Travel report from Ecuador
Hi everybody,
Well, in the mean time I´ve been in South America for quite some time, so a very good if not late moment to write another travel report. It all started with some very long flights. First 2 hours from Sydney to Auckland, a 1 hour wait, then 13 hours to Santiago, 4 hours of waiting and finally 5 hours to Quito. And the great thing is that I left on the 19th of May at 10:30h and arrived on the same day at 21:00h! I was welcomed on the airport by my two friends Sharon and Charmaine who mercifully had arranged for a greatly appreciated soft bed.
The next day was a bit of a blur. We walked around in Quito´s smog for a while and went out for cocktails in the evening, which might have been a mistake. The next day was a bit of a blur.
We did succeed however in planning our next few weeks. We decide to leave on sunday for a week of trekking. In sequence we climbed Pasachoa (4500m or thereabouts), Corazon (4800m) and Iliniza (5000m), all vulcanoes. Or rather, made attempts to climb them. The first had a washed away path, the second a very technical end (and I had an altitude headache). The walk up to the refuge on the ilinizas is heavy: 2 hours in wind and hail without so much as a look at the top due to mist (after having walked an hour in rain and lightning the previous day). The hut is at 4800 meters altitude and we have company from 5 people from the El Salvador Alpine Federation. Nice lot. Apparantly for each walk they do at home they are escorted by 2 armed police officers. Sure it must make everybody feel really safe ;-) This time ice and mist stop us from climbing the Iliniza Norte...
Off to the chique refuge called Tambopaxi next (previous guests include Reinhold Messner). The entire week of climbing was intended to get acclimatised to ascend Cotopaxi, and vulcanic cone of 5900 meters. We make one more walk to Rumanahui (4900 m, mist again, no summit, ... again) and then feel ready for the big boy. We have two guides to lead us to the top, and on the first day we drive and walk up to the refuge at 4800m. There we learn that noone has gotten to the top in 2 weeks because of avalanche danger and bad weather. We do some training with ice axe and crampons on the nearby glacier anyway, and get woken up at 12 o´clock with the news that it´s snowing. None of the teams in the refuge gets going. We get up at 6 and walk up to the glacier at 5000 meters and then head to Quito, proudly bearing the new name of "Team Sub-Summit".
Two days later we leave for the Galapagos for some well-earned rest at sea-level. We´ve booked a 5 day cruise on the Encantada. 12 people on the boat, a good mix of people. A good guide too, called Juan, who takes us to see the giant turtles on the first day. Animals on the Galapagos are incredible. The sea lions play with you under water, swim straight at you just to turn away at the last moment. There´s sharks, sea turtles, rays, frigat birds, pelikans, flamingos, boobies (decided against buying the "I love boobies" T-shirt in the end) and giant iguanas... most of them are amazingly tolerant to humans, so you get a really close look at them. The landscapes on the vulcanic islands are equally surprising, sometimes green, sometimes just covered with cacti and black lava-rock.
On the third day we´re out of luck. A strike from local fishermen prevents us from going on land on Espanola, one of the islands. Our guide improvises and manages to organise a fun day anyway. We even get lucky when a number of whales sims close to our boat for a while. One of them crosses our bough at just a few meters distance!!! Impressive! After 5 days we leave the boat and manage to get a fibra or speedboat to the Isla Isabella the next day. It´s an island that is normally only visited by the big luxury boats on a cruise and just a few other tourists a day. It´s a beautiful island, tranquil with a large amount of empty hammocks ;-)
We go for walks and do a horse ride to the top of Sierra Negra. This vulcano has the second largest crater in the world, and it is just as impressive as that sounds, as clouds from the valley spill into the crater like a waterfall. The last eruption was in 79 and you can clearly see the difference in the colors of the lava, like a dark river running through the lighter slopes. On the last day we go kayaking and see white tipped reef sharks within arm`s length (literally) during snorkeling. We also see pinguins on the rocks around the little harbour.
Getting back to Quito proves to be a challenge. Our speedboat-captain decided overnight to get his boat painted (yes, we see it towed onto the beach), and we`re forced to charter a local fishing boat together with an ecuadorian in order to catch our flight (and get off the island before the fishermen started to strike again). Full speed across the waves, water spraying in from time to time, 50 kmph, some rain, and all that in a fiberglass boat of under 10 meters that is completely airborne at moments. Fun!
We end up missing our flight, but manage to get onto a later flight without any problems. Left at 5 am, got back to quito at 5 pm after a long day.
After this, we continued south, towards peru. Hope to send you that report very soon. Hope that everyone is having an equal amount of fun,
groeten,
nico
Monday, July 05, 2004
Saturday, June 12, 2004
Travel stories from australia and new zealand
Travel stories from australia and new zealand, in 2004
Hi everybody,
My mailing habits have been disgraceful of late, so high time to write another report about my travel experiences.
I finished my last mail on the north island of new zealand. On the Coramandel peninsular there are some beautiful walks along the coast, and the sea has created huge caves and ´cathedrals´in the cliffs. For the walk, we enlisted the services of a local guide, a Jack Russel that faithfully guided us there and back again. In the evening we went to Hot Water Beach. And underground stream with really hot water that emerges just at the point where the sea meets the beach at low tide. The trick is to dig a hole that keeps most of the seawater out and the hot water in. So everybody is shoveling like madmen and then takes some well earned rest in the warm water. I think the sight of all the shoveling people was propbably better than the water. And since every once in a while a wave of cold seawater breaks the dam, all the fun can start agaim from scratch.
The next day we drove to Roturoa. You can smell the city from a distance. The whole area is filled with mud pools, geysers, steamholes and this makes the whole city smell like rotten eggs, 24/7. very different from the smell of potpourri, but i guess it´s an acauired smell. Near Roturoa there´s a park which contains the famous Lady Knox Geyser that `erupts` every morning at precisely 10:15, winter or summer time. How is this wonder of nature achieved? By pouring soap into the geyser about 15 min beforehand. Has a surprising effect, as convicts from a nearby camp first noticed when they tried to do theor laundry 100 years ago.
The next day we planned to do the Tongariro crossing, said to be one of the best once day walks in Nz. Foirtunately, we had some good weather that day for a change. You start of with a steep climb though vulcanic rock, and then cross one fo the old craters, now a barren black bowl. After some more climbing you get a beautiful view of the Emerald lakes, blue-green water in contrast with blue skies and brown/black rock. Some clouds are in the way though, and i can only imagine how beatiful it must be on a perfect day.
The next day we drive back to Auckland. Along the way we make two stops: the glowworm caves and a soda pool. The Waitomo caves house a bunch of glowworms, actually the larvae of a fly. They nest on the ceiling and lure their prey by producing a speck of light. In the dark it´s just like looking up at an exceptionally bright starry sky. My attempts to make them spell out my name unfortunately amounted to nothing. The soda pool was an unexpected bonus. We had time to kill, it was raining and it looked like a good idea. Turned out to be the oldest spa in Nz with natural soda water of between 40 and 45 degrees celcius. Aaaaaaaaah.
That´s it for beautiful new zealand. Back to Aus. Alice turns out to be slightly chillier than expected (still above 20 degrees). We first take a look at some canyons and then gead towards Uluru. Our Toyota now contains 6 people, their luggage, sleeping bags, 2 tents, gas cooker and bottle, eski, pots and pans, sleeping mats and food. A miracle of stacking and pushing. Ayers rock is very impressive, none of the photos seem to do justice to the gignatic proportions of that piece of red stone. We´re fortunate enough to have a full moon rising above the rock, a kodak moment for us and the 500 other tourists there ...
We drive up to darwin in a few days, and try to cañp near to waterfalls or swimholes every day as the temperature increases. Most memorable camping spot: right after a shower, humiditiy 200%, heat and a country duo that´s been performing since the 50ties but can still use a few pointers from the average karaoke singer. They play classics till late at night.
Kakadu national park is definitely worth mentioning. The boat ride on the river is beautiful and everywhere you look there´s birds and crocodiles. Lichfield park is gorgeous too aith a great swimming hole at the base of a waterfall, surrounded by steep cliffs and dense jungle.
Fron Darwin we take the plane to Cairns and take the boat to Fitzroy island. Two days of snorkeling, reading and general laziness concude my first month in style. Back in Sydney it´s goodbye to the belgian friends....
A lot of lines, and I even left out heaps. By now I´ve already spent a few weeks in Ecuador, so I need to start writing about that soon. Hope you enjoyed this part of my travels, and hope you´re having at least as much fun as me ;-)
Talk to you later,
nico
Hi everybody,
My mailing habits have been disgraceful of late, so high time to write another report about my travel experiences.
I finished my last mail on the north island of new zealand. On the Coramandel peninsular there are some beautiful walks along the coast, and the sea has created huge caves and ´cathedrals´in the cliffs. For the walk, we enlisted the services of a local guide, a Jack Russel that faithfully guided us there and back again. In the evening we went to Hot Water Beach. And underground stream with really hot water that emerges just at the point where the sea meets the beach at low tide. The trick is to dig a hole that keeps most of the seawater out and the hot water in. So everybody is shoveling like madmen and then takes some well earned rest in the warm water. I think the sight of all the shoveling people was propbably better than the water. And since every once in a while a wave of cold seawater breaks the dam, all the fun can start agaim from scratch.
The next day we drove to Roturoa. You can smell the city from a distance. The whole area is filled with mud pools, geysers, steamholes and this makes the whole city smell like rotten eggs, 24/7. very different from the smell of potpourri, but i guess it´s an acauired smell. Near Roturoa there´s a park which contains the famous Lady Knox Geyser that `erupts` every morning at precisely 10:15, winter or summer time. How is this wonder of nature achieved? By pouring soap into the geyser about 15 min beforehand. Has a surprising effect, as convicts from a nearby camp first noticed when they tried to do theor laundry 100 years ago.
The next day we planned to do the Tongariro crossing, said to be one of the best once day walks in Nz. Foirtunately, we had some good weather that day for a change. You start of with a steep climb though vulcanic rock, and then cross one fo the old craters, now a barren black bowl. After some more climbing you get a beautiful view of the Emerald lakes, blue-green water in contrast with blue skies and brown/black rock. Some clouds are in the way though, and i can only imagine how beatiful it must be on a perfect day.
The next day we drive back to Auckland. Along the way we make two stops: the glowworm caves and a soda pool. The Waitomo caves house a bunch of glowworms, actually the larvae of a fly. They nest on the ceiling and lure their prey by producing a speck of light. In the dark it´s just like looking up at an exceptionally bright starry sky. My attempts to make them spell out my name unfortunately amounted to nothing. The soda pool was an unexpected bonus. We had time to kill, it was raining and it looked like a good idea. Turned out to be the oldest spa in Nz with natural soda water of between 40 and 45 degrees celcius. Aaaaaaaaah.
That´s it for beautiful new zealand. Back to Aus. Alice turns out to be slightly chillier than expected (still above 20 degrees). We first take a look at some canyons and then gead towards Uluru. Our Toyota now contains 6 people, their luggage, sleeping bags, 2 tents, gas cooker and bottle, eski, pots and pans, sleeping mats and food. A miracle of stacking and pushing. Ayers rock is very impressive, none of the photos seem to do justice to the gignatic proportions of that piece of red stone. We´re fortunate enough to have a full moon rising above the rock, a kodak moment for us and the 500 other tourists there ...
We drive up to darwin in a few days, and try to cañp near to waterfalls or swimholes every day as the temperature increases. Most memorable camping spot: right after a shower, humiditiy 200%, heat and a country duo that´s been performing since the 50ties but can still use a few pointers from the average karaoke singer. They play classics till late at night.
Kakadu national park is definitely worth mentioning. The boat ride on the river is beautiful and everywhere you look there´s birds and crocodiles. Lichfield park is gorgeous too aith a great swimming hole at the base of a waterfall, surrounded by steep cliffs and dense jungle.
Fron Darwin we take the plane to Cairns and take the boat to Fitzroy island. Two days of snorkeling, reading and general laziness concude my first month in style. Back in Sydney it´s goodbye to the belgian friends....
A lot of lines, and I even left out heaps. By now I´ve already spent a few weeks in Ecuador, so I need to start writing about that soon. Hope you enjoyed this part of my travels, and hope you´re having at least as much fun as me ;-)
Talk to you later,
nico
Monday, May 17, 2004
Travel stories - australia and new zealand
This is a travel report from May 2004 (australia and new zealand)
Hello there my friends,
Yes, i know i've waited a long time to send some account of my travels so far, but the pace has been rather quick and i finally have some time to write it all down, so here it goes ...
Well, I left on April 9 and the plane trip was, umm, LONG. Anyway, the cute flight attendants from Singapore Airlines did try to make me comfortable, which cannot be said from the customs officer in Sydney. He searched my bag and almost put my Abba CD in quarantine. Very bad taste, I'll leave it to you to decide if I'm talking about him or me.
Anyway, I was picked up at the airport by my friends An en Fred, and since it was dark already (gets dark at 6 pm these days in sydney) I didn't see a whole lot of the place that evening. After a good night's sleep we started off with a walk in a national park close to Gosford where my friends live. After that a bit of bodyboarding on Avoca beach and aussie champagne on the beach. Not a bad start at all.
The next few days were equally full: a day in Sydney (Oera house, a walk around the bay, Sydney by night) and then two days to the blue mountains. The blue mountains are actually more like canyons thans mountains, although the aussies seem a bit touchy on this matter. The trees in those canyons secrete a substance that does create a blue mist when the sun hits it right. All in all a beautiful sight at sunset, sitting on a cliff 500 meters above the valley floor.
A new day, and no rest for the wicked. This time going diving not too far from newcastle. Especially the second dive is big fun (also means I'm getting more used to diving again): a bunch of gray nurse sharks swim by within arm's length. Inquisitive and generally goodnatured creatures, don't worry. We bought some fresh fish and prawns in the harbour and had a great barbecue in real aussie tradition.
A bit faster now, otherwise this will become a new 'lord of the rings' in terms of size anyway. Five more friends from belgium got out of the plane fully rested and awake on Saturday, and the day after we all flew to New Zealand. Picked up a rental car and squeezaed the six of us plus packs into the Toyota. As soon as we leave Christchurch it starts: ooooh, aaaah, stop to take a picture, .... I have to admit that it was breathtaking. Fall has started and is colouring the landscape in shades of yellow, red and green. Sheep-dotted hills lead up to mountains, partially obscured by bands of clouds. And there's rivers and lakes to reflect all that beauty thousandfold.
We stay in Wanaka the first day and climb a hill that looks out over the lake on one side and the mountains on the other side. Beutiful, but that can be said about most things around here. Even about the wine ;-)
A small word about new-zealand animal life by the way. Overall, they can be divided into two major categories: the squashables and non-squahables. The possum for example is a very squashable animal (the locals call it a squashum). Once imported for its fur it is now a major pest that is menacing the local birdlife (many birds nest on the ground here, better than mcdonalds for the possums) and plantlife. The kiwi on the other hand is definitely non-squashable (the bird, not the fruit). The sandfly: VERY squashable (bites worse than mosquitos). It's all a bit confusing.
Glenorchy is a wonderful village by a gorgeous lake surrounded by mountains, and th ekinloch lodge is the best backpackers around. Imagine a hot tub, a tub of water heated to 39 degrees, from which you can see the sun setting above the mountains and even watch the milky way if you have the stamina to stay in the hot water. Sigh.
Next day: jetboating on the river. A boat with a flat bottom and a engine that spits out 400 liters of water per second. It races along the edges of the river, and once in a while by doing a 180 turns ar full speed. Accompanied by some incomin water of course. Fun!
After glenorchy we stop at the Franz Jozef glacier. According to the maori it was create dwhen a girl that liked to climb mountains convinced here less than enthousiastic lover to come along one day. He fell to his death and she cried so much she created a glacier. Before we drove back to christchurch we passed by the blowholes near punakaiki (holes in the cliff where the seawater is pushed through with great force). No blowing going on though, so onwards to Christchurch and to Ayckland the next day. It's close to nighfall when we reach our next place to stay in the Coromandels, a peninsula..
I'll stop here before people need a rest and a meal inbetween reading. Will send another mail with more about NZ and Aus soon though...
Hope everyone's having fun wherever they are, and let me know how you're doing !!!
take care,
nico
Hello there my friends,
Yes, i know i've waited a long time to send some account of my travels so far, but the pace has been rather quick and i finally have some time to write it all down, so here it goes ...
Well, I left on April 9 and the plane trip was, umm, LONG. Anyway, the cute flight attendants from Singapore Airlines did try to make me comfortable, which cannot be said from the customs officer in Sydney. He searched my bag and almost put my Abba CD in quarantine. Very bad taste, I'll leave it to you to decide if I'm talking about him or me.
Anyway, I was picked up at the airport by my friends An en Fred, and since it was dark already (gets dark at 6 pm these days in sydney) I didn't see a whole lot of the place that evening. After a good night's sleep we started off with a walk in a national park close to Gosford where my friends live. After that a bit of bodyboarding on Avoca beach and aussie champagne on the beach. Not a bad start at all.
The next few days were equally full: a day in Sydney (Oera house, a walk around the bay, Sydney by night) and then two days to the blue mountains. The blue mountains are actually more like canyons thans mountains, although the aussies seem a bit touchy on this matter. The trees in those canyons secrete a substance that does create a blue mist when the sun hits it right. All in all a beautiful sight at sunset, sitting on a cliff 500 meters above the valley floor.
A new day, and no rest for the wicked. This time going diving not too far from newcastle. Especially the second dive is big fun (also means I'm getting more used to diving again): a bunch of gray nurse sharks swim by within arm's length. Inquisitive and generally goodnatured creatures, don't worry. We bought some fresh fish and prawns in the harbour and had a great barbecue in real aussie tradition.
A bit faster now, otherwise this will become a new 'lord of the rings' in terms of size anyway. Five more friends from belgium got out of the plane fully rested and awake on Saturday, and the day after we all flew to New Zealand. Picked up a rental car and squeezaed the six of us plus packs into the Toyota. As soon as we leave Christchurch it starts: ooooh, aaaah, stop to take a picture, .... I have to admit that it was breathtaking. Fall has started and is colouring the landscape in shades of yellow, red and green. Sheep-dotted hills lead up to mountains, partially obscured by bands of clouds. And there's rivers and lakes to reflect all that beauty thousandfold.
We stay in Wanaka the first day and climb a hill that looks out over the lake on one side and the mountains on the other side. Beutiful, but that can be said about most things around here. Even about the wine ;-)
A small word about new-zealand animal life by the way. Overall, they can be divided into two major categories: the squashables and non-squahables. The possum for example is a very squashable animal (the locals call it a squashum). Once imported for its fur it is now a major pest that is menacing the local birdlife (many birds nest on the ground here, better than mcdonalds for the possums) and plantlife. The kiwi on the other hand is definitely non-squashable (the bird, not the fruit). The sandfly: VERY squashable (bites worse than mosquitos). It's all a bit confusing.
Glenorchy is a wonderful village by a gorgeous lake surrounded by mountains, and th ekinloch lodge is the best backpackers around. Imagine a hot tub, a tub of water heated to 39 degrees, from which you can see the sun setting above the mountains and even watch the milky way if you have the stamina to stay in the hot water. Sigh.
Next day: jetboating on the river. A boat with a flat bottom and a engine that spits out 400 liters of water per second. It races along the edges of the river, and once in a while by doing a 180 turns ar full speed. Accompanied by some incomin water of course. Fun!
After glenorchy we stop at the Franz Jozef glacier. According to the maori it was create dwhen a girl that liked to climb mountains convinced here less than enthousiastic lover to come along one day. He fell to his death and she cried so much she created a glacier. Before we drove back to christchurch we passed by the blowholes near punakaiki (holes in the cliff where the seawater is pushed through with great force). No blowing going on though, so onwards to Christchurch and to Ayckland the next day. It's close to nighfall when we reach our next place to stay in the Coromandels, a peninsula..
I'll stop here before people need a rest and a meal inbetween reading. Will send another mail with more about NZ and Aus soon though...
Hope everyone's having fun wherever they are, and let me know how you're doing !!!
take care,
nico
Saturday, March 01, 2003
This is a travel report, written in bangkok in march 2003...
Goodmorning, 'day or evening, depending on your timezone,
Time for another groupmail. A true account of my quest to find the lost Ark of the Covenant, armed only with a wip (hmmmm, seems vaguely familiar, doesn't it?).
I left you just about to leave Australia. I was kicked out of the country fairly swift (not even a 'hope to see you again'), and arrived in Singapore in better condition than recent Space Shuttle crews. Singapore was ... big.. as ever. I also managed to kill my camera by dropping it on the street. Luckily, electronics are actually bred in singapore, and mr. Visa was happy to assist.
After a train ride that officially took 8 hours, but actually 10 (not that bad: 25%... is the same as a 20 minute ride taking 25, and who hasn't done that before), I arrived in Jerantut. Next morning, I took the longboat to the Taman Negara national park. After lunch, I set off with a mixed company of 2 norwegian girls, a kiwi, a swedish girl and her flemish (another one, yes!!) boyfriend. The funny thing was that we couldn't break the habit of speaking english to eachother.
We headed into the jungle, a place that is best described as a sauna painted in different shades of green. My skin actually grew new pores to sweat from, although this is very probably something you did not want to know. We walked on the longest canopy walk in the world, at 40meters high amd 500m long. Made of aluminium ladders, planks, rope, and steel cable where available. Scary!
The next day, we walked to a cave. Unfortunately, the night before, it had rained, which caused thousands of leeches to surface, lying around on the trail, waiting for an innocent soul to pass by. We did. It's surprising how fast pulling leeches of your skin actually becomes habit. In short, all good fun.
After Taman Negara, I took a train leaving at 3:30h in the morning. I have mastered the art of waiting completely now. Visited Kota Baru for one day (some nice museums), and crossed the border into thailand the next day. While waiting for the train to Bangkok (a mere 3 hours), i decided to get a relaxing foot massage. Little did I know that this woman had been expelled from the Khmer Rouge for being too vicious. Pain! I had 20 hours of train to recuperate though.
Bangkok was Bangkok, but Ayuthayah was very nice. Beautiful temple ruins, quite a few Buddha's (a few reclining ones... my favourite position) and a guesthouse with a slightly weird owner. After that, I went to Katchanaburi to see the famous Bridge over the River Kwai. Doesn't look like the movie at all, but then the movie was apparantly shot in Sri lanka. Did go and see Hellfire pass, an impressive cutting into sheer rock, made mostly by hand, named after the fires that were used to see during the 18hour shifts.
Erawan falls are amongst the most beautiful waterfalls I've seen so far (great swimming with tons of fishes nibbling at your feet), and I finally got to ride an elephant (bit of a letdown actually).
And now I'm in Bangkok... AGAIN... taking a flight to Kathmandu day after tomorrow. Talked to a guy who had been in Nepal recently, and he told me it was still as lovely as I remember!
Hope you're all doing fine and are having a great time, whereever you are. Keep me posted !!!!
big hugs for everyone, except the guys for whom a friendly handshake will do ;-),
nico
Goodmorning, 'day or evening, depending on your timezone,
Time for another groupmail. A true account of my quest to find the lost Ark of the Covenant, armed only with a wip (hmmmm, seems vaguely familiar, doesn't it?).
I left you just about to leave Australia. I was kicked out of the country fairly swift (not even a 'hope to see you again'), and arrived in Singapore in better condition than recent Space Shuttle crews. Singapore was ... big.. as ever. I also managed to kill my camera by dropping it on the street. Luckily, electronics are actually bred in singapore, and mr. Visa was happy to assist.
After a train ride that officially took 8 hours, but actually 10 (not that bad: 25%... is the same as a 20 minute ride taking 25, and who hasn't done that before), I arrived in Jerantut. Next morning, I took the longboat to the Taman Negara national park. After lunch, I set off with a mixed company of 2 norwegian girls, a kiwi, a swedish girl and her flemish (another one, yes!!) boyfriend. The funny thing was that we couldn't break the habit of speaking english to eachother.
We headed into the jungle, a place that is best described as a sauna painted in different shades of green. My skin actually grew new pores to sweat from, although this is very probably something you did not want to know. We walked on the longest canopy walk in the world, at 40meters high amd 500m long. Made of aluminium ladders, planks, rope, and steel cable where available. Scary!
The next day, we walked to a cave. Unfortunately, the night before, it had rained, which caused thousands of leeches to surface, lying around on the trail, waiting for an innocent soul to pass by. We did. It's surprising how fast pulling leeches of your skin actually becomes habit. In short, all good fun.
After Taman Negara, I took a train leaving at 3:30h in the morning. I have mastered the art of waiting completely now. Visited Kota Baru for one day (some nice museums), and crossed the border into thailand the next day. While waiting for the train to Bangkok (a mere 3 hours), i decided to get a relaxing foot massage. Little did I know that this woman had been expelled from the Khmer Rouge for being too vicious. Pain! I had 20 hours of train to recuperate though.
Bangkok was Bangkok, but Ayuthayah was very nice. Beautiful temple ruins, quite a few Buddha's (a few reclining ones... my favourite position) and a guesthouse with a slightly weird owner. After that, I went to Katchanaburi to see the famous Bridge over the River Kwai. Doesn't look like the movie at all, but then the movie was apparantly shot in Sri lanka. Did go and see Hellfire pass, an impressive cutting into sheer rock, made mostly by hand, named after the fires that were used to see during the 18hour shifts.
Erawan falls are amongst the most beautiful waterfalls I've seen so far (great swimming with tons of fishes nibbling at your feet), and I finally got to ride an elephant (bit of a letdown actually).
And now I'm in Bangkok... AGAIN... taking a flight to Kathmandu day after tomorrow. Talked to a guy who had been in Nepal recently, and he told me it was still as lovely as I remember!
Hope you're all doing fine and are having a great time, whereever you are. Keep me posted !!!!
big hugs for everyone, except the guys for whom a friendly handshake will do ;-),
nico
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
Singapore Post
Hey, this is a travel groupmail i wrote when i was in singapore, in feb 2003...
Hi everybody,
welcome to my first ever groupmail for non-dutch speaking people (rare as they are). Not that I'm becoming lazy, but this way I don't have to repeat the boring facts everytime.
I've got to pick a point to start, and in this case it's Singapore. My apologies to the people who already know about this stuff.
Anyway, I had travelled all through southern thailand and malaysia, just in time to be in Singapore for Thaipusam, a bizar hindu ritual where people skewer themselves in true BBQ style, and drag huge metal constructions with feathers, bells and statues in procession around town. Fascinating stuff. Unfortunately, that's about all that's fascinating about Singapore. Not being a shopping mall addict, I decided to get out of town fast.
I had been pondering my next destination for a few days, and then decided to make an unplanned sidestep to Australia. I didn't want them to feel left out, and I felt like a change in culture. So, to Perth I flew! Once there, I noticed that I didn't have a driver's license on me, and only had a limited amount of time on my hands, so I signed up for 2 tours.
The first was to the southwest. Lots of driving involved, since Oz is even bigger than their 50cent coins. But we had a great group, and an excellent tour guide. Saw the most beautiful beach I've ever seen at lucky bay (Esperance), walked in the treetops in the valley of the giants, and climbed the 75meter fire lookout tree (using metal rods hammered in the treetrunk) - scary!! Did lots of other things too, but I'm not going to bore you with that. Suffice it to say that it was a brilliant tour.
Two days later, I left Perth again, heading north this time. Good group again, luckily. I even learned the intricacies of cricket, and expanded my Japanese volcabulary substantially. I can now chat up japanese girls in the following manner: say hi - ask their name - tell them they're cute - tell them I love them. If that doesn't work, I also know how to say fuck off.
Did my best dive so far off Ningaloo reef (go there Koh Tau colleagues!): saw two 2-meter wide bullrays up close, and a lionfish. Also had shark swim by my feet at a few meters distance. Just 1.5 meter long reefsharks though.
Also great was the climbing and swimming in the gorges of the Karigini. Stunning scenery in about 40 degrees temperature! We slept outside in swags the whole time, under the stars. Romantic, except for the flies. And one night they were joined by centipedes, mozzies, beetles and rain at 5 am. We usually got up at 5:30 by the way. On another rainy night two truckies invited us to sleep under their trailer. A first for everybody.
I also learned to appreciate Promite (consider this a small step on the way to vegemite, Kirsty).
Yesterday and today were devoted to laundry and a visit to Fremantle. I was buying the obligatory souvenir boomerang in a shop when an aboriginal woman asked me if I wanted to make passionate love to her tonight, and grabbed my bum! New experiences are what makes travelling interesting they say...
That it for now. Flying to Singapore tomorrow! I hope everybody is doing fine whereever they are! Drop me a line to let me know.
sayonara,
nico
Hi everybody,
welcome to my first ever groupmail for non-dutch speaking people (rare as they are). Not that I'm becoming lazy, but this way I don't have to repeat the boring facts everytime.
I've got to pick a point to start, and in this case it's Singapore. My apologies to the people who already know about this stuff.
Anyway, I had travelled all through southern thailand and malaysia, just in time to be in Singapore for Thaipusam, a bizar hindu ritual where people skewer themselves in true BBQ style, and drag huge metal constructions with feathers, bells and statues in procession around town. Fascinating stuff. Unfortunately, that's about all that's fascinating about Singapore. Not being a shopping mall addict, I decided to get out of town fast.
I had been pondering my next destination for a few days, and then decided to make an unplanned sidestep to Australia. I didn't want them to feel left out, and I felt like a change in culture. So, to Perth I flew! Once there, I noticed that I didn't have a driver's license on me, and only had a limited amount of time on my hands, so I signed up for 2 tours.
The first was to the southwest. Lots of driving involved, since Oz is even bigger than their 50cent coins. But we had a great group, and an excellent tour guide. Saw the most beautiful beach I've ever seen at lucky bay (Esperance), walked in the treetops in the valley of the giants, and climbed the 75meter fire lookout tree (using metal rods hammered in the treetrunk) - scary!! Did lots of other things too, but I'm not going to bore you with that. Suffice it to say that it was a brilliant tour.
Two days later, I left Perth again, heading north this time. Good group again, luckily. I even learned the intricacies of cricket, and expanded my Japanese volcabulary substantially. I can now chat up japanese girls in the following manner: say hi - ask their name - tell them they're cute - tell them I love them. If that doesn't work, I also know how to say fuck off.
Did my best dive so far off Ningaloo reef (go there Koh Tau colleagues!): saw two 2-meter wide bullrays up close, and a lionfish. Also had shark swim by my feet at a few meters distance. Just 1.5 meter long reefsharks though.
Also great was the climbing and swimming in the gorges of the Karigini. Stunning scenery in about 40 degrees temperature! We slept outside in swags the whole time, under the stars. Romantic, except for the flies. And one night they were joined by centipedes, mozzies, beetles and rain at 5 am. We usually got up at 5:30 by the way. On another rainy night two truckies invited us to sleep under their trailer. A first for everybody.
I also learned to appreciate Promite (consider this a small step on the way to vegemite, Kirsty).
Yesterday and today were devoted to laundry and a visit to Fremantle. I was buying the obligatory souvenir boomerang in a shop when an aboriginal woman asked me if I wanted to make passionate love to her tonight, and grabbed my bum! New experiences are what makes travelling interesting they say...
That it for now. Flying to Singapore tomorrow! I hope everybody is doing fine whereever they are! Drop me a line to let me know.
sayonara,
nico
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