What could Koh Rong?

Couple days ago I came back to Koh Rong. Arriving on the boat, looking at this beautiful island, it felt like coming home again. Now I am working and living on Koh Rong for one month. In this blog I will tell you about my first days of being an island girl!

The first day I checked into island boys. I stayed in this place one and a half month ago as well.I hoped to see some more familiar faces, but of course it's a place where people come and go. At first I felt a little lost, I had just spend three amazing days hanging out with my brother and mom. Now, I was on this island, I just know a few people. But there's no one that really knows you, like family or friends do. That's the only thing that makes travelling hard sometimes. In these four months I have met so many cool people and with some of them you have a really great time travelling for a while. At some point you have to say goodbye,  and that can be hard. But new adventures follow and new people. Offcourse I miss people and I miss home, but I get so many things back in return. Everyday I realise how lucky I am to have this experience.

I went to visit the school on the island, because I really hoped that I could work for the school while I'm staying here. There is a small organization, runned by a few hard working girls, called friends of Koh Rong. They organise activities for the Koh Rong kids and they teach them english.

Within two days I had everything sorted out. I really needed some free accommodation so I can survive till January and spending as less money as I can. So I started working in white rose guesthouse, which is right in front of the "friends of koh rong-house". The owner from the guesthouse also helps out at the school so I get the freedom to go and work for the school in the daytime. It's suddenly a very busy lifestyle but at the same time also very relaxed.

In the morning I start at 8 or 9 o'clock. I'm working with a really sweet girl from Germany and we change shifts every other day. We work till 12.00 and then we have the day off till 16.00. It can get really busy in the morning sometimes, since we are serving the best breakfast on the island. I never thought I would like working in a guesthouse/restaurant so much. But maybe it's just because everybody is so happy and relaxed over here.

 During the daytime I can choose whatever I want to do. I can go and take a nap on the beach, swim and read a little bit. (I mean, best lunch break ever!!) Mostly I hop into the Friends of Koh Rong house to do some one-on-one tutoring lessons with the kids. It's a class where every volunteer can hop in and teach them basic English like counting, colors and letters through fun (card) games. After that just see where I can help out, preparing stuff and helping out at art class or anything that needs to be done. 

Soon I will be giving music lessons to the kids! Right now I am writing lessonplans for that. It's gonna be so much fun!!

I start working at the guesthouse again 16.00 again till 21.00. In the evenings it's always very relaxed. I sit down with the people, have a talk, serve some drinks, play my own music through the speakers or play and sing some songs myself. My boss has two guitars so I am very happy that I can play guitar anytime I want and practice some new songs.When I'm done working I go out for some drinks and watch fireshows on the beach. I mean what could Koh Rong!? Life is good <3 

Vietnam adventures and.. what's next?

After all the craziness in Ho Chi Minh city I was longing for some quiet time on the beach. I headed for Mui Ne and at first I was really disappointed. The backpackers hostel where I wanted to stay was fully booked and it was the only hostel there. Mui Ne is packed with resorts and Russians. After walking for an hour I found a nice place with rooms for 10 dollar and decided to have some more luxury. I booked the backpackers hostel for 2 days later.

The next day I went on a trip to see the sanddunes, drove through it on a cart bike, so badass!!

Saw the sunset at the red dunes and slided down them. It's a good trip, costs only 7 dollars. (Riding through the dunes not included) 

The day after I hired a bike and just drove around Mui Ne, no plan, just see where I end up. It's the best way to actually see the place because this day turned out to be awesome. I parked my bike somewhere along a beach. There were only 4 people there, they were Vietnamees. The beach was filled with beautiful shells, starfish and little crabs walking around. I saw a lady selling drinks so I ordered a fanta and sat down on the beach. 

Within no time the Vietnamees people walked up to me, asked me where I'm from. They invited me over to come and sit with them at the house, they were drinking beer and barbecuing seafood. They couldn't really speak English but I had a great laugh with them anyway. Just sitting there, drinking a beer, eating, playing the guitar. I think they were arranging a marriage for me aswell... at some point I just told them I already have a husband. 

