General

Good luck
July 25th, 2007

Thanks to loads of beautiful things to see, loads of stuff to do and unfortunately some really crappy internet connections, I have managed to run behind for over a month on updating you guys.

Yesterday and today I was finally able to find a decent connection and have made the time (also a bit of a problem lately – but I’m just having too much fun) to catch up. For you guys this means: just open up that bottle of wine and take your time, cause I’ve put loads of stories and pictures under Malaysia, Malaysia Photo’s, Indonesia & Indonesia Photo’s. Good luck!! – I’m impressed if you manage to read all of it

By the way – if you’re looking for the part of the story where Gea joint me: check Indonesia and then scroll down untill the header “It almost feels like home”. Of course, you’ll need to check out the pictures at Indonesia Photo’s as well!

Still hanging on
July 4th, 2007

Unfortunately I more or less have to repeat my last message. I am safe, doing well, having loads of fun and spending heaps of time with the fishies (although I’m not sure if grey & white tip reef sharks count as fishies ). Currently I either don’t have the time to update my blog, or find myself in such remote places that the internet (if there is any) is so incredibly slow that it is just taking way to much time to make you guys jealous with all the cool stuff I’ve been doing over the past month.

By the way I have made it as far as Sulawesi, Indonesia by now (with Carel as my online guide, since it seems impossible to find a guidebook here) where I just had a “hagelslag” sandwich for breakfast

Big X

Jean

Just to let you know I’m safe
June 11th, 2007

Two days into the trip with Bertrand & Ian , a Kejaman lady, Telan invited me to stay with her and her family. Of course I could not resist. As soon as I have reached a city with proper internet connection I will tell & show you all about this amazing experience. For now, I’m safe & sound, trying to make my way out of the jungle – which has proved harder then I thought…. I am allready trying for 2 days, and so far have only made it to the small town of Belaga!

Take care!

Another one down
May 29th, 2007

Last Thursday I had to own up to it…. another year added towards me being a fairly old lady! In order to point out to you guys just how many years I’ve gained so far two Dutch guys demonstrated just how flexible they are…………

 

………… just in case you missed the point I wrote it down for you………

Even though I’m almost at the other side of the world, I now know that out of sight doesn’t mean out of your hearts. Thanks for all the sweet messages, e-mails, e-cards and phone calls.

PS: check out my Malay adventures under…. yeah big surprise “Malaysia”, and my latest photo’s on “Malaysia photo’s”

So how am I doing so far?
April 24th, 2007

I love it! I am on the road for about five months now and still loving every minute of it. Of course you have good and bad days, but it’s mainly good. I’m not bored for a minute and still find myself completely amazed that I’m here and that I’m doing this. The enormous feeling of freedom, combined with beautiful places, interesting people you meet and loads of stuff to do I just cannot get enough of. Although I could really do with a slice of whole-weat bread with old Dutch cheese!

Travelling
For the past month and a half I’ve (as most of you know) been travelling with Suus. Even though I like the travelling by myself it has been really good fun to travel together. Just the laughter, the company or somebody to talk to when you’re not sure what to do next. Sorting out you’re shit like bank and visa stuff is a lot more fun when you’re not waiting in line by yourself. The bad things (like horrible busrides) tend to be hilarious rather than horrible when you’re together.

It does, however, also has it’s disadvantages…. like her using my pocket knife to clip her toe nails… I can already hear you guys laughing at me now!

Staying in touch
The past two months internet access has not always been available or really bad sometimes. This has resulted in me just updating (or trying to) the blog and not responding to the tons and tons of e-mails you guys send me. I do apologise for that. Please don’t think I don’t care, because I read all your emails and love all the stories that you guys send me. After spending 3-4 hours in an internet cafe updating my blog while and reading my mail I am usually hungry, tired and ready to go back out again. So even if I don’t respond, keep me updated on how you’re doing anyway!

Steadily growing
I guess I’ve been lucky so far, not having had any severe deceases or injuries. Apart from my stomach having a hard time getting used to Asian food and one foodpoisoning I’ve been fine. Somehow (maybe the beer every night) I’ve even managed to put on some wait and keep it steadily growing. I’ve already had to throw away a pair of shorts I have bought in Vietnam, but which no longer fit me now!

For the rest? What can I say? I miss you guys, but despite the various requests I am not coming back yet !

Promises, promises
April 24th, 2007

Having promised over and over, but finding no decent computers, no time and a billion other excuses I was a bit behind on keeping you guys updated. Well, I’ve just spent hours and hours in an internet cafe the past couple of days (with a nice interval of a 4-day dive trip) and updated everyting (Laos, Cambodia & Thailand). I’ve also put up new pictures and have updated “general” to let you know how I’m doing. Now since I’ve spent hours getting it updated, you guys had better read everyting!

Sad news
The sad news is that on the 17th Suus and I split up (hence the time to finally update my site ). By now she’s made her way to Australia, so I’m back on my own again (snif). Of course I’m gonna miss her like crazy (especially all the laughter), but I think I will survive in the end .

Tomorrow I’m going to Koh Lipe to chill out a little and then it’s off to Malasia…. so see you there!

In general…..

This page I added, so every now and than I can update you on the travelling in general and other things. Or maybe to move some stuff from my homepage to this one if I don’t want to delete it yet (or get in a big fight with Tante Kee for finally showing my “toet” and then taking the pictures off the site again )

The travelling so far

Besides all the little adventures and exciting stories (well I think they are ) a little information on the travelling experience. So far I am really enjoying every part of the travelling, even the moments where things don’t go the way you planned.

My trip is not like a very big long holiday (ok, sometimes it is ). In order to be able to see as much as I can, stay relaxed, keep up with my budget and still do everything I want to and of course keep you guys updated, it is a lot different from a normal holiday. Not in a bad way though. Just like when you have a job, you keep on getting these little challenges. Nothing ever goes the way you planned, so you are improvising every day, to get where you want to go. The big difference with working is, my challenges now, take me to the most beautiful places in the world! I feel that it is really good to experience to learn how much you can improvise and still trying to keep smiling along the way. It is a good test for my patience as well all though I am not quite sure that I have passed that test yet !

Because I know I’ve got time and the only plan is to do what I like, I feel an enormous amount of freedom. Also of course seeing beautiful places, having and taking the time to enjoy them is great. But what I think I like best though is meeting all sorts of people. With some people you only share the chit chat, but a lot of the time you get into these very interesting discussions. What I enjoy about these is all the opinions you get from people with different upbringing, backgrounds and ideas. It’s amazing how some people can really get you to think about your ideas and the things you believe in, when you have only met them for a couple of hours.

For the rest…. I just love it!

My stomach keeps refusing Asian food, but now it’s me getting used to that. Ordering it is something you also have to get used to. Try to pronounce it the way they do… Ordering “fried rice” will only get you raised eyebrows, “flied lice” on the other hand is available everywhere! And if you would like to have some tea make it very specific what you want. I.e. Can I have tea please? Than add: hot, no ice, no milk, no lemon, no sugar. And just to be on the save side you might wanna add: “Lipton tea” in the end!

I am pretty used to my luggage by now and even the few cloths I’ve got seem to suffice me. I even gave some to Tanja to take back home! Everything else so far seems to have its use. I started by bringing my big camera, but now I even got Erwin to bring me my extra lense. This picture shows pretty much what I look like most of the time.

Happy New Year!!!!

Save and sound I wish you all the best, good health, loads of fun and lots of love for 2007!

The bombs in Bangkok sort of derailed our plans, but with many thanks to Ed’s friends we had a great evening (I was gonna say blast … but it got a different meaning last night ) Check out the full story under Thailand.

It is starting to sound like I am making a speech, but I want to thank Ronald for posting a message yesterday. I had some trouble getting through to
Holland, so a little back up was great!

For the past couple of days I have been trying to get my website updated. Since I had a lot of pictures to put on, stories to tell etc. I have made some changes in the lay out. I divided it in Vietnam (even posted some pictures with old stories), Vietnam Photo’s, Thailand and Thailand Photo’s. For those of you that are curious about the travelling by itself, check out “general”.

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized

3 Comments Add your own

• 1. Daddy | januari 2nd, 2007 at 11:41 am

  Heel goed om te weten, want ik hoorde verder niets en mobiel is niet gelukt, ik was aardig geschrokken toen we e.e.a. vernamen op het nieuws, blijkbaar zijn er 8 buitenlanders gewond geraakt !

  Dus heel opgelucht en blij dat alles goed gaat.

  Heel gelukkig 2007 ook voor iedereen die Jean volgt via haar site.

  Groetjes en blijf voorzichtig en verder veel plezier, wat gaan jullie hierna doen ???

  Hou ons op de hoogte.

  Kus Daddy en Carry.

  Edit Comment

• 2. Femke | januari 3rd, 2007 at 9:36 am

  ha lieverd, blij dat het goed met je gaat en dat je een goede oud en nieuw hebt gehad. ik maakte me niet echt zorgen maar ben toch blij te lezen dat alles ok is!
  dikke dikke kus en tot mails (ps. overzichtje waar je om vroeg komt eraan hoor!)

  Edit Comment

3. Femke | januari 3rd, 2007 at 9:43 am

ps. had ik al gezegd dat ik je ECHT mis!!??!! ik zit zo eens even al je foto’s te bekijken en ik wordt er helemaal blij van maar ik besef wel dat ik je voorlopig alleen maar op die manier te zien krijg…of heb je al een compu met webcam gevonden?
xx

Hi sweetie,

Heel gelukkig 2007! Ik mis jou ook hoor! (dat betekent alleen niet dat ik terugkom ) Helaas nog geen compu met webcam, maar kan hier wel skypen. Je kunt me op dat thaise tel. sms-en als je tijd hebt, dan zoek ik als het kan even een computer op.

Dikke kus
Jean

Naar aanleiding van enkele bommen, afgegaan op verschillende lokaties in Bangkok, belde Jean me om te zeggen dat met haar alles goed is en dat mensen zich niet druk hoeven te maken, met het oog op het feit dat het waarschijnlijk ook hier op het nieuws zal komen.
Het is bij haar bijna nieuwjaar en ze had zich al helemaal voorbereid om te vertrekken naar het grootste “count down” evenement van Bangkok. Nu zitten ze voorlopig maar even in het hotel, af te wachten of er misschien nog nieuws komt. Mocht iemand haar toch even willen spreken, is ze te bereiken op # +66 8769 22172.
En ook aan iedereen hier een geweldig nieuwjaar toegewenst.

Groetjes,
Ronald.

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized

2 Comments Add your own
1. Daddy | januari 2nd, 2007 at 12:14 pm
God zij dank.

Blijk met dit goede nieuws, ik was aardig ongerust.

Daddy.

2. Femke | januari 3rd, 2007 at 9:42 am
dank je Roon, fijn dat je ons even gerust kon stellen!
liefs
Femke

Christmas in BKK

Merry Christmas!

And a very big fat Christmas kiss!!!

Thanks everybody, for the really sweet messages, e-cards and e-mails. It’s pretty obvious that you haven’t forgotten about me. So on Christmas Eve Ed and me went all over BKK to find the best Christmas spirit and took pictures especially for you guys!

For the girls from “’t wijvenhuis” will you check my hand? Thanx, sweeties hvj!!!

I hope everybody has a wonderful Christmas!

 

 

1. Kee He toet je weet me eerste Kersdag aan het lachen te krijgen en heel blij te maken schat!!!
   Ik heb nog nooit zo’n stralende Kerstman gezien.
   En je kus sprong hoeps in een keer over, heerlijk.
   Guid en Fientje heb z’n broertje gestuurd met een rood pakkie an.
   Waar je ook bent, luid de bel en tante Kee die hoort je wel.
   Schat geniet van de Kerst, de rest mail ik weer lekker rechtstreeks.
   Liefs uit het ‘meidennest” en dikke, dikke knuffel KeeDec 25, 12:08 PM
2. Femke |Zoals al gezegd, je ziet er geweldig uit!!! en komt die lioppestift dus toch nog van pas tuttebel! kuskuskuskusDec 25, 1:04 PM —
3. Tanja |Hé meid,Wat een onzettend gave foto’s! Je ziet er echt super uit. Hebben jullie een leuk kerstdiner gehad? Hoorde van Ed al waanzinnige leuke verhalen dat je Jolanda was tegengekomen en een super gave avond hebt gehad! Wat gaaf zeg. En er waren nog meer toevalligheden??? Vertel eens…….. Veel liefs,
   TanjaDec 28, 11:37 PM

Special Request from Tante KeeOriginally uploaded by jeansrw.
Tante Kee ordered me to put up my face every now
and then … so we did a little photoshoot just for her!Big kiss!