Weekend in London
London has always been one of my favorite cities. Just being there makes me feel slightly happier. The street names, lots of them with a meaning of their own like Abbey road, Oxford street, Regent street, Bond street. The known busses, the famous underground sign, the public telephone booths. London is immediately recognizable. This visit had a wonderful bonus of having my parents visiting it at the same time.
Well that, and that the pound is historically low.
The year 2009 marks two hundred years to the birth of Darwin and a hundred and fifty years since he published his theory of evolution. The Natural History Museum had a special exhibition for this occasion. They did a wonderful job. It follows the path that Darwin took, starting as a young scientist leaving aboard the HMS Beagle on a five year trip all the way to his death. It shows his finding, items he has used to collect and analyze them and most importantly the whole thought pattern that went in his head. the internal struggle with himself once he realized that the holy text version of creation is wrong. It is sometimes hard for us to imagine but up to 150 years ago the bible version was the version.
The museum in itself is wonderful. It covers pretty much all known life from dinosaurs through fish and bird to mammals and humans. Since museums are now free in England a lot of families go there. It gives the museum a living feeling that is wonderful, especially in a museum that is about life. I highly recommend visiting it if you get to London
The other museum that I really enjoyed was the TATE modern. Located in an old power plant building it is a fitting setting for a modern art museum. The exhibitions varied quite a lot so there was something there for everyone. And again, as an open museum there was a wonderful feeling of living art, instead of observatory art.
Not that it was all culture. We spent a whole day shopping. Working our way from Piccadilly circus through Regent street to Oxford circus and then on to Oxford street. At the end of which we went to Soho for some good beer.
London was a pleasure, as it was expected as it always is. We didn't get to do half as much as we wanted to, which means we will be coming back. As far as I am concerned sooner is better then later.
Summer vacation
Summer came, and summer is almost gone now. I have been quite busy and so neglected my blogging commitment. Here to make it right is a post about this wonderful summer.
During this summer I had two major vacations. Two weeks in Berner Oberland, Switzerland, and a week in Israel out of which 3 days were taken by a dive safari in the Red Sea. Before I start telling about these two thought, I'd like to say that the actual travelling start with two visits to Fontainebleau within a month. Bleau is always fun, and every time I come back I find myself wondering why I don not go there more often. I hope this new trend of vising at least once a month on average (more in the summer, not so much in the winter).
Berner Oberland, oh, Berner Oberland. Home of the Jungfrau, the Eiger with its world famous north face and the Aletschhorn glacier to name a few. Paula and me spent a day in Bern, which was nice, but I was feeling restless. I wanted to see the Eiger. So the next day we left for Launterbrunnen, which lies in a dale starting close to Interlaken. It is a place out of a fairy tale. The dale has walls of a few hundred meters high. A few waterfalls flow from the top to form magnificent waterfalls. It is a place that, at least in me, steers a feeling of magic. The next two days we spent mountain biking in the area.
The first day we went up from Launterbrunnen to Muren. That proved to be a somewhat difficult day. In total its 900m of a continuous climb. We were not ready for that much climbing. By the time we reached Muren it really felt like a victory. We were quite tired, and, failing to find an apple shtrudel had to settle for a cup of coffee. The way down was fun. Those 900m went flying by. There were a few places with warning signs instructing us to get of the bikes. We didn't. It was fun. The next day we went for a somewhat flatter route, going only 400m vertical. It was still bloody difficult. Our legs were tired but the scenery was so beautiful they were easy to ignore. The third day we were expecting Bas and Charlotte to arrive at the afternoon. Seeing as we were about to embarke on a 8 day hike we decied to take it easy. The day's activity consisted of getting provinces and getting the bag ready for the coming hike. Bas said they would be there at around 16:00. So we expected them at 19:00 the earliest. We were caught by complete surprise when Bas and Charlotte actually arrived on time.
The hike itself was amazing. I have almost forgotten what a wonderful feeling it is to walk in the alps, sleep in huts, and just generally be out, in nature. Every day I was having more fun. We walked in 7 days from Grosse Scheidek to Oeschinsee. I find my words fail me when I come to describe how it was. The nature was so there, all around you, taking you in. Making me feel small, and at the same time as free as can be. Standing at the foot of the Eiger north face, looking at a wall 1700m high, its exhilarating. we were also very lucky with the weather. We had almost exclusively sunny days. Till 16:00. then it rained, hard. Then at 16:45 it became sunny again. Apparently it has something to do with the area's micro climate. Lots of glaciers and a warm sun will do that.
The second vacation was the diving safari in Sinai. I am a new diver. Its less then a year since I followed a diving course during our trip to Thailand. Less then a year and already I have dives in some of the est places in the world.
