the sky is the limit

Year of the Dragon; Growth

2012-01-14T02:10:00.001+01:00

Hellooooooo 2012!!!

Looking back on 2011 I find that it had been an incredible year!

Compassion & positivity were two key words that I tried to live by (and still am living by), and I think I did pretty well! :) No negative energy. I am super happy with how the year went by, and I can only hope that this year is going to be better!

A fresh new year comes with new goals.

What are my goals for 2012? Well, I've been thinking about it..and the answer is: I want to grow this year.

Of course I grow in wisdom and experience every year, but I want to like really...G R O W.

I want to challenge myself and do things that I've never done before. Learn new things, new skills, become more independent. I want to look back on 2012 and say; Wow. It's been a productive year.

I know it all sounds pretty vague, but whatever haha.

Here are some pix from last December :)

[ Mandy's birthday 16/12 ]

[ Late Xmas dinner with Miek 28/12 ]

[ NYE 2011 ]

2012 is going to be the year of the Dragon...MY YEAR! :)

(AHHHHHHH took me forever to write this short post/post these few pix...see why I haven't blogged about London part 2 yet? Takes f o r e v a a a a a hhhhhh!!! Stupid netbook.)

Year in review: 2011

2011-12-31T17:05:00.000+01:00

GUYS!

I have not been blogging this entire month for one reason.. my netbook & internet has been SOOOO slow. My patience runs out everytime I attempt to blog about London, haha.

But the year is coming to an end in a couple of hours and I really wanted to reflect upon the past year on my blog. With no pictures, so it should be a quickie ;)

Here goessssss.....remembering 2011!

1. Bachelor of BA

The first mayyyyjuh highlight of the year was without a doubt earning my title as Bachelor of Business Administration! :D

Writing my thesis was a rough period because I had a strict deadline and there was a lot to lose if I did not make it on time. I literally worked day & night on this thing while everyone was enjoying the most beautiful weather outside (NL was the hottest place in Europe during these weeks!!)..MADNESS & STRESS. Spent 12 hrs/day behind my netbook, some days with zero results and it just drove me crazy at one point. But, believing in myself, an awesome thesis coach and great mental support from a wonderful friend helped me through all of this. Proud to say I freakin did it in such a short period of time (6 weeks in total) and am now finally F R E E!

2. Backpacking through South East Asia - May/July

First time backpacking with my bestie. Amazingggg experience. Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore. Seen so much, did so much, learnt so much..it was the perfect little gift to myself after the stressful thesis period. This trip reminded me how lucky I am to live this life.. forever grateful. Can't wait to go backpacking again, don't know when though!

3. New job

Last year this same date I mentioned I didn't like my job and was hoping to get a new part time job. It's still the same company, still working at the airport, but in a different departure lounge and a different shop...soooo much better!

Many people ask me why the hell I'm still working there now that I've graduated. Shouldn't I be getting a 'real' and 'proper' job? Uh..why the rush people? I'm enjoying working part time at flexible hours for a brand that I super like (VS!) that pays pretty well with minimum responsibilities. I can't imagine another job that fits me so well at this very moment because I get to be free. I love my freedom and I'm not ready to give it up yet working for someone for a silly pay. Yes, I know, experience is priceless, but so is freedom. Besides, who says I don't have plans? :)

4. Baby in Europe!

Totally did not expect to see him here so soon! Obviously a super joyful period for me :))) This time we went to Manchester and London, which was my very first time in the UK. What a great trip it was!!! We've traveled to so many places together already, can't wait to see more of the world with him! :) x x x

5. Driving license O_O

OK, this is not going too well, hahaha! I'm glad I made a start this year, but unfortunately I didn't manage to finish the course this year. In 2012 I'm definitely gonna be cruising the streets of NL :D

Alright, this sums up the highlights of 2011 for me in terms of events.

I have a lot more to write about, but I gotta get ready for the NYE dinner! Mom & dad cooked some great stuff, can't waaaait :D! I will def blog again soon.

Have a great celebration everyone, be careful and ENJOY! :)

XOXO

With love from Canada

2011-11-29T15:49:00.001+01:00

In 2009 we said our goodbyes in Singapore and she made a promise to visit us in Amsterdam in two years. I love it when people keep their promises :)

Nyonya food x Njoy cocktails x Bike tour Amsterdam

It was great catching up, hopefully it won't take another 2 years til we meet again! x

LONDON

2011-11-27T20:50:00.000+01:00

England never appealed to me until recent years cuz I always thought of it as a gloomy country. Yes, the weather was as gloomy as I imagined, but it's still a wonderful place!!!

I had a fantastic time in both Manchester and London, but especiallyyyyy London. I see myself going back there again 'n again 'n agaaaain only because of one thing; the SHOPPING!!!

You can literally find anything there as long as you've got the funds for it. It's SOOOOOO big, I seriously got overwhelmed by the sight of the size of the shops. It's crazy!

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from the trip.

Pretttttttty lights around Oxford :)))))

Lovvvved this mashed potato!

Spitalfields market was kind of a letdown. I was told the weekends are the best time to go, but I wanted to check it out on a weekday anyways cuz I didn't have a weekend in London =( There were some vintage stalls around but the stuff were being sold at ridiculous prices so I passed and headed elsewhere instead: the Burberry outlet. I'm not a big Burberry fan myself, I like some classic things and some labels but most of the mainstream things are not my style. This outlet was bigger than most outlets and the prices have really, really been marked down heavily so Burberry lovers will super love this place.

I found the most amazing (okay maybe a little exaggerated, but I reeeeeeally loved it) lammy coat at 80% off... Just when I finally decided to go for it after a super long time (cuz I just bought a new leather jacket the day before this!) and as I was giving the coat a final check before purchase I found marks, which looked like shoeprints, on both sleeves! :( I HATE spending my hard earned money on things that are not a 100% ok unless it's really cheap, so I didn't buy it in the end (cuz the staff didn't want to give me an additional discount for the marks). I think I'm stupid cuz until today I still think about the coat and wish I had bought it, ohhhhhhhhh I hate it when this happens x_X!

Why why whyyyy didn't I buy you?? Now I'm gonna suffer from the cold the entire winter. Serves me right.

The massive Topshop at Oxford Circus, a m a z i n g !

Met up for a drink with my exchange buddy from Singaporeeeee :)

M O R E . 2 . C O M E

Back 2 work

2011-11-21T23:21:00.000+01:00

It is one of the most sucky feelings having to come home to an empty space after having visitors over the past period. It's so quiet in the house! :(

Still, I'm not complaining. I can't express how thankful and happy I am that I even had my bf visiting me this month cuz honestly I did not see it coming! :))

A recap of the last week :)

**

Netherlands vs Switzerland - *y a w n* It was such a boring game, but the crowd was wicked!

**

Windmills & Pea soup

He actually liked the 'Haring' (Herring) *shiversss*

Love love love the houses in Volendam..looks super cute & "gezellig" (cosy)! :)

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Dusseldorf

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Artis Zoo

**

Heineken Brewery - been here twice now, and it's superrr fun!

**

Empty club turned into "VIP" crazy night :D

Hahaha I MISS dancing like idiotas with herrrrrrr :)

It turned out to be suchhhha good night! Much love to all ^_^

**

Pancakes & Mexican

**

Ahhh.. good memories :_)

Again, can't be happier and feel more blessed that I got to spend 3 fabulous and joyful weeks with my honey! :))) Am totally ready to battle the coming 2 months of work, work 'n more work til my next trip to see him, woop woop!

Countdown to KL is ONNNNNNNNNNNNNN~ ^_^

23 - & more Amsterdam

2011-11-16T21:30:00.000+01:00

The past 2 weeks have been amazing!

A little update =)

When visiting Amsterdam (or Belgium) a must try are these Vlaamse frieten or Belgian fries. They are NIIIIIICEEEE :)

**

Museumplein

I love this area of the city, especially when the sun's out. It looks so green 'n fresh! :)

The Netherlands may not be a world class culinary country, but the Dutch sure do know how to make yummy snacks! Another must try are these oliebollen, which are like a doughnut covered in powdered sugar. Only available during the cold months =)

Famous spacecake!

**

T W E N T Y . T H R E E @ Lime Bar

Just wanted to have a small gathering with my girls to have some drinks cuz I haven't been around on my birthday for the past 2 years. I had a really great night and was spoilt rotten :))))

Love you all, thanks for everything -^_^-

**

That's all for now, blog soon! :) x

1.11.'11

2011-11-01T23:07:00.000+01:00

I know I'm going to get really busy these coming weeks and I'll have problems keeping up my blog again, so despite the fact that I would LOVE to snuggle up next to my bf (he and the waffle monster are both dead asleep, poor boys are jetlagged) right now, I won't just yet.

Instead, I'm going to write about my fantastic day!

With only 4 hrs of sleep I went to the airport to pick up the boys at 6 AM! :)

I can't tell ya how much I enjoyed today. For starters, I had roti canai for breakfast. How can a day go wrong with that? Haha.

Then as the boys unpacked their luggage...I received my birthday gifts early *SWEEEEEEEET* :)))

Been eyeing on this for soooooooooo long, sooooooo happyyyyyy! :) #HelloKittyfanforlife

Keyboard for my iPad...LOVE IT! :)))

#BEST. This stuff is miracle!

Thank youuuuuuuuu!!! :)

City tour by foot x Bagels & Beans x Canal Cruise x Swirl x Ijburg x Wagamama

The weather was SO NICE! It actually has been for the last couple of days. There's hardly any wind and the sun has been appearing often, just perfect.

Not many pictures were taken today cus I forgot to charge my cam :X

Ok, time to hit the bed now - NEED SLEEP & energy for more touristy activities *love*

After thoughts

2011-10-31T22:37:00.003+01:00

It´s been 3,5 months since I came back from the backpacking trip, and I finally managed to put it all down on digital paper, whew!

Some random after thoughts...

1. WE DID IT! :) There's no way I can express how frrrrrrrreaking proud I am!

I never fail to surprise myself by my random actions and decisions. Being a typical Scorpio I'm full of contradictions, passion and intensity. I love living life on the edge, finding my boundaries and crossing them, I love to overcome my fears by facing them and I just generally love learning new things and exploring the unknown.

Yet at the same time, I need to be in control or else I'll lose my mind. :P

Having sworn I'd never ever go budget traveling because of a 101 reasons, one day I decide to take a leap of faith and just do it. And I did it real good if I may say so myself! :)

I'm amazed at the fact that I managed to live out of a 55L backpack containing not much more than a couple of tops, a pair of leggings and 2 x shorts, a skirt, underwear and my toiletries. We managed to get by with an average of 20-25 EUR/day including food, accommodation, activities, daily transport and souvenir shopping (long transports and shopping excluded). Not bad hey?! Living as cheap as possible and trying to stretch every dollar to the very end almost became a sport, but we weren't always as fanatic cuz a bit of affordable luxury (read: restaurant meals & aircon rooms once in a while, taxis, flights) never hurts :)

2. Since I came back a lot of people have asked me if I would go on another backpacking trip. Uh...YES? I had the besssst time and I would go back in a heartbeat if I didn't have another million things I still want to do. When the time comes, I would love to go back to Myanmar, Cambodia and Northern Thailand to see more, Laos, Sri Lanka, Philippines, East Malaysia, Indonesia......ahhh so many places, so little time right? Sometimes I wish I could split myself into a 100 of mini me/s haha.

