Life in the Netherlands is like it was 2 years ago. It might be a bit more busy (particularly on the roads) but for the rest everything is more or less the same. The odd thing was that meeting old friends felt like hey haven't seen you for a week or so...
In the meanwhile I keep on applying for jobs and looking forward to the Summer (the weather is pretty nice here at the moment). I might even go to the French Riviera coast for a couple of weeks!
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Journey's end
The 20 month journey, which starter the 19th of September 2005 came to and end where it started: Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, 18 May 2007. Once I collected my luggage and walked through the arrivals zone I met my family (Father, Mother, Aunt and my two cousins). It was great to see familiar faces after such a long time, and it felt like home straight away.
After some lunch/dinner we were off to home. The roads were overcrowded as anticipated and I see my country more or less as a city state, say Sydney but than a bit bigger...
The last week I used to meet friends who spread throughout the country. Had dinner in Eindhoven, and watched the Champions League Final in the Hague... Tonight it is time for some drinks in Rhenen...
I also start looking for jobs. Hopefully it won't take too long because I would love to do something more usefull with my time.. Although I have to admit after all this travelling I really need a holiday!!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
St Petersburg
The last stop on "the long journey home" was St Petersburg. I am very glad to have included this city, both the city itself as well as the people the accompanied us made it a great last couple of days on my trip!
We flew into St Petersburg from Moscow with Aeroflot (I am now a member of the "I flew Aeroflot and survived" community!). We arrived pretty early in the city and went to the hostel which was straight next to the Palace Square and the Hermitage!
After we slept a little (had a rather short night in Moscow) we walked a bit around to get some orientation in the city. After that we met up with Annika who we met in the Moscow hotel, and she proved to be the best tourguide one could wish for the days to come! We finished the Monday with some drinks and dinner.
The second day we visited the Hermitage and again Annie showed us around. The Hermitage is ernormously large, full of masterpieces, including Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Monet and so many others. I was amazed by the beauty of the building itself. St Petersburg is just a city like none else in Russia. The rest of the day we spend walking around the city and be amazed by its beauties.
Wednesday we visited the Isaac cathedral from where we had a great view over the city. Thursday was already the last day and we decided to take it easy with a canal boat tour. At night we met up with Annie and some of her friends to have a drink. That proved to be a memorable event, when it was my turn to shout I bought a bottle of Vodka. Not soon thereafter I was completely off the world and with many thanks to Annie I made it home... Friday started a bit miserable!
After departing St Petersburg I made a brief stop-over in Copenhagen before I finally returned to Amsterdam, after 20 months I was back where it all started: Schiphol Airport. I was very happy to see my parents, aunt and cousins waiting for me at the arrivals area!
Having access to my laptop also means I finally can share my photo's!
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Mockba
The capital of the Russian Federation and the powerhouse of the Soviet Union proved to be a very interesting place to visit. There are many interesting historical sites, with the Kremlin and the Red Square as absolute highlights.
Our man with a mission, James, knew all the secret spots and organised a couple of nice rendez-vous' for us. He also managed to save us from the police, who were very eager to fine us for not carrying the "right papers". (Pointing at James: "You OK" to us: You trouble")
We seem to be plagued the whole trip by misfortune in regards to visiting monuments. Mao's tomb was closed for maintenance we missed the Europe-Asia Obelisk because we took a different route and Lenin's tomb was closed because of the victory parade that was held on the Red Square.
However we did cool things ad we really enjoyed the visit. Up to St Petersburg!
Our man with a mission, James, knew all the secret spots and organised a couple of nice rendez-vous' for us. He also managed to save us from the police, who were very eager to fine us for not carrying the "right papers". (Pointing at James: "You OK" to us: You trouble")
We seem to be plagued the whole trip by misfortune in regards to visiting monuments. Mao's tomb was closed for maintenance we missed the Europe-Asia Obelisk because we took a different route and Lenin's tomb was closed because of the victory parade that was held on the Red Square.
However we did cool things ad we really enjoyed the visit. Up to St Petersburg!
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Ekaterinburg
Yesterday we arrived in Ekaterinburg, on the border of Asia and Europe. The town which is also famous because of the Czarist family, the Romanov's where killed here by the Bolsheviks. Another prominent local is (or was) Boris Yeltsin.
But before we arrived here we spend 2 days in the train from Irkutsk. In the train from Mongolia we met a British guy named James and he was in this train as well. He was sharing his compartment with two Russians who went to dinner with us. If you go to dinner with two Russians that means you have to drink Vodka, lots of Vodka. After 5 shots I started to see things a bit different, after 6 bottles (between the five of us) my memory was not functioning quite that well, except that Xander became very friendly with Vladimir and Vitali!
A beautiful Irkutsk girl named Anna was sitting with us as well, drinking beer and orange juice, she was still very friendly the day after so nothing too crazy must have happened. We were just sleeping like we were in a coma.
Back in Ekaterinburg we went for dinner with James and met some local Russian girls on the street with whom we went to a Salsa club and had some drinks. Apparantly one of them really liked me (also called Anna) because we go out the two of us tonight as well to watch the fireworks for Victory Day. Unfortunately she doesn't speak English too well and my Russian is not too impressive either.
Time is falling short though because tomorrow we are off to Moscow!
