De Ronde van Nederland

Hi Everyone! Welcome to the latest edition of the MyrThenz Blog, this time covering our latest adventure: De Ronde van Nederland. This route is an amalgamation of several long distance cycling routes that follow the borders of the Netherlands (roughly). In total, the route is about 1400 kms. Spoiler: we didn’t quite make it in the two weeks that we had. We rode a total of 845.60 kms on the route. We had an amazing time exploring the different types of nature in the Netherlands (surprisingly varied), meeting up with family and friends, and camping with a 35 year old tent.

Since we will be moving to Finland during the summer, and don’t expect to use our bikes very much there, we’re trying to sell them! So if you, or anyone you know, is interested in buying two amazing bikes, you know where to find us. Here is the link to the advertisement on Marktplaats:https://www.marktplaats.nl/a/fietsen-en-brommers/fietsen-heren-sportfietsen-en-toerfietsen/m1718971729-twee-koga-wordtravellers-inclusief-complete-uitrusting.html

We were able to pick up the LF 14 Saksenroute in Vorden, about a 20 minute ride to the South-East of Warnsveld. From there, the route took us through some of the most typical landscapes, which we would later see a lot more of: fields. Whether they’re filled with grass, corn, potatoes, or sugar beets, we rode through them in many provinces. Yet somehow, we still feel like we can now tell the difference between fields in Drenthe, Groningen, and Friensland. After a beautiful evening ride of about 70 km, we arrived in Enschede at Tenzing’s former student house. It was great to see them again and to hear about the developments in the big city of Enschede. We spent our first night in the comfort of a real bed thanks to Florian (thank you again, Florian). As we’d learned from our first day, the route is not very efficient. For example, if navigating on Google maps will take a route that is 50 km, you can expect to take about 70 km following the “scenic” route. Scenic, of course, refers to those fields I was talking about earlier.

Our next meetup was with Femke in Tubbergen. We left a bit late for the meeting time we set since we were not quite sure how much distance the route would add to the trip. Fortunately for us, three speedy cyclists joined our road and we were able to sit behind them for a bit. We felt pretty cool, going 33 km/h with our heavy bikes and gear! Afterwards, we also felt pretty tired. It was great to see Femke again and she even brought her boyfriend, so we had a double date of sorts. Some time after lunch we decided to cut off part of the route, as we would already be approaching 100 km for the day given the camping we wanted to go to. It ended up being about 95 (see overview of the days & distances below); plenty for our sore butts!

Our next destination: Groningen! Here, we met up with Remco and spent the afternoon walking through the lovely city centre and shopping for food on the market. After dinner (lasagna), we spent the evening chilling in the Noorderplantsoen with Remco and a friend of his. Just North of Groningen, we cycled a very memorable few kms of windy roads through fields with tall grass and lots of sheep. Such a beautiful and different scene! That afternoon, we arrived in a different province again: Friesland. So far, we’d had Gelderland, Overijssel, Drenthe, Groningen, and Friesland. Dokkum was surprisingly beautiful, but maybe that’s because a friend and ATLAS Alumnus sold it so well to us. Thanks Jarmo, for the fun evening!

The next few days, we spent following the “Kustroute”. Some days were very windy, others not so much. One thing most days had in common was sunshine! We got incredibly lucky with the weather and did not cycle in the rain once until the last day! Most campings we stayed at were “natuurkampeerterreinen”, meaning that they’re smaller, actively try to be more eco-friendly, and usually have organically organised spaces with a mix of tents and campers. As an additional bonus, most cyclists try to stay at such places! We talked to many others about journeys and enjoyed seeing the many beautiful bikes and tents. Our favourite one was probably “Het Bos Roept”, near Den Oever, if you ever find yourself needing to camp around there.

Den Haag was our next anchor with a meetup: family! Gillian and Maurits hosted us for two nights and boy did we enjoy sleeping in a nice bed again. They were/are still in the process of moving, which meant that they did not have a kitchen yet. Of course, we were used to cooking without proper cooking facilities. We spent a lovely day on the beach and in the dunes; a perfect day to recharge. Our final anchor was yet more family: Erik and Joke, Myrthe’s uncle and aunt. They had a week in a nice house close to the beach, so we rode down to Cadzand Bad to meet up with them! It was really good to see them again and to chill on the beach and in the water. Cold at first, but once you’re used to it, it is very refreshing.