Coming from Israel I am no stranger to the Red Sea. This was however the first time I properly dived in it. The safari was a 3 day, live on-board(as in on a boat). Every day there are 4 dives, except the last days which can only have 3 because of time constrains. I don't know if I can conclude from this first experience about all live-onboard safaris, but I believe they are all pretty much like this. And by this I mean totally relaxing. You have zero worries. All you have to do. All you can do is dive, eat sleep and read. Oh and setup discos to dance into the night, but I think that was a bit unique 
. It is an wholly relaxing, and energy filling experience. I highly recommend it as an anti-stress treatment.
Thats it for now, I'm all written out. Ill write some more in the weekend.
NS hike
My feet hurt. Bad. I needed to get that out of the way. Now for the fun Part. The dutch railway have a hiking project. They have set up hiking routes that start, and end in their stations. The initiative is good. It offers people with little experience in hiking and/or people with no car to go about doing some pretty good hiking.As I have not hiked in quite some time we decided to take a route of medium length. 18km total. Should be doable. And it was. But our feet. Man our feet hurt. The views were really nice as you can see in the next few pictures. More are on the 
We had a wonderful time walking together in the country. listening to the birds, walking through villages. It was all very relaxing. We couldn't stop smiling all the way back home.
Snowboarding weekend in Austria
Last weekend, the weekend of passover I went snowboarding Austria with some friends.
I was afraid I wont manage to go snowboarding this year, making it the third year in a row. Luckily this weekend came along. As I posted before I finally got around to buying my own board and I was looking forward to testing it on real slopes. Thursday evening we left fro Kaprun in Austria. The mountain we went boarding on is called the Kitsteinhorn. Its a 3000m high and has a glacier so we knew we would have enough snow. The trip there is quite long though. Its about 11 hours by car. We arrived in 6 in the morning. Quite tired as you would imagine. The other group's car arrived 2 hours later.
I gave sleeping my best shot but by 9:30 I was wide awake. I just couldn't wait any longer so I picked up my board and hit the slopes. The experience was incredible. The board was just so great to ride on. Rent boards are beginner boards. That means they are soft and forgiving. The downside is control. Once you start going hard they get jumpy and are next to impossible to keep under control. The board I bought is not the stiffest but its way stiffer then a begginer's board. And I felt it right away. I had no problem controlling it at speeds which would make me loose balance on beginners board. That's when I noticed going fast also means going strong, and by strong I mean leg muscles. Oh body did they hurt in the end of the day. The board gives back everything you put into it, but it also demands you put energy into it. I could cruse at low speeds but that just felt like driving a sports car at 50 km/h on a straight road. No fun at all. Later on that day Erwin joined in. He was able to give me a few small tips that immediately improved my cornering control and speed. Its nice to know people in the know .
The rest of the weekend was great. We snowboarded or skied all day, and had fun in the apartment at night. Speaking of which, the apartment was huge. There were the 6 of us sleeping in it but it never felt cramped. Compared to the tiny places you get in France this was a grand palace. It will be hard for me to move back to the tiny France standards next season. Or I could just stick with Austria.
The weather was quite acceptable. We had good snow showers, which led to really great piste and off-piste rides. Unfortunately we also got snow during the day which sometimes led to visibility so low all you could see was white with no texture.
All in all it was a great weekend and lots of fun. My board was all I hoped and more and we all left with a taste for more.
Wintersport in Passen
Om het communicatie was flotter te maken en te zorgen dat we met als groep kunnen communiceren maak ik hier ff een blog post over de wintersport plannen voor komenden passen weekend. Gebruik de comments om wat informatie to te voegen of te reageren.
Ik zou beginnen. Het is tot nu to niet gelukt om een slaap plaats te regelen in de buurt van Kaprun. Marcelo is op dit moment (of starks) wat verder aan het zoeken.
Ik heb wel 1 hotel gevonden daar waar in 1 site zijn er wel kamers vrij maar in een andere niet. De hotel naam is "Hotel St. Hubertushof". De hotel ligt in een dorpje naast Kaprun.
Aangezien dat er is wel een mogelijkheid dat we geen slaapplek kunnen vinden heb ik wat verder gezocht naar alternative wintersport lokaties. Ik heb de volgende paar gevonden: (alle prijzen zijn p.p.)
Tsjechie
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Hotel Arnika
Voor 3 persoon voor 5 nachten is het 119 euro. Ik weet niet hoe sneeuw zeker hetgebied is. Hij ligt vrij laag (1300) dus het kan dat er is bijna geen sneeuw daar. Afstand is 990km, 20 meer dan Kaprun.
