Namastee my english speaking friends,
Here's my 9th and last newsletter, since i will be home in 10 days (after a great year of travelling) if all goes according to plan. The last i wrote you about was in Varanassi, when we were about to cross the border with Nepal. And so we did the next day. You could tell the difference with India immediately: cleaner and better maintaind: the houes, the road, buildings, etc. Stayed the first night just after the border, had a good sleep and i felt up for the last country of my journey. First to Chitwan National park. A great experience: trekking through the jungle (by foot and by elephant), seeing rhino's (with baby's), chilling out on the banks of the river with some beers and campfires at night. Fantastic. Next stop was in Sarangkot, to see the sunrise over the Annapourna (part of the Himalya's). Unfortunately: clouds, so no good view of the mountains during the sunrise. Walked down to Pokhara, where we spend the rest of the day, ending with a splendid meal at Himalyan Encounters basecamp. Oh yeah: also very nice Valentines Mails!! Then to Katmandu, where the trucktrip ended. Found a good hotel and got pissed in Sam's Bar. The place to go. Spend about ten days in KTM, seing the monkey temple, a day in Baktapur (a small vilage from the middle ages, where still people live (in poor circumstances)). More and more people left the truck-group, which always is sad, since you don't know if or when we'll meet again. Especially you Pam!! Spend the next days in KTM reading, seeing films, drinking beer, strolling through town and chilling out. Then it became time for some action again. Arnie and I decided to do a little trekking through the Annapourna and so we went to Pokhara (again) and did a fantastic 8 days trek up to 4.100 m. Apart from being ice- and ice cold it was a great thing to do: beautifull views, good walking and a bit of climbing, nice people in the group (only 4: us two dutch and 2 Aussies) and about ten people around us (for cooking, carrying our stuff (yes, we are lazy rich bastards aren't we?)) and so on. Back after 8 days, a little party to say good bye to everybody and after 2 days back to KTM, where i spend the last days of my journey, reading, buying clothes, contactlenses and CD's, since it's so cheap here. Right now i am waiting for my flights to leave and then.... back to a 9-5 life i guess. We'll see what happens won't we?
Hey, you'll here from me once more in this form when i am home. See ya all and take care,
Jan.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Newsletter 8 (8 february 2003)
Namastee everybody,
Time for some news from the dutch guy. I am still in India and right now we are about to cross the border to Nepal (tomorrow that is). What happened the last 5 weeks: Newsyear was ok. We all had a great diner in a fancy restaurant (to indian standards that is) on the beach in Goa. Due to exhaustion we were back at the truck at 1.00 am though, but that was all right with me, since i could use some sleep. Got a sad email about my cat though: he died. It did make me sad, that's obvious isn't it? The rest of the days in Goa we spend as lazy tourists: driving our little scooters around the place, swimming, reading, sunbathing, etc. After that we drove on to a Hampi, away from the coast. Beautifull view over a big temple complex, shitty hotel and a lot of biking in the environment on very cheap, hired bikes. Great to do. Lots of mosquitos at night, but hey... who cares (i say that in retroperspective). On we drove to Sravanabeloga (yes i had to write it down, to remember it). Saw some more temples (there's a lot of them as you probably know). Visited a huge statue (700 steps to climb b4 you reach it, at 6 in the morning, but hey... what did i care) and after that we drove on to Mysore. Big city, temples again and a t.v. on our hotelroom. Time to catchup with the worldnews. Nothing really had changed. Bush is still a madman and his threatening still controls the news. In Holland politicians like him get shot, although that's not an solution either, i realize. The palace of the marahadja was very, very impressive. Man, what a luxury in such a poor country. You could stroll around there for 2 hours, one big (ball)room after another, full of very expensive items and never see something twice. Good to see, but don't imagine what could have been done with all that money for the poor. Sadening sometimes isn't it. Oh yeah, we also found a cheap beerplace. I do not exactly remember what happened next, but the next day a little man with a huge hammer was doing some restaurations in the inside of my skull. Ouch.... We had to cook diner that night. So, we (Anrnie and i) did the shopping. If you buy a chicken you pick the ones you like and they slaughter them for you at the spot. Hmmmmm.... don't know if i like that, but that's hypocrite (did i spell that correct(ly)) isn't it? Anyway: we moved on to the national park: elephant trekking (very nice) through the jungle, cooking, and the next morning we were about to have breakfast when.... monkees started to steal our breakfast. About 50 of them. Anything is possible in India they say and so it is. Beautifull truckdrive through the national park to Ooti. We stayed at an old residence of the maharadja. Great, you could smell history. Long walks, 2000 meters high (cold at night), campfires in the garden at night, some booz and a lot of fun all together. The last day there we found a filmcrew in our garden, shooting scenes for a (very) B-movie. Strange way to wakeup, in the middle of a filmscene. As for compensation we were promised a tour around the studio's, later in Chennai. On to Koccin. A beautifull old kolonial city (build on 5 islands actually), with a lot of (dutch) history. Really enjoyed strolling around, hopping on the ferries from island to island and drinking our beers at night on the rooftop of our hotel. Went to a Indian circus too (so bad, you couldn't believe it). All in all: great days though. Next city was Kollam. I went by boat and i would meet the rest of the truck over there. Beautifull boattrip over the backwaters of southwest India. Loved it. Hundreds of birds of prey, great scenery and a very relaxing day. Loved it. The next day on to Varkala and what do you think: beaches again. Can't get enough of them. During the day time: relaxing on the beach and at night watching movies during diner. Got fuXXing brown. On to the very south of India: hot, but impressive as in: culture and a strange way of life. People literary die in the streets and nobody seems to care. What a world. The south point it self could be seen in 2 hours, so the same day we moved on to Madurai: cheap hotel, temples. On to Pondicherry (and Auroville). Nice hotel, nice strolling around town, cheap beer (Ouch again) and a beautifull place to meditate. And so i did and i loved it. A big, very big with sphere, in the middle a huge cristal ball, nobody says anything and you spend an hour there with your thaughts. Believe it or not: a great experience. I never thaught i would like it, but i did. Met some nice people from the Indian armee as well, talking untill late at night. Different points of view make you wiser don't they? Further north: rough camping, (again) getting drunk at night, beaching. We arrived in Chennai after 2 days. A good day at the moviestudio there. We ended up as extra's in a t.v. series and were on t.v. the next week. How about that. Great fun though. Then long, long truckdrives to the north, (Marble rocks, waterfalls, trying to spot tigers, rough camping, getting stuck in the mud, rain, rain and more rain, spending the nights in old kolonial buildings, visiting one more temple complex in Khajuraho) ending up in Varanasi, where we are now. This morning we went to the Ganges for a boattrip. Great sunset. Saw human corpses being burned (ashes are thrown in the Ganges as a religious ritual) and now we are about to cross the border to Nepal. I have had it. You all know what i have been doing, so...