On our last day, we cycled around 65 km to a train station, from where we took the train home. We were kicked out of our first train by the NS lady because we were traveling with bicycles during rush hour, even though there was plenty of space. So logically we got on the next train and made it home without any trouble! As we rode into the driveway back home, we were greeted by a bright flash of lightning, followed by a very loud bang within a second. Almost struck by lightning, what a way to come home!

Thank you for reading and see you next time! We’re going to spend some time in Sweden before going to Finland for our master’s, so look forward to our blogs on those adventures.

Day 1: Zutphen - Enschede (70.38 km)

Day 2: Enschede - Diffelen (94.60 km)

Day 3: Diffelen - Emmen (49.85 km)

Day 4: Emmen - Groningen (89.51 km)

Day 5: Groningen - Dokkum (80.85 km)

Day 6: Dokkum - Den Oever (82.63 km)

Day 7: Den Oever - IJmuiden (89.46 km)

Day 8: IJmuiden - Den Haag (58.19 km)

Day 9: Den Haag - Burgh-Haamstede (102.20 km)

Day 10: Burgh-Haamstede - Cadzand (63.62 km)

Day 11: Cadzand -Kapelle-Biezelinge (64.31 km)

Colombo - Sri Lanka: Final week

Hi everyone,

Welcome to this last blog about Sri Lanka. “Last blog?” I hear you say, “weren’t you coming back in June?”. Unfortunately, we had to make a very last-minute decision to return to the Netherlands. With the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in SL, travel restrictions were beginning to dictate what we could and could not do. Long story short, we are currently writing this blog from the comfort of Warnsveld, home. Exactly how and why this came to be, you can read at the end of this blog. But let’s not let this information distract us from the fact that we had some more amazing adventures after writing our last blog.

As teased in the previous blog, we traveled to Delhousie to climb Adam’s Peak from there. We decided to leave our bikes behind at the hotel in Nuwara Eliya and to take the bus, as recommended by the Lonely Planet and did not regret it. Even though the total distance was only around 70 km, the ride took around 3 hours, including two transfers. Luckily, the stunning nature and endless tea-hills kept us entertained for the ride. One of our transfers was in Hatton, where everyone seemed to have forgotten about Corona, were it not for the masks. This buzzing town made us look at each other and say “this is the kind of SL I was expecting”. Super lively, bright colours, shops selling all sorts of things, and busy restaurants. After reaching Delhousie, we had a lovely lunch, walked around a bit, and then an early dinner (still full from lunch). We started our journey to the summit of Adam’s at 2:00 under a beautiful clear sky full of stars.

When we were about halfway, we realised that we would likely be done at 4:30, which is an hour before sunrise. To compensate, we slowed down the pace and spent some more time stargazing and enjoying the view of the lit-up trail behind us. Upon reaching the top, we viewed the “sacred footprint of Buddha”, a fairly large golden plaque with all sorts of symbols and decorations. Waiting for sunrise was not nearly as cold as on Fuji, but still chilly enough for us to seek cover. The sunrise that followed was beautiful and produced shades of purple, pink, and blue in combinations that one rarely gets to enjoy. The descent was, of course, even quicker. With shaky legs, we made our way down the 5200 steps and we were very glad that we climbed at night; the 7 AM sun was enough to make us sweat… Our travels back to Nuwara Eliya were not as smooth, as the bus we wanted to take never showed up, but it was easy going nonetheless!

The next day, we hopped on our bikes again and touched 2000 meters while climbing out of the valley of Nuwara. After that, we relaxed while winding down the mountains, grinding away our brakes once again. We visited a Damro tea factory, another waterfall, and SL’s longest road tunnel (225m). A pretty relaxed ride with some stunning views! Unfortunately, our accommodation in Pusselawa was very dirty and way too expensive (9 euros) for what it was. So we decided to have lunch somewhere and then move on to a better place! The lunch location was great! We sat in a small lunchroom together with many locals and enjoyed some of the cheapest food we had in SL (about 2 USD meals). Completely refueled we cycled onwards and ended up staying the night at a lovely place a few kilometers down the road. Since everything was closed, we had dinner in the same place where we had lunch!

After racing down the valley some more in the early hours, we went to the Botanical gardens of Kandy. This beautiful garden was established in the mid 19th century and hosts a vast variety of species. Besides flora, there were also all sorts of interesting animals, such as monkeys, very many bats, oxes, mongeese, and insects. Then, we headed to Kandy, which is very much a big city, quite a contrast after all the small coastal towns and highland villages! We coordinated with two Swiss sisters whom we met in our second quarantine hotel and stayed at the same hostel. It was great to see them again and hear stories of what they’ve been doing in SL. It was really fun to hang out and explore the city together, it also makes for a nice change of pace.

