Tonle Sap Lake is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and of great importance to Cambodia. It’s a bit more unusual than “normal” lakes: Its flow changes direction twice a year and the portion that forms the lake expands and shrinks dramatically with the seasons. This is why entire villages are dismantled due to the season and the waterline of the lake. Therefore most villages around the Great Lake have adjusted by living in so called “floating villages” on boats. They are home to a large Vietnamese & Cham community and they managed to adapt very well to the lake’s seasonal changes.

So, whether it’s the school or rubbish dump, living room or local store – the boat it not only the main transport system but also the grounding for every resident. Check out the photos below to see for yourself:

When thinking of Carnival, most people imagine sunny Rio, costumes and a huge parade … I like think about our traditional Austrian Fasching :) We might not have gigantic parades (simply because it’s too cold outside) but we also dress up, eat Krapfen, and through parties. Although the festival and party season starts on the 11th of November at 11.11 am, the actual Carnival week begins on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday. Most Carnival parades are held on the weekend before and especially on Rose Monday, and on “Faschingsdienstag” (today).

“Faschingsdienstag” is the day when kids go to school, dressed up as pirates, clown or princesses. No, it’s not Halloween. Halloween in fun and all, but unfortunately more and more families leave out Fasching and much rather celebrate Halloween with their kids. Ahhh, Fasching so rules!!!

Anyway, since school is not an issue for me and my family anymore, we celebrate with our friends the weekend before “Faschingsdienstag”. Each year at the beginning of January, we start asking ourselves “What should we wear this year?” It’s not an easy question because expectations are very (very!) high. Why? Well, let’s just say that my family always tends to hit it off. We’ve done it all (and we used all sorts of fluids & materials). It’s huge fun!

Tell me, do you celebrate Carnival? Or have you been to any Carnival parades before?

About 450 km – Travel time (suggested) at least 4 to 6 days.

In case you haven’t gotten to reading Part 1 of out motorbiking trip through Laos, please read it beforehand :)

After Thalang, the road started getting really bad so we filled up our motorbikes with petrol, bought some bottles of water and a few bananas – just in case.

Along these 60 km to Lak Sao, the roads lead through pristine rainforest. Nature is still stronger at this part of the world and we doubt that the road will be paved soon since the terrain is simply too difficult. Anyway, so on the roads we sometimes had our little chases with the logging trucks which at some points were a bit harrowing but nobody could drive very fast in this area.

After we passed a couple of real jungle villages (where provisions are really hard to get), we were relieved to arrive in Lak Sao. On that evening it was so chilly and even the locals had little makeshift stoves running to get their hands and feet warm. A hot soup was the only food available (which was perfect anyway) and a tiny little room with a hot shower helped as well. Lak Sao is a town close to the Vietnam border and therefore the market has a lot of activity. All sorts of insects, scorpions and bush meat is for sale. Cockfight along the road (with heavy betting) topped our great impressions of the area. Lak Sao has a lot to offer and it’s a town that should be explored more thoroughly … next time.

To Ban Nahin (the crossing to Konglor cave), the road goes along a beautiful area, with karst-like mountains and rice paddies in between. In Ban Nahin we found a very beautiful lodge called “Somsanhai Resort”, which was a well deserved place after 3 days on the motorbike. The owner knew what foreigners long for; nice soft beds, a superb restaurant and lots of information about the area and Laos itself. Overall it was an absolutely pleasant stay.

The market in Ban Nahin is also very interesting (as pretty much every market has something to offer). Again with lots of bush meat, strange vegetables and an outdoor hairdresser near the bus station. It got a lot of attention while we washed and blow-dried our hair … we obviously we helped him to boost the business.

Resumé: We were there in January 2012, so things may change during rainy season! As far as we’re concerned, it was a great trip. Laos itself is beautiful but life is very slow there. Other countries and cities are more “action-packed” but it was a good change for once :) There are so many little things to discover, so take your time and you will not regret it.

1.) Tell us a little bit about yourself and how your passion for travelling started.

Me, better known as The Riding Dutchman, has been riding a long time! I grew up in The Netherlands in Europe and had many countries to my disposal. When I was younger my parents would always roadtrip to France with us, a country I think now I know best after my home country. When I was in college I had the opportunity to work and live in Malaysia for five months. This is where my true passion showed itself. I’ve travel around Asia so much it feels more like home than the many crossable borders on my home continent. It was after this I realized I wanted to make travel my life goal, learning about other cultures and being inspired by the rest of the world!

2.) Where is home?