Oostrijk
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Hotel Gastnof Astner
2 persoon kamers. 102 euro voor 4 nachten (precis wat we moeten hebben).Het gebied is Zillertal. Het lijkt een hele groot gebied en hij is ook tot 3000m. Het is half pension. De catch is dat volgnes mij moet je met de bus/auto naar de ski gebied. Ze zijn een paar km van het hotel af. Dit lijkt mee een goede optie.
Pension Bachern
2-4 persoon kamers. 5 nachten (1 te veel dus), 129 voor 4 persoon kamer, 137 voor 3 persoon en 152 voor 2 persoon kamers. De lifts zijn 3.5 km. De skibus halte is 150m van de hotel. Liching is tot 1700, dus weer weet niet hoe sneeuwzeker hij is
Geen idee de naam
Deze is ook in een grote gebied, goedkoop, met eigen douche en wc, en lijkt mee de beste optie.
Frankrijk
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Résidence La Crête du Berger
Er zijn wel beschikbaarhied maar alleen voor week ski. Moet gebelt worden om te vragen of een weekend mogelijk is. Prijzen zijn tussen 180-210 euro.
Kijk maar op de links en post als je meer plekken vind, en/of voorkeur heeft, of ergens naartoe absolute niet wilt
K4
A quick update
It has been a while since I blogged, but as we are in Phuket at the moment and the sun calls I will just write a quick update.
We spent 10 days in Malaysia, visiting Georgetown (Penang) and Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia proved to be a very interesting place mainly because of the people. Malaysia has many minority groups and a few religion. Islam is the dominant religion but there are quite a lot of Buddhist and Hindu temple. We also saw some Daoist temples. The distinct feeling in Malaysia is for people who are looking for an identity. With a lot of minority groups and religion there is no clear feeling of unity there. Kuala Lumpur proved to be a shopping haven. There are a lot of shopping centers there are a few new ones being built. All in all Malaysia was an interesting, but not spectacular experience.
Moving back to Thailand we settled in Phuket's Kata beach, where we will stay until the 25. Its time to get some color before heading back to the cold. On the 25 we will take a night bus to Bangkok. On the 28 at night we have our flight back to the Netherlands.
See you all soon!
Bangkok and Some Beaches
Bangkok, Thailand, back where people are nice, and the food is good. Or so we had thought as we woke up. We headed towards the Grand Palace and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. Being the responsible travellers that we are, we stopped in front of the palace to put on long pants and long sleeve shirts. As we were clothing, a man approached us and started talking to us. I have read on the lonely planet that if anyone starts talking to you, you should be suspicious. It also said you should be double as suspicious if he says where ever your going is closed. The man chatted with us for a few minutes then asked if we were heading for the palace, because"It was closed". Paula unfortunately did not yet read the boxed warning.
The man told us it was Buddha day, original name, and that the Grand Palace was close to foreigners until 13:30. Only Thai people are allowed inside so they can pray in peace. He came with a great plan for us to visit others site in the meantime and miraculously, a tuk-tuk showed up just as he was finished. We said kindly no, and that we would rather walk. He got all mad and walked away. Paula accused me of being rude, and I was feeling quite bad about it. I decided I still want to try the Palace, because I still suspected some trick.
We approached what seemed to be a gate. A man in a suite told us the same story and again a tuk-tuk was there to take us on the trip "for just 10 bath"(that's about 23 cents). Behind the man in the suite was sitting a serious looking military officer so I figured the guy was legit, and I was rude and so we hopped on the tuk tuk.
The first stop was the standing Buddha temple. The Buddha there is very impressive and we were glad we went. Then the driver took us to a tailor without us asking. The Tailor shop looked very professional, and the prices were higher then average, which gave the whole place a serious feeling. Until we said we are only shopping around and will not buy anything. The salesman became agitated, refused to give us a written offer and pretty much threw us out. The next stop was not a temple, but a jewelry shop.
We got offered a fake pearl necklace for 175 euro. Hurray. We didn't want to offend anyone by calling the fake by its name so we just said it was expensive and that we needed to think about it. The saleswoman was quite good at pushing."We are only open to foreigners today", followed by "Buy for wife(Paula) as Christmas present", then "If you not have cash we take credit cards". Unfortunately for Ms pushy, both Paula and I are quite good at haggling. So we left without buying anything. We told our driver no more shops, we want temple. To our surprise he took us to one.
It was the golden mount. The Golden Mount is an artificial hill, with a huge stupa at the top. Though the stupa itself is not that interesting, it is a great place to view the Bangkok skyline. By the time we got back to our tuk tuk it was after 13:30 so we were ready to go back to the Grand Palace. The driver however had other plans. He wanted us to go to a shop. We told him that no, we don't want to, and that if he refuses its fine, we will pay the 10 bath and find other means of transportation.
