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Cambodia / Laos / Bali 2025
  • Janine De Pizzol
  • Janine De Pizzol

Cambodia / Laos / Bali 2025

A 41-day adventure by Janine Read more
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  • Janine De PizzolCambodia / Laos / Bali 2025Traveler

    Capital, Vientiane.🛕

    May 30, 2025 in Laos ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Spending a day in the capital of Laos feels like:

    - 40‘000 footprints🦶
    - Several temples 🛕
    - Loosing direction 😵‍💫
    - Ancient meets modern 🤗
    - French influence / trèsssss charmant 🇫🇷
    - Mekong River 🌊
    - Night market vibes 🌙
    - Not spectacular, bur calm and friendly🧘🏻‍♀️
    - Rainy hours 🌧️
    - Touristic vs. local places ☯️
    - Traditional Lao food 🍜
    - Sweaty clothes 🥵
    - Sleepy mood like the buddah😴    Read more

  • Janine De PizzolCambodia / Laos / Bali 2025Traveler

    Vientiane - Vang Vieng.🌿

    May 31, 2025 in Laos ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    The next morning, I took a bus to one of the most popular tourist spots in Laos, Vang Vieng.🌿
    It’s well known for its beautiful blue lagoons, caves, scenic viewpoints, and stunning surroundings with rice fields.🌾 It’s also a place for adventure activities like ziplining and kayaking – but I wasn’t really interested in that this time probably because I’ve already done so much of it during my travels in South Africa.🇿🇦

    I arrived, checked in, rented a bicycle, pinned the starting point of the viewpoint on the map – and then got completely lost.🌳 When I first received the bike, I wondered why it was such a heavy-duty mountain bike – but later I understood why. I ended up in a forest where the trail was flooded with water and covered in rocks and roots. My shoes were soaked and covered in mud, and I realized I had no energy or motivation to try the way again without having breakfast first.🙄😂 So I cycled back to the village and recharged, not just my belly, but also my mood and energy.🍌🍓🍍

    On the second attempt, finding the location wasn’t a problem anymore. After almost 40minutes i arrived, but just as I started hiking up to the viewpoint, it suddenly began to rain heavily. It didn’t matter much, since my shoes were already soaked from water. The jungle path was steep and slippery, so I fell several times. My hiking outfit was okay, but I couldn’t help laughing at the Chinese tourists who were dressed like princesses and hiking in flip-flops.👸 By the time they also arrived on the top, they looked like pigs rolling in the dust, just like me, though I wasn’t wearing a white dress.🐖😂

    At the bottom, there were water taps where you could wash yourself. After that, I headed to the Blue Lagoon, which was about 20 minutes away. A beautiful spot to relax, though I wasn’t really in the mood for water.😄

    After a proper shower, I treated myself to a well-deserved pedicure followed by a full body massage – absolutely earned. 😂🧘🏻‍♀️🚴‍♀️    Read more

  • Janine De PizzolCambodia / Laos / Bali 2025Traveler

    👩‍🌾 🍚 🌾 🛵 🌻

    June 1, 2025 in Laos ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    My second day in Vang Vieng was more relaxed. Vang Vieng is also known for its six different Blue Lagoons, but because I’m not really a water lover, I decided to explore other things that were more in line with my interests.☺️
    I rented a scooter (I wasn’t in the mood to rent a bike again, and the distances were too long anyway🙏🏽😅) because I wanted to explore the landscape around Vang Vieng. I drove about 50 kilometers north, where I came across farmers working in the fields, animals on the roads, a few local people, and a beautiful, wide, green landscape.🤗🌱

    The rainy season, which lasts from May to October, is the time for planting rice. At the end of the year, when the rainy season is over, the rice is harvested.👩‍🌾 🍚    Read more

  • Janine De PizzolCambodia / Laos / Bali 2025Traveler

    Vang Vieng - Luang Prabang. 🚂

    June 1, 2025 in Laos ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Doing my laundry here wasn’t the best choice, because I received my clothes in the morning when I was about to leave, and most of them were still damp and even mouldy. I specifically asked if they also have a dryer, and they confirmed it with yes. I chose this laundry service because the sign said they also cleaned shoes, but even those didn’t come back much cleaner than before.🙈🫢