But before we arrived here we spend 2 days in the train from Irkutsk. In the train from Mongolia we met a British guy named James and he was in this train as well. He was sharing his compartment with two Russians who went to dinner with us. If you go to dinner with two Russians that means you have to drink Vodka, lots of Vodka. After 5 shots I started to see things a bit different, after 6 bottles (between the five of us) my memory was not functioning quite that well, except that Xander became very friendly with Vladimir and Vitali!
A beautiful Irkutsk girl named Anna was sitting with us as well, drinking beer and orange juice, she was still very friendly the day after so nothing too crazy must have happened. We were just sleeping like we were in a coma.
Back in Ekaterinburg we went for dinner with James and met some local Russian girls on the street with whom we went to a Salsa club and had some drinks. Apparantly one of them really liked me (also called Anna) because we go out the two of us tonight as well to watch the fireworks for Victory Day. Unfortunately she doesn't speak English too well and my Russian is not too impressive either.
Time is falling short though because tomorrow we are off to Moscow!
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Irkutsk
Finally we entered the Russian Federation, although it took quite a while to enter! We departed from Ulaan Baator at 19h30 and arrived at the Mongolian border town at 4 am, we only noticed when we woke up that we weren't moving anymore, once we got out of the train we were the only cart left, all the other cart were for inner Mongolian travel and the loc had to come from Russia.
After the customs circus we left 10h30 over 6 hours after arriving, only to go for 20 KM to the Russian border town. There we waited for another 4 hours before we finally continued our trip.
In the train we shared our compartment with two other travellers, a Englishman and an Aussie (no talk about cricket though) we were the only four tourist on the train alltogether.
We made a stop of an hour in Ulaan Ude which gave us the chance to visit the largest Lenin head (and statue of a head) in the world. We bought some food and beer in the supermarket and made our dinner in the train.
The next morning we arrived in Irkutsk and left for the Baikal lake straight away. The Baikal lake is the largest in the world, also the deepest and contains the coldest water. It is really beautiful over there and we enjoyed our stay.
Right now we are back in Irkutsk and plan to move on to Ekaterinburg tomorrow (2 day journey). Over there we can walk from Asia into Europe and probably visit the site where the Romanovs were killed.
After the customs circus we left 10h30 over 6 hours after arriving, only to go for 20 KM to the Russian border town. There we waited for another 4 hours before we finally continued our trip.
In the train we shared our compartment with two other travellers, a Englishman and an Aussie (no talk about cricket though) we were the only four tourist on the train alltogether.
We made a stop of an hour in Ulaan Ude which gave us the chance to visit the largest Lenin head (and statue of a head) in the world. We bought some food and beer in the supermarket and made our dinner in the train.
The next morning we arrived in Irkutsk and left for the Baikal lake straight away. The Baikal lake is the largest in the world, also the deepest and contains the coldest water. It is really beautiful over there and we enjoyed our stay.
Right now we are back in Irkutsk and plan to move on to Ekaterinburg tomorrow (2 day journey). Over there we can walk from Asia into Europe and probably visit the site where the Romanovs were killed.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Mongolia & Ulaan Bator
We survived the first leg of the great Trans Mongolian Train ride and arrived in Ulaan Bator. We were picked up by our tour guide and brought to out hotel, nice change after a TV!
Ulaan Bator is a bit of a strange city; buildings everywhere in no clear pattern roads full of holes and no clear traffic rules so everyone jumps on the road. After showering and shaving we did a sightseeing tour through UB and it is a quite interesting place to hang around! Chengis Khan is everywhere! We also found out it is pretty cold over here, especially compared to Beijing and HK which I visted before.
On the second day we went to a couple more sights in UB and finally took off to our yurt camp, there were 25 yurt tents or so. Since we are not travelling in the tourist season we were the only ones. Live in a yurt tent is old fashioned, light a fire to heat up no water available and toilets were a little hole a bit further away. But the scenery is beautiful, very surreal mountains, and lots and lots of space!
Unfortunately we must have eaten something bad as we got sick on day 2 in the camp. Therefore we went back to UB and after a day with lots of rest we are OK now.
Today and tomorrow we'll hang around a bit in UB and than it is off to Russia, apparantly it takes the Russian customs 7 hours to clear the train...
Ulaan Bator is a bit of a strange city; buildings everywhere in no clear pattern roads full of holes and no clear traffic rules so everyone jumps on the road. After showering and shaving we did a sightseeing tour through UB and it is a quite interesting place to hang around! Chengis Khan is everywhere! We also found out it is pretty cold over here, especially compared to Beijing and HK which I visted before.
On the second day we went to a couple more sights in UB and finally took off to our yurt camp, there were 25 yurt tents or so. Since we are not travelling in the tourist season we were the only ones. Live in a yurt tent is old fashioned, light a fire to heat up no water available and toilets were a little hole a bit further away. But the scenery is beautiful, very surreal mountains, and lots and lots of space!
Unfortunately we must have eaten something bad as we got sick on day 2 in the camp. Therefore we went back to UB and after a day with lots of rest we are OK now.
Today and tomorrow we'll hang around a bit in UB and than it is off to Russia, apparantly it takes the Russian customs 7 hours to clear the train...
