I wish you all a happy new year for this upcoming year!
I hope you will find the courage to get rid off your old stories and habits and just try to do something new, something different, something you are scared off, something you don't like.
You're life will definitely become more intense and you will probably become a more complete person....
...or is this just my own wish? well I'm gonna try it anyway ;-)
with love,
carry
Friday, December 31, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
eat...pray...love
I think everyone has it's own some kind of eat, pray and love story, and so have I. Elisabeth Gilbert though has the original one, maybe you've seen the movie with Julia Roberts playing as Elisabeth Gilbert. The love part of the movie takes place on Bali, here in Ubud.
I want to share my kind of eat, pray and love story with you...
Eat:
The eating-thing started in Thailand and continued on Bali. The Indonesian food is just fabulous. For those who know me a bit better...or had already the opportunity to take breakfast with me ;-), they can probably remember how grazy I am about peanutbutter and every made of peanutbutter, like peanutcookies or satay, well...it's all here! Not to forget to mention the lovely cakes they make here. Okay okay I admit my sugar addiction!
Pray:
After leaving Switzerland, I hardly took time for my meditation, but it all came back to me here in Ubud. Maybe not always that much and that long as I wanted to, because of a painful leg of nerving animals that interrupted my calming mind. Nevertheless even these more or less short meditations have given me enough strengh and courage to sign me in for my second Vipassana retreat...this time in Cambodia.
Love:
A dear swiss friend of mine forecasted my future like this; you will meet a handsome hotelowner, or better his son, who will invest in your own yogastudio in Ubud. Ofcourse you will marry him and get lovely kids...
Someone from the Fitnesscentre in Winterthur is probably still hoping that I will find a nice cute balinese man and come back home pregnant. And this week a balinese woman saw my future like this; you will find your man in Cambodia and come back to marry here in Ubud.
Well I can tell you, none of these stories have become realistic yet...but I did fall in love.
I developed my deep, deep love for yoga. Sometimes I just can't help it to smile whole time during the yogaclass, and sometimes tears from blessing and happiness just appear like that.
I developed a deep love for a yogateacher. He is yoga, he is inspirativ, he is full of love. His classes are nothing else than harmony and give me energy. I can just love him for being here at the time I'm here as well.
Actually I've fallen in love with life again. It's such a blessing being here, doing this, sharing a part of my journey with my sister, having time to think things over, get my thoughts more clear, getting better connected to my feelings and my inner being.
Slowly I'm getting centered more and more...my heart is open...and is wondering what is more to come!
I want to share my kind of eat, pray and love story with you...
Eat:
The eating-thing started in Thailand and continued on Bali. The Indonesian food is just fabulous. For those who know me a bit better...or had already the opportunity to take breakfast with me ;-), they can probably remember how grazy I am about peanutbutter and every made of peanutbutter, like peanutcookies or satay, well...it's all here! Not to forget to mention the lovely cakes they make here. Okay okay I admit my sugar addiction!
Pray:
After leaving Switzerland, I hardly took time for my meditation, but it all came back to me here in Ubud. Maybe not always that much and that long as I wanted to, because of a painful leg of nerving animals that interrupted my calming mind. Nevertheless even these more or less short meditations have given me enough strengh and courage to sign me in for my second Vipassana retreat...this time in Cambodia.
Love:
A dear swiss friend of mine forecasted my future like this; you will meet a handsome hotelowner, or better his son, who will invest in your own yogastudio in Ubud. Ofcourse you will marry him and get lovely kids...
Someone from the Fitnesscentre in Winterthur is probably still hoping that I will find a nice cute balinese man and come back home pregnant. And this week a balinese woman saw my future like this; you will find your man in Cambodia and come back to marry here in Ubud.
Well I can tell you, none of these stories have become realistic yet...but I did fall in love.
I developed my deep, deep love for yoga. Sometimes I just can't help it to smile whole time during the yogaclass, and sometimes tears from blessing and happiness just appear like that.
I developed a deep love for a yogateacher. He is yoga, he is inspirativ, he is full of love. His classes are nothing else than harmony and give me energy. I can just love him for being here at the time I'm here as well.
Actually I've fallen in love with life again. It's such a blessing being here, doing this, sharing a part of my journey with my sister, having time to think things over, get my thoughts more clear, getting better connected to my feelings and my inner being.
Slowly I'm getting centered more and more...my heart is open...and is wondering what is more to come!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Christmas
Christmas is going to be different for me this year, nothing traditional, just being and enjoying my time with two beloved ones here in Ubud. Nevertheless I do wish you all, a more or less traditional, nice Christmas-time.
