Travelheidi

Feliz Ano Novo!

2007-12-31T14:44:00.000+01:00

To everyone reading the blog.

It is still a bit early, not even 11 am, but as I don´t know how I will feel tomorrow after a night out I won´t take any risks and pass on my wishes today.

The last two weeks I have traveled from Belem to Ilha de Marajo (as big as Belgium and in the middle of where the Amazon reaches the Atlantic) - a relaxed place with buffaloes, small villages, beaches, red (really red - as red as can be)Ibisses (birds) and a great place to discover all that by (crappy old) bike (with a chain that fell off at least 20 times on my way back from the beach one day).

Then back to Belem for a night and on to another island - a small one this time - known as Algodoal. I was there for 5 days hanging out with the Spanish/Italian/Dutch from before. Sleeping in hammocks as there were some on a very tight budget - ending up with a face and arms covered with insect bites.

The others are still there but as I am starting to run out of time I continued to São Luiz where I am now. The bus that got me here deserves to get the price of most crappy night bus of Brasil! Most long distance busses in Brasil are very good but this one....??? Was it because they needed more busses because of the busy holiday season? Or because some days before they lost a bus (driver falling asleep - 7 people killed) - I don´t know.
I got a seat all the way in the back as that was all there was left - next to the toilet that smelled (even with the door closed) as it hadn´t been cleaned for a very long time. The seat I got was humid from water (from rain? or the airco?) dripping in but luckily the seat next to it was still free and dry.
Arriving in São Luis - very tired - it has been great to sleep in a bed again! After 6 nights of not sleeping good.

Tonight the plan is to head to the beach for New Years parties, together with a Walloon couple that I met here. Aftet that I plan on going to the national parl of Lençois Maranhesis and then on to Fortaleza and Canoa Quebrada. That´s all for the rest of the trip before I´ll head back to Lima for some days and then back home.

So again, everyone have a great party tonight and a great start of the new year and I´ll see, read, hear you soon!

2007-12-18T18:16:00.000+01:00

Getting the cast off

Amazon sunset

making artasanalia on boat 2

Amazon beach in Alter do Chão

Me in my hammock on boat 3

House along the Rio Amazonica

Approaching Belem

Acerola on the Belem market

Reached the end

2007-12-18T17:52:00.000+01:00

Did it, made it all the way to the end of the Amazon river. That is to say, in the bay where Belem is as the real place, when there is such a defined place, where it really becomes the ocean is about 120 km from here, which is very close for Brasilian distances.

The last boat I was on was extremely crowded as there are many Brasilians traveling nowadays as the holiday season has started and many travel to their families for Christmas. So, being cramped on the bottom floor of the boat for 2 days can get quite rough. Still, the views were often amazing and as always, it is a very pleasant way to travel.

I have been hanging out with some Spanish, an Italian and a Dutch. I have learned how to make necklaces and other stuff and have bought tons of açai seeds to make loads of things.
The next few days I will be going to Ilha de Marajo to chill, read, bike and beach and then might head to another island nearby Belem for Christmas with the gang.

As so often before I will try to upload a few pics. The connection is very fast here so it might even work!!!

One picture

2007-12-06T20:18:00.000+01:00

Only one picture as it takes a long time. Sunset on the Amazon...

Riding on the Sacred heart of Jesus

2007-12-06T20:04:00.000+01:00

Nono, I have not been converted to any religion, the title is just the name of the boat that took me to Manaus.
The trip took eventually only 3 full days and nights and was actually very pleasant. A very nice boat, nice people (except for the obese annoying 10 year old neighbour who kept hasseling me)and decent food. Most of the time I spent in my hammock reading or just on the top deck watching the forest and river. A very relaxing 3 days. Hopefully I will be ableto post some pics soon.

Arriving in Manaus I went on the next expedition, trying to get my cast off. After trying at 4 hospitals (1 being too expensive, 3 could´t do it and sent me off)I bought a brace and had two Spanish girls cutting it off for me at the hostel using some old rusty plyers and nail scissors. But, after a half hour I was FREE!!!! It still hurts quite a bit without the cast but with the brace it feels pretty much the same as with the cast, only lighter and I can take it off to take a shower etc.

Tomorrow I should be continuing my travels on the Amazon. Going from Manaus to Santarem where there is a small place nearby caller Alter do Chão which should be very nice. The trip should take about 2 days. We´ll see....

Starting the big trip in a few hours

2007-12-01T16:17:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I took the speedboat from Iquitos to Tabatinga, at the tripple border of Peru, Colombia and Brasil. Checking out of Peru, crossing the Amazon, checking back in on the other side, changing money in Colombia, a multi-country day it was!
Then, going to the boat to buy my ticket and getting stuck in a tropical downpoor. Just like a waterfall and just when I was on a motorcycle taxi. Luckily I had a plastic bag to cover my cast!
This morning I went to buy a hammock and installed in on the boat. Now I just have some basic shopping to do, pack my bag and go to the boat which should depart in a few hours and arrive 4 to 5 days later in Manaus.

Getting closer.....

2007-11-29T01:47:00.000+01:00

to Brasil.

With my arm still in a cast I can start to feel the difference in between Lima in the Amazon Basin. I arrived this afternoon in Iquitos, my starting poit for descending the biggest river in the world. I have so far only seen it from the airplane as by the time that I arrived in downtown Iquitos it was dark so I only saw the dark area of where the river is supposed to be.

After 3 weeks of being in a cast, my cast doesn't really stink yet as I haven't been sweting much and I have been in cooler climates. That will soon change I am sure as it is tropically hot and humid in Iquitos and I am sure the stinking process will speed up.

Still no photo's here to put on the blog as I put them all on my laptop which stayed in Lima where I hardly had internet. I am hoping to put some Amazon pics on the next time.

typing slowly....

2007-11-18T20:15:00.000+01:00

Just a quick one as typing still goes slowly. That is because I broke my right arm about 2 weeks ago while sandboarding. That was on day 3 of the trip I am guiding but things turned out ok. Annelies came down to Arequipa for a few days to assist me at tying my shoes, cutting my food, washing my hair etc.., which was a great help and good fun! In two more weeks my cast should be coming off, just in time for the Brasilian beaches :-)

The trip has been good so far, with a good group. Only in the last few days there have been some issues. At the entrance of the Inca trail, after some hours of waiting, they told me that there was no permit for me to go on the trek. By that time most of the group had already been hiking, just two others had to stay behind too but could eventually start hiking. Nothing to do about it - just bad organisation from the local company? Joker? who knows - but I had to chicken bus back to Cusco where I slept at the Vamos Expeditions office and went partying with the Marlenys, Mario and, being Vamos staff and Joker guide. Good fun but I was looking forward to hiking - even if it is the 3rd time on the Inca trail. Today I bussed and trained to Aguas Calientes and tomorrow I´ll take the bus up to Machu Picchu at 5:30 (auch) to go and find my group. Looking forward to seeing them again and hearing their stories and reaction to the fact that I didn´t show up on the first day of the hike.

More news from Lima soon as the trip is almost over....

Moving offices

2007-10-31T16:36:00.001+01:00

Back on the road again.
I was supposed to be in Mexico now, traveling, but just coming back from guiding a trip in Madagascar I got asked to guide a trip to Peru and a trip to Cuba, for Joker travel. After some reflexion I decided to go for it so that I could visit Annelies in Lima and to keep my travel costs down, so I cancelled my Mexico flight (at a cost of 100 Euro) and flew to Lima. Just two days ago Joker finally took a decision about the Cuba trip and say that they found somene else from within the company who will guide the Cuba trip. Mother........s!!!!! Why ask in the first place if you don't want someone from out of the company to guide that trip???

