Bagan is a strange place, this place was supposed to be the highlight in the Myanmar adventure and these high expectations were met without any problem. More than 2500 old temples, monatries and stupa's surround you. We explored the site with the bike for 3 days, needless to say this was again a fantastic experience. (Pictures here)
Inle lake shows Myanmar from its most authentic side, people live in small houses on poles and the only transportation possible is a canoe or a motorboat for the rich ones.
Finally last stop in Myanmar was 3 days relaxing on their paradise beach, actually only reachable by plane as the bus route towards this place is known as the 'puke' route as roads are not yet invented. Very big and beautiful resorts are ready for the flood of tourists which will hopefully come to experience this fabulous place. (paradise pics here)
After a while I found a place where I can access the blogger website, with a nice hack of course to bypass the nice restrictions as opposed by the myanmar government. There are two main attractions you immediately notice when visiting former Birma: the smile on the people's faces & their way of living sends you back in time. We arrived from Bangkok 12 days ago. First stop was the capital Yangon, capital is a strange word in Myanmar as they had different capitals in the last centuries. Actually Yangon is no longer the official capital but foreigners are not allowed to travel to the new one 'Naypyidaw'. Myanmar is really a big country which makes domestic travelling a long and hard journey. The first big trip was the train to Mandalay (the second biggest city): a seperate sleeping cabin, of course to make sure that we are completely isolated from the birmese people. After 19 hours we arrived in Mandalay, a city that really holds a nice atmosphere. It's weird to see that such a poor country is surrounded by golden stupas and nice wooden monastries. But the most warming are the people, not 'puchie' at all, always smiling and children shouting 'ming-ga-laa-ba' to you in the street, so briefly a wonderful place to be...
Some pictures here.
It's a common discussion here in Oz: you'll hear 'Melbourne is boring' in Sydney and 'Sydney sucks' in Melbourne but the truth is you have to love them both. These two cities are completely different, not only in city view but morely in life itself. The life in Melbourne is relaxing, if you feel a little bit lazy (and that happens often here) you just do nothing and hang around, enjoy the weather... The whole city just breaths music, on every corner, in all pubs you have live music and friendly people everywhere. Melbourne was my last stop in Australia this afternoon I'll fly back to Sydney and then to Bangkok. You can find some pics here.
It feels strange the first time. Your mask. Your awkward gear, a bit heavy. You ease into the water and your face slips below the surface. Inhale; the first air comes with a reassuring hiss, and for the first time, you breathe underwater. In moments, you forget your mask. Your equipment transforms to light and agile, and you're free like you've never experienced before. With that first underwater breath, the door opens to a new world. Not a world apart, but different nevertheless. Go through that door. You're life will never be the same again.
After 4 days I was certified as Open Water Diver which allowed me to go down until 18 meters under surface, but off course I wanted more and signed me up for the adventure diver's course which allowed me to go until 30 meters under surface and I had to do a dive at night with ZERO visibility, strange feeling it was...
The first day without diving was strange, I had been under water for almost 5 hours the last 3 days and I wanted to go back to swim in the big aquarium with the fishes and beautiful corals next to me. This means my Cairns days are over tomorrow I'm leaving for Melbourne, the last big ozzy city on my trip.
Some pictures
here.
Tomorrow I'm leaving this fabulous city, actually I'm sad to leave here but we move on to Cairns in the morning. My last days in Sydney were a little bit hectic, I wanted to see as much as possible but I think I managed quite well (I have to catch up some sleep tough). in short, is was great, great, great and will end my last Sydney night in style...
Some pics...
I have 3 stories to tell which give quite a good view on the way of life in Sydney:
- The first day I arrived I wandered around in the city to get some first impressions, I still had a note of 100 south african rand in my pocket(little less than 10€). When I took my camara out of my pocket the note fell on the ground without me noticing it, a girl just ran after me to say I dropped some money on the street: honest as hell!
- Most of the time I wander around with my lonely planet in my hand (those tourists!!), but as soon as I hold and look at the map in my book some ozzy just stops and asks if I'm lost and directly gives the good directions...
- Yesterday I went to a party with life music, when I came back we wanted to take the bus, the first one stopped and we asked if he stops near our place, but no bus did ride that direction so late at night, he promptly offered to ride along for free and he could drop us off a little bit closer so we didn't had to walk that far, this was a public bus!(ask 'de lijn' in Belgium to do that...)