Think about the real meaning of Christmas ... and try to life it.....
love carry
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Ubud : Somehow it feels like coming home
Though I had no idea what I could expect from Ubud, this sentence or a part of it was in my mind on the way to Ubud. I could really feel this sentence after my first Yogaclass here in Yogabarn. This was such an inspiration, the centre, the view, the floor, the sound, the smell, the people, it was all there, I was whole there...and I'm still. Every morning I join a class either at 7 am or 8.30 am. But not only the Yoga feels that great, our guesthouse is just a dream! It's a small place with only 3 bungalows and 2 open space houses, situated in a lovely garden, away from the street with nothing else to hear as the sounds of animals and thunder. Yeah thunder, because we've been in quite some thunderstorms already, even one on the rice paddies! That was quite scary....
We have time to total come down and just life in the day, which is my everyday goal again and again.
There are two things I dislike about Ubud:
1 The most disgusting, scary, aggressive, ugly and loudest DOGS I've ever seen is the first one. They are everywhere, even on places where you don't expect and want them to be. A dog came after me in the morning when I was on my way to the Yogaclass, now I only go by bike. Janine and I got almost bitten by 3 watchdogs, when we were on a walk. A dog ran after me when I was on a bike tour. I don't like it to say, but I hate them.
2 Every 10 meters someone asks you if you want a taxi even when you are on a bike or a scooter! Sometimes they are probably so tired of themselves that they can only make the movement of rotating the wheel.
We found, well my sister found a great solution for Jesse. Every morning he goes to an international school here in Ubud. From 9 till noon, he can play here with other children and has full attention of a couple of lovely teachers. All the three of us are happy. Janine and I celebrated our first morning together with a relaxed shopping session on the market and having a nice chat with a lovely cup of coffee and lemon pie.
I read a lot here, I finished the book Holy Cow, from Sarah McDonald. A very funny story about a woman who checks out the spiritual market of India.
Now I started in the Zahir from Paulo Coelho...again....I already read this book in German. This book I can recommend everyone, even if you don't like the writer. Simultaneously I'm reading about Integral Psychology, from Sri Aurobindo. I need some food for my brains :-)
So more things we hope to do here are: going to one of the vulcanos, do some swimming, make some walks, join more jungle-, hatha-,vinyasa-yoga classes. Keep on living the day, because that's what my heart tells me to do at the moment. And last but not least....keep on enjoying the balinese food. I'm still gaining weight ;-)
Then I could tell you a whole story about the Host, male of course, of the guesthouse...but I just leave it this way :-) maybe this already says enough.
We have time to total come down and just life in the day, which is my everyday goal again and again.
There are two things I dislike about Ubud:
1 The most disgusting, scary, aggressive, ugly and loudest DOGS I've ever seen is the first one. They are everywhere, even on places where you don't expect and want them to be. A dog came after me in the morning when I was on my way to the Yogaclass, now I only go by bike. Janine and I got almost bitten by 3 watchdogs, when we were on a walk. A dog ran after me when I was on a bike tour. I don't like it to say, but I hate them.
2 Every 10 meters someone asks you if you want a taxi even when you are on a bike or a scooter! Sometimes they are probably so tired of themselves that they can only make the movement of rotating the wheel.
We found, well my sister found a great solution for Jesse. Every morning he goes to an international school here in Ubud. From 9 till noon, he can play here with other children and has full attention of a couple of lovely teachers. All the three of us are happy. Janine and I celebrated our first morning together with a relaxed shopping session on the market and having a nice chat with a lovely cup of coffee and lemon pie.
I read a lot here, I finished the book Holy Cow, from Sarah McDonald. A very funny story about a woman who checks out the spiritual market of India.
Now I started in the Zahir from Paulo Coelho...again....I already read this book in German. This book I can recommend everyone, even if you don't like the writer. Simultaneously I'm reading about Integral Psychology, from Sri Aurobindo. I need some food for my brains :-)
So more things we hope to do here are: going to one of the vulcanos, do some swimming, make some walks, join more jungle-, hatha-,vinyasa-yoga classes. Keep on living the day, because that's what my heart tells me to do at the moment. And last but not least....keep on enjoying the balinese food. I'm still gaining weight ;-)
Then I could tell you a whole story about the Host, male of course, of the guesthouse...but I just leave it this way :-) maybe this already says enough.
Name of the Guesthouse: Guci Guesthouse in Pengosekan, it's worth checking their website before you go to Ubud.
have you in my heart....
carry
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Friday, December 3, 2010
what happened during all the travelling...
What we did was.... we first went from Pai to Thaton, which I loved because it's such a small place with hardly tourists and from there on we went by boat to Chiang Rai. Make that boattrip as well if you come here, it's beautiful and so relaxing.
From Chiang Rai, Janine and I expected more than Chiang Mai. But it was completely different and not that nice and cute as we thought....always those expectations!
In Chiang Rai where we stayed a couple of days, I rented a bike again and did some sightseeing. There is a complete white temple close to Chiang Rai which is quite special. Nature is here, like everywhere in northern Thailand wonderful! Another day we rented a scooter and made a real offroad trip to a waterfall, unfortunately we never reached to the waterfall due to time. But it was nice anyway! Janine and I got ill in Chiang Rai...Janine more than I.
