THUMB har resfeber i Asien!

Vi har fått tagit del av reseberättelser och bilder på THUMB från olika länder i Asien. Det är fotografen Grischa Liebel som mellan juli och oktober har rest runt i världen och använt sina THUMBs flitigt. För alla reseberättelser och bilder, ladda ner bifogat dokument eller följ länken:

LÄNK: http://www.thumb.se/pressmaterial/thumb_world_asia.pdf

Steigenberger Airport Hotel, Frankfurt, Germany
At the check-in counter in Frankfurt I was told that my flight to Singapore was overbooked. As I had lots of time for my travels I instantly volunteered to stay another night in Frankfurt - the compensation was just too tempting! We that are me and the other volunteers - were brought to the Steigenberger Hotel in Frankfurt-Langen. Quite an interesting start for a budget backpacking trip! My Thumb together with all the important cards stayed in my room as the airline payed for everything that night.

Boh Tea Estate, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
The Boh Tea estate is located in midst of huge tea plantations high up in the Cameron Highlands. Hiking all the way up I was soaked in sweat when I arrived there. However, the view alone made up for the effort! After visiting the tea factory I relaxed on the terrace with a view on the tea plantation with a cup of tea. Of course, I brought the Thumb along!

Bingin surfer beach, Bali, Indonesia
To escape the tourist crowds in Bali head to Bingin Beach! Surfers hang around here in the nice bungalows overlooking the massive surf breaks. Day and night you will hear the waves breaking onto the shallow reef. It's definitely not for beginners though, so we were mostly watching the surfers or hiking around in the area. The picture was taken on our terrace right in front of the beach were we hung around most days.

Gili Gede, Lombok, Indonesia
On Lombok, everybody is heading to “the Gilis" in the north. We found this little island gem in the south with hardly any other tourists around! The beaches were nice, the accommodation affordable and the snorkeling outright fantastic. Most of the times we just collected shells on the beach and enjoyed the weather. Look what we found in one of them!

Maya Bay, Ko Phi Phi Leh, Thailand
Maya Bay is one of those dream beaches on Thailand's Andaman Coast. Every day small longtail boats from Ko Phi Phi Don filled with tourists come to this fantastic place. Being on Ko Phi Phi Don for a couple of days I had to do this tour as well! The picture was taken whilst stopping at the beach. Everybody else went swimming so I went back to the empty boat to take some shots.

Street-side coffee stall, Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok is filled with these tiny coffee stalls. As you get only instant or terribly brewed coffee in most of southeast Asia this is like heaven! On the way to the Myanmar embassy I found this little stall with a very nice and talkative owner. I kept returning here even after I finished all my visa business. The espresso was delicious!

Yangon, Union of Myanmar
Yangon is as bizarre as it can get! Nice Buddhist temples and shrines can be seen everywhere with the Shwe Dagon Pagoda being the biggest and greatest of all. On the other hand run-down buildings are everywhere. To make things worse, the military government moved the capital city from Yangon to Nay Pyi Taw in 2005 leaving many buildings deserted. With these two pictures I tried to capture the contrast of Yangon. The first one is my red Thumb in front of the mighty Shwe Dagon Pagoda, the second is my white Thumb standing in an embrasure in the wall of a former military area. According to a local we met, people were shot from these embrasures during the protests in the late 80s!

Sinbu, Union of Myanmar
Up in the far north of Myanmar, pretty much as far as you can get as a tourist, lies the village of Sinbu on the banks of the Ayeyarwady River. To get here you have to take a 25-hour train from Mandalay up north and then boat down the river in a small longtail boat for
five more hours. There is a small guesthouse in Sinbu, but everything is very basic. There is electricity for two hours per day and to get back to civilization you have to take the boat for another day! However, it is as calm as it can get and was de
finitely worth the journey.

Ao Phai, Ko Samet, Thailand
For my last days in Asia I went to Ko Samet to lie on the beach and relax. I stayed near the beach in a nice bungalow and spend most days here swimming in the sea and being lazy. On this nice evening, I went down to Ao Phai beach just across the street from my bungalow to see the sun setting. Of course I took my camera and the Thumbs along and took some pictures!

Ao Karang, Ko Samet, Thailand
The last day on Ko Samet I couldn't stand being lazy anymore and decided to go for a walk instead. I walked all the way to the southern end of the island and had a nice break on the rocks watching the sea. The sky had a nice texture and so I took a couple of pictures with the rocks and the sky - of course the Thumb is in some of them!