I'm in Sydney already for 4 days and the city is amazing. The first 2 days I just walked around to get the first impressions, after that I took a surf camp on the northern beaches of Sydney, 7 mile beach. The feeling of surfing on the waves is amazing, there is a steep learning curve though but at the end it's all worthwhile, after 2 hard days (4 hours surfing a day is a lot) I could ride the waves up to 1 to 1,5 meter but some more surfing is already planned for next WE. I met a lot of people on the camp (mostly temporarily residents and students of Sydney Uni), the offered promptly to stay with them in their appartment in the middle of Sydney (King's cross). Now I can start exploring the rest of Sydney from here. Anyway some pictures of Sydney can be found here. Ohh did I forgot to say it's 30 degrees here :-)
Hi, I just arrived in Sydney after a veryyy long flight, weather is not so good for the moment and my surf classes are starting on saturday but what do I see in the local forecast as of saturday 28°C, now it's only 15°C: freeezzing
Anyway I go explore the city cause I have to be back for happy hour in 4 hours, something I cannot miss...
Our last destination in Tanzania was the Selous national park, just to make sure we saw the last wild animals before leaving Africa. This park is a nice alternative to the most known northern counterparts: Serengeti and Ngorogoro. On our whole day game drive we only crossed 2 other vehicles, a rare thing in national parks... The only goal I had was to see some lionesses with cubs and of course most dreams come true!
The ride back with the local bus was quite a fuzz due to some brake problems we spend whole day on the road but we were not complaining. Overall Selous was great just as all other things visited in Tanzania, time to move on...
We've been to Zanzibar, also known as the spice island, for about 5 days. We took the fast ferry from Dar es Salaam to the main harbour in Zanzibar, Stone town. Stone town has an arabic atmosphere: narrow streets along the thick concrete buildings and the adhan called by the muezzin which wakes you up early in the morning. We escaped from the busy city life and took the daladala to Bwejuu, a small coastal village on the east side of the island. Here we saw again the paradise beaches like we've seen in Kilwa, almost deserted white sand beaches and very warm sea water, ideally to float for a while.
I know it's been a while but a lot happened last week and a half. I've been welcomed to Tanzania in the Dar es Salaam airport by a local beauty with the name Kat :-) (100daysontheroad.blogspot.com). We had a small negative experience but you can check that one on kat's blog, anyway we're both fine just a little administrative runaround!
We've been to Kilwa, a small region in Tanzania where almost no tourists show up due to the bumpy road you have to take (10 hours in a crowded bus). These beaches just make you think paradise does exist: white sand, blue clear water, coco palm trees and friendly relaxed people (all children run up to you saying bye bye as this are the only english word they heard before...).
We've been to Zanzibar as well and are heading for Sealous nature park tomorrow morning, next week we are already leaving the country, I'll post more info then as I'm in transit for 24 hours so time to kill
Anyway some pics
All the best
grz
K
I'm writing this from a dead corner in South Afrika, that means that I left the Namibian building... I was sad to leave this fantastic country but more is coming up... I at least said goodbye with the best thrill of my life: the last 2 days I was in Swakopmund, the most adventurous town in Nam, the morning I started with sandboarding in the dunes: amazing!!!, the local guys invited me to join them for free the next day because it was soooo much fun, pitty I had a plane to catch BUT the best had still to come: I did a skydive from 10000 feet with a 30 sec freefall at 220 km/h, this moment is undescribable and is the most appealing drug you can find, going from 10000 to 5000 feet in 30 secs makes your belly go wild. Thx to Mias for the nice lesson in 'how to make sure you're alive...'
Tomorrow I'm heading to Dar (Tanzania) nothing planned yet but we'll see.