Good luck and hope to see you all again one day,
Jan.
Time for some news from the dutch guy. I am still in India and right now we are about to cross the border to Nepal (tomorrow that is). What happened the last 5 weeks: Newsyear was ok. We all had a great diner in a fancy restaurant (to indian standards that is) on the beach in Goa. Due to exhaustion we were back at the truck at 1.00 am though, but that was all right with me, since i could use some sleep. Got a sad email about my cat though: he died. It did make me sad, that's obvious isn't it? The rest of the days in Goa we spend as lazy tourists: driving our little scooters around the place, swimming, reading, sunbathing, etc. After that we drove on to a Hampi, away from the coast. Beautifull view over a big temple complex, shitty hotel and a lot of biking in the environment on very cheap, hired bikes. Great to do. Lots of mosquitos at night, but hey... who cares (i say that in retroperspective). On we drove to Sravanabeloga (yes i had to write it down, to remember it). Saw some more temples (there's a lot of them as you probably know). Visited a huge statue (700 steps to climb b4 you reach it, at 6 in the morning, but hey... what did i care) and after that we drove on to Mysore. Big city, temples again and a t.v. on our hotelroom. Time to catchup with the worldnews. Nothing really had changed. Bush is still a madman and his threatening still controls the news. In Holland politicians like him get shot, although that's not an solution either, i realize. The palace of the marahadja was very, very impressive. Man, what a luxury in such a poor country. You could stroll around there for 2 hours, one big (ball)room after another, full of very expensive items and never see something twice. Good to see, but don't imagine what could have been done with all that money for the poor. Sadening sometimes isn't it. Oh yeah, we also found a cheap beerplace. I do not exactly remember what happened next, but the next day a little man with a huge hammer was doing some restaurations in the inside of my skull. Ouch.... We had to cook diner that night. So, we (Anrnie and i) did the shopping. If you buy a chicken you pick the ones you like and they slaughter them for you at the spot. Hmmmmm.... don't know if i like that, but that's hypocrite (did i spell that correct(ly)) isn't it? Anyway: we moved on to the national park: elephant trekking (very nice) through the jungle, cooking, and the next morning we were about to have breakfast when.... monkees started to steal our breakfast. About 50 of them. Anything is possible in India they say and so it is. Beautifull truckdrive through the national park to Ooti. We stayed at an old residence of the maharadja. Great, you could smell history. Long walks, 2000 meters high (cold at night), campfires in the garden at night, some booz and a lot of fun all together. The last day there we found a filmcrew in our garden, shooting scenes for a (very) B-movie. Strange way to wakeup, in the middle of a filmscene. As for compensation we were promised a tour around the studio's, later in Chennai. On to Koccin. A beautifull old kolonial city (build on 5 islands actually), with a lot of (dutch) history. Really enjoyed strolling around, hopping on the ferries from island to island and drinking our beers at night on the rooftop of our hotel. Went to a Indian circus too (so bad, you couldn't believe it). All in all: great days though. Next city was Kollam. I went by boat and i would meet the rest of the truck over there. Beautifull boattrip over the backwaters of southwest India. Loved it. Hundreds of birds of prey, great scenery and a very relaxing day. Loved it. The next day on to Varkala and what do you think: beaches again. Can't get enough of them. During the day time: relaxing on the beach and at night watching movies during diner. Got fuXXing brown. On to the very south of India: hot, but impressive as in: culture and a strange way of life. People literary die in the streets and nobody seems to care. What a world. The south point it self could be seen in 2 hours, so the same day we moved on to Madurai: cheap hotel, temples. On to Pondicherry (and Auroville). Nice hotel, nice strolling around town, cheap beer (Ouch again) and a beautifull place to meditate. And so i did and i loved it. A big, very big with sphere, in the middle a huge cristal ball, nobody says anything and you spend an hour there with your thaughts. Believe it or not: a great experience. I never thaught i would like it, but i did. Met some nice people from the Indian armee as well, talking untill late at night. Different points of view make you wiser don't they? Further north: rough camping, (again) getting drunk at night, beaching. We arrived in Chennai after 2 days. A good day at the moviestudio there. We ended up as extra's in a t.v. series and were on t.v. the next week. How about that. Great fun though. Then long, long truckdrives to the north, (Marble rocks, waterfalls, trying to spot tigers, rough camping, getting stuck in the mud, rain, rain and more rain, spending the nights in old kolonial buildings, visiting one more temple complex in Khajuraho) ending up in Varanasi, where we are now. This morning we went to the Ganges for a boattrip. Great sunset. Saw human corpses being burned (ashes are thrown in the Ganges as a religious ritual) and now we are about to cross the border to Nepal. I have had it. You all know what i have been doing, so...
Good luck and hope to see you all again one day,
Jan.