I was so happy that I could check in at backpackers, it's the best way to meet other people. And I did. Big thank you to the staff and aspecially Andy for making my stay in MuI Ne awesome. I liked it so much, I could not leave. I am definitly going back there one day and take some kitesurfing lessons.

In the sleeping bus from Mui Ne to Na Thrang I met two guys from Holland and one from Germany. I've been hanging out with them eversince. But first I was meeting my mom and brother in Na Thrang! I was so happy to see them after three months. After hanging out with them for three days, chilling on the beach, going out, I decided to go on a motorcycle trip with the three guys I met on the bus. I always wanted to do this and now I had find a nice crew to hit the road with! 

We were biking 950 km up north to Hoi An through the mountains. The scenery was so beautiful, this is the perfect way to really see Vietnam. 

The last day was really tough, it started to rain like crazy. The streets were floaded and we were biking through water that got up to our knees. The bikes broke down many times.. I was happy to arrive in HoI An after 6 hours of getting totally soaked on the bike. 

The bad weather didn't stop when we were in Hoi An. De hotelstaff woke us up in the early morning and told us to pack our bags immediately and move one floor up. When I stept out of the room the water was already half meter high and it would take only minutes for it to enter the room. We booked a bus to Hanoi for that day to avoid the bad weather. They told us the bus would leave at 10 o clock instead of one thirty so we had to hurry to take our bus in the morning. Going out of the hotel was impossible. They told us to walk there but we had all of our bags and the water would come up to my waist or even higher. There was a boat in front of the hotel so I insisted them to take us there with the boat. For whatever reason that wasn't possible and then I got a little angry because we were going to miss our bus. The hotelowner looked shocked when I raised my voice a little bit and then finally, after half an hour of not knowing what to do, he arranged some people to bring us to the bus. While sitting in the boat it was shocking to see how much damage this will bring. The whole street, about a km long I guess, was totally floaded from a meter to almost two meters high. All the shops and houses will be totally destroyed. At the end of the street the floading stopt and we got out of the boats and ran for the bus. 

When we finally arrived at the busstation we found out that the bus was leaving 3 hours later... ooohh Asia is a pain in the ass sometimes!

We ended our Vietnam adventures in beautiful Halong Bay. The weather was not that great, but it was ok. We had our own family boat, some wine, good fresh sea food and an incredible view.

 

A lot of adventures in Vietnam and the whole big adventure is almost about to end.. or is it not? I'm now starting to think about what I want to do. I booked a one way ticket for a reason. So that I have all the freedom to decide when and where I want to go.. no plans fixed yet, but I'm thinking about doing a one month course for teaching English in Vietnam. After that I want to teach English somewhere in Asia for a while. I miss home a lot but what is a year in a lifetime? I feel that now it's the time to get everything out of it and take as much memories and wisdom home with me as I can. 

Beach and big city lifestyle

My first night on Koh Rong island with the bonfire on the beach was so amazing! I thought; I can never leave this place.. On one side of the island you have a couple hostels, bars and huts. On the other side is a white sanded beach with the clearest water I have ever seen and there is nobody there... Koh Rong has the best barbecue squid I have ever tasted, and your spending your days there in between locals, unlike Thailand or any other island I've been to. After a few days you know so many people, it starts feeling like home. We went to the full moon party with the partyboat. The party was on Koh Rong Samloem, a smaller island right next to it. It was not to crowded, on a beautiful beach, cool people, fireshows. This was full moon at it's best I think. How it used to be 10 years ago. Dancing until sunrise... this was my first sunrise during this trip. It was magical. So many beautiful colored clouds, with a storm far away in the south and the full moon still shining behind you. 

Took the partyboat back "home" with al these great people I met. 

 After 10 amazing days I left the island and then got stuck in Sihanoukville voor another week. Almost everyday the same routine: rent a bike, drive up to Otres beach, swim, chill, have an Amok chicken, hang out at this bar called "blame canada", have some drinks in the night and spend almost nothing... it's a great lifestyle. After travelling and seeing a lot of stuff, this felt like the two-week-beach-holiday in between. It was so hard to leave this place. But I was very excited to go to Vietnam. New adventures, new people. Travelling is so good, I could do this forever.

