Or what about the weekend?

After Sara left, the first weekends have been difficult for me. There is my heart that feels like every second beat is hers, and also my social network here is not that big yet, so the weekends were often just sitting around in my hotel room thinking about the future, watching movies or taking a walk, just for the walk. Most of the time, spending that time alone. I still love being on my own a lot of times, but when being on my own turns into being alone, the fun is out of it. To me being on my own is a chosen action, where being alone is an action that occurs due to the lack of another option.

I’ve never been that super social dude. Sometimes I might seem like it, but actually that’s not when I’m really me. At least that’s how it feels to me, but on the other hand… it seems like not being me is a part of being me. Or how we can make things complicated.

The last two weeks things are slightly changing. First of all I joined a football team here in Kathmandu. A team consisting of a mixture of, mostly foreign, players from different countries based in Nepal for professional or educational reasons. The team (which name is an abbreviation I still don’t exactly know) “management”, is planning on joining the regular Nepali football competition next year. All just for fun, but one never knows…

Next to the physical and mental benefits I get through the endorphins while doing sports, being part of a social event like this brings you in contact with new people, and gives something to do during weekends. Something different than going to a bar and have local beers. Local beers that actually don’t taste bad at all. Or has it been too long since I was in Belgium?

Another memorable weekend activity I had last week, together with Theo. A Dutch guy, whom I met here in Kathmandu, who’s also member of the football team, and whom I just happened to cross paths with several times before. Theo is a tourism student, back in Holland, but without the education, I think I make a good tourist myself.

Anyway, last week was Visa extension time. Since Theo’s visa expired already a few days when we were talking about it on Saturday, we decided to take immediate action and made our way to the immigration office on Sunday. Filling in the necessary forms, paying the bill, and then it’s waiting for a few hours before you get your passport back, a nice new visa sticker included. What to do during these few hours?

Theo, as well as me, saw already before there was a funfair in Kathmandu. A funfair advertising with “The Flying Dragon”. With an attraction called “The Flying Dragon”, we couldn’t resist going there. When we entered it turned out we were almost the only customers there. The majority of the people in the park were working there. You can’t compare the park with any other that I’ve been to already, and I might say I’ve seen some of them.

The park has all the things a funfair needs to offer, going from a bingo, over magicians, a ghost house, boating, to a park tour train, a giant wheel and coasters. All this in a local way, which might seem hilarious at first, but after a while, the beauty of it shines of.

When entering the ghost house, the ticket seller also enters, though in a different door. All the dead bodies that are moving, coffins that are opening, sounds that are played are hand driven by this one man. As you make your way through the horror house, you see him standing behind the attributes, holding the ropes. In itself it might sound ridiculous, but we actually admired the simple way, how they make it work. And what’s most important in a funfair to me, we had a great time making our way through the ghost house. Since the magicians seemed to have made themselves disappear, the next stop was the giant wheel. Where I’m not a big hero and therefore not have a big knowledge on giant wheels, I thought to remember that they were supposed to go smoothly and slow. Not here. The giant wheel was actually the most thrill ride, with something that came close to a coaster belly feeling. Also the way it was driven was at least remarkable to me. When we bought the ticket, a man followed us to the wheel, and ones we were sitting he asked us for the tickets. The tickets that we just bought from him, 25 seconds before. Being the only ones there, they still kept to the procedure of selling the ticket and collecting it half a minute later. Then he went to sit behind the engine, started it up and of we went. The engine looked a lot like a tractor engine or the engine of a big lawn mower. Ok, I admit, it would have been a really big lawn mower, but still…

For over five minutes we made circles at “ludicrous” speed and then it was over. The wheel being stopped by just turning of the engine and the additional breaks were handeld by a pedal manipulated by the conductor’s foot. A little strange when you’ve never seen it before. Or how used one can be to automation.

Theo took another ride on a coaster, flying around in circles, so we suspect that this was the Flying Dragon. It must have been, because we never found anything else that could have been the flying dragon. The operating procedure was the same as with the giant wheel, as was the ticket-buying-going-to-the-attraction-and-giving-the-ticket-back-to-the-same-man-being-the-only-one-there procedure. The man operating the engine was also the same man as before. It was like we had our private engine man. But then it was also as if we had our private funfair.

For the giant wheel, the Flying Dragon and the park train, they always started up the attraction just for us. Or how much more VIP can you be?

This whole two hours of fun has cost us all together €1,50 each. Including entrance ticket, ring throwing, ghost house, a drink, the giant wheel, Theo’s Flying Dragon experience, and the park train.

We surely want to go back one day (at least ones) to see the magicians, and play bingo, That day, we shouldn’t forget to take a camera.

Overall, when you’re in Kathmandu, I really advice you to visit the funfair, as it is another different way of getting in touch with Nepali culture, and on the other side it shows to me that the way of handling things might be different, but needs are often the same. Everyone wants to have some stress relieving, relaxing and fun time every now and then, I think, whether you’re from Europe, America, Asia… Some basic needs seem the same everywhere. And where there’s demand, people will always try to find a way to answer this demand, seeking their benefit in providing services to others demands. And where it can be a financial benefit the service provider is looking for, still often there’s also the peace of mind benefit that makes many people answering to the needs of others. Again, I don’t choose sides, I just write how I see things happening around me. Or how things appear in my perception!