Newsletter 7 (31 december 2002)
Hi you english speaking people all over the world,
Time for another newsletter from me (Jan that is). The last you heared from me was from Bangkok after i had spend there just a week. Right now it's the last day of december and we are all waiting for the big moment (start of 2003 that is obviously). The day after i wrote for the last time i went to Kalasin, where Pareena teaches some economical items at the university there. She had asked me if i wanted to tell her students about my travelling and about life in Holland and i played some guitar for them. They loved all that and i enjoyed to do it as well. I gave about 6 of those little lectures and in return i got a house with my own internet acces, a good bed, more food than i could eat, a nice stereo set, a guitar and a nice collection of CD's. How about that. I felt so greatfull and so welcome that it almost put me to shame. And by the time i left they even brought me more presents. I really didn't know what to say. I love these people and i wish them all very well and i sincerely hope to see them again one day. Just beautifull. When i returned to Bangkok i met Tommi (from Finland) again. We both decided to go south to one of the Thai islands (Koh Chang) and so we did. After a long minibusride we arrived at the ferry, hopped over and found our selves a (shabby and too expensive) place to stay. The day after that i moved to a little better place and we stayed there (white sand beach) for 3 days. Swimming, having our beers, watching some football every now and then, clubbing and so on. Good days, but we wanted something better, so we moved southwards to the next beach (lonely beach, which is not a correct name, since there were quite a few people around there) and spend there 8 more days, mainly as a lazy tourist, which was good. Met some nice people, had a good time with them and too soon it had become the 18th of december and i had to leave, leaving Tomasi all on his own (sorry chap). I went back to Bkk to meet Pareena for the last time, did my last preparations for my trip to Bombay (or Mumbai as they call it here). On the 21st Pareena brought me to the airport (thanks again sis) and there we said goodbey, which did break my heart (Pareena, just don't change and stay who you are, coz that's more then good). The flight to Bombay went well and arriving about an hour too late i met Arnout, a very nice bloke from my hometown. Great to see him again. With him and 9 other people we are now travelling in a big truck around India. A luxury way of travelling i must say, coz everything is organized really well. What i have been doing so far in India: one day strolling around in Bombay, then southwards to Goa (rough camping in between, with a very nice bbq), spend 5 days on the beach here, partying (including a wonderfull christmas meal out in the wild), reading, renting scooters to check out the surrounding and then.... a dreadfull thing happened. One of the groupmembers fell of his bike and got badly hurd (4 broken ribs, a broken keybone, a burned foot and a small concussion). Result of all this was that we couldn't do our little trip to one of the small islands over here, which is too bad of course. Well and that's where we are now: last day of the year, close to the beach, where i am about to take a swim and waiting for the new year to arrive. Talk to you all next year and have a great 2003.
Lots of love,
Jan.
Time for another newsletter from me (Jan that is). The last you heared from me was from Bangkok after i had spend there just a week. Right now it's the last day of december and we are all waiting for the big moment (start of 2003 that is obviously). The day after i wrote for the last time i went to Kalasin, where Pareena teaches some economical items at the university there. She had asked me if i wanted to tell her students about my travelling and about life in Holland and i played some guitar for them. They loved all that and i enjoyed to do it as well. I gave about 6 of those little lectures and in return i got a house with my own internet acces, a good bed, more food than i could eat, a nice stereo set, a guitar and a nice collection of CD's. How about that. I felt so greatfull and so welcome that it almost put me to shame. And by the time i left they even brought me more presents. I really didn't know what to say. I love these people and i wish them all very well and i sincerely hope to see them again one day. Just beautifull. When i returned to Bangkok i met Tommi (from Finland) again. We both decided to go south to one of the Thai islands (Koh Chang) and so we did. After a long minibusride we arrived at the ferry, hopped over and found our selves a (shabby and too expensive) place to stay. The day after that i moved to a little better place and we stayed there (white sand beach) for 3 days. Swimming, having our beers, watching some football every now and then, clubbing and so on. Good days, but we wanted something better, so we moved southwards to the next beach (lonely beach, which is not a correct name, since there were quite a few people around there) and spend there 8 more days, mainly as a lazy tourist, which was good. Met some nice people, had a good time with them and too soon it had become the 18th of december and i had to leave, leaving Tomasi all on his own (sorry chap). I went back to Bkk to meet Pareena for the last time, did my last preparations for my trip to Bombay (or Mumbai as they call it here). On the 21st Pareena brought me to the airport (thanks again sis) and there we said goodbey, which did break my heart (Pareena, just don't change and stay who you are, coz that's more then good). The flight to Bombay went well and arriving about an hour too late i met Arnout, a very nice bloke from my hometown. Great to see him again. With him and 9 other people we are now travelling in a big truck around India. A luxury way of travelling i must say, coz everything is organized really well. What i have been doing so far in India: one day strolling around in Bombay, then southwards to Goa (rough camping in between, with a very nice bbq), spend 5 days on the beach here, partying (including a wonderfull christmas meal out in the wild), reading, renting scooters to check out the surrounding and then.... a dreadfull thing happened. One of the groupmembers fell of his bike and got badly hurd (4 broken ribs, a broken keybone, a burned foot and a small concussion). Result of all this was that we couldn't do our little trip to one of the small islands over here, which is too bad of course. Well and that's where we are now: last day of the year, close to the beach, where i am about to take a swim and waiting for the new year to arrive. Talk to you all next year and have a great 2003.
Lots of love,
Jan.