Anyway, now I have time to travel till January 14 and I am in the process of deciding where to go after guiding the Peru trip which will start tomorrow evening and last till nov. 22. So, here are my options:

1. fly to Iquitos and travel all the way down the Amazon to Manaus and Belem and then head to some nice beaches. This trip is long, uncomfortable boat travel - sleeping in hammocks - and might seem boring but I think it could be a real adventure and great to be relaxing in my hammock with some good books. Also this is the hot weather option, which I love, and it is BRASIL :-)

2. head South from Peru and travel through Chile and Argentina to Patagonia. This is the cold weather option (at least down South) but must be beautiful!

So far I am balancing more towards option 1 but I still have some weeks to think about it.

So, since being in Lima I have mainly been hanging out at Annelies' place and helping her out with moving the office to Cusco as she will also start providing Inka Trail treks. So, on Friday we dismantled the Lima office, shipped the big things to Cusco and flew there ourselves on Saturday morning (VERY EARLY) with lots and lots of bags full of sleeping bags, mattrasses and also some boxes with computer, printer etc. Then we spent 2 days taking taxi's around Cusco (never been that much in taxi's in my life all together) to shop shop shop shop... From plastic plates, cuttlery, wash basins etc for the inca trail, racks to put all the stuff on, bunk beds, matrasses, blankets, etc for people staying over in the Cusco office and then finally when the big stuff arrived from Lima we put the desks and racks together. Sunday night the new office was installed and we were ready for a good party at Mama Africa. Mama Africa is a dangerous place, it is hard to get out early and sober so eventually, as we had a 6am flight again we arrived back in Lima more zombie like than human.

Now I still have a day to get ready for my group to arrive. Still have some stuff to do as Joker travel doesn't book anything in advance, so all hotels, tours, busses etc still have to be arranged by the tour leader who normally never gets payed (I am an exception - as I am anti voluntary work for a company that makes profit).

In a seperate post I will try to put some pictures from last weekend. Annelies doesn't have internet right now so I have to use a weak signal from someone elses network so I am not sure if uploading the pictures will work.

Keep an eye on the blog as I will be posting more in the next months!

Back in Europe but here some pics from the end of my trip

2007-02-01T17:27:00.000+01:00

I have been back in Europe since January 7 but only stayed for a week. After that week I went to Austria where I will be till some time in March. Instructing snowboarding in the mornings and doing the Venture Europe work in the afternoons. A good way to escape Belgian winter and to be able to spend some time outside.

Below are a few pictures from my last week of traveling.

The Trancoso quadrado

View if a small part of the largest favela of Rio de Janeiro, Rocinha.

Local hairstyle fashion.

On the boat trip, with one of the first caipirinha's of many to come on that day.

A view of Rio taken from the bay. Left is Corcovado, right sugerloaf mountain.

Buenos Aires

New Years in Rio

2007-01-03T13:51:00.000+01:00

Samba, Pagode, MPB, Forro, had a night of each in Rio. On the 30th then, there was this boat party organised by the hostel. I first thought that I wasn´t going to join but 15 minutes before leaving I changed my mind and went for it. It turned out to be a great party! We sailed out in the Guanabara bay of Rio, really good music playing (while that was my fear that it would be just trance and electro but it was great!), had FANTASTIC views of the whole city, Corcovado and Pao Açucar and went swimming many times. Included in the boat trip where some snacks and free caipirinha`s which turned out to be great and bad at the same time. I was mostly hanging out with Ben and Jen from England. Ben was a bit sick so the poor boy couldn`t join in the caipirinha drinking but Jen and me made up for that and drank an incredible amount. Not that that was planned or so but it just happened easily with all these free drinks. Eventually we started jumping, diving and backflipping of the tip of the boat and we must have been quite entertaining. It was great fun except for the times that we landed flat on out stomacks, backs and when Jen fell off the boat which turned into some nice bruises the next day. When it was dark we sailed back into the habour and went back to the hostel for an early night sleep.

Check out the pictures of the boat trip on this site, especially the one of me backflipping (in blue bikini).
http://www.101productions.tv/events/

The next day I wasn´t really hungover but sick. I guess it must have been a combination of too many caipirinha`s, a lack of sleep of the previous 6 days and someting I ate (or drank), but I really felt shitty. I mostly chilled that day but did go out to buy some white cloths for the night.

Jen, Ben Karin and Angelique went out to Copacabana around 9 pm where the beach was really starting to fill up. Families and friends had put up tents and umbrella`s, had coolers with drinks and were having a good time. We walked to the main stage in front of the Marriott hotel, hung out there for a bit and 15 min before midnight we went to the edge of the sea to watch the fire works together with about 2 million other people. The fireworks were very beautiful and especially the idea of being there, on Copacabana, most people dressed in white, cruise ships in the back, made it all really special. The rain could not spoil the fun and many people where diving into the sea. The only thing that did spoil the fun a bit was that I was feeling more sick again and had hardly any energy.
After the fireworks we hung out on the beach for a bit again, at the stage Vila Isabel samba school was playing at that time. Jen and Ben headed of to Ipanema to see the black eyed peas but I did not feel well enough to join them so Angelique, Karin and me just slowly headed back direction hostel where we hung out for a little and then went to sleep around 3 am. Early night!

January 1st was a boring rainy day. Same with the start of Jan 2nd. Then I flew with Andy, a dorm mate who was on the same flight, to Buenos Aires where I got last night, checked into a hostel and went out to get some pasta and Argentinian wine. That is where I am now. Going to discover BA for the next 3 days. Everyone says BA is great, I´ll find out if I will like it as much as I like Rio.

Party time in Rio

2006-12-28T21:22:00.000+01:00

I am on my third day (and night) in Rio and it has been good fun. Every night I have been going out and really enjoying the Rio nightlife. First night I went to a band called Revelação at the Salgueiro samba school. Yesterday there was forro in Lapa and tonight I´ll head to a samba rehearsal night of the Beija-flor samba school. Improving my Brasilian dancing skills :)In the hostel where I stay in Rio I first felt a bit odd as most people are in their early 20´s and I felt like an old tart but in the meantime I have met some nice people who also enjoy the Brasilian music kind of partying and don´t prefer to get hammered in some electro club as it seems that most of the early 20´s backpackers seem to be into.
Today was a rainy day so I just chilled a bit, recovered from the last night out and after it stopped raining went to the beach to read for some hours.

Gotta go take a shower and get ready for SAMBA!

Back in Rio

2006-12-26T20:23:00.000+01:00

Took a night bus - 18 hours - from Porto Seguro (after being in Trancoso) and arrived in Rio in the early afternoon. Walked around for a bit and went to the beach. It is good to be back in Rio but strange to be in a different area as I am used to. Normally I stay in Ipanema, but I thought that Copacabana will be the place to be fo new years.

That´s it, will post more Rio updates soon!

Bicho Geográfico confirmed

2006-12-21T14:06:00.000+01:00

After talking to many people, showing Gilberto and Jorge, I was getting tired of all people saying - oh no!!! you will have to have the worm cut out - it will go to your heart - put ice and bacon on it so it will come out - etc, I decided to pass by a doctor last night. Went to the the local posto médico where I saw a doctor right away. He glanced at Gilberto and Jorge and said - Bicho Geográfico. I was happy to get a confirmation from the doctor. He said that the cream I had was good but that it would be better to also take oral medication. So, back to the pharmacy where I bought pills. I hope it wil go away now!

In one hour I will take the bus to Trancoso, just one hour away from here. I will stay there till the 25th when I will take a night bus to Rio. Guess I won´t be much online till I go to Rio.

Creeping eruption

2006-12-19T21:20:00.000+01:00

Or also called Cutaneous larvae migrans or Ancylostoma braziliense. That´s what I think that I have. Or in Brasil they call it Biche Geofrafico. Of what I found out on the internet, Gilberto and Jorge should go away by themselves or faster with medication, the cream that I am using now. It is a realief to read this because I was already starting to imagine a doctor pulling a worm out of my finger and foot!!

Still in Arrial d'Ajuda but not liking it so tomorrow I will move to Trancoso. Yippeee!

Meet Gilberto

2006-12-18T16:45:00.000+01:00

This picture was taken this morning. At the bottom you can see the dot what I thought was the mosquito bite. Yesterday morning I discovered the bend and this morning the loop at the top was added. I hope the cream will help. If anyone has experience with these things, let me know!!

Gilberto and Jorge

2006-12-18T01:36:00.000+01:00

Since two days I thought that I had a mosquito bite on my index finger and since yesterday I thought that I had a mosquite bite on the sole of my foot. Since this morning I am pretty sure that these are no mosquito bites because mosquitos mostly don´t bite on soles of feet and start to form a trail that leads away from the bite! I am pretty sure that I have some worms on those places, some kind of parasite that you get from some of the beaches, especially from beaches where there are dogs. In order to build up a good relationship with the worms I have called them Gilberto (finger) and Jorge (foot). Now I just went to a pharmacy where I got a cream against parasites. In a few days from now, Gilberto and Jorge should be gone!

First Wave!!!

2006-12-15T22:47:00.000+01:00

Today I was able to catch my very first real wave of my life! Not the white wash that I have been practicing on but a real wave. Cought it (ok, I agree, with a little push from the instructor) but I managed to get up in the correct position and I rode it all the way down! Great feeling. Now am I exhausted but still planning to go out tonight!

Cya and happy surf to all!

Time to hit the beaches!

2006-12-15T15:04:00.000+01:00

After 2 weeks of Portuguese classes in Salvador, and practising my Portuguese with people on the beach in the afternoons I have hit the road again, actually that is already about 10 days ago but have been really slacky with my blog. After Salvador I went to the Chapada Diamantina with a German classmate, Andrej, to scout the place there for the Anders Reizen trip that I have arranged. We did some great hikes to waterfalls and valleys, really pretty. After that, another day of Salvador in order to arrange flights and hostel bookings for New Years in Rio because, yes, I have decided to be in Rio for New Years! It will be expensive but I am sure that it will be worth it. Maybe it won´t be as exciting as Carnaval but still - 2 million people on Opacabana beach, all dressed in white, will be quite exciting. That, off course with lots of good Brazilian music, caipirinha´s and fireworks. You can expect the stories of that in the beginning of January.

Anyway, after that day in Salvador I took a bus - boat - bus - boat to Barra Grande. A very chilled peninsula. I pretty much just relaxed out there - went for long walks on the beautiful beaches and layed in my hammock reading books. I finished my first book in Portuguese there!!! Yes, I think my Portuguese has improved! I had a lovely room, right on the beach with the perfect view and perfect hammock.

A few days ago I traveled a bit further South in Bahia (actually only 50 km but since there is no direct route I had to go all the way around : boat-bus-bus-bus, and that took me about 8 hours!). Here in Itacaré, THE surf spot in Bahia, I didn´t have a choice but to join a surf class. Today I´ll have my 3rd day of classes - lots of sore muscles and bruises, but LOTS of fun.

I think I´ll stay here a few more days and then head further South in Bahia, on my way to Rio.

Below a few pictures:
1. Milton, one of the people on the beach who I daily practiced my Portuguese with
2. A view of Vale do Capão in the Chapada Diamantina
3. One of the long beaches on the Maraú Peninsula close to Barra Grande

Salvador

2006-11-20T20:33:00.000+01:00

Got to Salvador last night. I had no idea where to go to cause the school forgot to email me the address of my homestay so I ended up in a hostel, had too many caipirinha´s while chatting to some French guys. Today I had my first classes and I was put in a class with two other girls who have had classes of Portuguese for the last few weeks. It was tough but I think I should be fine. Today I also moved to my host family where I think I will stay for a week and then change to a Pousada, for social reasons. Unfortunately I haven´t yet met anyone to go out with at night so I guess I will just stay in and study. Hmmm. Doesn´t sound very appealing but hey, that is why I am here.

It is hot and I am sweating my ass off. I think soon, when it cools down a bit I will head to the beach for some study time there.

Até logo!

2006-11-12T01:45:00.000+01:00

Peruvian travels

2006-11-07T18:05:00.000+01:00

For about the last 10 days Annelies and me have been taking our group of Belgians around Peru. First we went to Lake Titicaca to visit the reed islands and to stay with local people on one of the islands. It was a great experience as usual, trying to have conversations with the ´mama´ of the house and going out at night with our mama to the local dancing hall, all dressed up in local skirts and shawls. OK, a bit touristy but still fun.
Being on about 3800m for a few days was quite hard on some people and even climbing a small hill seemed like an expedition. It was a good place to get used to the altitude however and arriving in Cusco we all were fine again and ready for the Inca trail.
The previous 4 days we were hiking and just like the last time it was a beautiful hike. My fitness proved to be great so climbing all the passes was a piece of cake and arriving and Machu Picchu I did still have the energy to climb Wayna Picchu, the mountain that stands behind Machu Picchu and is on all classic photo´s of the site.
Unfortunately the weather sucked and except for the few moments that the sun came through we had cloudy weather and a lot of rain. It did give the whole hike a bit of a mysterious athmosphere and I took some great pictures, not of views but of the clouds. Because of all this rain and thus wet shoes and feet for a while - I think some fungus started growing in my shoes. Really annoying I can tell you! I will need some good Brasilian weather soon to be able to wash them in order to get rid of it!

Most of the time the group is great but unfortunately yesterday I got into a discussion with some of the group members which did bring down the fun for a bit. Really unfortunate. Although everyone is having a great trip I hope that this won´t bring up bad stuff during the next few days but it should´t.

Today is a free day for everyone. I´ll be going shopping for more Peruvian hats cause I started to really love them. Tomorrow we´ll fly to the Amazon for two nights and then back to Lima where the group will depart. Then I´ll get ready for Brasil!!!

Now I have to go meet some people so if I have the time I´ll gat online later today to post some pictures of the last 10 days in Peru.

A week in Lima

2006-10-29T02:08:00.000+01:00

Not that much to say. Been hanging out in Lima for a week, just mainly being a couchbum. Annelies and Daniel had a lot of work so I was a lot on my own. Went for a few walks in Miraflores and Barranco to watch the parapentes and surfers. Yesterday we went to play tennis for an hour - ouch, my muscles today! Last night we went out in Miraflores, had some great Peruvian food and lots of beer.

In a few hours the group will arrive and tomorrow we'll fly to Puno and then the trip will really start. For the next 2 weeks there won't be that many updates. I'll post some pictures again around the 11th from Lima.

Here some pics from last week of the plane that brought me here, Babo and Jeero, the view from the appartment and Annelies and Daniel in their kitchen.

Mada pictures

2006-10-16T16:47:00.000+02:00

Did it! Succeeded in putting some pictures on my blog! You can click on them to see a larger version of them. I got back from Madagascar two days ago. My laundry is done and bags unpacked. On Sunday I leave for Lima and will be gone till January. I hope to be able to post regular travel updates and photo's from Peru, Brasil and Argentina. But now, the Mada pictures.

As in most places in the world, especially the people are very photogenic and mostly the kids love having their picture taken. Nowadays with digital camera's they love to watch themselves afterwards and then want more pictures taken. The people of Madagascar are a big ethnic mix between the Asians who migrated first to Madagascar from Asia and then Africans who migrated afterwards.

Another "people" picture but then of myself. Taken on Nosy Iranja, one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been on. Two small islands linked by a sand bank. We went there on a day trip from Nosy Be. Enjoy!!!

Then there are the natural jewels of Madagascar. The Tsingy is a kind of rock formation that you can find in more places of the world but here in Madagascar they are especially beautiful. Here the Tsingy Rouges in the North of Mada.

Also Plants are very special in Madagascar. Off course there are all the types of Baobab trees but then also other kinds like the Pachypodium.

Well known in Madagascar are the Lemurs and Chameleons. Here a Woolley Lemur and a Ring tailed lemur and some different species of Chameleon.

Whenever you are in a national park you keep bumping into strange animals. Like these things on a tree that first looked like if someone with a wool sweater got stock on a tree, but then when you look closer and touch these things, they start to move and turn out to be some kind of bug!!!

Then there are the funky bugs like the giraffe one and then, to finish off, the very well camouflaged ones like this gecko. Good luck finding it!

2006-10-09T16:20:00.000+02:00

Finally some more relaxed days ahead! From Tana we flew North to Diego Suarez where I was actually a bit sick for some days - sore throat, tired, fever - not too bad though but still no fun. Most likely from getting up at ridiculous times in the morning in combination with something that has been going around in the group.

After we went to Ankarana National Park for visiting the caves and Tsingy rock formations. Accommodation was very basic so it will be nice to sleep in a real bed again and to take a real shower. We arrived on Nosy Be today and will stay here for 3 nights. Beach and snorkeling are the plan for tomorrow :-) Then back to Tana and for two nights to Périnet Park before going back home. Below some pics, more to come next week when I'll be home.

The group is still good although I do feel that everyone is quite tired and some people have belly problems. The weather is perfect.

It seems to be taking AGES to upload two pictures so the pics will all be for next week. Petty cause they are good. I'll give it one more minute and if still no pics appear on this page....

Madagascar

2006-10-03T14:31:00.000+02:00

I just have a moment before I have to meet my group so I'll keep it real short. All's good. The goup is very nice and fun. Trip going smoothly. Weather great too so no complaints. South is done. Tomorrow flight to the North. In Tana (short for Antananarivo)right now. Maybe no more internet till back home on okt 15. Photo's will be posted later.

CYA

Eastern Europe Trip

2006-05-28T23:09:00.000+02:00

Time to hit the road again.

5 American 18-year olds - Shelly, Jessie, Kristin, Mia and Emily - decided it was a good idea to trust me in making a trip for them in Eastern Europe. I had no idea what to expect as they are not really teens anymore but also not like the adult trips that I guide.

So there they were in Vienna airport ready for a fun trip. It exceeded my expectations by far and I am having a blast driving them all over the place. From Vienna, with our local guides Roel and Stefan, to Cesky Krumlov. Then on to Prague where we met up with two VE TL's, Neall and Jen and where Eva was our local guide, and then to the North of Czech republic, to Teplice nad Metuji, for a beautiful hike but very unfriendly locals. Today we drove to Poland and the plan was to stop over in Auschwitz for a visit before driving on to Krakow. Plans are there to change though especially if the pope decides to just visit the place the same day as us. That meant no visit but long traffic jams and almost being stuck at a restaurant where we only just espcaped before all roads were being closed - for the pope. Then back on the road, loaded with cops, for more traffic jams and the local road to Krakow as all highways were closed - for the pope. Just a pity about the weather, sometimes chilly and quite a lot of rain but luckily that doesn't change our moods.

Now chillin in the room, although chillin.... rather being terrorized by the bunch.

Tomorrow visit of Krakow and the next day on to Budapest.

Some pics below of the last few days.

In Cesky Krumlov

With Eva in Prague

Tired from hiking????

Inside "The Beast"

Sign language for the Polish - this one means "The Pope"

Terrorizing Heidi in her room

Saudade

2006-03-16T16:15:00.000+01:00

Here the final report from Brasil, well about Brasil, not from because I have returned home on Monay. It is way too cold here and I feel and see my nice tan getting less with every hour :(

Back home, on my own computer I can upload pictures easily so here are the long awaited pictures from Brasil.

This first picture is Ipanema beach with in the back the 2 brothers mountains and Gavea. We took a room without sea view but sticking our heads out of the window we still had a beautiful view. We could also see Corcovado from our room although you can't see that on the picture. Corcovado is, as I'm sure you all know, the famous Jesus statue on one of the hills in Rio.

As I wrote in a previous post, we bought these costumes, really expensive, in order to be able to parade with a samba school. Here is Anne Kjersti and me just before our "show" started. Unfortunately we left the costumes behind. We were too lazy and tired from partying to drag these costumes with us. Oh well, it was expensive but exellent fun for a short time but to never forget.

The next night we went to see the whole show. This picture is still from the start of the night. The next picture is a close up from a part of the parade.The parade went on all night and we ended in bed at 9 am!

From Rio we traveled to Trancoso, Bahia. It took us about 20 hours to get there but it was well worth it because of the beautiful village and beaches, not to forget the excellent Caipirinha's and food. My favorite food there is Moqueca de Peixe as you can see me eating on one of these pictures. I brought the main ingrediences home to try and make it myself. It is a stew of fish with coconut milk and some veggies. The ingredient giving this dish a special flavour is the dende oil though, of a certain palm. In Trancoso we saw some great capoeira again and went to dance forro at night.

We traveled back to Rio, another 20 hours, to continue right awat to Paraty, 4 hours South of Rio. We just wanted to go to a place that we hadn't been to yet. Paraty is a beautiful colonial town with cobble stone streets. Ok, I live in Gent where there are a lot of those streets but they are no comparison to the streets out there. After several caipirinha's these streets get really hard to walk on. On the pictures you see one of these streets, Anne Kjersti with the first of many on a certain night and on the last picture you see us on a beach closeby Paraty.

After Paraty back to Rio for our final day. We went out to Lapa that night, an area in Rio that is supposed to be good for going out. There were many parties/clubs with all kinds of music. You had to pay entrance fees every where and they were quite high, so since we didn't want to pay everywhere we did not know where to choose. We just hung out and met some nice people that we parties with till, again, early morning.

Just to end this blog for a while, because I haven't planned any travels in the near future, it was a damn good trip to Brasil. I don't think that I have often laughed and danced as much as I did there. To be repeated, carnaval in Salvador 2008, here we come!!!!!

Trancoso

2006-03-06T23:59:00.000+01:00

I haven been writing for a while but that because I have been too busy and there isn´t that much internet here.

Days have been very full. Breakfast, going to the beach, eating, hanging out, eating more, drinking caipirinha´s, going out dancing forro. It is really good out here and we are having a great time and getting a great tan. It feels good to be back in Trancoso after almost 3 years.

Tomorrow wel start the long trip to Rio again. From there we are planning to continue to Parati for two days before heading back to Rio for our final day. It will be nice to go to a place that we don´t know for a change.

Gotta go now. Caipi´s are calling :-)

MaisFesta

2006-03-01T21:40:00.000+01:00

Just a quick update.
Yesterday we had another crazy but great night. Went again to a bloco - Banda de Ipanema. Crazy dancing etc. We are absolutely tired now and will take the bus to Trancoso this night. We´ll need to rest our bodies now.

Just saw the live report of the results of the samba parade. Great to see the importance of it all here in Brasil. Unfortunately the school we paraded in lost and degrades again to the second devision. Not because of us though because our samba moves were great ;-)

Gotta go now. More news and pictures whenever I find the time (and a decent computer)

CU

The big day(s)

2006-02-28T20:32:00.000+01:00

Finally it started. Carnaval!!!!
On Friday we decided do join a bloco that was nice but only lasted a few hours. It was cool, some Samba music, some caipirinha´s, dancing a lot etc. Saturday there was a bigger bloco in Ipanama where we went to, it´s a very famous one in Rio called Banda de Ipanema, known for the many drag queens going in it. Now is where the crazyness really started. Packed crowds on the wide Ipanema lanes. Live percussion band and music and lots of sweating bodies jumping up and down and doing samba steps.