The driver would not be easily persuaded. He went first with the nice guy "Please help me, I get gasoline like that", followed by the angry "I waited for you why you not nice?!". We stood our ground so he just drove away, without taking his money. After getting over the initial surprise, we had a good laugh. We got a free tour around the city, spending a total of maybe 10 minutes in the shops, and the Palace was only 10 min walking away. We got the feeling we scammed the scammers!
On the way to the Palace 3 people tried to start talking to us by saying the palace is closed FROM 13:00, and as a final note we came across the first guy, who ignored us, and the guy in the suite who was just telling two Lebanese guys that the palace is closed from 13:00. We interrupted and informed them what he had told us earlier, the guy vanished in the background as we headed to what was the real entrance. Eventually we didn't go into the Palace that day as by the time we arrived we had but one hour to explore it, so we decided to go back another day.
Our next few days in Bangkok have been quite full. We saw the palace, and some huge shopping centers. We went to see a movie, which quite amusing because before the film start everybody stands up and a short video with pictures of the king is shown!
We also gave up on tuk-tuks and taxis. Taxi running on a meter turned out to be cheaper then a tuk-tuk, only most of them try to scam you by driving in a very indirect route. So we did the only thing left, we took the bus. That turned out to be a great idea, because quite frankly, they are incredible easy to use, ride frequently, and there are so many of them, you almost never need to change buses no matter where your going.
Bangkok was fun, but I really wanted to get my ass on some beach. and so on the 21 of December we boarded the night bus to Krabi, with the plan to spent xmas on Raily beach. The lonely planet describes it as the most beautiful beach in Thailand. A friend of ours (Yes Aharale I mean you!) spent a whole month there and was totally in love with it. To say we had high expectations would be an understatement.
As high as out expectations were, the disappointment was way bigger. The surrounding is amazing, but the beach itself is pretty standard. There were only red, fat drunken English, sometimes with their red, fat annoying kids. Garbage was everywhere. And as a final piece everything was crazily over expansive. Every hotel claimed to be full, except for the one room they could show us. Then another room became magically available after we refused the first. You get the general idea.
After 3 long agonizing hours on Raily we left. I have located on the lonely plant a much promising little island, called Ko Bulon Lae. It was only another day's traveling away! Paula didnt know if she loved me for pulling her from Raily or hated me for making her travel another day. The next day at noon, when we finally got to Bulon Lae she knew she loved me. We found azure water, white yellow beach, and an amazing little island. Bulon Lae is quite small, with only a few resorts to stay in. And when I say resort I mean a couple of bungalows and a small restaurant/bar/reception. it was perfect!
We had a great time on Bulon Lae. We ate well, we had a nice snorkel trip, we ate well, we hung on the beach. Oh and the food was really good. We spent 6 days on that small charming Island then moved on to Ko Tarutao national park.
The national park contains several islands, the biggest of which is Ko Tarutao. The place most people end up in, however, is Ko Lipe, which is where we went to. We were planning on using Ko Lipe as a spring board to one of the park's other islands, Ko Adang. We were under the impression this island would be almost completely deserted. We were planning on having a new year's eve all alone. Were we ever wrong.
Thailand it seems share the same months as we do, only their calendar year is different. So when we have new year, they to, have new year. The Island's only camp site was packed full of Thai people. We came there with a water supply, food, and cooking material, only to be confronted by some bungalows and a restaurant. Oh well. It was not what we expected but we had a blast. Most amazing of all was the snorkeling there. We saw a sea turtle! It was so lovely, so beautiful, and as we found out later so very rare. Camping there was great. Our tent was right on the beach, which was beautiful. We had a campfire right next to the sea every evening. It was a lot of fun, and it gave us both a lot of energy. On the 2nd of January we moved back to Lipe.
Lipe, smaller then Bulon Lae is much more touristic. It has some great beaches, and very nice restaurants. It also has some diving schools offering dives in the national park. After debating about it for around 5 seconds we decided to take a diving trip. Man was it worth it. The visibility was great, the corals were great, and we saw some wonderful marine life. A pack of Barracudas and a Lion fish are my favourites.
Yesterday we left Ko Lipe and Thaliand and got to Malaysia. We will be spending the next couple of days in Georgetown, then Kula Lumpur, before our return to Thailand for some final beaches and some shopping.