Now I am in Ho Chi Minh city, what a contrast! It's crazy! So crowded! But I like it a lot. I am sharing a four bed dorm with a really cool girl I met on the bus. And crazy enough i've bumped into some other people i have met before too.
The first day in Ho Chi Minh we went to the war museum. A lot of pictures made during that time, and they are really impressive. A must-see museum! The next day we went to the floating market, which was ok.. it was a six hour busride and a 3 hour tour, so I mostly slept that day!

 I was looking forward to celebrate Halloween. Vietnamese people love Halloween. We got our face painted on the street. I was pretty happy with how it turned out. After the facepaint everybody wanted to take pictures with us! 

The street was so crowded that at some point you just couldn't walk through it. But it was good sitting and watching al these crazy costumes. People were cheering and applauding when they saw a good costume walking by. Great atmosphere! The clubs are really fancy and big, but I liked it more on the street. Simple, but good! Vietnam and Vietnamese people are awesome!

Cambodia: from ruins to paradise

The busride to Cambodia was crazy. The bus left three hours later then it was supposed to, broke down three times. While sitting on the street, watching the guys fix the bus with some water, I already realised: I think I love this country. It was the first time on my trip that something went wrong. The Asians nowadays really know how to adapt to the foreigners. But I like the craziness more.

Phnom Phen is a weird city. There was a festival going on so all the shops were closed. It was like a ghost town and the first tuktukdriver right away warned us for people mugging you. So I stayed in Phnom Phen for a day, just to see the killing fields.

I met some cool people from Argentina in the hostel where I was staying. With them I went to the killing fields and toulsleng; the school prisons. The Killing Fields were really impressive. Walking there everything seems so peaceful. But what happened there is one of the most horrible stories I've ever heard. The Cambodians had a long history of violence. About 2.5 million people died during the Khmer regime. Innocent men, children, women, even baby's. They call Pol Pot the hitler of Cambodia. He wanted to kill everyone whom he think had contact with foreign countries. Our tuktuk drivers dad died during this time. Then I realised this country is still recovering from all of this.
Toul Sleng was even more impressive. Pol pot thought there is no need for education so he closed the schools and turned them into prisons and torture rooms. They kept everything the way it was, you can even still see the blood on the floors. Seeing all the pictures of the people getting abused was horrible. It hits you in the face, but it's a piece of history you really need to know about before travelling around this country. Because it happened only 30 years ago.

After Phnom Phen to Siem Reap. I met someone from Holland in the place where I was staying, so we decided to go cycling like real dutchies the next day. We rented a bike for one dollar for the whole day! And we got a free bottle of water. My bike was so cute. It had a purple bell and a blue basket. :)

Angkor Wat was beautiful,  but the fact that we went cycling made it much, much cooler. We did the tour that most people do in three days, sitting inside a tuktuk, in one day. We saw all the temples, but we didn't climbe them all though.. and at some point you've seen enough ruins. But still it's beautiful. Glad I've seen Cambodia's pride!

The next day we decided to go to the floating villages. The people living there are really poor. They live on the water so they don't have to pay tax and they live from fishing.  I had mixed feelings about it. It was interesting to see how they live, but they try to get money from you in many ways. Alot of money. I wanted to buy some rice for the school children but they asked 45 dollars for the whole bag. We just left after that, I really wanted to give something but this was not feeling good. All and all, still an impressive village to visit!

The beach! Haven't seen one during my trip so I was really looking forward to sticking my feet in the sand and taking a dive in clear blue water. Also my friend Evert from Holland was coming to visit me. I was so happy to meet him here. Sihanoukville serendipity beach is a quiet party beach right now, in high season it must be packed. Everything is so cheep over there! I went a night out and I had spend only four dollars...

Enough party on serendipity, time to relax at Koh Rong island. The atmosphere here is so chilled out, and the Cambodian people are so cool!!!
On the first night there was a birthday party going on the beach, right next to our hostel. It was a birthday party for a two year old baby. This wasn't a birthday party with clowns and "broodjes knakworst." They were playing really loud Cambodian party music and everybody; foreigners, Cambodian were dancing, jumping, having a good time. I loved it!!!
After that there was a huge bonfire on the beach and we went swimming in the dark to see the plankton lid up. It was amazing!! What a great first night. 

