Vanina W.

i grew up in rome, from when i was born until the age of 10… i don’t remember much of it, if not sun, yellow painted buildings, parks and happiness. i always think i should go back, i really should, and see it with adult eyes, taste the difference, and have all this past of a child rushing back to me.
one day i’ll go back.

this is my dream city, my home even though i only lived there for three years. in london i found the best friends i have in the world, i shed tears and laughed, i danced, read, studied, listened, learnt and grew up.
i cannot wait to go back, and i know that this time, like all other times, my heart will skip a beat as the train comes out of the tunnel and slowly london will grow from suburban houses to waterloo.
there’s nothing about it i don’t love, even the bad things, drunken people on a saturday night, the traffic, the sheer amount of people on oxford street… they just make me appreciate it more for all that it is to me: the city that stole my heart forever. i want to live and grow in london again.
(and excuse me if i’m cheesy… :) i can’t help it!)

i fell in love with laos in this city. i cannot even describe the beauty of it; it is the sort of south east asian colonial town i’ve always dreamed of living in, and so how can i put down in words how much i loved it?
if you’re in south east asia, luang prabang is a must. the temples, the rivers, the markets, the people, everything about it is truly beautiful.

i went to laos last month and visited the north (vientiane, vang vieng and luang prabang) and will be going back in july to see the south.

it’s just so beautiful – for me it’s been like finding what every traveller tries to find (remember ‘the beach’?), a country largely untouched and unspoilt. it will happen soon, but for now it’s one of those countries that really made me fall in love with it.

its history and culture, temples and monks, its geography, the mekong with its literary references and lush nature, its people, naturally friendly and welcoming. i loved it.

every time i think of it i just remember colours: the green of the forest, the orange of the monks’ robes, the gold of the temples, the blue of the sky and water, and the thousand other colours of the cities and the markets.

i can’t wait to go back!

despite having gone way too much into the backpacker’s way of life, vang vieng is lovely. life on the river makes it for a very chilled out place – sadly i didn’t have enough time to go tubing down the river but looked like a lot of fun. i did get a boat up to the organic farm though which was a truly interesting culinary experience (and lovely ride to get there)... ever tried crispy fried mulberry leaves? you should, they’re much better than crisps. :) a nice place to stop if you want to chill out, that’s for sure, and like the rest of laos it’s cheap, food is good and people are overall very nice…! would like to go back, just to spend some more time on the river song…!

everything in vientiane is peaceful and quiet. the mekong always there, the mytical river that has so many literary references for me, it looks… understated. it’s just there, big and slow, and it sets the pace for the whole city. very few cars, very few people, but overall so so so lovely. old colonial buildings here and there, nice restaurants on the river, cute shops and the market (which is very good for silver and fabrics). i loved it. i loved the mixture of colonial, western and eastern, baguettes sold by old women on bycicles of the kind you only see in this part of the world, motorbikes ridden by schoolgirls wearing typical lao skirts, etc. and of course, beer lao! and french cuisine! and silk!
it’s a good place to stop for a couple of days before going on to the rest of laos.

the shopping is great, and the city is somehow beautiful, with all of its contradictions – skyscrapers and tiny houses, so huge but with no real centre, so clean but with weird smells… i was forced to go to renew my indonesian visa so i didn’t really appreciate it (not with a holiday waiting for me in laos!). it’s not a bad place to stop when you’ve been travelling around and you need some comfort, that’s for sure, but maybe not worth visiting for more than two days? there doesn’t seem to be a lot to see for tourists, apart from a couple of museums, the twin towers and a few old buildings, but it’s still good fun, and i’d imagine even more so if you’re with your friends and you go out at night. the food is pretty good, a lot of choice, but it’s kind of expensive as well, but i guess that’s for the whole of malaysia!
basically, i can’t say whether i like it or not but it is worth a visit. :)

i went to one of the main beaches on pulau we (or sabang, as local people generally call it), gapang. imagine crystal clear blue water, the whitest beach, thousand of shells, and bungalows in the middle of the jungle…
accommodation is a bit basic, but who cares when you’re in a place like this? there’s little bars and restaurants, but not too many – the beach being quite small it doesn’t get too busy with people staying there, but you still get the occasional person to chat too in the evening.
my memories of sabang will be… snorkelling, without a doubt: i’d never done it before and there’s nothing, nothing like the amazement i felt at seeing huge turtles, thousand of brightly coloured fish, coral, blue and pink and yellow star fish, i was just swimming in complete awe for an hour. then there’s the little terrace of the bungalow i was staying in, with view of the sea and the jungle, perfect for an evening game of cards and a beer or two. the salad sandwiches in the cafe’ we went to every day (maybe called limbo?), lol, they were amazing. and generally just spending some wonderful time with my friends swimmings, suntanning and doing absolutely nothing.
go go go, cause it’s so damn worth it.

so far i’ve been to medan, lake toba and parts of aceh. the nature is just so lush and amazing – jungle, flowers… it’s amazing. i have memories of this huge island that will never leave me.

a friend of my parents’ who went there a few years ago said it reminded him of his hometown on some lake in switzerand – and i have to agree with him, give or take a few palms and mosques.
a wonderful wonderful place – the climate is just perfect, and if you avoid parapat (the main town on ‘land’) and go directly to tuk tuk (one of the towns on the island, or better, peninsula) you’ll have a brilliant time. i know a few tourists go there but it’s nothing compared to the rest of south east asia – i don’t understand why because it seems to me like any fantasy i ever had about the south east asian holiday in a nice, quiet, flowery place. there’s everything for the tourist (souvenir shops, bars, restaurants) but also something magic, it’s not like your ko samui, phuket or bali.
i just walked around for a day (didn’t have much time!) and found it amazing. i took millions of pictures, bought a few things and just enjoyed it. also, compared to the rest of sumatra (from what i’ve seen) it’s incredibly clean and just pleasant.
from what i’ve heard it’s also worth going around the peninsula and see a few more places – it’s huge (something like 120km by 45km) so there’s lots of small towns, mountains, a lake in the lake…
go there! cause i’d love to go back…