All the best back home and take care
grz
K
Hey all, just returned from Etosha national park (pics here), doing some game driving. Animals at Harnas were much more fun as you can interact with these animals, nevertheless seeing these animals in the wild is a special experience. On the way back the car broke down which left us a while in the hot desert, you can easily boil an egg on the sand and actually that's what the local people do :-) I lost a day with this but hey this is Afrika, looks like working for the belgian government :-)) Anyway thanks to Thomas and our guide Azis for the nice exiting trip, we even had jackals as guests on our beakfast session. Next day I'm heading for the coast for a day full of adventures, keep you posted on this one :-)
have fun, I know I do
K
Hey, I've left Harnas and will enjoy my last week exploring Namibia. Things on the wish list are Etosha park and Swakopmund (adventure town for sandboarding, quad driving and sky diving). Harnas has offered me a great experience, the link with nature makes you another man, I have lots of stories to tell on this one and special thanks to all girls and boys (yes the 3 of you ;-)) for making this a lifetime experience. I've posted some pictures of my last day at harnas (like HERE), saying goodbye was hard but some new exiting things are coming up again.... Today is planning day as next few days I'm on the road in the desert so no comm there
all the best
grz
K
RESPECT is the proper word to describe this fantastic day. The whole day was completely focussed on the local bushmen. The day started with a visit to the church. Most of you now that I'm not into religions but the way these guys and boys celebrate sunday is amazing. They all sing during the session which sounds great and they were so happy with our visit that the asked a local guy (good old petrus)to translate into english. After the celebration everyone shakes hands. I see these guys during week on work, on sunday they are all dressed up but we do not even give the clothes to charity, they are wearing for sunday. These people have so less material stuff an still they are so happy and warm and they would welcome you in their home and give their last things away. This moment made me silent for a while. After the church session we did some soccer with the local boys, running in a heat on 35 degrees celsius in the shade is killing... and of course we lost :-) I also met 2 dutch girls who founded a foundation to help streetkids from Godabis (http://www.ubuntutheatre.org/), those kids wanted to play soccer with us as well and they play barefeet!!! We lost again, probably we are not so great in soccer... After the match the boys made some music for us on their drums and started dancing, I was so impressed by their skills after 2 weeks that I promptly porposed to do a donation collection for these boys, after a few minutes we could give 1500 Namibian dollars to the foundation, I'm sure they will spend it well. Tomorrow is another day probably filled with animals as 10 days ago 4 new lions were born and starting from monday I can nurse them. Anyway all is going great over here, hope you have the same at home and at CTP :-)
Love you all
K
Hi all,
Finally the first pictures are uploaded on picasa, you can find them here. Everything is still going great. I did a lot of different activities like bush burning, digging a splash pool, going on tour with german guests, of course looking after the animals and sitting around the camp fire each night. Atmosphere is great and there is still more to come. Time to go bed though as tomorrow is an early day ;-)
see u all next time...
grz from hot namibia
K
Hi all,
Finally I found some internet access in hot namibia. It's really fun here, I've met lots of guys and girls: American, English, Australian, Scotisch, Irisch, Namibian, South African, German etc... I haven't been alone for a second, days fly by without notice. The wild animals are amazing, I found a new girlfriend: a 10 months old leopard called 'lost', she looks like a big cat but you should never underestimate her. It's amazing to be next to animals who can just kill you in a second but you'll never find a better place just to sit around and think about all stuff, they have a 'mystique' of lonelyness around them, really a strange feeling. Anyway I cannot post pictures until I'll be in South Africa due to some lazy internet lines but it will be worth the waiting... The days are completely planned: food preparation, feeding, enclosure cleaning... I even did a walk with a 200kg lion next to me and a 2 years old baboon on my head :-). Every night we have socializing time and we get around a big fire. This afternoon we are playing soccer against the local bushmen team, the guys here told that I was a former international belgian soccer player :-) oeps this will hurt...