The bustrip from Chiang Rai to Bangkok, was awful though it supposed to be quite easy and relaxed, because there where hardly people in the bus and I had two seats for myself. A movie was running, the sound was extremely loud. When the movie was done the dvd kept on running for at least 1 hour but only on the menu screen....finally I asked the driver to turn off the dvd...I had already turned the TV off myself...and so he did. I should have asked him earlier ahhrrrggg...
Then there was a guy with unbelievable awful smelling feet! The whole bus was infected by this smell....and of course this guy started snorring....so now sleep for me this night.
Bangkok....Hotel Royal Inn or for the Thai ONLY known as "Latata Kosin" or something like that so you can understand that it was hard to find this place in such a huge city hahaha...
There was a blue sky and it was hot! The first morning I stayed in bed and my sister could do here shop till you drop on Siam square :-) She loved it! We were close to Khaosan Road THE Backpackers street of Bangkok...and though I feel more comfortable in little towns...this part belongs to traveling as well and I enjoyed it. We were longing after a good night of sleep...but unfortunately for us...this time Jesse got sick. Thank God it was only for one evening...but what an evening it was! In Bangkok we decided to do our laundry in the hotel....when the receipt came we were in shock...we had to pay about 25 euro....which is extremely much in a country like this and normally we had to pay about 3 euro....So we learned something more...again...
Surabaya...it's hot and humid! The hotel, Sparkling Backpackers Hotel, is not sparkling at all but stinky with no windows...time to move on as fast as possible. In the train to Kalibaru we were sitting next to a Indonesian family. The man of the family fell in love with me from the moment he saw me ;-) he spent at least 80% from the time with starring at me AND HIS WIFE WAS SITTING NEXT TO HIM! After we had to ran away from aggressive taxi and scooter drivers on Kalibaru trainstation we found a lovely bungalow which was way above our budget but a dream!
Next day moving on to Denpasar....running again to not miss the bus...bought some Kretek- cigarettes (special Indonesian cigarettes) for the bus-musicians and for me to try ;-)
This trip was almost to much after those days of being on the road....it was long...to hot....to much waiting....to much guys...with kiss me kiss me whispering in your ears...we were just not able to move on to Kuta directly after we arrived in Denpasar, so stayed here overnight. And now here we are...Kuta beach.
These days someone told me...I hate Kuta beach...I hate those people that walk trough the main street to the beach...and for me...hey this is Kuta, you know that when you come here...so shut up...open your eyes...and watch! It's great to see handsome guys walking half naked trough the streets....it's a long time ago I've seen so many great bodies at one time.... We gonna stay here till Monday and then move on to Ubud...and I will enjoy the sun, the beach and...the people, even if they are a little bit young ;-)
smile....carry
Travelling....travelling....travelling
How to travel from Chiang Rai (Thailand) to Kuta Bali in 3 days :-)
First of all I'm total relaxed now but the last couple of days were exhausting! To give you just a quick idea of what we did....yes I know poor little Jesse:
- 27.11 at 7pm nightbus to Bangkok, arrival 28.11 at 5.30am. I didn't get some sleep in the bus so I decided to stay the first morning in Bangkok in bed.
- 29.11 at 20pm flight to Surabaya (Java), arrival 30.11 at 0.15am. Went to bed around
3 o' clock in the morning.
- 30.11 at 2pm train to Kalibaru (Java), arrival 9pm.
- 1.12 at 10.30am bus to Denpasar (Bali), arrival 7pm, we decided to spend the night here instead of travelling on
- 2.12 at 9.30am bus to Kuta| (Bali), arrival around noon!
If someone would have given me this schedule before to travel I would have asked him if he's nuts....
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Fascinating...Thai sexindustry
Maybe this is something every girl or woman thinks about at least once in here lifetime...sexindustry...and maybe it's nowhere so obvious than here in Thailand.
As a teenager I read the book: 'het verrotte leven van Floortje Bloem'
(the disguisting life of Floortje Bloem) It's about childprostitution. My grandmother, my mother and my sister read it before I did. On one hand I think it's disguisting and on the other hand it fascinates me. I'm curious about the reasons what make men do this or why do they need this?
When I was in my tweenties and spended some time on Curacao, a friend and I got an offer from 2 man. What offer?....just let your imagination flow and you can think about the kind of offer it had been ;-) Thank god, it was my first and last offer! Though it felt weard and disguisting.... there was something else as well...curiousity I think.