In Kandy, we visited the Temple of the Sacred Tooth relic, which allegedly contains an actual tooth of Buddah. This giant complex contains several Buddhist and Hindu temples, but also a church. It is considered to be the holiest place in SL! Before entering, all of our documents (passports, PCR tests, visa) were extensively checked. We were the second group of tourists to visit the temple that day, whereas this place is usually absolutely packed. Another exclusive visit to a beautiful location because of Corona… This really is the upside to traveling in Corona times. On our final night in Kandy, we had pizza from a real wood-oven, which was so good! Even though local cuisine is gorgeous, we did crave a little western food haha.

On our 13th cycling day, we left the hill country behind and started our journey towards Sigiriya. We left around 6:45, since we knew that it would be very warm again. Our initial plan was to ride about 40 km and see how we were feeling. We decided to go a little bit further, but (as you can see) that became quite a bit further. We wanted to stay somewhere South of Dambulla, after visiting an ancient temple and the most central point of SL. Unfortunately, the temple was closed and we were left standing at the gate. We decided that we would call it a day and try to find accommodation for the night. This was about 45 km in. However, as the whole area was in lockdown because of Covid, we weren't able to stay anywhere... Place after place denied us and we were told to move more North. We decided to get some lunch and continue towards Sigiriya. Well, that was easier said than done.. our lunch was a cream bun with some chocolate which we bought from a local shop (even the supermarket was closed). After this "lunch", we were happy with the clouds and even when a tropical downpour started we welcomed it with open arms after changing our shoes for flip-flops. In the revitalising coolness of the rain we cycled towards Sigiriya. We were glad to finally see the big fortress appear from between the clouds. Our host was officially closed, but after seeing us soaked on our bicycles, he "couldn't say no'' to us. Lucky us! The place was beautiful and he even wanted to make some food for us.

On the morning of the 11th of May, we heard that travel between provinces is officially not allowed anymore. Since that severely limits what we can do, it would mean that our travels would come to a halt. What’s more, travel between districts was also going to be restricted soon. The Swiss sisters decided to make a run for it and fly home the day after. And so did others who were staying in their hostel. When we heard that the Emirates airline announced that they stopped flying to SL, we were starting to feel worried. Travel restrictions between districts, lockdowns, no more flights, increasing number of cases… The choice was: stay in one place and try to entertain ourselves, or try to make it home while we can. We decided the latter option would be better, since it could be months before the next opportunity to go home presents itself.

So on the 11th, we climbed Sigiriya, a giant rock on an otherwise relatively flat piece of SL. We enjoyed private (again) viewings of ancient paintings, stunning views, and beautiful ancient gardens. After lunch we drove to Colombo for our final night in SL.

Such a strange feeling to spend weeks cycling around, with three more weeks to come and to suddenly decide to rush towards the airport. Our bicycle boxes were still an hour south of Colombo, in our first quarantine hotel. Luckily, we did manage to make some friends and arrange for the boxes to be dropped off in the hotel that we would stay in in Colombo. So on the 12th, we first got our tests done, then packed our bikes (significantly faster than the first time around), and spent the rest of the day exploring the city, swimming, and chilling. Our flight home was smooth, the second flight was nearly empty, allowing us to sleep on 4 chairs each! From the plane we had beautiful views of the neatly organised fields on a clear day. Oh Nederland… Although we were not planning on being home already, it does feel good to be back.

To you, Sri Lanka, we would like to say: “We’ll be back”.

Nuwara Eliya - Sri Lanka: Away from the coast

Hey everyone, welcome to our third blog about our travels in Sri Lanka!

Last time, we left off in Dikwella/Hiriketiya. We stayed there for a grand total of two nights to relax a bit and meet up with some of our quarantine friends! It was really fun to see a bunch of people there again, it seems chance brought us together (at least a little bit). Hiriketiya beach was truly stunning, it is a small bay with beautiful blue hues of water. We tried some surfing, had actually good coffee for the first time in SL, and played drinking games the night before we cycled on (alarm at 6 AM). Great success?