3. I lovelovelove my backpack! I really couldn't have picked a better one! I highly recommend this to anyone who's looking for a good, reliable, easy to carry backpack; the Fjallraven Abisko 55W (also available for Men!). I mentioned before I couldn't find a review of this backpack at the time of purchase and that I would review it once I returned from the trip, so here it is!

What I like
Besides the look of it (which is the least important factor for me, but still nice if looking at it doesn't hurt my eyes), I really love the convenience of the backpack. The full front opening makes all the difference! Finding stuff in your backpack is made so easy because of this and (un)packing is a breeze. The average time I took to pack my bag was 10-15 minutes. It's perfect for people like me who are always rushing to get to places, haha!

The third thing I like about it is the size, it was perfect for me! 55L was just right, not too big, not too small. It's all in the art of packing...ROLL everything and bring wrinkle-free items ;)

Next thing I like is the feel of it on my back. It's a very light weight backpack and it just goes on and off so easily despite the weight of what's in my bag. Even when my bag was heavy, it didn't feel like I had to be careful about my straps breaking off or anything.

What I dislike
There wasn't anything I didn't like when I bought it, except maybe the price. The backpack set me back at about 180 EUR but the backpack has proven itself to be triple worth its price tag, no doubt! The quality and convenience are superb. Even after using my bag intensively for 2 months, I have no complaints at all. :)

Conclusion; Great backpack that I'll definitely be using more often! I can't wait to use this for my one week trip to England~! :)

4. Special thanks to my BFF Miek for the amazing times! :)

Absolutely loved having you with me on this trip! Priceless memories. I couldn't have imagined going on this very first backpacking trip without ya! Not many words are needed to tell you how much I cherish our friendship and appreciate you as a friend. I don't meet many people in life that I find worthy of my time & effort, but you definitely possess all the fine qualities and values I look for in a true friend. I feel super blessed to have such a freakishly gorgeous girlfriend, who doesn't even realize how beautiful she is, with such a kind, kick ass personality. Love you forever and ever my drama queen!! :) Can't wait til we get to travel together again.

And that sorta sums up the things I wanted to say about the trip!

November is literally just around the corner, I can't believe it!

My holiday started today, I've no work for 3 whole weeks (okay, except maybe one day)! I'm counting down the hours til my bf & the waffle monster touch down on Dutch soil, only 8 hours left, WOOP WOOP!!!!

E X C I T E D!

Backpacking SEA; Cambodia p2 - Siem Reap

2011-10-26T15:17:00.000+02:00

LAST POST!

And it's about one of my fav places of the trip; Siem Reap!

**

Day 1: Chillin'

Our very first bus journey!!!!! Pick up was at 8 AM and we only paid $6 for an aircon bus all the way to SR from the capital. It was a super comfortable ride and it took about 6 hours. Miek and I had the entire back row to ourselves, so we could stretch and lie down comfortably all the way :D!

Not knowing what we were about to experience in Myanmar, we thought to ourselves.....pfff this bus thingy is easy peasy! We totally jinxed it -_____-!

Anyway, we took a room at the Mandalay guesthouse, also only $9/night for a double room and one of the best rooms we had the entire trip.

Nothing much happened on day 1 as we were feeling really broken from the journey and the hot weather. We took a walk around town, visited the local market and supermarket (did I mention I absolutely LOVE going to supermarkets in other countries?) and passed out in our room for a bit. At night we had dinner at a Khmer restaurant and our very first massage, bliss! :)

Sadly, the child sex tourism is a huge thing in Cambodia... :(

Fav snack

**

Day 2: Angkor Wat, baby!

I'd been waiting for this day! :)

We all bought a 3 day pass to the temples, which cost a whopping $40. While I think it's totally worth it if you have like a week in SR, I definitely wouldn't get another 3 day pass when I'm only there for a max of 3 days. It's super tiring to visit the temples one day after the other in the sizzling heat.. I think it'd be better to spread the visits across 5 days so you can have a rest day inbetween each visit.

So, Angkor Wat! I always hear about this temple and I always thought to myself 'wow that must be an amazing place' but it wasn't until I got there and experienced the place with my own soul that it truly became something magical. The architecture is world class, the carvings and faces and structures were just mind blowing!

We hired a tuktuk for the day ($12) who took us around from temple to temple. Because it was so hot, we spent a lot of time at each temple trying to seek the shade to cool off. We did not visit a lot of temples, but the ones we did visit were simply breathtaking; Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Angkor Pra Thom.

Again...SO freakin bummed my camera settings weren't set properly at the time. O v e r e x p o s u r e. I found it so hard to take nice pictures and yes, I failed miserably :( BLEH.

Angkor Wat was under construction x_x

Travel buddies Luisa & Flo from Switzerland :)

LOL looks like I have a huge butt here!

Next up is my fav temple; Angkor Thom.

Beautiful faces.

It's supposed to look like I'm kissing the Buddha.. #FAIL haha

This is Angkor Pra Thom/Ta Prohm (I cant remember which name it exactly was?!) aka Lara Croft's playfield for the movie Tomb Raider.

Unfortunately when we got to this temple it started to rain quite heavily so I didn't walk around the temple much and this is one of the few pictures I've got.

At 3 PM we reached the maximum heat we could take, so we went back to the GH for a shower and change of clothes before heading back again for the sunset.

It was crowded!

**

Day 3: Sunrise

4 AM: Cycled to the temples to catch the sunrise!!! We had no map whatsoever, but it was quite easy to get to the temples and it took about 45 minutes. Roads were empty, weather was perfect..Amazing amazing amazing!

At the very last temple, we met a bunch of interesting kids.

This girl for example knew every capital of every country we mentioned AND she knew how to say Hi, how are you among other basic phrases in almost every language! Dutch, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese..you name it, she knows it! She said she learned it from the tourists which again shows how important tourism is. These kids are so smart and they are willing to learn so much from us. She and the other kids brightened up my day for sure :)

I noticed the children there were so underdeveloped, they are really small for their age. The girl was 14, but doesnt look much older than 10 to me.

This cutiepie looks 4, but he's 7 years old..

We were completely knackered and really longing for a good nap, so we cycled back to our GH again (took about an hour+ this time cuz the heat was killing us!). When I woke up I went to explore the city a bit by myself as the others were still lazing around, booked our taxi for the next day to the Thai border (bargained from $35 to $25, hehe!) and had another massage by myself.

**

Siem Reap is a fantastic city in my opinion, would've loved to see more. If only I had more time! And energy. It's crazy what the sun and heat can do to your body... at the end of each day we all were completely exhausted and worn out and all we wanted to do was crawl into our beds to recharge ourselves. It was also really hard to resist taking naps in the afternoon, haha! I sound so O L D now but I'm not kidding you X_x.

Anyway, I'm really glad I got to visit Cambodia. This visit has made quite the impression and I am so happy the experience met far beyond my expectations! Another item crossed off the "bucket list", woop woop! :)

THE END. (finally! haha) x

Backpacking SEA: Cambodia p1 - Phnom Penh

2011-10-18T23:07:00.000+02:00

The last two cities I've yet to blog about were also the first two places we visited! :)

I was planning to blog about both places in one entry, but I have way too many pictures to share so PP is up first! :)

Let's rewind to May 2011.

Kingdom of Cambodia! :D

This is a country I have been wanting to visit for sooooo long after reading a travel blog. I have this extremeness in me that whenever I am fascinated by something or an idea, I just HAVE to make plans to see it/do it. I don't know why, but I feel like 'the thing I want to see/do' is going to slip away from me if I don't see/do it asap. It's almost like an obsession. Anyway, Cambodia was among one of these obsessions because the country has such a fascinating but really sad history. Just had to go see it.

Day 1

Haha, I still remember this very first day in Phnom Penh.

We arrived there both dead tired because we didn't get much sleep for the past 2 nights. We also felt a little disoriented, not too sure on how to 'start' the journey. While waiting for our room we went to get a mani + padi and took a short nap at the guesthouse's lounge. We stayed at this place called Top Banana Guesthouse which I can definitely recommend (apart from seeing the first couple of rats there..brrrr). It's super lively, met lots of travelers there and it's cheap! I think we paid $9 for a double room with fan.

By the time we checked in it was way past noon already, and we only had 2 days there so despite our fatigue we decided to head towards the Royal Palace for some sight seeing. It was crazyyyy hot, I think Cambodia was the hottest place we've been. We were sweaty, tired and hungry so we stopped by a mall to grab some food where we ended up falling asleep in the restaurant on top of each other, LOL. We literally slept there for like half an hour before waking up in total embarrassment. Luckily the place was empty, but the staff were pretty amused, haha.

Needless to say we didnt make it to the Royal Palace but instead went back to our room to take an apparently much needed nap, haha. Woke up to have dinner at the guesthouse and chilled there the rest of the night. We didn't really do much on day 1, but made up for it on day 2!

**

Day 2

One of the two things I was most looking forward to were the Killing Fields in PP and the S21 prison. I was looking forward yet at the same time dreading to visit these places because I knew I was going to be very affected by what I was about to see.

It was 1975 when the Khmer Rouge regime began. Approximately 2 million lives were taken in a course of four brutal years due to starvation, overwork, diseases and torture. That's nearly 1/3 of the country's population.

I highly recommend Loung Ung´s First They Killed My Father for a more detailed story of the horrible mass killings. I cried and sobbed throughout the book, but couldn't put the book down til the end. I cringed while reading it. The suffering and pain they went through.. it's unimaginable. How one human being can harm another human being in such an awful way is beyond me.

Warning; this is not for the faint hearted....
The memorial where skulls that were dug up from the mass graves after the regime were arranged according to age and gender

Upon closer look, you'll see skulls that are all cracked up or have holes in them. Often these victims were hit until their skulls burst or other tools were used to save bullets. Goodness...the pain. :(

Female victims aged 15-20

I choked when I saw this tree. HOW could anyone possibly have the heart to do this??!?! It's so wrong and so inhuman and it makes me sooooo angry!!!!

Afterwards we went to the Tuol Sleng prison aka S21.

It was once a high school, then turned into the most horrible place you can imagine.... Politicans and their families (including children) got interrogated and tortured here in many ways that included pulling out fingernails while puring alcohol on the wounds, running acid up their nose, electric shocks, using hot metal instruments, suffocation and much more.... While being tortured, the prisoners were forbidden to scream, curse, talk or make any form of noise.