To make things clear: No mom I didn't take the offer :-)
In Chiang Rai it's a part of daily life. Let me describe you THE typical sextourist here in Chiang Rai:
Male, over 50 years old, either extremely skinny or to fat, he wears jungle trousers a blouse and sandals. They avoid to look you in the eyes, they probably feel like a nobody in their home country but feel like THE man here. I'm really wondering why they wear these stuff...do they want to go 'undercover' so it looks like they are ready to go off for a jungletrip or animalhunt instead of going on a different kind of hunt?
Why I'm sharing this with you? Well there are two reasons. This is something that has been on my thoughts past couple of days and Janine and I have discussed it more than once. But the main reason is to warn all single travelling men that planned to go to Chiang Rai for a real jungletrip. Please wear your special clothes only in the jungle otherwise people like me could think you are here for an other reason! :-)
Tonight....nightbus to Bangkok....then Surabaya (Java) and yes I heard the Bromo, we wanted to visit is getting more active :-( then...Bali!
big hug!
As a teenager I read the book: 'het verrotte leven van Floortje Bloem'
(the disguisting life of Floortje Bloem) It's about childprostitution. My grandmother, my mother and my sister read it before I did. On one hand I think it's disguisting and on the other hand it fascinates me. I'm curious about the reasons what make men do this or why do they need this?
When I was in my tweenties and spended some time on Curacao, a friend and I got an offer from 2 man. What offer?....just let your imagination flow and you can think about the kind of offer it had been ;-) Thank god, it was my first and last offer! Though it felt weard and disguisting.... there was something else as well...curiousity I think.
To make things clear: No mom I didn't take the offer :-)
In Chiang Rai it's a part of daily life. Let me describe you THE typical sextourist here in Chiang Rai:
Male, over 50 years old, either extremely skinny or to fat, he wears jungle trousers a blouse and sandals. They avoid to look you in the eyes, they probably feel like a nobody in their home country but feel like THE man here. I'm really wondering why they wear these stuff...do they want to go 'undercover' so it looks like they are ready to go off for a jungletrip or animalhunt instead of going on a different kind of hunt?
Why I'm sharing this with you? Well there are two reasons. This is something that has been on my thoughts past couple of days and Janine and I have discussed it more than once. But the main reason is to warn all single travelling men that planned to go to Chiang Rai for a real jungletrip. Please wear your special clothes only in the jungle otherwise people like me could think you are here for an other reason! :-)
Tonight....nightbus to Bangkok....then Surabaya (Java) and yes I heard the Bromo, we wanted to visit is getting more active :-( then...Bali!
big hug!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
My first some kind of a yogaclass ;-)
I really have to tell you about my...finally...first yogaclass I joined in Thailand. This was just to chaotic and to funny to be true.
After we arrived in Pai, still Thailand, and we found a bungalow, we went for a walk in the little town. Quite soon we saw an advertisement at a shop of Mam's Yoga...sounds promising I thought :-) I asked for some information and the woman of the shop asked me to wait, she would phone the instructor for me. The Instructor asked me to wait again, she would like to meet me at the shop....no problem, (mai pen rai on thai ;-)) I could wait. A mix of Cher and Tina Turner stepped out of a car...the Instructor! I became curious so I signed in for the morningclass next day from 10 till 12.
I already could recognize from far away where her house or yogaplace was... a lot of flowers, incense sticks, statues and so on.
At the beginning she told us something about didn't sleep well last night, slept with her student in one bed, didn't had to share her bed since ages, therefor she was on facebook, a group of harley drivers asked her for a place to stay, took breakfast the first time since 45 years....maybe she told us even more but this is all I can remember at the moment ;-)
She started the yogaclass with meditation....and then it all started....during the meditation someone came in and just started to talk to her...something about couldn't find it...okay meditation over...everyone sit down and straight your legs...we'll do some warming up movements....I think the third one was the split....okay I thought if this is warming up??? what else can I expect??? We went one with more warming up exercises and then we heard the sound of some motorbikes....ohw...sorry she said just a small break...these are the harley drivers from last night....have to help them. Just relax for a moment on your back please...and so we did.
She came back...and her phone ringed....she didn't pick up.....she ordered her student in between to take care of the harley drivers...
After doing more warming up exercises for at least one hour we could stand up to do the sun saluation, surya namaskar, sonnengruss. ???? Normally you do this quite in the beginning to warm up ....but I'm here to learn, I'm open for new so yeah why not. After the 4 sun salutions we had to lay down on our back again, now for 5 breath....these 5 breath became at least 5 minutes, because she was gone again....the harley drivers had some problems you know ;-)
During shirsasana, headstand, kopfstand she called that person back that phoned her before....she ended with a short shavasana, relaxing on the back and then there was time for snacks and chat....what she weared? a shirt of the Rolling Stones, you know that one with the tongue :-)
My lesson for this day....don't take everything to serious, but just have fun in what you do!
