Chiang Mai, Thailand

It's been a couple of busy days in Chiang Mai!


walking the daily walk to the Blue Diamond Cafe

On Thursday, Jochem and I celebrated our 5-year anniversary, and what better way to do this than with food? So, we signed up for a cooking class with the Chiang Mai Thai Farm Cooking School. In the morning we were picked up by our driver, our teacher and 3 other couples (2 girls from the Netherlands, 1 couple from Australia and 2 boys from England). Our teacher was a young Thai woman who pretty much laughed at everything that was said and done - it was hilarious. First, they took us to a local market to teach us about traditional Thai ingredients. Then we were taken to their organic farm where we were shown how to cook jasmin and sticky rice. After that we received a tour of the farm and then it was time to start the cooking! In the morning I prepared yellow curry paste for my yellow curry, coconut milk soup and sweet and sour stir fry. Jochem chose different dishes to prepare so that we could taste each other's food. Our teacher made a papaya salad and off we went to eat it all. Afterwards I was stuffed, but I still had to make spring rolls and bananas in coconut milk. My favorites were definitely the coconut milk soup and the bananas in coconut milk - mmm... After the cooking class we spent some lovely hours at the Blue Diamond Cafe, sipping herbal tea and reading. We ate our leftovers in bed.


preparing vegetarian spring rolls


lunch with our cooking class

On Friday, we had arranged for something very special. We were again picked up at our guest house to spend a day at the Elephant Nature Park. This is an elephant sanctuary willed into existence by Sangduen 'Lek' Chailert to offer retired, injured and abused elephants a new home. Since these are domesticated elephants, they can't return to the wild, so Lek offers them a semi-wild home to be in. These elephants don't perform in shows and can't be ridden, although we did feed them and helped bathe them. It was important to me to see this place, because I admire people who stand up for animals despite huge obstacles. I always try to be a good tourist in this regard, so despite several opportunities to ride elephants, hug tigers and hold monkeys, we have withdrawn from these tourist attractions and, instead, opted to go here. If you ever decide to ride an elephant, I encourage you to think twice, because you may have no idea what that elephant has has to endure in order to ride you on its back. In Thailand this is called the 'crush,' which is a ceremony in which a young elephant is locked inside a cage too small to move in, and then deprived of water, food and sleep while being continually beaten and stabbed. This lasts for approximately 3 days, though longer with male elephants, who fight harder, with whom it can take up to 7 days. The whole idea is to crush the elephant's spirit with so much pain until it listens to human authority. So, I am definitely glad that I didn't opt for the elephant ride while I was in India last year, although I do feel bad about climbing on its back to bathe it, if only for 10 minutes. But at Lek's santuary, the elephants are living in peace and it's an amazing sight to see. Moreover, the park is situated beautifully - it's in a valley, surrounded by lush, green mountains. The buildings are all open and made with natural materials, which makes you feel like you're in nature all the time. Dogs and cats roam free everywhere. There is vegetarian food, and posters that say "Elephants Make Great Vegetarians" and yoga classes on the roof. We immediately fell in love with the place, and even seriously thought about staying for a week to do volunteer work, but eventually decided against it for various reasons. We did, however, vow to come back within 10 years to volunteer. We've only made a vow like this one once before, in 2007 when we first visited Cinque Terre in Italy, where we vowed to come back after 5 years. We ended up coming back a year later, so here's hoping, because I wrote in my journal in big, fat, capital letters: IT IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE I HAVE SEEN IN SOUTH EAST ASIA THUS FAR!









On Saturday, we hired a scooter and drove to Doi Suthep. This is a hill just outside the city where the famous Wat Phra That Doi Suthep is located. The temple was beautiful of course, but it was especially nice to feel the wind in my hair, leave the heat of the city, and see some green up close and personal.