The living conditions in the cells were terror. Prisoners had to eat, sleep, pee and shit in this tiny cell with no shower. They were not allowed to speak to each other and any attempt of disobey would be heavily punished.

Before entering the prison, pictures of the prisoners were taken along with their background info. The faces of confusion, sadness and fear on all these pictures were heartbreaking.. The place displayed heaps of other pictures, victims bleeding after being tortured and lifeless bodies everywhere...but I just couldn't bare taking pictures of those. Sigh.

I felt so depressed after this. We all did :( I was speechless. To read about it is one thing, but to actually see the places these people were tortured to death with my own eyes was a total different thing. Being there I could feel the sadness. It was so gloomy and dark. I couldn't find any words to say, none of us actually did..we went through the mass graves and the prison in total silence. My heart was aching more by the minute, it was as if I could feel their torture, their cries, their pain..so sad :((

When we left the Killing fields in total shock, our tuk tuk driver told us about his days during the Khmer Rouge regime. He also apologized for Cambodia for not having many smart people around the country because he said most of them were killed during the regime. Seriously... :(

I'm super glad I visited this though. It's good to see these things and I think it's good that it's there for people to see so that this will never be forgotten. And let it be a lesson that history should never repeat itself. There's so much hatred in this world, we need more love!

May the victims who died during the regime rest in peace.

**

It was our last day in PP and we definitely didn't plan on leaving this place feeling all down and sombre, so after a quick shower at the GH, we went to the Russian market for some nice streetfood & some shopping in hopes it would cheer us up. Afterwards we went to see the Royal Palace and took a stroll along the Mekong river. Beautiful :)

I love this pic!

At night the lounge at the guesthouse sorta turned into a party, it was major packed with backpackers from all over! Highlight of the night was getting on a tuktuk with, what was it, 10 people?! Madness, haha!

View from the GH

Such a funny sight to see SO many bartenders for an otherwise totally empty bar if it weren't for us, haha!

We went to a bar called Howie's Bar or something, but I wasn't really feeling it for some reason. I guess being the granny I sometimes am, I was too tired after a long day that started at 8 in the morning to be partying it up, haha! Plus, we had to wake up early again to catch the bus to Siem Reap! EXCITEDDDD much! :)

Miek & Jois were here :D

Backpacking SEA; Kuala Lumpur

2011-10-05T11:30:00.000+02:00

Ahh, there are no words to describe how I feel about the amazing country that is Malaysia. Everytime I touch down KLIA, I get that warm & fuzzy feeling inside. It is truly my home away from home :)

How could one not love Malaysia? It has everything! Tasty cuisine, fantastic shopping, culture, beautiful architecture, landscapes and islands that are beyond amazing, crazy partying, friendly people, tropical weather...it's perfect :)

So anyways, our last stop for the trip was of course Kuala Lumpuuuuuuuuuuurrr! :) The city never fails to show us a good time. Believe it or not, Miek has been to Malaysia 4 times already since I know her, and we always have a smashing time together! :) This time was no different.

I LOVE the roti canai at this mamak! So perfect in every way *droooooool*!

Graduated gift #2

I don't know why, but I suddenly had the desire to buy an iPad! I think it'll be awesome for traveling and I have not regretted a second since I bought it. I looooove spending time playing games, watching shows and surfing on my iPad! :) Worth every cent (Malaysia sells it muchhhhhhhh cheaper than NL btw! Crazy price difference).

Party rockers in da house tonight!

Looking at these pictures makes me miss my tan so much!

I also reaaaaally misssss the people in KL and I CAN'T WAIT to be back again! That would be...in about 4 months from now :)))) I'm super looking forward to spending CNY there with my parents (and hopefully my brother), all my relatives and of course my baby and his family & friends, it's going to be soooooohoooooooo much fun! :)

This time I really want to spend more time with my relatives (especially my cousins) because the last few times I went there I didn't have much time to spend with them which I feel really bad about. I've only met them once (at the most twice, and I don't see some relatives at all!) every time :(

So yes, another trip to look forward to, feeling super blessed. Life is good. =)

But for now, I'm reaaaaaaaally looking forward to November because a little bit of Malaysia is coming to me and I'm so excited!!!! Guyssssss, hurry up please :)))

Backpacking SEA; Myanmar p4 - final days in Yangon

2011-10-04T16:53:00.001+02:00

Ok, time to get back to the backpacking posts!

So we arrived back in Yangon in the evening from Chaung Tha after another loooooong ride (almost 10 hours this time), but in a bus that was in much better shape than the one we came in.

Part of me was really glad that we wouldn't have to travel around by bus anymore (at least not in Myanmar), but part of me was also quite bummed that I didn't see more of Myanmar. But at least we had a relaxing time in Yangon, no rushing, just chilling and taking our own sweet time to explore the city.

Gonna let the pictures fill in the words :)

Briyani Chicken. Another recommendation by LP, supposed to be -the best- Indian food in town...but it was another disappointment :( (It beats the fried rice tho, HAHA)

Expensive lunch at Sakura Tower! $17.

It was a mistake.
We weren't supposed to eat this, we were supposed to enjoy some special lunch offer, but I think we got the wrong address or something! So, we sat down (tired from the hot weather outside) and BAM; expensive lunch menu was presented. We just couldn't say no, so we ordered... T___T

Myanmar = betel nut galore.

I did my research before I came here, so I knew I could expect 'red' streets, but if you don't know about it, you'd seriously go 'Why is there blood everywhere??' People here chew betel nuts non stop and spit it out on the streets. Most betel nut chewers also have brown/red stains on their teeth, and I really wanted to try it out for picture taking's sake, but I didn't get the stains? :( haha

Oh how I wish I didn't try it. It tastes absolutely bitter and disgusting!

Bought new sunnies! :)

Took the bicycle back to the GH, I kinda pitied the poor man :X

This bottle of Whiskey cost less than $1, no joke! O_O

I had such a good time that night. From dinner, to drinks, to partying with awesome people.
Never expected our first night at the club to be in YANGON, hahaha!

Sule Pagoda

One day we decided to check out (yet another) pagoda, but what we didn't know was that we had to pay a $5 entrance fee cuz I overlooked that part in the LP. We already took our flipflops off (and left them with the rude ladies who demanded money for storing our shoes) and went upstairs when another rude lady told us to follow her to pay the entrance fee. We were like no way we're gonna pay for this and we wanted to get out of there, but the lady wouldn't let us go. Sigh, there goes $5 which I would have rather spent on a visit to the amazing Shwedagon again instead of this small unimpressive pagoda.

On a positive note, we met a monk there who took us around the city to some very nice monastries and temples afterwards..blessing in disguise :)

On one of our last days we hopped on the $1 ferry that took us across river to Dalah. It was such a hot day, so we didn't get that far. From what we've seen, there wasn't much except for REALLY annoying touts that were hassling us for like half an hour and following us everywhere.

***

I'll stop being lazy now, more posts coming up soon! :)

Fav audition ever

2011-09-29T23:58:00.003+02:00

I don't know how many times I've viewed this video, it makes me soooooooooooo happyyy!

He is the real deal, look at the determination, the passion, the heart he puts into this song and performance...it touched me deep. He's the living proof that people can change, no matter what happened in the past. I love the mindset, I love the positivity. I think it's weak and I can't stand it when people blame the past for their fucked up lives, get up and get real, be the change.

Seriously, words can't express how much joy I find in talented, courageous, inspiring people like him :)))) I sincerely hope he makes it far (or even wins it!) and gets the chance to a better life. Go Chris!!

Speaking of talented people.. I was supposed to be rockin it at Jamie Woon's concert tonight, but it got postponedddd!!! :( Gotta wait til December damn it.

Not gonna stop this, livin' on the feeling

Food & Fatty

2011-09-25T23:39:00.000+02:00

My first unofficial high tea! :D~
It was super yum, especially the scone with clotted cream & jam, but I was kinda disappointed with the presentation. I want tiers of goodies, not a plate!
I told my bf that he HAS to go have high teas with me in London, hahaha! Can't wait :D

**

At one of my fav cafes ever with one of my longest girlfriends ever :)

**

Italian at Casa di David for the first time. I loved the ambience, such a good place to eat & talk for hours :)

**

Dinner with the fam at Brasserie Keyzer. It's been a while! :) The food was so-so and the place was filled with gray haired people, but the wine was splendid!

Afterwards we went to my bro's crib.

Meet Fatty:

As you can see, Fatty is a cat. I have this thing against cats, I think they are super annoying, especially when they follow you around and keep asking for your attention by touching your leg!

But, this cat is different! Fatty is my brother's baby, haha and when he first told me he got a cat I was like 'NUUUUUUUUUUUUU WHY??' -_- I finally got to meet her after a couple of months and she's shoooooooooooooo cuteeeee!! :))) She's super hyper and the things she does are beyond cuteness. Wish I had met her earlier!

How adorable is sheee?? :)

I'm kinda missing her now T___T

But! I'm seeing her tomorrow, yayyyyyyy :)

OFFICIALLY a graduated bum!

2011-09-24T23:53:00.000+02:00

Oh my goodness!

I graduated in May, but it didn't feel official until I actually signed that piece of paper.... Well, last Thursday I finally did!!!! :))

I had such a blast at the graduation ceremony, it was good seeing my old classmates..it was good being back at school - for the very LAST time! :D

Graduation outfit ;P

Ok, so...the minute I stepped into school with my family, my mom whipped out her camera and started taking pics with her ancient camera with flash, HAHA. I got the stares and laughs and I couldn't have felt more asian then, LOL. Cute though :)

My mom left on holiday the same day so I don't have the pics from her camera yet!

My turrrrrrrrrrn!

My thesis coach held a little speech, and he's such a darling. He's a super intelligent and nice man, and I feel that he really believes in me and my abilities. :) I'm glad I got to speak to him before the ceremony cuz aparently this (big!) company called him up for a reference and he told them to definitely go for me! How sweeeet?? :) But it wasn't me, haha!

TEEHEE!! :D

Admiring my diploma, haha!

With mommyyyyyyy ♥♥♥♥♥

BFF! ♥♥♥

Sweetest dad ever :)) ♥♥♥♥♥

My beautiful family :)

My one&only sibling :) ♥♥♥♥♥

So happy we got to graduate together! :))

Sad I had to leave after 1 drink, didn't get to chat with everyone! But my mom was leaving for KL, so I wanted to follow her to the airport. :)

My graduation gifts from mom & dad, love it!!! :))

*******

Words can't describe how happy I am to have completed this chapter. I feel so free!
When people ask me if I am going to further my studies, my immediate response is 'HELL NO?!' cuz I am soooooo done with school. I feel like for the first time in 5 years, I have control back in my life. I can do things without having to think about school (studying for exams, classes, presentations, homework, projects, thesis etc. etc.). WHOOP WHOOP!