After we arrived in Pai, still Thailand, and we found a bungalow, we went for a walk in the little town. Quite soon we saw an advertisement at a shop of Mam's Yoga...sounds promising I thought :-) I asked for some information and the woman of the shop asked me to wait, she would phone the instructor for me. The Instructor asked me to wait again, she would like to meet me at the shop....no problem, (mai pen rai on thai ;-)) I could wait. A mix of Cher and Tina Turner stepped out of a car...the Instructor! I became curious so I signed in for the morningclass next day from 10 till 12.
I already could recognize from far away where her house or yogaplace was... a lot of flowers, incense sticks, statues and so on.
At the beginning she told us something about didn't sleep well last night, slept with her student in one bed, didn't had to share her bed since ages, therefor she was on facebook, a group of harley drivers asked her for a place to stay, took breakfast the first time since 45 years....maybe she told us even more but this is all I can remember at the moment ;-)
She started the yogaclass with meditation....and then it all started....during the meditation someone came in and just started to talk to her...something about couldn't find it...okay meditation over...everyone sit down and straight your legs...we'll do some warming up movements....I think the third one was the split....okay I thought if this is warming up??? what else can I expect??? We went one with more warming up exercises and then we heard the sound of some motorbikes....ohw...sorry she said just a small break...these are the harley drivers from last night....have to help them. Just relax for a moment on your back please...and so we did.
She came back...and her phone ringed....she didn't pick up.....she ordered her student in between to take care of the harley drivers...
After doing more warming up exercises for at least one hour we could stand up to do the sun saluation, surya namaskar, sonnengruss. ???? Normally you do this quite in the beginning to warm up ....but I'm here to learn, I'm open for new so yeah why not. After the 4 sun salutions we had to lay down on our back again, now for 5 breath....these 5 breath became at least 5 minutes, because she was gone again....the harley drivers had some problems you know ;-)
During shirsasana, headstand, kopfstand she called that person back that phoned her before....she ended with a short shavasana, relaxing on the back and then there was time for snacks and chat....what she weared? a shirt of the Rolling Stones, you know that one with the tongue :-)
My lesson for this day....don't take everything to serious, but just have fun in what you do!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Just lay back and relaxxxx!
Chiang Mai is already past...now I'm in Mae Sariang!
Mae Sariang is nothing more than just lay back, relax and enjoy. Actually nothing happens here, well nothing?!?! We witnessed some kind of an argueing last night in which at least 10 people were involved and all of them were against one man. Normally I'm on the side of the weakest, but this time....no! This man was sooooo drunk and sooooo jealous of a group of men gathered together that he started the argueing.....Nice to see how these men handled the situation without the other man losing his face! Let say they handled it on a thai way :-)
Back to Chiang Mai:
Chiang Mai is really booming and touristic and still we stayed here a whole week. During this week I really needed some time for myself and did one of those extremely touristic jungle trips with elephant camp, hiking, visiting a hill village and rafting stuff. Still it was fun doing this and yeah.....I felt like 20 again....why?!?
Well 7 of the 10 groupmembers were either 22 or 23....and their main discussions were about cheap hostels, beer, getting drunk, youtube and not forget to mention the next fullmoon party on Koh Phangan (island of Thailand). The main goal of these fullmoon parties is how to get drunk as fast as possible. But like I said before...it still made fun. Especially the Bambooboat, normally this is less exciting than rafting, but if you need to be in control of this thing, like I had to be ;-), than it can be way more a challenge not to fall in the water! I heard my guide screaming to me: push left baby, left baby...oh no... now right baby, right baby and...push faster faster.....you can do it! This was so much fun and by the end all my boatmembers were wet and I...still standing and dry :-)
Jungle trip....nature was awesome, could clear my mind, found nice meditation spots and it was good to feel my body again.
In Chiang Mai we visited a lot of Wats, temples, and rented a scooter on which we had also a lot of fun. Janine was driving the first time on a scooter and all we jelled at her the first 200 Meters was....drive left....drive left...please drive left. After those first 200 Meters she handled this thing completely and we all felt save. The Sundaymarket from 4pm till ?? was incredable. No idea how many people there were...but the atmosphere was really calm, relaxed, almost silent. I loved it and could have stayed there for hours, just walking around or sitting somewhere and watching people....but we got tired after 3 hours walking. If you ever go to Chiang Mai...go there on a sunday...and stay there at least till 6pm....than it's getting even more quiet :-)
And now Mae Sariang. We came here with a local bus and we bought our tickets on the day before. Getting back from the busterminal we wanted to take a sort of a cab to the city. Okay the cabowners couldn't speak that good english but still....I asked them if they could drive us to Thapae Gate, which is one of the main 4 gates of Chiang Mai. Want to now what they answered?!? uhhhh thapae gate??? do you know the way? I couldn't believe my ears...and they gave me a map so I could show on the map where it is....so I did....and they asked me again....do you know the way ;-) Me after 6 days in Chiang Mai had to tell locals how to ride....hilarious isn't it?