Wat Phra That Doi Suthep


on the steps leading up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep


enjoying the view over Chiang Mai from Doi Suthep

At night we went to the Night Bazaar where we bought a fake Calvin Klein watch for me. I never wear a watch because I hate them, but I no longer have my cell phone to tell time and I guess that Jochem got sick of me asking every 30 minutes what time it is.

Today it is Sunday and we are taking it easy. We'd like to get another massage because the first one was so good and I'm quite curious about this whole reflexology business. Other than that I just want to get myself into some AC, because it's been getting hotter and hotter here. It all started when the rain stopped. So far, so good. However, the humidity stayed. And now, on top of the humidty, we have a searing sun that hurts to the touch. My body feels like one of those extremely spicy curries that gets hotter and hotter over time. The fact that we don't have AC in our room, but just a fan, doesn't help matters much. I sure do miss the swimming pool at the Atlanta in Bangkok! My sensitive skin is protesting quite a bit, having always behaved like a newborn baby in need of constant care, but what can I do? I take showers twice a day and try not to lose it and usually this works out fine. But I sure am looking forward to spend some time on the beaches of southern Thailand. But first: LAOS!

We have booked a bus to Chiang Khong and we will be picked up at 8.30 PM tonight. We will arrive in Chiang Khong at around 2 AM, sleep in a guest house, have breakfast, and then try to make our way to Laos as soon as possible. We hope to catch a longtail boat to Huay Xai, in Laos, cross the border, and then catch a slow boat to take us to Luang Prabang over the Mekong River. After Luang Prabang we will probably just fly to Siem Reap in Cambodia, visit Angkor Wat, and make our way back to Bangkok over land. We might be stranded on a boat somewhere for several days, so please don't be alarmed - we'll get back in touch as soon as we have arrived in Luang Prabang.



If you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip, check out our picture gallery here!

From Bangkok to Chiang Mai

A couple of things happened on our way to Chiang Mai.

During our last day in Bangkok, I FINALLY found a street stall that I knew for sure sold vegetarian fare (it's surprisingly difficult to identify ingredients on the street and a lot of meat and fish is usually involved). This man made beautiful savoury crepes with eggs - delicious (and no, I did not have that sausage that you see in the picture)!



In a truly EPIC moment, while waiting for our train, we had vegetarian curry on the floor besides our backpacks. I never felt more like a backpacker in my entire life!



Our train suffered a 5-hour delay. That's right - we were delayed for 5 hours. Luckily, when we finally arrived in Chiang Mai, I had time to recuperate with a cup of coffee while Jochem managed to get us a room at our #1 pick for 5 euros a night.



I already found a favorite spot in Chiang Mai. When we first arrived, we immediately liked the vibe of this city, but were quickly disappointed by the backpacker masses and all who cater to them (the fact that we ourselves are, indeed, backpackers apparently doesn't ease this pain). Since we are usually staying at the accommodation variety that has bare light bulbs and a shower over the toilet (seriously, WHY is that?!), it's important to have a sanctuary of some kind. I found it in the totally cliche, yet surprisingly charming, Blue Diamand Cafe, which has vegetarian food, a tranquil garden, and lots of hippies around. I love it.



Plus: it was here that I discovered turmeric tea. Not only is this delicious, apparently it is good for your skin. My skin needs something good happening to it, what with all the humidity here in South East Asia during monsoon season. Myself and everything I own is in a constant state of dampness and our new room doesn't have AC but a fan instead. I'm willing to try anything at this point.



Chiang Mai is scattered with temples, so we visited a few today.



We also got to our senses and bought a pair of umbrellas. We don't like to get wet, but ponchos are just so uncool, so umbrellas it is then.



After seeing this last of 4 temples, we took our tired selves to a salon for a 1-hour foot massage. Aaahhh...



And one last little note: we now have a toilet that doesn't flush. We need to use water from a bucket to splash away our business. I think Michiel and Marije may have told us about this at some point, but still, it was totally shocking.

Let's see what else Chiang Mai has to offer...