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Beijing
Last night in Beijing, a busy, big and vibrant place to be! I arrived here after a 25 hour trainride, interesting to see so much of China from the window, a country that is clearly developing itself into a modern society. I was pretty tired when I arrived here and had a nice meal and a beer before I dropped into bed.
The following day Xander arrived as well so for the rest of the journey it's the two of us. The first day we visited the Forbidden city, a very large complex of palaces in the middle of the city, here as on any other place there are two many street hawkers who want to sell things to tourist (= white people) and they can be very pushy doing so. After the forbidden city we saw the Tianamen Square by night which is an odd place, very big, ideal to hold parades on much than I expected it to be.
The next day we made a tour to the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs, unfortunately it also included way too many stops at shopping centres ("for some cultural understanding") with a bunch of pushy people. However the wall was great to see and I am glad to have been there.
Today we did a bit of shopping for the train and picked up our tickets, that was pretty interesting as the tour operator did not give us a complete address, it missed the number of the building and the housenumber so we had to ask around, that's when you feel like Bill Murray in Lost in Translation, barely anyone speaks English, although they ae very willing to help.
At last we found the office and got our tickets, we also went to Bei Hai Lake and Park and visited Tianamen a second time, this time in daylight.
Tomorrow we kick off the great Trans Mongolian journey and we are very excited and a bit worried because Mongolia still seems to be pretty cold, even Siberia is warmer!
The following day Xander arrived as well so for the rest of the journey it's the two of us. The first day we visited the Forbidden city, a very large complex of palaces in the middle of the city, here as on any other place there are two many street hawkers who want to sell things to tourist (= white people) and they can be very pushy doing so. After the forbidden city we saw the Tianamen Square by night which is an odd place, very big, ideal to hold parades on much than I expected it to be.
The next day we made a tour to the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs, unfortunately it also included way too many stops at shopping centres ("for some cultural understanding") with a bunch of pushy people. However the wall was great to see and I am glad to have been there.
Today we did a bit of shopping for the train and picked up our tickets, that was pretty interesting as the tour operator did not give us a complete address, it missed the number of the building and the housenumber so we had to ask around, that's when you feel like Bill Murray in Lost in Translation, barely anyone speaks English, although they ae very willing to help.
At last we found the office and got our tickets, we also went to Bei Hai Lake and Park and visited Tianamen a second time, this time in daylight.
Tomorrow we kick off the great Trans Mongolian journey and we are very excited and a bit worried because Mongolia still seems to be pretty cold, even Siberia is warmer!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Hong Kong
I spent a week in Hong Kong and I can say it is a great city. Life is very vibrant over here, there are so many people everywhere that there is oftern congestion in the MRTs and on the pavements. There are so many shops, things are cheap, you can get everything you can think of...
It sure was an exhausting week, I stayed with my Australian housemate and friend Dom, and we went out for drink till later every night. He lives very central here and close to where it all happens (although it happens everywhere over here).
Besides partying and shopping I visited quite some tourist places, a beach, several markets and some offshore islands, Hong Kong also has a great environment. The funny thing is if you stand on a prestine beach you still see huge container ships passing by.
Today I am off for the next destination: Beijing. I go by train which takes about 25 hours, so China is quite a big country. I am curious what I will see on my way north!
It sure was an exhausting week, I stayed with my Australian housemate and friend Dom, and we went out for drink till later every night. He lives very central here and close to where it all happens (although it happens everywhere over here).
Besides partying and shopping I visited quite some tourist places, a beach, several markets and some offshore islands, Hong Kong also has a great environment. The funny thing is if you stand on a prestine beach you still see huge container ships passing by.
Today I am off for the next destination: Beijing. I go by train which takes about 25 hours, so China is quite a big country. I am curious what I will see on my way north!
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Puala Tioman - Juara
This leg of the trip proves to be exhausting and relaxing.. It took 5 hours to get from Singapore into Malaysia, it took 3 hours alone to get through the Malaysian Customs, with a 20 KG backpack on my back in a 40 degrees room without airco and lots of people, some of whom fainted...
Apparently Good Friday is a holiday in Singapore as well: many Singaporians fled their city state to Malaysia which caused a lot of dismay. When I finally set foot on Malaysian soil, I had to fight my way to get a bus to Mersing, the same place from where I am writing this story.
Mersing is the kickoff for trips to the island paradise of Tioman, 50 KM offshore in the south Chinese sea. As soon as I arrived I quickly got tickets for the last ferry and a ride to the other side of the island: Juara.
Juara is magical, it is an oasis of relaxation, good food, very nice sea and a lot of doing nothing at all. I had a hut on the beach, meaning that when you wake up the first view you see is some sleepy palm trees full of coconuts, a white beach and a very deep blue sea. The water in the sea is amazing, exactly the right temperature!
I basically dived my time between swimming, snorkeling, reading a book in a hammock and eating delicious local dishes (curry!). I also made a trip from on side of the island to the other as saw monkeys in the middle of the jungle and beautiful waterfalls.
There was even a place with Dutch ties so I also had some cheese sandwiches, it was a great unforgettable adventure!
This morning I took a 4WD taxi to the other side of the island from where you can take the ferry, unfortunately the car got stuck in the mud and had to be pulled out by another car. Due to this I missed my early ferry and had to wait for another one, causing me to miss my bus to KL as well... Now I have to wait until 6PM if the bus departs in time this time... and arrive 11h30..
