I stayed there coming from Laos, because i wanted to see something different before i meet my girlfriend in Bangkok to travel the north and south of thailand..

Ubon Ratchathani is located in the east of Thailand, near the border to Laos.  It takes about 2 hours from the border to the town (by official bus). The bus drops you of at the bus terminal, a few km out of town. You can get a taxi there which takes you to town for 100 - 150b.

So, many people asked me when they heard about my plans staying a few days in Ubon was “what you’re gonna do there?”.. In that moment i asked myself as well the same question. “I’ll see” - i answered..

And i did see, that Ubon Ratchathanis only main tourist attraction is: there are no tourist, farangs, whatever.. and everything is damn cheep. Hotel for instance, i stayed at the sri irsan II hotel, at the river, payd 160b per night, for a room with ensuite bathroom.. not really luxurious but clean and big..

So what to do in Ubon? There is a nice night market, at a busy junction, just near my hotel. The chefs of the food stalls know how to make thai food well enough. But you have to ask around, no farang-language menus ..

Its also nice to hang out there at daytime, chating with the women at the coffee stalls, having a noodle soup. In fact the people are very friendly in Ubon and happy to talk with foreigners.. There is also another market at the other side of the river. I didn’t find something interesting to buy there tough. You can go there with the pink songtheo (no 4 when i remember correctly).

It gets more interesting in the night. There is a street with different bar, one of them is the U-Bar. Definetly my favourite! Small, wooden decored, redish ambient bar, good drinks, good live bands and friendly staff. But do not expect farangs in there, only thais, but for god sake we are actually in Thailand! And i really enjoyed that fact. Talked with many people there and hanged around outside on a table with many thais. They introduced me to their friends, drank with me, smoked with me, joked with me.. Got pretty drunk after some time One guy (sorry i forgot the name) who could speak perfectly english was the brother of the U-Bar’s Security staff. He was one of the most funniest guys i met during my travels. How to get home? Forget to get a taxi - One time they drove me home by car, another time a member of the security staff drove me home with his Harley Davidson!

Do not, whatever you do, go to “The Rock”. Unless you’re interested in ladyboy-cabarets later the night. The bands before there where not bad though. But after the nice bands, that one ladyboy had his show, and i left. Another experience i am not proud of is going to the toilet there.. Some massage guys take their job very seriously and give you a massage while you piss. What could i do, It was to late to refuse!!

After all I can really recommend going to Ubon, you won’t regret it.

WHITENING- In Bangkok you can read this word on many shower gels, shampoos, deo sprays and in big letters on dental clinic doors. While it is not very interesting for westerners to whiten skin, it is quite interesting to whiten teeth.. especially for an unbeatable price..

They promise painless, fast (30 - 60 minutes), secure (harmless for teeth) and cheap teeth bleaching with the following techniques:

• Laser Whitening
  This can be done in 1 visit at your dentist (in-office bleaching system. Laser technique is used with special whitening gel. This translucent bleaching gel is applied to the teeth and laser light is used to activate the crystals to absorb the energy from the light and penetrate the teeth enamel. This increases the lightening effect on the teeth. The length of time in the cosmetic dentist’s chair depends on how many shade changes you want to achive (About 1-2 hour).
  Price in Thailand: start at 6′000 Thai Baht (170.00$)
  
• LED Cold Light Bleaching System
  Like the laser method, this has to be done on your dentist’s chair. The theeth are covered with special gel. The cool blue light activates the gel and oxidizes the pigment of the teeth through dentin tubes in the shortest time, discoloring the teeth to snow white.
  Price in Thailand: start at 4′000 Thai Baht (110.00$)
  
• At home bleaching
  Another possibility to brighten up your teeth is doing it back home, also called “Do-it-yourself-Bleaching”. This saves costly visits to the dentist. With this technique the teeth get a small amount of bleaching liquid, usually in trays.

Important: Artificial teeth and crowns will not change shades no matter which technique you choose!