                                                               

                                                                I.am.in.paradise.

Laos - the highlights of my trip

Luang prabang is a beautiful city among the river with a few temples and many monks coloring the street with their orange gowns. The first day when I arrived I decided to be alone for a while, because while travelling, you're actually never alone. You'll always meet great people along the way. That's what makes travelling by yourself so good. But now, I really needed some alone time. So I rented a motorbike and went to the waterfalls.  It was a great ride, driving through the lao country side. People ask me if it safe.. don't worry, I never drive fast and I wear a helmet. I always ask beforehand if the roads are good. Besides, people over here drive much safer than in Holland, believe me! It looks like it's one big chaos, but there is a system, and it works. They drive very slow and hunk the horn when they pass. Works for me, although I mostly bike through areas that are quiet, with just a few cars or motorcycles passing by.

The waterfalls in luang prabang are beautifull! I jumped in the waterfall from a tree, got a great action picture too! The fish over there bite your legs, so no chilling or swimming in the water for a long time unfortunately.  As I was alone and with the bike I didn't had to leave with a group to go to the tuktuk driver that's waiting. I could go whenever and wherever I wanted to. That's the best way of travelling. So I sat down by the waterfalls,  read my book, with the sound of the water falling in the background. Being alone felt great.

The next morning I decided to wake up early to see the caves. I had the bike until 12.00 and it would take me an hour to get there.I left at 8.00 to be sure I had enough time. It was a great feeling again, but the whole adventurous feeling didn't last for long.. because I had to take my wallet out every 5 minutes to actually see the cave. And it wasn't so impressive too.. 5000 kip to park the bike, 15000 kip to go with the boat, 20000 kip to see the cave, 2000 kip to go to the toilet, 5000 kip to use a flashlight in the cave..!? I mean, where does it stop? It's still not a lot of money (10.500= €1,-) but it's definitely a sign of tourism having a negative effect on Laos and the people.

Later that day I walked into a library and I saw people teaching English to monks and highschool children. This was the time to really give something back to Laos and the people (instead of my money), so I signed myself up to volunteer the next day. It was great, the children were so grateful and I could practice my teaching skills again. I remembered how much I love teaching, and they appreciated it so much!

I stayed in a very nice hostel where I met some people from Holland and Germany. We chilled at Utopia bar and ate some really good and cheap food on the nightmarket.

After a few days in Luang prabang I went to Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is al about partying and tubing. Went tubing twice! Floating in the water, playing volleyball at the bars, dancing, float your way to the next bar. Great fun! Except the fact that my camera got wet during tubing... but surprisingly enough a really sweet girl from England just gave me her camera because she wasn't using it anymore... how generous is that! So I don't have a lot of pictures of Vang Vieng but I was very happy I could make pictures after that!

Besides tubing I went on a day trip with a group of girls. We  climbed a cave and jumped from trees in the beautiful blue lagoon. 

In the evening I went on stage and sang in this little pub together with an other guy, whom played and sang very well!

From Vang Vieng off to Pakse with some English friends I met along the way. Pakse seems boring but biking around is great over there. Many beautiful and amazingly huge waterfalls.  I went the first day with some  girls, but we literally saw NOTHING because it was raining so much.. it was alot of fun though.. 4 girls on a road trip together. After all, we had a great laugh.
I was lucky to go there the next day again with two guys, one from England and one from Australia. I had met them before in Vang Vieng. They are travelling around on the motorbike. I am so jealous! I mean, that's total freedom! It was worth going there again, because this waterfall was definitely the most beautiful one I've seen on this trip so far.

Last destination in Laos: 4000 islands. What a great place to chill out in your hammock,  listen to music, enjoy the sunset.. Did you know that there are actual dolphins in the Mekong river!? It's true, you can spot dolphins at 4000 islands! You can see them coming up every few minutes and you hear the sound of them breathing above the water. It's always heartwarming to see animals in the wild. Especially somewhere where you would least expect it.