Let there be ... a house!

Knowing that I’m planning to stay a longer time in Kathmandu, I soon realized that I didn’t want to spend all my nights sleeping in a hotel. Therefore, together with Belgian friend we were looking for a house to rent. My friend is the owner of an IT company here in Kathmandu, so it was planned to have one floor of the house for the company, one for him and one for me. Since my name still isn’t Rockefeller, and Paris Hilton still didn’t loose her mind enough to give me all her money, we were looking for a “nice renting price”. This week we found our house. Well, actually my friend did, because he did all the searching. After weeks of not finding what we were looking for, at a location we could both agree on, this week we actually found two. The contract for the first one was as good as signed, but at the last moment it didn’t work out. Coincidentally almost at the same time, another offer came in. An offer even better as the first one. A few blogs ago, I wrote about coincidences. I’m not going to repeat it all, but the fact that this first deal didn’t work out, right at the time the next offer came, even gives me a better feeling about the house we signed the contract for. Where in the first house we couldn’t fulfill all our wishes, concerning both having a private floor, in the second house we both have our own floor, with terraces. There’s also a floor for the company, a garden, big enough to throw parties, all surrounded by a wall (with an entrance gate of course) which really makes it our quiet, private place in the big city. The area we will be living in is more native than touristy Thamel, which was also one of the desires we had. My floor exists of a big bedroom, a bathroom, a living room, a hall, and a kitchen. From the kitchen you can walk onto a terrace which has a bit of a strange shape, as it is flat for one meter and then is rises up. I won’t be throwing parties there, but it has some other conveniences. On the outside of the house I noticed I even have another room up there, which I couldn’t place in my recollection of the visits inside the house. Who knows how many secret entrances I will find more??? As I’m really looking forward to moving there, I know there might appear problems I didn’t think about, or don’t realize the impact of. In touristy places there’s often a better supply for water, and maybe even electricity (electricity is a different story). I was already told that in order to get water, you have find out when they are sending water through the pipes. Then you have to fill your tank and after that you have to pump it up to the tanks on the roof. Some people say the water comes every day, others say it comes every two days, others even say there is no regularity in it. Some say it comes during the night, others say it comes during the day. Who will tell, it will be a matter of finding out ourselves, I guess. Thing is, if you miss it one day and it wouldn’t come for two days later, it might get smelly in the office. Of course you can do two or three days without showering, even longer. But I realize how spoiled I am, enjoying my shower every single day. There’s always the possibility to wash yourself with bottled water, I know, I just mean it will take some adjustments to my regular routine. Which I actually see as an advantage and enrichment to my life. Another thing that I like about landlords here is there seems to be a big level of respect for the lessees (a word I learned reading contracts, so I really wanted to use it). Owners repaint the house before you move into it. Both times we got offered to use some of their furniture, free of charge. The owner is entitled to take care of normal maintenance, including big and small repairs, in the house during the time of the contract. It’s all in the contract, but we’ll see what’s the value of a contract here. Anyway, we found our house, and will be moving soon. The only sad thing is that a lot of people probably won’t join us in the house warming party. They will say Kathmandu is too far away. Sissies!!!

Elections in Nepal

Elections are over in Nepal, or at least the majority of it. There are some polling stations where, due to some problems, the polling will be done or redone somewhere this week. I don’t want to write here about the result or my political opinion. In stead I’d like to write about what I noticed during these past few weeks, trying to follow the election fever through newspapers.

First of all, I noticed that standards are different, depending on where you are. Talking about peaceful polls in one line of the newspapers, another line tells you the story about a candidate getting killed DURING election day in a matter related to the elections. Where in many places this would be enough to cancel the elections, here some people seem to be satisfied that there was only one killing.

Also the weeks before this historical 10^th of april, newspapers reported most of their first two or three papers about candidates getting beaten up, people getting intimidated, people getting killed over the elections, and then you can read a statement from the election commission that when coercion is being used, the polling would be canceled. My question automatically was… “What does it take for things to be called coercion?” (Oxford English dictionary describes to coerce as; persuade by using force or threats)

Another thing that caught my attention was that, as said before, the first pages of newspapers reported about all the crime related election information, further away in the paper there was a section handling about actual voting, and statistic such as the percentage of women candidates, rules and regulations, awareness of the purpose of the elections,… This is maybe back to what I’m used to. First give action and sensation, then for those who really want to know it, give other information. Of course you have to sell your media, but writing about the importance and historical fact of these elections, my feeling is the media should raise itself above its normal standards and try to contribute to the nation’s future in a constructive way.

A major role, as well in the newspapers as on the streets, was taken by the UN. The UN who was monitoring the elections, to see if everything took place according to the rules. But what if they found things that didn’t go according the rules? As I understand they were not allowed to take action, just registrate and report. What’s the meaning of such an expensive operation, when the role is to monitor and report? It’s easy for me to criticize sitting here writing my blog, but I do understand that it’s a thin line where another power comes and help in another nation and interfere in this nation. It’s a sensitive matter, and easy to cross the line. But aren’t people appointed (also read paid) to take those difficult decisions? When UN-monitors see things happen, of which the observers know they are illegal, they can do nothing but registrate and report. These same activity they just monitored lead to personal human suffering, but they were just permitted to monitor. It makes me think. (finally something does)

Now that I’m thinking about it, am I playing the same role towards the UN, as they do here? Was I just registrating and giving my report now in this blog, without taking action when the time was there? Not that anyone would have listened maybe, but I also didn’t try. As said so many times the last weeks, here in Nepal, the voice of the people should be listened to, and that’s what the elections were also about. Maybe I should raise my voice more often, and just see what it brings. There’s no harm in giving your opinion, even when no one listens. Then, at least you’ve tried!