Some expressions of the trip with the local bus:
- first stop was at a garage...something was wrong with the left wheel at the back
- the 'second driver' was the left mirrow as well
- had to stop to fix something about the left wheel at the back
- first 2 hours were guite relaxed
- last two hours were with a lot of curves and into the hills
- a vomitting child, with milk everywhere just behind me
- Jesse had to pee...we tried a little bag....a bottle....but he couldn't
- we arrived safely!
Tomorrow....Mae Hong Son!
See ya....carry
Mae Sariang is nothing more than just lay back, relax and enjoy. Actually nothing happens here, well nothing?!?! We witnessed some kind of an argueing last night in which at least 10 people were involved and all of them were against one man. Normally I'm on the side of the weakest, but this time....no! This man was sooooo drunk and sooooo jealous of a group of men gathered together that he started the argueing.....Nice to see how these men handled the situation without the other man losing his face! Let say they handled it on a thai way :-)
Back to Chiang Mai:
Chiang Mai is really booming and touristic and still we stayed here a whole week. During this week I really needed some time for myself and did one of those extremely touristic jungle trips with elephant camp, hiking, visiting a hill village and rafting stuff. Still it was fun doing this and yeah.....I felt like 20 again....why?!?
Well 7 of the 10 groupmembers were either 22 or 23....and their main discussions were about cheap hostels, beer, getting drunk, youtube and not forget to mention the next fullmoon party on Koh Phangan (island of Thailand). The main goal of these fullmoon parties is how to get drunk as fast as possible. But like I said before...it still made fun. Especially the Bambooboat, normally this is less exciting than rafting, but if you need to be in control of this thing, like I had to be ;-), than it can be way more a challenge not to fall in the water! I heard my guide screaming to me: push left baby, left baby...oh no... now right baby, right baby and...push faster faster.....you can do it! This was so much fun and by the end all my boatmembers were wet and I...still standing and dry :-)
Jungle trip....nature was awesome, could clear my mind, found nice meditation spots and it was good to feel my body again.
In Chiang Mai we visited a lot of Wats, temples, and rented a scooter on which we had also a lot of fun. Janine was driving the first time on a scooter and all we jelled at her the first 200 Meters was....drive left....drive left...please drive left. After those first 200 Meters she handled this thing completely and we all felt save. The Sundaymarket from 4pm till ?? was incredable. No idea how many people there were...but the atmosphere was really calm, relaxed, almost silent. I loved it and could have stayed there for hours, just walking around or sitting somewhere and watching people....but we got tired after 3 hours walking. If you ever go to Chiang Mai...go there on a sunday...and stay there at least till 6pm....than it's getting even more quiet :-)
And now Mae Sariang. We came here with a local bus and we bought our tickets on the day before. Getting back from the busterminal we wanted to take a sort of a cab to the city. Okay the cabowners couldn't speak that good english but still....I asked them if they could drive us to Thapae Gate, which is one of the main 4 gates of Chiang Mai. Want to now what they answered?!? uhhhh thapae gate??? do you know the way? I couldn't believe my ears...and they gave me a map so I could show on the map where it is....so I did....and they asked me again....do you know the way ;-) Me after 6 days in Chiang Mai had to tell locals how to ride....hilarious isn't it?
Some expressions of the trip with the local bus:
- first stop was at a garage...something was wrong with the left wheel at the back
- the 'second driver' was the left mirrow as well
- had to stop to fix something about the left wheel at the back
- first 2 hours were guite relaxed
- last two hours were with a lot of curves and into the hills
- a vomitting child, with milk everywhere just behind me
- Jesse had to pee...we tried a little bag....a bottle....but he couldn't
- we arrived safely!
Tomorrow....Mae Hong Son!
See ya....carry
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Penang, Malaysia
Hi there,
My last evening in Georgetown or Penang in Malaysia....so time to write a bit.
Some like this island, some don't. Me, I like it! I like Chinatowns, I like Little (or big) India's, I like temples, I like the jungle, I like the beach, I like great views, I like travellers....and you know what...it's all here ;-)
What happened here...Penang Hill is not that high, but is quite heavy to walk for a beginner like me. I really want to do some bigger hikings in the future so I really have to get myself fit someway. This was the beginning. A climbing of 5,5 KM with rises of about 30%. The 3 of us started together, but after 0.7 KM my sister decided to stop a car and she and Jesse drove in the back of a car to the top of the hill. About one hour later I arrived completely wet but it was all worth it. I saw the first free monkeys...saw some snakes...beautiful butterflies...and it was nice being whole by myself for a moment...let's say just a nice experience.
We've been to the KOK LOK SI Temple as well....go there if you'll ever visit Penang!
and what else happened here...