My Expirience:
I went for the second one, LED Cold Light Bleaching System.  Before the whitening procedure, the dentist made some teeth cleaning (200 Thai Baht, in Switzerland you pay that per 5 minutes dentist work!) . The dentist was very friendly and her english was also good. Funny, as i sat in the dentists chair, she came up with some stuff she didn’t mention before: It could feel little “sensitive” while and after the procedure, for at least 2 weeks i should NOT smoke, drink wine, tea, coffee or consume other dark drinks or food. If i feel some “pain” (unlikely), i should just raise my hand..
So i got this plastic ring in my mouth, and they put some gel on my teeth. After that, i got the LED lights in front of my teeth and she turned it on for the first 30 minutes.
First 10 minutes went by and i didn’t feel any discomfort. I imagined the white teeth i will have and how good it will look beause of my “beach life tan”. Just then i felt little pain in the lower right tooth, similar feeling like biting in cold ice cream. Then i felt this pain even harder, more like ice blocks are pressed on a nerve of my teeth! So i raised my hand for a break,, After continue and some other breaks after i gave it up! Enough.. Even after the procedure my teeth felt strange and sudden pain came up. Well the result is not bad, even after 20 minutes. Teeth are more white, and i finally gave up smoking

Another girl i met told me she tried laser bleaching. Well her teeth are white, but she told me also that she nearly jumped out of the dentists chair because of the hurt.

I don’t know if i would do it again. If yes, thant i would try a home bleaching kit. An english guy i met in vietnam told me he tried it, no pain, and actually his teeth were pretty light despite of his huge consumption of cigarettes, coffee, etc.

Some tipp in advance: be sure to fill out the blue/white arrival card (available in the plane), no matter if you have a visa or not. If you don’t, you may end up like me standing in a queu for 20min twice!

Saigon has terrible traffic, thousands and ten thousands of motorbikes. finding their ways through the streets. The taxi driver was driving very concentrated, sometimes just some inches away of crashing into another car or motorbike. But nothing happened.. Never saw any accident there.

I stayd in Hotel Kim, very nice hotel for about 20$ in the Traveller district Bui Vien.

Some guys asked me to rent a motorbike, first i thought he was kidding, but he meant it deadly serious! Another thing is corring a street, but it’s easier than i first thought. Just walk slowly over the street. The motorbike drivers will get their way around you. The biggest mistake would be to walk unsteady back and forth! Marco from New York, who lived in Saigon since 4 month, told me that once a german guy freaked completely out in the middle of a street. He screamed “STOP, STOP IT !!”. They didn’t hear him i suppose…

After i was encourated to take the service of the moto taxis, i was driving all around the city. The drivers could bring you everywhere, just for 2$. Good thing is that they don’t drive that fast like the kamikaze motorbike taxi drivers in bangkok. In Vietnam they they drive more gentle. there was never a situation where i felt unsave, and i hope it will stay like this!

So thats the first post i write from Vietnam. Actually since now i had either no time or the internet connections were so slow that i could hardly open any sites. Vietnam kids like to play online, so they may block the whole line

Both flights from Emirates from Zurich to Dubai and Dubai to Bangkok were very nice, in fact i never had such a good flight before. The Airport from Dubai is quite big, and it take me a while to find out the exchange rate UAE / CHF. There is a cafe next to the Burger King, where i can recommend to take the Italian Sandwich: Some meat, salad, chilli, .. very good.

I finally landed in Bangkok and i had to tell the immigrant officer not to stamp my tourist visa and make a transit visa stamp instead.
I stayd at the Great Residence Hotel, the room was about 30$ a night, quite expensive i know, but i rather stay in a room with some comfort to cure the jetlag.
Had some good basil chicken for dinner. The staff were still celebrating new years eve and invited me for some other food. I decided to go to bed early tough, since i was still curing a cold and was quite tired anyway.

I could hardly sleep in the night, maybe jetlag, maybe the exitement to go finally to Saigon, Vietnam the next day.

Going the tourist paths in my home country was a long time not my cup of tea. But going on the right time and ignoring the sometimes ridiculous prices can make it a nice experience.