Cambodia Experience
Our last day in Siem Reap we went to the floating village. The place is an interesting place and some proof of human adaptation. The lake, in which the village floats, has a huge difference in water level between the seasons. To compensate for this houses were built on bamboo rafts so they move with the water level. It really is fascinating to see how people live on what is almost a scene out of "Water World", well without the bad acting. And at a lower budget. Fishnet bellow the house, boats serving as a mini-market floating around. It's an ado to human adaptation, at least as I see it.
Then we left for Phnom Phen. Stayed a night and left for Kratie. If you haven't heard the name, don't be surprised. Its a small town with nothing much in it. But its on the Mekong next to where the Irrawaddy dolphins live. For those of you who don't know it, its sweat water dolphins. We found a hotel we thought was pretty good, went for diner and then to bed. then it became interesting.
We were sitting with our books when we both noticed small animals jumping on our books. I didn't give it a second thought and dismissed it as some weird tropical bug. Paula however, being the keen biologist that she is, recognized them as flees. "I am not sleeping in a bed with flees!". So I went to the reception and tried to explain to the non-english-capable-staff that we had flees. I got a bottle of shampoo. I tried again. This time I was more successful in getting through that it was, in fact, some sort of bug. So I got a bug spray. I tried to explain this doesn't kill flees but failed miserably. At this point one of the small crowd that has gathered around me had the brilliant idea of actually calling someone who can speak English. With this new translator I got through that it was actually flees that we were facing. The staff was not convinced, they wanted to see the flees for themselves. And so back to the room we went: me, the translator, and 3 staff members. Of course it was next to impossible to see any flees. They also said they had no room available. When we said we would leave, a room became available.
It also had flees. even more so. enough for me to show the stuff. So late at night, with the whole town closed we went into the street, bags and all and hurried to the first hotel we found, which luckily was around the corner. It didn't have flees. It did have air-co, and double the price. But we figured it beats getting flees.
After our nightly escapade we were all ready to see some dolphins. After a short motor ride we got to the dock, where we hired a boat, and a guide and went dolphin searching. It was wonderful to see them. There is just something about dolphins that make me feel all warm inside. we spent about 3 hours looking around with dolphins popping up close and far, in pairs, solo. We even got to see them play here and there. It was an uplifting experience in all manners. After that Cambodia seemed like a much nicer place. The next day we went back to Phnom Phen and I prepared myself mentally for our following day in Phnom Phen. We will be going to Tuol Slang, a.k.a. S-21 and the killing fields.
It was even more difficult than I imagined. S-21 was a school before it was transformed into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. more then 17,000 people were sent there during the two years of the Khmer rouge regime. 6 walked out. It is a horrible place. Even now, after 30 years it seems like you can feel the pain and horror echoing back from the walls that once where home for children's dreams. The people were not executed in S-21. Instead they were set on trucks and sent to a field about 15km outside of Phnom Phen. Hence the name. It is as of yet unclear how many of these killing fields actually exist. It is a surreal experience to wonder the peaceful groove, full of trees and small holes. to think of the horrors that took place there. People were not shot, because bullets costs money. They were punched to death. Mothers watched as their babies were slammed into trees until they died. Then the mothers were mascaraed.
I do not want to go into it any further. Instead I wish to note two more things about the place. In S-21 there are paintings made by one of the prisoners. the painting were comissioned by the wardens to describe the different types of torture. One of the paintings shows a method of torture which has been on the news lately, the so called "Water Boarding". the method the America administration claims is not torture.
The second is a sentence that was written on a wall in a cell block. "We cry about the past but do nothing for the present". Think about it.
The next day we took the bus from Phnom Phen to Bangkok. This time the border crossing went smooth. We got what we were promised. By 21:30 we were eating Masiman with rice in an alley of Khao San road.
The Angkor
There are few places in the world who's name alone is inspiring. The Angkor Wat is definitely one of those places. After spending 3 days there I can completely understand why. Angkor, the old capital of the Khmer empire is a huge complex. Its about 40 km from the north most temple ruins to the south most. In this big area there are hundreds of temples, the most known, and the biggest is the Angkor Wat.
It is quite hard to grasp just how immense it is. Unlike churches, it does not have one big hall. To understand how big it is one has to be standing outside it. As we understand it is the biggest religion building in the world.
The first two days in the Angkor we spend on bicycle, visiting the more central located temples. Aside from the Angkor Wat we visited the Bayon in Angkor Thom, Pre Rub, and some more less known temples. On a third day we took a TukTuk (3 wheeled taxi) for some temples that were far of.
The Angkor really grows on you. In the end of the third day we had a hard time saying goodbye. It is hard to explain in words just how magical the place feels. Walking in ancient temples, some reclaimed by man, some are still covered in jungle, you can completely loose yourself.