Having said that, I don't really know what's next for me. I feel like the world is at my feet and I can literally do anything I want. I'm not in a rush to get a 'proper' job, I'm just cruising around and taking things slow. I'm not a long term planner and I take life one step at a time...so...I'll see where I'll end up! :D

Whatever's out there waiting for me......BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRING IT ;)))!

Stunned

2011-09-12T21:11:00.000+02:00

Dear Friend,

It's been a while since we last spoke, and I'm sorry for that. But I remember you.

I remember you as a happy, positive spirited, kind, intelligent, funny person with a beautiful heart, spreading all that love you possess inside around you.

I look back on your time in this world with a big smile on my face. So glad to have met you, because you're one of the kindest and friendliest people I have ever met. Eventhough our friendship was shortlived, thank you for the wonderful memories that I'm so fond of and your ever so kind words. I will always remember them.

I still can't believe it, it's not fair. But I trust that you're in a far better place now, smiling down upon us. You were truly a great person, and you will be missed dearly by many.

Til we meet again, Rest in Peace buddy.

Love,
Jois

*****

M E M O R I E S .x

Singapore Exchange, 2009 :)

H o l i d a y

2011-09-07T18:52:00.000+02:00

I read an article in a magazine the other day that provided 4 tips on how to become a happier person.

One of them was to have things to look forward to.

Apparently, just thinking about something exciting (such as holidays, days out, events, shopping) increases your endorphin production by 27%. The article writes that looking forward to an activity is usually more fun that the activity itself (uh..really?).

I guess one of the reasons why I'm a happy person is because I ALWAYS have things to look forward to. I always make sure I do things that make me happy, because I believe life is just too precious to lay around dreaming and wishing of things we'd like to do. The sky is the limit, baby :)

Many of the things I was looking forward to this year have already passed (dad's 60th bday, graduation, new work, backpacking), but there's one more thing to look forward to; BABY COMING TO VISIT MEEEEEEEE!!!!!

I am PSYCHEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD yo! :D

The people around me ask me when he's coming to visit me all.the.time and it's always the same answer; don't know. But HERE you go; He's coming in November!!! :)

It's been a good 3,5 years since his last visit, so it's def high time to relive Amsterdam again! This time he's not coming alone, he's bringing "waffle monster" Timmy so it's gonna be double the fun! woohoo! :)

Last time my bf came here it was during the winter, and the weather was terrible! It was literally raining every single day, so it was really shitty being outside and we couldn't do much. I really hope the weather isn't going to be like that again cuz that would suck! =( Looking at how our "summer" has been...I'm not too hopeful.

I'm really looking forward to showing these two around my hometown again and do all the touristy stuff that comes with it, especially the stuff we didn't get to do last time due to the weather. Heineken Brewery (was under renovation back then), Anne Frank house, canal cruise, going to the park, taking the train to other cities, coffeeshops, riding a bike around town and muchossss more :))

ANDDDDD more awesome news.. we're goin to the UK as wellllll!! We're spending 2 nights in Manchester and 4 in London. I have NEVER been to the UK and I've been wanting to see London for a veryyyy long time now, so I'm super duper excited about it! :)

I found out a Forever21 flagship store opened in London last july...YAYYY! :) Of course it won't be all shopping, I can't wait to see the rest of London..time to plan an itinerary! :D

As for Manchester, my bebe's life long dream of visiting the Old Trafford stadium is about to come true and honestly, I am supeeeerrrr happy for him! He has been talking, dreaming, ranting about going to this place since forever, so I'm really excited that he finally gets to go! And I get to go with him :) I may not be really interested in football, but Manchester United means everything to him, so yeah..it has become meaningful to me too. It'll be awesome!

November, HURRY UP!!! But at the same time I don't want it to because my birthday is in November and I HATE MY BIRTHDAY! Positive thing is, I'll have my baby with me, yippeeee!

Here's my ultimate holiday song before I sign off... makes me all happy and sizzling with excitement every time! :D

Ps. The article's tip is damn right, thinking of exciting things DOES make you happier! Haha

Backpacking SEA; Myanmar p3 - stranded in Chaung Tha

2011-09-06T14:28:00.000+02:00

Most people head to either Mandalay or Kalaw/Inle Lake after they're done with Bagan, but we decided to do something different and travel to Chaung Tha. Yeah, we were pretty desperate for the beach.

Horrible, horrible mistake.

Besides the fact that we had to sit a 10 hour bus back to Yangon, wait 3 hours for the next bus, and then sit through another 7 hour bus ride, we arrived in the pouring rain AND almost everything was closed. AWESOME!

The bus to Yangon was muchhhh better than the one we came in tho! Same price. The aircon was working (a little too well, cuz it was madddd cold! Forgot my scarf in my backpack which was stored downstairs *dumb*) and the bus was a lot cleaner. However, we were assigned the worst possible seats one can have -_- All the way in the back with the full aircon blasting on me, next to 3 local men whom felt a little -too- comfortable and it was soooo bumpy in the back.

But that was nothing compared to what we were about to experience. The WORST ride of my life! At 6 AM we took the bus to Chaung Tha which was a really old, aircon-less (it was soooo hot!), cramped bus and literally filled to the MAX. People sat in the aisle on little plastic chairs! The spaces between our seats was super minimal, and the guy in front of me decided to relax himself and pushed his chair backwards leaving me with even less space! I was literally sitting with my knees up the whole ride. Poor Miek had the aisle seat and the locals next to her kept eating these betelnuts and kept spitting throughout the trip x__x.

That was just the beginning. The journey was supposed to take like 5 or 6 hours, but it turned out to be 7 long hours in the end, and we got so impatient because the ride was SO HORRIBLE! This bus driver we had was a nuthead. He drove so carelessly and it scared the shit out of us. We had to drive through the mountains, 3 hours long, to get to Chaung Tha, it was such a bumpy and dangerous ride, we even got into an accident. The driver was driving too fast and crashed into another van! Thank goodness the van managed to do the right thing and the damage was minimal, but I swear I saw my life flashing by before my eyes -_-!

A busstop in the mountains, cute!

So yeah, even before we got off the bus in Chaung Tha, it started pouring like mad cuz it was rainy season! :( I was really pissed cuz after all that shit we went through to get there, we couldn't even enjoy the beach a little. Frustration!

We took a motor taxi to the GH we picked from our LP beforehand, but it turned out to be closed for the season, just like most of the guesthouses/restaurants. We were left with very little choice, so we ended up at this really nasty place that was infested with insects. Also, their restaurant served shark fin soup which really pissed me off cuz I didn't want to eat there and was forced to have another meal of..tasteless fried freakin rice. -___- At that point, I was really frustrated already and just really regretted going there.

Both of us regretted this decision, and we could not wait to get out of there cuz that place was a dead hole. We were the only (silly) tourists around, no beach, no daily activities/boat trips, no sight seeing, no restaurants..just dead.

Which is why we decided to return to Yangon the very next day! I'm so glad we did because just the thought alone of having to eat fried rice for the next few days was killing me, lol.

I bought this traditional 'longyi' from a Burmese lady in Bagan, but as you can see it's way too big for me, haha! I really loved wearing it though, it's so airy and comfortable. Plus, the locals really appreciate a foreigner appreciating their clothes, hehe! I received a lot of smiles and compliments from them :)

#smellthesarcasm

Fried rice for lunch, fried rice for dinner...

But! There's always a bright side of the story :)

Our friend from the travel shop, who we bought our bus tickets from, asked us to come over at night to chill, and he sang some Burmese songs for us on his guitar with his friend...so nice :)

I noticed music plays a big role in the life of the Burmese. Everywhere you go, you'll hear people sing, listening to music (on tv or music player), play music instruments, humming.. I guess music is a good outlet for them to escape or cope with the reality they're living in..

This is so old school!

We were watching Michael Jackson videos from a video tape, and suddenly one of the guys whipped out this pile of papers with handwritten lyrics, how adorable!!! I did that all the time when I was younger.

The next morning before we left, he took us around town on his motorbike :)

First, real Burmese brekky! YUM!!!

The 'petrol station', haha!

Then it was back to Yangon for the last 5 days! It will be up as soon as I have the time to sort out the gazillion pictures, haha :D

My advice; take the rainy season seriously!!!

Sucker for gadgets!

2011-09-01T20:52:00.000+02:00

Everytime I convince myself that I'm happy and satisfied and don't need all these gadgets, something just pops out in the electronics world that brings out the greedy shopaholic in me! WHY!

This time it's the new BlackBerry Bold 9900! It is soooo sexy! I've always loved phones that have the best of both worlds, a touch screen + keypad. As much as I like the iPhone, touch screen just isn't for me and I think it's too fragile (considering how many times I've dropped my phone, I think if I had an iPhone it would've been broken by now!).

I also reallyyy love that the new BB is bigger, but slimmer, than the current one I'm using cuz I love big phones. It's so much easier to type and there's just a better grip on it. The phone is also muchhh faster and I really hope they improved the wifi function on this one cuz I really HATE the wifi on the 9700! It doesn't work!
In Thailand I wanted to use the GH's free wifi, but instead they deducted my usage from my phone credit -_-

So yes, the 9900 is going to be mine...just a matter of time :)

**
Pics from recent events!

Cheers @ Njoy - they serve amaaaazing cocktails!

Cucumber & Strawberry also known as - C&S Delight :)

The graduated one & the birthday girl :)

So very proud of you hun!

And...my first asian party at Escape since a loooooong time, haha!

**

Ps. My camera rocks so hard! Haha ♥

Backpacking SEA; Myanmar p2 - Bagan

2011-08-30T21:17:00.000+02:00

Ummm, I had another 500 pictures just from these 2 days in Bagan to sort out, I need to stop taking so many pictures everywhere I go! lol

I mentally prepared myself for the most horrible bus ride to Bagan, and thank goodness I did that because the bus was gross! :( The airconditioning was hardly working (expected), and the locals were just spitting in the bus everywhere! I guess we were lucky we traveled at night so it wasn't that hot. Also, we were expecting the ride to take around 12-16 hours (haven't experienced it while I was there, but bus breakdowns are common in Myanmar apparently), but it only took 10... YAY!

We arrived at 3 am, and the busstop area was literally *FULL* of locals with their horse carts and other vehicles ready to make a few quick bucks. They started their prices ridiculously high, but in the end they dropped their prices by 300% or something, lol. I felt bad for declining, but our GH was literally a 5 minute walk from the busstop, so we didn't really need their service.

Day 1

Temples, temples & more temples!

Bagan has enough temples to keep you busy all day all week. It has over 2000 temples spread across 40 miles of land that date back to the 11th - 13th century. It was all so beautiful and it felt surreal to be walking around these ancient ruins. Definitely a *squeeze me, am I dreaming* moment.