Then, Sunday was the big day as we were going to parade in the Sambadromo, the biggest parade in the world. We got there way too early in our costumes, sweating like hell because it was still more than 30 degrees and these costumes were quite big. After walking around for a long time we finally found our Ala, the part in the samba school where we had to be in. After waiting around for even longer it finally all started to come together and was starting to get some shape. Every school has about 8 big floats with in between the people in costumes, dancers, the percussion band, baianas, porta-bandeira and mestre sala, etc, etc. One Samba school parades with about 3000 to 4000 people, yes, thousand!!! We were behind the 5th float. Our Samba school, Rohinha, was the second school of seven to parade on Sunday and by the time that we started it was already one hour behind schedule.

Things ended up not going as planned.
1. It started to rain
2. The float in front of us had some problems to get under a bridge and turn onto the sambadromo so we were waiting for a long time.
3. All of a sudden they told us that we had to pass the truck and run into the sambadromo because we were by now 6 minutes behind the previous group of people and a parade has to be really tight. So, we had to run the first 1/3 of the sambadromo, WITH hats that didn´t stay on and pants that were hard not to trip over. It must have been a very funny sight, us running in there, totally out of control and uncoordinated.

By the time we reached the rest of the parade, as I said, things were very uncoordinated. We just danced a bit through and did our own thing. Danced samba, waved at the people in the crowd and tried our best at the samba song of this school. It all went very fast. While running th erain had stopped for a bit but now as we were walking it strated to poor!!! Really hard! Still it was very much fun and a great experience. We were feeling very sorry for our samba schho because they didn´t have all the luck they deserve.

Rocinha is a samba school that just came from second devision and is trying to stay in 1st division . On wednesday we´ll know the results of the jury and know if Rocinha will stay in 1st. By the way, Rocinha is the biggest favele, slump, in latin america.

After parading we were initially planning to try to get a place in the sambadromo but we were actually too tired, wet, and sick of our costumes that we decided to go home.

So, yesterday we went back, in comfortable cloathes. We maneged quite well to find tickets on the black market for decent seats and for only 100 Euro which is extremely cheap since most of the decent spots in the sambadromo cost more than 200 Euro.

The parade started around 9pm and it took the 7 schools till just before 8am to parade through, just to give you an idea about the immens size of these parades!!! We danced samba all night and very much enjoyed the parade. When I´m back home, just come by to watch some pictures, listen to samba tunes and watch video´s of this parade. It´s amazing!

We were in bed by 9 this morning, slept for a few hours and now we are going to get ready for another party. Last night of the carnaval. Tomorrow night we´ll head to Bahia.

I wanted to post some pictures but it didn´t work. Friggin´PC´s again. There´s an apple place around the corner. I´ll try to post some pics later today or tomorrow.

O praia, O sol, O Carnaval..... Rio de Janeiro

2006-02-24T01:59:00.000+01:00

We, Anne-Kjersti and me, got to Rio last night. The flight went well. We drove to the bus station to buy a ticket to Bahia for after Carnaval and then continued to the hotel in Arpoador. Check in and after the necessary amount of Caipirinha's and some good "Peixa Brasileiro" we crashed. Ever since we met in Lisbon and on the plane we have been making plans for our stay in Rio. We got the crazy idea that since we are in Rio, at Carnaval, and the tickets to go into the Sambadromo cost about 200 Euro for one night, and it costs abou the same to join the parade and buy a costume, we might do the last one. So, everyone who will be switching on the TV in the next few days, we'll be parading in the Sambadromo on Sunday. Below there is a picture of the costume that we have ordered.

Today we went to the beach in order to try to get a tan so that we look a bit like in the picture by Sunday. Not all went as planned and especially Anne-Kjersti is looking like a tomato right now. My skin is feeling quite allright.During the afternoon we started drinking Caipirinha's on the beach and we are continuisly amazed how good any caipirinha tastes here. 10 times better than anywhere else in the world!!!!

Time to go to bed now in order to save up enough energy fot next weekend. A few more nights sleep and it's Carnaval. Yeeeeha!!!!

2006-02-20T17:11:00.000+01:00

Just a try-out before leaving to Brasil in order to get into the right Carnaval mood :-)

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Beachlife

2005-12-15T03:38:00.000+01:00

Back in Bangkok once again! Spent about 10 days at the beach, on Ko Wai, the little island where I also was last year.

The island is still as beautiful as last year and so were the beaches. The weather wasn't as good as last year though. Although we had sun pretty much every day, it was also cloudy parts of the day and most of the time quite windy so I didn't get the tan that I was hoping to get.

I had a good time again though. Met some nice people to hang around with and chilled a lot, mainly in my hammock with some good books: The time traveler's wife, The Kite Runner. Both great books!

I did have some less fortunate times too though. Like when my ear got infected, and still is recovering, and also when I fell, head first, from a 1.5 m high balcony, straight with my head and shoulder on rocks. No, it was not because of alcohol or anything of that kind, it was due to weak wood!

That's it for this year's traveling again. This afternoon I start to travel home. It'll be a long flight again, Bankok - Singapore - Brussels - Frankfurt. Damn, why can't I never get a direct flight!!!

So, when I get back home I might post some more pictures and then the next post will be from BRASIL in Februari! YEEEEEEEEHA!!!

Laos part 2

2005-12-03T07:42:00.000+01:00

So, where was I? I didn't check when I wrote the last time but I guess that it was in Luang Prabang, so I'll start there.

After a few days in Luang Prabang we took the boat up to Nong Kiaw, to continue the next day by bus to Luang Nam Tha, the place where we go trekking to hilltribe villages.
The trekking itself isn't that long or exceptional or anything but the village itself, an Akha village, is very nice. We got there early and we had lots of time to socialise with the Akha people. It't not that easy to communicate cause they don't speak a word English and most people don't speak that much Lao either. They speak Akha.
It is quite funny though. The way to ask someone how many children they have for example is by just shaking a breast. Then they understand.
I brought many pictures with me that I took last year of the people in the village and once again that was a big success. It's hilarious to see the peoples reaction when they seen themselves on a photo.

After the trekking we drove to Muang Sing where we went on a day trip to more Akha villages and some Yao/Mien villages. That treking I guide myself and I managed to loose two people for a while. I had no idea where they went to but after a while the villagers told me that they went all the way back over the hill. The only choice I had was to send the rest of the group back to the guesthouse on an easier route and basically run all the way on the mountain again to find the two people. I managed to catch up with them and they were very relieved to see me, and I was extremely happy to see them again too. Afterwards we were talking so much that we managed to get lost again but after some more running up and down the hills again I managed to find the path back and we all got back to the guesthouse just before dark.

The day after we traveled by truck and speedboat to the border and yesterday they all left to go home from Bangkok airport.

Last night then I met up with some friends from Gent/Holland and we drank way too much. They had been traveling in Myamnar and with their leftover money they had bough a bottle of champagne. So, we finished that and then moved on to some buckets of Mai Tai. After the whole trip I was really tired so I was quite drunk last night.

Tomorrow I'll head to Ko Wai, a very small island. My plan is to swim, snorkel, lie in my hammock and read books for the next 10 days or so. On Dec 15 I'll fly home again.

Below some more pictures from the last week!

A little boy on the way to Luang Nam Tha

An Akha girl

A baby lizzard.

A very poisonous creatures that likes to eat banana leaves.

Me with some Aha women.

Back in Laos

2005-11-24T08:23:00.000+01:00

Back in Laos with anoher group this time. It's nice to be coming back to see familiar places and faces. The group this time is very different from the group I had in Cambodia. This time the group is small and rather quiet. Still nice people though but different, maybe because it's a bit of an older group.

Right now my group is in the safe hands of Mr. Vandy, a local guide. That gives me some time to catch up with my paperwork and just chill a bit, which isn't always that easy though if you come on a PC. This is by the way the second time that I am writing all this.

Later today there's a massage at the local red cross on the program, a must if you ever come to Luang Prabang, where I am now. Tomorrow we go for a hike and then we travel further North. Another week and a bit and I'll be in Bangkok again and then there will be some time to really relax, on the beach.

Helthwise all's good again. Some people of my Cambodia group
who also were sick had a check up when they got back to Belgium. They had some bacterial infection called Shigella Sonnei. I guess I must have had the same cause we all had similar symptons but luckily I got rid of it without having to take antibiotics, and just in time before the Laos group arrived.

That's all I have to say right now, more news from Bangkok in a bit more than a week. Below are some pics to get in the Lao athmosphere.

Enjoy!

Dragons at the That Luang temple in Vientiane.

Tad Fane waterfalls and AAAAAAAAAH - a spider!!!

The Lao way of fixing a flat bicycle tyre.

What Lao people call "Muu"

A digital camera is always very popular.

2005-11-13T10:05:00.000+01:00

My previous post say that I'm back home but that off course is not up to date anymore. The last two weeks I was in Cambodia with a full load of people. I flew in a few days before the group would arrive so that I could arrange a few things. It was also nice to be able to adjust to the time and just chill a bit, so that I would be able to be a good guide ;)
The group eventually arrived about twelve hours late because of problems with their flights. Also about half tha group had lost their luggage but they were all fine about it, a good sighn for a good and easy group and that turned out to be true.

So, first we were in Siem Reap, which is close to Angkor, which off course you all know, where there is Angkor Wat and a whole lot of other temples, which again off course you al know, except maybe some people from a country just North of Belgium. The person I am talking about will off course recognise herself ;-)

The picture below is from the entrance of Angkor Thom. In the back you can see the South entrance gate. When you look closely you can see more faces above the gate and on the sides.

After visiting a lot of temples in two days and then visiting more temples while driving direction Phnom Penh for two days, we stopped in a town, or more a "highway crossing" called Skun. This is the place known for its spiders ..... that get fried..... and then eaten .... yes, goosebumps appear and hairs are rising!!!!! As a medium, ok, some people call it more than that, arachnophobic, it is not the most relaxing place. The spiders are called Wolff spiders but in some guidebooks they also talk about tarantulas, although I'm not sure if that is correct. They throw them is oil and then just fry them, nothing more than that.
I had warned the group about the place and we did find a candidate, Edith, for a little snack. She claimed that the leggs were the best! She also convinced one other person, David, to try a leg and had a live one walking over her arm. Just watching was already bad enough for me!!! Below is a woman posing with her platter full of those fried spiders and a live one on her chest.

After a one night stop in Phnom Penh we drove up to Ratanakari province in the North East of Cambodia clode to the Vietnamese border. The trip took two days and on the way we stopped for a little boattrip on the Mekong to watch the Irryawaddy dolphins, an almost extinct species of river dolphins. We saw many of them from quite nearby. Must have been almost all that still exist.
Then there was the 3-day trekking, walking part of the Ho Chi Minh trail, through rainforest and sometimes open landscapes, sleeping in hammocks in minority (Jarai, etc) villages. It was hot, dusty and humid. A hike of six hours on flat terrain can already get veryu exhausting in such a climate. At night we sang songs with local children. They didn't dare to come very close though as they haven't seen many white people before. Everytime that we would approach them or come a little too close they would run away. Below is a picture from a local old lady with her pipe and some strange thing on her throat. It was crazy to see how many of those tribal people smoke. We even saw little kids smoking from only about 6 years old.

From Banlung, Ratanakiri, we flew with a Russian plane back to Phnomh Penh. It did take a very long time before we actually left because they had a battery problem. The pilot and assistant were sitting under the plane trying to fix it while we all stood around and looked at it. It eventually took 5 hours before it was fixed.
That night in Phnom Penh I got a fever and my intestins started a protest action so for the next two days in PP I spend most of the time in bed (and on the toilet). I just always gave my group instructions on where that could go and how they had to get there. More people in the group were also sick though and since it was such a good group they were very understanding.

Now I'm in Bangkok, recovering. Tomorrow there's a new load of people arriving that I'll take to Laos for a 3-week trip. I hope that I'll recover well and that it'll also be a good group.

Hope to hear from you all soon!

Back home

2005-10-15T10:57:00.000+02:00

I have been back home for about 5 days and have been very slacky with updating my travelblog. One excuse is my jetlag which is now gone but it was also just lazyness. My pictures have been developed so now I have a reason of telling a bit more about Tibet.

The trip was great except for a few difficult customers who made me grind my teeth pretty much every day. Tibet is such a beautiful, fascinating and peaceful country though (except for the Chinese off course) and I did have some very nice customers so it turned out to be a very good trip.

Off course there are the beautiful landscapes. Tibet is pretty much a high altitude desert so the mountain scenery is very rough and brown. That in contrast with the +8000 peaks.

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Religion plays a very large role in the daily life of the people. The Chinese tried to destroy it during the cultural revolution in 59 and they did manage that many monasteries got ruined and that many monks were killed or fled abroad, including the Dalai Lama. They didn't succeed though and nowadays Tibetans have gained some religious freedom again, although very limited and ccontrolled by the Chinese. Compared to before 59 only about 10% of the monks remain but you see them everywhere.

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Tibetans go at least once in there life on pilgrimage. They come from all over the country and ofter have to travel very long in very bad circumstances as there hardly is any public transportation. You see them all around Lhasa with their prayer wheels and often prostrating in front of religious places.

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Another very Tibetan religious thing is sky burials. It might seem strange to us Western people but think about it. At high altitude there is hardly any wood (Tibetans use Yak shit - dried off course - to cook), and half of the year the earth is frozen. therefore Tibetans have sky burials. The death person is being chopped up in pieces by a professional person at a burial site mostly linked to a monastery. This person calles the vultures by their name and they gome to eat the body. Nothing is left. The vultures on this picture are feating on a dead horse - don't worry! It isn't very proper to appear at a sky burial with a camera you know.

Then there are the people. Tibetans are extremely beautiful, friendy and curious people. I often found myself staring in amazement at their beautiful faces and clothing. They are very proud people. Pilgrims who often had never seen a "white" person often stared equally back at me and the rest of the group.

Tibet is a place that I'll never forget and surely will travel back to!

Tibet with pics

2005-10-01T11:29:00.000+02:00

Here's a report from Tibet WITH photo's.

The first days we were in Old Tingri where we (at least the ones that didn't suffer too much from altitude sickness) had a beautiful view of Everest and Cho Oyu. Everest is all the way left and Cho Oyu on the right.

Then we took the road to Lhasa visiting several monasteries on the way. At one monastery there was this boy who seemed to be fascinated by pinching the Buddha the whole time. His mom thought it was funny. Me too actually.

The last two days we've been in Lhasa visiting the Potala palace which you can see below and also the Jokhang temple and monasteries. Today we went on a hike past a sky burial site, another monastery and a nunnery.

Tomorrow we'll be for the last day in Lhasa, visiting yet another monastery. Before coming to Tibet I thought that I would get sick of visiting monasteries but all of them have something different so I don't get tired of them. Tomorrow afternoon I'll go souvenir shopping and the next day we'll start our backpacking. Then back to Kathmandu and home. Just a good week and I'll be home again. Time flies.......