So we went to the top of Switzerland famous mountain “Säntis”, located in the eastern part of switzerlands alps. In my home town the weather was foggy, cold, bad. But like often, if you go a little up the mountains you see the fog area from the top and enjoy blue sky and sunshine.

If you go to that mountain you have to go through the Toggenburg Valley, you pass Wildhaus and several other small villages. At Nesslau watch out for a sign (to the right) and follow the way. About 15 km, (maybe 20 min.) more you’re at Schwägalp, which is located right at the foot from the “Säntis” mountain.

To reach the top of the Säntis you could also go by foot, but i think i would have been not a good idea to cross the snowy panels without suited gear. So we decided to go by the “Schwebebahn”, which takes about 15 minutes to the top. Prices are quite high, but if you one of the Switzerlands Train Network Cards (Like GA, HalbTax), you pay half the price.

Once up there, there are 2 restaurants and several lookout points. The view is breath taking, It seems like the view is covering whole switzerland and parts of austria.
If you are very hungry and want to eat a huge Menu, you can expect to dig deep in your wallet. The “Panorama” Restaurant is even more expensive. The one at the bottom is self service. Prices are high, but not cheap there either but not unfair, since they have to transport all the stuff up here. The service employees are very friendly.

One funny thing about the restaurant which has also an outside area there are dozens of flying birds there. They’re wating to get something from the table to eat and they’re not shy at all! So don’t let your food unattended or you will end up like that old man we saw.. part of his portion french fries was “stolen”…the birds get a good photo sujet through..

All in all it was a very nice day. We escaped the bad, foggy weather in the valley. I would definetly recommend a trip up here. At least a much better thing to do than sitting the whole day in front of the telly.

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I wrote in an earlier article, that i will get a visa for Laos also in advance.

Well i did some research and asked some people who where there. Despite the info of the travel agent, no visa in advance is needed.

You can get a visa on arrival right at the boarders (overland) or at 1 of the 3 international airports.
The visa will be valid for 30 days and costs about 30$ (depending of your country of origin).

Here is a list, at which boarders you can get the visa on arrival:

International airports:

• Vientiane
• Luang Prabang
• Pakxe

Thailand - Laos

• Nong Khai - Vientiane (Friendship Bridge)
• Chiang Khong - Houay Xai
• Nakhorn Phanom - Thakhek
• Mukdahan - Savannakhet (Friendship Bridge)
• Chong Mek - Vangtao

Vietnam - Laos

• Dien Bien Phu - Muang Khoua
• Nameo - SXam Neua
• Nong Het - Ky Son
• Cau Treo - Lak Xao
• Lao Bao - Dan Savan

China - Laos

• Mohan - Boten

I had a very nice weekend with my girlfriend in Munich, the capital of Germanies “Bundesland” Bavaria.

We stays for 3 nights in the Westfalia Pension, which is located at the end of the Mozartstrasse. Must be very popular during the Octoberfest, because it is right at the Wies’n area. The Pension itself was quite nice, comfy, fairly priced. We had a room with shared shower / toilets and payd 55.– Euros a night.. but i think during the Octoberfest the prices, like in every other hotel / pension in Munich, will rise sky-high.

To explore Munich the best way is to go by Underground or S-Bahn (Schnellbahn - Fast Train). A partner-ticket (up to 5 People) will cost you 9 Euros a day,  21 Euros for a 3 Day ticket. This is quite a fair price and highly recommended if you plan to do more than 2 trips a day.

We tried to try a variety of restaurants, so we ended up in the following:

• Sinans Restaurant - Italian and Asian Food
  Had a Pizza there, which was that big that i nearly couldn’t move anymore when i finished it! Was very good, but i think you can get cheaper pizzas in Munich, but the nice decoration and ambiente in the restaurant is covering the quite high prices.
• Macedo Steak House - Steaks
  We saw 2 of them in the city Center, 1 on a side street of Kaufingerstrasse, the other at Tal - Street. Excellent steaks and fair portions of side dished (you can choose them individually), huge self service salat buffet, friendly staff.
• A Bayern Restaurant, which name i forgot (right at the Viktualienmarkt)
  Being in Munich is not being in Munich without a traditional Bayern dish. So we had there a nice dish with meat, Nürnberger (small sausages), sauerkraut and a Knödel. The restaurant had a nice garden (even in November, we could sit outside and enjoy the sun).