    I put my mouldy clothes into my backpack, took the train to Luang Prabang, and hung all of them up in my room to dry.😅

    PS. 25‘000 LAK - 0.95 CHF 🤑

    🎽🧦👚👙🩳    Read more

  • Janine De PizzolCambodia / Laos / Bali 2025Traveler

    Luang Prabang.🥹

    June 2, 2025 in Laos ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C

    The beautiful old town of Luang Prabang, a blend of old and modern, is exactly to my taste.🤩
    The pastel-colored houses with their wooden shutters, the unique fusion of traditional Laotian architecture and French colonial style, and the green, blooming plants give this charming little town, glowing in vintage flair, an incredibly lovely atmosphere. 🫶🏽
    It somehow brings back a sense of home.🥹🤍

    While I’ve been thinking about home, I ended up booking a flight to Bali.🤭
    I found out that Luang Prabang has an airport with international flights, so I’ve decided to skip the last little village I had planned to visit in Laos. Instead, fly out to Bali on June 5th, definitely my final destination. 🌞🇮🇩🤗🌴    Read more

  • Janine De PizzolCambodia / Laos / Bali 2025Traveler

    🌴🐠🍚🍊💆🏻‍♀️🌱🌞🧖‍♀️🫶🏽

    June 4, 2025 in Laos ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    On the last evening in Laos, I really treated myself.🤗
    I enjoyed some delicious food at a restaurant that was recommended on TripAdvisor.🐠🌱 I was still feeling uncomfortable in my neck and shoulders, so I went for a professional massage at a luxury hotel (60 minutes for $15 🤑) — not just one of the usual massages you can get in every second shop on the street.

    After the massage, I felt much better, and they even allowed me to use the sauna and hot tub for free. (Even though it feels like a sauna outside every day.😄🧖‍♀️
    It was funny: the woman from reception came with me, showed me around, and gave me a robe, which is mandatory to wear in the sauna.
    I had never seen a robe like that before, so I wasn’t really sure how to put it on.🤷🏻‍♀️😂To me, it looked like something you only wear up to your belly, so that’s how I wore it. The woman couldn’t stop laughing and showed me that I was supposed to pull it up over my chest. Luckily, there was no mirror in the room, so I couldn’t take a selfie either.😅🙉
    Fortunately, I was alone in the sauna, so in the end, I just wore the robe however I felt most comfortable.😆    Read more

  • Janine De PizzolCambodia / Laos / Bali 2025Traveler

    🇱🇦 - 🇹🇭 - 🇮🇩

    June 5, 2025 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C

    I slept really well, didn’t set an alarm, and woke up at 9 am.🙏🏽😍 After breakfast, I went to my favorite café where I had been every day for coffee because they also serve oat milk. To my surprise, paying in Thai baht was also possible, so I had the chance to spend my last baht in this restaurant.💸
    If I had known earlier that the airport doesn’t have air conditioning or any proper food (just snacks like cookies and chips 🙄), I would have planned to leave later. My morning shower with the goal of “staying refreshed” on the plane was definitely wasted.😅

    There’s no direct flight to Bali, so I have a layover in Bangkok, but fortunately, only a 2.5-hour wait. I’m already starving and looking forward to arriving in Bangkok at 4 pm. 🥡🤤

    Left Bangkok on time at 6:43 pm. and arrived in Denpasar shortly before midnight. ✈️🇮🇩

    Afterwards: 😌 🛂 🪪 🕖 🛄 📝 💵

    Finally arrived at the hostel in Canggu at 2:05 ✨🌙    Read more

  • Janine De PizzolCambodia / Laos / Bali 2025Traveler

    Canggu - Ubud. 🌱

    June 8, 2025 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    I spent two days in Canggu, one of the most popular destinations in Bali, for travelers. It's well known for its beaches, surfing, and the huge variety of cafés, restaurants, and bars. I walked many kilometers along the beach, just relaxed, and enjoyed some delicious food. (The first time since I started traveling that I ate meat, chicken - A typical Balinese dish: „Nasi Goreng Ayam Satay 😋🐓)

    While walking, an Indian guy started talking to me and ended up joining me. He has been traveling for 13 years and had never met anyone from Switzerland before. For him, it was something really special – almost unbelievable. We met again the next morning for breakfast and had a great conversation about our cultures and countries.🤗🇮🇳 (He’s an Instagrammer, so he liked to take a nice picture of the two of us 😄)

    Later, I booked a Gojek (which is more common than Grab) to Ubud.🛵 Ubud is located in the jungle and is famous for yoga, spirituality, waterfalls, rice fields, and temples.😍 The ride took about 1.5 hours by motorbike. Sitting on the back with a heavy backpack wasn’t easy – and to make things worse, it started pouring with rain. (And it's not even the rainy season 🙄😂)

    We arrived around lunchtime, and it kept raining until 4:30 PM. I just sat there, read my book, and waited for better weather. Sometimes I put pressure on myself because I want to see too many things.🙈 – and there really is so much to explore.🌱 Luckily, the rain finally stopped, and I went out for the Campuhan Ridge Walk – one of the three things I had planned for today.🙏🏽🌞    Read more

  • Janine De PizzolCambodia / Laos / Bali 2025Traveler

    Ubud, day 2 💦☕️🕍

    June 9, 2025 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    1. Breakfast.😋🍌🍓

    2. Rented a scooter.🛵 (by the way, renting for one day costs around 80,000 IDR – CHF 4 – and refueling is CHF 1–2.😋)

    🌧 Rainy start
    I wore my rain jacket because it was still raining. The weather in Ubud is unpredictable – it rained almost every hour, but usually just for a few minutes. I didn’t mind, though, since it was a waterfall and swim day anyway. I knew I’d be wet the whole day.😄🌧️

    3. 🛵💨 - Tegenungan Waterfall
    I arrived early in the morning, so it wasn’t very crowded.😍 Funny thing, I hiked a bit uphill, crossed the waterfall, and suddenly found myself at a luxury hostel with a rooftop pool. They thought I was a guest and brought me mango juice for free, and even invited me to swim.😅
    Of course, I did, but only stayed about 15 minutes and left soon after because I felt a bit guilty.🤭

    4. 🛵💨 - Satria Coffee Plantation
    We took a short tour through the coffee plantation, saw how the coffee grows, and afterwards got to taste many different types of coffee and tea. 🫖
    Red ginger tea was definitely my favorite. 🫚 As for the coffee – honestly, I’m not sure. Most of them were mixed with flavors like coconut, ginger, or even avocado. I prefer Italian, style coffee – here especially a good Americano.☕️

    5. 🛵💨 - Kanto Lampo Waterfall
    I didn’t really get to see the waterfall properly – it was super overcrowded.🙄 There was even a line behind the waterfall just to take pictures in front of it. I wasn’t in the mood to wait, so I looked for a quieter place. 🌱
    I found a peaceful natural pool nearby in the forest, chilled there for a while, then sat in the sun and read a bit. Once I was dry again, I headed off to the temple.🌞

    6. 🛵💨 - Tirta Empul Temple
    Wearing long clothes (trousers and a shirt covering the shoulders) was required also at this temple. Luckily, I was prepared today, not only with my rain jacket, but also with proper clothes.🙋🏻‍♀️ Honestly, after seeing so many temples already, I didn’t stay long. It was a short visit just because it’s the most famous temple in Ubud.
    One of the most well-known (and currently Instagram-hyped 🙈) things to do there is to bathe in the holy water to cleanse your soul and wash away sins and karma.
    I wasn’t really interested in that, though – not just because I don’t have any sins. 🤪😏

    7. 🛵💨 - Back to the hostel
    I rode back to the hostel, took a quick shower, then went to a traditional restaurant and had delicious Balinese food, Nasi Campur. 😋    Read more

  • Janine De PizzolCambodia / Laos / Bali 2025Traveler

    Ubud, day 3 🌾🙊

    June 10, 2025 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Normally, I had planned to leave Ubud today, but yesterday I didn’t have enough time for the rice terraces and the fields I was really interested in visiting. So I decided to extend my stay by one more night and rented a scooter again. 🌾