After Dikwella, we left the beach, ocean, and our friends behind (for now). The sun was once again shining powerfully from a cloudless blue sky, and while the sweat was dripping from our faces, we went up and down the hills (of which there were surprisingly many). The fresh watermelon on the road was a good break and gave us new energy. We even ran into another person who was travelling by bicycle! He recommended we visit the homestay at which he had been based since June last year. More about that later. Finally, we arrived at our location for the night, where we were being welcomed with a cold towel and fresh ice tea, we indeed felt like royalties! As the first guests since the start of the pandemic, they were happy to see us and we loved the spacious house, open-air shower, and home-grown fruits!

That evening, we went for a short ride to a beautiful lagoon and were greeted by a local man. He invited us for dinner and told us that we could also sleep in his house. He repeatedly said: "no money!". We kindly declined, as we were uncertain whether it would be a good idea. Besides, we already had a place to sleep. Later he offered us some tea (seems to be a recurring theme), this we gladly accepted, again. As we arrived at his house, everyone was quite shocked! What had he brought home this time? The neighbour came and translated for us, as she spoke English quite well. She explained that the man who invited us lost his 3 month-old son, his parents, and his brother in the 2004 tsunami. He showed us their pictures and we once again felt the gravity of the disaster that occured that day... After tea, we left there with a heart full of gratitude and appreciation that we had met this kind person.

The next morning, we had our longest and hardest day so far, the heat was really intense. ? We conquered 20 hills (we didn't count the small ones) and zigzagged between 2 herds of cows. When we finally arrived in Tissamaharama, we chilled at the pool and enjoyed the best lime juice ever!We stayed in Tissa, because it is regarded as the best location to visit Yala national park from. It can be extremely busy, leading to many jeeps flocking to a specific location when rare animals are spotted, but we were waiting for the park to open with one other jeep... It seems Corona also has benefits, because Yala was basically void of any other people. We had an amazing encounter with a family of four elephants, got a good long look at a sloth bear, and saw many deer and water buffalo. Unfortunately, no leopards, but we will find them yet! On our way north from Tissa, we also encountered two elephants on our bikes, one of which was about 2.5m tall!

That random encounter with another cyclist led us to Bindu homestay, a lovely place with good company. Beautifully located between rice fields and with mountain views, we had a great time. From there, we also visited the largest standing Buddha, which was carved in stone about 1000 years ago. Quite a sight to behold and it was, once again, a private viewing. The next day, we took the bus to Ella, which' elevation is about 1000m. We decided cycling up would be beautiful, but more hot and difficult. So we lifted our bikes into the bus and strapped them to some chairs (literally). Totalprice for 45 minutes up into the mountains: about 3 euro.

Ella is beautifully located in the South of the Sri Lankan Highlands, which hosts several 2km+ mountains and several iconic landmarks. We hiked up Little Adam's Peak for a great view of the area and visited 9 arches bridge, which was built by the British some time ago. Ella rock, which is higher than Little Adam's, didn't yield good views, or any views at all, due to the thick clouds that were covering the entire summit. But, no worries, the hike there, over the train tracks and through a dense eucalyptus forest (smells great), was wonderful and we really enjoyed it.

From Ella, we took the train to Nuwara Eliya, because we heard and read that this is a must-do thing repeatedly. And everyone is right! Stunning views of mountain villages, different types of forest, endless tea plantations, and even some waterfalls definitely sealed the deal. After this spectacular train ride, we hopped on our bikes and climbed slowly towards 'Little England' (Nuwara Eliya). We love the cool temperature, now 22°C, and the massive Eucalyptus trees that surround Victoria Park. Unfortunately, the park, along with many tea factories, are closed due to an increase in Corona cases. Hopefully, this area won't go into lockdown before we move on to the next place.

Yesterday, we got up at 5:30 to visit Horton plains, which is a beautiful flatland at around 2000m. The 30km ride took about 1.5 hours, as we climbed windy roads through beautiful forests in a Tuk Tuk. The climate on the Plains is very pleasant, sometimes even on the chilly side. The main reason for our visit was "World's End", an 870m drop from a viewing point. We were very lucky, because about 5 minutes after we arrived and took in the views, the clouds moved in and obfuscated almost everything. On the way back, we passed a famous waterfall and enjoyed the sound of many different birds and insects. Unfortunately, no leopards again!

Tomorrow, we're taking the bus to Adam's Peak, which we will climb on the night of the 5th. A 02:30 start should guarantee a sunset from the summit.

Dikwella - Sri Lanka: Our first actual week in Sri Lanka!

Hi again!