Pics from Kathmadu

2005-09-22T17:20:00.000+02:00

Kathmadu

2005-09-22T16:53:00.000+02:00

Two days ago I left with a to guide a group through mainly Tibet but also a few days in Kathmadu. For the first time I flew with Quatar airways and it was great. I didn't get bored at all on the flight cause I could choose from about 20 movies on my personal TV. We did have a 5 hour stopover in Doha though which wasn't as much fun but anyway, except for that it was good.

Last time that I was in Nepal was in 98. Kathmandu hasn't changed that much except for the fact that there are a lot more police and soldiers all over and much less tourist. Maybe that also has to do with the fact that it is still the end of the monsoon and that the mail tourist seson only starts in October but probably also becaue of the problems that they've been having here in the last few years.

I did took me a little while to get orientate myself again im the little busy streets of Kathmandu and especially Thamel but after withsome small detours I managed to guide my group through it all. I am lucky to have a patient group.
Yesterday and today we visited the mail sites in and around Kathmanu like Durbar square, Pashupatinath, Bodnath,... We were lucky to be just at Durbar square when there was a local festival when the Kumari comes out. It's a festival for Kumari who is the representation of the "living Goddess". She is a 7 year old girl lwho only comes on the streets once a year when she is being carried through the streets around Durbar Square. The rest of the year she has to stay inside.

Tomorrow we are leaving for Tibet.The visas have been arranged and I'm looking forward to it.

Now I am trying to get some pics in here from the last two days but this friggin PC doesn't seem to have a USB entrance. Friggin PC's @$%#&@*$(

I'll try on another computer later.

Namaste!!

Nick Cave

2005-08-23T17:37:00.000+02:00

Not many words necessary! He just was damn good again! This time on Pukkelpop.

Michael Franti & Gabriel Rios

2005-08-19T19:59:00.000+02:00

Last Sunday and Monday I got the chance to go and see Michael Franti & Spearhead play again. First, on Sunday I went to de Lokerse Feesten where first also Gabriel Rios played. The weather sucked but Gabriel Rios and Michael Franti where both GREAT as usual. They even played a song together! I think Michael Franti knows me now after being to a lot of concerts of him. I am pretty sure he picked me out of the crowd and pointed at me as a form of recognision :) :)

On Sunday there was Marktrock in Leuven. First saw Admiral Freebee. I wasn't such a fan before but I must say that they were very good live and now I'm all into them! After A.F. it took too long to try to survive through a concert from some English cheesy singer called Craig David. Definitely NOT my kind of music! It shows my high motivation to see Michael Franti again though, to sit through a whole Craig David concert isn't exactly an easy time to stay awake.

So, aftewards there was Michael Franti again. His concert was even better than in Lokeren. Maybe that was also because the crowd was more active than the day before.

Now I can't wait 'till spring 2006 when the new CD will be out and he will play in Belgium again!!!

The pictures are taken from www.powertothepeaceful.tk

- - - - - - - Gabriel Rios on the Lokerse Feesten - - - - - - - - -

- - - - - - - Michael Franti & Spearhead on the Lokerse Feesten - - - -

- - - - - - - - - Michael Franti & Spearhead on Marktrock - - - - - - - - -

Please help to recover stolen volleyball!!!

2005-08-19T09:48:00.000+02:00

On July 28, for the second time in about one month, my volleyball was stolen. As it happened the first time, it was stolen from my car. This time the crime took place at the St. Pieters train station in Gent. The last the ball was seen was at Victoria station in London.

The person who can bring back my ball by next week will get a big reward! Below is a picture, taken by an undercover agent, of the thieves - with the ball!

Last Asian news (at least for now)

2005-01-09T12:16:00.000+01:00

Back in Bangkok after another Laos trip.

The group I had this time was really great, even better than last time. Everything went smooth and I am starting to know Laos better now. I even know a little bit more Lao know, especially ways for saying 'cheers' etc.

When we arrived in Bangkok we stayed at a very fancy place with beautifull rooms, hot showers WITH pressure and a swimming pool. Ironical though that after traveling for almost 3 months and mostly staying at very simple places, I got attacked by bed bugs in the most fancy and expensive place. Result is that now I am covered with red bumps that itch TERRYBLY!!!!

Maybe tonight or otherwise tomorrow I'll be flying home. Depends if I can still change my ticket, I'll know in a few hours. This is the 4th time Bangkok in 2 months and I've seen enough of it. If I'd be traveling on it would be great to stay here another day but going home that's a difference.

Arriving in Bangkok airport (from the North of Thailand) was very strange. In the arrival terminal there were dozens of embassies that had put up tables for people to register since there are still many people missing. Also on Khao San Road there are over a hundred photo's of missing tourists. Just think about how many local people are still missing and probably death.

So, my trip has been good again, met a lot of great people and went to very nice places. As soon as I have the time when I'm home I'll try to put my pictures on a website.

I'll probably write again from my next trip, whenever that may be.

CU soon!

Tsunami's

2004-12-27T16:20:00.000+01:00

To all that read this site.

All's good. Luckily I'm not at the West coast of Thailand but I just arrived in Laos today. Horrible stuff that happened out there in the Indian Ocean.

I'll be in Laos for the next two weeks so I guess that by the time I'll be back in Thailand all will be calmed down a bit.

See you!!!

More beach

2004-12-25T13:14:00.000+01:00

Just a short and quick update on my blogspot.

I spent about a week on Ko Phangan and then decided to leave because the weather was really awefull. No more Ko Tao either 'cause that's right next to it and had the same cloudy, rainy and windy weather.

It was a long trip from the South back up to Bangkok and then east to Ko Chang where I hung out with this guy I know from Austria. The weather on Ko Chang was absolutely beautiful and I had a really nice bungakow on a cliff. Just spent the days on the beach and I also did a small cooking course so now all visitiors to my place will be able to enjoy an even better green curry, tom yam goong or tom ka kai :)

Not everything in Ko Chang was that great because I found out that it was in fact impossible to get along with that Austrian guy so after about 6 days I moved again.

This time I had just heard from a little island close to Ko Chang called Ko Wai. It was absolutely paradise out there. I wish that I could show some photo's here but hey, only a few more weeks and I'll be back in Europe. I spent most days lying on the beach or in my hammock, reading and snorkeling. One day I also rented a kayak woth a Swiss girl and we paddles around teh island. Very beautiful.

Now, back in Bangkok, I am getting ready for my new group that will arrive tomorrow morning. Two more weeks Laos and then a few days shopping in Bangkok before going back home.

Merry Christmas by the way!!!

Vanallesennogwa

2004-12-04T10:41:00.000+01:00

Just checked my blog and it seems that it's been a long time since I wrote. Guess I have been too busy all the time.

After the beach in Malaysia I ended up in Bankok for a day and a night. I noticed again that the world is very small because I bumped into someone I know from Austria, Thomas Tschofen for the Austrians (or Germans or whoever) reading this. Big coincidence to bump into each other on Khao San road. Off course that lead to the inevitable action of drinking too much beer!!!

The morning after my 'Anders Reizen' group arrived in Bangkok. Luckily I didn't have a hangover, guess the Thai beer isn't too bad :) For three weeks I lead the group through Laos, from South to North. I was spoiled by having a good first group. Easy people, no whining, good times, etc. I guess I did a good job cause noone complained. Sometimes it was a bit hard because I hadn't received all that much information, the weather was sometimes shit and because of a big ASEAN congress (something like a EU top) some of the plans had to be adjusted. We were actually very lucky because the day that we left Vientiane (the capital of Laos) they were going to close the city for all tourists.

Before I left on that trip to Laos the people from the travel company asked me if I would be able to guide another Laos trip at the end of December. After some considering I accepted so my plans are changed and I'll only be coming home on January 11th. Then strait aftet to Switzerland for a meeting and on to Austria.