ABC and the little backpack

It was my first visit to Pokhara again, after the gem stone scam. I can say, I didn’t even think about it in fear, because two days in Kathmandu already learned me that the Rajes and Vickies I deled with moved their territory to the Thamel area in Kathmandu. I had a glimpse on them at Tridevi Marg, where they have a “new” shop. I still love Pokhara for its wonderful views, for my Tibetan family that lives there, for its easy way of living and great food places by the lake. It seems to be logic that when I’m in Pokhara, I do a trekking. Just like two years ago I took the trek to the Annapurna Base Camp, only this time without a guide or a porter. Just Sara and me. One thing I will never forget is the small backpack Sara was carrying with her with everything she needed for the trek in it. I think it must be some kind of record. As always the trekking made me really quiet, and I can imagine for company I’m traveling with this can be really strange. Luckily Sara knows me, so it just stayed with an occasional: ”Are you ok?” I can’t put my finger on it what makes me so quiet, but it feels very peaceful inside. While walking I noticed I still have a lot to learn in respecting other people’s desires and limitations, because even more than usual, I want to enjoy everything there at my speed, at my desires. That’s another thing the mountains seem to do to me. This constant reflection on how I handle things, how I feel, what I want, how I am. As many people might already know, I like these reflections, because I really think eventually they improve my quality as a person and therefore my quality of life, although a lot of those reflections are not solved at the spot (or even being things to solve). That containing the fact that there are always things I’d like to see different about myself. Most of the times it’s about interaction with others, but it can be physical things or intelligent things as well. Another thing I also realize every time I do a trekking is how much I dislike the cold. Every time I seem to have forgotten how cold I was the last time I did it, and how I thought at that time not to forget it. This time it even felt like my big toe was going to freeze of my foot, after walking through the snow a few days and not finding the possibility to heat them up during the evening. It was wonderful to experience all those things with Sara by my side 23/7, as that must have been the ratio we spend together since february 20, when we met again in Bangkok. Although the freezing toe (at least something that felt like it) was not a nice experience, it’s more bearable to me having the one you love by your side. The snowline was lower as the other trekkings I did here, and also that made that again this trek was completely different from the other two. Being in a lot of the same places as 2006, still a lot of things looked similar and different in the same time. It is to say that I still love October more for a trekking over here, because of the visibility that is much better at that time, this first trekking in march was also an unforgettable experience. A lot has probably to do with the company I’m with. A topic I talked to with some fellow travelers during my trip, and which all of them recognized within themselves and their experiences. ABC is also the place where in 2006 I made a stupa for Katia. Being there again was a strange feeling, where tears came into my eyes, but also a peaceful feeling about it. Although the stupa wasn’t there anymore, the place will always be related with Katia to me. A place where I got to say goodbye. In that matter, I didn’t care about the stupa being gone. The spirits will always be there, to me. After nine days of trekking we reached Pokhara again, and next day we got to stay out of the Holy Festival mess. Holy is one of the many festivals they have here in Nepal, and on this particular day people have fun covering eachother in colourful paint, while walking over the street, sitting on the curb,… We were lucky to bump into the right people, who respected your wish if you didn’t want your clothes and body covered in paint. Something I just didn’t feel like that day, also because we were out of clothes and the things we were not wearing were in the laundry. After 24 hours of rest in Pokhara it was time to do 2 days of rafting. Since the waterlevels are low this time of year, the rafting in itself was not much more as just sitting in a boat, floating around on the water and take an occasional swim. The occasional paddeling being a nice change from the 9 days of leg work in the mountains. Funny sight to see people get out of the mountains with muscular legs and anorectic arms. (which is a big exaggeration, but it feels like that) (well not really, but still) (anyway, I think you understand what I mean) (or not) One of the nicest parts about doing a multiple day rafting is that you get to spend your evenings at some kind of beaches, sleeping in a tent at the beach. Our boat had five people on board , counting the guide, and was accompanied by one man in a safety kayak. At the beach we shared our part of the beach with an Englishman and a man from New Zeeland, who were taking a three day kayak trip. Our guide showed us all his tricks during the evening, tricks with ropes, matches,… Enjoying all the attention he got. I think everyone had a nice evening and enjoyed the easy and funny atmosphere. Another great thing about these raftings here is the food you get. Man, can they cook! Whenever people ask me about the meaning of life, I answer: A good meal! Somewhere I think I’m serious when I say that. Isn’t that something most people enjoy? A good meal! Not that you get some haut cuisine at those trips, but I do enjoy bread with vegetable salad, or pasta, fries, rice, curry…it was all there, prepared by the water and eaten by six hungry mouths. It is amazing how much they can do with so little supplies. Just one fire, and all the food transported with us on the raft. Food for five meals. As all good things come to an end, also this culinary trip ended and after having some transportation on top of a bus, we got to admire and experience the easy atmosphere of Bandipur. A nice little place between Pokhara and Kathmandu. A town which gives the impression of western movies, in which John Wayne might turn up anytime to do a shootout with another bad guy. Since John is probably a little afraid of the upcoming elections in Nepal he wasn’t there, so we just had over two relaxing days in kind of a medieval town. (yes, next to being the perfect location for a western movie, it also had a big medieval character. All that in one place.) Going back to Kathmandu was high on my priority list, however. Don’t ask me why, I was just really eager to go/come back there/here. The downside of coming to Kathmandu however was that it meant the day of Sara leaving came much closer. As it had been something I knew all the time, now it started to become realistic. On the other hand, coming to Kathmandu meant that my search for a life here could start. Something that scares me as well as attracts me. Maybe the scary part attracts me, or could it be the other way around.