I live in the suburbs of Rotterdam, The Netherlands right now. Always trying to travel as much as possible, for which Rotterdam is a pretty central location. Though I would love to move to a metropolis someday!

3.) How did you get there? Have you lived there all your life, moved there because of College or just fell in love with the city/town on one of your trips?

I grew up in the city area of Rotterdam until I was 15 years old. Increased crime rates and bigger housing dreams caused my parents to move out. Naturally, I followed. Age 22, I still live with my parents for a while, until I can travel somewhere my heart grows fond of!

4.) What does your living situation look like? Give us a brief description (city or countryside, apartment or house, messy or neat-freak, roomies, pets, plants etc.)

I’m currently living in the suburbs. A quiet and peaceful area near a small but beautiful lake, the wonder of the surroundings making up for a lack of activities. When I’m walking outside, sometimes I get the ghost town creeps from the abandoned streets, but there is always an amazing photo shot or story to find!

5.) What’s your favorite spot in your apartment or house & why?

The kitchen is where all the favorites are at, so that makes it the favorite spot! I’m a big food-fan and I love cooking. Pretty good at Asian dishes if I may say!

6.) Do you prefer books or movies (plus what’s your favorite one)?

Movies! Although I’m a big reader myself too. My favorite movie is Fight Club. I love the aspect of how everybody is on an Ikea-run to get their home to feel like home but in reality, all we need is to be stimulated to feel alive! In this case by a fight club, I just love to travel. That definitely makes you feel adventurous and alive!

7.) Where & how do you write your blog articles? Do you start with a rough draft or get right to it?

I always drink a cup of tea before I write an article! Then, I sit in my room, consider what I want to write and write it. I keep using photos to recreate that memory of how a certain place made me feel. Recreating the inspiration is really important to put a good feel into my posts!

8.) What does a perfect day in your hometown look like? What season is it? Are you inside or outdoors? Do you hang out with friends or family?

A perfect day in my hometown is in the hot summer. Everybody is outside grabbing a beer on the many outside terraces. People are happy and since our municipality has a Rotterdam Green Program, there is a lot of nature to be found in right in the concrete jungle.

Winter is nice too for the beauty of it, but very cold!

9.) Name three spots in your hometown, which you’d probably not find in a guidebook but you could recommend to travellers. Tell us what’s special about them.

1.) Southside Rotterdam (Vreewijk & Beijerlandselaan): This area might be a little dodgy but during the day you’ll be perfectly fine. It’s home to great multicultural food and architecture, some older houses and peaceful neighborhoods along water filled trenches.

2.) The Maersk Building: Featured in Jackie Chan’s Who Am I, this piece of architecture is world famous. You can’t slide off of it like Chan did but the boulevard is home to every flag of every nation on the world.

3.) Noordereiland: Called the Roosevelt Island of Rotterdam it looks very much the same. Except it’s one of the oldest areas that survived the WWII bombings. Great pubs are everywhere and people have a friendly island mentality that is unique for this city!

10.) What’s your favorite local dish (if you have one in your country/town, please tell us which one)? Can you cook it & what are the main ingredients?

Kapsalon! This dish was invented in my hometown by a Turkish kebab place. They were making kebab and fries for a hairdresser (in Dutch: kapsalon), and the hairdresser would mix the kebab with the fries and eat it like that. After a while the restaurant decided to put it on the menu and now every kebab house in Rotterdam has the kebab with fries, salads and cheese Hairdresser!

11.) How much does 1 liter (or one gallon) of milk and petrol cost today?

1 liter of petrol costs € 1,76. Milk is around € 0,80, depending on the place you buy it at.

12.) Where are you right now, on which device to you answer this questionnaire and what shoes are you wearing (if possible please add a picture)?

No shoes but socks! Unfortunately my camera is in my car, but I am writing on my laptop in the very definition of suburbia. Quiet, peaceful, all I hear is the sound of my heater blowing warm air in these cold days when nobody is outside. How I can’t wait for the summer!

13.) Last but not least: What does “home” mean to you?

Home is where you can be yourself! Home is the place where you hold your heart close to, where you can do the things you want to do in the freedom you require. I never called these suburbs my home. The busy streets of Kuala Lumpur, or the dodgy neighborhoods of a lesser known Rotterdam. That’s what I call home, because that’s where I am who I am, without pretending. That’s where people accept who you are, without pretending. To me, that’s the very definition of home.

Want to be a part of this series?