I expected to really step back in time in Myanmar, and while I didn't really have that feeling in Yangon, I had a little bit more of that in Bagan. I mean, we went around the temples by horse cart!

We hired a horse cart at 10000 kyats for the day (+/- 6 hours) because LP recommended it, but honestly I pitied the horse so much! :(((( They have to walk around the temples for so many hours in the crazyyyy heat and they don't get water until after the job is done. I kept asking our guide whether the horse needed water cuz I wanted to buy it some, but he kept saying it was alright. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I thought it was really sad and I felt bad going around with a horse cart. Then again, there is a lot of ground to cover, so walking wasn't really an option and cycling in that mad heat during the day wasn't an option either.

Off we go!

The locals wear this yellow stuff called Thanaka on their faces and body to help protect them from the sun and the heat.

We were talking to this lady at one of the temples and since we were almost dying from the heat, she asked us if we wanted to try some Thanaka to keep us cool! :) And yes, it did help! Just a little bit =P

The holy LP that got us through Myanmar :)

Although I still prefer the temples of Angkor structure wise, Bagan was amazing in its own way. When we were there, there were VERY few tourists. It was like we had the entire place to ourselves, I really liked that! And the sight of so many small temples lined one after another was simply amazing. I have to admit that the interaction with the vendors and kids selling postcards and other souvenirs at the temples got a little too much for me at times (they literally follow you in and around the temples, one boy even followed us on his bicycle!), but it doesn't take away the fact that these temples in Bagan are a definite must see!

**

So, after a loooong, hot, tiring day, we had dinner at this delicious Indian restaurant right next to our GH, the food was soooooooo good! The owner and his son were super nice as well, if you go to Bagan, you MUST NOT miss this restaurant. I hate that I don't remember the name of the restaurant (I was supposed to go "like" them on Facebook haha) but it's next to New Heaven Guesthouse. The bomb!

Day 2

We decided that 1 day of temples was enough, and so we hired a cab to take us to Mount Popa, an extinct volcano. Situated 50 km outside of Bagan, Mt Popa is said to be the home of the Nat spirits. (click for Wikipedia :p)

I really enjoyed our ride there! Sure it was cramped and not the most comfortable ride, but on the way to Mt Popa we got to see some small Burmese villages and these locals were so friendly, they smiled and waved at us as we drove by, it was such a nice sight that made the 1+ hour journey well worth it.

O M G. The climb up to the top of the mountain was disastrous! The stairs were reallyyyyy steep, and my stamina is so bad, I was literally out of breath halfway. It took us like half an hour or even longer to get up there! There were also these agressive monkeys everywhere, some fighting, some blocking the way on the stairs..I was so scared of them attacking me. One almost did, but thank goodness a local guy scared the monkey away before it got to me. I also had to make sure I didn't step into their pee and shit cuz it was all over the place, it was really disgusting cuz we had to walk barefoot!

When we reached the top, I wasn't really impressed with the temple, but I think you need a guide up there to really understand the history and appreciate it for what it is. LP warned us for it, it wrote that going to Mt Popa without a guide is like watching a foreign movie without subtitles..and damn it LP was right this time. However, the cool air and views were magnificent. I wish it wasn't so cloudy that day, I can imagine how amazing the views would then be.

Dinner at the Indian restaurant again :) BEST MEAL I had in Myanmar.

On the day of departure we had until 5 PM to explore Bagan a little more. We rented a bicycle from the GH and just randomly cycled around until it started raining and we had to turn back :(

Parenthood-ing

2011-08-23T23:49:00.001+02:00

I found a Gossip Girl replacement!!!

My bf has been BUGGING me ("WHEN are you going to start watching?!?!") to watch Parenthood, one of his favourite tv shows, but you know me..always lazy to make that first move to watch the first episode and then BAM! Totally hooked on it now!!!

It is SOOOO awesome! It makes me laugh and cry EVERY episode.

So, that's the reason why I have been so slow with my backpacking updates, really want to blog about it, but Parenthood is priority right now :P

Plus, working 6 days this week doesn't leave me with much free time to write.

Ok well, I guess I'mma go watch PH now :P

Backpacking SEA; Koh Tao & Railay Beach ♥

2011-08-18T14:24:00.000+02:00

Koh Tao

After 4 amazing days of luxury at Koh Racha, it was time to pick up our backpacks again and head East coast to Koh Tao!

The bus dropped us off at in the middle of the road right before the highway in Chumphon at around midnight, and we were like....what the?!

We entered this small internet cafe to ask where we could find a place for the night near the jetty to Koh Tao, but the guys there hardly spoke any English so we had a majorrrrr communication breakdown, haha! They were so sweet though and offered to take us to a hotel/GH in town on their motorbikes and oh mannn it was quite the ride! I was scared as shit cuz we're 2 girls following some complete strangers on their motorbikes in an unknown area in the middle of the night. It got even scarier when one of the guys told Miek that we could sleep at his place for the night O_O. Thank goodness we made it clear enough that we definitely weren't up for that and just wanted to find a place in town. I mean, I'm sure they meant well but I just didn't wanna take any risks. After a couple of rounds on the motorbike, we ended up at this GH that also sold the ferry tickets to Koh Tao, paid 150 baht for the night..and it showed. The bed was so digusting that we actually slept on the floor that night. Enough said -_-

Koh Tao offers the best rates in SEA when it comes to Open Water diving courses, so it was a good reason to go there as Miek was keen on trying it out!

While she was busy doing her course, I was basically left alone to entertain myself. I dived a couple of times, but I didn´t really enjoy it cuz my favourite and bestest dive buddy aka my baby wasn´t with me and I had to buddy with a noobbbb! :( That, and a couple of other factors that I'm lazy to elaborate on played a part too.

I took very little pictures in Koh Tao cuz I mostly spent my days in the water and in the massage salons :P

Our beautiful creation! :) @ the Swedish Midsummer beach party.

I think Koh Tao is a very average island. It's just a place where people get their diving license at a cheap rate so you bet the place is super crowded with divers/divers to be. I can't say too much about it cuz I've only been to one part of the island, let's just leave it at; not my cup of tea. BUT! The massages were very the amazing! I had one everyday for 5 days and tried 3 different massage salons and they were all sooooo good!

**

At the last minute we decided not go to Koh Pha Ngan next, but instead head back west coast to Krabi. We heard Railay Beach was supposed to be really beautiful, so why not? Railay it is!

Took the night ferry from Koh Tao to Suratthani....another nightmare.

Trust me, there was nothing VIP about it!!!

Cuz it looked like this:

I know right, did you barf already? We had to sleep on those mattresses that looked like they hadn't been washed in ages! :( Thank god I am ALWAYS prepared, so I had my scarf to sleep on. But those diehard backpackers seriously slept on those gross things, ewwwwww.

That wasn't the only problem, once the boat started moving it rocked back n forth really bad and non stop for a couple of hours. It was def not a fun feeling sitting on that boat, especially when this woman got sick and started throwing up uncontrollably. Serious FML moment. Once the rocking stopped, it was much better though, I'm not surprised I slept til we reached cuz I'm a pig and I can sleep anywhere, haha :)

Railay Beach

After all the delays in Suratthani, we finally reached Railay. We definitely didn't regret our decision coming here, cuz it was indeed stunning! Railay is famed for its rock climbing and beaches surrounded by beautiful limestone cliffs, and it's only accessible by boat.

This place was like a world apart from Koh Phi Phi & Koh Tao, it was so beautiful and serene. Most people skip this place or just hop by for a day tour, but I think it's definitely worth staying a few days. The beaches are simply amazing, definitely one of my favs so far!

Here we did absolutely NOTHING all day, it was soooo relaxing! :)

We stayed at the other side of Railay Beach cuz it's much cheaper and we just walked over everyday, it was only a 5 minute walk. There's another amazing beach called Phranang Beach which is a little further than Railay, but oh so beautiful! Loved it.

*Vroom Vrrrrooooommmmm~~~~

2011-08-13T11:44:00.001+02:00

I deleted my last post related to work cuz that post was pretty popular among googlers and I'd hate it if any of my colleagues would google the store and find my blog! I hope they didn't already :X

So anyways, BIG news yo! This coming Wednesday I'm up for something realllllly exciting! I'm getting my first driving lesson! :D

Getting my driver's license was totally not planned for this year, but I'mma do it anyways cuz I feel this is the right moment for it. I have time, I have money (well not really, but I'm working for it haha!) and..it's about time!

My instructor is gonna be up for some chaos on the road I think! I've never driven a car before and I can't multitask to save my life, LOL! It's gonna be fuuunnnn :)

Wish me luck, hehehee!

Backpacking SEA; Shopping paradise (Bangkok!)

2011-08-12T21:53:00.003+02:00

SHOPPING TIMEEEEEEEE!!!

If you would know me, you'd know that I hate wearing the same outfit multiple times!
So you can imagine that 7 weeks of wearing the same old shit drove me N.U.T.S!

In BKK it was time to say bye bye to all of that. Bye bye black maxi skirt, bye bye blue tanktop, bye bye blue t shirt, bye bye grey top, bye bye black tank top, bye bye leggings, bye bye brown t shirt, bye bye bye bye bye bye byeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!! :)))

We literally shopped until we dropped. Every night back at our GH, I was just broken. My arms, back and legs were soooooo sour from all the walking! And after barely recovering from the previous day, off we went for another whole day of walking x______x

Because I was so busy shopping I didn't take a lot of pictures there, but here are some =)

Day 1 shopping loot

We stayed at this GH called White Orchid Inn II, which was a very new and clean place. The only downside was that it's located in a beyonddddd GROSS neighborhood; Sukhumvit Soi 4. It's where you find all the dirty white men drinking beer as early as EIGHT am and pick up thai women. I hated going back to our GH at night cuz the street would be filled with prostitutes and dirty white men, it's such a disgusting sight. And I got harrassed by this dirty woman who kept bugging me with her dirty words, ewwwwwwww. Like leave me alone!! I just came to shop T____T

Day 2 shopping loot

Pimped my BB =p

Day 3 shopping loot

Sirocco @ The State Tower

It's my 3rd time here and I still love goin there! Unfortunately it was raining so we weren't able to go out n enjoy the view :(

Best restroom ever to camwhore! :D

Funnn @ a Jaspal photobooth in Central World :)

On our last day we did some last minute shopping at Chatuchak market.....lovvvve it there, especially the secondhand/vintage department! It is sooooo big there, our back, arms n feet were still aching from the previous days and it was damn hot, so we only stayed there for a few hours but it's worth it! I scored 2 leather jackets for only 35 bux each! Omg bargain! :))

Day 1, 2, 3 & 4 :)

**

And now....first shots with my new baby; I finally bought the Canon G12! :)))
Thought it be a nice graduation gift for myself :D

Backpacker turned flashpacker :P

Next stop; KL!