Tomorrow a last days of sightseeing in KL and than off to Hong Kong!
Apparently Good Friday is a holiday in Singapore as well: many Singaporians fled their city state to Malaysia which caused a lot of dismay. When I finally set foot on Malaysian soil, I had to fight my way to get a bus to Mersing, the same place from where I am writing this story.
Mersing is the kickoff for trips to the island paradise of Tioman, 50 KM offshore in the south Chinese sea. As soon as I arrived I quickly got tickets for the last ferry and a ride to the other side of the island: Juara.
Juara is magical, it is an oasis of relaxation, good food, very nice sea and a lot of doing nothing at all. I had a hut on the beach, meaning that when you wake up the first view you see is some sleepy palm trees full of coconuts, a white beach and a very deep blue sea. The water in the sea is amazing, exactly the right temperature!
I basically dived my time between swimming, snorkeling, reading a book in a hammock and eating delicious local dishes (curry!). I also made a trip from on side of the island to the other as saw monkeys in the middle of the jungle and beautiful waterfalls.
There was even a place with Dutch ties so I also had some cheese sandwiches, it was a great unforgettable adventure!
This morning I took a 4WD taxi to the other side of the island from where you can take the ferry, unfortunately the car got stuck in the mud and had to be pulled out by another car. Due to this I missed my early ferry and had to wait for another one, causing me to miss my bus to KL as well... Now I have to wait until 6PM if the bus departs in time this time... and arrive 11h30..
Tomorrow a last days of sightseeing in KL and than off to Hong Kong!
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Singapore
Singapore is, besides a city, a sovereign country something you notice when you cross the border at the bridge between Malaysia (Johor Bahru) and Singapore. First the bus stopped at the Malaysian checkpoint where I have to receive a stamp and hand over some paperwork, after which the bus brought us to the other side of the bus where had to do the opposite on Singaporian soil. The visa application clearly stated that carrying drugs can lead to the death penalty...
Singapore itself looks at first sight much different than Kuala Lumpur or Melaka: more organised, cleaner but once you walk around you see the same spirit: shops stalls and hawkers on the street selling their goods.
The temperature is OK but the humidity is far higher (85 per cent, compared to almost nill in Canberra) guess that is what happens when you live so close to the equator (1 degree N)
I spend some time shopping (airconditioning!!) but the prices are not different than what you would pay in Australia or Europe, but it was nice to see some familiar European Stores like Zara (Zaraaaaaaaaaaa) and Mexx. Furthermore I visited the Esplanade and the Changi Museum and Chapel.
Tomorrow I'll head of to a nice tropical island to chill for a couple of days!!
Singapore itself looks at first sight much different than Kuala Lumpur or Melaka: more organised, cleaner but once you walk around you see the same spirit: shops stalls and hawkers on the street selling their goods.
The temperature is OK but the humidity is far higher (85 per cent, compared to almost nill in Canberra) guess that is what happens when you live so close to the equator (1 degree N)
I spend some time shopping (airconditioning!!) but the prices are not different than what you would pay in Australia or Europe, but it was nice to see some familiar European Stores like Zara (Zaraaaaaaaaaaa) and Mexx. Furthermore I visited the Esplanade and the Changi Museum and Chapel.
Tomorrow I'll head of to a nice tropical island to chill for a couple of days!!
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Melaka
Melaka was the second stop on my journey through Malaysia. It is a relatively small town and one day over there is enough to get a good impression. The interesting part of town is its history, the mediocre Portugese, the heroic Dutch and the brutal British all colonised Melaka and that can be see in the architecture. Another way I figured out old ties is that some words in Malay are very similar to Dutch...
Having seen the Stadhuys and surrounding building and eating some very yummy Indian food made it a worthwile trip. However the next day I have to wake up early as Singapore is the next destination.
Having seen the Stadhuys and surrounding building and eating some very yummy Indian food made it a worthwile trip. However the next day I have to wake up early as Singapore is the next destination.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital is way different than any other place I have seen so far. There are two distinctive features: Asian and a Muslim country. You can see you are in Asia not just because of the way people look like but also the way business is done: on the street you can buy all sorts of things: food DVDs etc etc. Besides that KL has some very big shopping malls with lots of luxurious products and lots of junk!
You can see it is a Muslim country they way women are dressed and the fact you cannot really get pork meat and alcohol is relatively expensive. It is great to see a completely different culture.
The only thing with which I do have difficulties is the climate: temperature is OK but it is so humid, I keep on buying drink all the times but evaporation is much quicker than me refilling myself...
In KL I got a good impression of the city, saw the Petronas Towers (from the sky bridge 177M high, not even half way!) apparantly two weeks ago a Frenchmen a.k.a. Spiderman tried to climb the tower without any gear, he almost made it to the top but policemen were waiting for him, the second time he fell short of ultimate glory in KL.
I guess it is time for me to dive into the city life again!
You can see it is a Muslim country they way women are dressed and the fact you cannot really get pork meat and alcohol is relatively expensive. It is great to see a completely different culture.