In the evening we’ve been out at the Pacha, George Morel was there that night. Since he’s playing a set every 1. Month on Thurday on our Electro Radio i couldn’t wait to meet him personaly. Entry in the Pacha was 10Euro (we were told that we will be on the guest list, but something must have gone wrong). Drinks are really not cheap, but compared to Zurichs nightclubs about the same.. The club had a nice outside area, which is perfect to have some warm up drinks. The Club itself attracts  more the older peaople (25+), which suited fine for us.

What to tell more about the Pacha? Well we stayd there until about 5.30 and had a lot of fun. Met some nice people, and most important, we met George Morel, who did a powerful techhouse / house set, which made everybody in the club dancing!!  (thanx again for the drinks:-)

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I was at the travel agent last friday to get my flight ticket from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City and got some information about the visas i have to get before i leave.

To tell you my plans: I got a flight to Bankgkok at 1. January evening, return flight is at the end of march.
So i plan to fly straight ahead to ho chi minh city, Vietnam after my arrival in Bangkok. After roughly a month i go further to Laos. At the end of February i go back to Thailand to pick up my girlfrind and we stay the rest of our time in Thailands islands (plus eventually a trip to the north).

So why i do not get my visas in bangkok and go directly from there? Actually i’ve been in Bangkok several times and i’m not very keen to spend there some time. I want to get the asian big city thrill in Saigon, where i’ve never been before.

Bad thing about that is that i cannot fly straight ahead further after arrival. I do have to spend 1 night in bangkok and my plain to Vietnam goes the next day, air france by the way (sounds strange, doesn’t it? flying from Thailand to Vietnam with Air France..). I have to make a 30 day visa on arrival there, or i had to stay at the airport the whole night (!!).

So here are the visa plans:
- 30 day visa for vietnam
- 30 day visa for Laos
- 60 day tourist visa form Thailand

You can download the visa application forms here:
Thailand
Vietnam

For Vietnam you could actually stay up to 3 month for a charge of 20$. It can be obtain at the immigration office (Hanoi or Saigon, takes about 3 days). I’ll take the 60 day thai visa, ’cause i’m not very keen about doing any visa runs.

A strange thing which i didn’t know before are the several period limits in which you have to enter (and exit for Vietnam) the according country. Here are the period limits:

- Vietnam: 3 months (entry and outgoing)
- Laos: 2 months
- Thailand: 3 months

Actually i’m not so keen about booking flights and stuff at travel agents here in switzerland, but the globetrotter agency got me the flight for the cheapest price i found. Apart from that i wanted to get these informations about the visa stuff i’m sharing now with you. While remembering back the duane guards at the hat Lek thai-cambodia boarder with the big guns and the strict bureaucratic attitude i wanted to stay on the save side and not play with visas like with poker cards.

Maybe i leave out the Visa appliance for Laos in advance, i’m sure i can get that in Vietnam and i’m sure it doesn’t take weeks..
Other sources in the internet write that the Lao Visa can be obained also on arrival.

Loads of encypted letters i’ve got to send the next days then..

very well, just managed to setup wordpress.. since i heard so many good things about that system, it was my first choice. At the moment just with standard design and plugins, but i’ll change that later.

The reason to setup this blog is to write some exiting stories in there while i’m travelling around in south east asia next year. For 3 month exactly. Wow, 3 months! Quite a while for me, because the longest time off i made since my 6 month trip to australia/asia was about 3 - 4 weeks!

I’m not sure if i’ll be able to post new text every day, because i’ll have also other very important things to do, you know, lying on the beach, swimming in cristal clear water, snorkelling, diving, kite surfing, partying all night, cheap shopping, eating delicious food or just being lazy..

So i’m really looking forward to it. By then, i will provide some posts about my past travels, and maybe leave some tips in here.

Sorry about my english ’cause it has become a little bit rusty. Hope it will become better after some practice