First of all, we would like to thank everyone for their kind messages. It's a pleasure to read them!

We're finally free to go explore all the beauties of this 'Wonder of Asia, pearl of the Indian Ocean'! But first, let us tell you a bit about our last days in quarantine: we mostly did nothing :) on the 13/14 of April was Sinhalese and Tamil new year so in the evening at around 20:15 we heard a lot of fire crackers going off. Then around 6:17 in the morning we heard them again, but even more. These firecrackers signalled the finish of the old and beginning of the new year, with an neutral period in between. At our breakfast, there were also several traditional snacks, most of them very sweet. They seem to like a lot of sugar in everything here, default 'tea' is very, very sweet, for example.

After one more night, we were finally able to leave the hotel, something we had looked forward to a lot! After extending our visa in colombo in the morning, we left our hotel in excitement of finally being able to explore the real Sri Lanka! With the sun heating us up, we enjoyed the wind swirling around us and felt so free to be able to cycle again! While we merged with the tuk tuks, buses, cars, cows, and other bikes, we smelled so many different scents and enjoyed looking around at the colourful busy road life. True freedom, experienced in its most pure form (sweat, literally every moment of the day).

The next day, we went on a river tour with a local man who had approached us the day before. We saw some crocodiles, dragon lizard, macaques, big bats, kingfishers, and several other birds! We also stopped at a guy with a five week old crocodile and a Ayurvedic garden, where we were told about all the healing powers of plants and how they were used. Tenzing also enjoyed a relaxing massage. Next, we took a tuk tuk to a temple with a big Buddha statue, we were surprised by the amount of people there and the sad enchained elephant... It is common to buy beautiful fruit baskets and offer those to the Buddha. We'd prefer to just eat them!

In the afternoon, we took our bicycles inland towards Brief garden, a Jungle Book-like garden with a lovely house overlooking the terraces. After a turbulent night with loud music from a New Year's festival, we woke up at 6 AM so we could stay ahead of the heat. Unfortunately, we were greeted with thunder and lots of rain, so we delayed our departure by about 2 hours. Luckily, we had a dry (bar the sweat) ride to Hikkaduwa. On the way, we came across several tsunami memorials dedicated to the tsunami in 2004. In total, 300.000 people lost their lives that day, with casualties in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Malaysia, and even Kenia. In Hikkaduwa, we went for a walk on the beach and took a garbage bag with us to clean up some of the plastic bottles, jars, lamps, rope, and more. We were surprised how fast we filled up the bag and how easily people throw a bag of trash into rivers... one man, came to us with a piece of glass and we hope that we have inspired some others to do the same, or at least showed that we (tourists) care about nature and a clean beach!

The 18th, we arrived in Galle early in the morning and were greeted with praying sounds from the church. We wandered around the fortress and were surprised about the thickness of the walls; the Dutch really didn't want to take any chances. We were told that the walls also defended Galle against the tsunami in 2004! We coincidentally met up with a British girl, who we met in quarantine, and was sitting in the same cafe! She joined us the day after to Sinharaja rainforest, the one and only rainforest in Sri Lanka. We explored the rainforest by foot and saw two snakes, several kangaroo lizards, and several other (endemic) species not to mention the loads of leeches that were crawling onto our feet... We walked to a waterfall and were told that we could go for a swim. As we hadn't prepared for this at all, we went in in our underwear. The water was so refreshing and clear, and the current from the waterfall was strong like a swimming treadmill! So much fun.

After a these lovely days exploring the Dutch fortress and Sinharaja rainforest, we took our bikes again to head East! On the road we stopped at an empty restaurant for a traditional breakfast consisting of rice with dahl curry and coconut sambal! We continued our road smoothly, while being cheered on by the locals, either smiling, shouting, and encouraging us, or looking very confused and pointing us out to their neighbors!

At 10:00 we left Mirissa harbor to seek some whales, we were on the boat with three British students (normally they have like 70 people on the boat :o). We went straight to the sea wahting out for some water being spewed into the air, but none was seen. We approached some fishermen, but they hadn't seen anything, so our search continued. At some point, we saw a green turtle with a red plastic bag or fishing net it was stuck in or trying to eat (we are not sure, but bad nonetheless). While our trip continued and we kept hitting the waves, we felt less well.. at some point we just lied down, sleepy from our early ride. We were greeted by a group of dolphins, but they dived quickly unfortunately. Myrthe started to feel proper sick and when we heard it was still an hour before we would be back, we felt quite miserable, but once we stood on solid ground again, the recovery began! :)

The next day, we left for Hiriketiya beach. About halfway, we left the main road to find Dondra point, the most southern point of Sri Lanka. When we arrived, a local girl greeted us and showed us the way through the neighbor's garden and to the Dragon's mouth (a tunnel in the rocks thats spews water when waves hit it). Afterwards, we were invited for a cup of tea, which we gladly accepted. The entire family came to see us as we were probably the only ones to pass by in about a year! We continued our road and went to the WeCare hospital for animals, unfortunately, the friend from a friend from our parents (do you still get it?), wasn't there, so we cycled on towards Dikwella. We'll be staying here for two nights, meeting up with some of our quarantine friends and trying out some surfing!

We've linked our Strava profiles under 'links', we'll be using Strava for publishing our routes and short updates, which are kinda merged together here :)

Until next time!

Waskaduwa - Sri Lanka: "Quarantine"

Hello everyone!

It has been quite some time since we last wrote a blog, about two and a half years. We realised that we never shared our adventures in Japan via this platform, but hope that you have heard some of our stories nonetheless. If you haven't and would still like to, please do not hesitate to let us know!

Currently, we are in Waskaduwa, Sri Lanka! For those of you who don't know, we flew in on April 1st (not kidding) and we brought our bicycles. We will be touring the beautiful pearl of the Indian ocean for two months! Travel in SL is allowed provided you can tick a few boxes. Specifically, produce a negative test prior to departure, do three tests in SL, have a specific insurance, and stay in "Level 1 Safe & Secure" hotels for the first 14 days. Sounds easy enough right?? Miraculously, everything went about as smoothly as it could have gone, besides from the 24h delay that we commenced our journey with. Upon arrival in our first hotel, we were greeted very politely by several people in biohazard suits who sprayed our luggage with disinfectants. We were allowed to drop off some stuff in our room before we had to do our first test. After that, we participated in some X-TREME RELAXATION. All jokes aside, we spent the week doing very little but lounging at the pool sipping drinks, playing beach volleyball, and swimming. The food offered by the hotel gave of us a great introduction to local cuisine, with tourist-level spiciness. Many curries, chutney's, and chopped coconut mixed with different spices referred to as "sambol", not to mention the toothachingly sweet desserts; it's a miracle we can still fit our pants.

Oddly enough, we even socialised with our fellow-quaramates (often without appropriate distance, see pics). We met some great people who will also be traveling SL for some time, so there's a good chance that we will get to see them again at some point! As can be expected from an island around the equator, the climate really is something else. Seeing some images and videos of snow in the Netherlands was just crazy. It's hard to imagine what 'cold' feels like when the averag temperature is 30 degrees. We're curious to find out how much water we'll be drinking while cycling: just assembling the bikes was enough to have sweat drip from our bodies.

Before we can really start our adventures, we have to chill, read, swim, and be bored in a hotel near a beautiful beach until the 15th. On that day, we will hop on our trusty aluminium steeds and head south towards Bentota and to the old Dutch fortress, Galle. We are vigorously excited for the actual commencement of our next adventure! This two week wait is very relaxing and it introduces us gently to the food, climate, and local culture. We couldn't imagine a better start.

We will try to post a few photos with every blog, provided we can muster the internet connection. Please do not hesitate to tell us about the highlights we must see, foods we should eat, or places to avoid. All inside information is good information.

Until next time!

Myrthe & Tenzing

Blog 4: China

For the last part of the Trans Mongolian express, we left early in the morning. Although Beijing - UB isn't all that far, we still spent about 30 hours travelling. During this time we made sure that we ate more instant noodles than we could ever want (for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!) and we stared out of the window for about the rest of the time. At around nine in the evening, we had to leave our train to enter Mainland China. While we were waiting to get through the passport control, our train drove away to change the distance between the wheels. Around 2 AM, we could finally travel further on our way to Beijing, now knowig that this whole passport control and wheel adjustment alone could be a reason not to make this journey again! Once we arrived, our search for Saskia began! Luckily Beijing main station wasn't all that big, warm, and busy (just kidding xD).. We found each other relatively quickly and could take our last transfer to the hostel, which we found in another direction than the driver had told us when we got out of the car.. Oh well, we had arrived, could take a shower and some rest, and were ready to go out for dinner. From day one it was hard to find something vegetarian for Saskia, so she usually ended up choosing something that looked like it had no meat (which was only true for half of the times or so). The next day we went to the Drum and Bell tower near our hostel, walked next to a cute lake where thousands of locals rented small boats, went to the land of endless happiness, which turned out to be a temple, tried to enter the forbidden city from the Tian'anmen square (unfortunately it was sold out already), and had dinner at a foodmarket with and endless supply of scorpions on sticks. All in all a day full of new experiences and a great introduction to the rich culture of China. We found that china displayed this same sense of a nation's pride as Russia did, maybe even more so, but received the results of this with open arms: organisation.

The day after, at 7 in the morning, we started our search for the bus to Jinshanling, the Great Wall. We found the exact location of the busstation only 20 minutes after the daily bus had left.. What we'd read on the internet was apparently wrong, which was a bit painful since we needed a VPN to read it in the first place (The Chinese government blocks all controversial/American things such as Google, Facebook, Youtube, WhatsApp, etc.). Instead, we took a bus to Simatai, which just happened to be right next to where we were! We already booked accommodation there, since we wanted to walk from Jinshanling to Simatai, which should take about 4-5 hours. In the end we managed to get to Jinshanling by taxi and started our climb to the Great Wall with the old and slow cable way. This was a trip down memory lane for Tenzing, as he took this same cable car with his family in 2006. We then walked from tower to tower on the wall itself, descending, climbing, then some more descending and climbing again, you get the idea! Luckily, the absolute beauty of the scenery made it so that we barely noticed the sweat (sometimes). In the beginning sections, most parts were restored, but the farther we came from the main entrance, the emptier and older the wall became. In the towers we rested a bit, gaining some energy before we would withstand the sun again. The view was fantastic and although the weather was a bit hazy, we could see the wall stretch out over the hills and count numerous watchtowers. Our plan was to walk all the way back to Simatai, and even though the internet said it was reopened since October 2017, all the locals told us the way was closed (hmm, the internet being wrong, that sounds familiar). We continued until almost the end of Jinshanling's part, at this time it was only us on the wall, we could already feel the fatigue in our feet and legs, but still we didn't want to believe we could not go on (even though we thought it would be better to go back). In the end we saw the wall-keeper walking and he wouldn't let us go on, so we went back having had great experience of the wall, its view, and a feeling of the immensely big project. We stayed in a small hotel in a cute little village not so far from Simatai, where we took the bus back to Beijing the next morning. However, not before taking a look at this designed village (Gubei Water Town) from the highest floor of the five star hotel next to it! In Beijing, we again took a shower and rest around 5/6 in the evening before we had some tasteful but way too much Peking duck. Our last day in Beijing we spent trying to get in the forbidden city (again sold out..), hiking up a hill for a smoggy view, and resting/waiting before we could take our train to Tai'an. With the bullet train we raced to Tai'an at over 300 km/h. Unfortunately, our reservation for an apartment hadn't came through and we ended up spending about an hour and a half in the lobby of a 5 star hotel looking for a way to solve the problem. Around 00:00, after many calls, mails, and english/google translate chats, we could got an email from booking.com telling us that we would stay at the other 5 star hotel in the village (only 5 million inhabitants...)! So hereby a shoutout to our parents and especially Bard for the effort and help we received! We had an unforgettable stay in Tai’an for sure.

The next morning in Tai'an, we wanted to go for breakfast in our hotel, but apparently breakfast for only one person was included. Paying for the other two was not an option for us poor students, but in the end we managed to get a take away breakfast! So by stacking a paper bag full with sweet breads, and a box with vegetables and sausages, we still could fill all three of us with this single breakfast :). We discussed our plan and agreed on doing some washing first and then hike up the mountain to see the sunset from the top. So we started filling our bathtub with all our sweaty, sunscreany, and sandy cloths. We had lots of fun washing our clothes, walking around in the bathtub as though we were making wine! We put our clothes on the balcony to dry and went out to Taishan (The mountain we wanted to climb). We wanted to climb the mountain from one of the less famous paths, but after being told that that cable way was closed and not being able to fund the right bus, we agreed to take the more known route. When we arrived halfway up the mountain it started to rain. This coolness was more than welcome for us and we enjoyed the rain. However after some food, a picture with some Chinese people, it became worse.. the stairs changed into rivers and we were getting soaked. It actually was quite funny, standing with a lot of people against the wall of one of the buildings, watching the water fall and flow away while other persons were stil brave enough to move and continue walking. After the rain became less, we decided to go down instead of up, we wouldn't have a nice view anyway and on the way down there would also be some temples, so soon we were on our way home again. Predicting which people wanted to take a picture with us, descending from the steps our feet would barely fit, and and enjoying the coolness around us, we slowly went back to our hotel. In the hotel we made sure to check out the swimming pool and sauna, so we ended relaxed in our 2.40 metres wide bed! xD

