KristinHove

Welcome to the 70′s! Hippies and flower children are dominating the streets in Byron Bay. The smells of essentials oils are never escaping you! It is a beautiful spot, and it’s full of atmosphere!

One of the must do’s is the walk up to the light house. You can walk through rain forrest one way, and along beautiful beaches like Wategos beach on the way back. Dolphins and sharks are playing in the water her, and hopefully you will just see the dolphins.

You can’t leave Byron Bay before you have surfed at Wategos, had a bear at the Beach Hotel( situated at the front on main beach) and had a meal at st.elmo.( corner of fletcher street and lawson lane)

Or Summer Bay, if you watch Home and Away.

While summer is at it’s peak in Australia, Norway is at it’s coldest it has ever been. Ski fields are closed because of the extreme cold temperatures and you are recommended to stay inside. That’s when it surreal for us Norwegian to be on the beach!

The sun is just peaking over the top of the mountain, before it start’s to go down again.

An island on the west coast of Norway

Straight roads and no passing cars for hours. Western Australia is the largets state in Australia. 75% of the population lives in Perth, the capital. Perth’s population is 1 650 000.

Where to go ?

Our camping ground. You can also rent luxury tent at this placd. Which we did after one night straight on the rocks in this tent. We forgot the essential mattress to sleep on.

for more information go to:

www.karijiniecoretreat.com.au

Karijini national park is one of Western Australia’s biggest ,and most spectacular one. It has gorges, waterfalls,cool swimming holes, and walking tracks for all different levels.

6am. in the morning

After a month of traveling in Europe, Elin and me decided to spend a few healthy days in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

We wanted to see more  locals and fewer  tourists so we headed North and out of the city.

Chiang Mai is the largest and most cultural city in Northern Thailand. The city’s population is around 150 000. Some of the highest mountains in Thailand are around this area. This makes it great for tracking, and you will get away from most of the beach tourists.

Warorot market is where the locals  go to buy their lunch and fresh fruit and vegetables.

Muang Mang market is another local market, worth checking out, at least to browse all the fruit and vegetables, and to get a feel for how the locals do their grocery shopping.

The Spa Resort was established in Koh Samui, Thailand in 1992. The Chiang Mai Resort is the newest of them. There is also one at Samui beach, Samui village and Ko Chang.

It’s located in Mae Rim witch is just 45 min from Chiang Mai airport. The resort can organize pick up at the airport.

At the Resort they do Massages, Facials, Thai Herbal Steam, Raw food Cooking Classes, Yoga and Meditation. A great place just to chill and rejuvenate. They are famous for their  3 1/2 day and 7 1/2 day Detox Cleansing programs.

Here is Elin ready to get a top up on our colema solution. I was quit sceptic to this whole fasting program. The sound of not eating anything except from juice and broth soup for our short stay didn’t quit appeal. We ended up doing our own little program, which included “fasting”: just a Detox drink in the morning, and then no food except for a coconut water around 12. And then a “colema” at 2 p.m. A colema is a cleansing of the inside of  your body with water. Back in the days it was used to lower fever, alleviate abdominal pain and help ease any discomfort or ailment. Now it is used more as a detox and to purify the body. We both lost about 2.5 kilos doing this cleanse, and felt surprisingly good after. Afterwards we stopped the program and went straight to the restaurant. If you follow the fasting program you will either have a broth soup or a liver flush drink, and then keep going for 3 1/2 day or 5 days. This is meant to give you lots of energy and a “clean body”

The Restaurant “Radiance”, which specialize in vegeterian and gourmet raw food host some of Thailand’s Top Raw food chefs. On the menu you will find a huge range of  juices and smoothies, raw pizza, lasagna and pasta.

They also serve traditionally Thai Food.

Amsterdam is the city of canals, small boutiqes and coffe shops on every corner.

You can easily get lost in all the small narrow streets, and there will always be something new to look at so you won’t get bored.

On a sunny weekend like we had I had the impression that everyone were coming from the farmers market on a bike with fresh flowers and big smiles.

There were no hurry at all and peolpe were always helpful showing directions.

Most of the time you feel like you are crossing the bridge you just crossed, but there are 400 bridges crossing the canals in Amsterdam. And they do look quite similar.

All the houses are narrow and tall in Amsterdam. Be preperad to climb a few steep stairs when you’re there. This originates from when the government decided to tax your house by the width and not the length.

The narrow houses makes moving furniture a bit of a challenge. That is why they all got really wide windows so that they can move everything in to the house from the outside through the window. So don’t be to surprised if you see a sofa hanging mid air from someones house.

DE JAREN is the place to be for breakfast.

You are sitting on an eyelevel with the captains of the boats passing by.

Students, tourist and the fashion pack are all gathered here.

Prinsengracht busy with canalboats.

There was a music festival on the river so boats were lining up for the best spot.

CAFE VAN LEEUVWEN

This is were we had our best lunch.

They serve amazing filled rolls with cold cuts and mustard, salads and soups.

It’s on the corner of Keizersgracht and Utrechtsestraat.

The shooping in Amsterdam is a delightful experience.

Lots of small more personal shops, that seems to be harder to find at the moment.

On Utrechtsestraat  you will find the store  American Apparel, among lots of small vintage shops.

When you are there you should also take stop at FOAM  on Keizersgracht 609.

FOAM is the well known Photography museum.