- I got over my jetlag
- a rat ran over my foot
- I met an extreme intrusive german guy
- we' ve been freezing in a bus
- we had our first rain
- I spend hours on the internet trying to put some pictures on my blog for you, the result is a slideshow....so you better like it :-)
- we are already a part of easy life
We are staying in a really nice Hotel here, the Hang Chow Hotel...the people are so friendly and they love Jesse because he's so extremely blond. He knows some more english words now, which is really cute.
We've been staying here a little bit longer than we first thought we would, but the weather conditions 'around' us were so bad, that we needed a bit time to think things over and change our plans again. It's so great that my sister is as flexible and relaxed as I am, so it's easy for us to adapt our plans over and over again ;-)
First we wanted to take the bus to Hat Yai and from there a plane to Chiang Mai...but Hat Yai, same as a huge region in Thailand was floaded, so now we fly to Bangkok and then go further on to Chiang Mai. We hope to stay here for 6 or 7 days, so I can do a hiking trip and then go slowly down back to Bangkok where we probably will take a plane to Surabaya on Java.... and from there to...Bali...but you'll never know maybe we've to change it again ;-)
Looking forward...and see you soon on the net!
hug,
Carry
My last evening in Georgetown or Penang in Malaysia....so time to write a bit.
Some like this island, some don't. Me, I like it! I like Chinatowns, I like Little (or big) India's, I like temples, I like the jungle, I like the beach, I like great views, I like travellers....and you know what...it's all here ;-)
What happened here...Penang Hill is not that high, but is quite heavy to walk for a beginner like me. I really want to do some bigger hikings in the future so I really have to get myself fit someway. This was the beginning. A climbing of 5,5 KM with rises of about 30%. The 3 of us started together, but after 0.7 KM my sister decided to stop a car and she and Jesse drove in the back of a car to the top of the hill. About one hour later I arrived completely wet but it was all worth it. I saw the first free monkeys...saw some snakes...beautiful butterflies...and it was nice being whole by myself for a moment...let's say just a nice experience.
We've been to the KOK LOK SI Temple as well....go there if you'll ever visit Penang!
and what else happened here...
- I got over my jetlag
- a rat ran over my foot
- I met an extreme intrusive german guy
- we' ve been freezing in a bus
- we had our first rain
- I spend hours on the internet trying to put some pictures on my blog for you, the result is a slideshow....so you better like it :-)
- we are already a part of easy life
We are staying in a really nice Hotel here, the Hang Chow Hotel...the people are so friendly and they love Jesse because he's so extremely blond. He knows some more english words now, which is really cute.
We've been staying here a little bit longer than we first thought we would, but the weather conditions 'around' us were so bad, that we needed a bit time to think things over and change our plans again. It's so great that my sister is as flexible and relaxed as I am, so it's easy for us to adapt our plans over and over again ;-)
First we wanted to take the bus to Hat Yai and from there a plane to Chiang Mai...but Hat Yai, same as a huge region in Thailand was floaded, so now we fly to Bangkok and then go further on to Chiang Mai. We hope to stay here for 6 or 7 days, so I can do a hiking trip and then go slowly down back to Bangkok where we probably will take a plane to Surabaya on Java.... and from there to...Bali...but you'll never know maybe we've to change it again ;-)
Looking forward...and see you soon on the net!
hug,
Carry
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Prinz instead of Prins
Some of you know that I've got my ticket to Singapore by a friend of mine. He assured me that the misspelled name on the ticket; Prinz instead of Prins, wouldn't be a problem at all...well I can assure you...my friend was wrong.
It took me at least 1 hour to check me in....checking things here and there and than finally we could go through the pass-controlling. So that was my first lesson ;-)
Despite a really relaxed flight I wasn't able to sleep more then let say half or one hour.
My first impressions of Singapore were: extremely clean, quiet, green and very important.. no rain at all :-)
Completely knocked down we arrived at the hotel which was situated in THE redlightdistrict of Singapore. Well done Carry :-) Before, we already wondered why hardly women walked down the streets and then we founded the redlight-thing out and everything was clear.
The three of use slept around 7.30pm...but...we all woke up around 23.30pm and couldn't get back to sleep for at least the next 3 hours...JETLAG...
The other day we went to the most incredible Zoo I've ever seen and later that day to Chinatown. Now I'm sitting in Little India and this is just great. The colours, the smell, the people and except for the lack of dust this is soooo like India. I really feel comfortable here! Maybe this is a sign....
Tonight we'll take the night bus to Penang in Malaysia and hope to get some rest here....Janine and I have again hardly slept but talked a lot last night...Jetlag is still there ;-(
One more thing...Jesse my little nephew is learning English...his favorite 2 words are 'excuse me' and repeats that whole the time.
Pictures will follow and more stories as well.....
big hug,
carryWednesday, October 27, 2010
Two typical dutch weeks
I can tell you it was hard leaving Switzerland and finding my dutchrhythm....but by the end I had two typical dutch weeks with friends, family and relatives. With no beer but enough wine :-)
What I've been doing?
