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Halfway around the world in 1 year
Welcome to Sotje62 ! My blog intends to make the world a smaller place. Automatically and real-time, the blog traces Beatriz and myself's whereabouts, it might just tell you a thing or 2 that interests me - therefore not you, that's the privilege of having a blog - but read new blogs on the top and click on the pictures in the side bar to see older blogs, the blog,and Beatriz and I hope you grow a good 'travel' appetite. Sotje62 travel blog is in Vlaams (donker gekleurd) and in English (light coloured). So read what you understand and again what you like.
25-11-2009
Op Boracay island, Philippines // On Boracay island, Filippijnen
De Filippijnen komt veel in het nieuws, en waar zijn we, in de Filippijnen natuurlijk !!
Deze week is er een massagraf gevonden in het zuiden van het land. Het motief van de daders is politiek, er zijn verkiezingen volgend jaar, en hun moorden zijn gruwelijk. Het is een verzet tegen huidige machtsverhoudingen - en als ik het goed gelezen heb in de krant - hebben ze de vrouwen eerst misbruikt en dan vermoord. Enkele slachtoffers zijn dochters van de vice burgemeerster van een stad in Mindanao. Gruwelijk is het !!
Beatriz en ik zijn in Boracay eiland. Boracay ligt in het midden van de Filippijnen, en het staat zo dwars tegenover de politieke instabiliteit van Mindanao, in het zuiden. We zijn hier veilig en ver van het politiek gevaar. Ik volg eerder het weerbericht, en dat ziet er voor de volgende 5 dagen - het maximum aantal dagen van een weersvoorspelling - probleemloos uit. Het regende gisteren en vandaag is het bewolkt, maar geen stormen!! Hopelijk krijgen we nog zon op het paradijs van Boracay.
The Philippines has been a lot in the headlines recently, and where are we, in the Philippines !!
This week a massgrave is found in the south of the country. The motive of the killers is political, there is election fever in the Philippines, and their murders are absolutely horrible. They are a resistance against the current powers - and if I read it well in the paper - they abused the female victims and then murdered them. Some victims are daughters of the vice mayor of a city in Mindanao. Horrible it is !!
Beatriz and me are in Boracay island. Boracay is in the middle of the Philippines, en it is the absolute opposite of the political turmoil of Mindanao, the south let's say. We are safe here and far from the political danger there. I more follow the weatherforecast, and the Philippines look excellent for the next 5 days - 5 days is the maximum of forecasting otherwise I would do more. It rained yesterday, and today it is cloudy, but no storms!! Hopefully we see some sun on our paradise that is Boracay.
Beatriz and me op het dak van de jeepney.
Thin en Jonty op de jeepney.
White beach op Boracay eiland. Een prachtig strand en het helderste water dat ik ooit gezien heb !!
White beach on Boracay island. A beautiful beach and the most transparent water I have ever seen !!
16.09.09. Half-Round the world in 1 year / Kick off. 9th of April 2009, Mumbai, India’s biggest city, is our best destination to take the train south to Goa, Kerala and Bangalore. From there we go 4,000 km by train back to north India, see Karnataka, Rajasthan, the Taj Mahal, Varanasi and Nepal. In Nepal we do small treks in the Himalayas and visit Kathmandu. Over de friendship highway, the route goes from Kathmandu to Lhasa by jeep, maximum altitude 5250m and we get to see the Mount Everest. In Lhasa we take the train through China, see the Terracotta warriors in Xi'an, and go 3,500m north to enter Mongolia and arrive in Ulan Bator. In Mongolia we camp in the Khovsgol area near the Russian Siberia, and renew the Chinese Visa to go back south. The clock says 4 months when we trained through China and see Yunnan, South China with its wonderful terraced rice fields. We enter the tropics and after 6 months travels we are in Vietnam. 2 months after that, we should have seen Angkor, the beaches in Thailand & Maleysia ...<e.d. 25.10.09. There is a change of plan after Angkor: we fly from Bangkok to Manila, we go to the Philippines!!> and on a ferry to Indonesia. From either Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok, we find our way to Sydney and work for 3 months. We will have traveled for 1 year when we are in Oz and ... and ... and ... that is how far we planned. But we were supposed to come back in 1 year but we are only half around the world. Beatriz and myself love Asia!! So much for planning ahead and scheduling. Let's just see how we get on and the more exciting our trip will be. Wish us good luck on the trip!!