Anyway all my regards to be people back at home and at work, have fun and enjoy life, at least that's what I'm doing now ;-)
hope to post some more news soon
K from Namibia
't is bijna zover, backpack is gepakt, tickets in de hand en hup naar de vlieghaven. Bij deze post dan ook mijn vluchtgegevens voor het thuisfront ;-). Meeste vluchten behoren tot een 'around the world ticket' met British airways en Qantas met uitzondering van Tanzania (South African airlines)
- 02/09/2008 : Brussel - Londen Heathrow, 19:15 - 19:30, vlucht BA0399
- 02/09/2008 : Londen Heathrow - Johannesburg, 21:15 - 09:05, vlucht BA0057
- 03/09/2008 : Johannesburg - Windhoek, 12:00 - 13:00, vlucht BA6275
- 02/10/2008 : Windhoek - Johannesburg, 15:00 - 16:50, vlucht BA6274
- 03/10/2008 : Johannesburg - Dar-es-Salaam, 13:50 - 18:30, vlucht SA7167
- 21/10/2008 : Dar-es-Salaam - Johannesburg, 15:25 - 18:10, vlucht SA189
- 22/10/2008 : Johannesburg - Sydney, 18:10 - 14:55, vlucht QF0064
- 02/11/2008 : Sydney - Cairns, 09:05 - 11:05, vlucht QF0167
- 10/11/2008 : Cairns - Melbourne, 12:25 - 16:45, vlucht QF0703
- 15/11/2008 : Melbourne - Sydney, 15:00 - 16:20, vlucht QF0442
- 15/11/2008 : Sydney - Bangkok, 18:05 - 23:10, vlucht QF0001
- 12/12/2008 : Bangkok - Londen Heathrow, 00:35 - 06:25, vlucht QF0001
- 12/12/2008 : Londen Heathrow - Brussel, 08:55 - 11:05, vlucht BA0392
Het is bijna zover, nog een weekje en stofje gaat op zoek naar zuiderse exotische oorden. Backpack staat al te blinken naast mijn bed en herinnert me elke dag aan het nakend vertrek. Vanaf morgen mag ik pillen beginnen te slikken tegen malaria, hopelijk zonder de bekende neveneffecten. Via facebook heb ik al mensen ontdekt die op dezelfde periode in harnas zullen verblijven, facebook is echt een fantastich medium. De leeuwtjes kijken al uit naar mijn komst, finally the food has arrived ;-)
Net terug van rock werchter. Ik was dus 1 van die 80000 gelukkigen die deze schitterende editie hebben kunnen meebeleven. Toppers waren absoluut Moby, Deus, Editors, REM, Underworld and many more. Radiohead was een tegenvaller bij gebrek aan echte hits. In elk geval volgend jaar sta ik er terug. Kamperen tijdens Werchter is een absolute must :-), thx to kim, henk, tim, anton, katje, saskia en het guitige koppel Frank en Veerle voor de fun!
Net terug van een tripje naar Dubrovnic met Katje. Wat een verassing, 'k mocht helemaal niets weten van de geplande bestemming, volgens de inleidende mail was het trouwens 6 uur rijden met 1 tussenstop ;-) Zaaalig
Dubrovnic is een supermooie stad, in het oude stadsgedeelte wordt je 2 eeuwen teruggekatapulteerd. Dubrovnic bestaat uit een wirwar van kleine steegjes, mooie historische gebouwen (kerken in overvloed) en heeft een mooie haven, kortom de stad straalt gewoon charme uit en is een ideale plek voor een verlengd weekendje!
De eerste fase van de trip komt in zicht: plannen, plannen, plannen. De kriebels beginnen al te komen en 't is nog 3 maanden te gaan.
Planning ziet op dit moment als volgt uit:
- vertrek op 1 sep 2008 naar Namibië als guest worker on the Harnas Wildlife Foundation. See www.harnas.org for more info
- na 1 maand tussen de wilde dieren, hup naar nog wat meer wilde dieren in Tanzania, 3 weekjes rondtrekken met katje.
- Tijd om als backpacker naar 'down under' te reizen: Cairns voor duikinitiatie, Sydney voor surfinitiatie en tenslotte Melbourne, the best 'musical' city of the western hemisphere I heard somewhere in Austria from a strange new zealander ;-)
- Tenslotte naar Myanmar....
TO BE CONTINUED
Net terug van een weekje skien in Mayrhofen in Oostenrijk met Katrien. Zalig weekje echter wel iets te weinig zon, maar goede sneeuw en goed gezelschap make the holiday great!
Zie slideshow in next post for more pics.
Bagan is a strange place, this place was supposed to be the highlight in the Myanmar adventure and these high expectations were met without any problem. More than 2500 old temples, monatries and stupa's surround you. We explored the site with the bike for 3 days, needless to say this was again a fantastic experience. (Pictures here)
Finally last stop in Myanmar was 3 days relaxing on their paradise beach, actually only reachable by plane as the bus route towards this place is known as the 'puke' route as roads are not yet invented. Very big and beautiful resorts are ready for the flood of tourists which will hopefully come to experience this fabulous place. (paradise pics here)