Backpacking SEA; Myanmar p1 - first days in Yangon

2011-08-09T23:38:00.004+02:00

Mingalaba! (Hello in Burmese)

Myanmar; a place so unique and special, definitely one of the most amazing countries I've visited so far. Which is why it deserves a ridiculous long post, and this is only part 1! :P

I had over 500 pictures to choose from just from those first 2 days in Yangon, so believe me when I say it was hell to sort and select the pics! I love almost every single picture cuz the country is so photogenic! Prepare for a couple of image heavy posts :)

Why Myanmar? That's a question we got asked a lot during our trip. The idea to visit this place came from me after an extensive research on the net. The fact that I didn't find one negative traveler's story about Myanmar made me really curious about this place, and that feeling only got stronger after reading Minka Nijhuis' book Birma. Land van Geheimen. (translation; Burma. Country of Secrets). I read many blogs and forums where travelers mentioned that Myanmar was the highlight of their SEA trips, I just HAD to see it for myself!

I managed to convince my travel partner Miek (which wasn't hard to do, hehe) to go with me.. and there we were! :) I was sooooooooooo excited about going there, I think I was looking forward to this country the most. When I was on the plane I just couldn't believe that in a little more than an hour I'd BE THERE. :D

Before I continue, to give you an idea of the country and its people, here's Myanmar in a nutshell;

Myanmar is the second largest country in South East Asia with a population of over 55 million people. The country is ruled by a military regime who are responsible for the poverty, suppression and exploitation in the country. The most important opposition party is the NLD of which Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung Suu Kyi is the face. Her criticism on the ruling military resulted in a house arrest of a total 15 years out of the past 21 years. Today the regime continues with the violation of human rights that includes forced labour, relocation of civilians, child labour and violent arrests for criticism on the junta just to name a few things.

Pretty heavy stuff, huh? It might make one wonder why you would want to visit a country like that. A visit to Myanmar inevitably puts money into the hands of the government, but there are ways to limit the amount, and the pros definitely outweigh the cons. The possibilities that tourism brings to the country and its people are endless. For many people, tourism is their only source of income and a good way to let the world know about the current situation in the country. The more people know about it, the higher the chances of improving the country's condition. The people are so isolated from the outside world, they literally welcome you with open arms. As far as safety goes, I honestly did not feel scared once when I was there. Besides Singapore, Myanmar has been the safest I felt in all of Asia regardless whether it was day or night.

Now... let's take a short journey through the city of Yangon, enjoy the pics! ^^

My first visa!

We were supposed to take an early morning flight that day, but our flight got rescheduled til the late afternoon., so we arrived there around 5 pm. The time difference between Amsterdam and Myanmar is 4,5 hours, which is so strange!!! The first time I googled the time difference and it showed me 4,5 hours I thought google was playing with me and I refused to believe it, but yeah..it's true, haha!

An exchange buddy of mine recommended the Motherland Inn II guesthouse, so our plan was to get a cab from the airport to the GH but upon arrival, the pick up service from the GH was already there to take us there! Awesome service. A whole bunch of us jumped in the van and headed to Motherland, it's a super popular place among backpackers. I can definitely recommend it even if it's a little pricey ($21 for a double room w/ aircon), it's clean, the staff is super nice and you meet a lot of people there :)

After checking in we headed into town to exchange some money. Ahhh the money issue. It was such a hassle seriously. First thing you do when you've booked a ticket to Myanmar (and after arranging your visa), is get your hands on crisp & clean US dollars. Until today I still don't know why they have to be brand new, but if they're not, the money changers will not accept them. So there we were in Bangkok, after getting our visa from the embassy we thought we'd hop by a bank to get some fresh dollars. To cut the story short, we didn't manage to find a bank that could give us new dollars, but we were redirected to the head office of the Bank of Bangkok. They assured us they had the new dollars there, but it was already too late to go so we had to go back the next day on the way to the airport. We were in a megaaaaaaa rush cuz the traffic was insane, but our cab driver was such a sweetie, he waited for us while we went to exchange the money, so we made it to our flight! Phew.

So back to Yangon, we didn't want to exchange money at the GH because the rate was very bad, but the rate in town wasn't that great either. According to my LP (Lonely Planet) the rate should have been $1 = 1000 Kyat (pronounced as "chat"), but the best rate we managed to get the entire trip was, if I remember correctly, 810 kyat. The rate dropped heaps by the end of the trip, I think it dropped to around 730? Crazy. Also not entirely unimportant, you get the best rate for $100 notes. Anything smaller than that you'll get a lower quote. You'll need both USD and Kyats, most entrance fees and guesthouses are to be paid in USD and the rest (food, transport, shopping etc.) in Kyats. I was super paranoid about having spanking brand new notes because the last thing I want is being stuck in Myanmar with money that the money exchangers don't want to accept! There was this guy on the same flight to Yangon who didn't bring any money and thought of getting cash from the ATMs...which of course are nowhere to be found in Myanmar. Doh! Things change really fast in Myanmar, so all the info I'm providing in this post might already be outdated so always do your research ;)

That night, we met a Burmese guy who had one too many drinks, but was eager to welcome us to Myanmar. We sat down with him at a small eatery to have a drink and something to eat cuz we were starrrrving. Hmmm.. I'm not a fan of the Burmese kitchen in general. I think it lacks variety and flavor...either that or the food just has a taste I just don't like x_x

Star cola :D

Haha this random guy at the eatery wanted to arm wrestle with one of the guys because apparently he always wins the battles. And yup, he won!

I was invited to the kitchen to take some pictures :)

Day 2

Bogyoke market was on the agenda for today! This is the best place to exchange money, but these two French guys we met the night before told us this Chinese lady in town gives a better rate. It was quite difficult to find the place because it's a tiny place on the 3rd floor of a tiny building, and when we finally reached there, all sweaty n sticky...the lady didn't have any money to exchange -_-

(Yes, I am wearing yesterday's clothes! LOL it became so normal to rewear our dirty clothes :D)

Yum!

My saviour!!!! It was given to me by a vendor at the market, so sweet!! :)

The highest denomination is 1000 Kyat, so you can imagine the thickness of the pack of cash we had after exchanging $200!

Rich bitches!

So after a quick shower and change, we headed to the Shwedagon Pagoda, but first we had to buy our bus tickets for Bagan. Word of advise; Never take parked taxis cuz they are such rip offs! We paid 2000 kyat to go to the busstation and another 2000 kyat to go to the Shwedagon. Also, I'd recommend checking out the prices at the busstation first before buying them from your GH. Chances are you'll get them cheaper. Motherland Inn II quoted us 18000 kyat for a ticket whereas we got them at the busstation for only 15000 kyat.

Then we were off to the Shwedagon, which was without a doubt the highlight of Yangon to me!

Entrance was $5, which goes into the pockets of the government, but hell...you can't miss this!

It is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo beautiful!!!!!!!!!!

The Shwedagon pagoda is the country's most sacred and largest Buddhist temple. Everywhere we went we'd see pictures of the pagoda in the car, on the walls, even in other parts of Myanmar. The massive pagoda is covered in gold and is 99m in height. It glitters and sparkles at dusk and it is just an unbelievably amazing work of art to look at. The crown of the pagoda is embellished with diamonds, rubies and sapphires and the top of the pagoda, the diamond bud, is tipped with a 76 carat diamond. How amazinggggg?!?!

We took crazy a lot of pictures, but these are just a fraction of it :P

Look out for these men who are eager to show you around the pagoda, showing you the best spots to take pictures and even taking the pictures for you. Once you talk to them, it is impossible to shake them off until you give them a donation for their service. This guy was taking pictures for us non stop! He kept going 'Hello please please please, please take a picture!' and then once you stand there, he'd take 3 or 4 pictures in different angles, haha! It was kinda cute, but annoying at the same time cuz we just wanted to walk around by ourselves without someone constantly wanting to explain everything and taking pics.

Getting busy with my camera, lol

I swear I get caugh taking pictures in the weirdest poses, hahaha!

Getting serrrrrrrious about photography, hahaha :)

I'm not a religious person, but if there's one religion I'm interested in it's the Buddhism. Visiting all these temples and being surrounded by the spirit of Buddhism has triggered this interest even more. I think it's so peaceful and to be in a place like this is incredibly calming.

We spent about 3 hours there just walking around, taking pictures and taking the magicalness of the place in. If it wasn't for our growling tummies I could have spent my whole day just sitting there watching the people pray, talking to the monks, admiring the amazing pagoda...sigh. :)

Ps. I also LOVED walking around barefoot! Felt so free :)

Took a cab to a restaurant (can't remember the name) that the LP recommended...oof turned out to be a mistake. Food wasn't wow, and it was expensive!! We paid around $17 for the 2 of us for average dishes..I mean, I had some Burmese fish noodles?!

Day 3

Our bus to Bagan was scheduled for 5 pm, so we had half a day to spend in Yangon. We went to the train station to take some pictures of the rare steam locomotive that still operates in Myanmar, only to realize after we came back from Asia that it wasn't the steam locomotive at all, LOL! Such noobies.

When we got there we had to pay a 1000 kyat entrance fee, which I think was a total rip off cuz I googled and couldn't find anything about this so called entrance fee. Oh well!

Although it was pouring rain, I had a great time at the station just people watching and taking some pictures.

One thing I love about Myanmar is the interest that the people show in you. They smile and wave at you all the time, and they actually mean it. It's a real smile and genuine interest. I also loved how they would just stop for a short chat and then go off as if it's the most normal thing in the world, haha love it!

This little boy had the time of his life playing naked in the rain. So adorable! :)

The waving guy in white stopped me earlier for a random chat...I wish all people would have a little of that Burmese genuine friendliness in them! I reckon the world would be a much better place :)

So....the railway is government owned and right after I shot this picture I had the scariest incident! You see the offices on the background in the picture? Yeah, I'm guessing those are the offices of government people. This scary dictator-looking man came out of his office and asked me 'What are you doing?! Why are you taking pictures?! Where are you from?! You're not allowed to take pictures!' and I was SO SCARED. I thought I was gonna get deported or something! I just told him sorry and quickly walked away x_____x.

Then Miek had the balls to go back to the office to ask the guy for a time table of the trains. I was peeing in my pants, but he turned out to be quite nice, I guess? He didn't have a time table for her to bring back but he allowed her to take pictures of it.

And then it was Bagan time!!

We went back to the GH to shower and chill there cuz we didn't wanna end up being sticky on the bus.
Again, the parked cab drivers are such rip offs! We were with the 5 of us and the max they would take in was 4 per car, so that meant we had to take 2 cabs. They charged us 7000 kyats PER cab. We found a cab that would take the 5 of us for only 5000 kyats, much better deal! And it was a luxe cab too ;) (actually I don't think it was a proper cab, but just someone who was willing to take on the job and $, haha!)