Jochem just posted some more pictures of Bangkok and of our train ride to Chiang Mai, so if you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip, check out our picture gallery here!

Bangkok, Thailand

Siam Square

I'm back with another blog from Bangkok. It's now Sunday night and we've been in Bangkok since Tuesday afternoon. I suppose that this is a long time to be in one city, but I always envisioned it to be quite nice to start this world trip slowly, and it turns out that I was right. However, we have not done as much sight seeing as you might suspect. We've been far too busy enjoying the wonderul time capsule that is our hotel:


entrance


lobby


hotel cat


proof of Elizabeth Gilbert's presence (EEK!)

And relaxing by the pool:


pool


hotel dog

And eating:


having vegetarian pad thai on Khao San Road, Banglamphu

But don't be fooled - we have explored a LOT of this city: by taxi, sky train, metro, boat, tuk-tuk and on foot. I must admit that I was a little bit intimidated by Bangkok at first, but this quickly passed. Although this is a very big city that is, at times, overwhelming, it is easily navigable. The Thai are nice people who do not bother you very much and who are adoringly sweet to their pets and to animals in general. I also find the city to be surprisingly clean, but perhaps this is because I compare it to southern India. It is very hot in Bangkok, however, and very humid at that. September is the wettest month of the year so we have rains every single day. It was particularly bad on Thursday (more on that later) and there have been several floods in the country this summer. But not to worry - there is no danger where we are staying or where we are going.

We began exploring on Wednesday by taking the sky train to Siam Square where we quickly made our way to the Mahboonkrong (MBK) Food Center to visit a famous vegetarian food stall that had some very spicy curry (thank GOD for the coconut drink and dessert).

On Thursday we took a sky train, a metro and a boat to the Banglamphu neighborhood because I insisted on seeing the famous backpacker ghetto called Khao San Road. Here we scored some nice food and a couple of books for on the road, but we were done quite quickly and, I must say, I'm glad not to be staying there. Then the worst rain since we've been here started to pour down and, after waiting for a little while, we started to look for a quick boat taxi in vain until we finally found an empty tuk-tuk to take us back to the metro. After another metro and sky train ride and a little walk, we were finally home - drenched.

Because of all this drama we were completely exhausted and did nothing on Friday except hang out at the tropical garden and pool.

On Saturday we felt that it was time to do some serious sight seeing, so we made our way to Ko Ratanakosin. Here we visited Wat Phra Kaew (also known as the Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and the Grand Palace. We also made a trip to Wat Pho, which houses a 46 meters long, 15 meters high, reclining Buddha. It was absolutely breathtaking, all of it.

Today we only made one little trip to Wat Traimit to see its 3 meters tall, 5,5 tonne, solid-gold Buddha - very impressive indeed. Since we were tired and it started raining yet again, we quickly came back to the Atlanta.


Ko Ratanakosin


reclining Buddha at Wat Pho, Ko Ratanakosin

And here we are. This is our last night at the Atlanta and in Bangkok. Tomorrow we plan to visit Jim Thompson's House and the Erawan Shrine, because these sights are close to the neighborhood that we are staying in: Sukhumvit. Then we're going to take a taxi to take us to Hualamphong Train Station because at 7.35 PM our train to Chiang Mai leaves! I'm very excited to visit this supposedly great city in northern Thailand - we booked a second class sleeper train and I've ALWAYS wanted to travel on a sleeper train. I'm also scared, though, because for our arrival there we have booked... nothing. Of course I know that this is part of the fun, but still, it's scary. I plan to take Jochem' mother's advice, however, who said that one person should stay with the backpacks at a cafe while the other looks for accommodation - I fully intend to be the one staying at the cafe while Jochem plays out his strengths and finds us a room! We'll see how it all turns out. Chiang Mai, here we come!


in the rain (again!) at Wat Traimit, near Hualamphong Train Station

If you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip (and some clips of me NOT jumping off the teeny, tiny, little brick wall at the swimming pool), check out our picture gallery here!

