleeping bag. And during the day I would carry them with me in my jacket.</span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In Central Mongolia we started by a 4-day horse ride. First I was hoping to be able to keep my backpack with me but beacause of the weight they would not let me and strapped it on to the horses. I got a bit worried when I saw how tight they were strapping it but it turned out just fine. The DJI phantom is quiet robust, I learned that during my trip.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the 4th day it snowed heavily in the morning before we took off and I did not hesitate and took out my drone to fly it under the snow. It was a first time. But with the cold I got about 2.5 minutes out of the battery; still enough to get nice footage. At the end of those 4 days, we reached a magnificent frozen waterfall that I HAD to film obviously, and this time I got just over 1 minute. Those 2 were the 2200 mAh, the 2700 mAh giving me slightly more - about 3-4 minutes.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My backpack with my drone was tightly attached to the horse</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In front of an amazing frozen waterfall</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frozen lake at our first stop</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful Central Mongolia</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7vzVHSSNsKyyXNLGY_hem7TVwHp8Ql2abfpIVAS2kQLdmUXZC-aFbHilvGWDB7UHIjdK9vQwXwgnFtApYBKpPdWSw12LUvENpTLa1IfgUYFAzQU19WnmR2ESWtvInDb_WgzKoinTQMQ/s1600/waterfall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7vzVHSSNsKyyXNLGY_hem7TVwHp8Ql2abfpIVAS2kQLdmUXZC-aFbHilvGWDB7UHIjdK9vQwXwgnFtApYBKpPdWSw12LUvENpTLa1IfgUYFAzQU19WnmR2ESWtvInDb_WgzKoinTQMQ/s640/waterfall.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Same frozen waterfall from the air</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And do not think that the Gobi Desert was any different, it's not because it's called a desert that it is always warm. It was cold and windy out there. Although I have been able to recharge a couple of batteries during one evening; A nice family offered me to use their electricity - saved during the day with their solar panels. I felt it was a bit out of place since they had a limited amount of it, but they kindly offered so I gladly accepted. It is often that people who do not have much are the ones offering the most. Even with those constraints, I managed to get enough footage to put together some videos of those 2 beautiful places.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">No problem flying my drone in the remote places of Mongolia. In Ulan Bator I filmed from the Zaisan Monument which is on top of a hill outside of the city without any issue either.</span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTsPt3v2LIaMiFEzcDd9tvnXVTsxZDb9PT1OVPy61NANvK7jGGKJ7NiQs6y3Udpr75NB7rTVCPml4bxvv1vln7nLRiyjuw3Obm_J1_QTgzLW6GrnppWEfRagn1yP2B-SWC4S5abslFgQ/s1600/Drone_Gobi_Sand_Dunes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTsPt3v2LIaMiFEzcDd9tvnXVTsxZDb9PT1OVPy61NANvK7jGGKJ7NiQs6y3Udpr75NB7rTVCPml4bxvv1vln7nLRiyjuw3Obm_J1_QTgzLW6GrnppWEfRagn1yP2B-SWC4S5abslFgQ/s640/Drone_Gobi_Sand_Dunes.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anything works as a takeoff platform when surrounded by sand</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNvZSgb8D_55Zvtdl62qDmTV3raA4e_wHAltVO9OywSjX39NpCVjgaflDeZ0T_LNWZnC55JgDv5gKrX0FgF5p1T3rD7DTT5eoCuBOW1rem_-4F6d4DgmpzrmHqu8y5NPx8kFsaQinyEA/s1600/DSCN9275.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNvZSgb8D_55Zvtdl62qDmTV3raA4e_wHAltVO9OywSjX39NpCVjgaflDeZ0T_LNWZnC55JgDv5gKrX0FgF5p1T3rD7DTT5eoCuBOW1rem_-4F6d4DgmpzrmHqu8y5NPx8kFsaQinyEA/s640/DSCN9275.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our driver was very interested in the drone</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUxJ30W8lCde8Rj3toqJXDfTE4ydpAEkBsPWdqOphGwnQpT-D885Z0BP39YCgbERrTQlsMyhO6ch_NJT1VTdiA0raVwMedcgik2RhYfiTVnajIzi27J6PmYyUo2rdgpOVhASFfneuYdw/s1600/DSCN9335.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUxJ30W8lCde8Rj3toqJXDfTE4ydpAEkBsPWdqOphGwnQpT-D885Z0BP39YCgbERrTQlsMyhO6ch_NJT1VTdiA0raVwMedcgik2RhYfiTVnajIzi27J6PmYyUo2rdgpOVhASFfneuYdw/s640/DSCN9335.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ready to takeoff</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm43yyRTJSzqsnb4XkWBTXrdBzO15CX6Dv_9fP8yhgQNtcr9F8Vo6OsAp35uL4nq8JTbTcm6sr7vPUGlHUg6m8nsvBFUfLT7uerq135xYuNJUhlKsKXG6Ai_Zq9ibpTviVGFNQEc8nbA/s1600/Blog_Fly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm43yyRTJSzqsnb4XkWBTXrdBzO15CX6Dv_9fP8yhgQNtcr9F8Vo6OsAp35uL4nq8JTbTcm6sr7vPUGlHUg6m8nsvBFUfLT7uerq135xYuNJUhlKsKXG6Ai_Zq9ibpTviVGFNQEc8nbA/s640/Blog_Fly.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset flight</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8q3QCJfRCHIKaoMdgx7YzN3rk2lMMvJWrQxliFLpI55Si1lhdPssQLPnnZO_CVObqC2R9xZr3nLCYMAhfa-HYqIZhc67bZvVw4ySgYLJEcGXBCgsFlc6OI7ESbwtvSQsRLdzF-BmdVw/s1600/Blog_Over_Camels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8q3QCJfRCHIKaoMdgx7YzN3rk2lMMvJWrQxliFLpI55Si1lhdPssQLPnnZO_CVObqC2R9xZr3nLCYMAhfa-HYqIZhc67bZvVw4ySgYLJEcGXBCgsFlc6OI7ESbwtvSQsRLdzF-BmdVw/s640/Blog_Over_Camels.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some intrigued camels</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglaEz2kDWGbCK1Uf4T1ibbfHxzLIiSNkbkC70pG7rD8gGo__YHLanFz4h65HGi5AkHKdnokYt3sXK_t8nA0hiKSX3Wwil8VSt83-e3hf1V2dWvi4-VuyuMamfFn21d0UwKYJ180EQdFQ/s1600/Blog_Over_Sand_Dunes2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglaEz2kDWGbCK1Uf4T1ibbfHxzLIiSNkbkC70pG7rD8gGo__YHLanFz4h65HGi5AkHKdnokYt3sXK_t8nA0hiKSX3Wwil8VSt83-e3hf1V2dWvi4-VuyuMamfFn21d0UwKYJ180EQdFQ/s640/Blog_Over_Sand_Dunes2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Above the sand dunes</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfBqEkm2j60osQ0EG4TJjmXYkUVmrs8Twx-yMB6Pdfo7aT_FyU5qC5yPZ4VzZwElI2OUWDgc6GlWqtb3ZJGAIoTMmBpcnZcroPWMNwilEd1qSbYiNR2TAhzpm2vgbBJLSB52L-B4olWA/s1600/Blog_Over_Van.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfBqEkm2j60osQ0EG4TJjmXYkUVmrs8Twx-yMB6Pdfo7aT_FyU5qC5yPZ4VzZwElI2OUWDgc6GlWqtb3ZJGAIoTMmBpcnZcroPWMNwilEd1qSbYiNR2TAhzpm2vgbBJLSB52L-B4olWA/s640/Blog_Over_Van.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Literally in the middle of nowhere</td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Want to see my videos ?</span></b><br />
<a href="http://bit.ly/1NO3du1" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">YoumiTrip - Mongolia</span></a><br />
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<h3>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Filming the s**t out of China</span></span></h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I had not planned to spend 2 months in China, but it just worked out that way. China is a massive country with beautiful landscapes. I had a vague idea of the places I absolutely wanted to check out and film, but when I got there, I saw that there was a lot more to see. My trans-Mongolian journey ended in Beijing, so the first video I wanted to make in China was about the Great Wall. I went to 6 different spots because I figured that it would be boring to show the same spot from different angles during 2 or 3 minutes. And in any case, I wanted to show different aspects of it, because even if it is just a wall everywhere you go, depending on the surroundings it can be really dramatic and scenic. I also turned 30 a few days after arriving in Beijing and since a party with friends and family was not possible, I wanted to do something special. So, with a Chinese guy I met in Moscow and who I stayed in touch with, we went to a spot on the Great Wall with a cake and my drone on my birthday. Just something out of the ordinary to remember that milestone. I had no problem filming the Great Wall. The different spots I filmed at were not crowded and I always tok care not to fly over a group of people.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg77IDMevWNjugbK0-K18QWKFm-lYPt-ulvFe1RorK4YO_PfJPJFl0W_o4V182I935UuM8q2x8CHdwPQfyQSNuKvrrksAYOkEwxMts79JYo8WX4kRrZ_GsR9UWbIC0IbgkQang8yLuFbg/s1600/GreatWall-07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg77IDMevWNjugbK0-K18QWKFm-lYPt-ulvFe1RorK4YO_PfJPJFl0W_o4V182I935UuM8q2x8CHdwPQfyQSNuKvrrksAYOkEwxMts79JYo8WX4kRrZ_GsR9UWbIC0IbgkQang8yLuFbg/s640/GreatWall-07.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My 30th birthday on the Great Wall</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyVmwsxfuWDjA35gfglTJEENO08-qsPdu_f0c1XTc0r23lKDWSMHt4pT-Q08wcUHUNFGwRlTuKNjV2zr1cWguEQCqFN9U2PoDEVjd9VBVms14pPdnB9I2jhipEZmirOhCvMSyMPVOitA/s1600/Great_Wall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="466" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyVmwsxfuWDjA35gfglTJEENO08-qsPdu_f0c1XTc0r23lKDWSMHt4pT-Q08wcUHUNFGwRlTuKNjV2zr1cWguEQCqFN9U2PoDEVjd9VBVms14pPdnB9I2jhipEZmirOhCvMSyMPVOitA/s640/Great_Wall.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Great Wall</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1d7MRVoP1tJWwrANyXo4P3BXllII6cRRzO49UcJLTTqu5LAIxPi47v2SGb4ONBVyFA9iqmNBIXDdmWciaPunmCk2tOtQLoswnouTvwNMm3QpbcOaPJXE6o1wz6OOv-KBcrxpBtxsbaw/s1600/IMG_5746.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1d7MRVoP1tJWwrANyXo4P3BXllII6cRRzO49UcJLTTqu5LAIxPi47v2SGb4ONBVyFA9iqmNBIXDdmWciaPunmCk2tOtQLoswnouTvwNMm3QpbcOaPJXE6o1wz6OOv-KBcrxpBtxsbaw/s640/IMG_5746.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the bridges of the Great Wall</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5FuaCLoC1psPmmuUQ37sU0VWvQqaDBThOkbsW4ZRT7pg_OQyZ2BP88kAtYRDqlx7VbKwlOnDYLyVuyRktOt0LUXeE4kuqU5KPWMPE10MCygc9ujlZHwje6wA0vKnKRbWHzuF7cNDEQ/s1600/IMG_5752.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX5FuaCLoC1psPmmuUQ37sU0VWvQqaDBThOkbsW4ZRT7pg_OQyZ2BP88kAtYRDqlx7VbKwlOnDYLyVuyRktOt0LUXeE4kuqU5KPWMPE10MCygc9ujlZHwje6wA0vKnKRbWHzuF7cNDEQ/s640/IMG_5752.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The start/end of the Great Wall</td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWMXNcX5248CU8RBjVSfqklhymI8fMizHsHEwrIh7lfPvSFp_rNCOVazNvp5ShIp268V5v8iSqgpTgFzEpQ-7tiiWKFrTKqy4N2s-Jw0544ppuj3_Ta3D4fVxAvpmEQlkXD9Blxb9Dew/s1600/IMG_6123.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWMXNcX5248CU8RBjVSfqklhymI8fMizHsHEwrIh7lfPvSFp_rNCOVazNvp5ShIp268V5v8iSqgpTgFzEpQ-7tiiWKFrTKqy4N2s-Jw0544ppuj3_Ta3D4fVxAvpmEQlkXD9Blxb9Dew/s640/IMG_6123.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Beside the Great Wall, I also made a video about Huang Shan, a mountain about 5 hours drive south of Shanghai. The hike up is very steep and streneous, but once at the top, it is just amazing. I did have a brief interaction with the authorities up there. They were just curious that I was flying a drone and wanted to know the purpose behind it. When I told them it was for fun, they just told me to enjoy my stay on the mountain and let me go. There, I was staying in a dorm and was able to recharge the batteries over night.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfiBjHQKKHOaoETNk40F1WJcxhprF_UMZwtMdhcxMGz00FOcFFYNaWLggsHv61uqvbtBxdHz29oNTLUBEvhQBC6_KKqDJtceWBbDC7eoJBCZzYv3sc5Zcsg98jXr-kI5c6Oc7av7vMzA/s1600/IMG_5954.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfiBjHQKKHOaoETNk40F1WJcxhprF_UMZwtMdhcxMGz00FOcFFYNaWLggsHv61uqvbtBxdHz29oNTLUBEvhQBC6_KKqDJtceWBbDC7eoJBCZzYv3sc5Zcsg98jXr-kI5c6Oc7av7vMzA/s640/IMG_5954.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I broke my fpv screen. I've had better ideas in my life</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNA2m8JND4nC6V8gklU9wqJZMHOilLdbDnnImvec2m9mDzP4SqNh7-2zKP5YvPGXY63xGv7erHLDmUNjm6gQh17CEy4e9cUOLkKHul6BEX3PkNkMt9CitnEXOQc94dixIlYqRVv5z3Mg/s1600/YoumiTrip_CtrlMe-15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNA2m8JND4nC6V8gklU9wqJZMHOilLdbDnnImvec2m9mDzP4SqNh7-2zKP5YvPGXY63xGv7erHLDmUNjm6gQh17CEy4e9cUOLkKHul6BEX3PkNkMt9CitnEXOQc94dixIlYqRVv5z3Mg/s640/YoumiTrip_CtrlMe-15.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Huangshan</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjax5mMwqdpFsQkV1vv2-uzoIw04NWZopm5mdJYPuFVjCBJKyQMouC-Zd7FyXiyOWTaCQpF38RjBexZDoTrPcU1WwkBMLXR3sh4sdREXdIelk92hnmBaqbvv728s_hACE5r8YDJCnPd2Q/s1600/YoumiTrip_CtrlMe-16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjax5mMwqdpFsQkV1vv2-uzoIw04NWZopm5mdJYPuFVjCBJKyQMouC-Zd7FyXiyOWTaCQpF38RjBexZDoTrPcU1WwkBMLXR3sh4sdREXdIelk92hnmBaqbvv728s_hACE5r8YDJCnPd2Q/s640/YoumiTrip_CtrlMe-16.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can you see me?</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWKMaJHcZs1zdjbcIVJa2ApD9JnzRhkfaa1HyIvKYf4y26G8j7E_s3WHxBEAUrLN9SnEjkEzoZfp2BKo_c0dsNJ3r3c6wT9MTEJn51h1RC5bnEORpvKpZLUcmshaonGTOh8ww9JIJzIQ/s1600/YoumiTrip_CtrlMe-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWKMaJHcZs1zdjbcIVJa2ApD9JnzRhkfaa1HyIvKYf4y26G8j7E_s3WHxBEAUrLN9SnEjkEzoZfp2BKo_c0dsNJ3r3c6wT9MTEJn51h1RC5bnEORpvKpZLUcmshaonGTOh8ww9JIJzIQ/s640/YoumiTrip_CtrlMe-17.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My third video was about the karst landscape in Yangshuo, which is my favour place in China. I went to both Yangshuo and Xingping, filming the Li and the Yulong rivers. Hiking and riding bikes along. I also flew my drone from a bamboo raft, twice. I always like to fly my drone from moving vehicles although I really only had done it from a car or a van before. So this was another first.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin3w3RlfKZ-rUzzTLDxYOr6fKX5xTT1atZh74OMdtm-ckYKlCL6FSfYpD32cQdyMfSGnsnCUn3gEEjUy_ef4KIiin_pWwCFPh2byQjemAacvGJnJFGxLBN2p2gel5078mERagukbay1Q/s1600/Yangshuo-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin3w3RlfKZ-rUzzTLDxYOr6fKX5xTT1atZh74OMdtm-ckYKlCL6FSfYpD32cQdyMfSGnsnCUn3gEEjUy_ef4KIiin_pWwCFPh2byQjemAacvGJnJFGxLBN2p2gel5078mERagukbay1Q/s640/Yangshuo-01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moon Hill</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-yNJvaLLukc7I6gH93CgJ03gYX5KmTE5TM6oP_fnnwB5HaGtDAz2gAyddXE-idfdppMep3dlCN61Sl45klRuNO7AyyB13CDWiUxyX51NS_KhQCvyiwUWb4tmZAz7xxgYxBYMasnsbvA/s1600/Yangshuo-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="334" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-yNJvaLLukc7I6gH93CgJ03gYX5KmTE5TM6oP_fnnwB5HaGtDAz2gAyddXE-idfdppMep3dlCN61Sl45klRuNO7AyyB13CDWiUxyX51NS_KhQCvyiwUWb4tmZAz7xxgYxBYMasnsbvA/s640/Yangshuo-03.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A very nice and quiet place I found exploring the surroundings of Yangshuo</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLJhbZsCRcnfbpvQZQSkWp5pRqV9fyzWXpVZrBkwHimCdtxk_8B8ufELrYtAP5izYMlM36YTp0tbIyC7W0wEVfuArrXDg9sO37n4Iu4UNgKeFumKpk9eSqRjBXDLRRKGMPF5ZsB7No-A/s1600/Yangshuo-05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLJhbZsCRcnfbpvQZQSkWp5pRqV9fyzWXpVZrBkwHimCdtxk_8B8ufELrYtAP5izYMlM36YTp0tbIyC7W0wEVfuArrXDg9sO37n4Iu4UNgKeFumKpk9eSqRjBXDLRRKGMPF5ZsB7No-A/s640/Yangshuo-05.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1st time flying from a bamboo raft</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtFsnSLOjn9rt5CgVMOkccGbRuwSUeROBhyzEXbi81DDIkO6oxbnwn9eLxNf3csWqZ09vM4LJ3rna7HPbL2QarSzBlv9UcupXZS_j1lyopkQDjRdYnLZPDAVxGHNmwJ1V2EE-12jZCCA/s1600/Yangshuo-06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtFsnSLOjn9rt5CgVMOkccGbRuwSUeROBhyzEXbi81DDIkO6oxbnwn9eLxNf3csWqZ09vM4LJ3rna7HPbL2QarSzBlv9UcupXZS_j1lyopkQDjRdYnLZPDAVxGHNmwJ1V2EE-12jZCCA/s640/Yangshuo-06.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yulong river from above</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But that's not the only places I have been to in China in 2 months. But sometimes I would go somewhere very nice, I would film this place with my drone but would not be able to take enough footage to make a decent video clip out of it without having to show the same spots too many times. In that case, I keep the footage for a video I make about the whole country itself. This was the case for the Summer Palace in Beijing, Dali, the stone forest in Kunming and the Tiger Leaping Gorge near Lijiang. I kept those footage and put them together along with some selected shots from the previous videos and made a clip about China.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQtHKVopd1FvMrA43FkxOGLkwcSCNuZ9SYZ-7FSV_ZO8TAeyfqNyXheYiqc8Id6Wr2UMaQ1zAFpRSKj-i-ERyBNw_QTGSiGB4ZVszp8fUZ4h58HdU6jaz64e8J2V5nJIjf4378SdvNdQ/s1600/Summer_Palace_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQtHKVopd1FvMrA43FkxOGLkwcSCNuZ9SYZ-7FSV_ZO8TAeyfqNyXheYiqc8Id6Wr2UMaQ1zAFpRSKj-i-ERyBNw_QTGSiGB4ZVszp8fUZ4h58HdU6jaz64e8J2V5nJIjf4378SdvNdQ/s640/Summer_Palace_01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I had a few fans at the summer Palace</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAzj5zxgqTL9MBYJqRtiptlxiF550ZyEc0j_ZWdUyDuZf2lf7mLnDuYYjZUJsyGX6vVnbWjxSSAgwqsZzoPjusBOYQN2_47SHHMnl4g-oazBzkITuFLZZKOEr4htUNlHN1f8AQfshCkQ/s1600/StoneForest-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAzj5zxgqTL9MBYJqRtiptlxiF550ZyEc0j_ZWdUyDuZf2lf7mLnDuYYjZUJsyGX6vVnbWjxSSAgwqsZzoPjusBOYQN2_47SHHMnl4g-oazBzkITuFLZZKOEr4htUNlHN1f8AQfshCkQ/s640/StoneForest-01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kunming Stone Forest</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPUG6Vl4Fj8KqNU2I-grcZL-07JQoDqerEYD3FpIz6IMClSh9Y6w4PUwMTZQgipNbBB3Pxj4LBnEwSiXPH4d5HRXvkyWORQxudfYm291gco4l8NzxfFJ6y8sIQn7iR2EXUFLubd6AO0g/s1600/XingPing-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPUG6Vl4Fj8KqNU2I-grcZL-07JQoDqerEYD3FpIz6IMClSh9Y6w4PUwMTZQgipNbBB3Pxj4LBnEwSiXPH4d5HRXvkyWORQxudfYm291gco4l8NzxfFJ6y8sIQn7iR2EXUFLubd6AO0g/s640/XingPing-01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Xing Ping</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii5_zxmdUKgCnV-s_FGDA5jJrFzaX5xssmTlX9XaPP3upLognKy7z0Y3Rw9T14lSHkl38aVHNzg6Ir-7Cr1CcaSrLyYrAnoEgZNIjZC1HpKdywqZTP6Vt9sYsYN_i08PBDOofflmcHnA/s1600/Tiger_Gorge-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii5_zxmdUKgCnV-s_FGDA5jJrFzaX5xssmTlX9XaPP3upLognKy7z0Y3Rw9T14lSHkl38aVHNzg6Ir-7Cr1CcaSrLyYrAnoEgZNIjZC1HpKdywqZTP6Vt9sYsYN_i08PBDOofflmcHnA/s640/Tiger_Gorge-04.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tiger Leaping Gorge</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-FlaQtKW7PPAjIVdYdFlHNCX_vUVgTEdovgPXrLK7QtftWm3uqkNRP8uQ82oBD6LZupWdL9b9_huCHyp6u1AhJZ30CtMcGoVTOy4SIBB3fo0WOqFibYte5Uv2GTOB05eu4D1pZEYBgA/s1600/Zhangjiajie-05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-FlaQtKW7PPAjIVdYdFlHNCX_vUVgTEdovgPXrLK7QtftWm3uqkNRP8uQ82oBD6LZupWdL9b9_huCHyp6u1AhJZ30CtMcGoVTOy4SIBB3fo0WOqFibYte5Uv2GTOB05eu4D1pZEYBgA/s640/Zhangjiajie-05.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zhangjiajie National Park</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Discover more about Hong Kong</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The first thing that usually come to mind when talking about Hong Kong is the city and its skyscrapers. But there is actually much more than that. There is nice spots where you can actually hike or just get out of the madness of the city and see some vegetation and that are just about an hour from the center of the city. One of them I particularly liked is Shek-O in the south of Hong Kong island easily reachable by bus. Before getting to the village you can stop at the Dragon's back hike where I got some nice aerial footage of the surroundings.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the north of Hong Kong mainland, the New Territories are a good destination to discover. I went to the Plover Cove Reservoir, it was less scenic than Shek-O and the not so good weather did not helo but I did get some good aerial footage anyway.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">While in Hong Kong, I had issues with the cable of the DJI charger as well as the USB output cable of the Zenmuse H3-3D - this cable is a joke. I found a store, <a href="http://trippro.com.hk/" target="_blank">TripPro</a> selling drones and gopro accessories where I bought a spare for the output cable of the gimbal - I bought 3 - and they also soldered the damaged cable of my DJI battery charger. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In Hong Kong, flying Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) weighing not more than 7 kg (without its fuel) for recreational purpose can be classified as model aircraft flying, and does not require you to apply to the Civil Aviation Department (CAD) to get a permit. More information <a href="http://www.cad.gov.hk/english/model_aircraft.html" target="_blank">here</a></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHgn1V7p4oJ7pyj8d_tXO61ScnNYCdROMV96S2kbD2ypuv4d_uJ_giDr6n6CmwB-uj75o_LEsZGxwOtDmJK3e7Bqf1_VIF4ITaXQC5CBP-yE3Tk99A8AtieUcrBpVDMdJZaBgmaZfViw/s1600/Victoria_Peak_crowd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="566" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHgn1V7p4oJ7pyj8d_tXO61ScnNYCdROMV96S2kbD2ypuv4d_uJ_giDr6n6CmwB-uj75o_LEsZGxwOtDmJK3e7Bqf1_VIF4ITaXQC5CBP-yE3Tk99A8AtieUcrBpVDMdJZaBgmaZfViw/s640/Victoria_Peak_crowd.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another crowd in Hong Kong at Victoria Peak</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXEspoSDe7B9abKvITcBA0yH84jtvzcY_sM_ifObYWzZZwNfxfwskfYi1_9nwkwwByp0boLuDpHvHTrqDCpiyyGBuCQZYv_AnwHVK2VyvYG4wvjVIfi-T_tUdLy3CdgxDTxHJOo1iNwA/s1600/HongKong_Island2.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXEspoSDe7B9abKvITcBA0yH84jtvzcY_sM_ifObYWzZZwNfxfwskfYi1_9nwkwwByp0boLuDpHvHTrqDCpiyyGBuCQZYv_AnwHVK2VyvYG4wvjVIfi-T_tUdLy3CdgxDTxHJOo1iNwA/s640/HongKong_Island2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZOntYhgNADiwrqgMYuapZpSUC7H1j6_gjEcR3NQjsWct7Occ2A9Y8qaNvjKvTrUUIjma-EcAZClbTP3VjIxU9FsGyA6WodDl0kM0H-ws2mwoQU-WFP6ajY1Tzp7dzJbX2nZBkPJRUww/s1600/HongKong_night.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="404" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZOntYhgNADiwrqgMYuapZpSUC7H1j6_gjEcR3NQjsWct7Occ2A9Y8qaNvjKvTrUUIjma-EcAZClbTP3VjIxU9FsGyA6WodDl0kM0H-ws2mwoQU-WFP6ajY1Tzp7dzJbX2nZBkPJRUww/s640/HongKong_night.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTTZdYX4iO24XlndpXUbFrauh7-XrRlRzYl1QUBKdaxoWpmnSbVirsnntJmmzFxP7j40hzOEDCla_wTBkPuEv-2yPADQszW48VpEfUPu3yCUAPWidVuDfSaSnAmZPqFFe7WmWfw1Yh7g/s1600/ShekO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="524" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTTZdYX4iO24XlndpXUbFrauh7-XrRlRzYl1QUBKdaxoWpmnSbVirsnntJmmzFxP7j40hzOEDCla_wTBkPuEv-2yPADQszW48VpEfUPu3yCUAPWidVuDfSaSnAmZPqFFe7WmWfw1Yh7g/s640/ShekO.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shek-O from the Dragon's backbone hike</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc5Ia_rD5YekGer2BkLIidwO9fAJeZdMrxDeWnTYlpYsYbXANoRZVsI01hyCXSvBbdZcWjm7y-Jq6AV22fgTZHKARa_xbE0K0CYnjb2BINUmnjKUS8MmLe3ezvF9e-BLliIkFfCUa6XA/s1600/ShekO_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc5Ia_rD5YekGer2BkLIidwO9fAJeZdMrxDeWnTYlpYsYbXANoRZVsI01hyCXSvBbdZcWjm7y-Jq6AV22fgTZHKARa_xbE0K0CYnjb2BINUmnjKUS8MmLe3ezvF9e-BLliIkFfCUa6XA/s640/ShekO_03.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shek-O</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><a href="http://blog.youmitrip.com/2015/07/9-months-backpacking-with-my-dji_7.html" target="_blank">> Read Part 2</a></b></span></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-80965627612937463032015-06-22T03:30:00.001-07:002015-06-22T03:35:00.262-07:00Small guide to the Thai islands 3/3 : Koh Lanta<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One of the favourite part of my trip in Thailand was visiting the islands. I only went to Koh Tao, Koh PhiPhi and Koh Lanta but I had such good different experiences on each one of them that I decided to blog about it in as much details as I could to share with you the reasons I enjoyed it so much. This third and last part is about Koh Lanta a quiet island (at this time of the year at least) in the south west of Thailand, and my last stop before heading to Malaysia.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Of the three islands I have been to, Koh Lanta was the least scenery in my opinion, but it does not mean I haven't enjoyed it and that I don't think that it is a beautiful island anyway. After the crazy and crowded Koh PhiPhi, the quietness of Koh Lanta was more than welcome. From Koh PhiPhi, the boat ride takes about 1h30 and will cost you around 300Baht (8€ / $9). At this time of the year (May) it was quiet and prices were lower. I statyed in a nice resort where I had my own bungalow with my own bathroom for 350Baht (9€ / $10) a night.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the morning of the next day I rented a scooter and went on to explore the island. I went to the Koh Lanta National Park at the south westh of the island. It will cost you 100 Baht and 20 more for your motorbike. The drive there is pretty straight forward, there is one road so you can hardly get lost. It is a bit hilly though but nothing too frightening. Right after the entrance, the road is steep for about 100 meters until you reach the parking lot on your left where you can park your scooter. I jumped off and started walking around.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There is a trail walk you can take that goes into the jungle, I personaly did not do it but if you have, please let me know how it was in the comments. There was a lot of monkeys, and be careful if you're carrying food with you. I was holding a plastic bag with no food at all in it but one of them started to walk towards me with the intention of finding out what was in that bag. - I don't remember what was in there actually, but I know it was not food - So you want to be careful. I then went to the beach for a quick swim, and as usual in Thailand, the water was so warm. I'm repeating myself if you've read the two previous part but it is probably impossible to take a refreshing bath at the beach in this country!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />After this "not so" refreshing bath I headed back towards what I really wanted to check out: the light house. Not that I am a light house nerd - don't take it the wrong way, if you are that's totally fine by me :-) - but filmed from above with my drone, I knew I could get a nice shot. Whenever I go somewhere or see something, now I always think of what it could look like from above, and if I have the opportunity then I just do it and find out. So I went to the bottom of the light house and took out the beast. It was a bit windy but nothing too bad. A few runs over the beaches and around the light house and I was happy with the shots I got. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I jumped back on my scooter and decided to head to the east coast of Koh Lanta where the mangrove is. I made a quick Pad Thai stop at a small joint on the side of the road - I reckon small places are always where you can get the best food. Once at the mangrove you can do a 1h boat trip. When I first arrived someone came and told me that I could do it for 900 Baht which was ridiculously expensive. I went for a small walk around and met some other locals offering me boat trips, and by the time I left the price was down to 400 Baht. Even though I did not do it I took out my drone and flew over the mangrove. And from up there it looked very nice and massive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After that I went back to the resort to drop off the scooter. That night was another quiet nice, getting ready to head to Malaysia the next day.<br /><br /><br /><br />I had a great time on those 3 islands. They were all very different in terms of atmosphere. If I had to choose one it would be Koh Tao. It's absolutely beautiful and there is so many spots you can snorkel at. I know I will be back to Thialand one day and hopefully I would be able to go discover other islands.<br /><br /><br /><b>Have you been to Thailand? and Which islands have you been to?</b></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-27700467079796654142015-06-10T06:56:00.002-07:002015-06-22T03:35:46.690-07:00Small guide to the Thai islands 2/3 : Koh PhiPhi<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One of the favourite part of my trip in Thailand was visiting the islands. I only went to Ko Tao, Ko PhiPhi and Ko Lanta but I had such good different experiences on each one of them that I decided to blog about it in as much details as I could to share with you the reasons I enjoyed it so much. This second part is about Ko PhiPhi and the fact that there is more to do on the island than party.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Let's go hike on Ko PhiPhi!</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">What?! Yes, it is possible, although the options are very limited, you can actually go on a day hike on Ko PhiPhi and it's a nice one. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">From Ton-Sai Bay (main town of the island) I headed up towards the first viewpoint. It will cost you 30 Baht as it is a "private" area. On the maps of the island there is usually 3 different viewpoints referenced. The first one gives you a nice view of the main pier of Ko PhiPhi. A bit further up, the second viewpoint is the most crowded one. I got there in the morning and there was quiet a few people. So I only imagine how crowded it must be at sunset. I stopped at the first viewpoint to fly my drone but did not as the second one as the view was pretty much the same.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I continued onto the third viewpoint and that's when the hike started to get interesting. You start getting deep into the jungle and you meet no one. The first part in the jungle to the third viepoint is very flat and easy to go through. You get a nice view of the jungle that covers part of the island.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From viewpoint 3</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From viewpoint 3</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ496HfTxEWkJ20zvt-T5kfahmjXlJb8Q8-Zwf3HZqvn3QguSDYUNTYj6-QYg_ZdsmmGglBDNS07r3AjqH2TIq13CcO9c-EYgG0qONWPLnUnIcdoQKoBmzQ6dBZVqvxA98RT8YDab9mQ/s1600/Koh_PhiPhi-inst-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ496HfTxEWkJ20zvt-T5kfahmjXlJb8Q8-Zwf3HZqvn3QguSDYUNTYj6-QYg_ZdsmmGglBDNS07r3AjqH2TIq13CcO9c-EYgG0qONWPLnUnIcdoQKoBmzQ6dBZVqvxA98RT8YDab9mQ/s640/Koh_PhiPhi-inst-01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aerial view of the main pier</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After that, the path gets a bit steep and narrow. Although there is pretty much only one path, you'll find small signs along the way making it quiet hard to get lost. So after a while walking down in the dense vegetation you will reach a clear flat area. I continued and reached a small paved road. That's when I saw the first one of many... Tsunami signs. I then noticed that they were all over the place. They indicate the direction to follow and the distance from the next safe area. Seeing this I could only think of how horrible it might have been during the 2004 Tsunami. </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK3Jxcns-fU-IQCTTtxN6JROZcKBEcLC_0Pi6x3Cz7ckRgpGBma2TAgdjKkd0uQn4h-aQ1jJL8jqzcLIAIrSOX94I_sz-fcftNABc9XpT0Zt-TMM2mLsz_1bSDGB8ho796La_LJI2R0A/s1600/IMG_8056.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK3Jxcns-fU-IQCTTtxN6JROZcKBEcLC_0Pi6x3Cz7ckRgpGBma2TAgdjKkd0uQn4h-aQ1jJL8jqzcLIAIrSOX94I_sz-fcftNABc9XpT0Zt-TMM2mLsz_1bSDGB8ho796La_LJI2R0A/s640/IMG_8056.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the jungle</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipBR6M_xf33JkYiJ5tUSMpJwPx1ank0bHVgUu9AOSRn7o4JZ-MnBbNFy31HowVsAI_sStpbT2cS1gsmlLQyu_ha05ZlmvJ88cIF_63lgyyqUb8yw7meoExbEd0ghl6_PRIveUtFrwPHw/s1600/IMG_8058.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipBR6M_xf33JkYiJ5tUSMpJwPx1ank0bHVgUu9AOSRn7o4JZ-MnBbNFy31HowVsAI_sStpbT2cS1gsmlLQyu_ha05ZlmvJ88cIF_63lgyyqUb8yw7meoExbEd0ghl6_PRIveUtFrwPHw/s640/IMG_8058.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When you get out of the jungle</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG73iId6MvgNN2eohST8A5R6iWA5zf5-_ztFeNDo_T8IrrVwyd6b-jDeiAFy8L1fSdG9YPxsYmsgf5Yp1u0hVW3FDbWYrzNzVd8Hg8JVL6mdr7FXVmsabrgKsY5nCxPslBTzRnIcHy3Q/s1600/IMG_8059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG73iId6MvgNN2eohST8A5R6iWA5zf5-_ztFeNDo_T8IrrVwyd6b-jDeiAFy8L1fSdG9YPxsYmsgf5Yp1u0hVW3FDbWYrzNzVd8Hg8JVL6mdr7FXVmsabrgKsY5nCxPslBTzRnIcHy3Q/s640/IMG_8059.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A small reminder</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I followed this paved path and went to Ao Loh Bakao. There's a resort there as well as several small shops and restaurants. I had a quiet expensive lunch in one of them. The prices were in general higher than in Ton-Sai Bay of Koh PhiPhi probably because the only way to get there was by boat or through the jungle like I did. After lunch I went back to the path and kept heading north. It then went along the coastline on the east side of the island. Another 15-20 minutes walk before you reach Haad Laem Thong beach and its resorts. I wlaked along the beach all the way to the end and went further into the resort in the middle of the bungalows. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span> <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7kXchr8ow16T-WtTV5VsBnGq5nEn0VAMRfhN9WlntApYuz-Z4QRTPzmnzPEzQV7XEWO-1LsicnaRICOJAF2lpcoDIB-0ObDCWEgtNT_5wMR0zD7ElvbFjualhxDDSrWDGmFGkQO0ffw/s1600/Koh_Phi_Phi-19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7kXchr8ow16T-WtTV5VsBnGq5nEn0VAMRfhN9WlntApYuz-Z4QRTPzmnzPEzQV7XEWO-1LsicnaRICOJAF2lpcoDIB-0ObDCWEgtNT_5wMR0zD7ElvbFjualhxDDSrWDGmFGkQO0ffw/s640/Koh_Phi_Phi-19.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Haad Laem Thing Beach</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNssPmsG0v384bV3bBIfDJ41fA7svs0uMmksEQNa1xbzM9KHFLsmeF4IQORd2CyfB6_BjizXlmnMbcrdKIYda1wIIPTJHrK22jA31qO2N7cmt94vb0360v3yzVAMMObQmYgmh3sjGCTA/s1600/Koh_Phi_Phi-22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNssPmsG0v384bV3bBIfDJ41fA7svs0uMmksEQNa1xbzM9KHFLsmeF4IQORd2CyfB6_BjizXlmnMbcrdKIYda1wIIPTJHrK22jA31qO2N7cmt94vb0360v3yzVAMMObQmYgmh3sjGCTA/s640/Koh_Phi_Phi-22.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Although the surroundings were not nice anymore and I was in the middle of what was the "behind the scenes" of the resort, my goal was to go as north as possible on the island. AFter a little while, the path I was on became narrower but it was still possible to keep going. I reached some rocks that I had to climb down and then I was walking towards the very north of the island.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It was a bit windy but I reached my destination so I had to take out the drone and film. I wanted to get a whole view of the island from that point. I managed to get most of it by taking the drone pretty high above. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Beside the boats passing in the distance I was all by myself. I walked back on the rocks near the water until I found a nice spot to go swimming. As usual the water was warm. One thing I have noticed in Thailand is that the water was always warm, it's actually not that refreshing when you go for a swim. I stayed there for a while enjoying the quietness of the place. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWUAGDCD0cKN42oxzhM-869zioV3238XwcUZt2JKcrgs5olP6DlhFTp1_BK7AOAJFuPYu7gItmBOSJgkSQr0tBLyoB-emJWGiY8RrUb__7UeOWGHSFPaOQ7Amdtzx5Vcts0MLUrS6c1A/s1600/IMG_8060.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWUAGDCD0cKN42oxzhM-869zioV3238XwcUZt2JKcrgs5olP6DlhFTp1_BK7AOAJFuPYu7gItmBOSJgkSQr0tBLyoB-emJWGiY8RrUb__7UeOWGHSFPaOQ7Amdtzx5Vcts0MLUrS6c1A/s640/IMG_8060.PNG" width="474" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I went to the very north of the island</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr0ZVwbq8O5hgHp4l0BAkQ6NeZmZUPerVhk5ZNjXk8Zsm1x5Gq7LWfDc8k_C_8P4UPKDSHNQrohKeAkgPKUr516JZ1Lwv4mzrKhBDBh-odzWe-LMf4b26AKDpQqPys3D6Dtcf_yShysA/s1600/Koh_PhiPhi-inst-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr0ZVwbq8O5hgHp4l0BAkQ6NeZmZUPerVhk5ZNjXk8Zsm1x5Gq7LWfDc8k_C_8P4UPKDSHNQrohKeAkgPKUr516JZ1Lwv4mzrKhBDBh-odzWe-LMf4b26AKDpQqPys3D6Dtcf_yShysA/s640/Koh_PhiPhi-inst-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An aerial view from the north of Koh PhiPhi</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWFFx5qK4OZKHtdn34jeWDoddBBZKCsz0kF3RMGgHApM4AMQj9fAyhRCqSDCV9-Dc6wvJH-O5OM6nzFdrNgnGNLq_Ayi983g9pYbyCTFN6OwJF6HfoVDcMlfHg48QovBNk1hCenp6lTA/s1600/Koh_PhiPhi-inst-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWFFx5qK4OZKHtdn34jeWDoddBBZKCsz0kF3RMGgHApM4AMQj9fAyhRCqSDCV9-Dc6wvJH-O5OM6nzFdrNgnGNLq_Ayi983g9pYbyCTFN6OwJF6HfoVDcMlfHg48QovBNk1hCenp6lTA/s640/Koh_PhiPhi-inst-03.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another aerial view of Koh PhiPhi</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the way back I stopped at Loh Lana Bay and went to Nui Beach, where you can see the camel rock. From Loh Lana Bay you have to climb a small but very steep hill to get to the other side to Nui Beach. Another quick drone flight and I headed back towards Ton-Sai Bay. Although this time I took another way. Just before entering the jungle again, you'll see a sign indicating Ton-Sai Bay on the right 60 minutes away. Do not pay too much attention to the time on the signs as they can vary by 10 minutes from one sign to another when they are just 50 meters apart. </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhQrPEnq0hx5WpayEyh9n0gtL8dR8HVMbwbrpqRqry7GHq8ShB84nf4QwtTsyIg6R3q0RgX3O8-m_j1HGwQFl2tqyLRFZhh0D1i-vvWNqTvWiG-1VcV3DtlhmErNDwG56VRzh6gAODgg/s1600/Koh_Phi_Phi-16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhQrPEnq0hx5WpayEyh9n0gtL8dR8HVMbwbrpqRqry7GHq8ShB84nf4QwtTsyIg6R3q0RgX3O8-m_j1HGwQFl2tqyLRFZhh0D1i-vvWNqTvWiG-1VcV3DtlhmErNDwG56VRzh6gAODgg/s640/Koh_Phi_Phi-16.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Path to Loh Lana Bay</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih8BUIKveetlZTv2ixeJBIlNlGXg5ZS5V8CCDcP9XfkZ6X0Hl0OQDLrJAl-OjZ3vwoTEXSzn5GPYyj8PKTsr6DfJunkqvpmgkKwHbDpiWnW7eEJhGSj6U9x6GAAXbm0lnitKmHu7AaLg/s1600/Koh_Phi_Phi-14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih8BUIKveetlZTv2ixeJBIlNlGXg5ZS5V8CCDcP9XfkZ6X0Hl0OQDLrJAl-OjZ3vwoTEXSzn5GPYyj8PKTsr6DfJunkqvpmgkKwHbDpiWnW7eEJhGSj6U9x6GAAXbm0lnitKmHu7AaLg/s640/Koh_Phi_Phi-14.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Loh Lana Bay</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizx5qMRdeWNG4NnvziNIid-tPBBQr-PGxMx5Z1LBfYOi-eX4_nBDfkmboCiqNmSznW5C_IHaokcZqjpSPZpsoEivSvlWPEYgX2Pud2fe2l-rmYoeqCkUOVTZ87XQXgHS5F7TdVNFwSPQ/s1600/blog_image-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizx5qMRdeWNG4NnvziNIid-tPBBQr-PGxMx5Z1LBfYOi-eX4_nBDfkmboCiqNmSznW5C_IHaokcZqjpSPZpsoEivSvlWPEYgX2Pud2fe2l-rmYoeqCkUOVTZ87XQXgHS5F7TdVNFwSPQ/s640/blog_image-03.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Camel rock in Nui Bay</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCVugpeADBnG1XIqZscB8-kr8Kv0OPSqNmx7HEUiCqb5c-HD2NsedaVTrq4frbQaQkY3YuOaocBe2ZAM4wga54LAmk0NyptCI2CZGoQYTW5jIN3iR9VXcnqXS8vhKUdEljNYFTLDaOEw/s1600/Koh_PhiPhi-inst-05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCVugpeADBnG1XIqZscB8-kr8Kv0OPSqNmx7HEUiCqb5c-HD2NsedaVTrq4frbQaQkY3YuOaocBe2ZAM4wga54LAmk0NyptCI2CZGoQYTW5jIN3iR9VXcnqXS8vhKUdEljNYFTLDaOEw/s640/Koh_PhiPhi-inst-05.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nui Bay from above</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So I decided to take this path since I was not keen on going the same way back. That way was pretty much the same though; narrow path in the middle of the jungle. And in the middle of nowhere, after a little while I reach something that we should not see in those beautiful places, or anywhere for that matter. There was a pile of plastic bottles on the side of the path. People, seriously, take care of your shit! How hard is it to carry a bottle of water - especially if it's empty! - to the next bin?! This kind of view really disgust me! </span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeLXALo_HDZ7S5p6XIEVOCJhZyL3lMGtsmJO2jX6DIpqRAFC37fpatoQ8RwjkpEupTb-fVG_tLaMGF2OlH4_-TBWxhhY-ffNN9DksUQg0LKTjdPH3n1WlR2XTmwe5k7SrP0GbzbYgveQ/s1600/Koh_Phi_Phi-13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeLXALo_HDZ7S5p6XIEVOCJhZyL3lMGtsmJO2jX6DIpqRAFC37fpatoQ8RwjkpEupTb-fVG_tLaMGF2OlH4_-TBWxhhY-ffNN9DksUQg0LKTjdPH3n1WlR2XTmwe5k7SrP0GbzbYgveQ/s640/Koh_Phi_Phi-13.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-qYLWbTiBE6uACmLWTCRei9Sdh9BtEdB7Z8ySbHUtM3C0z8-lJsljT-uutsqCvFmxC2p5KkAKUV1I5gk6CJjDOOOFEC8g0RoPuqrcwii7-AIAc4WBOe_KG1zOrcTjS5hh5Gvz_mVljA/s1600/blog_image-06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-qYLWbTiBE6uACmLWTCRei9Sdh9BtEdB7Z8ySbHUtM3C0z8-lJsljT-uutsqCvFmxC2p5KkAKUV1I5gk6CJjDOOOFEC8g0RoPuqrcwii7-AIAc4WBOe_KG1zOrcTjS5hh5Gvz_mVljA/s640/blog_image-06.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFSIYWioKml6lV589agikTICihuVe8XUD8nurORlbU-vgWlpbkG4QtyzW5NyjOb3R7T0DociqpRJfjZ2ib9bwTMBE56ZM_qNRQ1LjxWzhCDro3kKOaU5ERkfzxeqQ6-Oz6Aax0yJf0OA/s1600/blog_image-08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFSIYWioKml6lV589agikTICihuVe8XUD8nurORlbU-vgWlpbkG4QtyzW5NyjOb3R7T0DociqpRJfjZ2ib9bwTMBE56ZM_qNRQ1LjxWzhCDro3kKOaU5ERkfzxeqQ6-Oz6Aax0yJf0OA/s640/blog_image-08.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seriously?! </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After another 30 minutes walk I reached Ton-Sai Bay, tired but very happy with the day of exploration I just did. And that same evening I randomly met 2 other French guys I met in Kao Sok National Park just a few days ago. I was then able to enjoy the main activity on Kho PhiPhi : party!!!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A nice sunset to end on a good note :-)</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-49421617753504899122015-06-06T03:06:00.001-07:002015-06-22T03:36:38.464-07:00Small guide to the Thai islands 1/3 : Koh Tao<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb0_3ObQNhNmed69goUYQ8erNvMjD0asddwrQ4OyidNvJ9hmX5qQWyhv8KsReaHxUfqZIbzduoydFIUKYaTtOLiwxwDDhTPryUJxGd5UwQ5GrPkClw6l8cRFHEeQcXsNrEQOc4OPsPMw/s1600/Post_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb0_3ObQNhNmed69goUYQ8erNvMjD0asddwrQ4OyidNvJ9hmX5qQWyhv8KsReaHxUfqZIbzduoydFIUKYaTtOLiwxwDDhTPryUJxGd5UwQ5GrPkClw6l8cRFHEeQcXsNrEQOc4OPsPMw/s640/Post_Cover.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">One of the favourite part of my trip in Thailand was the islands. I only went to Ko Tao, Ko PhiPhi and Ko Lanta but I had such good different experiences on each one of them that I decided to blog about it in as much details as I could to share with you the reasons I enjoyed it so much. This first post is about the different bays and spots I went to on Ko Tao.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />8 hours overnight train from Bangkok to Chumphon followed by a 3 hours boat ride, Ko Tao is not that easy to reach but it is worth the hassle.<br />The easiest way around the island is by scooter. It's very easy to rent one and you can find shops all around the island. Make sure you take pictures of the scooter before you take it or do a check with the shop owner and point out any scratch or bump. Although some bays are only accessibble by foot like Liam Bay, a motorbike will take you almost everywhere else.<br />On Ko Tao I was staying in Sairee village. I had been told Ko Tao was one of the least touristy island in Thailand, but still there was quiet a lot of people - I did understand the true meaning of touristy island when I went to Ko Phi Phi afterwards.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset from the beach in Sairee village</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ao Him Wong Bay</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2.5 kilometers from Sairee village, it's a very steep walk up then down to get there. Although you can go all the way there by scooter, I recommend you leave it at the view point when it starts going down and continue by foot as the last bit down the bay is very very steep. There is a small beach and a restaurant where you can rent snorkelling gears for 100 Baht. It's a good snorkelling spot. When I was there there was very few people on the beach and no one else was snorkelling. You might want to start from the rocks next to the restaurant, it will give you a better access point to the water and you'll be right in the middle of where the fish are.<br /> </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLY00kWc_a7Q2Gl91FsTgK8VhHzFH7ZuKBelWXtcpzLbZe1hVK9Co-CLg54Ps5o1lY2lJEvO_T0JSy-BTyP2bstptP4W7Fbzj_5mNx-C2tdeoY3DOVH0vcpX0sgFAYw1gRFdd8sYzlyw/s1600/Ao_Him_Wong_Bay-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLY00kWc_a7Q2Gl91FsTgK8VhHzFH7ZuKBelWXtcpzLbZe1hVK9Co-CLg54Ps5o1lY2lJEvO_T0JSy-BTyP2bstptP4W7Fbzj_5mNx-C2tdeoY3DOVH0vcpX0sgFAYw1gRFdd8sYzlyw/s640/Ao_Him_Wong_Bay-01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh Nemo!</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Laem Thian Bay</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This one is not reachabe by scooter. It's a streneous walk with a lot of up and downs through the jungle but it's worth your effort. You might think otherwise as you first see the building near the beach as it is abandoned and there is plenty of rubbish, but once you reach the sand, it is a beautiful small quiet bay. <br />When I was there, there was a few people as well as 2 divers boats but it was mostly quiet anyway, beside the occasional noise from the boats. But after a while they left.<br />Make sure to rent snorkelling gears before you get there as there is no shops at all. The abandoned buildings around look like there used to be some sort of business going on, but the not so easy access to the beach have probably forced them to close down. <br />I really enjoyed this spot to snorkel. The water is very shallow so be careful not to damage the coral and not to hurt yourself, but if you go a bit further it quickly becomes deeper and you can enjoy some really good snorkelling, as well as diving I'm sure, if you're into it.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ak8o4l2Tp8VQRgTZNoV8Jay_ZgT-7oPQcnOOC4V1vjU2AgU4GXee910KLArqT7zHwTrN1MNiaFVjy637Uy3tZ4MmutK-5rPFOVSD1QqU0pw4aK7ui-VoTvvIc7PMnOhUfNu0AL1wGw/s1600/Laem_Thian-02.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ak8o4l2Tp8VQRgTZNoV8Jay_ZgT-7oPQcnOOC4V1vjU2AgU4GXee910KLArqT7zHwTrN1MNiaFVjy637Uy3tZ4MmutK-5rPFOVSD1QqU0pw4aK7ui-VoTvvIc7PMnOhUfNu0AL1wGw/s640/Laem_Thian-02.JPG" width="480" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not the easiest way to get to Laem Thian Bay...</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTgvsf-sgFOsIy6LiomHXXUVeGMiYkKa9LMideKE_KoYEiOF26HnIGzNI8dWsecdZTozfROFh_gYHSlq9zxU3jMRkB59pMEKhfft95_AmTskA-vHkd2EHfVMPid24MPaDLcwX51dTWXQ/s1600/Laem_Thian-09.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTgvsf-sgFOsIy6LiomHXXUVeGMiYkKa9LMideKE_KoYEiOF26HnIGzNI8dWsecdZTozfROFh_gYHSlq9zxU3jMRkB59pMEKhfft95_AmTskA-vHkd2EHfVMPid24MPaDLcwX51dTWXQ/s640/Laem_Thian-09.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ2vB8CnUuf3DboZuFsov9fufkns_AJUzkGbxp9ME3Y_sy6O6PFDx518BjmnyApgajqOX0Zu246yuZAd4qfJrrDt8eli6jHjVQMKujXF8RYIqiyCo2hD2PEmRRq-_3YNc-EctAOPqN7A/s1600/Laem_Thian-17.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ2vB8CnUuf3DboZuFsov9fufkns_AJUzkGbxp9ME3Y_sy6O6PFDx518BjmnyApgajqOX0Zu246yuZAd4qfJrrDt8eli6jHjVQMKujXF8RYIqiyCo2hD2PEmRRq-_3YNc-EctAOPqN7A/s640/Laem_Thian-17.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiagTk5F4DaO527XYm5igQw924PVRAp3fsamwxtE3aDh_sw0ouhF8M7Z8v1SA8vN3IXO8dFc8HoWKEWLOchevFUmwVl3eZ8DAWQf4PoIaXv3xm3kS0OLzxWeUG1OUui4EHQACEB46p17w/s1600/Laem_Thian-21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiagTk5F4DaO527XYm5igQw924PVRAp3fsamwxtE3aDh_sw0ouhF8M7Z8v1SA8vN3IXO8dFc8HoWKEWLOchevFUmwVl3eZ8DAWQf4PoIaXv3xm3kS0OLzxWeUG1OUui4EHQACEB46p17w/s640/Laem_Thian-21.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But your efforts will be rewarded</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC9Aw8jgn3E8ZPquEvgi_vA6PcoFFP1ix-JRU1Ei7K_9_j9yiLh-NlHf99GN1w3-btt34x8cbCFIOPWZw2FL7PFQytTNWrw_8jxGR16NJnH_nNMNae1XeCp5f7TYDzGWPRtwlo0rSJtg/s1600/Ao_Him_Wong_Bay-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC9Aw8jgn3E8ZPquEvgi_vA6PcoFFP1ix-JRU1Ei7K_9_j9yiLh-NlHf99GN1w3-btt34x8cbCFIOPWZw2FL7PFQytTNWrw_8jxGR16NJnH_nNMNae1XeCp5f7TYDzGWPRtwlo0rSJtg/s640/Ao_Him_Wong_Bay-04.