The only thing with which I do have difficulties is the climate: temperature is OK but it is so humid, I keep on buying drink all the times but evaporation is much quicker than me refilling myself...
In KL I got a good impression of the city, saw the Petronas Towers (from the sky bridge 177M high, not even half way!) apparantly two weeks ago a Frenchmen a.k.a. Spiderman tried to climb the tower without any gear, he almost made it to the top but policemen were waiting for him, the second time he fell short of ultimate glory in KL.
I guess it is time for me to dive into the city life again!
Saturday, March 31, 2007
G'day Australia!
This is it: the last message from Down Under just hours before I take off to Kuala Lumpur. It has been a great time over here, I love this country, its people, its environment and its cities. It sure will be strange to go back to Europe, where everything is so close together and packed...
Today I started with a swim in the ocean and Coogee, went for some breakfast in Randwick, bought new thongs, and visited some shops, Sydney is always enjoyable, a great city to be!
I spend the last day in Casa Marco, and we will eat a delicious pasta for dinner! I think this story contains lots of reasons to get back here ASAP!
Today I started with a swim in the ocean and Coogee, went for some breakfast in Randwick, bought new thongs, and visited some shops, Sydney is always enjoyable, a great city to be!
I spend the last day in Casa Marco, and we will eat a delicious pasta for dinner! I think this story contains lots of reasons to get back here ASAP!
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Cold Cold Canberra
Last Sunday Daylight Saving Time, meaning the difference with mainland Europe is reduced from 10 to 8 hours, it will also have positive effect on a possible jetleg between Sydney and Kuala Lumpur.
Funnily enough the temperature dropped significantly last Sunday as well, when I woke up after one of the many farewell parties organised for me I thought I was getting sick, but the weather changed, today it was even foggy. Perfect time to change Canberra for a European Spring & Summer!
As the my departure day approaches I have to say goodbye to people, and that is weird. Some people I've known for a long time and suddenly I'll be going back to the other side of the world... It is good that there are many social activities planned this last week.
And everything is more or less packed in boxes ready to be shipped to Rotterdam..
Funnily enough the temperature dropped significantly last Sunday as well, when I woke up after one of the many farewell parties organised for me I thought I was getting sick, but the weather changed, today it was even foggy. Perfect time to change Canberra for a European Spring & Summer!
As the my departure day approaches I have to say goodbye to people, and that is weird. Some people I've known for a long time and suddenly I'll be going back to the other side of the world... It is good that there are many social activities planned this last week.
And everything is more or less packed in boxes ready to be shipped to Rotterdam..
Friday, March 23, 2007
The Trip
Today marks the last week of being Down Under, next Saturday the trip will start from Sydney's Kingsford-Smith Airport. I just give a short recap of the route I plan to travel:
- Malaysia & Singapore: 1 April I'll arrive in Kuala Lumur, Malaysia's capital. I'll stay two days in the city and visit the Petronas Towers, hope to go to see some caves and do some shopping of course. On the 3rd I'll take a bus to Melakka, which is known to have some old Dutch colonial architecture ("Stadhuys"), one day later I am going further south to Singapore where I spend two days, want to do some cultural things and shop! My last 4-5 days I'll spend on a tropical island off the east coast of the Malaysian peninsula. Finally 11 April I'll go back to Kuala Lumpur and head off for the next destination:
- Hong Kong: I will visit one of my ex-housemates who moved there last week. Looking around the city, maybe visiting Disneyland Hong Kong and shopping (again ;-) ) From there the plan is to set off to the next destination:
- China: My housemate might accompany me to one of the southern provinces where there is lots of natural beauty to see, from there I most likely travel on to Xian, which is and old capital city and is close to the famous terracotta warriors. If there is time left I might go to Shanghai, otherwise I'll be in Beijing 20 April where I'll meet Xander and Francois the day after. We'll spend 3 days in Beijing before we kick of the big one: the Trans-Mongolian Express (TME)
- Mongolia: our first stopover on the TME will be Mongolia's capital of Ulan-Bator, we'll spend a week in the country and take a tour that should show us all major sites and sceneries.
- Russia: next stop Irkutsk on lake Baikal in the middle of Siberia. We'll spend there three
days and hopefully get a glimpse of Siberia and the lake (the largest fresh water resevoir in the world). When we board the train again and head off to Yekaterinaburg (3-4 days in the train!), this city has lots of history (The last Czar, Nicholas II and his family were killed here by the Bolcheviks) and is very symbolic for me: 40 KM to the west we will cross the border between Asia and Europe so I'll step into the old continent myself. The next destination will be Moscow, where we look around 3 days, after which we will go to St Petersburg for 4 days. From here I'll take off for the last leg
- Home: all good things come to an end. I'll be landing on Schiphol Airport on the 18th of May. After 20 months I will be back where it all started!
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Canberra Day
Last Friday my colleagues threw me a farewell party. My director made a great lunch and all my team mates came and we had a great lunch with good drinks. I'll definitely miss the working atmosphere here, it has has been good! As a present they gave a a original didjeradoo, I am really happy with it!
Last weekend we went with 9 people to Jervis Bay in a holiday house. It was a long weekend because Monday it was Canberra Day, and event traditionally celebrated by Canberrans by going out of the ACT. Even though the weather was not that great we had a good time, good food and drinks and we even managed to take a dip in the sea. The great variety of things you can do over here will be dearly missed!