Newsletter 6 (26 november 2002)
Hi Everybody,
Long time no hear from me (almost 8 weeks), so here we go again. The last you heard from me was from Melbourne. The day after that i flew to Indonesia. The first week i acted like a lazy tourist, laying on the beach and spending money on beer. A good life though. Then: the Bomb. You all know how close i was and i guess you have all had my reaction the day after to tell you guys that i was (physically) all right. I don't want to go through all the details of that night, but let me tell you that i was shocked. I deliberately spend 4 more days in Kuta, just to talk it over with people that had had the same experience and i went to some memorial concerts, so that i could get it off my chest. I think i have done enough of that, so i don't have the bomb on my mind anymore. Spoke a lot about it with Andy (hi son), a young guy from NZ who was in the same hotel as i was. We spend like 3 days together and a lot of people thought we were father and son. We didn't make them any wiser and when Andy had left i told the people who asked about him that i had send him home. After Kuta the good days came back in Padangbai. Lovely little village and the best place to chill out you can imagine. And i needed that as you can imagine as well. The best beach i had ever seen (3 meter waves, yes you should have been there Andy), very cosy, very cheap and a lot of musicians. You can guess what happened: in less then an hour we were jamming and playing music. I even played together with Komang (i hope i spell that right), who is famous in Bali. I felt really honored and he liked it as well. Also did a boattrip (6 days), hopping from island to island which was great as well. Saw the comodo dragons, did a lot of snorkling, nice deserted beaches and a group of great people. After the boattrip one more week of beaching and making music in Padang bay and then back to Kuta. I thought i would be wise to be there to reconfirm my ticket and indeed that seemed to be true, coz my flight had changed (due to the bombincident of course) and i had to go to Sanur, to get a new ticket. It all worked out fine, but it turned out to be a good thing that i was in Kuta a few days before the plane actually left. Spend the last days in Kuta with Jim (we had met in Padangbai already and ran into eachother in Kuta again, which was really good) beaching and drinking our beers. Then to Singapore: the best example of an 24/7 society you can imagine. And very expensive. Met Sherlynn there (again, coz i had visited her 2,5 years ago too), which was nice of course. It was nice to be back in a society, where everything was so well organised. And it was the first place i went since 7,5 months where i had been before, so i knew where to go and so on. Actually that was a strange feeling by itself after such a long time of buying maps, asking peaople where to go and so on. A nice week, apart from the costs that is, although i also bought new contact lenses, which were really cheap there. Now i am in Thailand. Visted a friend here as well. Very nice to meet her after having emailed for so long. I felt very welcome by her and her family, when they picked me up from the airport and took me to their "school" where they do good work for children that don't have such good changes for a proper education as we have (had). Great work lads, keep that up. I spend 3 days there, taught some english, played some guitar for them, and then went back (with Pareena) to Bkk, to get a visa for India. Right now i am waiting for that visa, which i can collect on friday. After that: to Kalasin, to see Pareena again. More in a month or so. Hope to see you all again one day and have a nice winter.
Huggs,
Jan.
Long time no hear from me (almost 8 weeks), so here we go again. The last you heard from me was from Melbourne. The day after that i flew to Indonesia. The first week i acted like a lazy tourist, laying on the beach and spending money on beer. A good life though. Then: the Bomb. You all know how close i was and i guess you have all had my reaction the day after to tell you guys that i was (physically) all right. I don't want to go through all the details of that night, but let me tell you that i was shocked. I deliberately spend 4 more days in Kuta, just to talk it over with people that had had the same experience and i went to some memorial concerts, so that i could get it off my chest. I think i have done enough of that, so i don't have the bomb on my mind anymore. Spoke a lot about it with Andy (hi son), a young guy from NZ who was in the same hotel as i was. We spend like 3 days together and a lot of people thought we were father and son. We didn't make them any wiser and when Andy had left i told the people who asked about him that i had send him home. After Kuta the good days came back in Padangbai. Lovely little village and the best place to chill out you can imagine. And i needed that as you can imagine as well. The best beach i had ever seen (3 meter waves, yes you should have been there Andy), very cosy, very cheap and a lot of musicians. You can guess what happened: in less then an hour we were jamming and playing music. I even played together with Komang (i hope i spell that right), who is famous in Bali. I felt really honored and he liked it as well. Also did a boattrip (6 days), hopping from island to island which was great as well. Saw the comodo dragons, did a lot of snorkling, nice deserted beaches and a group of great people. After the boattrip one more week of beaching and making music in Padang bay and then back to Kuta. I thought i would be wise to be there to reconfirm my ticket and indeed that seemed to be true, coz my flight had changed (due to the bombincident of course) and i had to go to Sanur, to get a new ticket. It all worked out fine, but it turned out to be a good thing that i was in Kuta a few days before the plane actually left. Spend the last days in Kuta with Jim (we had met in Padangbai already and ran into eachother in Kuta again, which was really good) beaching and drinking our beers. Then to Singapore: the best example of an 24/7 society you can imagine. And very expensive. Met Sherlynn there (again, coz i had visited her 2,5 years ago too), which was nice of course. It was nice to be back in a society, where everything was so well organised. And it was the first place i went since 7,5 months where i had been before, so i knew where to go and so on. Actually that was a strange feeling by itself after such a long time of buying maps, asking peaople where to go and so on. A nice week, apart from the costs that is, although i also bought new contact lenses, which were really cheap there. Now i am in Thailand. Visted a friend here as well. Very nice to meet her after having emailed for so long. I felt very welcome by her and her family, when they picked me up from the airport and took me to their "school" where they do good work for children that don't have such good changes for a proper education as we have (had). Great work lads, keep that up. I spend 3 days there, taught some english, played some guitar for them, and then went back (with Pareena) to Bkk, to get a visa for India. Right now i am waiting for that visa, which i can collect on friday. After that: to Kalasin, to see Pareena again. More in a month or so. Hope to see you all again one day and have a nice winter.
Huggs,
Jan.
Newsletter 5 (3 october 2002)
Hello everybody,
Already the last day in Australia. Man, time goes fast. It seems as if i just arrived here, but hey... it's already gone. Tomorrow i fly to Bali. I'll spend a bout 6 weeks over there. Plan to see a lot of Indonesia, but i already found out: where ever i go, i always run short of time. Same here. I have hardly seen anything of Aussie, but then again: the things i have seen were good and i enjoyed it very much. When i flew in to Sydney Tony (yes, he again) was there to pick me up. I stayed at his place for about 10 days (together with Abe and Andy: great guys who live in the same house as he does). With Tony i saw the blue mountains (beautifull old mining area which has been transformed into a kind of national park (although a park is usual a little smaller then this huge place; man, it is immense). Tony is a truckdriver, so i also went with him to se the surrounding, both in his truck and in a "normal" car. Great sight seeing. We stayed a couple of nights at his friends places, where i felt really welcome. Those guys are so hospitable, you can't believe it. Also went waterskieing (hope i wrote that right), which i loved. Gonna do that a few times more when i am back in Holland. After having tumbled down for a couple of times i managed to stay up and man... i felt on top of the world. Tony please thank all those people on behalf of me. They are great people. Love them. Also strolled in the city of Sydney of course. It's one of the most beautifull city's i have ever seen. Not just the "normal" things (harbour bridge, the opera house and so on) but the whole city it self breaths an atmosphere of old english tradition (comparable to Christchurch, only bigger of course). In short: ten fantastic days, again thanks to this great guy: Tony. Come over to Holland one day man and let me return the favor. You're more than welcome!!! After those 10 days in Sydney it was time to move on. I went down the southeast coast. First to Merimbule, where i spend a couple of days laying on the beach and strolling around with Henny, a dutch bloke i met up there. It was funny to speak dutch agaian after such a long time. Sometimes i just started a conversation in english, since i got used to that so much. Fine days and good relaxation. Then it was further down to Eden. A small fisherman's village, where it was really easy socializing, since everybody comes up to you, asking where you're from and where you go. I wanted to stay there only for 2 days, but it ended with 5 days, since the atmosphere was so cosy. Again a nice beach and yes i got a pretty dark tan by now. The last week i spend in Melbourne (where i am now). I went to this huge, huge backpackers place (like a warehouse) which is really fun, since you meet some many other travellers and exchanged a lot of information about the places where i still want to go. Spend some days with Rob (UK, London) on the beach and checked out the city. I must say: although it's a big city, one week is enough. It doesn't have the same internation-like atmosphere as Sydney and by now i think i have seen the biggest part of it. So, tommorow it's of to Bali.
From there you'll hear more from me i guess. Have fun travelling or enjoy your stay at home. Huggs, kisses and whatever further suits you,
Jan.
PS: Emma and Dewald: thanks for your pix. They're nice although i hardly recognized you guys. And Rob: thanks for correcting my english.
Already the last day in Australia. Man, time goes fast. It seems as if i just arrived here, but hey... it's already gone. Tomorrow i fly to Bali. I'll spend a bout 6 weeks over there. Plan to see a lot of Indonesia, but i already found out: where ever i go, i always run short of time. Same here. I have hardly seen anything of Aussie, but then again: the things i have seen were good and i enjoyed it very much. When i flew in to Sydney Tony (yes, he again) was there to pick me up. I stayed at his place for about 10 days (together with Abe and Andy: great guys who live in the same house as he does). With Tony i saw the blue mountains (beautifull old mining area which has been transformed into a kind of national park (although a park is usual a little smaller then this huge place; man, it is immense). Tony is a truckdriver, so i also went with him to se the surrounding, both in his truck and in a "normal" car. Great sight seeing. We stayed a couple of nights at his friends places, where i felt really welcome. Those guys are so hospitable, you can't believe it. Also went waterskieing (hope i wrote that right), which i loved. Gonna do that a few times more when i am back in Holland. After having tumbled down for a couple of times i managed to stay up and man... i felt on top of the world. Tony please thank all those people on behalf of me. They are great people. Love them. Also strolled in the city of Sydney of course. It's one of the most beautifull city's i have ever seen. Not just the "normal" things (harbour bridge, the opera house and so on) but the whole city it self breaths an atmosphere of old english tradition (comparable to Christchurch, only bigger of course). In short: ten fantastic days, again thanks to this great guy: Tony. Come over to Holland one day man and let me return the favor. You're more than welcome!!! After those 10 days in Sydney it was time to move on. I went down the southeast coast. First to Merimbule, where i spend a couple of days laying on the beach and strolling around with Henny, a dutch bloke i met up there. It was funny to speak dutch agaian after such a long time. Sometimes i just started a conversation in english, since i got used to that so much. Fine days and good relaxation. Then it was further down to Eden. A small fisherman's village, where it was really easy socializing, since everybody comes up to you, asking where you're from and where you go. I wanted to stay there only for 2 days, but it ended with 5 days, since the atmosphere was so cosy. Again a nice beach and yes i got a pretty dark tan by now. The last week i spend in Melbourne (where i am now). I went to this huge, huge backpackers place (like a warehouse) which is really fun, since you meet some many other travellers and exchanged a lot of information about the places where i still want to go. Spend some days with Rob (UK, London) on the beach and checked out the city. I must say: although it's a big city, one week is enough. It doesn't have the same internation-like atmosphere as Sydney and by now i think i have seen the biggest part of it. So, tommorow it's of to Bali.
From there you'll hear more from me i guess. Have fun travelling or enjoy your stay at home. Huggs, kisses and whatever further suits you,
Jan.
PS: Emma and Dewald: thanks for your pix. They're nice although i hardly recognized you guys. And Rob: thanks for correcting my english.
Newsletter 4 (6 september 2002)
Hello mates,
My last day in New Zealand and since i have seen the things i wanted to see it's about time to let the rest of the world know what i've been doing and so on. The last time i wrote a was in Suva (Capital of Fiji), so from there we start.... After Suva i went back to Nadi for 2 days and i went to this luxury place called Nadi Bay Hotel. To my suprise i met the 4 english and 2 irish again, whom i already had met in Tuba Kula. It was nice to meet them again, especially since i wasn't in the mood for making new friends again. Of course we drank quite some beers to celebrate. (Darren, would you be so kind to forward this message to the other 5? Thanks in advance. Send me their emailadresses too, so i don't have to ask you again pls.) Alright, after those 2 days i flew to Auckland (NZ), where i was picked up by this great NZ bloke Tony, who i already had met in Santiago. He took me all around the northern part of the north island. A palce where i probably wouldn't have gone if i hadn't met this guy and now i know that that would have been a mistake. Man, what a beautifull country and what a hospitle (did i spell that right?) people. We stayed at the houses of friends of Tony and i felt really welcome and very "at home" immediately. Those people have chosen the right place to live i can tell you. Lots (better: heaps) of space and a very relaxed lifestyle. Tony, i owe you one man. Thanks again and pls come to holland, so i can return the favor. (It's gonna be busy when i come home.) After having seen the nortern part of the island Tony left for Sidney (to start working again) and i spend a few days in Auckland. Just enough to get an impression of this big city. Went to underwaterworld (very nice), visited some bars with live music (not that good actually, altough the public there loved it) and strolled through the town. Then to Rotorua: really nice place with a lot of termal activity in the ground, so it has this funny (read: rotten) smell of sulfide. Saw a lot of those wells, not because i wanted to, but because you couldn't miss them. Met a nice bloke from Oxford there (Hi Sid, how are you doing?). We spend about 3 days together and celebrated my birthday quitly. Also met this dutch family (my mother knew them when she was a kid) and had a nice chat with them (in dutch, which felt strange after having talked english for such a long time). Oh yeah, i also saw the glowworm caves, which was really impressive. Thousands of glowing larves on the ceiling of a cave, which gave you the impression that you were looking at a nightly sky. Dee and Emma, you were right, its worth a visit. After Rotorua i went to Welington for a day, just so i could hop over to the south island the next day (by a ferry on a very rough sea (never seen that many people vomitting at the same time in my life)). The south island is even more "empty" than the north island. Beautifull nature and again very friendly people. I stayed 2 nights at Tony's brothers place (thanks again Jamie and Annette) and the weekend itself in Christchurch, which was enough to get a good impression of this cozy (Spelled right?) city. Great weather and great parks and botanic gardens. Nice place to go out as well, and so i did. Then 2 more days in Kaikura, to go whalewatching. I did and we saw 3 whales, some albatrosses (man, they're huge too), lots of dolphins and seals, which i found fantastic. The organisation thought it wasn't that good, so they gave us a 40% refund when we were back. How about that? After this: back to welington, where i have spend 1 night at Bob's place (also relatives of Tony; thanks Bob) and the last two days, strolling through the city, visiting the (free) Te Papa museum (which is fantastic; i went 2 times to see it all) and tomorrow i fly to Sydney. Guess who i am going to meet there? Right: Tony, for the 3rd time. Looking forward to that. Hey, that's all folks. Write you again in a month or so, either from Melbourne or from Bali,
Have a fine winter (for you guys on the northern hemisphere) (smile),
Jan.
My last day in New Zealand and since i have seen the things i wanted to see it's about time to let the rest of the world know what i've been doing and so on. The last time i wrote a was in Suva (Capital of Fiji), so from there we start.... After Suva i went back to Nadi for 2 days and i went to this luxury place called Nadi Bay Hotel. To my suprise i met the 4 english and 2 irish again, whom i already had met in Tuba Kula. It was nice to meet them again, especially since i wasn't in the mood for making new friends again. Of course we drank quite some beers to celebrate. (Darren, would you be so kind to forward this message to the other 5? Thanks in advance. Send me their emailadresses too, so i don't have to ask you again pls.) Alright, after those 2 days i flew to Auckland (NZ), where i was picked up by this great NZ bloke Tony, who i already had met in Santiago. He took me all around the northern part of the north island. A palce where i probably wouldn't have gone if i hadn't met this guy and now i know that that would have been a mistake. Man, what a beautifull country and what a hospitle (did i spell that right?) people. We stayed at the houses of friends of Tony and i felt really welcome and very "at home" immediately. Those people have chosen the right place to live i can tell you. Lots (better: heaps) of space and a very relaxed lifestyle. Tony, i owe you one man. Thanks again and pls come to holland, so i can return the favor. (It's gonna be busy when i come home.) After having seen the nortern part of the island Tony left for Sidney (to start working again) and i spend a few days in Auckland. Just enough to get an impression of this big city. Went to underwaterworld (very nice), visited some bars with live music (not that good actually, altough the public there loved it) and strolled through the town. Then to Rotorua: really nice place with a lot of termal activity in the ground, so it has this funny (read: rotten) smell of sulfide. Saw a lot of those wells, not because i wanted to, but because you couldn't miss them. Met a nice bloke from Oxford there (Hi Sid, how are you doing?). We spend about 3 days together and celebrated my birthday quitly. Also met this dutch family (my mother knew them when she was a kid) and had a nice chat with them (in dutch, which felt strange after having talked english for such a long time). Oh yeah, i also saw the glowworm caves, which was really impressive. Thousands of glowing larves on the ceiling of a cave, which gave you the impression that you were looking at a nightly sky. Dee and Emma, you were right, its worth a visit. After Rotorua i went to Welington for a day, just so i could hop over to the south island the next day (by a ferry on a very rough sea (never seen that many people vomitting at the same time in my life)). The south island is even more "empty" than the north island. Beautifull nature and again very friendly people. I stayed 2 nights at Tony's brothers place (thanks again Jamie and Annette) and the weekend itself in Christchurch, which was enough to get a good impression of this cozy (Spelled right?) city. Great weather and great parks and botanic gardens. Nice place to go out as well, and so i did. Then 2 more days in Kaikura, to go whalewatching. I did and we saw 3 whales, some albatrosses (man, they're huge too), lots of dolphins and seals, which i found fantastic. The organisation thought it wasn't that good, so they gave us a 40% refund when we were back. How about that? After this: back to welington, where i have spend 1 night at Bob's place (also relatives of Tony; thanks Bob) and the last two days, strolling through the city, visiting the (free) Te Papa museum (which is fantastic; i went 2 times to see it all) and tomorrow i fly to Sydney. Guess who i am going to meet there? Right: Tony, for the 3rd time. Looking forward to that. Hey, that's all folks. Write you again in a month or so, either from Melbourne or from Bali,
Have a fine winter (for you guys on the northern hemisphere) (smile),
Jan.
Newsletter 3 (7 august 2002)
Bula Everybody,
Bula is the fijian word for anything that's positive (like good morning, sleep well, cheers, etc). I am in my last week on the fiji islands and i thought it was time for an update. The last i wrote you about were the hotsprings in Pucon (south of Chile), where Dee, Emma and i went that same evening to have "a bath". Really wonderfull and a strange experience as you think of it, coz it's only heatened by some kind of vulcanic activity. Weird though to swim in a hot and steamy bath, while the snowflakes were falling around us. You sleep well on it, i can tell. After saying goodbey the next day to Dee and Emma (hope to see you again guys, if not in Holland or South Africa, then perhaps in Costa Rica!!) i returned to Santiago, where i spent the last two South American weeks with Etienne (USA, California) and some other guys. One of them had a guitar on him (Thanks again Adam, i really needed it), so i could catch up a little, for not having played a long time. We spend days doing cultural things (musea, university), strolling through the city and drinking beer at nights, having long and interesting discussions about politics, philosofy and life in general. Really good to hear opinions of people from all over the world. After the 2 weeks in Santiago i flew to Auckland (New Zealand) for just 24 hours and directly after that day to Nadi (Fiji). Met this great fijian guy, who invited me to his family and arranged a cheap hostal for me by phone. Really nice, thanks Deo. I spent 5 days in Nadi (a little more than planned) mainly because i met a bunch of good peolpe around there. I played music with them (one of them was a magnificent guitarplayer, who could teach me quite a few new things) and we did the "normal" partying stuff of course. After 5 days there 3 of the employees of the hostal invited me to stay for a day&night at the little vilage where their family lived on a farm. Really good experience except for the ride to this village. Lousy car and a riscy driver. Man i feared like hell. 2 times the car slipped us almost in this deep gap next to the road.... But the friendlyness, cava (local relaxing drink here) and the beers and food at night made me forget all these things quite quickly. Next day to "Tuba Kula", a beach resort on the coral coast. I liked it there so much, that i decided to stay there for 10 days, which were good for relaxing, meeting new people, some sunbathing, (picking up) running (again) and a lot of holiday-like fun. Met this great couple (John and Pam from liverpool) who i spend a week with (seeing movies, swimming, running and so on) and also met Alex (great tahitian guy, who i hope to see again here (Suva) one of these last days. Also met Gill and Catherine, 2 girls (women i should say; sorry girls) who i met later again here in Suva. Gill beat the shit out of the local poolers and got a great deal of admiration for that. Way to go Gill! Might see them again in New Zealand, at least i hope so. The last days i spent in Suva. Again met some musicians in a bar where they had to play. Had a good time with them. And now i am here all alone, since everybody left. Went to the movies last night and go to the swimmingpool, to kill the last few days here. Saturday it's back to Nadi and on Tuesday i'll meet Tony (i met before in Santiago) in New Zealand. Looking forward to that. Hey, gotta go on now.
Hope everybody is doing fine either on their trip or at home and talk to you again in a month or so,
Jan.
Bula is the fijian word for anything that's positive (like good morning, sleep well, cheers, etc). I am in my last week on the fiji islands and i thought it was time for an update. The last i wrote you about were the hotsprings in Pucon (south of Chile), where Dee, Emma and i went that same evening to have "a bath". Really wonderfull and a strange experience as you think of it, coz it's only heatened by some kind of vulcanic activity. Weird though to swim in a hot and steamy bath, while the snowflakes were falling around us. You sleep well on it, i can tell. After saying goodbey the next day to Dee and Emma (hope to see you again guys, if not in Holland or South Africa, then perhaps in Costa Rica!!) i returned to Santiago, where i spent the last two South American weeks with Etienne (USA, California) and some other guys. One of them had a guitar on him (Thanks again Adam, i really needed it), so i could catch up a little, for not having played a long time. We spend days doing cultural things (musea, university), strolling through the city and drinking beer at nights, having long and interesting discussions about politics, philosofy and life in general. Really good to hear opinions of people from all over the world. After the 2 weeks in Santiago i flew to Auckland (New Zealand) for just 24 hours and directly after that day to Nadi (Fiji). Met this great fijian guy, who invited me to his family and arranged a cheap hostal for me by phone. Really nice, thanks Deo. I spent 5 days in Nadi (a little more than planned) mainly because i met a bunch of good peolpe around there. I played music with them (one of them was a magnificent guitarplayer, who could teach me quite a few new things) and we did the "normal" partying stuff of course. After 5 days there 3 of the employees of the hostal invited me to stay for a day&night at the little vilage where their family lived on a farm. Really good experience except for the ride to this village. Lousy car and a riscy driver. Man i feared like hell. 2 times the car slipped us almost in this deep gap next to the road.... But the friendlyness, cava (local relaxing drink here) and the beers and food at night made me forget all these things quite quickly. Next day to "Tuba Kula", a beach resort on the coral coast. I liked it there so much, that i decided to stay there for 10 days, which were good for relaxing, meeting new people, some sunbathing, (picking up) running (again) and a lot of holiday-like fun. Met this great couple (John and Pam from liverpool) who i spend a week with (seeing movies, swimming, running and so on) and also met Alex (great tahitian guy, who i hope to see again here (Suva) one of these last days. Also met Gill and Catherine, 2 girls (women i should say; sorry girls) who i met later again here in Suva. Gill beat the shit out of the local poolers and got a great deal of admiration for that. Way to go Gill! Might see them again in New Zealand, at least i hope so. The last days i spent in Suva. Again met some musicians in a bar where they had to play. Had a good time with them. And now i am here all alone, since everybody left. Went to the movies last night and go to the swimmingpool, to kill the last few days here. Saturday it's back to Nadi and on Tuesday i'll meet Tony (i met before in Santiago) in New Zealand. Looking forward to that. Hey, gotta go on now.
Hope everybody is doing fine either on their trip or at home and talk to you again in a month or so,
Jan.
Newsletter 2 (27 june 2002)
Hi you english speaking friends,
Here's an update from me, while sitting in the cold of the south of Chili. The last thing i told you about was about the 2nd time i was in Quito i think, so from there i start: In quito i had to take care of a few things, like picking up a package of handrolling tabacco, rearranging my flight to Santiago and so on. Spend most of my time with 2 german girls (eh... women i should say, sorry girls) and 1 swiss. We have been around for a couple of weeks and spend nice time in Quito as well as in Canoa (for the 3d time). After Quito I decided to spend my last Ecuadorian week in Canoa again, with the company of 2 dutch (Erik and Jiska). Again it was good. One day later the 2 german girls showed up as well. Finally found someone with a good guitar (thanks again René) and played untill my fingers hurt. Lots of beach, beer and good times again. Back to Quito for my last two days there. Celebrated Kerstin's birtday and said goodbye to Carola, Anja and Kerstin, which was hard, since we had spend quite a bit of time together. Hopefully we'll see eachother again one day. After Kerstin had dropped me at the airport of quito I flew to Santiago (at least, that's what i thought, but since it was very foggy there, we had to wait for 3 hours on an Argentinian airport before we could land in Santiago). Found a hastal there and met a lot of new travellers there. Spend the days there with watching soccer, drinking (beer and coffee mainly), going out, talking to Etienne (USA spanish student), some french guys and this southafrican couple (Emma and Dewald). After a few days there i decided to go with them (Emma and Dewald that is) to go south (Pucon to be exact). That's where i am now. Tonight we're gonna see (and feel) some hot springs and tomorrow back to Santiago again. Life here is relaxing and quiet. Good for a few days though, especially after the polluted big city of Santiago. So, now you guys know about me again. If anyone of you hasn't received the first newsletter and you want it: just ask and i'll send a copy.
Hey have a nice summer (or winter if you're on the southern hemisphere) and see ya all around,
Jan.
Here's an update from me, while sitting in the cold of the south of Chili. The last thing i told you about was about the 2nd time i was in Quito i think, so from there i start: In quito i had to take care of a few things, like picking up a package of handrolling tabacco, rearranging my flight to Santiago and so on. Spend most of my time with 2 german girls (eh... women i should say, sorry girls) and 1 swiss. We have been around for a couple of weeks and spend nice time in Quito as well as in Canoa (for the 3d time). After Quito I decided to spend my last Ecuadorian week in Canoa again, with the company of 2 dutch (Erik and Jiska). Again it was good. One day later the 2 german girls showed up as well. Finally found someone with a good guitar (thanks again René) and played untill my fingers hurt. Lots of beach, beer and good times again. Back to Quito for my last two days there. Celebrated Kerstin's birtday and said goodbye to Carola, Anja and Kerstin, which was hard, since we had spend quite a bit of time together. Hopefully we'll see eachother again one day. After Kerstin had dropped me at the airport of quito I flew to Santiago (at least, that's what i thought, but since it was very foggy there, we had to wait for 3 hours on an Argentinian airport before we could land in Santiago). Found a hastal there and met a lot of new travellers there. Spend the days there with watching soccer, drinking (beer and coffee mainly), going out, talking to Etienne (USA spanish student), some french guys and this southafrican couple (Emma and Dewald). After a few days there i decided to go with them (Emma and Dewald that is) to go south (Pucon to be exact). That's where i am now. Tonight we're gonna see (and feel) some hot springs and tomorrow back to Santiago again. Life here is relaxing and quiet. Good for a few days though, especially after the polluted big city of Santiago. So, now you guys know about me again. If anyone of you hasn't received the first newsletter and you want it: just ask and i'll send a copy.
Hey have a nice summer (or winter if you're on the southern hemisphere) and see ya all around,
Jan.
Newsletter 1 (4 june 2002)
Hi there all you incatrailers and other english speaking people,
Like i promised when we met in would inform you about my trip and here comes a short update about what i have done so far: After having studied for 4 weeks in Cusco i went on the 4 day incatrail what was really a great experience. Most of you already knew this, so i keep this subject short. The last few days in Cusco in spent with Harrie (dutch friend of mine i met in Cusco), mainly drinking beer and going out. After that i flew to Quito, spend there just 1 night and travelled on to Bahia, more in the North of Ecuador. From there to this ecological (i hope that is good english) farm, where i worked for 3 weeks. Had a good time and did all kind of jobs. I even toured tourists around because (they tought that) my english is so good (big haha). After these weeks i spend a week in Canoa, where i enjoyed the sea, the sun, a lot of beer, and i met some very interesting people (like the greatgrandson of Friedrich Engels, as you probably know: one of the founders of communism. He has been a war fotographer for 25 years, so knows a lot about history and politics and so i spend a lot of time with this guy, discussing all kinds of political and historical subjects). Now i am back in Quito, where i spend the last few days with 2 german girls (woman i should say actually). Here i made a few arrangments (picked up some dutch tobacco, that was send me from the Netherlands, changed a flight, so i am goingto see Chili as well (which was not originally planned) and so on). You will hear more about me when i am in Fiji, or New Zealand.
Hope you all have a fine summer (weather is shit here actually) and hope to hear from you, Greetings,
Jan.
Like i promised when we met in would inform you about my trip and here comes a short update about what i have done so far: After having studied for 4 weeks in Cusco i went on the 4 day incatrail what was really a great experience. Most of you already knew this, so i keep this subject short. The last few days in Cusco in spent with Harrie (dutch friend of mine i met in Cusco), mainly drinking beer and going out. After that i flew to Quito, spend there just 1 night and travelled on to Bahia, more in the North of Ecuador. From there to this ecological (i hope that is good english) farm, where i worked for 3 weeks. Had a good time and did all kind of jobs. I even toured tourists around because (they tought that) my english is so good (big haha). After these weeks i spend a week in Canoa, where i enjoyed the sea, the sun, a lot of beer, and i met some very interesting people (like the greatgrandson of Friedrich Engels, as you probably know: one of the founders of communism. He has been a war fotographer for 25 years, so knows a lot about history and politics and so i spend a lot of time with this guy, discussing all kinds of political and historical subjects). Now i am back in Quito, where i spend the last few days with 2 german girls (woman i should say actually). Here i made a few arrangments (picked up some dutch tobacco, that was send me from the Netherlands, changed a flight, so i am goingto see Chili as well (which was not originally planned) and so on). You will hear more about me when i am in Fiji, or New Zealand.
Hope you all have a fine summer (weather is shit here actually) and hope to hear from you, Greetings,
Jan.
Introduction
This blog is a summary of the worldtrip, that i have made between march 2002 and march 2003. I just publish the newsletters i send home during that trip. Who ever is interested.. feel free to read and comment. On my other blog (witvoet.blogspot.com) i have told a little about it, but here are the details.
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