London, England

I'm writing this blog from very hot and humid Bangkok! My short hair is already coming in handy... We are well, albeit very tired and slightly jetlagged (we woke up at noon today after having slept for more than 12 hours).

Our ferry ride to England was nice and relaxing. Unfortunately, it was followed by an absolutely crazy day in London. I've been to London before during a great trip with Kiran in 2006. but I'd forgotton how BIG London is! We spent all day catching subways and walking around. We didn't see any sights because we felt that there wasn't enough time and because we thought they were quite expensive (I wanted to go inside the London Tower and on the London Eye, for example, but those sights turned out to cost more than half of our daily budget each). Instead, we just wandered the city all day and saw a lot on foot. Of course we had a delectable lunch at Fifteen where Jamie Oliver himself was, sadly, not to be found and we also lay in the grass in Green Park for a while, until it started to rain, but what is a day in London without rain, really? After a long day we had to haul our backpacks into the subway during rush hour, which was a little stressful. It took 1,5 hours to get to Heathrow where we boarded our 11-hour flight to Bangkok. I was very excited to see the entertainment system and had quickly assembled a list of 5 movies and 3 TV shows that I wanted to see, but, alas, fell asleep during an episode of Banged Up Abroad: Kidnapped by Sadam Hussein. After a restless sleep, we arrived in Bangkok.

Thailand has been great thus far - everyone is really nice and it's been quite easy to get around. Plus, our hotel is lovely. I read about the Atlanta in Elizabeth Gilbert's Committed and, since it was also in our Lonely Planet, decided to make a booking here. Boy, am I glad that we did! The hotel is an oasis in the middle of this busy city. It has a charm that reminds me of the 50s - a beautiful lobby with classical music playing in the background, antique writing desks, a delicious menu offering countless vegetarian meals, a tropical garden and a swimming pool - all for the budget price of 20 euros per room per night. Did I mention that we received complementary pineapple juices when we arrived? Jochem has already found a fan in the 60-year old waitress who appears to be quite charmed. We are enjoying ourselves immensely, although we have very separate opinions when it comes to air conditioning - I love it, Jochem hates it. For example: Jochem wakes up in the middle of the night because he's cold and turns the AC off. I then wake up because I'm hot and turn it back on, and so on and so forth. I'm curious to see how this will work out here! I love it here and am glad to be able to stay for a couple of days while we acclimatize to South East Asia.

If you'd like to see more pictures of our world trip, check out our picture gallery here!


Westminster Abbey


Big Ben

WORLD TRIP TO DO LIST (Final Version!)

(1) Move: √



(2) Make Almelo our home: √



(3) Test tent: √





(4) Attempt to get in Inca Trail shape by hiking through the Dutch countryside (latest update: 14K!): √



(5) Have fabulous Bon Voyage Party: √















(6) Get vaccinated for any and all possible ailments: √



(7) Pack backpacks: √



(8) Get hair chopped off: √



(9) Donate hair: √



(10) Remain calm: √



Our boat leaves on Sunday, September 4 at 10 PM. We will have 1 day in London, including a lunch reservation at Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen, before taking our first flight on Monday, September 5 to Bangkok. Until June 2012!

Blurry Vision

Lately it has been difficult to see clearly. Everything is a blur of impressions that I find difficult to categorize into a structure suitable for this blog. Jochem and I have been busy. We sleep in. I do yoga. We have eggs for breakfast. We watch The Amazing Race. We plan. We book. We read. We anticipate. Jochem plays video games. I read women's magazines. We cross things off of our to do list. We hike. We pick recipes. We buy groceries. We cook. We eat. We play with the cats. We have tea. We watch The Amazing Race. We sleep. This goes on and on. It has turned into a weird routine - we do the same things every day in a somewhat predictable order, but most things have been taken care of. The to do list only has a few more items on it. The backpacks are packed. The Bon Voyage Party has been given. We are playing a waiting game. Here is an impression of our time spent: