English

Bas Geertsema

Okay, that _was _a long trip. After three days traveling, two days by boat and one day by bus, I finally arrived in Chiang Mai in Thailand. Back in the city I visited about 10 weeks ago. Although this time the city looks different, it is more.. hmm modern? Yes, I am pretty sure it is. Many cars, supermarkets, small cinema. Was that here before? Must be. It is funny to see how your vision gets blurred by the culture or country you compare with.

Bas Geertsema

Hi there! Another message from Luang Prabang, a small town in the northern part of Laos. While the government in the Netherlands will be central afterall, the americans retreat from Iraq and Windows Vista hits the market, life in Laos goes on like usual. Workin in the ricefields, building houses, renewing roofs, going to the market. Yes, quite a difference again, even with Vietnam. Laos is apparently one of the least developed countries, but compared to Cambodia it comes across me as a more wealthy nation.

Bas Geertsema

The weather here wasn’t that good, but it could be worse. Heavy weather now in Holland: big storms blowing away trucks from the roads! I hope everybody survived and is now reading this while enjoying a nice hot cup of coffee or tea. If you’re not, maybe you should. I would. One of the things I miss the most from back home? Good proper D.E. coffee. As most coffee here is sweet instant-coffee, it tastes just like that.

Bas Geertsema

Hi everybody! Greetings from a cloudy, rainy and cold Vietnam. That is right, after weeks of no rain and sunshine the weather has finally turned around. A little bit surprised and unprepared I was. Having only a single long pair of jeans and one sweater. But it seems this will be the weather for the next days, and as I’m traveling up north it will be even colder. Although cold ofcourse will still be about 20 degrees.

Bas Geertsema

!!Happy New Year to everybody!! At least for the ones that did celebrate it. Since the vietnamese people use a different calendar they celebrate newyear on next 19 feb! But that didn’t stop them from organising a big newyear party anyway. So I witnessed the ending of 2006 and the birth of 2007 this year without oliebollen, but with loempia’s. No oudejaarsconference, but a show of traditional vietnamese dances and music.