I have no words to say, on this slow and useless day

Originally published at breyt. You can comment here or there.

Like I did last year:

• Amsterdam* (of course)
• Kaş, Turkey*
• Ayutthayha, Thailand*
• Chiang Mai, Thailand*
• Bang Kok, Thailand*
• Kanchanaburi, Thailand*
• Alkmaar*

One or more nights were spent in each place. Those cities marked with an * were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days.

Squits and Giggles by NiT GriT

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I decided to go see a movie -- The local cinema was in a shopping mall at the next beach,a 20 minute drive from the resort I was staying. During the trip the driver repeatedly recommended me an "hour body massage with boom boom" -- no thanks :P. The movie itself (G.I. Joe) was not very good, but entertaining nonetheless. During the previews however (which took almost 30 minutes in total) they showed some kind of a promotional movie of the king,during which the spectators were standing, which was a bit odd. The driver on the way back was quiet -- I gathered that he didn't know much English, and I was tired anyway.

Today I've seen much rain -- In fact, it's already the most rainy day of the entire vacation. So nothing more to do except to sit somewhere inside,drinking coffee, reading a book, and writing things on the internets (It's Sunday as well, some shops are closed). Only two more hours to go before I take the taxi to the airport.

By night fall in Phuket we decided to go to Patong beach -- A 20 minute ride from our resort. omehow we managed to stuff everyone together in a single Tuk Tuk, which amounted to 14 persons. Obviously, by then a Tuk Tuk is not so fast anymore. Night life there is pretty good actually, we had some fun drinking beers at the Banana Pub, then heading to the disco where we spent a few hours.

We set for Koh Raja island the morning after, where we stayed in a nice resort, with a beautiful swimming pool. I did nothing more than a bit of snorkeling and reading. In other words, a nice way to get some rest after the packed program of the last weeks. This afternoon we went back to Phuket (A bumpy ride on the waves), where I said my goodbyes to the rest of the group who where going home. My flight is set for tomorrow evening so I have a tiny bit of time left.

Not sure what I'm going to do, but I'll think of something :)

We should've stayed two nights in Tanayok, but it was shortened to one, as some people in the group had a high need for something more luxury after several days of staying in simple rooms. So now, we're in Phuket, where we were reunited with the three other members of the group (who were staying behind due to illness) so that's a nice coincidence. Tonight we're going out, I'm curious how the nightlife is here ;)

WiFi isa nice when you have an iPhone with you, but it's not easy to write long texts on it. Also, not so much time to do so. So here's some catching up.

During the first night in Kanchanaburi, a girl from the group got fever symptoms (She was already tired for a few days), and went to the hospital to stay there overnight. Apparently she suffered from a stomach infection, and was transferred to Bangkok the next day. She'll rejoin at the end though. We however, went to the Erawan Falls, which were very beautiful, although it was a though walk upwards, but even more so downwards. We then took a train to drive over the Birma railway, which was a bit of a bumpy ride, but I got to take some great photos. This was followed by a visit of the famous bridge over the river Kwai, which by now is not a bamboo bridge anymore.

We had a free day following this, and by the end of the day we took the night train to southern Thailand, and to the lake in the Kao Sok national Park, where we stayed in bamboo huts floating on the lake for two nights. By then, I started to feel less than stellar, so I opted for a resting day, instead of walking through the jungle. Which turned out to be the right choice because I slept pretty much the whole day (At the same time however, I did not suffer from any flu symptoms of diarrhea, so it was a bit weird).

I feeel fine today, luckily. We drove off to a different part of the Kao Sok National Park today, where we floated on Tubes in the river, which was relaxing and fun, with a small exception when I bumped my head. Oh, well.

Tomorrow we're off too some village a bit more southern for two nights, then we head off to the Koh Raja islands.

Today was a quiet day, as we took a bus to Kanchanaburi. It's only three hours, so it was an easy ride. After that we went to a museum about the infamous Birma rail track, which was built by POW's and others under awful circumstances. Very impressive to see. Now it's chill time ! Top Gun's being showed and there's WiFi here :)

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After arriving in Bangkok, we first took a boat trip, which led us to some of the more unpopular areas in Bangkok -- going through the canals, mostly in slum areas, but we got to see quite a lot -- Also on Bangkok's main river, btw. When we were done with that, we went to the palace, a real treat -- Lots of temples in that area, and also building in Victiorian style, fused with Thai roofs. Very funny and impressive to see, even though it has a bit of legoland feeling to it. In the early evening we went to one of the big shopping malls -- I saw one in Chiang Mai, but this one was totally different -- much more packed, organized and much more people too. They even had a single floor full of little mobile shops, and that floor was the most packed.

Today we took a bicycle tour through a relatively small area, but biked a lot (25 km), and saw lots of different things -- roads with heavy traffic, roads with almost no traffic, going by bike through slum areas (these slum areas are different than those in India, for example -- they have enough to eat, and all of them have TV and such, but the houses are really crumbly and messy), seeing parks, and a really huge bridge, and going by boat again -- really fun!.

Tomorrow's a bus drive to Kanchanaburi, if I remember correctly. I wonder what that'll be like :)

Yesterday night we rode the night train for the second time. Like last time, it was a blast. Why? It seems that (almost) everything is possible ;) It started out simple, with some beers and an iPod plus speakers in our spot, but we ended up in the restaurant, plugging the iPod in there and playing music, dancing and playing Dutch sing-alongs until about eleven (when at ten it's supposed to be all-quiet ;)). Which makes for a great evening and is an almost insurance to sleep well.

We're now in Bangkok and will head out to the palace and temples in a short while. Am curious!

We visited the Elephant Nature Park today. At first was a bit skeptic about it since we had already seen elephants twice (and therefore almost decided to skip it), but it turned out to be really worthwhile. The thing we didn't know about the elephants we saw earlier is that they're generally not treated very nicely (kind of understatement). This happens because of poor laws (the laws for treating elephants are the same as treating a donkey, for example), and even poorer enforcement of these. Furthermore, the domestication process is really, really horrible (The're beaten and caged until they listen). The park is a place where these "working" elephants can be free again and live a happy life. The elephants that are there currently have had heartbreaking stories of how they came to be in the park. But, in the park, you don't notice that anymore.

What we saw there was way more awesome than riding an elephant, or seeing them do some tricks. When they're free, they have much more character. Furthermore, they can wander around and form their own herds. The park also had a one month old elephant, and a four month old, which was really cute to see. The one monthe old was still trying really hard to use its trunk correctly, while the four month old was using it already to pick up small branches. We also bathed them in the river, and saw the smaller ones bathe from a distance (being small they're much less predictable than the larger elephants, so we weren't allowed to go real close to them.

You can have a look at the website of the elephant nature park here:

http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/

Tonight we go clubbing, then tomorrow to Bangkok with the night train. Till then!

So I've been back for a few hours now -- The four days of hiking/trekking through the neorth western part of Thailand were great, and also very tiring. The first few days of Chiang May and Ayuttayah seem so far away now.

At first we stopped at a rice field were we were taught how to plant rice. Which happens to be pretty darn difficult without a line (planting them in a straight line gives more gains, as far as I can tell.) Being all muddy we then set off for a bit of water relief at the nearest waterfall (a few meters high, amazing to see). We spent the night at a temple, which was quite funny. See, you can't drink alcohol inside the area of the temple, or in the temple itself, but outside of the temple area, it's no problem. So we had a bit of a party right at the bordering wall (It's like the smoking pohibition in cafe's/restaurants in Holland now). After a somewhat difficult sleep, we headed into the local market of the village where we stayed, had some coffee and gave some food to two monks, who in turn blessed us.

Then we really drove off to the jungle to actually start trekking. This is somewhat different from what I've been used to in Europe. Hiking paths here tend to have quite a difference in altutide (15-25% in Thailand, 6-10% in Europe I'd guess). Of course at the start I didn't know this yet, so I ended up walking a bit too fast at first, for which I payed later in the afternoon. We tayed at a decent house, and I slept like a baby.

The next day we had to walk longer, so I started more slowly, which worked out quite well. But it was much longer, and therefore also much harder. We didn't really see animals other than Buffalo's and Pigs during the walks, but now we ended up at an elephant camp, where we rode one for 1-2 hours. This was a really great and funny experience, even though I'm scared of heights (I stopped noticing after a couple of minutes). The elephant I rode on (called Noi) was in the beginning a bit naughty, as he sometimes too sidetracks from the paths to eat some leaves. The guides had to set him back on track after that. Also, he was feeling quite hot, so every few minutes he would roll up his trunk over his head a blow, and also wiping his head with some leaves. At several times he filled up his trunk with water, but the guides were quick enough to make him stop doing that :)

When we disengaged from the elephants it had started to rain a bit, which make the path really slippery. But we arrived at our guest house safely, and slept there (which was quite hard because of thin mattresses and animals making loud sounds).

Today we went rafting on bamboo rafts, which was awesomely cool. And we even saw a venomous snake! That was the end though, and we drove back to the hotel, where we are now. Boy, it feels good to have a good toilet and a real shower again! Also, pretty much all my clothes I have with me are at the landry now :P

More later!