We spent another 5 amazing days in Yangon at the end of the trip, will blog about it in a separate entry! :)

Backpacking SEA; Koh Racha

2011-08-08T14:26:00.004+02:00

A short break from backpacking at The Racha resort :)

The guy who made the trip happen :)

Clean white bedsheets, power shower, barefoot in the bathroom, room service, amazing pools, perfect weather....almost wanted to blow our backpack budget & stay there a couple of days longer!!! :p

Current obsessions

2011-08-06T12:10:00.005+02:00

Thank Me Later

I know I´m late, but damn I love drizzyyy!

Marvin's Room

Can't waittt for his new album :))

Marvin's Room remix

I can't decide which version I like better :)

Jamie Woon

29 September @ Melkweg, Amsterdam...PRESENTTTTTT ;)

One & Only

Beautiful, funny & talented, she gives me goooooooooooosebumps!!!!

Le Bouquet Absolu

Backpacking SEA; Singapore

2011-08-05T17:01:00.019+02:00

Ok, we didn't really 'backpack' in Singapore cuz our main purpose was to shop :D

We did however stay at a backpacker place, aka cheapest as possible as far as that's possible in Singapore..man that place is so not meant for backpackers! Paying for our room in the prostitute neighbourhood of Singapore felt like a stab in the back, S$60/night (~35 euro)!!! It's not expensive in general, but considering we've stayed at really nice, clean & comfortable places for less than 7 euro during our trip, this was major ouch for us!

We were only there for a night cuz 1. we were on a tight budget 2. room was super not worth the money 3. shopping wasn't great, so we might as well go back to KL, save the $ that we're paying for transport, food & accommodation and spend it in KL.

Our plan was to actually go Couchsurfing in Singapore but we created our account way too late so it was hard to get someone to host us at the last minute :(

Anyways, was nice to be back in Singapore again after 2 years, we def had a good timeeee! :)

Went to The Arena at Clarke Quay cuz it was ladies night, we didn't spend a single cent in the club that night :D Man, that place brings back mighty sweet memories! That night was super empty tho! Haha, but this awesome band (who have been playing there since at least 2009 cuz I remember them!) made us stay :) Besides, we had a good time dancing like idiots and me on my bare feet cuz my new heels were k.i.l.l.i.n.g me! I lasted an hour, LOL x_x

The next morning we got up early to hit Orchard Road and the Merlion to shoot some pix!

While we were looking around & taking pictures, a whole bunch of tourists came up to us and asked us to take pictures WITH them, lol! It was so crazy and weird cuz it was like one after the other came; solo pics, family pics, group pics, haha so cute!

Then it was back to KL!
Aerolines is my preferred choice of bus anytime, but it was fully booked so we had to take another bus company.

The journey was a living hell x___x
1. Had an indian dude (one of the 2 bus drivers) snoring next to me
2. Stuck in traffic for the longgggest time ever!

We chose the wrong day and the wrong bus to head into KL.
Usually when I take the Aerolines bus it stops at One Utama (which is out of town and 2 minutes from where my bf stays), but this bus company was stationed at Berjaya Times Square which is smack in the middle of the city center...where the roads were slowly being closed to prepare for the major rally the coming day. We were stuck for hours & hours 'n we were so hungry so we hopped out of the bus to grab some food from the tank station. On the opposite road of the tank station we found a really empty road, so I was trying to find a cab that could bring us home. There weren't many cabs around, but thank goodnessss for this really nice girl who helped us get a cab and even waited for the cab to arrive while we headed back to the bus to get our backpacks.

When we arrived back at the bus (which did not move more than 10m in that half an hour we were gone!), the stupid bus driver was pissed at us for taking so long. Like WTF? Not like it made a difference, we weren't even moving -_- Anyways, we asked him to open the storage so we could get our bags and he refused to open it for us and told us to get back on the bus. Wait, what!? He was so rude! He told us he couldn't just simply open the storage in the middle of the road and he even asked if I thought my father owned the road -______- Again, we weren't freakin moving! Seriously, people like this should just be shot, making an issue out of everything! I wasn't gonna just stand there and get bullied by that mofo, so I just told him 'We want our bags NOW. Please.' and he reluctantly opened it for us, LOL girl power! Never travel with Grassland Express please, bunch of idiots.

I was soooo happy we managed to escape the crazy jam, cuz apparently the jam would last for many more hours!

***
Woah I'm on a blog roll! Well, it's because I've been off from work for the past 3 days ;)

Did some major cleaning in my room, planning to rent a stall at the biggest flea market in Amsterdam next month to sell all my junk! Can't wait.

Backpacking SEA; Koh Phi Phi

2011-08-04T23:30:00.001+02:00

After a month of cultural sights, it was time to recharge and do absolutely nothing except for getting sunkissed on the islands in the south of Thailand! :)

I like my islands tranquil and away from the hustle n bustle. All I need is the sun, a scuba tank and a hammock and I'm a happy girl. Although Koh Phi Phi is a farrrr cry from that, when backpacking through Thailand, a visit to this infamous island is a 'must' (so I was told).

One part of me expected it to be nothing I'd thoroughly enjoy (so I was mentally prepared), but the other part of me was really curious about the island cuz I've heard many high praises. That part of me expected it to be mind blowing (why else would this be so popular among travelers?) like 'Wow, am I dreaming?!', but to me (and even Miek whom has never been to any islands in Asia before this feels the same) it was nothing to shout about. It was so...normal? Perhaps the weather had something to do with it, it wasn't that great, but I couldn't imagine myself loving the island even if the weather would've been super. The island is everything I don't want an island to be; crowded, noisy, 'westernized'. I feel like Phi Phi is the asian version of all those European party destinations like Lloret de mar, Chersonissos, Rimini etc. It's full of loud party people getting drunk and they even have foreign bar/club promoters. Yes, I sort of expected that, but there was nothing to compensate it. The beaches were so... normal. Thank goodness it was low season due to the monsoon, so the crowds were still in control. I would not want to be there during the peak season...It's madness!

Obviously it didn't help that we stayed in the backpackers area cuz we couldn't afford all that fancy stuff, haha! I'm sure the nicer resorts have much better beaches. :)

How we got there
We took a flight from Chiang Mai to Phuket, spent the entire night in Phuket in a cyber cafe full of nerds playing World of Warcraft until we left at 6 in the morning, LOL. I remember when we arrived at Phuket airport, it was around 12 am and it was such a hassle to get a cab to where we wanted to go to. When we got a cab, the driver couldn't find the cyber cafe and tried to drop us off at 3 different night clubs, LOLOL. He was like "here open until late" -_______- Of course we declined and he finally managed to find the cyber cafe in Phuket Town, which was pretty near the jetty where the boat to Phi Phi would leave.

Phuket from the top

The next morning there was no cab to be found in Phuket Town cuz it's like a local neighborhood. There were a couple of locals who offered to bring us to the jetty, but we preferred to get a cab. It was super funny cus one of the men who stopped by to help us get a cab just randomly asked a guy with a car if he could bring us to the jetty and then he told us that was a cab, LOL. We had such a good laugh about it :D In the end we saw some sort of Phuket-style tuk tuk drive by and he brought us to the jetty, all good!

The boat ride took about 2+ hours instead of the usual 90 minutes. I got sunburnt SO freakin bad cuz our sunblock was in our bags downstairs along with the other 100 bags from the other passengers on the boat.

Before we reached Phi Phi Don (the main island), the cruise boat showed us around Phi Phi Leh, including Maya Bay where 'The Beach' was shot, which looked really beautiful, but it was seriously so crowded that it was an instant turn off for us :( Such a pity.

Ton Sai beach on Phi Phi Don

We rented a private longtail boat to go island hopping, it wasn't until after we paid a deposit that we realized it was actually really expensive (considering we're budget backpackers)! Like...35 euro for about 5 hours. It was worth it though :)

Bamboo Island

We spent hours here at this beautiful island just soaking up the sun, sea and sand. It was so much fun and we practically had the entire stretch of beach to ourselves (after all the day tour boats left after only half an hour or so!) :D

Phi Leh Bay

Unfortunately it was slow tide so we couldn't go through the bay with the boat :( It looked amazing though!

Long Beach at Phi Phi Don

SO much nicer, quieter and more relaxed than Ton Sai Beach.

***
So no, I'm not a big fan of Phi Phi. Would I go back there? Most probably not (unless I get to stay in a 5 star resort ;). I really really loved Bamboo Island though, but I don't think anyone is allowed to stay there.

Unless you are traveling with a group of friends and are seeking for a party holiday by the beach, I'd say...skip Phi Phi and try to find a real paradise.

Backpacking SEA; Chiang Mai

2011-08-03T15:04:00.002+02:00

It's sad that after having been to Chiang Mai I still can't really judge the place properly because I've only been there for barely a day, so I haven't seen and done enough. The plan was to stay 2 or 3 nights there, but since we were struggling to find enough time for the islands and loved Pai so much that we decided to stay on for another night, we had to settle for just one night.

Oh well, despite the limited time, it was such a terrific experience!

As mentioned before, we hopped on the train from BKK to Chiang Mai which was my first time ever on a train in Asia! It didn't exactly go smooth and it took much longer than expected, but I think we were just unlucky and I doubt it happens that often so I'd still recommend taking the train :)

We got back to Chiang Mai on a friday afternoon from Pai, where we found another super cheap guesthouse for only 200 Baht again! We definitely didn't expect to pay so little in both Pai and Chiang Mai so it felt like we struck gold hahaha :)

That afternoon we skipped the temples cuz we weren't in the mood for that. Instead, we were on a shopping mission! We didn't have much clothes for the islands (which was our next destination) so we really wanted to buy some cute dresses at the markets. The day and night markets were supposed to be really huge and amazing to shop at. Ok, they were huge, but amazing? Amazingly boring, maybe?!?! Mygod, I seriously nominate Chiang Mai as one of the worst cities to shop! This is not only based on the markets, we went to 2 shopping malls as well. Desperate much, LOL. Needless to say, we bought absolutely nothing :(
So unless you like shopping for cloth and backdated fashion items, you'll be so much better off shopping in Bangkok. I reckon your time would be so much better spent at the temples. (To be fair, the markets are great for souvenir shopping, but nothing else).

OMG, I just realize I don't have any pictures from the first day in Chiang Mai! I must've accidentally deleted them or something???! :(( Damn, that sucks. Ughh, that reeeeally sucks.

Anyway, moving on to the next morning. We booked a half day jungle trek at Doi Inthanon National Park!

First up: ELEPHANT RIDING.