Back to Thailand...... It's nice to be here cause in Northern Laos it was often quit echilly and here, as usual, it's hot. In about an hour I'll be taking a bus down South to go to Ko Phangan for some beach time :) After that probably to Ko Tao for some diving and then on Christmas eve I'll take a night bus back to Bankok. Christms day I'll be in Bankok and normally I'll meet up with Thomas that day. On the 26th my next group will arrive.

Everyone, take care on whatever cold place you are right now. I'll probably write again on Christmas day, so Merry Christmas to all!!!

Lankawiiiiiiiii

2004-11-14T10:58:00.000+01:00

After 2 years I find myself again on Kao San Road sipping a Singha beer. Although Bankok isn't my favorite place it still feels good to come back to a familiar place. Knowing where you will eat and what you will need. Knowing the guesthouse you stay at. Knowing how to get around etc... I won't be here for long though since my group will arrive tomorrow. Yes, the backbacking life and freedom will be over for a few weeks.

After a brief visit to the Cameron highlands where the weather was cool and rainy and we did some walks and visits to a tea plantation, we decided that we'd had enough of the cold weater and were desperately in for some beach time again. We was still Nina, Sonia and me. Clive stayed behind in Cameron highlands. We traveled up North East to Lankawi, a tax free island just before Thailand.

Coincidence brought us to a chalet right next to the reggea bar, about the only place to go out at night on Cenang beach. Almost every night there was a band playing reggea and other music and on the first night we already got to know most band members and started to feel a bit like locals. We soon would become half locals because in the nine days that we stayed on Lankawi we spent nearly all evenings in the same bar, except for the nights that the band was playing on another beach. Most nights we stayed up till sometime between 2 and 6 am, at least that's me, Nina and Sonia broke the records by staying up till sometimes 7 or 8 or even not going to sleep. Since I don't like to sleep in in the mornings I was always up before 9 or 10 and after a week I started to get really tired. Now I am recuperating from a heavy 9 days of partying.

During the day we sometimes hung out on the beach right in front of the chalets, or we rented motorbikes and toured around the island to some nice pools and waterfalls and some great beaches. Thanks to Nina and her Australian army connection, we also got to know the Aseania resort. A more fancy place with a swimmimg pool and more important, a bar in the swimmimg pool. Some afternoons we sat there and drank the nice coctails that Oen (Owen) made us. We got to know Oen through Rachel and Debbie from England and Northern Ireland whom we became friends with and partied with. During the second part of our stay Sonia left us to go to New Zealand and after Debbie left, Rachel moved in with us in our, by then, cockroach infested chalet. Luckily we didn't spend too much time in there.

To make things short, it was a fantastic 9 days on Lankawi. I met great people and had lot of fun in the reggea bar. I felt that is was enough though and time to leave.

Now it's time for another Singa!

Blood sucking creatures in the jungle

2004-11-01T11:15:00.000+01:00

Back in Kuala Lumpur after some days in one of - or maybe even the oldest rainforest in the world. I am still traveling with my travel pals, Queen Elizabeth Tailor and Soniascheten and we managed to find a guy to join us out there in the jungle. We needed him to get rid of all kinds of creepy bugs for us but after all, maybe he wasn't the best person for that job.

We took a bus and afterwards a 3 hour boat trip to get to Tama Negara (the national park) and got there soaking wet - also our backpacks and everything in there. Yes indeed, it does rain in the rain forest!!!
The first day out there we did a small hike to a 'Canopy Walk' which was really cool. Walking through the treetops on very unstable bridges. We also go to see our first leech (bloedzuiger) on the trail. Well we weren't too sure about it being a leech but we would soon find out :(

The next day we took a boat a bit more upstream and walked for about 45 minutes to a hide in the jungle. On the way we had to flick off many leeches who were trying to make their way up our shoes, direction legs etc. Arriving at the hide we took off our shoes and socks and yes... there was a leech trying to get into my skin!! Awefull!!! I managed to flick it off and searched on toi find more. I thought that I saw a leaf hanging of my knee but after looking more closely we noticed that it was a leech who had done what it is supposed to do. It had sucked quite some blood and was all swollen. The conversation that followed was something like this:
AAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!! Heeeeeeeeeeeelp!!! Get it offf!!!! Someone sayd: Burn it. Nooooooooooo! Flick it offf! Flick Aaaaaaaaaaah Flick Aaaaaaaaaah Flick Aaaaah Flick Aaaaaaah! After flicking it off it was finally gone and I could relax for a while. It did bleed for a while though and now I still have a little hole in my knee.
Eventually Nina (Queen Elizabeth Taylor) discovered one on her side but the other had more luck.

We spent the night in the hide sleeping on wooden beds right in the jungle. At night it was very loud because of all the bugs and frogs around but except for some squirrels and rats steeling our biscuits we unfortunalelly didn't see any animals. In the morning we did wake up with the sound of gibbons though. It felt like waking up at home.

We managed to get back out of the jungle without any more leeches on our skin.

Now, back in KL it's good to not having to worry about leeches and other bugs.

Tomorrow we're off to the Cameron highlands for some more hiking and visiting tea plantations.

Some serious beach time :)

2004-10-27T03:55:00.000+02:00

A relatively small island, a great beach, blue skies, temperature around 30 degrees, palm trees, hammocks, coral, jungle, geat food, parties at the beach bar, great people, beach volley..... that is how I have spent the previous week week on Pulau Tioman. Sometimes it rainned a little but most of the time that was at night. It was hard to leave the island but I succeeded. I am actually happy now that I have not been to Sumatra because there are so many things to do in Malaysia, so many places to go. The people are extremely friendly and the food is amazing. I already have the feeling that I am starting to run out of time in Malaysia. Last night I arrived in Malaka, back on the West coast. They call it the history town of Malaysia, full of Dutch, Portuguese and English influences. Walked around Chinatown for a while today.
I have been hanging out with Nina (England) and Sonia (Canada) and we are going to travel together for the next week or so. First a quick stop back in KL and then up to Taman Nagara, a jungle - rainforest national park. We are planning to do some trekking there but you'll hear all about that in a week or so. That is if I won't be eaten by a tiger, sucked out by leeches or been sung by a bird spider (we saw a framed dead one today!!!! I get the chills when I tink back of it !!!)

Salamat Tingal

Koala Lumpur

2004-10-17T23:45:00.000+02:00

Still in Kuala Lumpur but leaving tomorrow. Today has been a walking day past some of the highest buildings in the world. I went to the Petronas towers but unfortunately couldn't go up since it's closed on Monday. So, I went to the radio tower, which is pretty high too, from where you have a lovely view of the city. Unfortunately there was a downpoor (or how do you say that when it'sraining very hard?) but it was sweet anyway. After that I went for a really good cheap but spiiiiiiiicyyyyy Indian lunch Hoowah! I can still feel it burning and I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow morning too if you know what I mean:)

Tomorrow I'll go to Pulau Tioman, on the South East Coast of Malaysia. It's supposed to be a beautiful island. The monsoon is coming soon on the East coast so that is why I am a bit in a hurry to get there. I am thinking to stay there for a week or so and have no idea if there is e-mail so most likely you won't hear from me for some time. Probably then the next stop will be Singapore.

Thanks for the travel advice that some of you have sent me! Some European person that claims not to be European (VE people will know who I am talking about) told me about the Koala's here. I must say that I have found one! A petty that I did't bring the cable of my digital camera, otherwise I would've been able to show you some proof.

More news next week!

First Attempt

2004-10-16T21:30:00.000+02:00

This is a first attempt on creating a Blog. Anneke told me about this so I'm just checking what this is all about. The goal is that I can just post messages, photo's, etc. here and people can check it when they want.

By the way, I'm in Malaysia now, it's Oct 16th, about noon, trying to get rid of my jet lag. Just slept 'till 11:30 and I'm about to go check out some parc in Kuala Lumpur.

C Ya!