Back to Nepal, or not, or so, or not,...

After taking a holiday on my travel, it was just going to be a matter of a few days before I was back in Nepal. A very special trip to Nepal, because it was together with Sara, whome I told so much about the beautiful Nepal, and because it was probably going to be the last stop on this trip. A five month stop, to begin with. It was also special to me, because it was my first time back in Nepal, after traveling around south-east Asia. During this trip around SA Asia, I began realizing that I might be so much in love with Nepal before, but after seeing more of Asia… How was Nepal going to be this time. At the start of my trip, the plan was to spend this last five months in Nepal trying to find a possibility to stay and live here. That was another reason why this time, my being in Nepal was not going to be all just hanging around. Anyhow, first we had to get to Nepal ofcourse, and since we booked the flight tickets already in Bangkok before we went diving, it was just going to be a matter of 2 days. At least that was what we thought. On the contrary, what followed was were 6 days of plans changing, flights getting canceled and delayed. Spending nights in hotels where we were the only Caucasians, and Sara being the only Caucasian woman ofcourse. It all started when I went to pick up the tickets that were going to be waiting for us at the travel agency. Arriving there I got the message that the airline canceled all flights to Kathmandu, due to the unstable political situation in Nepal . A situation I didn’t hear anything of from friends being residents in Kathmandu and around Pokhara. Ofcourse there were the upcoming elections, which made things sometimes get a little more tensed, but to cancel all flights for that reason… Were there maybe not enough passengers to keep the flights profitable? We’ll probably never know. A nice gesture from the airlines was that they offered us another flight, with another company, leaving one day earlier than the original flight. Problem was that by the time I got that message, when I came to pick up the original tickets, the flight was scheduled to leave in less than an hour. That flight was obviously not going to be ours. Next move was going to be return the money from the airlines, which I’m not going to tell of that it was Orient Thai. Since the travel agent couldn’t get the money back from them, we had to go there ourselves. Quite a journey, looking for a place in a city like Bangkok while you only have vague directions. When we found the office getting the money returned was no problem, only the time it was going to take was another matter. First it was going to take 2 weeks, if we wanted it in cash, after a little taking it could be returned the next day, and after rebuilding the office we got the money at the spot. Then it was time to go back to the travel agent and book another flight. No problem, the flight was booked and supposed to leave three days later. The advice from the travel agent, anyhow, was to come and check the day before if the schedule was still the same, because the airline had a reputation of delaying. Spending those extra days in Bangkok were a little bit of a torture, as our minds were set on leaving for Nepal. But we managed, only trying to kill each other once, to prevent from getting bored. As adviced, the day before the flight was scheduled, I went to the travel agency and there I was told the first flight was still planned to go, but the second flight (it was a flight with a stopover in Dhakka, Bangladesh) was already delayed by 24 hours. No problem, it just made that we had to spend two nights in Dhakka in stead of one. Accommodation and food paid by the airline company. Finally we were ready to leave. We got to the airport in time, so nothing could stop us now. The flights scheduled departure time was 11.40pm, so after having a light dinner at the airport we got to the gate, ready to board and go. By midnight we were still sitting at the gate, waiting to get on the plane, no one telling us anything if something was wrong. Obviously something was wrong. The airline staff were lying on the floor taking a nap, so when Sara went to ask what the matter was, they told us there was a technical problem with the airplane. 20 minutes later the nessage came the plane wasn’t going to leave that night, due to engine problems. Let’s all get into a minibus (since there were only 14 people waiting to board the plane) and spend a night at a fancy hotel on the expences of Biman Bangladesh. (again I’m not going to tell you which airline it was) Getting in the minibus, without anyone from the airlines with us should have been a bad sign, but no one was really panicking. At least not for the first hour. A hotel located 20 minutes away from the airport, had been the message. After one hour it turned out the taxidriver didn’t know the location and no one had a contact number from the airline. The taxi driver called probably all his friends and relatives to ask if they knew where to take us, and after a three hour drive through the back alleys of Bangkok we reached the hotel. Reaching the hotel must have been by accident, I think. At 4 in the morning we got dinner and then it was time to go to bed. I must say the room that was appointed to us was super. I’m not going to tell you the price for a night there, but it was definitely a quantity of the room prices I was used to stay in the last 6 months, and so was the luxury. After we got to the room, 150 Bengalis also came to the hotel. They had been waiting on the plane for there connection flight to Kathmandu, as they already came with the plane from Singapore. Being construction workers from Bangladesh, working in Singapore, even more then us, they were not used to this kind of luxury. That showed the next day as they attacked the lunch buffet, where a big bowl of rice (something like 60X50cm) was empty after less than a minute. What I’m telling you is no exaggeration. Meanwhile we were still waiting for any information from the airlines when/if the plane was going to leave. First they were going to pick us up at 1pm, then at 4pm, then at 6pm, and finally busses, to bring us to the airport, arrived at 7pm. When every one got on the bus, message came there were still some people that didn’t pay their mini-bar bills. You could here people saying: “The what-what?”, and others: “Wasn’t everything paid by the airline company. A misunderstanding, to me, the airline is to blame for, since they didn’t clearly tell what was included and what wasn’t. Just as with the food, the Bengalis took advantage from all this luxury and drank quite a lot from the mini-bar, and what they didn’t finish, they just put in their bags. Again, no exaggeration! For a lot of those people having to pay the bill was a financial nightmare, as mini-bar prices are already way higher than normal prices. So, the ones that had to pay their bill, or discuss their bill, of the bus again. By that time, the message also came the food on the plane was not going to be ready. Question was asked to the hotel if they could quickly make a meal for over 150 people. Since some organizations still are capable of managing things, a little over half an hour later dinner was served. A buffet which had the same short lasting life as the lunch buffet. People were so over the buffet that Sara didn’t even get to eat, if it wouldn’t have been for a manager who was keeping eyes on things, and made her a sandwich to take with her. Eventually all the bills got settled (I don’t know if and how they got paid) and of we were to catch a flight to Dhakka. In Dhakka, as written before, we were promised a hotel to spend the night, before taking the plane to Kathmandu the next day. On arrival we got the message: “I’m sorry, you have no hotel voucher, so we can’t provide you with a hotel.” Sara is a sweet and gentle angel, but don’t push here too far. I won’t tell the exact story, but 3 minutes later we had arrangements for a hotel. Arriving at night again, we got to bed immediately, and got woken up 1.30hrs later with the question on the other end of the phone: “Do you want mosquito spray?”. The answer could have been: “Oh, was that a mosquito? I thought it was a cow buzzing around the room.” Anyhow the people from the hotel were nice, and they mend well, so we just gave a confirmative answer and spend the rest of the night in the delicious odeur of mosquito spray. At 10am someone from the hotel staff woke us up asking if we wanted breakfast, and whether we wanted it in the room, or at the dining hall. “O yes, by the way, your flight is delayed!”. Not again!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When we wanted to go and walk around in Dhakka, the hotel staff told us we were not aloud to go outside with a transit visa, and that it was too dangerous. A transit visa that costed us 20USD. 20 USD just to spend hours in a hotel. I’ll probably never understand. Eventually we got permission to get out, taking a business card from the hotel with us. That feels much safer, I must say! 4 hours late, the flight was on time, and a little over an hour after departure time we arrived in Kathmandu. Finally we made it, and guess what… Without any problem we got to the hotel in no time. I remember going for a drink to celebrate eventually arriving, and the next thing I know it was morning next day. Damn Tequilla!!!!!!!

My trip took a dive

Malaysia continued giving me great pleasure, and never let me down in my first impression I had of it. The people I met there are still exceptional to the ones in all the other countries around here. I spend three nights with a family, had a super evening in Kuala Lumpur, having dinner at the bottom of the Twin Towers, spend a whole day as a child in a theme park,… Every day there was something that made me even happier as I was the day before. I also met a Polish woman, living in England, whom I had a great time with, just hanging around, or being a child in the theme park. Everything seemed to come together every minute of the day. Easy to see why I love this country so much. Having a good time somewhere also has a lot to do with the people I’m with. I wonder how it would be going back there, not having Meg around (the Polish-English woman) My first week in Malaysia, I spend mostly on my own. During the day I met people on the bus, on the street,… But I really chose to be there on my own. A time I enjoyed, and without any effort I rolled back into being around people. Since this has been a big problem earlier on my trip, I really enjoy seeing how things work out more and more. It makes me more self confident, and eager to make this trip longer and longer. Malaysia was the first country I actively used Couchsurfing. A website which gives you the possibility to meet people all over the world, for a coffee, a couch to sleep on, information on their city,… http://www.couchsurfing.com/ The three nights I spend with Lay Peng and Zach was my first couchsurfing experience, and the evening out in KL also started with one contact on the site. Malaysia also felt like a very safe country to try my first active steps on couchsurfing, and my feelings didn’t let me down. Due to this great experience in Malaysia, going to Bangkok again, after only two weeks of heaven, might have been with tears in my eyes, if it wasn’t for the reason I wanted to go back to Bangkok. I was meeting Sara again, and we were going to make arrangements to take a trip to Nepal together. Sara, Nepal; two words that sound like beautiful music into my ears. After booking a ticket to Nepal for the 4th of march, we decided to go to Kho Tao and take a diving course. At first I wasn’t to eager to join a diving course, knowing my fatalistic thoughts, that made me at least a little scared to go under the water. Now I can say that taking the divingcourse was one of the top 5 highlights of my trip so far. Starting slowly, not being able to even breath with a snorkel in the pool, I gained something like an addiction to be under the water. In five days, I took 11 dives, and after taking my Open Water Course, I didn’t wait even 24 hours to start my advanced course. If it wasn’t for the plane that was waiting for us, I propably would have taken the next course, the rescue course, at once. I’m interested where this new passion will end. As a dive instructor? At least it would give me one more possibility to settle in Asia. During the course I also met Tuval and Iris, a couple that didn’t only feel like people I would like to stay in touch with, they even surprised us on the last evening with the message that the day before they found out they were pregnant. It felt special like being one of the first ones to share such a news with. A message like that really made me feel special. It made the wonderful last weeks even more perfect. Arriving back in Bangkok had some surprises for us. Arriving at 1.30am in stead of 5.30am was special, after being used to arrive late for the last few months. Also the planetickets ha a surprise. Due to the unstable political situation in Nepal, the airline company decided to cancel its flights to Kathmandu. An arrangement they had offered us to go one day early with an other airline expired before we got knowledge of it, so a time of rearrange was born. The booking office we contacted for the tickets was very helpful (thank you Jerome), but the airlinecompany was less helpful. Eventually we received the money back, but for that we had to go to the office ourselves, the travel agent wasn’t aloud to receive the money on our behalf. Arriving at the office they told us that if we wanted the money in cash it would take two weeks. After a little complaining from our side, it was possible to get it the next day and after complaining a little more, we received the money right there, right then at the spot. It makes me wonder why it should have to take two weeks if it turns out to be possible to give it right away. After all, the new tickets to Kathmandu are booked, it takes us only three more days in Bangkok, so … all well, it ends well… so far!!!

Chinese and Tibetan new year

A new country, new impressions, new people, new surroundings,… Something new is always exciting, and scary as well, to me. Specially after my great time in Bangkok, the idea of a disappointment was in my mind. So far nothing was less true. I entered Malaysia on the day of Chinese new year. Chinese new year being on the same day as Tibetan new year in 2008. The ferry rip I was supposed to take from Butterworth to Georgetown, on the Island of Pelua Penang, was a piece of madness, together with risk, exhaustion, and even danger. Because of the Chinese new year the people in Malaysia had a five day holiday. As if they all agreed on visiting Georgetown at that exact day, the queue for the ferry was enormous. That is if you would like to call it a queue. Hundreds of people, coming from all entrance sides, trying to make their way to the entrance gate as fast as possible. The entrance gate only opening every now and then, when new people were aloud to approach the ferry landing. Where the custom used to be to get women and children first of the boats, when a ship was sinking, here elder women and children got picked out of the queues to approach the ferry first, away from the madness. Meanwhile, in between the times the gates opened, everyone was still pushing, puling, and trying to wrk their way to get at least a meter closer. When the gates opened, it was madness as people from the back pushed, people from the sides also pushed, and still there was this one little entry gate. After all I made it, thanks to my elbows. Arriving in Georgetown was not only great because all of this was behind me, but immediately I got a feeling of likeness for this town. A feeling of likeness for Malaysian people I already had by then, despite the ferry experience. On the train over there, people had already shown me their kindness, helpfulness and hospitality. Coming from regions where there is always a reason why people are friendly, here it doesn’t seem to be like that. Really special! Because of the Chinese new year, and the holiday the Malaysians have, Georgetown is a quite town these days. Something that can be different when normal life will start again, I think. I enjoyed being in quite Georgetown perfect. This was also the first time, I got to experience Chinese new year closer. In China it’s probably much more impressive, and even in a lot f other countries it might be, but Malaysian celebration was my kind of celebration. Open, kind, respectful, and with a lot of action going on without forcing people to notice it. By accident I ended up in the celebration placefor Chinese new year in Georgetown. Dancing, singing, even a fashion show, it was all there. Also there I was approached by local people, just coming for a chat, just giving me a comfortable feeling. The overall feeling I have got about Malaysia so far is a feeling of comfort: A clean country, an easy public transportation network, helpful people. Why not enjoy it? Being in Asia doesn’t mean that you have to suffer, that you have to live in terrible conditions, that you have to become sick of the food. Being in Asia is more about a bigger inner feeling, to me. About experiences that don’t matter the conditions you’re in, because cultural the differences are there, and everywhere around you to notice. Even in the biggest tourist place, life is never the same as home. A thing that counts for everywhere that is not your local, natural habitat, I guess. The Chinese seem to have pyromaniac blood, as they love to burn things. On every street corner you see incense in al sizes and colors, with all kind of decorations. And all this gives a great atmosphere as they love to decorate with colors. They all have a meaning, but on the risk of being totally wrong, I choose not to go further into it. I just enjoyed the colors that were everywhere around. The surroundings of Georgetown also offer beautiful places. Penang Hill must be wonderful on the top, but these days, around Chinese new year, you have to rise early to catch a ticket for the train upthere, as people from all over the country seem to be interested to came here, now they have some time off. I didn’t make it, but I think it’s not more than fair that we leave these days for the local Malaysians. Seeing them having fun, enjoying the days, really makes me a smiling man.

Green and peaceful Bangkok

It's propably the enormous quantity of smog that I have been breathing the last weeks, but I must say I like Bangkok (this time). The last two times I was here, which were also my first two times, I hated it from the first until the last second and even before and after. The first time I was here was the day, evening, before the King's birthday, and comming from Siem Reap, Cambodia, I missed my last connection to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai where I was going to meet Sara. A meeting I was really looking forward to, and that propably polluted my judgement on Bangkok that time. The second time I even refused to even come into town, and therefor just spend a few hours at the busstation, waiting for a connection to Surin.

This time however, I'm here for two weeks already, and I must say, I kind of love it. The trick is to go out of the real touristic Thanon Kao San-area and see what Bangkok really has to offer. My way of doing this is just hupping on one of the many busses around here, going for a perticular destination, or just see where you end up. The last part always being a walk back to the guesthouse, which is in the TKS-area. On one of those trips, I ended up in Lumphini park, in a part of downtown Bangkok. I was astonished to see that in the middle of such a huge city, there could be really a peaceful, quite atmosphere, even in the middle of the day. Walking around there, my imagination must have been talking a walk with me I thought, because not only was there almost no traffic noise there (at most moments there was even no traffic noise at all), at once we saw crawling through the gras some kind of lizard. Nothing special, you would say, specially if you've been travelling before. I even had lizards in my bedroom, as we all have had around these places. Not these lizards, I may hope. The size of these animals was varying in a range from 20 cm to at least 50 cm. Being reptiles, and knowing my fear for reptiles, I wasn't to eager to take a closer look at first, and I didn't have my camera with me (which has a very good zoom).

Since we had visited the park on a week day, there was not much else going on around there, just an occasional jogger, or some local or expat reading a book.

Being interested in my fears, and being interested what this park would be like during the weekend (families coming together there to spend there days together playing, resting, eating, relaxing,...), I decided to go back during the next weekend. I took my camera, because making pictures of these reptiles were my main conserne to go back. Walking the first 30 minutes around in the park, I didn't spot one reptile, but I saw a lot of families, as I expected. The atmosphere was truelly nice and friendly. People smiling, children playing, people just reading a book under a palm tree, everything was so peaceful overthere. Still, I thought the people being there were propably the reason why the animals were not really showing their face, or even their tail. That was until I walked into an area of the park, I don't know what was special about it, where also people were doing the same things as in the other places, only here the area was filled with the lizards. Filled is exaggerated, but you could really see a lot of them, swimming around, hiding, but also just walking between the people on the grass. To my surprise there were even more lizards as when we were there the other day and the size of these ones was amazing. Some of them were 1 meter long, not even counting the tail. Approaching the animals they really seemed to be lazy bastards, as they just stayed there lying on the ground, maybe even enjoying the attention. Attention they didn't seem to get from many of the locals, who propably see them every week. They might even be part of the family already. I left the park with a lot of pictures, and happy as a child, because it stays amazing to me that such a little natural things can be just in the center of a huge city like Bangkok. It's a wonderful place to just lay back and relax for a while. That is, ofcourse, if you don't mind sharing the lawn with lizards. The locals don't seem to mind.

Coincidences or not?

It seems like after I've been sick in Savanaket, everything seems to come together, in the good way. Where november and december have been tough months emotionally, from Vang Vieng everything is joy and fun. Well, there are sad moments ofcourse, there are problems to solve every now and than, but the over all balance is more than positive. Problems don't seem to be so difficult as before, I seem to take peace with a situation easier as before. It gives me the impression that after leaving Nepal, my travells really started, where Nepal wasn't really travelling, it was more being home.

On the way from Savanaket to Vang Vieng I met Kurt, an Austrian economical advisor, and it was just the start of meeting people with the weirdest jobs. Not that the jobs were actually weird, it were actually more professions I knew about but never met a person who did it. Top of this all was meeting a tree surgeon. Really, they excist, and as if I was not really convinced...I met a second one. It seems to be one of those professions that you never meet, but when you meet them, they come from all sides. Coincidence?

I travelled with Kurt, the Austrian, from Vang Vieng to more quite areas, and together we shared cold mornings in Phonesavan and Xam Nua. Although the cold at 7 in the morning was painfull somehow, I did enjoy it. I enjoyed feeling it again after months. The last cold I had felt was up in the mountains in Nepal. Writing it down I realise that hasn't been that long ago, but still...it felt like very long ago. At that moment I had like a postponed Christmas feeling. A feeling that dissapeared pretty soon, as a few hours later we were sweathing our clothes of again. Starting a trip when it's cold is not a good idea if you're not prepared for the heath that will follow . As it will be the other way around, propably. That trip in itself was a little dissapointing considering the attraction of the day: the Pathet Lao Caves, but at the end we missed the last bus back to Xam Nua. Xam Nua being located 30 km's away from the desolated place we got stranded. We kept on smiling, and started for a loooooooong walk home. A log walk that got interupted by a friendly family who offered us a ride in the back of their pick-up, all the way to Xam Nua. Coincidence?

From Xam Nua the trip took me to Louang Prabang in the most horrible saengthaw ride I ever had. 25 people in 17 places, one of the benches that broke down (and got repaired), the driver who was drinking beer, Chinese going crazy about this, and two people from Holland in the saengthaw. Actually, that last thing wasn't horrible at all, but it just comes with the things I remember from that ride. The Dutch people we Ronald and Sabrina, and it was just the start of meeting eachother again and again for the next three days. A really nice experience. In Louang Prabang I found propably the cheapest guesthouse in town, and met Robert again. Robert, an American whome I met several times before. When he arrived in Louang Prabang a few days before me, he had send me an e-mail with the adress of the guesthouse where he was staying. I only noticed this later, because at that time I hadn't checked my mail for a week. Still we ended up in the same guesthouse, again. Coincidence? Am I walking around in Bangkok a week later, who do I run into there??? Good old Bob (Robert, for those who didn't get it) Jessica, whome I met on the bus from Vientiaene to Nang Khai (take your map and see that this is where I got back into Thailaned), and who left Nong Khai one night before me, shared a train cabine with Robert the night before. Coincidence????????????

Well, coincidences or not, I met some very interesting people, all with their own stories, and each with their own interesting points of view. But most of all, I'm having a great time and saw some amazing places again. In nature, meetings, coincidences or not, there are so many little heavens on earth left, it's just a matter of being able to open my eyes, and that is so much easier when my mind is not obstructed.

The jojo traveller

Laos brought me a lot of new impressions, as every day every where does. The impressions in Laos however, were those of beautiful scenery, mixed with a lot of self reflecting, astonishment, peace, disgust, sickness, getting stronger, and refinding balance within myself. As I travelled extra km's here, to see Sara (no ofence sweetheart, it was my decision), the overall feeling of Laos will not include the far northern part of the country. It's something I don't regret, as I see it as an opportunity to make another trip over here later. My first impressions are that the southern part of the country is colder, more commercialised as when you head north in the country. This view is also based on my own feelings on that particular moments. It took me two weeks to realise that when people ask you where you're going, most of the time it doesn't mean...can I make money out of you? (as it does in so many surounding countries. A lot of time the people are just willing to show their ability to speak English, very limited skills, but it's cute and nice. When asked at a busstation, it usually are friendly people from the buscompany that just try to point you in the right direction, to make your journey as easy as possible. The further I get up north the more I start realising those things, the more I start loving this country and its people. My last day in Savanaket, I already checked out of my room to take a night bus that evening. The night before I got struck by a fever, heavy stomach aches and almost no sleep at all. I cancelled the cycling trip I had planned with some people I met the day before, and spend the whole day on the floor of the guesthouse terras more than often interrupted for an urgent toilet break. Miraculously, the next day after an 8 hour night bus followed by another 4 hours in another bus, I was cured as good as completely. As if it were a new start, I began to see things with a more open state of mind. Taking a step back from my reserved and anxious looking at things around me, the more I can absorbe the beauty of nature in this place. The surroundings are surreal sometimes. Surreal in their natural beauty. Therefor it's such a petty to me, to notice that all of this peaceful beauty is ruthely disturbed by the commercialisation for the westerners, in Vang Vieng. Taking an easy kayaking afternoon, just wandering between the high limestone hills behind the beautiful flora became impossible. Tubing, floating on the river on top of the inner tube of a truck, became the main attraction here. Tubing often goes together with lots of alcohol, and since that's what the people wanted, they even added loud music to it in the bars every 100 meters along the river. One bar being biger than the other, but to me all with one thing in common...disturbance of the natural invironement and the culture. People enjoying themselves on those places is not my complain, not at all, it's just the way it's done. Being there, I suddenly realised what the grandparents from people of my generation ment with "the devils music". This loud pumping music, together with the boose seemed to make every kind of respect for the local culture to dissapear. People dancing half naked, yelling on every tarzan swing they take flighing on a constucted rope from a tree to splash in the water, disturbing the peaceful nature that this surrounding has to offer. The jumping into the water also shows another sad thing. People doing things they rather wouldn't do, but they feel they have to hoping to belong to the group. Looking at the fear in their eyes hanging there in the air, trying to look as cool as possible makes me wander what idea this must give about westerners to the local population. Isn't it logic they start seeing westerners as walking dollar bills with only interests in status and consuming lots of alcohol? To me its also interfering in the local sociological environement in a very rude way, in a way we wouldn't accept people to do in the west. Still, we do it elsewhere. Lot's of people in the west are scared of other cultures interfering in their environement, but for lot's of them it's ok to do so elsewhere. It all happened before, wars have been fought over it, and most people hope people have learned their lesson now...but still, we do it elsewhere. This less attractive point to my opinion can not take away the beautiful feelings I got just by watching the nature revealing itself in all its beauty. Any sunset is alike, and yet no sunsets are the same. It's those little differences that make them all unique. It's not just the view of the sun that makes everything so spherical, it's also what happens around, before and after it. In Vang Vieng, if you wait a few minutes after the sun has dissapeared, you get to see an amazing view of hundreds of thousands of bats that leave the numerous caves around here and fly in big groups toward the nightly forrest life. (picture left) Really amazing, only most people don't get to see it, because after the sunset they leave for the shower, to wash of the alcohol-sweath from their body, preparing themselves for another evening of partying, not noticing the woman on the back of the truck putting on some extra ruined clothes to her little child to protect it at least a litle bit against the cooler temperatures.