If you want to be a part of our series, just go to the “Home Sweet Home” article and download the appropriate questionnaire. We’d really like to read your stories :)

Participants so far:

#1: Ulli Maier
#2: Nisa Maier
#3: Shvyia Nath
#4: Rika Huang
#5: Yvonne Zagermann
#6: Dario Endara
#7: Bird
#8: Roy van den Bos

What Ulli and I didn’t think of was the extremely (!) cold weather. If you go skiing or snowboarding, snow & cold winds don’t bother you that much but if you want to stroll around a city, -15° Celsius is not the right temperature for that. It didn’t take us very long until we decided that we’d skip Schloss Neuschwanstein.

I’ve never been to Munich during winter and I’ll keep that in mind for my next visit; the entire city (except the Altstadt centre – where we spent most of the time anyway) was empty, grey and unpretty. But I guess the city of Munich was not the only victim of winter-ugliness, so that’s the positive aspect.

Anyway, here are some impressions of our day trip to Munich:

So since winter hit us after all, I really felt like going snowboarding & skiing again. So last weekend we were off to our cottage in Göstling. Why Göstling and not one of these fancy areas like Kitzbühl or Schladming?

1.) I can’t stand all these wannabe society people.
2.) I would never pay up to 100 € for a single day of skiing or snowboarding.
3.) I like a manageable skiing area.
4.) Hochkar is only 1 1/2 hours away from Vienna, so this is perfect for the weekend.
5.) The locals in Göstling are super friendly and they don’t give a damn how much money you have!

Anyway, enough said … here are some impressions (GoPro videos are coming up soon):

Our "little" cottage in Göstling.

"Los banditos" on the slopes in Göstling.

No one was crazy enough to go skiing with -20° ... except us of course.

Glorious weather conditions up on the mountain.

One day snowboarding, one day skiing.

About 450 km – Travel time (suggested) at least 4 to 6 days.

We arrived in Tha Khek already by motorbike, but I can also suggest that you rent a motorbike directly in Tha Khek (if you don’t have that much time). Mr. Ku from the Tha Khek Travellodge  (situated about a few 100 meters from the roundabout direction Eastwards on the left side with only a small sign) is the right man for motorbikes. The lodge is a pleasant hotel, with big rooms and a garden, despite the industrial area surrounding it.

So, after spending a night in Tha Khek, dining at one of the pleasant restaurants along the Mekong, visiting the big market with all sorts of strange food, our journey started Northward from the roundabout.

Bugs (Lethocerus), frogs & other dead animals can be found at the markets in Laos.

The vegetable at the markets in Laos looks really fresh (& it tastes amazing too).

The paved road was excellent and you can visit a few caves (at km 15 is a very good big one) along the way. We did not get very far, because right at km 12 to the right was – without sign – the German run Green Climbers Lodge. An absolutely stunning place with pleasant stilt bungalows, a cave in the back, a swimming hole, great food and the opportunity for people (who know how to do it) to climb up the karts walls. Keep in mind that it’s only open from September to March, due to flooding.

Green Climbers Lodge.

For this kind of climbing, you should know what you're doing...

We left early in the morning and were told that the entire way to Konglor was paved … well, it’s not (so thank God that we left in the morning). Anyway, it was a smooth drive up to Nakai where we passed a moon like landscape (see photo below) due to the building of a giant dam. It left us wondering if this was really the right thing for an otherwise beautiful jungle area. Villages were relocated and are now neatly arranged 50 meters in the back of the tarmac road, one house near the other.  It’s interesting to drive through these villages (most tourists don’t bother to do so). The kids in these villages loved it and we were happy to shoot some great photos. There was no screaming for pens or lollies (like in other parts of Asia) because the people seem to have enough. We were told that nobody in Laos is starving and if you are smart you can achieve a lot.

Here’s part 2 of our motorbiking trip through Laos.

Dam building leaves strange-looking areas in great parts of Laos.

Dam building for electricity supplies leaves this behind...

Happy kids in Laos.

• Well,  first of all: I own around 2.000 DVD’s & Blu Rays.
• Second: I tend to buy every single new release there is asap anyway.
• Third: I love watching movies more than once, so in the end it’s cheaper that way.
• And one more point on why I avoid cinemas: I absolutely hate these modern movie theatres, don’t you?!

But last weekend I felt like it. So Ulli, my friend Ines and I went to see the movie “Intouchables” (which by the way is great and has a fantastic soundtrack). While walking to the cinema in the first district, I realized that there were so many little side streets that I’ve never been to before. So it was clear, that I had to check out these “unknown” areas of my hometown – and lucky for me, Ulli & Ines came along as well :) The next day, we we’re on a photowalk through Vienna’s charming first district.

Here are some impressions: