global-image

[global-image]

The last chapter: Cambodia

This was it. The last chapter of my travels. Cambodia, a country where many never even heard of, but with such great wonders. You can also call it an hidden treasure. I have learned so much of it's cruel history that I was really in shock that I never learned about this in school when growing up. The country is still rebuilding itself from the horror that happend in still recent history. It's very intrigugng, It mad me very glad that I got the opportunity to learn such thing. It also awoke the curiousity in me to learn more about other untold stories of the countries you don't hear much of. But Cambodia stands strong. What they have rebuild from the end period of pol pot regime untill now is amazing. A true example of: Not needing much to build something great, and the people seem to be happy with that. I really like Cambodian people as well. They also always acted very possitive and friendly people towards me. But like I said earlier. Cambodia is a hidden treasure, it seems over the years more people are willing to discover it. With places like Angkor Wat and Ta Prohn ( Tomb Raider temple), the ghost city or the great beaches it's hard to skip it. Something you should experience for yourself before it becomes a fully tourist place. Yeah my travels here have been a blast. Last but not least. With no regrets, and a really sad goodbye to our friends Lysanne and Michael we are heading home. Towards the Netherland were a new books opens. A new tale, a new story. See you all soon!

[global-image]

Thailand and my travels through it.

Thailand is just.. how do I say it, a little bit of everything? It has al the right 'ingrediënts' for a great country. Let's just say my first impression was not far of from my time here. Like the other countries we rented motorbikes to traveled from city to city untill a full circle was made. Our trip started in Bangkok that I enjoyed for it's cultural features and the lively atmosphere there. Everywhere you walk you see stands and shops with streetfood souvenirs etc. And that is only in daylight, the true city awakes at night were the entertainment flows over the streets. Meanwhile you don't know where to look just because everything grabs your attention! And don't get me started about the food.. Gawd.. Thai streetfood is just the best, and so damn cheap. If you have a weakness for good food, this is the place to be! The only thing I didn't like about Bangkok was the smog surrounding the city. It made it really hard to breath outside. Our trip going up was a bit unconftrable. Driving all the way with motorbikes is a real butthurt (no pun intended). That is not something I would reccomand someone, unless you take your time, and make ALOT of pit stops. It took us tree days to get all the the way up to Pai in the mountains. Breathing the fresh air here was alot better haha. Pai is more of a relaxing part of Thailand, where people don't really seem to have alot of worries on their mind. It also seemed to be a hippie town of some sort. What explained alot about the possitive vibes the city has. Pai mostly has nature related activities that we enjoy doing. Such as visiting hotsprings, watetfalls, nature walks, adventures through caves. There were also times that we just felt like doing anything, and just enjoyed our lazy times in a hammock swinging. Yeah, Pai was really nice and relaxing. From Pai we went to Chiang Mai, the upgraded version of Bangkok. It has everything Bangkok has to offer but slightly better. We did alot of sightseeing similar to Bangkok, but my favourite thing I did here was visit the elephant sanctuary! My love and respect for animals has grown so much through my travels, and grows even more comming accros all the different species. To come in contact with an actual elephant is something indescribable. Such an mighty and intellegent creature. Spending time with them and learning about their behavior and habbitat is really something else. It made the trip in Thailand worthwile (already at this stage). I am also very glad that the four of us chose an organisation where they treat their animals the right way. There were no chains, no weapons , no riding the elephants or anything of that involved. You could actually see the elephants being happy, what automaticlly makes you happy. The last part of the trip involved going back to Bangkok again, and spend the last days visiting the floating market ( a lot of markets on boats that float on the rivers), and some of the temples in the neighbourhood. And so a full circle was made (without the tail of Thailand). I wish we could have had more time in Thailand. There is so much to see, to do and to enjoy, that 30 days is simply to early to leave. I will put Thailand on the 'I have to come back list' for sure. I wonder if Vietnam can surpass Thailand, cause that will be my next destination!

[global-image]

The Philippines

The country with more than 7000 Islands! There is so much to see, yet so hard to travel through. The first two weeks of our travels we spend with the family of one of my travel companions (who is halve Filipino), in Leyte Baybay / Bobon. They were very welcoming, and were kind enough to spend alot of time with us. They showed us the beautiful places around the city where they lived, but also were kind enough to spend time with us in the after hours. We really had enjoyable evenings drinking coffee , eating together and singing karaoke. Oh man the Filipino people really know how to bring karaoke to a whole new level haha! After two weeks we sadly had to say goodbye. Once again thank you Palermo family for great time you spend and shared with us. So two weeks left at this point. And 6999 island more to explore. Yeah... What are you going decide what you want to see on such short period? After a bit of research we chose to go to Palawan since that was known of one of the most beautiful places of the Philippines. Ofcourse we visited the underground river, since that is known as one of the seven world wonders. It's the first time I ever did something like this, and I would definitly recommand anyone to experience the same thing for itself! As you sit in the boat, you go through a underground river surounded by sculptures of stones that were crafted by mother nature herself. I asure you that your jaws fall down of her amazing work. We also wanted to go to el Nido, but sadly enough all accomodation there was fully booked. That was really a bummer. But we will make it a goal if you go to the Philippines again in the future! We also learned from this mistake to look things up like these beforehand in future events. Another interessting experience we had was to visit an open prison. Basicly they live in their own community. Depending on your good behavior you will given a little bit more freedom through the years, and eventually the possibility to earn your own money with jobs like farming and souvenir crafting/selling. At first it was a bit scary to walk around, but the prisinors were acting very friendly and open. You can't be a 100% sure if that is because they are being watched by guards ofcourse, but you can still see their efforts. I think the Philippines is the country were we did the less things through our journey. The reason is because it's more a country for vaccation than for backpacking. It's hard to hop islands if you live on budget, and it's a bit more expensive than most of the Asian countries. We promised ourselfs that if you come back again in the Philippines (maybe in a future holiday) , we will definitly explore more. Like I said El Nido is a reason alone to come back. And now flying high in the sky to Bangkok, Thailand!

[global-image]

Indonesia!

Indonesia, my second destination in Asia, with a start in Bali. I think the most exciting thing was seeing some of my friends from back home again, and celebrating the holidays with them. We had such an amazing time there especially because we rented a villa and lived a luxary life there for a couple of days. On the other hand it was also a bit sad not seeing my other friends and family during these holidays, but I guess that is a part of traveling.

To make our and their holiday a bit special we rented scooters to travel through Bali and did some sightseeing. To be honest I thought Bali was not that special for it’s highlights, and was a bit “overrated” in my opinion. It has his nice places but more based just to relax. It’s is also very filthy there. Most of the places such as the beach and temples are filled with trash.

I also had a difficult time seeing so much animals living on the streets. Some whom almost made me want to cry. Ofcourse you know beforehand what you can expect when you come here, but it’s still diffucult to experience it in reality. Therefore I was a bit glad we went to Yogyakarta two days after we said goodbye to our friends. Who sadly had to say goodbye to go back to the Netherlans again. Wished they could have stayed a bit longer… It’s such a different vieuw of Indonesia. To our suprise everything was way cleaner, and had a whole different atmposphere. I really loved my stay there. Just like Bali we did day trips to visit some of the hightlights there who were far from dissapoiting. And as you may guessed we visted Borobudur and Prambanan temple. These were also the most facinating things that I’ve seen in Indonesia. Definitly worth the visit!

If I could have done Indonesia over again with the knowledge that I have, I would have started at Java to spend more time there, cause I am possitive that it has so many other beautiful parts I still haven’t seen yet.

Sad and glad to say again that I am already going to the next stop in my travels.

This time it’s the Philippines

[global-image]

[global-image]

[global-image]

[global-image]

[global-image]

Konichiwa from Japan!

Still can't believe I finnaly have been in Japan! I dreamed as a child to travel the world, but Japan has always have been the country that I wanted to visit the most! And I'm so glad I did. Before I write further. A big shoutout and thanks to my friend Violet. She made my stay in Japan so much more special. On top of that she really took good care of me from day one. I will never forget your hospisality and kindness! You also have grown so much as a person since the last time I've seen you. Grown to a real independant woman. Hontoni Arigatou Gozaimasu! I always knew that Japan was going to be a whole different world. In reality it's no difference. Nothing is too crazy here. As if people have no boundries of what is possible. I've seen and experienced the weirdest Things like a high tech toilet or robots in stores. But that is not the only things that I astounded upon. Aside from the weird stuff we know Japan for, there is one 'weird' thing that I found even more strange. And that is how extemly trustworthy people are torewards eachother here. It's something I've never experienced before. People leave their keys in their bicycles here, their handbag with purse and everything just in their bicycle baskets and just enter a store. I've seen stores where there were no owners, no cameras and just could walk in there with no problem. I asked a Japanese person why that is and he simply said there is no reason for it. It's just how the people are. Simply amazing. Wish that more countries would be like that. Most of my time I spend in Kyoto, but also have been to Tokyo for a couple of days. There is a big diffrence between these two. Tokyo is more based in shopping, big building and is so much more lively, while Kyoto has many cultural and historic sightseeing places. I don't know what I liked more since I enjoy doing both things haha. Nontheless I tried my best to see most of the things in both cities and I can proudly say I succeeded to see the most of it! I was also lucky that is was fall here. The momiji trees are really colorfull and nice to see during this time. Sightseeing was not the only thing that made me happy and enjoy my stay in Japan. The food is also wonderfull, and suprisingly cheap. In my opinion food is a very important part in traveling. When I enjoy food I enjoy a place even more. I am also an massive sushi addict so to try real sushi was a big bonus. Japan was in 1 word just: "Wonderfull" I will definitly come back here in the future. I have to see mt. Fuji and visit a sakura festival afterall! So now I am on my way to Bali. To be reuinited again with the travel gang, and see my friends Shawn, Lucas and Iris in a couple of days!!! Excited!!!

[global-image]

[global-image]

[global-image]

[global-image]

[global-image]

New-Zeeland and the Maori

Kia Ora or in other words good day! Where do even begin? I just can't descibe how amazing New-Zeeland is, but let me take a shot! So my journey started in Auckland where we stayed for a day. We didn't want to spend much time in the big city's since we had so less time and wanted to do as much sightseeing as possible. Therefore our first trip was already booked the next day. Destination: Hobbitton! To be fair I only started watching the Lord of the Rings / the Hobbit trilogies a couple of months ago in Australië (don't judge me haha), but after seeing them I had to visit this place. And the real deal was even more amazing than seeing it in the movies. Peter jackson really did an amazing job creating this town and scenery. Everything is still perfectly green, the flowers and the gardens are still being maintained by gardeners everyday, the movieset never died. You almost getting the feeling as if your a Hobbit yourself walking the town. Or maybe it's just because i'm small... The tourbus also included a trip to the city Rotorua afterwards. Luckely for us since we wanted to travel torewards the south anyways. It is also the perfect place to learn more about the Maori culture and history. To learn even more about their people we booked another tour to visit a Maori village. The Maori in the village were very friendly, and had such strong energy and vibe. The inner warrior still lives in every person in the village. Really amazing. The people in the village explained about their culture, history, weapons/tools, language and their way of life. We also got the opprutunity to try their food that they cook underground. Underground? Yeah underground!! It tasted delicious and is totaly something else. The tour was definitly worth it. Coming back to the Maori. I am amazed by the way that every town and city the Maori culture is present. When I was back in Australia I got the feeling that the Aboriginal are kind of being pushed away, and come in second place after the 'Australians'. Therefore I missed alot of culture there. In New-Zeeland on the other hand you get the feeling that the Maori are the original people and the culture is strongly alive. From Rotorua we travled to Wellington got the boat there to Picton where we rented a car to travel further on the southern Island. We made a full circle around the southern island, and I can tell you that the nature in New - Zeeland is not even slightly similar to any other place i've ever been. Also the air there is as fresh as it comes to breath. There is alot of sightseeing places we have visited like Milford sounds, the famous glaciers etc. But also some unfamiliar places like Mc Clean falls. Alot of people also make the mistake not to visit the most south part of New - Zeeland, but I will definitly advice you to do so if you're near by! At one of our last days we went to the zoo, because we desprarly wanted to see a Kiwi in person. Since it's the symbol of New - Zeeland. I can tell you this: It's one hell of a strange bird... But very cool at the same time haha. So here I am again closing another chapter of my travels. New - Zeeland was not in any kind of way dissapointing. Glad to say thay I traveled there. And now... JAPAN HERE I COME!!!

[global-image]

[global-image]

[global-image]

One of the Maori warriors I’ve met. Such strong energy!