    🛵💨 - Tegalalang Rice Terraces
    Such a beautiful place, I truly recommend visiting.🌾I ended up spending way more time there than planned and even walked the trekking route twice.
    On the second round, I took my own path, went uphill, and came across some local farmers preparing rice in the fields. Such an interesting and authentic experience.😍 Afterward, I couldn’t remember the way back and ended up completely lost in the forest. For a brief moment, I regretted not having a signal.🥲📵 Finally I found an exit – though it wasn’t the same place I had entered from. So I stopped for a coffee, asked for Wi-Fi, and walked 40 minutes back to where I had parked my scooter.🥹🛵

    🚶‍♀️ - Monkey Forest Sanctuary
    I returned the scooter to the rental place and headed to the Monkey Forest on foot. It was nice to see, but honestly, not really a highlight for me..🙈🙊🙉    Read more

  • Janine De PizzolCambodia / Laos / Bali 2025Traveler

    Ubud - Nusa Penida. ⛴️

    June 11, 2025 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Ubud is the cultural center of Bali.🌱
    The nature, temples, waterfalls, rice fields, and all the sights were really beautiful. The town itself, with its many cozy cafés, shops, and restaurants—was lovely too.✨
    However, every place was so crowded but it still worth it.

    As you can imagine, the traffic was also terrible.
    Anyone can rent a scooter, license or not (including me 😆) I don’t actually have a license or any kind of experiences but after traveling through Southeast Asia, I definitely deserve one now.🤪

    So, I took a scooter-taxi to the ferry terminal, which took me almost two hours, even though it's usually just a one-hour ride.🙄 At 1pm I took the ferry to the little but very famous Island Nusa Penida.🏝️ I chose the slow boat because, during breakfast, I met Lucas, who recommended it. He told me that sometimes the fast boats can capsize in rough waves—so I figured better safe than sorry.🙉🤭

    Arrived, checked in, walked about three hours around and realized that I had totally expected a different kind of island.🤭 I was probably thinking of islands like in Thailand: Beautiful beaches, everything within walking distance, peaceful spots to relax, cute and fancy cafés to chill and read, and maybe a few yoga places but I was definitely wrong.😂

    - Without a scooter, you can’t get anywhere here.🤷🏻‍♀️    Read more

  • Janine De PizzolCambodia / Laos / Bali 2025Traveler
    11

    Nusa Penida, day 1. 🌄

    June 12, 2025 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌬 29 °C

    On my first day, I got up at 7am because I knew there was a lot to see.😍 The evening before, I had looked up a place to rent a scooter, so I walked there in the morning.
    What I didn’t know, you had to make a reservation in advance, and there were no scooters available.🙈

    Of course, I had no internet connection, so I just wandered the streets, hoping to find another rental place. But every shop I came across had all their scooters already booked.🙄 I lost a lot of time walking around and searching for alternatives.
    Eventually, I walked into a big hostel and asked the woman at the reception, and luckily, she was super kind and helped me organize everything so I could finally get a scooter.🤗🙏🏽

    It was around 9 am, when I left with the scooter – probably the worst time to hit the road, with the most traffic.😅 The distances to the places I had planned (not just me, there were also thousands of other tourists, either on scooters or in guided taxis 🙉) to visit were quite far, always about one hour to drive, and the roads were in really bad condition.🪨⚠️

    Even though I ended up spending more time on the scooter than actually at the sights or the beach, the trips were still totally worth it.☺️🌞

    📍 Kelingking Beach Viewpoint
    📍 Broken Beach & Angel’s Billabong
    📍 Crystal Beach

    -> My flight back home is booked now. If I had known before that the journey would take almost 19 hours, I might not have chosen Bali. 😅 I‘m back home on the 20th of June. 🥹✈️🇨🇭    Read more

  • Janine De PizzolCambodia / Laos / Bali 2025Traveler
    2

    Nusa Penida, day 2. 🛵

    June 13, 2025 in Indonesia ⋅ 🌧 28 °C

    Definitely better prepared today: 🙋🏻‍♀️
    - Got up at 6 a.m. 😴
    - Made my own breakfast - porridge.😋 🍌
    - Left at 6:45 a.m. 🛵
    - Arrived around 8 a.m. at the first viewpoint „Thousand Islands Viewpoint“ (much better, the tourists were still sleeping, except for an Indian girl and me. We helped each other take pictures. 😅🤪)

    - After that, I visited Diamond Beach and was hoping to relax at the next stop, Atuh Beach.🐚🌴
    But it wasn’t possible to chill there, the waves had flooded most of the beach. So I drove back and spent the afternoon until evening in a little café I found along the way.🛵 I read, organized a few things I need back home, planned my next destination, and wrote these texts as well. (By the way, all of them are corrected online 😋)    Read more

  • Janine De PizzolCambodia / Laos / Bali 2025Traveler

    Nusa Penida🏝️ - Uluwatu.⛴️

    June 14, 2025 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Early in the morning, I brought the scooter back to the hotel where I had rented it. The lady at the reception was kind as always and organized a scooter taxi for me to the ferry terminal, because taxi apps like Grab or Gojek didn‘t work on the island.🤗 I took the ferry at 8 a.m. and decided to go to Uluwatu, which was about 1.5 hours away from the ferry arrival point by scooter taxi.🛵
    I booked a stay for three nights, but already on the second day I cancelled one of them.🙈

    Uluwatu, also one of the most famous places in Bali, wasn't as nice as I had expected.🤭 Sure, the fancy cafés, restaurants, and the shops with beautiful and modern clothes were lovely, but I wasn't interested in shopping or spending the time in cozy cafes or shops.🙈
    On the first day, I went to Padang Padang
    Beach, the most popular beach in Uluwatu.🌴
    What I didn't know was that it's actually a very small beach, and even though I arrived in the morning, around 10:30 a.m., it was already very crowded and hard to find a spot to relax. I had imagined a peaceful place to rest and read, but the music was so loud that reading was impossible.😅 In the afternoon it started to rain, so I spent the time in a restaurant - eating, drinking, and thinking about what l'd like to do over the next few days.🙃

    I found another beach not far from my hotel, just a 25-minute walk. So on the second day, I went to Thomas Beach. Luckily, it wasn't very crowded, but honestly, it wasn't the most beautiful beach either.🤭Still, I was simply happy to have found a quiet spot to relax.🥲
    I decided to leave Uluwatu earlier than planned, cancelled my final night at the hotel, and returned to Canggu. - where my Bali journey had begun. I chose Canggu again because | knew it would be the best place to spend my last few days: relaxing & walking on the beach, joining yoga and meditation classes, and enjoying delicious food.🧘🏻‍♀️✨🍛🍍🥝🤗    Read more

  • Janine De PizzolCambodia / Laos / Bali 2025Traveler
    1

    Canggu - Bangkok - Züri. 🇨🇭

    June 20, 2025 in Switzerland ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Canggu Lifestyle;
    yoga. eat. beach. yoga. meditate. eat. sleep - repeat. 🧘🏻‍♀️✨

    -> Probably the hardest and strongest days of my whole trip, even tougher than trekking in the Himalayas 😅, but so rewarding, definitely worth it.
    🧘🏻‍♀️😴🍍🐠🙏🏽👙🐚🌴🍌🍓✨🌞🫐🥥

    All good things come to an end.🥹
    Today, I’m especially grateful for the three months I got to spend traveling through South and Southeast Asia.
    Thank you all for following my journey so closely.
    Now, let’s hope that you, and I, can start a new trip as soon as possible.🤭🌍

    19.06.25,
    15:00 — Left Canggu by scooter taxi.🛵
    16:10 — Arrived at the airport, changed clothes, waited almost two hours in line for check-in, ran to the gate and flew away at 19:15 p.m.🇮🇩✈️

    ~ 23:00 — Arrived in Bangkok - 01:10 a.m. left Bangkok on time. 🇹🇭👋🏽

    20.06.25,
    07:40 a.m.— Landed in Zurich, 🇨🇭
    Had the perfect spot – three seats to myself. Slept really well for a few hours. 😋 😴

    Forever grateful to my favorite person – not just for picking me up, but for being the reason I’ve even made it to this new chapter of my life. 👯🙏🏽🥹❤️

    Thanks again & see you soon. 🫶🏽✨    Read more

    Trip end
    June 20, 2025
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