First of all, this blog is in English. Because it is about me and my friend Kana. We went together on a trip so it would be kind to write it in English.

As you can imagine it would be very interesting to go on a holiday with a girl!!! Girls most of the time have a lot of different ideas about holiday then boys. In addition it would be also interesting to go on a holiday with a Japanese… Imagine then going with a Japanese Girl!!!!

I wonderr!!!

Kana and me met in her hostel in Japan. And I was kind off surprised that she wanted to travel with me without hardly knowing me. After a few 😉 mails we finally met in Bangkok. I was very tired from my food poisoning and Kana had been working all night! So we went for the best thing to do in South East Asia. A Thai Massage. For only 5 dollars you will be bonebroken for an hour!

The next day we went out for almost all tempels and buddhas in Bangkok. I waited to visit these the first days I was in Bangkok so we could this togheter. At the first moment we got our scamm experience. It went like this…. Heyyy are you and your wife!!! Japanese?? Yehhh, yeeh… And this guy starts talking nice things in perfect Japanese. So you start trusting the guy!! He tells us about the Royal palace, that it is closed. And in the afternoon we have to go back. So we should go somewhere else. At the moment we got rid of him a tuktukdriver…(his friend) came to bring us somewhere for a lot of money. We could just go into the palace. Also with our flipflops, while he said we could’nt. So just like the sign next to the palace says… do not trust strangers! and thats what we did.

After going to Ayuthayya, Kana and me are wondering where we should go the next day. Pataya, Birma… the floating village… or maybe the best option Changmai? North Thailand. Very funny. Kana seems to be the same traveler as me. We just go to Changmai for a day trip. Although it cost some money for 50 euros round trip we HAVE to do it. So we do without hassle…. especially the last I like!

In the night we go to the night market where we pay our dinner and drinks wit coupons, it looks just like Oktoberfest in Germany. Besides the dinner there is a night market with a lot of nice souvenirs which i unfortunately cannot bear with me.

Changmai is great, far more peaceful than the chaotic Bangkok. With beautiful nature and a hostel for 2,50 including breakfast and swimming pool. We are doing a one day tour, with elephant riding, which was actually more fun then i expected. We did all things in a nutshell. Great!
I could ride the elephant myself trough the river and we had much fun feeding the huge animal.
Later on we went to a tribe village. for me the road to it was much more interesting. With the rice fields and the jungle. For Kana it was just like here backyard. Very funny. The tribes live in wooden shacks and smoke opium from bamboo leafs. Of course we had the opportunity to try this! So we did. However….. without opium! It was like inhaling a DAF Diesel trucks disposals. However pretty cool.
Then we went for a hike towards a massive Waterfall where we could swim. super refreshing for me because I can’t stand the heat.
I think my blood heritage is somewhat from the Northpole because I just can’t stand heat! This poses a problem because I am constantly burning. and Kana remains super cool! This makes me the complainer in this travel company. However Kana also doesnt like the sun because Japanese beauty ideal is to have a white skin color.
Kana actually likes my burnt face, and I like her sun ten. We come up with the idea to switch bodies. :-d . We end our trip by some bamboo rafting where a dutch guy and me decide to throw the guide in the water because he was sooo annoying by splashing everybody! We enjoy the nature so much!

After a long trip we of course went for a diner and a massage. Diners we always try to eat something local. Of course I am very suspicious about food after my poisoning however we have tasted some local curries, lemon grass dishes and some spicy food, insects and sweets.
That’s nice! no hassle just try things. Reminds me that I forgot to try frog! Aww such a pity 😉 . But serious. throughout my whole trip I started appreciating good/healthy food even more. Nevertheless the Korean Galbi is something I am really going to miss.

The next day we fly to Cambodia. Not particulary relax because Kana has to write a resume for KLM. Yess KLM. She has the chance to become a flight attendant there. Just between our flights we go into the Novotel and talk ourselfs into a business room. We print our tickets, upload photo’s previously made for the resume and send it to the airline. Everything just in time! Perfect…

In Cambodia we are shocked. Just like pete already wrote it so poor. At first stake we feel a little bit uncomfortable. However later on we see the life is quite relax. There are no concrete roads, houses are shacks and people live for 50 dollars a month. No wonder you can buy AK47’s and rocket lauchers in that country! A house at the centre of the city. What? A Villa! costs 400$ a month. We start talking about living the easy life there. But seriously it seems soo poor. Cambodia is an LDC this means they are the poorest country of Asia!

Everybody drives a motorbike. Sometimes we see 5 persons on one bike. It seems the best means of transportation so Kana and I just do local and hop on 1 bike with the two of us. No problem. We let us being brought to a pagoda with monkeys where an ape is getting ‘vlooien’ out of a womens hair??!! A little girl comes to me with food for monkeys. She makes the expression of the year. Mista mister! buy cameraaa yessss yessss buy food for monkey noooo nooo. It is so heartbreaking. But if you give money to the kids this will keep going on. Its better to give the kids a nutritious food and spent some money on local development programs. We visit killing fields and Tuol Seng prison. Its hardly to describe what cruelties happened there only 20 years ago!

The next day we cross the country to the UNESCO tempels in Angkor. This takes a while but we can see the countryside and sleep a little. At arrival we got picked up but the guy brings us to its own hotel in stead of the appointed hotel. Too bad for him but i don’t like being ripped of. Kana neither. We don’t accept it and he brings us to our new hotel. In the night we spent some time watching the sunset from a temple. With many other people. We agree that Japan and Holland have got the same so that it is nothing reaaaly special.

-Btw on that temple I lost my XD card. But 100 metres further a Korean bring me back my card! Bless this guy!-

Angkor is absolutely beautiful We have rented a TukTukdriver for the whole day. He brings us to all places. Before we leave he goes to a little kid to fill his TT with some gasoline from a pepsi bottle (no tax hah!) and off we go!

An impressive mixture of Hindoe and Budhism and Kingdom places fill up a whole surface of beautifull nature. We climb up every hidden spot and I feel like a little boy. During our sightseeing many MANY little boys and girls try to sells us, flutes, cokes, scarfs and whatever! “Mister you so beautiful, your girlfriend so beautiful, one dollar, one dollar. I no eat, I no school one dolaaaaaarrr.” It is so much. At a centrain point 20 kids are hanging on our shoulder. If he or she makes a good effort we give a dollar. But this doesnt solve anything of course. Meanwhile we make a lot of pictures of the trees growing on the temples. Kana is the tour guide with here Japanese guide and sometimes we stop and listen to other tour guides. While walking we talk about Japan and Holland. I used Kana to ask wheter Asian people where Japanese, Chinese or Korean and I must say i did a good job (a) .

I was much interested in cultural differences. Maybe too much! But this is a once in a life time chance to ask good questions about Japanese culture. Let me give some examples. When dinner we share our meal. So we choose together. Knowing this we sometimes chose meals together and sometimes just like dutch. Kana knows the saying going dutch. Which means split the bill and I made up the saying going Japanese. Splitt the meal! Meanwhile we talk a lot, I ask Kana what kind of character she has. She answers that she has bloodtype…..(AB?? o God I forgot). WHAT?! bloodtype?? Its common practice in Japan to clearify your personality with your bloodtype.
I don’t even know my bloodtype. Pretty dangerous ofcourse. But anyway. Very interesting. We end our meal in Cambodia with a good conversation about feminism in Japan. And mentality of people in Japan and Holland. The fun thing is that though there are a lot of differences, if we try to accept it from each other. Just like Kana and I did, we are all the same!

Just like Pieter said. The last sentence I said feels very clichee, and also I feel dreadlocks popping out of my head. But anyway… I think Kana and I did a good job togheter! After all we did soo much in such a small amount of time! Only ten days and we visited 4 different cities in 2 countries!

Kana seems to keep going on she needs only 4 hours sleep a night. Unbelievable! Accepting that I think I also did a good job hahah, although if she looked the other way I did a quick nap in the room!! Hahah. Much fun.

After going back to Phnom Phen (from Siam Reap) we have a lunch together at the Mekong River. We Talk a little about our next trip and about her working for KLM and giving me discount tickets haha and a place to sleep in the Mariot in Amsterdam 😉 . ^^. I have a fight with the waiter (he almost forces me to rent his TukTuk friend to the airport, I got angry and said I was lunching not buying something else. He seemed offended but I just couldn’t stand the begging anymore.
After all Kana and me split up and promise to call each other when the World Cup final is between Japan and Holland! Hahah

Bigg Kiss to Japan…