I could write a lot more about Laos, but these were definitely the highlights of my trip! Laos has everything and even more than I saw coming. Khob Jai Laos, now off to Cambodia! 

Chiang Rai: bizarre bars, temples and foods

Chiang Rai is a place you should definitely go to, even though it's just for the white temple. At some point you've seen so many temples that you don't really feel like seeing an other one, but this one is very special. It's a completely white temple with amazing art on the inside. I have been wandering there for hours, trying to understand the artist's message. It's not finished yet, but already very beautiful!

I rented a scooter and drove around with an english friend I had met before in Pai. For me it was a good practice, the roads are good and the scenery is beautiful.  Green mountains with white Buddha's decorating the nature, tea plantations and many waterfalls to visit.

The nightlife here is not that vibrant but there are some nice bars around. The happy teepy bar is one of a kind. They play old classic rock songs and the owner is a crazy rock n roll chick whom you can have great laugh with. But what makes the bar even more special is that they have pets walking around. Two bunnies and a rhinobeetle. It's surreal, but true! You could just pick them up and cuddle with them. Offcourse I always did when I was there, and I even cuddled the rhinobeetle. Big accomplishment for me, I mean, it's still a giant black bug! But you could stroke it and let it walk over your hand. It seemed like he liked the attention to. Rhinobeetles are as cute as the bunnies!

Chaing Rai has many markets, the saterday and sundaymarket, which are really good. Every night they have a nightmarket with good and also unusual "bizarre" foods. My english friend eats and tries everything. I love food and I love people who love food so let's go and eat! Everything! We ate some bugs, they taste like peanuts. blue, red and green noodles filled with.. I don't know, but it was good! Something called the thousand year old egg.. wouldn't eat that again. We finished the evening dancing at the market with thai people on thai music.

I'm in Loas now, looking across the Mekong river. On the other side is Thailand. Thinking back how great Thailand has been. The Land of Smiles. Kapkunka Thailand, you have treated me well!

Pai: Music, Motorcycle and Treehouse adventures

Words cannot explain how much I love Pai. It's a small village in the North of Thailand. It has a sort of hippy-vibe. Nice chill-out bars, beautiful green nature, mountains, people playing music everywhere. I get myself into a situation every night that I'm somewhere singing and/or playing the guitar. With or without a band, jamming. People start asking: "are you going to sing tonight? Come over and sing with me at that place." In Holland I tend to forget how much I love singing and making music, people keep reminding me here.

I met three amazing girls from the US at one of the bars. They were travelling together and invited me to go to the waterfalls the next day. Four girls, two bikes, road tripping around Pai.

We got ourselves a nice scrub-mud-bath at the hotsprings and then went for a swim at one of the waterfalls. We were the only four there. It's rare that your the only ones there, such a beautiful place, and nice water swim in under the waterfalls, perfect!

While driving around we saw this amazing place by accident. The Tree Houses. We decided to have some lunch in one of the tree houses and then came up with the great idea to spend the night in one of them. And so we did, the four of us rented a family tree house for the next day. Best idea ever.

We had a little party with the staff from the treehouses. They really wanted us to join them for a drink. The atmosphere was so funny, I mean, we were in a treehouse with these amazingly friendly Thai people. One of the staff, who is our friend now, brought us some great whine. Whine is pretty expensive, I feel so honored that she wanted to share that with us. Oh yeah, don't say "love" or "monkey" because something weird will happen. At some point one of my US friends told to the woman from the staff that she loved her pants. The woman just took her pants of and gave it to her! And don't try giving it back! No, she loved her pants, it's a present right away. No problem.

I had such a good time with these three girls, we laughed, cried, biked around Pai, had a party with the staff from the Tree Houses, slept in one of them, I mean.... Best time ever. Will never forget.

Still stuck in Pai, for almost a week now. Going to take some scooter-lessons today. I've been so lucky I could just get a ride everywhere till now. But I definitely got to need those skills for the rest of my trip. Tomorrow I'm going to take the bus to Chiang Rai. Bye Bye, amazing Pai, when I saw this I was pretty...