For those who read eat, pray and love or have seen the movie already...at the moment I feel like Elisabeth Gilbert in Rome...eating, drinking, eating and drinking so I gained weight ;-) Haven't been doing sports since 3 weeks, which is an unusual feeling as well.
I've been ill, there is a virus going around...not really nice. Went to the hairdresser to get my hair prepared to travel hahaha. Have been doing some travelshopping....and really avoid with pain in my heart all those wonderful clothingstores! and...last but not least... I've been practising, looking after my little nephew Jesse, who's going to join me for two months on my trip...his second name is little dragon...maybe this says enough ;-) but he's really cute!
There were a couple of things I simply had forgotten, like:
- how the wind blows here...especially when you are on your bike cycling trough the countryside
- how beautiful a windmill can be
just simple things, but not really being aware of before.
And now I just can't wait to finally go...I need some fresh food for my mind....which is just circling around now and concerned with the same subject(s) whole time. The only thing I'm a little concerned about is the weather and the volcano eruption(s), with earthquake(s) in Indonesia. So maybe we have to change plans and go more north in the beginning.
We will see...and sure I will let you know!
hug, carry
What I've been doing?
For those who read eat, pray and love or have seen the movie already...at the moment I feel like Elisabeth Gilbert in Rome...eating, drinking, eating and drinking so I gained weight ;-) Haven't been doing sports since 3 weeks, which is an unusual feeling as well.
I've been ill, there is a virus going around...not really nice. Went to the hairdresser to get my hair prepared to travel hahaha. Have been doing some travelshopping....and really avoid with pain in my heart all those wonderful clothingstores! and...last but not least... I've been practising, looking after my little nephew Jesse, who's going to join me for two months on my trip...his second name is little dragon...maybe this says enough ;-) but he's really cute!
There were a couple of things I simply had forgotten, like:
- how the wind blows here...especially when you are on your bike cycling trough the countryside
- how beautiful a windmill can be
- what an amazing sky holland can have
- how it is to start thinking on dutch again
And now I just can't wait to finally go...I need some fresh food for my mind....which is just circling around now and concerned with the same subject(s) whole time. The only thing I'm a little concerned about is the weather and the volcano eruption(s), with earthquake(s) in Indonesia. So maybe we have to change plans and go more north in the beginning.
We will see...and sure I will let you know!
hug, carry
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
How a couchpotato get's her coffee
Yesterday:
I'm still in Stockholm and David left at 4.30 am for his flight to Göteborg. He has to work there a couple of weeks. So I had the whole day for myself....I could have gone for a walk in the park, I could have gone to the city and do some shopping, I could have done so many things, when it just wouldn't had been raining almost whole day!
So what I did was; sleeping, reading, facebook (there are always 'friends' online!) having breakfast, sleeping, reading, facebook and then.....I was dying for a cup of coffee!
But my good old buddy David, doesn't have a coffee machine. So again, reading, facebook, eat some fruits, but still that longing for coffee. It took me hours to choose between staying cosy on the couch or taking a shower go outside in the rain to get to the nearest coffeebar.
My coffee addiction won....
Ordered my coffee, took my book, looked outside....what?!? it's not raining that hard anymore....10 minutes later I looked outside....what?!? it stopped raining...10 minutes later....the sky showed some blue spots....5 minutes later....there was an almost blue sky and the sun was shining....!
Now I'm wondering....what would have happened if I had decided hours before to get my coffee....would Stockholm have had a sunny day?
I'm still in Stockholm and David left at 4.30 am for his flight to Göteborg. He has to work there a couple of weeks. So I had the whole day for myself....I could have gone for a walk in the park, I could have gone to the city and do some shopping, I could have done so many things, when it just wouldn't had been raining almost whole day!
So what I did was; sleeping, reading, facebook (there are always 'friends' online!) having breakfast, sleeping, reading, facebook and then.....I was dying for a cup of coffee!
But my good old buddy David, doesn't have a coffee machine. So again, reading, facebook, eat some fruits, but still that longing for coffee. It took me hours to choose between staying cosy on the couch or taking a shower go outside in the rain to get to the nearest coffeebar.
My coffee addiction won....
Ordered my coffee, took my book, looked outside....what?!? it's not raining that hard anymore....10 minutes later I looked outside....what?!? it stopped raining...10 minutes later....the sky showed some blue spots....5 minutes later....there was an almost blue sky and the sun was shining....!
Now I'm wondering....what would have happened if I had decided hours before to get my coffee....would Stockholm have had a sunny day?
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Sweden...Stockholm
Sitting on the couch, drinking a beer with my good old buddy...dave...and preparing more for my trip to Asia by making my own blog!
hope you gonna like it...
hug carry
hope you gonna like it...
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