In the meanwhile I sold my car and desk and am slowly packing my stuff, I contacted a freight forwarde so that should be good. The hostels in Malaysia and Singapore are booked so now it is up to the last obligations: working on the tender and say goodbye to friends over here..
Last weekend we went with 9 people to Jervis Bay in a holiday house. It was a long weekend because Monday it was Canberra Day, and event traditionally celebrated by Canberrans by going out of the ACT. Even though the weather was not that great we had a good time, good food and drinks and we even managed to take a dip in the sea. The great variety of things you can do over here will be dearly missed!
In the meanwhile I sold my car and desk and am slowly packing my stuff, I contacted a freight forwarde so that should be good. The hostels in Malaysia and Singapore are booked so now it is up to the last obligations: working on the tender and say goodbye to friends over here..
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Thunder in my heart again
Last couple of weeks an amost unknown phenonemen hit the eastern part of Australia: thunder and rain. I guess I have seen as much rain last week as I have seen all the months before that. It's a bit surreal since in Europe we normally have our fair share of bad weather, tat is certainly something I have to get re-acquainted with. However it also provides some beautiful pictures (credit where credit is due, those are not mine) as you can see on this blog and H E R E.
In the meanwhile I am preparing for the big trip home. Just sent my pasport to the Mongolian Consulate and hope to finalise the booking for the trip soon!
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Multi-Culti
The whole hiking trip aroused lots of interest, at work, from friends and as a response to my last story. I am really thankful for all the positive reaction! We had lots of talk among the “survivors” and it sure will be something which we won’t forget that easily!
After last weeks excessive training session I went to nearby Queanbeyan, NSW to swim in a river and shower underneath a waterfall! A couple of weeks ago we tried to find the same spot but apparently missed the last sign, ending up at a deserted BBQ spot.
Last Monday Canberra was covered by a thick layer of smoke from nearby bushfires. It looks like lots of clouds, and the only way you figure out it is smoke is through the beautiful reflection of the sun when it sets and a bit because of the scent.
This weekend the multicultural festival starts with a food festival with food from over 140 countries, including the Netherlands, cannot wait to go there!
After last weeks excessive training session I went to nearby Queanbeyan, NSW to swim in a river and shower underneath a waterfall! A couple of weeks ago we tried to find the same spot but apparently missed the last sign, ending up at a deserted BBQ spot.
Last Monday Canberra was covered by a thick layer of smoke from nearby bushfires. It looks like lots of clouds, and the only way you figure out it is smoke is through the beautiful reflection of the sun when it sets and a bit because of the scent.
This weekend the multicultural festival starts with a food festival with food from over 140 countries, including the Netherlands, cannot wait to go there!
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
As it happened: the Colo River hike
Having been writing on this blog on numerous occasions, I can say with certainty that this is the most spectacular event I have been involved with so far in Australia, most likely in my live so far. I’ll try to describe the events of the Australia Day weekend of 2007 (26-28 January) in a chronological order and as accurately as possible… It's a relatively long but intersting story, and I am happy to be able to sit behind a computer and actually write it down. For those eager to see a visual: click here
It all started with an idea to make a hike, something we have been doing with a core group of people several times so far, and it has always been great fun, sometimes enduring but very rewarding. The destination of this hike was the Colo River, a river that streams through a canyon approximately 100 KMs North West of Sydney. The plan was to descent the canyon to the river and camp, the next day lilo or raft downstream the river, and camp half way to the finish, the last day we were supposed to arrive at a pre-arranged spot and climb back up to a car which would bring us to the other cars and ultimately home. We were with a group of 17 people, the invitation went around from friend to friend and many people wanted to come, this was going to be great fun!
The first day went according the plan, we went down to the camp spot, although the descent proved to be tough, steep declines and rock climbing with heavy backpacks. At about 4 PM we reached a beach of the Colo River and set up a camp, had great fun drinking beer wine and spirits and had great fun together. Everyone was fast asleep around 11 in order to be fit the next day for our first day on the water.
After waking up, having a good breakfast and breaking up our camp we started to load the raft and go with the flow down stream. It was quite fun, even though the water level was pretty low because of the drought we managed to pass through the first rapid without leaving our boat, just chilling and enjoying the nice weather and the nature around us.
Rather soon however the current was gone and the rapids proved to be much more difficult to pass: we had to disembark from the rafts and jump over the rocks with the backpacks on our back. This is what we did until about 6-7 PM when we set up our next camp. In the meanwhile due to all those rapids and the low water level most rafts got punctures, my bottom for example was severely punctured resulting in me not being able to sit in the raft but having to swim with the rope in my mouth pulling the boat with my pack with me.
The consequence of this was that we did not cover half the distance we were supposed to cover the first day, all our clothes were soaking wet, and everybody was shivering around the campfire. Not being able to sleep well, and having to preserve food because of a possible extra day we started our second day on the river on Sunday a little less cheerful.
Sunday was a day that completely exhausted me, I must have swum over 10 KMs pulling the boat with me on a rope between my teeth, everyone else had to find very innovative ways to go forward as well, not only the current was gone; it was practically going in reverse due to winds blowing in the opposite direction. I arrived with Marco and Sebastiano that night around 6 PM at a junction of two rivers. Whereas the last night we had hope that we covered more than anticipated, today we were faced with the reality, our maps clearly indicated we barely made in half way through while we were supposed to be home already. Having to camp again and to dry clothes above the fire while having a glass of cordial as dinner was pretty tough. Thankfully once everybody arrived at the camp site the spirit was still ok. We knew what the case was and what we had to do the next day: get up at sunrise and go as far as possible, hopefully making it to the end.
Monday: barely slept again, it was pretty cold and I was a bit worried, also because some of use hadn’t eaten for a day and were in not such a good shape, the boats got punctured even more. I left together with Marco and Sebastiono, like the day before we managed to move downstream quicker than the other and we thought of warning the authorities once we arrived at the end of the trip. Some parts of the river were very difficult to conquer, the water level was deep, I could not touch the bottom, and the wind was blowing against us, and there were long and straight stretches ahead of us. Marco and Sebastiono wet ahead of me because they had flippers. Around noon I arrived at a gigantic rapid which I had to climb over myself. Being exhausted, hungry and cold it was quite difficult, even more so because my pack was double as heavy, soaking wet….. It also didn’t really help to see a venomous snake crawling between the rocks…
After loading my boat again and jump in the water again I could hear the sound of a helicopter. It was flying relatively low and kept on circling above me. I stared waving with my hat hoping they would come for use; I could read the word police on the tail of the machine so I thought that was good. And it was good, the helicopter landed on a sandy patch in the river where I was and one rescue man came out before the helicopter took off. I swam to him as soon as possible and explained our situation; they had been tipped by different people: parents that were worried because sons and daughters didn’t show up for dinner and even a Government Department that was missing three people on Monday… Because I was exactly at the spot where the helicopter could land they decided to take me to the base, and come back once the others arrived at the sand patch, the rescue worker stayed behind to inform everybody that came over the rocks.
It was so great to fly back knowing we would be save… Seeing the rest of the river we still had to go made me realize that it would have been very difficult, especially we also had to hike up the cliff for two hours… Within the following hours everybody was saved by helicopter, everyone except Marco and Sebo, but that is probably because they are Italian and are too proud to be saved by a chopper (mamma mia!)…..
It all started with an idea to make a hike, something we have been doing with a core group of people several times so far, and it has always been great fun, sometimes enduring but very rewarding. The destination of this hike was the Colo River, a river that streams through a canyon approximately 100 KMs North West of Sydney. The plan was to descent the canyon to the river and camp, the next day lilo or raft downstream the river, and camp half way to the finish, the last day we were supposed to arrive at a pre-arranged spot and climb back up to a car which would bring us to the other cars and ultimately home. We were with a group of 17 people, the invitation went around from friend to friend and many people wanted to come, this was going to be great fun!
The first day went according the plan, we went down to the camp spot, although the descent proved to be tough, steep declines and rock climbing with heavy backpacks. At about 4 PM we reached a beach of the Colo River and set up a camp, had great fun drinking beer wine and spirits and had great fun together. Everyone was fast asleep around 11 in order to be fit the next day for our first day on the water.
After waking up, having a good breakfast and breaking up our camp we started to load the raft and go with the flow down stream. It was quite fun, even though the water level was pretty low because of the drought we managed to pass through the first rapid without leaving our boat, just chilling and enjoying the nice weather and the nature around us.
Rather soon however the current was gone and the rapids proved to be much more difficult to pass: we had to disembark from the rafts and jump over the rocks with the backpacks on our back. This is what we did until about 6-7 PM when we set up our next camp. In the meanwhile due to all those rapids and the low water level most rafts got punctures, my bottom for example was severely punctured resulting in me not being able to sit in the raft but having to swim with the rope in my mouth pulling the boat with my pack with me.
The consequence of this was that we did not cover half the distance we were supposed to cover the first day, all our clothes were soaking wet, and everybody was shivering around the campfire. Not being able to sleep well, and having to preserve food because of a possible extra day we started our second day on the river on Sunday a little less cheerful.
Sunday was a day that completely exhausted me, I must have swum over 10 KMs pulling the boat with me on a rope between my teeth, everyone else had to find very innovative ways to go forward as well, not only the current was gone; it was practically going in reverse due to winds blowing in the opposite direction. I arrived with Marco and Sebastiano that night around 6 PM at a junction of two rivers. Whereas the last night we had hope that we covered more than anticipated, today we were faced with the reality, our maps clearly indicated we barely made in half way through while we were supposed to be home already. Having to camp again and to dry clothes above the fire while having a glass of cordial as dinner was pretty tough. Thankfully once everybody arrived at the camp site the spirit was still ok. We knew what the case was and what we had to do the next day: get up at sunrise and go as far as possible, hopefully making it to the end.
Monday: barely slept again, it was pretty cold and I was a bit worried, also because some of use hadn’t eaten for a day and were in not such a good shape, the boats got punctured even more. I left together with Marco and Sebastiono, like the day before we managed to move downstream quicker than the other and we thought of warning the authorities once we arrived at the end of the trip. Some parts of the river were very difficult to conquer, the water level was deep, I could not touch the bottom, and the wind was blowing against us, and there were long and straight stretches ahead of us. Marco and Sebastiono wet ahead of me because they had flippers. Around noon I arrived at a gigantic rapid which I had to climb over myself. Being exhausted, hungry and cold it was quite difficult, even more so because my pack was double as heavy, soaking wet….. It also didn’t really help to see a venomous snake crawling between the rocks…
After loading my boat again and jump in the water again I could hear the sound of a helicopter. It was flying relatively low and kept on circling above me. I stared waving with my hat hoping they would come for use; I could read the word police on the tail of the machine so I thought that was good. And it was good, the helicopter landed on a sandy patch in the river where I was and one rescue man came out before the helicopter took off. I swam to him as soon as possible and explained our situation; they had been tipped by different people: parents that were worried because sons and daughters didn’t show up for dinner and even a Government Department that was missing three people on Monday… Because I was exactly at the spot where the helicopter could land they decided to take me to the base, and come back once the others arrived at the sand patch, the rescue worker stayed behind to inform everybody that came over the rocks.It was so great to fly back knowing we would be save… Seeing the rest of the river we still had to go made me realize that it would have been very difficult, especially we also had to hike up the cliff for two hours… Within the following hours everybody was saved by helicopter, everyone except Marco and Sebo, but that is probably because they are Italian and are too proud to be saved by a chopper (mamma mia!)…..
I was quite an adventure and a story. It even made the national news, channel 7 filmed us and broadcasted in their 10 o'clock news bulletin, apparently people saw us on channel 10 as well, further more some leading papers wrote articles about it, for example The Australian and News.com.au
I am very thankful to the helicopter people who saved us, the policemen who bought us lunch, the ambulance people who checked our health, the old couple camping nearby bringing us cookies, the parents who raised the alarm. But most thankful I am for the great spirit in the group, not a moment a bad word fell or a fight broke out. We were determined to pull each other through and we did!
I am very thankful to the helicopter people who saved us, the policemen who bought us lunch, the ambulance people who checked our health, the old couple camping nearby bringing us cookies, the parents who raised the alarm. But most thankful I am for the great spirit in the group, not a moment a bad word fell or a fight broke out. We were determined to pull each other through and we did!
Fraser Island
I still need to finalise the story line and photo series of my Christmas trip throug Queensland. From Airlie Beach I went to Rainbow Beach, one of the two gateways to Fraser Island, the world largest sand island and famous for its natural inhabitants: the dingo.
After having been to so many natural wonders this still amazed me. You can only access Fraser Island on a 4 WD and can only move there during low tide, when the water level is rising you should move over the dunes and set up a camp. It's a great experience the use a 4 WD, and te group I went with was great, some French, Swiss and German people. The whole trip I barely saw Aussies, mainly European backpackers.
We visited bautiful inland fresh water lakes (unfortunately we couldn't swim in the sea, sharks and stingers made it a little dangerous), blue water and white sand still is paradise even after you have visited the Whitsunday Islands. We spend 3 days on the island, and kept our camp on the same place.
Unfortunately this was more or less the end of my trip as well. After I left Fraser Island I went to Sunshine Coast (Noosa Heads) for a day where rain kept me inside the hostel. The day after I pocked up a car from Avis and drove back to Canberra which turned out to be 1400 KMs. It was nice to see some of country Queensland and New South Wales but 1400 KMs is a long way...
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Airlie Beach - Whitsunday Islands
Airlie Beach is een waar backpackers wahalla in het noorden van Queensland. Je hebt er 1 lange straat vol met hostels en reisorganisaties die allemaal dezelfde reizen aanbieden: zeiltochten langs de Whitsunday Islands. Dit is een eilanden groep niet ver van het vasteland midden in het great barrier reef. Zoals je hiernaast kan zien en ook op de andere foto's zijn het echte bounty eilanden. Daarnaast zijn ze bedekt met regenwoud, wat toch een zeer speciaal soort begroeing is.
Helaas zit de zee hier vol met stingers en andere gevaarlijke organsimen, niet te vergeten de pijlstaart rog. Hierdoor konden we alleen in stinger suits zwemmen en snorkelen.
We zaten met zo'n dertig man op een groot schip en zeilden de eerste nacht naar een mooie baai. Met wat biertjes en goed eten komt de sfeer er altijd snel in. Ik deelde mijn kabine met twee Duitsers, een Ossi en een Wessi. De volgende dag vaarden we naar een eiland waar we werden afgezet op een pad door het regenwoud dat leidde naar Whithaven Beach (zie foto). Dit is een enorm groot en heel wit strand met een hele mooie blauwe zee, zoals je vaak op posters ziet dus.
Hierna vaarden we door om voor anker te gaan in een kleine baai waar we gingen duiken. Ik heb een half uurtje met flessen en een duikuitusting gedoken en het is echt een prachtig schouwspel. Heel veel kleuren en mooie vissen, waaronder Clowns visjes! Hierna nog een tijd gesnorkeld, echt een hele mooie ervaring.
Na nog een nacht met z'n allen hadden doorgebracht gingen we weer terug richting het vaste land, waar we moe maar voldaan aankwamen. Ik had een paar uurtjes om wat bij te komen want 's avonds stond de bus alweer te wachten: 14 uur naar de volgende bestemming, Rainbow Beach.
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