Chaing Maiii ooohh my!

The trip from Bangkok to Chiang mai was beautiful. From the taxi-guy that was cheering for Dutch soccer, to the train-lady that said "goedemorgen" and that I'm pretty like a thousand times, to the guy from the restaurant in Chiang Mai that ran for a taxi because he didn't wanted me to walk in the rain. Although I was alone for the first time during this trip, I felt so happy. Especially with these Thai people, they make me smile all the time.

The next day I arrived (two and a half hour later than I was supposed to) in Chiang Mai. I went to Kikie's hostel, it was recommended by a friend. The dorm was full but there were single rooms, really cosy and clean for only 250 baht!

Only two minutes walk from the hostel there were many nice places to eat and hang out so I went for some good thai food and later a beer on a terras where I met a really cool Australian couple. They actually had a third glass on their table and a huge beer-tap. They really wanted someone cool to join them at the table and they told me I was the first cool traveller they'd met during their trip. Wow, thanks mate! We did had really good conversations about music, travelling.. everything! Good times, time flew by.

Chiang Mai has sooo many beautiful temples, they are really worth seeing. Annique, my friend from Holland, also arrived in CM. We decided to book a two day trip together to go hiking and see the elephants. At Kikies hostel they informed us well about which trip is the best and also which one is the most animal friendly. PLEASE PEOPLE, DO INFORM YOURSELF ABOUT THIS BEFORE TAKING ANY OF THESE TRIPS!! There are so many elephant trips were the elephants get abused, walking around with uncomfortable chains and people sitting on their backs all day. It makes me really sad and I don't want incorporate with any of these business!

The two day trek was indeed fan-tas-tic! We went hiking for three hours through the jungle and then we arrived at the elephant camp where we were going to ride the elephants and cook, eat and sleep. We had a cosy night with music by the campfire. The huts and sanitary were really basic but I just love sleeping in the jungle. All the noises of the animals, and I even heard the elephants trumping. Magical.

The next day we took the elephants for a bath and a scrub by the river and I was so lucky that I could actually sit on the back of one of the smaller elephants. No bench, just like that, I really felt like Mogli from junglebook!

This camp had many elephants and they were free to walk around in the nature. How it should be! Happy elephants, happy me!

Later that day we went to the waterfalls, swam there and enjoyed some food picknicking at the waterfalls. After that we went wild water rafting and bamboo rafting, which was more fun than I had ever expected it to be!

Annique is my childhood friend whom I grew up with as a child. We didn't see each other for maaaaaany years. It was so good that I had this experience with her. Bringing back childhood memories while sitting in the  jungle..

I'm going to Pai tomorrow and she will soon go to Vietnam. I wish her all the best on the rest of her trip! And thank you for making so many great pictures with your awesome camera!

Bangkok vs. Rotterdam

People often ask me, are you staying? Are you going back to Rotterdam? Being in Bangkok for almost a week now, I think I can make a good opinion about Bangkok. What I like about Bangkok is that you can find everything here. There's religion, Chinatown, a street with Arabic food and shops, there's a street for gaysexual, a street filled with french people where you can get croissants and good whine, a street for young stravellers that want to get wasted on alcohol and laughing gas (khoa san rd. Way to overrated!), and probably a lot more, but this is what I've seen and heard until now. I really like the diversity and the friendly people but.... and Elodie is going to hate me for saying this.. I love "mijn stadje" Rotterdam more. In Rotterdam you can find all of this, but mixed up together. And I love the people living in it (or close to).. my friends.. I miss you! 

I did speak some dutch yesterday with my friend, Annique, who flew in two days ago. It was really nice to see her again after so many years.

A BIG THANK YOU to Elodie!!! For welcoming me in her lovely apartment, for taking me on trips around the city on her awesome bike, for making me laugh, for making my stay in Bangkok sooooo great!!!

All together, Bangkok is one of a kind. The weather will always be better, de food will always be tastier, de people will always be more friendly and everything will always be cheaper. But now... I' m ready for some mountains and clean air! Tonight I'm going to take the train to Chiang Mai!