I didn't feel comfortable at the thought of riding on an elephant before, but I was assured that these ellies are taken well care of and that the money spent goes into conserving these animals. To me, they seemed to be living in a happy and healthy state, but you never know, I could be mighty wrong x_x

Nevertheless, the trek, the views, the surroundings, they were simply breathtaking :)

Before I continue with the pics, I am soooooooooooo bummed that my camera settings were super OFF the first half of the trip! That means all the pics I took in Cambodia, Myanmar and a part of Thailand aren't as nice as they should've been. Most of my pictures are overexposed, but I didn't know how to fix it. :(

The ride was so bumpy, haha! Our elephant was so cheeky and such a fatty, it kept stopping randomly to eat during the ride, lol. So fun! :)

Feeding our elephant :)

I superrrr loved the elephants, they are soooooo cute :))

Our guide killed this poisonous snake cuz his friend got killed by one recently.... He was such a clown btw, it was fun having him with us, he kept scaring the shit out of everyone with his silly pranks!

And then we reached the waterfall, my fav :)

The flow was superrrr strong I almost got washed away!!! One of the guys had to come over to help me up hahaha x_x

HAPPY MEEEEEEEEEE!! :D

More trekking..!

The daily job of a hilltribe woman, the technique she used to make scarves was amazing!

I seriously don't know what happened to my other pics, I'm pretty sure I had way more than this?! Anyways, that was our last day in Chiang Mai, we had a flight to Phuket to catch that night, more on that in another post.

Now excuse me while I go sulk about my lost pictures T_________T

Backpacking SEA; beautiful Pai

2011-07-31T23:55:00.003+02:00

OK, I'm just gonna randomly write about the trip according to the mood that I'm in :)

Today I feel like writing about one of my favourite places; P.A.I

Pai is a small hippy town in Northern Thailand near the Myanmar border surrounded by beautiful mountains and known for its laid back atmosphere. It's very touristy there, but somehow it didn't bother me much because it didn't really affect the peacefulness of the place.

Just the name of the place alone spells c h i l l dont ya think? haha

When we arrived in Chiang Mai we took a 4 hr bus straight to Pai through the mountains. I strongly recommend taking the local bus vs a mini van because although it takes longer (only about an hour or so) it's definitely safer cuz the driver drives slower 'n more careful than those of the mini vans. Trust me, we've heard crazy i-almost-died stories from people who've taken the mini van and we were like...HUh? Our ride was so chill! Plus it's cheaper by more than half, 72 baht vs 150 baht (EUR 1,70 and EUR 3,60)

The local bus

Another reason why I love Pai is the weather. Simply perfect! The air was so fresh, and it was sunny and breezy at the same time. The weather was a muchhh needed change from the insane hot weather we'd been experiencing in Cambodia and Myanmar.

It was low season so we slept for crazy cheap; less than EUR 2,50 a night/person!

The Pai river :)

Scary bridge we had to cross to get to our room x_x

We found Snoop Dogg asian version :D

Our very first "bucket" (GROSS!)

Went to this spa cuz it was supposedly cheap...IT WASN'T. We paid like 700 baht for a mud wrap that was totally not worth it.

Love love love mango sticky rice! Best fatty food ever ;P

Took a Thai cooking class in Pai!
Initially we were planning to do it in Chiang Mai, but I'm so glad we didn't. The cooking experience was great and it was only the 2 of us so it was sorta private :) Each of us chose 5 different dishes to cook, unfortunately it was wayyyy too much and we were so stuffed that we couldn't enjoy the last couple of dishes anymore.

The "classroom"

It was HARD work to pound the curry paste! Def the least fun part of the cooking class haha =p

The Pad Thai was goooood! :)

We only got to stay there for 3 nights cuz we didn't have much time, but I could definitely stay longer there next time! I wanna learn how to ride a scooter n cruise through the mountains up to the beautiful waterfalls. That was something I really wished we'd done, but neither of us knew how to ride a scooter, DOH.

If there's one place in Thailand you shouldn't miss out on, it's Pai! :)

And make sure you don't miss out on this jazz bar ;) Super friendly owner!

Tomorrow = home

2011-07-16T19:58:00.000+02:00

It's that time of the year to say goodbye again.

5 years & counting. I l.o.v.e you more than anything :)

I'm aliveeee ;p

2011-06-11T23:01:00.001+02:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I logged on! I don't even know where to start!

First things first; I made it to Asia! That means I totally nailed my thesis, yeah baby!!!! :)) I was so busy and stressed and doing everything last minute that I didn't have any time or energy to blog, pity pity! But here I am :)

I just arrived in Bangkok today from Myanmar and as I'm writing this I'm getting my hair done! It's super dry and damaged and in much need of a hair spa and cut. I'm leaving to Chiang Mai tonight on the overnight train, pretty excited for that cuz I've never been on the train in Asia!

I hate blogging without pictures because the story doesn't really translate to the blog, but I left my backpack at some storage at the train station so I don't have my cables with me so yep, i'll have to do without pics!

The journey so far has been super great! We started in Cambodia, arrived in Phnom Penh by air from KL for 2 nights, which was perfect because the city isn't that exciting. Then took a bus to Siem Reap to stay for another 3 nights and oh how I wish we had more time there. Angkor Wat was amazing (although 1,5 day of temples was more than plenty), but the entire city was just so much more colorful than Phnom Penh.

+++ Ok, I wrote the above part last Monday at the hair saloon but I didn't get to finish it.

I'm no longer in Bangkok but in Phuket! I just arrived from Chiang Mai, decided not to get a room here but just chill at an internet cafe until the first boat to Koh Phi Phi! Finallyyyyy after all that sight seeing, we're gonna get some island lovin'! :D I look extremely white for someone who's been in Asia for over 3 weeks because in places like Myanmar and the temples in Cambodia I had to cover up most of the time. TIME FOR A TAN!

It's 2.30 AM now so I have a couple of hours to spare until the boat leaves. Also, I have my hard disk with me now so I can upload some pics as well!

So, after Cambodia we headed to Bangkok by bus for 2 days to get our visa for Myanmar done. MYANMARRRRR! It was such a bizarre and special place, like a world on its own. I don't want to go into details too much right now cuz it might take me a couple of days, lol! I'll def post a proper Myanmar post when I'm back home :)

After 12 days in Myanmar it was back to Thailand which is when I started this blog entry. Oh and the train to Chiang Mai was d i s a s t r o u s! We took a 1st class sleeper because we liked the idea of having our own private cabin so that we could have a good night sleep before reaching CM, but at 6 AM we woke up to find out that we got into an accident x__x Turns out the front wheels of our coupe fell off, so we had to move to a 2nd class cabin and share one tiny bed with the 2 of us including our backpacks! Cramped, cold and uncomfortable..just our luck. But hey, we survived. We got lucky that the front wheels fell off before we moved up the mountains or else we would've been in serious trouble!

Once we reached Chiang Mai, we took the local bus to a place called Pai, which is a super chill little hippy town up in the mountains. After 3 nights we went back to Chiang Mai for only 1 night (pityyy) before leaving to Phuket.

Today has been a really long day, I woke up at 7ish AM for a half day trek through one of the jungles in Chiang Mai where I rode an elephant, visited a hilltribe village, swam at one of the waterfalls and went bamboo rafting!

Ok, picture time.

Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon. I LOVE this place! Pictures really don't do this place justice, the golden pagoda lit up against the dark sky sort of gives it something magical and the peacefulness that I felt there was beyond ZEN.

Pai

Waiting for sunset at Angkor Wat

Wannabe Burmese girls ;P

Sunset at Chaung Tha Beach in Myanmar

I'm lazyyyyyy to post more. I have 3 hours left in this random internet cafe, gonna do some online shopping now! :) I can't waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait to shop in Bangkok, been wearing the same clothes all this time and I am losing my mind! My record of outfit repeats was 4 days IN A ROW, haha! Gross. I can't wait to throw out these dirty, worn out clothes and buy me some new stuff to wear!

Til next timeeee :)

My new best friend + Mother's day

2011-05-09T23:31:00.001+02:00

Say hello to my new best friend:

:D!!

Yep, I'm going to live out of this backpack for the next 2 months!

It took a lot of research to decide which size to get. I wanted to go for a 60-65L at first, but according to the veteran backpackers on the web the key to a happy backpacker is to travel as light as possible..so a 55L it is!

Unfortunately I couldn't find any reviews on this backpack model, but out of all the backpacks I've tried on this one felt the most comfortable and coincidentally it's also the best looking, yay!

I like:
+ light weight
+ easy access (full front opening)
+ roomy lid, side & front pockets
+ easily adjustable straps
+ coin pocket at hipbelt
+ hard bottom so it won't topple when I put it on the ground
+ the look: love that it's dark grey + black 'n the design isn't too fancy pancy

I dislike:
- the price! As I said, no reviews on the backpack found, but I've been told to believe it's good quality and I feel quite optimistic, so I hope the backpack shows me its worth during the trip n longgg after!

No further dislikes so far, guess I'll find out once I start using it on the road :)

And now the million dollar question...... WHAT TO PACK?!

Packing has never been a strength of mine, so I've done heaps of research on the net to avoid looking like a fool during the trip, haha. From what I've read on forums, overpacking seems impossible to avoid for first time backpackers. But I'm determined to master the art of packing! I got really inspired by some of the stories I read. If other people can live out of a backpack that's half the size of mine for a longer period of time, I surely can live out of this bag size for 'only' 2 months. Apparently the rule of thumb = lay everything I want to bring on my bed and then half that. I dunno whether to take this seriously tho cuz I am already bringing so little x_X

I know I'm not going for a glamorous trip and I'm def willing to skip a hair wash or 2 and wear the same shirt for the umpteenth time, but there are a few things that I refuuuuuuuuuse to wear;

- TEVA sandals...apparently lotsa backpackers love these 'comfortable' jesus sandals, but they are beyond fugliness to me. I bet havaianas are just as comfi! (Ok maybe not, but comfi enough hehe)
- Zip off pants. This one speaks for itself.......

Other than that, I think I'm kinda down with the shabby look. I mean how cool is it to wake up not having to think what to wear and just wear yesterday's clothes, haha :)

I guess for my packing strategy I'll just stick to light weight, quick drying clothes. I'm also making sure that every item I bring isn't my favorite so I can easily throw it w/out heart ache to make space for new clothes :D My hands are itchinnnnnnnnnn to shop in BKK!

+

Yesterday's mother's day lunch @ MOMO

It was my first time there 'n it was surprisingly quite empty. I liked the vibe tho 'n the food was pretty good in general, I liked the sushi rolls!

After lunch I rushed back home to finish my thesis that's been making my life m.i.s.e.r.a.b.l.e. Miserable is the perfect word for how I feel after working on this thing f u l l t i m e for weeks. And I'm not satisfied with how my report turned out. Blah.

I thought I'd be overjoyed once I finished the writing part, but the presentation part is haunting me right now! I'm SO POOPEDDDDDD!! Ahhh we'll see how it goes....Fingers crossed X_X