Hd a bit of a quiet day today. While the rest of the group when doing some cable "flying" thing (Hanging on a cable about 40-50 meters of the ground, then going to another point), I stayed at the hotel (Heights aren't really my thing) and I walked in the city for quite a while. First to find some breakfast, then to the Apple store (Charger is pretty much broken now, was in vain hope they would be open on Sunday for tourists). Walked the wrong way a few times here and there. But as soon s I took out the guide, people were fairly quickly trying to help. I also talked to a guy who was a teacher, and as in Holland few years ago. He could speak some Dutch sentences, and his pronunciation was quite good.

Tomorrow we'll go trekking for four days, so I'm pretty sure I won't be able to post anything in the meantime :P See you then!

The next morning we hired bikes to drive through Ayutthayah, which was really awesome. The traffic in Thailand is a bit weird though -- Some rules are logical, while others seem totally random. And there are no bicycle paths. Also, did I mention they drive on the left side here? Took some getting used to, especially when taking a turn.

Anyway, we drove to various points in the city, and then also a bit out of the city. At which point our guide had to confess he didn't know the way anymore so we drove a little longer than planned. (Also, at one point there was a moment when we had to break suddenly, and being left-handed, I opted for the left brake, which happens to be the break of the front wheel. You figure out what happens if the rear wheel is still going at full speed :P)

In the evening we took the train to Chiang Mai, where we are now. The train ride was really funny (We're a group of friendly and fun people), and the staff was very friendly. Today we saw three more temples, and tonight we're going to have dinner at the market.

So, I'm sitting for 10 minutes behind the first public computer I can find, and in the mean time the power went down *twice* -- Obviously I'm in a totally different country :P. The flight was quite good, and I even managed to put in quite a few hours of sleep, which is good fighting the jet lag, I suppose. Finding the group at the airport was a bit harder though -- I managed to walk past the guy holding the sign, which isn't really that hard, considering there are about 50 people holding out signs, all on a white paper, with the travel company's name written in black marker on them. I walked towards the meeting point, but no one was there either. Long story cut short, I managed to wander about half an hour on the airport, fending of taxi rides etc. until a guy directed me towards the info conter, and after that, things were resolved quickly. We then went on to the hotel, which is quite nice (I have a room all alone for myself!). We just went on a boat trip, having dinner, which was awesome, and with good food. The rides from the hotel to the boat and back again were mightily awesome as well (Spent in little tuk tuks, which go as fast as a regular car -- You're in for a great ride).

So yeah, I'm having fun, and tomorrow we'll be biking through Ayutthayah (sp?) -- I can only image what that would be like after the tuk tuk rides :)

More later!

roflol (via @berkes)

There are a bunch of really nice remixes of Mirah's songs. This is one of them.

Comment on this post and I'll tell you five subjects/things I associate with you. Then you post them in your LJ and elaborate.

lunapuella associated the following with me:
1. good musical taste

Thanks! :) I try to be open minded when it comes to music, and listen to both more-or-less the popular stuff as well as stuff that people would probably deem (more) obscure, and try to maintain a balance between the two. Otherwise, I'm also interested in the history of music -- trying to listen how earlier pop music shaped modern music. That's why I also have a fair bit of songs dating from before the 50's in my collection.

2. volleybal

I started out playing volleyball when I was 9, and it just stuck. Even after quitting playing for it for a couple of months. In general I like doing a sport because it contrasts heavily with what I do in daily life -- essentially sitting behind a computer. So there's all this physical stuff (you have to actually move etc.), but also on a mental level it's interesting, since the time to analyze the situation and deciding on an action is so short.

3. south park icon

I made this on a website a few years ago, and it was my avatar of choice for a while until I decided that the photo bakenius took of me in Berlin is a much better one. I only use it on LJ, last.fm and Flickr nowadays.

4. computers

We had computers around when I was very young. he first was a ZX Spectrum which we had for a short while. Then we got an MSX, which I used quite extensively to play games on. I also found out about programming then -- To load some of the games you had to write programming statements. This was what later on fascinated me: the power to make the computer do what you want. Nowadays I'm amazed by the social interactions people have on websites. And also the power to search through gigantic amounts of documents. Mobiles phones as well.

5. travelling

I like travelling -- to see different things, and to be in a totally different surroundings. For me, it also means letting go of your routines. And it's just nice to be away.

Yesterday I uploaded some footage I shot of the volleyball tournament I played on Saturday. It was fun to play, and the party afterwards was a blast.

(My team is on the right in the videos)

One of the projects I've been working on in the last year is peilend.nl, which is a website for media analysts to help them figure out what is important in the news. Yesterday, the site finally went public. So, without further ado, I present you:

http://www.peilend.nl/

Using this website, you can search in (currently) 11 different Dutch newspapers online, see commonly used words in the articles relevant to your query, as well as seeing the number of comments left by people in response to the articles.