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Laem Thian Bay is a beautiful snorkelling spot</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Freedom Beach & John Suwan Rock Viewpoint</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">South of Ko Tao, it's very easy to access it by scooter, and there is a small parking lot 50m before the beach. My main purpose to go there was to reach John Suwan Rock viewpoint and to fly my drone from there. I made a quick stop at freedpom beach and took some pictures there. It looked very nice, as usual the water was turquoise clear and there was small shops along the beach. I then started to hike up the viewpoint. It's a short one but the path is very narrow and you'll have to briefly climb small rocks at some point. From up there you'll get a nice view of the gulf of Thailand when looking at the water, as well as a nice view of Chalok Baan and Thian Og bays when facing the island. And an even better one from an aerial point of view if you go there with your drone :-)</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidrqY11V545lwGH8Iq5RRKkHhuwGghhDQ8fkjofN1MeAdbRaIPwuIi9PYatD1NU_ObJQ4bKOgMwa7f5pUVKC1S7vucuLs9CUU2cz2XOk4qoyxc691NN3uazebGFSRMOcZzqMGmGQDdJA/s1600/Freedom_Beach-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidrqY11V545lwGH8Iq5RRKkHhuwGghhDQ8fkjofN1MeAdbRaIPwuIi9PYatD1NU_ObJQ4bKOgMwa7f5pUVKC1S7vucuLs9CUU2cz2XOk4qoyxc691NN3uazebGFSRMOcZzqMGmGQDdJA/s640/Freedom_Beach-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Freedom Beach</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Panorama from Joh Suwan Rock Viewpoint</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chalok Baan Kao Bay</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHH0e781rO0-PwF-lUqwI32iK7YXrByAOkj6jfFqL94RicV1pZxlCuNIEFswG3XtqfyNNlSYCsjE5JYiIMt0QBE0eUaFo2RDQ4CjBz2xwMN45nJN8xB_IyFv354BGYwiA_GgQfDuHDXw/s1600/Thian_Og_Beach-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHH0e781rO0-PwF-lUqwI32iK7YXrByAOkj6jfFqL94RicV1pZxlCuNIEFswG3XtqfyNNlSYCsjE5JYiIMt0QBE0eUaFo2RDQ4CjBz2xwMN45nJN8xB_IyFv354BGYwiA_GgQfDuHDXw/s640/Thian_Og_Beach-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thian Og Bay</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsE0crItVPc4_HZ98IVIv_h5BKr2PC1Uzlu3xR-gLS53bILZZJQY7iEzjCV0tCIm5qb6j84pU4p_4CdBPvF0DPdjOy5dzaaCchNTLPrqT5_WAFnKoCNIPFabj8toGz_rqGC3BhrUsh9w/s1600/Rock_ViewPoint-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsE0crItVPc4_HZ98IVIv_h5BKr2PC1Uzlu3xR-gLS53bILZZJQY7iEzjCV0tCIm5qb6j84pU4p_4CdBPvF0DPdjOy5dzaaCchNTLPrqT5_WAFnKoCNIPFabj8toGz_rqGC3BhrUsh9w/s640/Rock_ViewPoint-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aerial view of John Suwan Rock Viewpoint, Chalok Baan Kao & Thian Og Bay</td></tr>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sai Daeng Bay</span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Southe East of Ko Tao, it's another bay easy to access by scooter although the last few hundred meters is a really steep road. There is even a sign "1 person per motorbike" on the way back up. Bigger beach than the other ones and more shops but if your main goal is to snorkel you can walk further in the rocks and set from there and it'll just be you... and a lot of fish. If you're a good swimmer, you can probably reach shark island which is in the disctance. But be carefull as there is a lot of boat traffic around the island. This was my favorite snorkelling spot. There was plenty of different fish and the coral was beautiful.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgINwPzgNIAc89wfNV5GDXLqAl6-bY3Nl8v6x589LZHgFU5VGwFGZFT2ukiV9RyqVQtWam7UT6i215nn-2TVfrlkqEBhDlwHs5Z4QojttSlo2iM_d5fFug9RPiHPr7vQ8yGPSkGpLxWrA/s1600/Sai_Deng_Beach-07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgINwPzgNIAc89wfNV5GDXLqAl6-bY3Nl8v6x589LZHgFU5VGwFGZFT2ukiV9RyqVQtWam7UT6i215nn-2TVfrlkqEBhDlwHs5Z4QojttSlo2iM_d5fFug9RPiHPr7vQ8yGPSkGpLxWrA/s640/Sai_Deng_Beach-07.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijJnDovn6VCGaklPT2XxKD_XaR3dQebp_S5E2Fqg-Fa_6-tMt_2H33_nB_jcnT54lAwhbk6UK5ZGh0rdzEk3qs9iQ-KcC2KGqXrnLd5c503UWh1wisoWecZ0FKxdGSehI3Tw5n_Eg50A/s1600/Sai_Deng_Beach-06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijJnDovn6VCGaklPT2XxKD_XaR3dQebp_S5E2Fqg-Fa_6-tMt_2H33_nB_jcnT54lAwhbk6UK5ZGh0rdzEk3qs9iQ-KcC2KGqXrnLd5c503UWh1wisoWecZ0FKxdGSehI3Tw5n_Eg50A/s640/Sai_Deng_Beach-06.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFxctRjXi9sVpShAP4c0y7cQo9RP9i03FbSQz0YNs0MjYPPufcQdssTqeuu8RVg54Qixa_JiOFqYglhCy8nbAjcd_zxD_2bls-DiO5cfduzTs2B8uJjFg3PKCCFmZfv-SaBiwC00S7Q/s1600/Sai_Deng_Beach-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmFxctRjXi9sVpShAP4c0y7cQo9RP9i03FbSQz0YNs0MjYPPufcQdssTqeuu8RVg54Qixa_JiOFqYglhCy8nbAjcd_zxD_2bls-DiO5cfduzTs2B8uJjFg3PKCCFmZfv-SaBiwC00S7Q/s640/Sai_Deng_Beach-03.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aerial View of Sai Daeng Bay</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLaG08YEETKY5jCgtyHIW-8T2Rq-768aoGzxuEc8sA4ZU5hIQJHgy26cz95RinQ6AANvaOfB1zDXchd_H4yV0aO0D_2HUD4srLkEMDIUaWjEiOfLejg4ixnJ6PsgG1xGexyuwoGs1Rew/s1600/Sai_Deng_Beach-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLaG08YEETKY5jCgtyHIW-8T2Rq-768aoGzxuEc8sA4ZU5hIQJHgy26cz95RinQ6AANvaOfB1zDXchd_H4yV0aO0D_2HUD4srLkEMDIUaWjEiOfLejg4ixnJ6PsgG1xGexyuwoGs1Rew/s640/Sai_Deng_Beach-04.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnVE5EeNlb7Lc34zOXRaAV8l6scpYYevKtgih3A-ZHnj1w1Ioh38V8YC79I1t4n22n_fXYnE-n7XzdDfkI8gM_DiVNQbkXTplpUboXZrQ3CHRAEb_VOiWBZW-F-YwCkfKHdCpJwsSYlQ/s1600/Sai_Deng_Beach-05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnVE5EeNlb7Lc34zOXRaAV8l6scpYYevKtgih3A-ZHnj1w1Ioh38V8YC79I1t4n22n_fXYnE-n7XzdDfkI8gM_DiVNQbkXTplpUboXZrQ3CHRAEb_VOiWBZW-F-YwCkfKHdCpJwsSYlQ/s640/Sai_Deng_Beach-05.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aerial View of Shark Island</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ao Leuk</span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Not much to say about that one. I did not stay long as it was quiet busy. But if you lke the beach you should check it out, it's probably on of the most beautiful beach of the island from what I briefly saw. And it's easy to ride there. </span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxdAbwuU8POwV83fOSij7zvlv8y23fK-tH9BYueTv6WYLs_eL3kaoin3klIPQGB6jUtrt7Yf6mOBS0fZNHXmsDPkZGSktcAVfkfEGrDJA5caM8F034e7MMdSgiU1A-SvLt-NiHzScgWw/s1600/Ao_Leuk-01.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxdAbwuU8POwV83fOSij7zvlv8y23fK-tH9BYueTv6WYLs_eL3kaoin3klIPQGB6jUtrt7Yf6mOBS0fZNHXmsDPkZGSktcAVfkfEGrDJA5caM8F034e7MMdSgiU1A-SvLt-NiHzScgWw/s640/Ao_Leuk-01.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ok, it's not that busy... but you can easily find other spots with even less people than that</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDePjc2Eyl2bt96iaLcJFFSO41PKo5zwt-9w1nYcueWkduAyKPfLgb5jUxydx3NEnd7IL6WAzqIXhfhZFt6WsqzyrLb3_muzC2gfTdcZV33l1Uqqb_kiJPnBsKm6_Vv0sqCrwuobFEA/s1600/Ao_Leuk-02.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixDePjc2Eyl2bt96iaLcJFFSO41PKo5zwt-9w1nYcueWkduAyKPfLgb5jUxydx3NEnd7IL6WAzqIXhfhZFt6WsqzyrLb3_muzC2gfTdcZV33l1Uqqb_kiJPnBsKm6_Vv0sqCrwuobFEA/s640/Ao_Leuk-02.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg57IM77uahyphenhyphen1Dyt13I0YTjNJg03XP61ZhOkK_75lQCNE3L_FYDkz_bQj8YJslrpvYy1dneOWSZ595cmn3ME-RUkX4OTHdDAE5jHhXBjpNyRFdkdgYmeXcsO3h3LiaQVm4gM2KDuOQugw/s1600/Ao_Leuk-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg57IM77uahyphenhyphen1Dyt13I0YTjNJg03XP61ZhOkK_75lQCNE3L_FYDkz_bQj8YJslrpvYy1dneOWSZ595cmn3ME-RUkX4OTHdDAE5jHhXBjpNyRFdkdgYmeXcsO3h3LiaQVm4gM2KDuOQugw/s640/Ao_Leuk-03.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ao Leuk Bay is a must go if you like the beach and clear water</td></tr>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tanote Bay</span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Quiet hard to access by scooter. The last bit is this rocky dirt road but nothing too bad for a scooter. Just be careful and go slow and you'll be fine. Nice beach, clear water - again - and quiet busy. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHfNzS20X60YmbVTH7w9bI0gvn_L-RMVyN5XgtCowBAFfeGUa24QCqlmA23Md1XRJ1uX5ZNMIk5cmdvNBLgwTTL48WteFDa9KUnPs6fC_MGPjlA53QAKx4ZwBjUGTtjHG92jjYhscrrA/s1600/Tanote_Bay-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHfNzS20X60YmbVTH7w9bI0gvn_L-RMVyN5XgtCowBAFfeGUa24QCqlmA23Md1XRJ1uX5ZNMIk5cmdvNBLgwTTL48WteFDa9KUnPs6fC_MGPjlA53QAKx4ZwBjUGTtjHG92jjYhscrrA/s640/Tanote_Bay-03.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlbgp_McUy6Jd7uLiBGyHlOev11DFB6T2v3v37kUJP1Ovf6FVoVeB1V-kwBdxMaYKeg13x4jDY5uJZq8tL_3m4vqeST-63ENM3UiVR6ruffOL4BssPpgUQZT6A7hPBniPxO3jytkO6VQ/s1600/Tanote_Bay-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlbgp_McUy6Jd7uLiBGyHlOev11DFB6T2v3v37kUJP1Ovf6FVoVeB1V-kwBdxMaYKeg13x4jDY5uJZq8tL_3m4vqeST-63ENM3UiVR6ruffOL4BssPpgUQZT6A7hPBniPxO3jytkO6VQ/s640/Tanote_Bay-04.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLKarF4ypS0WTNSjgyXDvVES2cKv_GMwNrNCAIlMDBVPuSJzApVBtT1jh4s3BfmSLYcX0-1yKWJ1E31ykg_VspEExPCgFflqXSQNNv-GQOah_0BRLU_Iw-FZQGbss_ulTnzsgdAgwdtg/s1600/Tanote_Bay-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLKarF4ypS0WTNSjgyXDvVES2cKv_GMwNrNCAIlMDBVPuSJzApVBtT1jh4s3BfmSLYcX0-1yKWJ1E31ykg_VspEExPCgFflqXSQNNv-GQOah_0BRLU_Iw-FZQGbss_ulTnzsgdAgwdtg/s640/Tanote_Bay-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aerial view of Tanote Bay</td></tr>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Love Ko Tao viewpoint</span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Although it is not a bay, I think it's a nice spot to check out. Up there in the highlands of Ko Tao, this view point will give you a nice view of Tanote Bay - take the road that goes up on the left on your way to Tanote. There is a sign. At the top there is a small cafe where you can refresh yourself. But if you're not planning on buying anything you'll have to pay a 20 Baht entrance fee anyway as it is a private property - That's what the woman at the cafe told me. The cafe takes the whole space from which you can see the view so you have no choice but pay or buy something to enjoy it.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwpX7a3UMblbuJZcjiVAUhQAlf6toRpCSuXdcsbzK3MCcsz6NUvdMfZ2yRQRQyvhHJKcRlRMRewIZ5VX6pvNaWHmJSXRwng0Tsbv0LdTSqvHNUugw72_KyomMih13VxdzhViqaMKry7Q/s1600/Love_Koh_Tao_ViewPoint-02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwpX7a3UMblbuJZcjiVAUhQAlf6toRpCSuXdcsbzK3MCcsz6NUvdMfZ2yRQRQyvhHJKcRlRMRewIZ5VX6pvNaWHmJSXRwng0Tsbv0LdTSqvHNUugw72_KyomMih13VxdzhViqaMKry7Q/s640/Love_Koh_Tao_ViewPoint-02.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjruWxcZ6EkBtpvhgCrHTU1-X7kkCFyPl1Q5IK6vtHF-7fniMq8Yo-h9S2eiJ39QRQl4p2p7jfcblwhv64ZKjxAI-TIl3eOpW2OjDfgytiEcbekybNDUgKATKKWuUXCJMD73Nz-rzgARQ/s1600/Love_Koh_Tao_ViewPoint-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjruWxcZ6EkBtpvhgCrHTU1-X7kkCFyPl1Q5IK6vtHF-7fniMq8Yo-h9S2eiJ39QRQl4p2p7jfcblwhv64ZKjxAI-TIl3eOpW2OjDfgytiEcbekybNDUgKATKKWuUXCJMD73Nz-rzgARQ/s640/Love_Koh_Tao_ViewPoint-01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">With my drone, I was able to film the other side of the viewpoint : Sairee village</td></tr>
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<h3>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nangyuan Terrace</span></span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span></h3>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">North West of th eisland, you have to go through a resort to access the water. It's obviously crowded and there is no beach but it's a great spot for sunset as you have Ko Nang Yuan island in front of you. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ko Tao is a great island to snorkel or relax on the beach. The different bays are not all easy to access but it adds to the charm of the island. </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Leave a comment if you have been to one of those bays or to other ones on the island that you think are worth a visit. </span></b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-11038566659199488542015-05-23T03:51:00.002-07:002017-02-23T18:09:22.850-08:002-day Slow boat from Luang Prabang to Huay Xai<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">From Luang Prabang, to get to Thailand I heard that it was possible to get on a slow boat. Although I had been told the trip takes 2 days with an overnight stop in Pakbeng I wanted to try it. And indeed it takes 2 full days - 9h on the boat each day - I do not regret the experience. I mean, it can't be that bad to cruise the Mekong for 2 days.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The boat leaves at 8:30 am every day. A good thing to know is that the slow boat pier is about 10 kms outside of Luang Prabang. It will cost you around 50,000 Kip by TukTuk and take 30 minutes to get there. You can either buy your tickets fro an agency in town if you're not sure to be able to get a ticket at the pier. It should cost you around 140,000 Kip - without transportation to the pier - against 110,000 Kip at the pier.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Another thing is to try to get there in advance to get the good seats. Obviously, the seats at the back are closer to the engine so it might make the trip less enjoyable but it's not unbearable. The boat I took was far from full and we basically all had 2 seats each and were able to lay for a quick nap if needed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I left Luang Prabang at 7:30 am to get to the pier at 8:00 am, bought a ticket and boarded. There was a few other travellers but most of the people were locals. The boat left on time and we were on for a 9 hours boat cruise on the Mekong river. The trip was smooth, the noise of the engine slowly becoming a background noise as tie past. The seats were confortable, they were actual car or bus seats. But the seats can be different depending on the boat you get. Some boats have wooden seats which can make the trip tiring. Unfortunately there is no way to find out in advance since the boat are privately owned by locals and each day someone different uses his boat to take people. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the boat</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the way to Pakbeng the boat made a few quick stops to drop people off. Some people seemed to be living in very remote area, some unboarded the boat in the middle of rocks and just disappeared in the jungle. 9 hours on a boat is long, very long. You can buy food on the boat but the prices are obviously outrageous so make sure you bring your own food and drinks. You also want to bring something entertaining, music, movie, books,... whatever suits you best. I read a lot during this trip, it had been a while and it was good to read a good book again. If you're lucky enough to get a nearly empty boat you might even be able to take a nap accross 2 seats.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now onto the part that makes this trip worth doing; the scenery. And I was not disappointed, the Mekong really is a beautiful river, the water not so much but the surroudings are. We passed a few villages with kids playing in the river and waiving at the boat - talking about a nice childhood.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We arrived in Pakbeng around 5:30 pm, and as soon as we got off the boat locals jumped on us to offer us to stay in their guest house. I stayed at Meksavanh guest house. Clean room and bathroom for 50,000 Kip. Pakbeng is really small but since it is an obligatory stop on the way to Huay Xai by slow boat you will find plenty of options to sleep and eat. And it's also the stop for people taking the journey the other way, so the village gets quiet lively at night, but nothing party-like.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The pier in Pakbeng</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The next morning, departure at 8:30 am. Same people on the boat - for the travellers - so some social interaction started between people. But we still mostly read, listened to music and napped throughout the day. If you did not bring enough food with you for the 2 days, the restaurant in Pakbeng offer the option to pack you a lunch bag including a sandwich, chips and drinks. It can vary depending on the restaurant. The trip could have gone nice and smoothly for the entire 2 days but it would not have been fun; After a couple of hours cruising in the second day, the engine started to smoke a lot and the boat stopped. It took them about 20 minutes to restart it and keep going. This actually happened twice and since we were cruising against the current, while the engine was off, the boat slowly started to go back, which I found quiet funny. Just imagine if it had taken them 3 hours or more to fix the problem ;-) But they eventually put us on another boat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It was another beautiful day and the scenery was as enjoyable as the day before. At some point the Mekong river becomes the phisycal border between Laos and Thailand. So going against the current, looking on your right you would see Laos and on your left Thailand. I know you probably did not need a pratctical explanation but I found this quiet amusing so I wanted to emphasize. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">We reached Houay Xai around 5:45pm. Even though it was nice to spend those 2 days on a boat on the Mekong river, I was really happy to reach the destination and looking forward to cross the Thailand border the next day.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the left Laos, on the right Thailand</span></td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-60016981031480211992015-05-15T04:06:00.001-07:002015-06-20T08:09:19.718-07:00Laos New Year in Vientiane<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSLijvE_jDGybYSlEtNl1BSuRWKyqQ_8OpQcSfi4V4gzNzoaRZeFFR0Mhl_rS99wmLqN44CY-X_d4BpV9Oi4y8M9rZWb_oTx_caNWX0kFRUqHUxBKr-zddcLCT-s5UrAjMgk2cJIHILw/s1600/Post_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSLijvE_jDGybYSlEtNl1BSuRWKyqQ_8OpQcSfi4V4gzNzoaRZeFFR0Mhl_rS99wmLqN44CY-X_d4BpV9Oi4y8M9rZWb_oTx_caNWX0kFRUqHUxBKr-zddcLCT-s5UrAjMgk2cJIHILw/s640/Post_Cover.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Laos new year "Pii Mai", is on April 14,15 and 16. It is the time for people to wash their homes and all the artefacts inside. but it also involves throwing water at each other. I was in Vientiane on April 15 and the city was one giant water battlefield... It was amazing.</span></div>
<a name='more'></a>I arrived by motorbike from Pakkading around mid-day. Time to check-in and change clothes and I was out to go explore the city. I had no idea what I was going into. I had seen people throwing water on the side of the road so I knew it would probably be the same here in Vientiane... It was 10 times more fun. I had never seen this before, traffic jam everywhere, lines of cars and pick-up trucks transporting people with buckets of water and water guns. And they know what they are doing, you can tell they are use to this and have put a lot of thought in the setup. On the side of the road, in front of houses, hostels, bars and coffee shops, there is always a small plastic swimming pool used as a reloading point for buckets and guns. It's also a time when people take their nice cars out, and there was plenty of beautiful old cars running the streets of Vientiane as well as other funny looking cars.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxuM7oleUJ24sf2_fqy3ticYUvQa7EnmSroN-rXyC1NA7sDlAjtlLj7BWZT9bS8Wj54YI-aKZP_McVp5XFGsppAySslcC7eTDeN1wD6Dq21CwKylyHtHfmh0Zm4VH23eILqkLPxZszTA/s1600/NewYear-Vientiane-08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxuM7oleUJ24sf2_fqy3ticYUvQa7EnmSroN-rXyC1NA7sDlAjtlLj7BWZT9bS8Wj54YI-aKZP_McVp5XFGsppAySslcC7eTDeN1wD6Dq21CwKylyHtHfmh0Zm4VH23eILqkLPxZszTA/s640/NewYear-Vientiane-08.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju8iH9nbvpr-z30I4SA858UO9AAgJMsQZoy7eY_BKAcdEICtEIBmvry9g_oZ23k5kJzyvB472XUyjkuCJreBPIUWh-hDC3P5W1ffvtCtiglLEUkRt2F0IZKucacMw_evesHQyUhgdQwA/s1600/NewYear-Vientiane-17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju8iH9nbvpr-z30I4SA858UO9AAgJMsQZoy7eY_BKAcdEICtEIBmvry9g_oZ23k5kJzyvB472XUyjkuCJreBPIUWh-hDC3P5W1ffvtCtiglLEUkRt2F0IZKucacMw_evesHQyUhgdQwA/s640/NewYear-Vientiane-17.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I was amazed and so excited to see all this, I first went out without my camera but I really wanted to take pictures of that show and seeing other people with their camera, convinced me to go back to the hostel and take it. I obviously had to be careful, but if I have an advice it would be not to try to hide your camera all the time; People throw water at everyone so you want them to see that you are holding a camera. No one threw water at me when they saw my camera. They just waited until I stretched my arm up holding the camera out of reach, and only then they would drown me, and only me :)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3OqvaI8QbbWLcyhdIykOokx2ATl5YSQGuq7l6b97oZ1vf3WkoCA3IKHiLKTdHrgyc8mI2dueSz2ezUQI31_T1MiNisGzkZvia30vxYLDRXX0gVnx_lKAsdRIhVi2OP5emQvqDi3Rsfg/s1600/NewYear-Vientiane-27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3OqvaI8QbbWLcyhdIykOokx2ATl5YSQGuq7l6b97oZ1vf3WkoCA3IKHiLKTdHrgyc8mI2dueSz2ezUQI31_T1MiNisGzkZvia30vxYLDRXX0gVnx_lKAsdRIhVi2OP5emQvqDi3Rsfg/s640/NewYear-Vientiane-27.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_rCKbiCwrLuKGmOZjgAwXVABjTOkB2t_7FeDXJWGPk1nsiTwewYH7G7U7CUt0z384xZjA25akZm9lFk0cbmCeNpjPsWJ34kUj7zVaNfCQ5d7SocAnwudt1JI86xQ-aEGNdxtld99kFg/s1600/NewYear-Vientiane-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_rCKbiCwrLuKGmOZjgAwXVABjTOkB2t_7FeDXJWGPk1nsiTwewYH7G7U7CUt0z384xZjA25akZm9lFk0cbmCeNpjPsWJ34kUj7zVaNfCQ5d7SocAnwudt1JI86xQ-aEGNdxtld99kFg/s640/NewYear-Vientiane-10.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />Probably because I am lazy but also because I am not really good at describing, I let you with a selection of pictures I took and hope it will give you the envie to experience it as well.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxqMeWBufgoj7cLvu3PSuXZyN5DkkzytloN2w3jPLIaOcnDRs8S142Ab-NdYKlUMRCqViywUd5A5HVvgLc2vyuVAloIPl67kB8kx__RaGjTrSqKAsL3YRhyphenhyphenLEdBh-MsBNUitU6p9T3zw/s1600/IMG_7583.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxqMeWBufgoj7cLvu3PSuXZyN5DkkzytloN2w3jPLIaOcnDRs8S142Ab-NdYKlUMRCqViywUd5A5HVvgLc2vyuVAloIPl67kB8kx__RaGjTrSqKAsL3YRhyphenhyphenLEdBh-MsBNUitU6p9T3zw/s640/IMG_7583.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfg3XE6ho9ezgpvTeplBmhKfP8jlL2Tr9ne5Np9XnPbguTMnMu_xKCDdnK4w0ARRqGLs5KV7yvde1KBORiBMFkXS5nWgKezacJC-dC8shzMes1Gv1nYAltExUX-AsCWjainPqySgz98w/s1600/IMG_7588.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfg3XE6ho9ezgpvTeplBmhKfP8jlL2Tr9ne5Np9XnPbguTMnMu_xKCDdnK4w0ARRqGLs5KV7yvde1KBORiBMFkXS5nWgKezacJC-dC8shzMes1Gv1nYAltExUX-AsCWjainPqySgz98w/s640/IMG_7588.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwEyzv5IVkN7zSYx4d3nRDWufCzj_nXmizVl854SHoIycMSNj4NhxPEjmOndT94JPeZaD044o2-BoUM4SkNF6zy3rUGUdzVyweYxe-ZsytKpakcXpOqqIynKwHDszTwcvTRVJ2bPEBIg/s1600/NewYear-Vientiane-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwEyzv5IVkN7zSYx4d3nRDWufCzj_nXmizVl854SHoIycMSNj4NhxPEjmOndT94JPeZaD044o2-BoUM4SkNF6zy3rUGUdzVyweYxe-ZsytKpakcXpOqqIynKwHDszTwcvTRVJ2bPEBIg/s640/NewYear-Vientiane-04.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxsRxcBTAPE7fLOc_ffKGQutBxvsBnrR4ODa6NuUwBZXoEcprdk2h6BIvbQIDhHCVGPFJue6jG9qT-a7Q3OccfqJ0VYveQxTjEDQ-pwIqzFtgn25nZboDtsewingtBxv0I0-E14tXiBQ/s1600/NewYear-Vientiane-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxsRxcBTAPE7fLOc_ffKGQutBxvsBnrR4ODa6NuUwBZXoEcprdk2h6BIvbQIDhHCVGPFJue6jG9qT-a7Q3OccfqJ0VYveQxTjEDQ-pwIqzFtgn25nZboDtsewingtBxv0I0-E14tXiBQ/s640/NewYear-Vientiane-11.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifET3Wv8GU8X7tjuTzg56yciqSpKyx2fizkZjaYK7GYF-s_CjdqVIboac-tWJCc9hwvRs2jh2DYVgezyW1e7dW73ok-vPH_9Kuxw79GqwLICpFzBpPe5wxlQ2qSHakbWdOLtfaKwjGtw/s1600/NewYear-Vientiane-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifET3Wv8GU8X7tjuTzg56yciqSpKyx2fizkZjaYK7GYF-s_CjdqVIboac-tWJCc9hwvRs2jh2DYVgezyW1e7dW73ok-vPH_9Kuxw79GqwLICpFzBpPe5wxlQ2qSHakbWdOLtfaKwjGtw/s640/NewYear-Vientiane-12.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbOqVQLpx31xvaTuzjGrp4VBJZ5-zuNqQMnHG7bTs2hgcbqvLZRGQwKOPZuyix6tPw1xiTj5LZpHJertlHc5oRNexuzJOhJKUCdu_34V5QrfeBKVjpt8ft6Rb9l3XuaE99ZWaF8Bk2ug/s1600/NewYear-Vientiane-23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbOqVQLpx31xvaTuzjGrp4VBJZ5-zuNqQMnHG7bTs2hgcbqvLZRGQwKOPZuyix6tPw1xiTj5LZpHJertlHc5oRNexuzJOhJKUCdu_34V5QrfeBKVjpt8ft6Rb9l3XuaE99ZWaF8Bk2ug/s640/NewYear-Vientiane-23.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-42686724436405131342015-05-04T19:49:00.005-07:002015-06-20T08:10:32.549-07:00Riding the Thakhek Loop<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1jttCC_AEKRZN4JNS7A4a-BrAmFoWc8GaaDLkJWxTAZQrm9VIdr1bBCSqrR-uxDwLNsvZr4w-NxgZsW-Y8sf7_NQxxl3_GY2cwyb7GCVfzqemuWKZJ4xMfAP9qi_00wyep3j4jQojOQ/s1600/Post_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1jttCC_AEKRZN4JNS7A4a-BrAmFoWc8GaaDLkJWxTAZQrm9VIdr1bBCSqrR-uxDwLNsvZr4w-NxgZsW-Y8sf7_NQxxl3_GY2cwyb7GCVfzqemuWKZJ4xMfAP9qi_00wyep3j4jQojOQ/s1600/Post_Cover.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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350km north of Pakse is Thakhek, city mainly popular for the 400 km loop that you can make by motorbike. You can do it in 3 or 4 days depending on how long you want to spend on your motorbike each day and also the road condition. Travelling from South to North of Laos, I did not complete the entire loop, but the last 100 kms back to Takhek from the north are just on the main highway 13 so I don't think I have missed much.</div>
<a name='more'></a>You can of course do the loop one way or the other, I think most people start heading east on the road 12, but you can start by heading north on the main road 13. I started around 8:30am on the first day and headed east. As soon as you're out of the city you can see the karst landscape around you. It was very windy though. My plan for the day was a short 100km ride to Thalang. The roads were in good condition all the way up there, the first half is an easy flat ride on road 12, then when getting to Gnommalat you take a left on road 1E. This road is smaller with also less traffic but in good condition as well. After passing by the powerplant on your left the road starts going up for a few kilometers until you reach Nakay. It took me 3 hours to get to Thalang, I thought about going to Lak Sao, 60 kilometers further but I decided to enjoy the afternoon around Thalang.<br />
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I checked-in at the Phosy Thalang guest house, it's on your left 100m before the bridge at then end of the village. You also have the Sabaidee guest house on the right just before the bridge. After checking-in I took my motorbike and my drone - obviously - and decided to continue on the road. And it becomes really interesting for the next 10-15 kms after Thalang. The road goes through those small ponds full of dead trees, add the haze coming from the farmers burning the surrounding fields at this time of the year, and it creates a very particular atmostphere. Probably ideal for a thriller or horror movie set. I stopped in the middle and despite the strong wind I took my drone out and decided to fly it for a bit. I also went to the bridge at the end of the village for a sunset flight.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phosy Thalang guest house</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy4gWMXeeEyefMSCk8wiI0gv3rORaerwxuJQ_oed8qK0ONYwHqhXt0Xkpu8Aj07tZP4oR9lrl0-KoztXwBu0s72bx00wEWxBuEhKv6KbNfZaVP60It3iJGsyUohHVoEkryt77DfeAjkQ/s1600/Thakhek_Loop-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy4gWMXeeEyefMSCk8wiI0gv3rORaerwxuJQ_oed8qK0ONYwHqhXt0Xkpu8Aj07tZP4oR9lrl0-KoztXwBu0s72bx00wEWxBuEhKv6KbNfZaVP60It3iJGsyUohHVoEkryt77DfeAjkQ/s1600/Thakhek_Loop-04.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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On the second day, I went through the small ponds and enjoyed it again. After that, the road condition is not as goood. It becomes a dirt road with small holes for about 25 kilometers. It also starts going up and down but nothing really bad during the dry season. Although I have heard that during the wet season things can get trickier and muddier. The road also takes some altitude so you get a nice view of the valley before reaching Lak Sao. I did a quick stop and got something to eat before heading to Kong Lor. </div>
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There is about 150 kilometers between Thalang and Kong Lor, and besides those 25 kilometers of dirt road, the rest of the road is in good condition. 60 kilometers past Lak Sao, I took road 8 towards Kong Lor. The last 40 kilometers can be quiet boring since there is long parts where the road is literally straight. But stay alert as there is regularly quiet big holes, and the last 10 kilometers are just the worst even though the road is paved. I stayed at PhounSouk Guest house. The owner is a really nice tall Lao guy - quiet unusual to see tall local people. Kong Lor is famous for its 7 kilometers cave that you can visit by boat. There is not much else to do but visiting the surroundings. At the end of the day when the wind calmed down I took out my drone and flew over the fields next to the guest house. As usual it attracted the kids and they were quiet excited. I even asked one of them to take his bike so I could film him while riding.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The road past Thalang</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKf4164unE-RDXERAGmNRfTKED-LkACrdcRa972b7qzPEv2eSk-a8cFLl6JbMZ4aSIURA797Xlj-fyvh_Ef7uq1fQHsbfKSWvD2X_d43wFcnYlNCGvxkglIJRF6CH1cmXxWYPJ2tRovQ/s1600/Thakhek_Loop-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKf4164unE-RDXERAGmNRfTKED-LkACrdcRa972b7qzPEv2eSk-a8cFLl6JbMZ4aSIURA797Xlj-fyvh_Ef7uq1fQHsbfKSWvD2X_d43wFcnYlNCGvxkglIJRF6CH1cmXxWYPJ2tRovQ/s1600/Thakhek_Loop-12.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset flight in Thalang</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kong Lor village</td></tr>
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For the last day on the loop, since I was travelling to the north of Lao, I did not plan to go back down to Thakhek but instead head north to Paksan, a 170 kilometers (105 miles) ride. I did not start as early as usual, I first got my luggage rack fixed and reinforced since it broke again the day before in those last 10 kms and all its holes. I left around 10am to get back to the road 8. As soon as I reached it, it the road started to go up and down with some pretty steep parts. It's only 25 kms to reach the main road 13 but there are a few mountains to go over and quiet a lot of roadwork that makes this part long and streneous to drive. But the nice part is that there is some very nice lookout points where you can stop and rest and admire the view.<br />
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It all went well until about 50 kms from Paksan, my motorbike started acting strange and would not accelerate as suppose to. I was hoping I could just ride like that until Paksan, but then, in a small village it completely stopped and did not start again. Wether in Vietnam or Laos, it is very easy to find a mechanic or someone with some mechanic knowledge. He try to change different parts but the problem was bigger, and he did not have the appropriate tools to fix it. Then he called someone who could speak some English and that person explained that I had to go to Pakkading, 7 kms back and that they would put my motorbike on one of those weird looking tractors. It surely is not a tractor but that is what it reminded me of the first time I saw one. I'm not going to try to explain how it looks like, I'll just put a picture and if you know what they are called, please let me know in the comments.<br />
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I jumped on the back holding my motorbike, and off we went to Pakkading... slowly... very slowly, and since it was new year in Laos, just imagine a foreigner standing at the back of a slow vehicle. I was a designated target for kids with water buckets on the side of the road. Iwas quiet wet by the time we got there. In Pakkading we waited a while before we could find a mechanic that was able to properly fix a Suzuki. But once he got there, there were about 3 people working on my motorbike. I always like to see how things are done, and since I was zero knowledge about mechanic, it was very interesting for me to watch. And they did a great job, they spent a few hours on it, finishing at night, with one of them holding the head light so the others could keep working. I spent the night in a nearby guesthouse - another thing very easy to find in Vietnam and Laos even in remote places - and head to Vientiane the next morning for what would be a great experience of Laos new year...<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-50348079797072313772015-04-30T05:08:00.002-07:002015-06-20T08:04:00.258-07:00The 4000 islands<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I entered Laos from Vietnam by the most southern border crossing between those 2 countries. I spent my first night in Laos in Attapeu, then went to Pakse before heading south to Don Det on the 4000 islands. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">From Pakse, it is a 140km ride to Naka Sang, where you can take a boat to get to Don Det, the most popular island of the 4000 amongst backpackers. Technically you cannot get to all 4000 islands because the smallest patch of grass sticking out of the water counts as an islands. But it does not mean the places is not very pretty. It cost me 70 000 kip to put my motorbike on a small boat. It took around 10-15 minutes to cross to the island. You can probably bargain a cheaper price, apparently it also depends on the CC of your motorbike.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirdlSi9UZuI1V0tZ2mwmi3XC9tETm6hOhVsBNBk2yYqBVuvLv4LrqyEXbSdA8-UhPcEouxPMyBF-q1L7dAMJ-SanMzjJwPmLYSKwy9k1BtJBlhUB8liuNuMCHc0ApZxzSW2fJLeIjVrA/s1600/IMG_7376.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirdlSi9UZuI1V0tZ2mwmi3XC9tETm6hOhVsBNBk2yYqBVuvLv4LrqyEXbSdA8-UhPcEouxPMyBF-q1L7dAMJ-SanMzjJwPmLYSKwy9k1BtJBlhUB8liuNuMCHc0ApZxzSW2fJLeIjVrA/s1600/IMG_7376.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the boat to Don Det with my motorbike</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once on Don Det, there is 2 main streets, - which are actually small dirt path - Sunset street on the western side of the island and sunrise, on the eastern side. I just drove down sunset street and passed by plenty of guest houses with bungalows facing the river. You won't have any problem to find one, it's just a matter of finding one that you like. I'm fairly easy so I just stopped randomly in front of one that looked nice. It was not straight on the water but it had a nice front yard and the bungalows were neat inside and had a hamac - they pretty much all have one anywhere you go - I do not even remember the name of the guest house, it was something like "Noon at midnight" but I cannot swear that's actally the name. I paid 50 000 kip for a bungalow with my own bathroom.<br />There, I met 2 German girls and an English guy and in the afternoon we went to the LiPhi waterfall. It was about 4:30pm and at this time the light was starting to look really nice and I took some pretty good footage of the waterfall with my drone. The entrance was 35 000 kip which is quiet expensive but the waterfall is really beautiful, I think it's definitely worth checking out. The Li Phi waterfall is on Don Khon island, south of Don Det and connected to it by a bridge. You also have to pay for everyday you cross the bridge which I think is just ridiculous, and it's 15 000 kip, for one day it's fine, but if you cross everyday for 3 or 4 days, that's a budget. You can also just keep walking or riding by, that's your call. We then went for a drink and some late lunch / early diner back on Don Det at the Kong bar on the sunrise street.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Li Phi waterfalls from my drone</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />The next day was very hot, I was sweating just laying in the hamac. But I wanted to do something so I decided to go for a walk anyway. As you can imagine I took my drone with me and I walked to Don Khon island - no, I did not pay the bridge this time. I took a path that goes into the island, and as soon as you leave the main street that runs along the river, there is nothing else. I was walking in the middle of what probably is rice fields in the wet season but at this time it was just dirt. After a while the vegetation got more dense and I was walking in the middle of small trees and bushes, it all looked really dry. Then a sign "waterfall" interested me, and althgouh the way took me back a little, it was not too long I walked by a small café, crossed a suspended bridge and walked a bit more to a nice waterfall. Some locals were building some wooden structures in the Mekong river, probably preparing the fishing for the wet season. Although the waterfall looked really nice from the ground, from the drone it takes another dimension and the term 4000 islands really makes sense. There is thousands of small islands and patch of grass all around the river, it really is something. On the way back I bought another bottle of water at the small café and kept going to the most southern point of Don Khon island. After another 15 minutes, I ended up in front of a broken wooden bridge... Not willing to head back I decided to try to cross anyway. It involved at bit of climbing but nothing unsurmontable and the structure was still solid. After that, I reached my destination. Nothing special about it except that you can see Cambodia from there, it's very close. So I took out my drone, and I think I managed to fly far enough so it actually crossed the imaginary border. My drone travelled one more country than me on that trip :-)</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Came accross a broken bridge on the way</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cambodia on the left and Laos on the right</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I went back by another path and stopped at the bridge between the 2 islands to take some aerial footage. It obviously attracted kids and I quickly a small audience around me. I love to see kids being so excited to see this small helicopter flying, and when I make the drone face them and they can see themselves on the fpv screen, they just love it.<br />Back at the bungalow I was exhausted and so sweating, I decided to go for a swim. The English guy and one of the Germans joined me and we went to a small "beach" - more of a little patch of sand near the river - and just went into the water to relax. And that's one thing I really enjoyed about the 4000 islands is the relaxoing bit. There is a lot of travellers on both islands but it's fairly easy to walk somewhere quiet and find yourself a nice spot to swim in the Mekong. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bridge linking Don Det and Don Khon islands</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />For my 3rd day I went to the Khone Phapheng Falls with 2 of Germans I met a few days before. We first took a small boat to the main land then a tuk tuk for the 15-20 remaining kilometers. It was not a really enjoyable ride, very noisy and not so comfortable but at least it was a short one. The entry fee is 55 000 Kip for foreigners... and 20 000 for locals. Once inside you have to take a shuttle that takes you to the view point, or you could just walk there, it's just a few hundred meters walk. The waterfalls are really impressive, they are the biggest in southeast Asia in terms of water volume. Even in the dry season, it is worth visiting. I flew my drone over it and got some nice close footage of it all. There is not much else to do there so an afternoon is more than enough to spend there.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The boat back to the main land</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our ride to the Khone Phapheng Waterfalls<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Khone Phapheng Waterfalls</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Khone Phapheng Waterfalls from above</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-53704900072475423952015-04-25T23:50:00.000-07:002015-06-20T07:39:36.056-07:00What to do if you lose your passport in Vietnam... then get it back<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's always something we think "happens to other people". We hear stories about it but we feel like it won't happen to us because we are careful and always put ours in a safe spot. Well, I have been travelling quiet a lot for the past 7 years and that's it, it happened to me in Vietnam, <b>I lost my passport!</b>... but then I got it back! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As you can read on this <a href="http://blog.youmitrip.com/2015/04/2-weeks-riding-through-northern-vietnam.html" target="_blank">post</a> and on that <a href="http://blog.youmitrip.com/2015/04/2-weeks-riding-through-northern-vietnam_19.html" target="_blank">one</a>, while I traveled through Vietnam I rented a motorbike for 2 weeks and rode in Northern Vietnam. Everything went just fine, but on the very last day, the small bag in which my passport was fell out of the pocket of my jacket that I simply forgot to close, not even not properly closed, I forgot to close the pocket!... When I think about it, it's quiet amazing that I've never lost my passport before.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In this post I will explain to you what I had to do in Hanoi in order to start the procedure to get a new one, but then roll back everything since I got my passport back. The process should be quiet similar in Ho Chi Minh city.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1- Go to the local police station</span></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The first thing I did when coming back in Hanoi after dropping off the motorbike and cheking-in my hostel, was to go to the closest police station. you can ask the reception of your hostel/hotel, they sure will be able to help you. There, I explained my situation and they gave me a form to fill in English. But there is a part in the form that had to be written in Vietnamese and describe the events. So I went back to my hostel and asked one of the staff to write down in Vietnamese what happened as I told her. The rest of the form was pretty straight forward; name, passport number, date of the loss, location (try to be as accurate as possible) I had lost it on the road somewhere near a village called Cho Chu therefore I was not able to give a precise location but it worked out as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once your form is filled go back to the police station to get it signed and stamped by the station chief.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mine is the French embassy. You might want to check online if you need to make an appointment beforehand, but giving the emergency I'm sure they'll receive you if you just show up there. They were very friendly and helpful. I gave the police report, and they told me that I had two options, I could ask for a regular passport that would take 3 weeks to make or for an emergency passport that works the same way as a regular one except that it's only valid 1 year, but I could get it the next day. I took the later option.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I had no idea such thing as a passport valid 1 year existed. I always thought an emergency passport was a document that would only allow you to travel to fly back home. Anyway, it was a good surprise and I was happy not to have to wait 3 weeks. I left the police report as well as an ID photo.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3- Get a call from the motorbike rental agency telling you someone has found your passport</span></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The next morning, as I was checking in another hostel and got ready to go pick up my emergancy passport at the embassy, I received a call from the rental agency. They told me someone had found my passport and took it to the police. Crazy!!! At this precise moment I was wondering if it was already too late to cancel the process of the emergency passport. I went to my appointment at the embassy anyway and told them what just happened. They tole me that it was fine and that I should go get my passport and come back.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Cho Chu is about 130km from Hanoi, and if you are familiar with the roads in Vietnam it takes quiet a while to cover that distance. People at the rental agency Flamingo Travel were very helpful and told me I could go there by public bus, but that I would have to take 2 buses, the first to Thai Nguyen and then another smaller one to Cho Chu. That was the cheapest choice but just one way would probably take me almost a day.The other option was to hire a driver to drive me there. It cost me 1 500 000 Dong (65€ / $70), I just wanted to get this over with.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">4- Go get your poassport back... and pay for that</span></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The next morning the driver took me to Cho Chu where he called the police from his cell phone and a policeman showed up a few minutes later. It felt odd since we did not go to the police station but more somewhere that looked like someone's house. As I was expecting, he asked me for money righ away. I had anticipated this and withdrew some money beforehand and I highly recommend you do the same if you find yourself in the same situation. They wanted 3 million Dong (130€ / $140)!!! It seems people there feel they deserve a massive reward if they find your stuff. But this time it was not just "stuff" it was my passport. I just couldn't believe that this cop was asking me for so much, apparently it was 1 million (42€ / $45) each... What?!... yea 1 million for the woman who found it - a bit much but fair enough -, 1 million for the cop that was sitting in front of me - of course - and 1 million for the chief - Because he is the chief I guess. I almost decided to leave my passport there and get the emergency one at this point. So I started to calculate how much my passport was worth, meaning how much it would cost me if I had to do all the visas over. We finally settled for 2 million Dong (85€ / $95). </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">5- Go back to your embassy/consulate</span></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I asked the driver to drop me off at the French embassy, paid him and went in. I got received by the same nice lady as before and she cancelled everything and told me to go back to the police station to cancel the police report. She really insisted that I do it quickly. It is very important because otherwise they would cancel your visa and that could get you in big trouble at the border when exiting Vietnam.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">6- Go back to the police station to notify them</span></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So I did go back to the police station right away and tried to explain the situation as clearly as possible. You know those time when you talk to people who speak very little english and you're not sure they understood you but it should be enough anyway? there was no room for that in this particular situation, You want to make sur they absolutely understand what you mean. Luckily the women who were there spoke fair english, and repeated my situation a few times. Once I was sure they understood that I wanted them to cancel the police report I left and was happy to have my passport back with me.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In case you don't get your passport back</span></span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I might not be of big help on that one, but I thought I put a word about it anyway since they briefly mentioned it at the embassy. Once you get your new passport or emergency passport, your embassy/conulate should provide you with a letter to the Vietnamese Immigration Department requesting their assitance to issue a replacement visa. So you will have to go to the immigration office to ask for a new visa with your new passport and this letter, since they would have canceled the one you had on your previous passport. And yes, you'll have to pay for this new visa too. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">More information on this <a href="http://visavietnamonlines.com/news/lost-my-passport-in-vietnam-lost-my-passport-abroad-lost-my-passport.htm" target="_blank">page</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Those few days were quiet stressful but looking back I am so glad I got my passport back. And as I like to say "It's part of the adventure!"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Although I hope this article will help some of you, on the other hand I hope it won't be useful to you, meaning you won't lose your passport in the first place :-)</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-1241991407525958572015-04-25T07:29:00.000-07:002015-06-20T07:41:12.127-07:00Trek to Hang En cave<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Phong Nha-Ke Bang national park in Vietnam is one of those special places. It is there you can find the biggest cave ni the world, Hang Soon, and also the 3rd largest. I went to the largest one on a 2-day trek with Oxalis Adventures, the only company authorized to get there. Although it would make a significant cut in a backpacker budget - $300 for 2 days - it was money really well spent. I had a hell of a good time. And I flew my drone in a cave for the first time!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Phong Nha is about 500km south of Hanoi. After my 2 weeks riding in north Vietnam - You can read about it here - I bought a motorbike and headed south. I met a Dutch girl in Hanoi, Maria, and we decided to meet again there to do the trek. Oxalis has a limit of 16 people on this trek and most of the time it is full so I highly recommend you book in advance. And if you tell them where you're staying, they will come pick you up in front of your hostel/hotel/guest house. The whole group met at the Oxalis office at 8:30am for a security briefing. Everyone got a chance to introduce themselves. We had a pretty diverse group with people from Holland, Unites States, England, Scotland, Spain and Australia. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once everyone had set up their backpacks and was ready to go, we jumped on a minibus a drove 1 hour to the starting point. You can find a list of what to bring on the Oxalis website. most important being good hiking shoes - although they can provide you some shoes too - and light clothes that dry quickly. A long sleeves shirt turns out useful when hiking in the jungle.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We started around 11am, and the first part pretty much goes down hill until you reach a small area in the valley. Since we were going to go back the same way, I think we all had in mind that we will have to go back up the whole distance we just hiked down hill... But this was for the next day, let's enjoy the present and a good lunch cooked by our porters. They were 6 for the whole group, some would carry the food and cooking supplies and others would carry the tents. When you get tired on the way and see them carry those huge bags on their backs that must weight a ton - at least - you really don't feel like complaining at all and suck it up and keep going.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After lunch we walked to a small local village. We stooped there for a while, met the chief of the village and our guides gave us a little tour. It was quiet remote but they had a small school, consisting of one class room where the 7 students of different age will attend and learn. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our awesome porters preparing our lunch</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Then we started to hike in the valley and that's when it became so beautiful. There was a lot of river crossing and it was so hot that it actually felt real good to walk in the water even with your shoes on. The river crossings never got too deep, just up a bit above your knees, and yes, your knees not mine (I'm 6"8 - 2m05). While walking in the valley we were surrounded by this dense jungle with huge trees and the river running along, it was just... wow!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After another 2-3h of hike and an ultimate river crossing, we reached the entrenace of the cave. Our guides had given us our helmets right after lunch, so then they gave us our headlights and we started wlaking to wards the darkness. There was some rocks to climb up on before getting to an amazing view, a massive cave opened in frot of us. It is hard to describe since it is a hole so you'll have to see it for yourself to get a feeling. The other exciting part beside the fact that this cave is just huge, is that there is a natural pool. And after a long hike like that it feels so good to just relax in the water in the third largest cave in the world - not bad - I've been to worst pools. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the evenening we enjoyed some nice diner cooked by our porters and guides before goign for a well deserved night of sleep in our tents.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cave</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The natural pool</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the entrance of the cave</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIUgdenH_JJ4MkKdL0FCTQJGIz0BZRH9MX66deZtr8afEGiiZMdPe8VCariCVEYGl_NWWiN_ey0_DC4emPl1E10Pu3ZiVYp9M0cDRdEV2R2RcC7qpBZgbhqd8q8BI_xU8Owgd3pu7z_A/s1600/GOPR0418.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIUgdenH_JJ4MkKdL0FCTQJGIz0BZRH9MX66deZtr8afEGiiZMdPe8VCariCVEYGl_NWWiN_ey0_DC4emPl1E10Pu3ZiVYp9M0cDRdEV2R2RcC7qpBZgbhqd8q8BI_xU8Owgd3pu7z_A/s1600/GOPR0418.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying a delicious diner</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The next day, after a good breakfast we went further in the cave for some more exploring and walked the other entrance of the cave from where you can walk to the biggest cave in the world. When we got back to the camp site I took out my drone for some flying fun. Although the cave was huge, I was a bit stressed but everything went fine. It was exciting to fly in a cave, There was a pretty big opening at the top so there was enough light coming in to film. We then started to head back the same way we came. I asked ine of the guides if it would be possible for me to film some more with my drone in the valley, and he was kind enough to wait for me although the rest of the group kept walking. So we had to walk at a faster pace to keep up with them before they reach the lunch area. The last bit of the hike, back up to where we started was streinous; The heat made it very hard to hike up and we made several stops on the way, trying to keep well hydrated. Everyone went at their own pace and we all made it. The best part was the cold beer waiting for us at the end... I hadn't enjoyed a beer so much in a while.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqt2yBHppcfGPZrA7e1C6DI3vWKBB4NVetPQrt3BTNsProiKx004LPOrRYHZPRTwM98G6VZ_eesNaDu-fq6dKW9Slr4bHJ_eVOfhoipOSlu8UZ8cX3JW2ZrGex9azkoFmtNCXL2V-fXA/s1600/Phong-Nha-35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqt2yBHppcfGPZrA7e1C6DI3vWKBB4NVetPQrt3BTNsProiKx004LPOrRYHZPRTwM98G6VZ_eesNaDu-fq6dKW9Slr4bHJ_eVOfhoipOSlu8UZ8cX3JW2ZrGex9azkoFmtNCXL2V-fXA/s1600/Phong-Nha-35.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The biggest of the 3 entrances of the cave</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEvVkiAWw8n6C2wlcuYA7vxWJd3IBL1KRC6HDFScw-CWGDzwixyiK4wVpr2jb1TCzSU13BIyFIGzFiEhwto2_Rz570hh6ZmaDnHS46mrcoWU-ancoYilBKsf3kst-6dHPDx9KOZa5r6g/s1600/Phong-Nha-38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEvVkiAWw8n6C2wlcuYA7vxWJd3IBL1KRC6HDFScw-CWGDzwixyiK4wVpr2jb1TCzSU13BIyFIGzFiEhwto2_Rz570hh6ZmaDnHS46mrcoWU-ancoYilBKsf3kst-6dHPDx9KOZa5r6g/s1600/Phong-Nha-38.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A little group picture</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9oMqkLtwr29GmVC7ARQB5BNUBSsa_9w3qbur4AIvq_H10nskwM_I0pX4SHAyFVUuHnyKa1Rpna_zhVPcnkq6cVIIaRgNR4GkcLNwaZXpyFCADAODdI0qDfBU9gwwPc_xstXn3Hu0LqQ/s1600/Phong-Nha-54.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9oMqkLtwr29GmVC7ARQB5BNUBSsa_9w3qbur4AIvq_H10nskwM_I0pX4SHAyFVUuHnyKa1Rpna_zhVPcnkq6cVIIaRgNR4GkcLNwaZXpyFCADAODdI0qDfBU9gwwPc_xstXn3Hu0LqQ/s1600/Phong-Nha-54.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The entrance from which we entered the cave</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8RC9-Vrz46LkON5jCKDPRi107E4a_tLepSOwVP2c5Tw0yrvmTsvGEXcHh5JE9WsPSFhgEb2fL5opdgmiejL-6fMxoVN6LDyL9uk20UfaBL9ED5GVRoLsORWQ6Z2dDtKjvZTrelFX-fw/s1600/Hang-en-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8RC9-Vrz46LkON5jCKDPRi107E4a_tLepSOwVP2c5Tw0yrvmTsvGEXcHh5JE9WsPSFhgEb2fL5opdgmiejL-6fMxoVN6LDyL9uk20UfaBL9ED5GVRoLsORWQ6Z2dDtKjvZTrelFX-fw/s1600/Hang-en-01.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aerial view of the cave</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is a beautiful place. And if the price of this trek is out of your budget, there is other nice caves that you can go visit on day trips. On the other hand, if you can afford it I would highly recommend you to take this tour as it is a great experience and you'll have great memories, photos and videos to bring back with you.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-3299241116726024742015-04-19T18:30:00.000-07:002015-06-20T07:39:53.465-07:002 weeks riding through Northern Vietnam 2/2<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpijGXbl25DTcDF8yEYwwySwhAasB2onDTClgB73OZZOkDcltbGe-iqPk0VFHid5qFLyl4XP0c4eaygLkSqlLo_MnDtKidlX7e8A2zEQtCdOC1m-aBVyycWqiLXHr5z8cXnAW_15FXKg/s1600/Post_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpijGXbl25DTcDF8yEYwwySwhAasB2onDTClgB73OZZOkDcltbGe-iqPk0VFHid5qFLyl4XP0c4eaygLkSqlLo_MnDtKidlX7e8A2zEQtCdOC1m-aBVyycWqiLXHr5z8cXnAW_15FXKg/s1600/Post_Cover.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The second part of my motorbike trip in northern Vietnam. You can read the first part <a href="http://blog.youmitrip.com/2015/04/2-weeks-riding-through-northern-vietnam.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I also made a video clip about it that you can watch on <a href="https://youtu.be/3nbHjAnrk94" target="_blank">Youtube</a> </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Day 8, 9 & 10 - Dong Van</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">With the French couple I met the day before we went to Lung Lu, where you can go to the most northern point of Vietnam. It's a tower with the Vietnamese flag on top of it, and you can get a nice view of the surroundings from up there. it'll cost you 20000 Dong. The ride there and back through another way was very nice. The road goes through small mountains and the view is very scenic. We then headed to some temple ruins, I was not very keen on checking them out so when we got there, about 15km from Dong Van, I told them that while they visit I'll go find a nice spot to fly my drone. And I did find one, but the problem was that I crashed it this time. I flew it in between two small karst hills but then, flying backwards I flew too close to one of them and it crashed in a tree. That was not good at all. I had a vague idea of where the drone was but those karst hills are not easy to climb. I started by looking at the screen to try to figure out where the drone was from what I could see. But it was not that helpful, so I decided to try to climb a bit. but when I got at the bottom of the hill that's when I lost the video signal. I looked for it for a little bit with no luck. I then decided to go back to where my friends were and ask them for their binoculars. They came back with me and we spent like half an hour trying to locate it with the information I gave on what happened and where i assumed the drone had crashed. But it was late in the afternoon and it was getting dark quickly. There was no point of trying any further now and we did not want to drive at night so we headed back deciding to come back the next morning.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Needless to tell you that I was quiet down that night and at this time I really thought the trip with my drone - which is the main purpose of it - was over. I was already thingking that I would not be able to make videos anymore for the rest of the journey.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tower at the most northern point of Vietnam</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the road between Don Van and Lung Lu</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8BsTSTP9KwNe10FvXx1c35T0bS5DyZWqzIXj2LfZ-gPx9wqAQlZ7a65jLAxSFaKFv-zpQmQ-aL5rNQKfiQBGsIuWccS4ScJt24qyzws3k9f3sN-LTqcRWl8YJAxJLKpj3tl4YLCAKjA/s1600/Motorbike_North_Vietnam-75.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8BsTSTP9KwNe10FvXx1c35T0bS5DyZWqzIXj2LfZ-gPx9wqAQlZ7a65jLAxSFaKFv-zpQmQ-aL5rNQKfiQBGsIuWccS4ScJt24qyzws3k9f3sN-LTqcRWl8YJAxJLKpj3tl4YLCAKjA/s1600/Motorbike_North_Vietnam-75.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The next morning, we first went to the local market. On Sundays, all the surrounding ethnic villages come to Dong Van to sell clothes or oibjects or even animals, like pigs, chicken and puppy (to eat?! I don't know, I hope not)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After that we went back to where I last saw my drone the day before. I was really thankful that they agreed to come help me retrieve it. We spent more than 2 hours climbing the hill trying to locate a white shape in the middle of all those trees. But we were not succesful. I climbed on top of it hoping to get a better view but it so uneven that it did not help. We were getting tired and they had to hit the road to their next destination so goodbyes were in order. And I wanted to get some food. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">After lunch I went back there for another 2 hours with no more luck. Although I was quiet optimistic on our chances to find it in the morning, at the end of the day I was thinking that it was gone forever and that I would never see my drone again. But, not willing to give up completely, I decided that I will come back one last time the next morning, and that if I still could not find it, then I'll definitely give up and hit the road. That day, I also check out from the homestay I was staying at to go to another one, a smaller one. It was at a family restaurant, it was cheaper and more friendly than the other one. They had this adorable little kid with whom I played a lot (or he played with me :-))</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The market</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Poor pig :-(</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cute little kid at the second guest house in Dong Van</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Last attempt at retrieving the lost drone... It has not been 5 minutes that I started climbing the hill when I heard a voice "No, No". I turned around and saw One of the locals living there gesturing to come back down. So I did, thinking he was going to tell me that it was too dangerous - at least for a tourist - to climb up there. So as I walked towards him I took out my phone with a picture of my drone and showed it to him. That's when he "told" me that he had found it!!! Whaaaaat?! And he asked me for money right away. He drew a sum that I read as 100 000 Dong, and I thought "Oh yeah sure, I'll even give you a bit more!" - was I so naive - but I wanted to see it first. So he took me to his home and gave me the drone. I was so relieved to finally see it again. And it seems to have suffered no major damage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I was really happy and gladly handed him 120 000 Dong... That's when he refused and I got confused. He then wrote down on the ground 1 000 000 Dong! That's a whole new level of reward money. My joy quickly went down, I lost some affection that I had for those people who live with not much. I am not saying that they are all like that and that I now dispise them... I do not, not at all, but I just think that whenever they'll get a chance to get money out of a foreigner, they will, in any way. And, as a foreigner, I don't like it. Anyway, I had to bargain and we came down to an agreement on 800 000 Dong. We cheered on some rice alcohol and everyone was happy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">i then went back to the guest house to check my drone in details, and then went out for a test flight. verything went well and I was happy that I would be able to fly it again the following day on my way to Bao Lac... finally.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the background, the hill where I crashed my drone.</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Day 11 - Dong Van to Bao Lac</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Back on the road and anxious to fly my drone again. As I read in my guide book, the first 20 kilometers between Dong Van and Meo Vac are breathtaking. I drove along cliffs with an amazing view on karst landscape. I did a couple of flights without any issue and got to Bao Lac in the middle of the afternoon. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Day 12 - Bao Lac to Ba Be NP</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This was an uneventful day. The ride was nice on mountainous roads down to the National park and its lake. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Day 13 & 14 - Ba Be NP</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the first day I did a hike with 2 French and a Hungarian. We went on one of the hills around the lake. It was a really nice hike although the weather was not that great. At the top we had a nice view of the valley. We hiked to the village of "", it took us almost 3 hours to get there. The way back was easier since we were going back down in the valley. We arrived back at the guest house late afternoon quiet exhausted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the evening a Vietnamese friend of the Hungarian girl arrived in Ba Be, she was from Hue. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The next day I went to the silver waterfall with Luan, the Vietnamese girl. I took a couple of shots of the waterfall. We then went back near the lake and I filmed some more. Near the guest house I was staying at, there was a field with a group of kids playing football. We went there and when I took out my drone they all came around looking at it. I then asked Luan to tell them to keep playing so I could film them. Then a group of young bikers - they looked very young but they actually were between 32 and 35... Asians never age seriously - came around and wanted to take pictures with me, so we took some group photos. This was all fun and friendly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the evening we had dinner at the guest house, and once again it turned out to be so convenient to be with a local because Luan could recommend me to try some local food. I don't remember the name of what I ate - I never do - but it was good.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Day 15 - Ba Be NP to Thai Nguyen</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Last day! - or so I thought - I had about 220 kilometers to do and most of it was small winding road so I decided to leave early. That day it was quiet cold and there was this drizzle that's not really rain but it's just enough to make the road slippery. So I was driving carefully and at some point decided to put my gloves on. I took them out of my pockets and I kept riding. About 10 kilometers after, I was not confortable in my gloves so I took them off. As I was going to put them back in my pockets, I noticed that one of them was wide open... And that was the one with my passport in it! Well it was in a small bag that was in my pocket. I turned around and did this part 4 times very slowly hoping to find it, but I didn't. So I stopped and thought of my options; I could keep driving back and forth some more, it is my passport after all, the most important document when you travel. But in the other hand the odds of me finding it were pretty low and if someone had already picked it up, I could search forever without finding it. So I decided to head to Hanoi and do the necessary to get a new passport. (Turned out I got my passport back but that is for another post...)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But then, my problems were not over - one of those days I suppose - About 80kms from Hanoi, in Thai nguyen, the motorbike started to act weird; It would not respond instantly when accelerating and at some point just stop responding and turn off... I stopped at a mechanic, called the number that Flamingo travel provided me. I talked to their mechanic to explain the issue and I then handed the phone to the mechanic I was at and he explained, so helpful! It took him a while to fix the issue, and even then it was completely repaired but surely good enough for me to get to Hanoi. But then it was already dark and I did not want to drive at night - You might want to avoid that too if you can -</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And I got invited over for dinner by the owner of the shop, He introduced me to his daughter and his son and his wife. That was the one good thing in all those troubles that makes you realize that it's not that bad and that it is also part of the adventures. You wouldn't enjoy good moments so much if you did not have any bad ones. That night I stayed in a guest house nearby.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Day 16 - Thai Nguyen to Hanoi</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Easy ride back to Hanoi with no trouble, I dropped off the motorbike and went to the police station to declare the loss of my passport. As I said before, more on that in another blog post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Those 2 weeks were just amazing even though the last day was totally crazy and mentally exhausting. The roads were in good condition and in some places the landscape was so beautiful. I enjoyed it so much that when I got back I decided to buy a motorbike and ride towards the center of Vietnam and cross to Laos.</span><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Have you done the same before? </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Or are you thinking of doing it?</span></b></span></i><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-82119339205384538342015-04-07T19:14:00.000-07:002015-06-20T07:40:10.291-07:002 weeks riding through Northern Vietnam 1/2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">While in Hanoi I rented a motorbike for 2 weeks and decided to ride through the north of Vietnam. Having just little experience driving motorbikes and despite all I heard about traffic in Vietnam, I decided to do it anyway... I don't regret it... at all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Day 1 - Hanoi to Mai Chau </span></b></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I went to pick up the motorbike at the rental agency, Flamingo travel. I had them recommended by a friend of mine who lives in Hanoi. I had rented a 250cc Honda Degree. I am no expert but I loved it. Just powerful enough so I wouldn't kill myself on the road. Getting out of Hanoi was the least fun part of the day. The traffic was actually not so bad and it did not take me long to get out of the center of the city. There is a lot of scooters and motorbikes in the streets of Hanoi. Although driving through this kind of heavy traffic can be overwhelming, the key is to try to go with the flow. One thing to keep in mind is that people won't stop, they will slow down to go around you if they have to but they won't stop... and you should try to do the same.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once out of the heavy traffic of Hanoi that's when I really started to enjoy riding a motorbike. The ride to mai Chau was uneventful and quiet scenic. It took me around 5h to do the 160km including a quick lunch break.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In Mai Chau I found a nice little guesthouse next to rice fields. Mai Chau itself has nothing special but the small villages around are worth a visit. At the time I was there the rice fields were all green and it looked amazing. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh60mWymEfG1mITBzdUylBMSJU06_wwHF1EyquiarBGLQcgtCoksplMWBXr-pGi2BkBC0hakB8YGzoO00uDTkX0ehv3RixhGlrWlUghB-zhaK3VTJ46eN-IFXBQRfOXJrKEPqwty6f3hA/s1600/MotorBike_North_Vietnam-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh60mWymEfG1mITBzdUylBMSJU06_wwHF1EyquiarBGLQcgtCoksplMWBXr-pGi2BkBC0hakB8YGzoO00uDTkX0ehv3RixhGlrWlUghB-zhaK3VTJ46eN-IFXBQRfOXJrKEPqwty6f3hA/s1600/MotorBike_North_Vietnam-01.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Motorbike and drone. Ready to roll!</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Day 2 - Mai Chau to Son La </span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Before heading to Son La I wanted to film the rice fields with my quadcopter. I had issues with it when I was on Cat Ba island a few days before; As soon as I was plugging the battery the LED a the back was flashing red as if the battery was discharged. So this time I made sur I just charged the battery before I plugged it in. But unfortunately the result was the same. At this time Iwas really worried that I wouldn't be able to fly my quadcopter for the whole duration of my trip. I put everything back in my backpack and decided to focus on taking shots from the motorbike until I can see if I can find a solution for my quadcopter. I had a lot of fun trying to find different angles to film from. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But the highlight of the day came when I went out for dinner in Son La. I went to a small restaurant and had some rice noodles, then two Vietnamese on the table accross mine started to talk to me, asking me my name and where I was from. I ended up at their table drinking what I believe was rice alcohol. They were drinking shots after shots offering me one every time. After a few I tried to politely refuse but they were always saying "last one, last one". At some point I excused myself and told them I had to go back to my hotel. And that's when they told me that they would pay for my meal!! That was a good day :-)</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I tried to film my trip from different angles</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Day 3 - Son La to Than Uyen</span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I left the hotel in Son La around 9:45am. The road started to be smaller and with less traffic which made it even more enjoyable to drive on. At some point I took a smaller road the 279, because I assumed there would be less traffic and also because it would reduce the number of kilometers to reach Than Uyen... but not necessarily the amount of time. The road was nice but not in really good shape, it was mostly dirt but it was perfect for the motorbike I had. So here I was, finally riding on a dirt road outside of the main tracks, crossing small villages, having to stop because animals were resting in the middle of the road... It was great!... until the road end up in a lake. Yes, taht's right, a lake. I just stood there for a little bit quiet puzzled and wondered how this was possible. Of course I was a bit annoyed to have to turn around but very amused by the situation. I started head back, and after a few kilometers I ran into a couple who had stopped at a villager's house. They gestured me stop and to turn around. At first I tried to make them understand that it was a dead end. After a few minutes of gesture exchanged between each other, I finally understood that they were telling me that a villager will take both our motorbikes on his boat for 100 000 Dong ($4, 4€) and take us to where the road starts again... oooooook. So back to the end of the road again and on the small boat the motorbike went. The cruise last for about 20 minutes and at this moment I was absolutely loving my trip. I love when unusual things like that happen, when things are completely different than at home. That's what I am looking for when travelling... something completely different.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The rest of the trip was uneventful and I reached Than Uyen in the late afternoon. Once checked in a hotel I decided to look at my drone issue a bit closer. After some research, I found out that there is a security enabled by default that makes the back LED flash red when the battery reaches a certain voltage and then enters "auto-landing" mode when it's almost empty. So when I plugged my drone to my laptop I saw that the voltage was off and decided to disable this "security". If you do not fly your drone with a fpv system or if you do not use anything to keep track of time, I do not recommend you turn off this. Anyway, when I plugged the battery back in, the red flashing LED was gone. I was looking forward to test it the next day.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgD0vER6ZcMW2c884nYijWXghem4aAC49obUWHzHAeduJtKHq03_xBZLO77-5yVn4lVmxYbxNil879ssERQ8EoOUQOXyM-Y1R-F6upSGevSQh4zGuAJAvYP3uN2hfuNe98BhmuM-G5Ug/s1600/IMG_6999.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgD0vER6ZcMW2c884nYijWXghem4aAC49obUWHzHAeduJtKHq03_xBZLO77-5yVn4lVmxYbxNil879ssERQ8EoOUQOXyM-Y1R-F6upSGevSQh4zGuAJAvYP3uN2hfuNe98BhmuM-G5Ug/s1600/IMG_6999.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Motorbike on the boat</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Day 4 - Than Uyen to Sapa</span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I took off around 9:30am. But before heading to Sapa I wanted to test my drone. So I went to some rice fields and did a short flight. Everything went fine so I was pretty happy. The only down is that now I have no indication as when the battery will have low voltage. The only measurement will be the time I have on my screen. I decided to only do short flights of about 3-4 minutes until I can come to a better solution to check the battery voltage. Nothing particular in this portion. The ride was just about 100kms (60 miles) so I reached Sapa around 2:45pm. After checking in a hostel I went for a ride in the hills around. There I did a couple more filghts above the rice terraces. Sapa and its surroundings are really beautiful but it also is a very touristic place. The main experience there is to a 2-3 day trek with the locals. They will show you around and bring you to their village where you will have really good food and you'll stay overnight. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Testing my drone above the rice fields of Than Uyen</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sapa rice terraces</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making new friends in Sapa</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Day 5 - Sapa to Xin Man</span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The road going down to Lao Cai is very scenic so I decided to make a quick stop to film it. I then had an early lunch in Lao Cai before choosing to take the small 4E road south of Lao Cai instead of the ExpressWay. Nothing really scenic about this road but most definitely more enjoyable than a highway. The interesting thing is that at some rail crossing, even if the barrier is down, the motorbikes do not have to wait and can drive on the side or even right behind the train (I've done that once).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Day 6 - Xin Man to Ha Giang</span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Physicaly the hardest day of my trip. First I started the day late around 11am, then at some point I ended up doing 10km in the wromg direction in a mountainous road. And for the finale, as I usually do, I decided to take the smallest road... which ended up being a path, and not just an easy flat one. I had the whole lot, steep rocky tracks, crossing a river having to drive on the rocks because the water was too deep and of course, getting stuck with no possiblity of turning around at this spot. A kid stared at me for a while probably asking himself what in earth was a tourist doing here. I spent quiet a lot of energy to get out and decided that I had to keep going because there was no way I would go back to what I just went through. Gladly I found another easier path that took me back a few kilometers but I was ok to do more distance if it leads me to a better road. I then had to drive another 40km on the winding mountain road. I took a break at the end of it; I was so exhausted. I still had another 45kms to go, but it was a flat, wide and straight road. I arrived in Ha Giang at night which I would recommend you avoid as much as possible, especially if, like me, you are not an experienced rider.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">River crossing</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Day 7 - Ha Giang to Dong Van</span></span></b></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I had two things to do before starting the day on the road. The first was to change the oil, which was quickly taken care of at a mechanic. There is nothing easier in Vietnam than finding a mechanic for your motorbike or someone that has some mechanic knowledge. So if you are like me and you are a total noob about everything that has an engine, do not let this be a decider for not doing such a trip, you'll be fine on that part. The second, was to get a permit to go in the North, in Dong Van. Even though you can read about it in the Lonaly Planet and therefore might assume that it should be straight forward, well, it is not at all. I asked the hotel I was staying and they told me to go to the police station on the main street, "Tran Phu". The problem is that this street is quiet big and long and I don't know if you've ever been to Vietnam, but their government buildings are not always easy to recognize. I ended up asking a group of German guys and they directed me towards a building on the same street. There, I was told the opposite direction (seriously?!) But just as I was thinking how hard it can be sometimes with the language barrier and how unhelpuful Vietnamese sometimes can be... The guy who gave me direction was next to me on his scooter and told me to follow him. And he drove me all the way in front of the building (that'll teach me to complain). So you know, the building is at the corner of "Tran Phu" and "Nguyen Thai Hoc" and it is a yellow building. I finally got my permit there (They had to call someone who came, it took another 15-20 minutes). I know what you're thinking now... No, I am not an selfish bastard (not always), I went back to where I met the Germans and told them where to go to get the permit. After all this, I was finally ready to hit the road. It was around 11:30am.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And it is a beautiful ride, especially Tam Son city and its surroundings. And the 15-20kms before getting to Dong Van are just amazing. In the Lonely Planet you can read about the 20kms between Dong Van and Meo Vac, but if you're coming from Ha Giang, the 20kms before are also something worth seeing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I arrived around 5pm and met a French couple who apparently saw me on Cat Ba island a few days before (I could not tell, ooops). We later went out for drinks and a nice diner...</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tam Son city from above</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-74077500053821319822015-03-05T06:03:00.000-08:002015-03-05T06:03:03.771-08:00Yangshuo and the karst landscape<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">1h30 south of Guilin in the Guangxi province, south of China, Yangshuo is a place I enjoyed a lot when I visited last January. I spent 1 week there including 2 days in XingPing, a small village on the Li river close by.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"> There is many buses every day between Guilin and Yangshuo so you won't have any problem getting there. There is also the option of taking a cruise on the Li river. I got there by bus and stayed in a hostel. The first thing that stroke me when I went out to discover, is the amount of places where you can find "western" food, as in non-Chinese food. West street which is the main street is full of those places. And Yangshuo is not that big of a city but it seems to be very popular in tourists destinations. And I can totally understand why.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moon Hill</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">The surroundings are just amazing. For starter I went to Moon Hill, a 30-40 minutes bike ride from the city. After that it will take you another 30 minutes to get to the hole of Moon Hill. You might also want to take the other path that will give you a good lookout point. From up in the hole, you have an incredible view of the surroundings and the kast landscape. I flew my drone to get a nice aerial view. I did a little dronie - it's when you fly your drone backward starting with the drone close to you and facing you - which turned out to be pretty cool.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aerial view of Moon Hill</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Not far from Yangshuo, is XingPing. A small village about 40 minutes by bus. This is where you will find the spot that you see on the 20¥ bill. I did a hike along the Li River there. The first one and a half hour does not really goes along the river but it goes through small villages where you can see locals working in their fields. They have a lot of Orange trees and at this time of the year the trees were full of them and it looked very pretty. Then I reached the first river crossing. It'll cost you 10¥ to cross on a small boat. It's very quick, just a couple of minutes and you might spend more time actually waiting for the boat. Then the path follows the river and it offers a very pretty scenery.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">West street, the main street in Yangshuo</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Unfortunately, the Li river has become very popular and is very noisy; The bamboo rafts have been replaced by rafts made of plastic tubes and are even motorized. On top of that you have cruise boats going to and from XingPing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">That's why I think you should forget about the Li river, and go to the nearby, less crowded, smaller, but none the less beautiful Yulong river. I biked there twice and both times I had a blast! hiking along the Li river was very nice but biking along the Yulong river and the surroundings was just breathtaking. On this river bamboo rafts are authentic and are powered by people. Don't get me wrong, it is still quiet touristic. and when doing a bamboo raft cruise for an hour, you will take the same path as many other people and they have even installed floating photo booth at some point on the river where photographer can take your picture if you want. But even with all this, it is very easy to find yourself alone on a small path in the middle of all those karst hills. On the yulong river you can go to the dragon bridge. Nothing really special about it, I was even surprised how small it was. but the small village it's in is quiet nice and is worth a visit.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even with a lot of people, a bamboo raft cruise on the Yulong river is nice.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkf6yYxbCLRA1PlQt89ZKK3vI1HT323DOAealaMQKJxhiocLa0dRogapYhtK6NW7RPr9pzQPWql6YL_UTIzUsuc5DBsltwzAHgckAR4515_YZb0qG7vU6xVLlgqkcnMYmWna7eshVE2A/s1600/Yangshuo-60.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkf6yYxbCLRA1PlQt89ZKK3vI1HT323DOAealaMQKJxhiocLa0dRogapYhtK6NW7RPr9pzQPWql6YL_UTIzUsuc5DBsltwzAHgckAR4515_YZb0qG7vU6xVLlgqkcnMYmWna7eshVE2A/s1600/Yangshuo-60.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Yangshuo and its surroundings has been my favourite place of my 2-month trip in China. The karst landscape is really amazing and riding through it along the Yulong river was definitely the highlight of my stay there.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-90460531994993977682015-02-11T01:14:00.002-08:002015-06-20T07:40:43.037-07:00Hiking up Huangshan mountain with my phantom<br />
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;">Huangshan is a mountain about 6h south of Shanghai by bus. There is 2 ways to hike up. The eastern steps, which are 7.5km long and the western steps, between 12 and 15km long depending on if you hike to all the scenic peaks on the way. I hiked up east and went down west.</span><br />
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;">From Shanghai the bus leaves from the South coach station. It takes about 5h to get to Huangshan city, also refered as Tongxi in some travel guide books. Then from there yiu can take another bus to Tongkou where the entrance of the park is. If yiu din't feel like doing the whole trip at once you can stay overnight in Huangshan city. That's what I did, there is a hostel 5 minutes from the bus station. And they can arrange a minibus to come pick you up in the morning to take you to the entrance of the park. From the entrance, I got into another bus to a 20 minutes ride to the start of the eastern steps where I purchased a ticket for ¥120.</span></div>
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;">The hike is only made of stairs and can be really steep. I started around 8:30am and it took me about 4h hinking up to the top. And I was not walking fast, I had my quadcopter in my backpack and I stopped a few times to fly it and to take a rest. </span></div>
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;">The weather was sunny but still cold and I don't know if it was because of the cold or because i had forgotten to recharge the battery but on my very first flight of the day, after about a minute I noticed that the quadcopter would not ascend anymore. This means the battery is almost dead and that the phantom is on "auto landing" mode. I freaked out a bit because I was quiet far and I did not have fpv at that time. - Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the night before, preparing for a flight and willing to readjust my fpv screen I got the good idea to break it. So I filmed the mountain without fpv which was very frustrating and scary since I hadn't done it that way for so long - Anyway, I held the elevation stick all the way to the top and guided my drone back to me at full throttle. As it was coming back my way I could see tha phantom slowly going down, it reached me just before hitting the ground and I managed to catch it at the last moment. No need to mention that I was relieved it ended well. But I was not going to let this event hold me back from filming this majestic mountain. So I changed battery and went for another flight without any issue this time. I'm usually very careful with which batteries are charged and usually go to a place with all my batteries fully recharged so I was quiet surprised this happened. It could be because of the cold temperature. This happened to me in Central Mongolia as well where it was freezing cold.</span></div>
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;">As I kept hinking up, I would turn around and see this endless succession of mountains and hills. It is really something to see.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What a great idea just before hiking up a magnificent mountain</td></tr>
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;">When I got to the top, I was just sweat - gross! - I checked-in the Bai Yun hotel. It is a proper hotel but they do have dorms... For ¥100 a night, ¥110 if you book at the reception desk. Another thing to know, you will find a lot of small booths where you can buy drinks and food on the way, and the higer you get, the higher the prices.</span></div>
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;">At the top, the scenery is just amazing. It was sunny and there was very little wind so that helped appreciate the view. You have a few different hike options up there that will easily keep younbusy for a whole day. I flew my phantom once again, and as usual it intrigued people and even some officials that were looking at it with more concerned eyes than other people. As the quadcopter was in the air I noticed one of them making a phone call - that is never a good thing -</span></div>
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;">I finished my flight, put it back in my backpack and headed to another spot. As I was walking, another official came up to me and asked me if I had a drone with me. And he looked quiet surprised when I told him yes and that it was in my backpack. He asked me to have a look at it and to see the video i just took. At this moment I thought that would be the end of it and that I wouldn't be able to fly it anymore. After watching the video he asked me what was my purpose, and when i told him I was travelling and doing this for fun he gave me the memory card back and told me it was fine. I was relieved and happy niw that I had the blessing of the officials to fly my quadcopter around.</span></div>
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;">The rest of the day was quiet uneventful, I did a couple more flights and watched the sunset. unfortunately it was very windy at sunset so there was no chance ton film it with the drone. in the evening I just looked at the footage on my computer and it was not too bad giving that I had no fpv. But I couldn't help but think of what I could have done if I had not broke my screen the day before - yes, I'm one of those never satisfied person :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;">The next day was quiet windy in the morning so I decided to wait and see how the day would unfold. Turned out the wind stopped by noon so I decided to stay one more night and do some more filming. It was another beautiful day and I hiked around discovering other very nice spots. There is no trails on Huangshan, everywhere, every path, it's all stairs, which I hated by then end of my stay on the mountain. I had noticed a peak on the first day, and thought it would be a great spot to fly from. But unfortunately, it turned out the highest peaks were closed for maintenance since December. I don't know if it happens each year but this is something to keep in mind if you're planning a trip there.</span></div>
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;">For those of you who own a multirotor and have a fpv setup, you probably understand how weird it feels to go back to flying without it. Not only do you need to keep it close enough so you can see it, but you also have to make sure which way it is pointing. And this last part is not always easy. You always have the option to activate the "return home" option but I only use this when I have no other choice.</span></div>
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;">For the last day, I woke up early and went to see the sunrise and took a timelapse of it. Then I skowly started heading down by the western steps. I have read that this side was more scenic - although the eastern part is just beautiful - and it is true. Both sides are amazing but I have a preference for the western way. And anyway, if you hike there, you should definitely check out both paths. You can also take a cable car. At this time of the year only the one from the eastern side was open, the other one was uner maintenance. It can be a good solution if you only do a 1-day trip there; going up by cable car and hike down. Pricier though, and cable cars in China are not cheap. </span></div>
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;">It took me a bit less than 3h to hike down, stopping once to fly my phantom and another time to eat, and obviously a lot of small stops to take pictures and admire the landscape. It's nice sometimes to just seat and look at the scenery in front of you, not even taking pictures of it, just keeping the souvenir for yourself - selfish bastard I know!</span></div>
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;">At the bottom of the stairs, I took the bus back to the entrance of the park, and yes you have to pay for that - ¥19 - before getting onto those minibus that leaves only when they are full back to Huangshan city. There may be a regular line but this option is cheap ¥20. From Huangshan city bus station I took a bus to Hangzhou and its west lake where I spent a day before heading back to Shanghai.</span></div>
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;">Huangshan mountain was one the places that was on my top list of things to check out in China. And although the hike up is all but relaxing - who would enjoy going up 7.5km of stairs - it was worth it. The way up to the top is already rewarding and once you get up there it is just breathtaking! It was cold, but after crossing Russia and Siberia in October and Mongolia in November, I have somewhat developed a resistance to the cold, which I thought was impossible for me. If you're stopping in Shanghai I recommend you pay a visit to this mountain, you won't be disappointed.</span></div>
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<span style="font: 13.0px Arial;"></span><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-29943457672551234922015-01-25T00:20:00.000-08:002015-06-20T08:03:33.645-07:00Above the Great Wall of China<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wanting to make a video showing different parts of the wall I went to 6 different locations. Some more scenic than others. And I can tell you that the more scenic one I have been to were close to Beijing. My favourite being the hike between Jinshanling to Simatai. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Birthday on Juyongguan</span></span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I wanted to do something special for my 30th, so I went to the Great Wall at ... with my friend Zhao. The place is real close to Beijing, about 40 minutes drive. The start of the hike is in a valley and goes up on each side. The bummer is that there is a highway at the bottom of the valley which makes the spot quiet noisy in some parts. Otherwise, once reaching the top of one side, it is impressive to see the other side and the surroundings. Once at the top we took out a cake and tried to light up candles but the wind did not allow us to do so. Anyway, cake in one hand, quadcopter in the other, I was ready to celebrate my 30th birthday on the Great Wall of China!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My 30th birthday on the Great Wall</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Despite the wind I took the drone for a short flight... anding up in a minor crash with no consequences beside replacing propellers. Juyo... is not the most scenic spot to visit the wall but its proximity to Beijing makes it a good alternative to the over crowded spot Badaling, a few kilometers further. Badaling is the most crowded part of the wall open to the public, and it is easy to understand why once you get there. Which by the way is fairly easy since there is a train station. But you will also find lots of restaurants, hotels and shops </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the top of Juyongguan</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Hike from Jinshanling to Simatai</span></b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My favourite spot I have been to. I did a day trip organized by the hostel. It is about 3h drive from Beijing. The hike is 6km long and takes about 2h30 - 3h at a nice pace regularly stopping to take pictures, and fly your quadcopter :). This part of the wall is on the top of a mountain so you have a breathtaking view from up there. You also see how far the wall stretches each way. The hike was not too strenous but there is a lot of stairs and some are really steep</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The stairs can be very steep</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3 spots in Shanhaiguan and around</span></b></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Those were far from the scenic spots but one of them was quiet important for me as I really wanted to include it in my video; it is the start of the Wall... or the end depending which way you take it. Well, if you do not have as much time as I did in Beijing, you can safely skip it as it is not really pretty. Seriously, it is in what can be described as an outdoor museum in which you find different sorts of statues, small buildings and the start of the wall a few meters in the water. On top of that, when facing the water, you see a toms of cargo ships (there is a port not far).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On my first day there I wanted to go to Jiaoshan but the taxi driver might have not understod what I was trying to explain as he drove me to a completely different spot further away, it is called <b>Jiumenkou</b>. No big deal, I just thought "Another part to film". Turned out to be a part where you can find one of the few bridges of the Great Wall. The bad part is the entrance fee. ¥60 / 8€ / $10 for something that you can walk through in just 15 minutes, seems to be expensive for what it is.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the few bridges on the Great Wall in </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So the following day is when I went to the start of the wall (with the same taxi driver) it is in <b>Laolongtou</b> This spot is just about 3 kilometers from Shanhaiguan center. The entrance fee, ¥30 / 4€ / $5 is probably not worth it either.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The start of the Great Wall in Laolongtou</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Then I finally went to <b>Jiaoshan</b> and took another video there. The most scenic spot of the 3, and the cheapest ¥10 / 1.5€ / $1.6, as you hike up a mountain on the wall and you then get a nice view of the surrounding from the top. You can either hike or take the cable car, but it is closed during the low season. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jiaoshan</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I finished my little tour around 12 pm but my train back to Beijing was not before 5pm, I had to check out of the hotel room at 2pm, so that would leave me 3 hours to kill in a city with no great interest... So I decided to see if I could change my ticket to take an earlier train. And coming from France with all those conditions when you buy train tickets, like the cheapest ones are not refundable or you cannot change them without paying a fee because depending on the time you take your train the price could double. Well, none of this nonesense in China. I just went to the ticket office, put my phone on the window on which I had previously translated the phrase "Can I please change my ticket to the D74 train at 3:15pm to Biejing?", the woman nodded her head yes, printed another ticket, and that was it! piece of cake! I love it when things go smoothly like that. Go try to do that in France. no, seriously go ahead and let me know in the comments below how it went ;-)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #0b5394;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mutinyau</span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On my last in Beijing, I met with my friend Tingerine. I had met her on the Trans-Mongolian train from Irkutsk to Ulan Bator. She was on her way back to Beijing with one of her friends. She is a film director now living in New York city and with her cousin they took me to Mutinyau, about 1.5h driving from Beijing. On the way there, we stopped in Mutinyau village to have lunch. You can choose the kind if fish you want from the bassin they have outside the restaurant and 10-15 minutes later it is on the table. Can hardly eat fresher than that. Once on the wall I took a couple of videos with my quadcopter. The weather was hazy but it is a beautiful part of the wall to hike.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Great wall of China is a must see if you go to Beijing, and not only because of the history and all the fuzz around it. But once you're walking on it and you see that it stretches for kilometers in front and behind you through the mountains, it is just an amazing feeling. You feel both so puny. If you had to choose one spot to go to, I would highly recommend you to do the hike from Jinshanling to Simatai.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">And you, where did you go on The Great Wall?</span></b><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-767141615497658832015-01-10T01:23:00.000-08:002015-06-20T08:02:32.418-07:00My Trans Mongolian train ride experience<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNspFg6kIGmmVJwo_drh0e8s0J5l26T0u789cRaCERMhDVLZWl7BLKexjYsBLoKItBkZNAgqwDJYQQEcx-505spqJ7XjA2eTbN7iGu9tm5zOW7TDc3olt6bL93luuaDUIZBshq__x2WA/s1600/Post_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNspFg6kIGmmVJwo_drh0e8s0J5l26T0u789cRaCERMhDVLZWl7BLKexjYsBLoKItBkZNAgqwDJYQQEcx-505spqJ7XjA2eTbN7iGu9tm5zOW7TDc3olt6bL93luuaDUIZBshq__x2WA/s1600/Post_Cover.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />If you take the Trans Mongolian and ride it in one go from Moscow to Beijing - or the other way around -, it will take you 7 days... It took me 2 months.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Let's just say I took my time to explore in between, and although you don't have to take as much time as I did, I highly recommend you make a few stops on the way. In your journey you will ride Russian, Mongolian and Chinese trains. I found them quiet equally confortable and clean. I broke up my journey in 4 legs. I first went from Moscow to Novosibirsk (48h), then Novosibirsk to Irkutsk (19h), Irkutsk to Ulan-Bator (30h) and Ulan-Bator to Biejing (30h). Before my first trip I was quiet concerned about how to spend 48h in a train without going bananas. It is 2 full days in a small room with just a hallway to walk if you want to stretch your legs a bit. But it turned out to be just fine. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #073763;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Bring entertainment</span></b></span></span></i><br />Wether it's a book or a kindle full of books, an ipad, a phone or a computer. Bring something with you that will help you pass the time. Because even if you're with the best train-mates ever in the compartment, there is little chance you're going to talk to them for 10 hours straight. So you will need to occupy yourself otherwise the ride is going to feel very long and boring. Or if you're a day dreamer you could just stare outside. And you won't be disappointed, the trains go through beautiful landscapes. I mostly watched TV shows on my iPad or read. I read quiet a lot actually, way more than I usually do. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I travel with actual books, although I have seen people with Kindles and those things look really cool and convenient, but I guess I am old school on that one and love reading on paper. And when you're done with it, in almost every hostels I have been to, you were able to exchange books. The other option is to exchange with another traveller. On Olkhon Island I met an English guy with whom I exchanged my Book "In Siberia" which I couldn't read at all, I couldn't understand every other word and my English is not bad at all. I ended up with "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn which I highly recommend, and the movie too. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the leg form Moscow to Novosibirsk, I had a 2nd-class ticket and I ended up in a single compartment. By that, understand that I was in a small cabin, with just one bed. Not bad! but 48h in a train by yourself?!... You do need something entertaining. I ended up meeting other people anyway - you read more about it <a href="http://blog.youmitrip.com/2014/10/first-2-days-on-trans-siberian-line.html" target="_blank">here</a> -. Which brings me to my next point.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763;"><i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Bring your social skills</b></span></i></span><br />It's not heavy, some of us have better ones than others, but trust me, I'm not really good at it and I went just fine. Except for my leg between Novosibirsk and Irkutsk. I was travelling in 3rd-class (6 beds), and the wagon was almost full. I had 3 other people with me in the compartment, and it pretty much went like : -woman talking to me in Russian-, "Sorry no Russian, English?", "Oh no English". And that was it. I did not say another word for the rest of the 19 hours trip. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sometimes the more people the harder it is to interact, at least that's the way I feel. Between Moscow and Novosibirsk I shared some vodka shots with 2 military Russian guys and between Irkutsk and Ulan Bator I met a bunch of foreigners. First from the cabin next to mine, then we went for a drink in the restaurant wagon and met some more there from all around the world - Australia, Holland, China, USA. It actually was the only time I have met foreigners in the train. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I travelled in Russia in October and in Mongolia in November so the trains were not crowded with tourists. But that shouldn't scare you but motivate you to be able to meet locals and talk to them! you can do it! everybody can do it! But what about the language barrier?! ... Use gestures! Gesture is international. Awake the Italian in you! - not trying to offend anyone here, but we all know they use a lot of gesture while talking -</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><span style="color: #073763;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;">Bring food and snacks</span></b></i></span><br />Instant noodles are your friends. Not the most exciting meal I agree but easy to "prepare" and there is hot water in every wagon. When I first went on the train I almost only had instant noodles, some drinks and some snacks, but nothing really consistent. But when I met those Russian military guys and saw the kind of food thay had I thought "I need to bring the same stuff on my next ride". Locals are used to long-distance train rides so they are organised regarding having a "meal" on the train. So observe, learn and discover the food they have and then you can do the same and feel like a local yourself :)<br />But don't worry if you don't bring much food or not enough. Every train has a restaurant wagon, but that would be the most expensive option. If you're travelling long-term and want to save some money or are on a budget, There's stolls in the main stations where the train stops and they sell tons of different food and snacks. You cannot starve on your trip.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i><b><span style="color: #073763;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bring your passport</span></span></b></i><br />Duh! This is just to talk about border crossing in case you're wondering how it goes. They last about 1h30 - 2h for the passport and visa checking. And during that time you're not allowed to go to the bathroom or far from your compartment. From Russia to Mongolia we had a first control by Russian officials. They went through every single cabin. checking that there was no hidden bags. That was the most thorough check from all. Then the train will go on for another hour or so before reaching the Mongolian border. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Mongolian officials took our passports and checked one of my bags, the biggest one. Check is a big word, they asked me to open it and take out a few items at the top, then asked me "only clothes", "yes". And they left. I had my drone in my smaller backpack and they did not even bother checking this one. In a way I was glad, because even though it is not illegal or forbidden to travel with a drone, it is still quiet unusual and I have learned that officials do not like what looks unusual and tend to be suspicious and start asking questions. <br />To my surprise, Entering China was even smoother, except when the custom agent took my passport and had a hard time figuring out if it was actually me on the passport photo - I had grown a small beard and had 2 more months worth of hair on my head -. But they did not even check the bags. What takes a long time between Mongolia and China is when they change the wheels of the train. Count a good 4 hours if not more. It is quiet entertaining for a little while to see how they do it. I had read before that you had the choice to either stay on or jump off the train while they were dong it. We did not have that choice and had to stay on board. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="color: #073763;"><i><b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bring your ticket</span></span></span></b></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Duh! #2. A bit about the tickets booking. I was in Russia in October and in Mongolia in November, and one thing I
can tell you is that at this time of the year you do not need to book
your train tickets in advance. The most in advance I booked a ticket was
1 week and it was because I was couchsurfing at a Russian guy's place
in Novosibirsk and I thought it would be convenient if he could help me
to book it since very few people speak English. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I booked my ticket from
Moscow to Novosibirsk 2 days in advance. In Moscow and probably in most
major train stations you can use automated ticket machines and they have
an English language option. </span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For the train between UlanBator and
Beijing, I booked it through the hostel and they did not charge. There
is 2 types of trains from UlanBator to Beijing; the Chinese one, which
Mongolian railway officials only know the amount of available tickets 1
day in advance, which makes it hard to book, and the Mongolian for which
you can book tickets in advance obviously. </span></span></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtK-C4_kY_iXf1UyLEhV2BJcQ3D0V2JD6d445VU-ceiCnzX7zawC3H81-TQd5EKZQKt6WXAqXkukym0qScvYCv-6mqf5jVthT7l9H6kWeOHPtsm36-YELHPdt6qchTD0lcYnecNBbgXQ/s1600/IMG_5687.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtK-C4_kY_iXf1UyLEhV2BJcQ3D0V2JD6d445VU-ceiCnzX7zawC3H81-TQd5EKZQKt6WXAqXkukym0qScvYCv-6mqf5jVthT7l9H6kWeOHPtsm36-YELHPdt6qchTD0lcYnecNBbgXQ/s1600/IMG_5687.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mongolian landscape once you leave UlanBator</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b><span style="color: #073763;">Just enjoy the ride</span></b></i></span><br />The Trans-Mongolian train ride is an experience in itself. In the end, all the previous point I have mentioned are just here to try to make the journey more enjoyable but there will always be some unexpected situations and that what makes travelling so awesome! You cannot plan everything!<br />I have always loved travelling by train and this one was on my list for a long time. Now that I have done it and look back, I don't regret it at all and would definitely do it again if I have the opportunity stopping in different places. Or maybe take the Trans-Siberian and go all the way to Vladivostok. More than just a train ride, it is a regular mode of transportation for locals. With our foreigner's/tourist's eyes we might be tempted to think that it is just a tourist attraction, but once you're in, you realise that people take this train the same way you take the train to go visit your family, the difference being that their journey may be 2 days long or more. And you reach so remote places for which the train is probably the only mode of public transportation available to reach other cities.<br />If you've been thinking of taking this journey, I can only encourage you to do so. And if you don't mind the cold, which is not too bad at this period of the year, October is a pretty good month to do it. It's not freezing and the tourist crowds are already gone.<br /><br />In any case, Jump on board, sit down, relax and enjoy the ride!</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR6sV0J96EvDnqa0EHXl7N8cBbcmP_VRBlSgSUbfNMjyYR-UPmc2xXpbkVgrg8uS4RN7XWN3Vquii_D9tJev3z-or4IBR6QqvfhKibz1Bhu_rOf3dEpe_ItXkE-APzXDdXd9eMbhLu_A/s1600/IMG_5394.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR6sV0J96EvDnqa0EHXl7N8cBbcmP_VRBlSgSUbfNMjyYR-UPmc2xXpbkVgrg8uS4RN7XWN3Vquii_D9tJev3z-or4IBR6QqvfhKibz1Bhu_rOf3dEpe_ItXkE-APzXDdXd9eMbhLu_A/s1600/IMG_5394.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Siberian landscape from the train</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Are you thinking of taking this journey?<br />What was your experience on The Trans Mongolian or Trans Siberian?</b></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-70727798662669318732014-12-28T04:50:00.000-08:002015-06-20T08:02:02.787-07:00A Tour in the Gobi Desert<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />Just a few days to rest back in UlaanBaatar and off I went again to the Gobi Desert this time. I shared this adventure with a great Spanish girl, Corale. We've had been warned, prior to our departure, that the Gobi desert tour included a lot of driving - and that was the case. We probably spent something around 4 or 5 hours per day in the van. But the scenery is so beautiful - even though it is called desert, it is not just sand - that it makes it so much easier to endure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Our driver, Batsaihan also called Badgi - not sure of the spelling - first made some stops and introduced us to his fellow driver colleagues. We even went for a tea at one of his friend's house. Then we were on our way towards the Flamming Cliffs. On the way we stopped for lunch, consisting, as in Central Mongolia of rice, meat and potato :). At some point we encountered a horde of gazelles. I was so excited to take out my quadcopter and try to film them. And I got a pretty nice footage of them running away. What a start! </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our driver is on the right</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flight over running gazelles</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We got to our first ger camp quiet late, so we decided to go check out the Flaming Cliffs on the next morning. We were greeted with horse or camel milk. The main difference, since we were only two travellers, is that we got to stay in the same ger as the family. Corale had a conversation guide so we would take turns asking random questions like "How many children do you have?", "Do you have any goats?",... <br />Another awesome thing that she brought - she was way more prepared than me - was a Jungle speed! If you don't know this game you should absolutely check it out. It is a lot of fun. I actually had discovered this game through a good friend in France just a couple of months before my trip so when Corale told me she had it with her I was both surprised and excited! We've introduced the game to each family we stayed at, as well as our driver. And they were quiet intrigued and willing to play. So we were in the middle of the Gobi desert playing Jungle speed with Mongolian people... Awesome!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quiet useful to interact with locals :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Playing Jungle speed in the middle of the Gobi Desert... Check!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We spent our first night in the same ger as our host family, and in the morning, after a good breakfast, we headed to the Flamming cliffs. When we got there it was very windy, so, as you can imagine I was quiet disappointed to not be able to fly my quadcopter. And looking at how beautiful the scenery was, made it even more disappointing. But I decided that I had to give it a shot. So I took it out for only a couple of minutes, pretty much just went up and back down. We took some pictures and just wandered around on top of the cliffs, when suddenly the wind completely stopped. All of a sudden there was no wind... at all. I don't know if this happens every morning once the sun is high enough in the sky and the temperature rises, but it was perfect. I ran to the van where I had put back my quadcopter and took it out again for a nice flight over the cliffs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We then got back in the van and drove for a good 5 hours towards the sand dunes, our next destination. But after a few hours, there was no sign of dunes anywhere. All we could see was a flat dry landscape in front of us and a mountain chain on our left. I remember telling to myself "We've been driving for quiet a while and there is no sign of sand dunes. And they are supposed to be huge so we should be able to see them from afar... What time are we gonna get there?!" But then the driver took a left turn... Yes, towards the mountain, which was covered in snow by the way, and we went through it. So in 10 minutes, we went from driving on dirt in the middle of the desert, to driving in the middle of a mountain on a snow-covered track. It was quiet amazing, but what followed was just breathtaking; as we reached the top of our mountain crossing and started heading nack down, on the horizon, slowly appearing, we could see the sand dunes. I mean, when I think back at this scenery I got to experience I still find it hard to believe, and even harder to describe. There is no word to describe it. As we drove towards, the sand dunes got bigger, and when we got to the bottom... they looked humongus. I mean no offense to the sand dunes in the death valley - which I had a lot of fun on when I went there - but they would look tiny next to the ones from the Gobi Desert. The biggest one is about 280 - 300m high!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Driving along the mountains...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... driving through the mountains ...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... and getting to this scenery.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> We had about an hour to spend there, so we went for it and started climbing one of them. And it was hard, very hard. It starts nicely but it gets steep real quick. You try not to go too fast to save some energy because it is quiet of a hike, but you cannot take too much time between each step because... well it's sand, so if you don't move you slowly start drifting back down. And as you get closer and closer to the top, it gets steeper to finally become a sand wall. And on top of that, at this period there is a thin layer of snow/ice under the sand - yes snow and sand altogether. Crazy! - that you need to break to be able to have some stability and keep going. But it is worth it, so much worth it. The scenery up there was, once again, breath taking. sand dunes for kilometers and kilometers in front of us. We were exhausted and after all that effort, were not in a hurry to head back down. We just sat, and enjoyed.<br />The way down is way more fun than the climb :) </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The climb was strenuous</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice to take a break... But not for too long if you don't want to start sliding down :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's right, sand-snow/ice-sand</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But once at the top, the reward is big!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYFi3FWEWkcgiseCOKIQM_BzRWO0MoyQEKJEK-HdvE6mCHwwGa1UxJlMX0fdmYhue_8XysxOmVzpiRFNh-VF6j1v0bUaP2FmCU-kBISgmYdOcFip4VcN8ewtQgysodCN3RH5Qi-E4Zew/s1600/Blog_Sand_Dunes_Top04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYFi3FWEWkcgiseCOKIQM_BzRWO0MoyQEKJEK-HdvE6mCHwwGa1UxJlMX0fdmYhue_8XysxOmVzpiRFNh-VF6j1v0bUaP2FmCU-kBISgmYdOcFip4VcN8ewtQgysodCN3RH5Qi-E4Zew/s1600/Blog_Sand_Dunes_Top04.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpTOFG0rMkrQ8P5hvVJKXKQqBEDW7EZ-lz0yhv2ND6LCUa44BSyrRUYXqNwNW2iegX3kSEJ00z2bapx-_koE_Cwy5kzqJdvjIy_WR3tSaQHn22iJ7G6her9bZhH_n5FESu5AR80ro3Bg/s1600/Blog_Sand_Dunes_Top.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpTOFG0rMkrQ8P5hvVJKXKQqBEDW7EZ-lz0yhv2ND6LCUa44BSyrRUYXqNwNW2iegX3kSEJ00z2bapx-_koE_Cwy5kzqJdvjIy_WR3tSaQHn22iJ7G6her9bZhH_n5FESu5AR80ro3Bg/s1600/Blog_Sand_Dunes_Top.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The way down is much easier</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The family we stayed at that night owned camels and we did a 1h camel ride in the neighborhood :) I have found myself an interest in camels during my trip in Mongolia. I love them, they look so cool and ... IT'S SO FLUFFY !!! anyway, I don't know when is the next time I will encounter camels but I will a good souvenir of the Mongolian ones. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My camel looks so proud! :)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyOgWTuxrsYM74gvlA8t3uDRkF-PrcpogCOyczF0bfyXkSKdTWFw24lyWhnYbHkiPgNqMwJVO4OQmS3p7JnqT4KuZGG7qXXNuYrwDWw2j0C1eBAEx7qcFlLqXzdhX-drzmqjnyzltDzA/s1600/Blog_CAmel_RIde02.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyOgWTuxrsYM74gvlA8t3uDRkF-PrcpogCOyczF0bfyXkSKdTWFw24lyWhnYbHkiPgNqMwJVO4OQmS3p7JnqT4KuZGG7qXXNuYrwDWw2j0C1eBAEx7qcFlLqXzdhX-drzmqjnyzltDzA/s1600/Blog_CAmel_RIde02.JPG" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHW2vyNssa6xq6pHYFsHGXWcoTX9elmLOrZQN-SLJeb951jlyW0QJTwxsYOxyndbRstOJipiL7UhhSQZ7Y7d2bSIkL3bGSZthLKCrJvFJts7op1esKcxMUlp707QRH3tdTVETzZG1GZQ/s1600/Blog_Camel_Ride03.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHW2vyNssa6xq6pHYFsHGXWcoTX9elmLOrZQN-SLJeb951jlyW0QJTwxsYOxyndbRstOJipiL7UhhSQZ7Y7d2bSIkL3bGSZthLKCrJvFJts7op1esKcxMUlp707QRH3tdTVETzZG1GZQ/s1600/Blog_Camel_Ride03.JPG" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Of the few of our next destinations, my two favourites were the White Stuppa and the Yolin am Ice Canyon. The latter was so massively impressive and windy. Another disapointment for not being able to fly my drone in this amazing spot. But after nearly 2 months travelling I'm starting to get used to it and don't feel that frustrated anymore. But in those situation I still can't help but thinking of what kind of shot I would take and what I would film if there was no wind. <br />The white Stuppa was quiet a scenery too. Windy at the top but once we hiked down the cliffs, it was fine to fly, but low and not too far from the cliffs. And on the way back, our driver surprised us by letting us drive his van for a little bit. It was great to finally be able to drive this road monster. And it is not bas at all, it really feels like nothing can stop you. You can just drive, no matter what's up front. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In the Yolin Am Ice Canyon. I was freezing... our guide was just fine.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-kmWrr5u60KW7cvOoRsB8H91s5R8NXf1jQkeJ-78G_nwbn_qoNjssHHNu5T1w1HOOnqNjMY4stUVvgLhCrzrjc1Hvq_xdoIaTOBearIGj_Uq414eiA36QCs0U3XmlxPjvDDWagrpR0g/s1600/Blog_Canyon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-kmWrr5u60KW7cvOoRsB8H91s5R8NXf1jQkeJ-78G_nwbn_qoNjssHHNu5T1w1HOOnqNjMY4stUVvgLhCrzrjc1Hvq_xdoIaTOBearIGj_Uq414eiA36QCs0U3XmlxPjvDDWagrpR0g/s1600/Blog_Canyon.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm so tiny!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Feeling so powerful! :)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Visiting the Gobi desert was another great experience for me in Mongolia. Usually the first thing you think about when hearing "desert" is sand and dirt... The Gobi desert is much more than that, the diversity of landscape is just amazing. you can pass from dry dirt tracks to snowy mountains to gigantic sand dunes in just a few kilometers. but it can also take hours and hours to reach your destination, and even more than in Central Mongolia, it's all flat and almost impossible to know where you're heading unless you just know it.<br />The drivers that you get on those tours are just amazing. </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Badgi</span> was a tour driver in summer and an ambulance driver in winter!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEittb8N1r4lAEFr9k90CY9GAJ_TV6Ixu5JZMjCD_iHg-SvVWYfUxsv1lTAPv_R1MVJUDgXY58dPM9NQS5ediUnFb95HrZkljV12L1uulOAVsYNKb6XtIfECo2cWeC01QVOwd7olPSr_pw/s1600/Blog_Over_Camels.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="386" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEittb8N1r4lAEFr9k90CY9GAJ_TV6Ixu5JZMjCD_iHg-SvVWYfUxsv1lTAPv_R1MVJUDgXY58dPM9NQS5ediUnFb95HrZkljV12L1uulOAVsYNKb6XtIfECo2cWeC01QVOwd7olPSr_pw/s1600/Blog_Over_Camels.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mongolia is an amazing country. I had heard really good thing about it from people who went there and was very anxious to visit it myself. One thing I can say is that I was not disappointed. But surprisingly it is rarely on the top destinations list of people. Having visited Mongolia in November, if you need to get away from the crowd, it is the place and time to go. As soon as you will get out of Ulaanbataar, you will have nothing around you. I have been told that in summer there is way more tourist vans driving around.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">- What about you - </span></b></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: large;">What was your experience in the Gobi desert like? </span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Have you been there in summer or winter?</span></b><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-15902955616740076452014-12-08T02:17:00.001-08:002015-06-20T08:01:47.191-07:00Horse ride in Central Mongolia<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I booked a tour from the hostel I was staying at in Ulan Bator, SunPath hostel. 7 days in Central Mongolia including a 4-day horse ride... sounds good. I was very excited although I have been warned that it was going to be pretty cold - and it was.</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">So we left the hostel early in the morning. I was with another English girl who was taking the tour as well. We were goign to meet another group in a city about 5h drive outside of Ulan Bator. The others already had spent 7 days in the Gobi desert and were on their way to Central Mongolia.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">They were 4, a Swiss French couple, a Swiss German guy a a Canadian guy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once the introduction was done, we had lunch and boarded in one of those Russian vans - the same one I took when I was on <a href="http://blog.youmitrip.com/2014/11/olkhon-island-on-lake-baikal.html" target="_blank">Olkhon Island</a> - for another 3 hours drive on dirt and rocky tracks. And same result : Those things can go through anything! Forget all about the fancy cars, you want something that lasts, get yourself a Russian van :) Crossing frozen rivers, half frozen rivers, ice not thick enough to hold the van? No problem, it'll just go through it line an ice piercer... seriously. And same result on my side too : So many times did I think that we were never going to go through this river... and we did. But I'm sure it has a lot to do with the driver skills. And ours was good really good. </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">His nickname was Schumacher - he had a Schumacher cap on every time he was driving. </span> I mean, we were literally in the middle of nowhere, and it's not that there was no road, there was plenty of them. You would follow one, and then suddenly it will divide in 3 and our driver would just take one after the other without hesitation, like you would do when driving back home, except that there was no sign at all. He just knew... I guess :)</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our driver and his beloved van</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I got to spend a night in a ger for the first time. The gers are nice and cozy... as long as the fire is on. In winter, once the fire runs out in the middle of the night, it gets cold, real cold. Our guide cooked us a nice diner on the stove in the middle of the gear fueled with horse poo. And no, it does not smell. There was a full bucket of it next to the stove and it did not smell at all. Well it's dry so... <br />Good alternative to keep in mind when we know that our forests are being devastated. <br />When you first arrive at a family ger camp, you first go to the family ger, and they serve you goat milk tea, which is hot goat milk with some water and a bit of salt. And it's really tasty. Depending on the family this ger can be the one where they both cook and sleep in, or sometimes it is just their "living room". But they are always very well decorated with very colorful furnitures and items. They obviously don't have current electricity obviously but they use solar panels to charge car batteries to power their TV and give them some light. A fully environmental friendly home.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The next day was the first day the horse ride. Mongolian horses are smaller than the one we're used to in Europe, but they are strong. I obviously brought my quadcopter with me for this trip. We were going to meet our driver at the end of our small trek 4 days later so I decided to take it with me during the horse ride as well. Being quiet heavy with the quadcopter and some clothes, I had to put it with the rest of the bags straped to the packing horses. But they were really nice and understandable that what was inside was quiet fragile. They did not tied it too tight. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was a bit concerned for my quadcopter but for nothing as usual.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6h0qKH8J68nOFieKK_SwL7ule4b7nyXxsSCB9-t-CJfbC-65SEhLMoA5tgUQWRd3blfz8L3qrLJ3y6bos1M4AhBDOqaTWvbJezh4UANLWlpNHW2XrzIxXmOktW4Jh-nm_2qeyr60D4g/s1600/blog-Mongolia-104.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6h0qKH8J68nOFieKK_SwL7ule4b7nyXxsSCB9-t-CJfbC-65SEhLMoA5tgUQWRd3blfz8L3qrLJ3y6bos1M4AhBDOqaTWvbJezh4UANLWlpNHW2XrzIxXmOktW4Jh-nm_2qeyr60D4g/s1600/blog-Mongolia-104.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Famous Mongolian rock band. My horse was the one with long hair, the lead singer</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Off we went. </span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">We had not started for more than an hour and already I was amazed with the landscape.</span> I am not going to try to describe it as my English vocabulary is quiet limited so I let you have a look at the pictures which will talk for themselves. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our guide Galaa</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />"Tchou" and a little kick was the signal to make your horse go forward. But trust me if he doesn't feel like "tchouting", he's not gonna go anywhere. It worked sometimes but honestly, the whole time I felt like my horse was pretty much doing and going wherever he wanted. I was quiet ok with that - like I had a choice - except when he was stopping every few meters to eat, or when going through a forest he would just pass right next to a tree with low branches. But when I wanted him to stop to take picture, oh no, mister horse had to keep up with the other ones up front. We've had some arguments... I did not win, ever. I suspected him to do it on purpose or to not care at all that someone was on his back. but overall we've had a pretty good relationship during those 4 days. <br />At the end of the day when we reached the family ger we were going to stay at I had some time to fly my quadcopter and film this beautiful landscape from above. Before I left Ulan Bator I had bought an extra 3 batteries since most of the ones I had were not doing well in the cold waether. Well it turned out that the ones I bought did not do so good as well. Just to get a couple of minutes out of one of them I had to keep them on me the whole day while riding the horse to keep them warm. Quiet disappointing and frustrating when you are going through such landscape and have no way to recharge the only 3 batteries that work properly. So I had to make choices on what to film.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I flew the drone over the frozen lake in front of the gers</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The freezing ger, on the right</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The second day was another sunny one. We were going to stay at the same place and spend another night there. So in the morning we were free to explore the surroundings. I climbed on top of one of the surrounding hills to get a nice view of the area and flew my quadcopter again. In the afternoon we went for a short 2 hours ride. A quiet ride, we just went around in the neighborhood and brought back a horde of yaks for the family we were staying at, well, our horsemen did, but we were there... watching. One of the young yaks had an empty water bottle tied in front of his mouth. They put that on the young ones when they are 2 years old, so they stop trying to milk their mother. The ger we were staying in was the coldest one of the whole trip. The bottom was basically open, you could put your hand and feel the grass outside. So when the fire ran out in the middle of the night, let me tell you that it was freezing. I don't think that I have ever been so cold before. And we had two sleeping bag, yes two. One was one of those green Koren military sleepping bag and the other was a regular one. Even with the latter one put inside the military sleeping bag it was cold. So I was not too excited to spend another night in this ger. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me on my horse and Robin in the background</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />The next day the weather was not so good and I was getting pretty cold on the horse. My feet were. But again, the beauty of scenery helped get my mind around it. Landscape changed completely and the hills were replaced by flat forestry landscape. Uneventful day. if I may dare to say that knowing I was in the middle of Central Mongolia and that everything was eventful for me, even seeing horses out in the open was an event like I had never seen one before. The highlight came from the family we were staying at. So full of life and joy. We were staying in the ger where they prepared the food so I finally got to see how it was prepared. Quiet impressive given the space there is in a ger with 8 other people and the one big stove in the middle to cook. The family had 2 adorable children, a little boy and a gorgeous little baby girl. The meals are essentially composed of noodles or rice with mutton meat, potatoes and sometimes carrot and pepper. But I think the last two items were there because of us. It is good, but when you are not used to it, eating mutton every day at every meal becomes getting hard on your stomach, especially after 7 days.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />And the next morning... Snow! snow everywhere! what a treat for our last day. And as if the landscape was not beautiful enough, it made it even more dramatic and amazing. Of course it was colder than the previous days, and when you're on a horse, well, your feet get really cold. At least mine did. But the surroundings help you get your mind off it. Riding in the snow in the middle of mountains, some of us wearing traditional Mongolian outfit, we couldn't help it but think of the Lord of the Ring - yes I know it was filmed in New Zealand, but still. And the climax was when we reached the Orkhon waterfall for what would mark the end of our 4 days of horse riding. And once again, a picture says it all.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No matter the weather, the yaks have to be milked</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pretty nice huh?!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />For the last 2 days of the tour we drove towards Ulaanbaatar and stopped in the Semi Gobi. Completely different landscape. We went from snowy mountains to dry flat desert in just a few hours drive. On our way back, I guess we ran into a configuration that this Russian van of ours had a bit more of a struggle to overcome. We came to another of the many frozen rivers we've crossed on the "road" and our driver was driving along to find the best spot to cross it. The only bridge in the area was.... no more. And when the driver engaged the van in the river, it went through the ice, but it collapsed more than usual, this river seemed to be deeper than the others. The ice was obviously not thcik enough to hold a fully charged van, but it was thick. "And we're f*****" was the first things the Swiss German guy - Robin - said as the van went through the ice. Yes, the van made it through, but this time it required some human intervention for it to go through the river. </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Does not look good at all but the van went through eventually</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Those 7 days really were an amazing experience. Beside the landscape that was just breathtaking, - and I am sure it is at any time of the year - the people are just as amazing. Driving for hours in the middle of nowhere and reaching to those families leaving in their Ger with the bare minimum - according to our Western standard I guess - and seeing the smile on their face and how they welcome you, it really humbles you. They have a totally different way of life than the one we're use to. 60% of the families in Mongolia are nomads. They have different shelters depending on the season. At the time I was there, they just had a few more weeks to spend in their summer gers before moving to their winter shelter. And no calls to "Les déménageurs Bretons" - famous French removalist - is possible.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Group picture</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our two horsemen and our guide</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /> It definitely a trip that I highly recommend you to do if you have the opportunity.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;">Have you already been to Central Mongolia before? Or maybe you've been somewhere else in Mongolia? </span>Share your experience in the comments.</b></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08363392180516076069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5625011428458026517.post-48648673700399199032014-11-30T07:55:00.000-08:002015-06-20T08:01:32.718-07:00Things I've learned travelling in Russia<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i><b>Disclaimer :</b> Those next few points, are solely based on my own experience while travelling in Russia during the month of October. Don't take my advice/remarks as general facts about Russia or Russians as some would turn out to be completely wrong depending on the time of the year or the places you go to in Russia.</i></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #073763;"><b>1- Russians don't smile and they stare </b></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Okay, it's a rather negative point to start with, but that's a fact, it's one of the first thing I have noticed on my arrival in Moscow... People don't smile, and they stare. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Yes, being 2m05/6ft8 and a dark skinned guy in Russia I do stand out from the masses but still, people would keep staring at me even though I would look at them back. So this, plus the fact that they don't smile, at first I was intimidated, then I guess I started getting used to it, and finally, I got quiet annoyed with it and started staring back at them. Not in a provocative way, but since they were staring at me, why couldn't I stare back a them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And as I went deeper into Siberia it got worse. The staring stayed the same but the smiling part decreased. I'm not saying that people are unhappy, once again, it's just the way they are, and Russians don't seem to smile that much.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Told you Ruissians don't smile :)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #073763;">2- Russians are friendly people</span></b></span><br />Given the first point, I was kind of anxious to find out how friendly people would be. And to my surprise, I have to confess, locals that I have met have been very friendly and helpful. My misadventure with my quadcopter in the Moscow river says it all... Check it out <a href="http://blog.youmitrip.com/2014/10/from-1-to-2-weeks-in-moscow_24.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flying my quadcopter above the Ob sea</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: #073763;">3- Very few people speak English</span></b></span><br />That made things interesting. Ending up communicating with more gesture than words or using some translating application and handing out your phone to the other person to type his or her response. Even in Moscow I was surprised to find out that so few people could speak english, and even most of those who could, spoke little english.<br />Some other travellers that I have encountered during my trip told me that they've met a lot of Russians who spoke English, so I guess it really depends on who you interact with.<br />During my first train ride between Moscow and Novosibirsk I have met 2 Russian military and one of them spoke a bit of English, making it easier to communicate, although, the activity we were involved with - shots of vodka - did not require a lot of communication to be succesfully completed.<br />In the second train ride between Novosibirsk and Irkutsk, the 3 other Russian people who shared my compartment did not speak english at all. So if you're planning on going to Russia, a phrasebook could turn out to be very useful.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">On the other hand, on Olkhon Island, which is the most remote place I have been while in Russia, I have met a Russian who spoke perfect English... so... I guess you never know.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On Olkhon Island</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #073763;"><b>4- Few tourists</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In Russia, the peak tourist season is somewhere between June and September. If you like crowds of tourists then this period is probably a good time for you to go. But if you're like me, October is actually a pretty good month to visit Russia. Weather is that cold yet - compare to the temperature you can get later in the year - and there is few tourists. Hostels are not busy, or just enough to meet other travellers and also Russians. I have noticed and been told that, at least in Moscow, it's not rare to find Russian people living long term in hostels. So this can also count as a good way to meet locals, as surprising and unusual as it sounds.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And the fact that there is fewer people in that period is a good transition for the next point... You actually do not need to book things in advance.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The perfect snowflake</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="color: #073763;"><b><br /><span style="font-size: large;">5- No need to book in advance</span></b></span><br />I'm going to repeat it once again, I was in Russia in October, and for that particular point, it makes a big difference as if you were visiting in the middle of July. And here I am mostly about train tickets for the Trans-Siberian and Trans-Mongolian lines.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I booked my ticket from Moscow to Novosibirsk only 2 days before the departure date, and for the leg between Irkutsk and Ulan Bator, which was the busiest train I took in Russia, I did it 8 days in advance. I took the train 3 times, and not once, was a car full. In 3rd class I shared the section with 3 other people (6 max.) and in 2nd class I shared the compartment with one other person every time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This gives you a lot flexibility for your trip. Things do not need to be planned from beginning to end. This is another good reason to visit Russia outside of the peak tourist season if you are able to do so.</span></div>
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