Our final stop in China was Shanghai! Once arrived, we had to get used to the many foreigners here (we didn't see any foreigners in Tai'an) and the impressive and sexy skyline which we observed the first night possible. In the few days in this city, we found a good bakery with tasty bread with chicken wool, a very interesting museum about the history and city planning of Shanghai, and we found out that when cycling on a 3 person tandem you can easily go around the biggest park in Shanghai and it is a lot of fun as well! We also explored a park with special designed stones, which didn't seem so special to us, and we retreated to a cinema for the soft seats and airco, where we watched Mission Impossible 6. Even though this is a city of about 23 million people, the area around our apartment was quite and calm. For our last night, we had booked a hotel somewhat nearer to the airport, so on our way there we took the magnetic levitation train (the fastest train in the world!) and went 430km/h for a good 3 minutes! After this short rollercoasterlike ride, we found our way to the hotel, where we stayed until 3:15 in the morning to go to the airport and entered an airplane for the first time during this great adventure! Next stop: Japan!

Blog 3: Mongolia

Blog 3: Mongolia

As we got on the train from Irkutsk to Ulaanbaatar, we realised that we'd only have one more night train after this one; we would sure make the most of it by having more instant noodles than we could care to admit and by staring out the window for hours. Regrettably, we did not find anything that could remedy the former, but the latter absolutely made up for it: Lake Baikal was there to wave us goodbye for a good hour and a half. Wishing to go for a swim one more time, we realised again that this lake looks more like an ocean, as it stretches farther than the horizon, even on a clear day. After we'd separated from the lake, the landscape grew increasingly towards what we were expecting Mongolia to look like. Scarce vegetation, rocky and sandy hills, the occasional tree, and mostly nothing. The border control took place at around 19:00 and lasted till 01:30... It took hours because we were checked at both the Russian and the Mongolian side of the border, and the entire train has to be screened. We were woken up at 05:00 with the words "Wake up, documents!", but they were never checked. Waking up that early wasn't all that bad, since we were able to witness our first Mongolian sunrise, and see our first few gers, which was very exciting! After all, the Mongolian nomad life of the steppe is something that we came to experience and hope to understand better. We arrived in Ulaanbaatar (UB) at 7:20 and were picked up and transfered to our hostel. After second breakfast in the hostel, we set out to a few local organisations that arrange tours in the most commonly visited areas of Mongolia. We settled on a four day tour that showed us the Mongolian steppe family life, the mini Gobi desert, and three local families. After having made this decision, we still had about two hours left to have some lunch before our briefing. What could this briefing be about, we wondered, and we were not disappointed in its contents.

The two people we'd met at the company taught us some useful phrases and words, how to pronounce things "properly", and gave us a complete overview of the history of Mongolian culture, politics, and society over the past 1400 years or so. The unexpected history and culture lesson was quite unexpected, yet very welcome. Suddenly, we had answers to many questions about how the Mongolian empire managed to reach the size it did and also managed to sustain it. The empire covered all of East Asia, some areas of Russia, and even the Middle East and Europe. Long story short, it worked so well because of the nomad lifestyle: one family would occupy a small piece of land and remain in contact with the nearby families which were all situated at distances between 50 and 100 km. This meant that very few people were actually required to be present to "cover" an area that was very large and that, should one family be killed, it could easily be replaced to fix the grid. Furthermore, because there were so few people present, it was relatively non-invasive. The mission of the families was to understand the lives of the indigenous of the area, and enhance it by inviting them and providing them with food and technology. Take a minute to imagine that someone told you: "You don't have to work, please just drink, eat, and rest" in the year 900... I'd be keen to stick around! Besides the very effective social management, the Mongolian empire was also the first to work with taxed trade routes, permits, passports, and even visa! Furthermore, their political system was pseudo-democratic and not mandated by a single family's bloodline. This combination of social, economic, and political control led to the 400 year existence of this massive empire! We were impressed and overwhelmed with the amount of information. We had little time to process everything and learn the Mongolian phrases by heart as we left on this "Ger to Ger" trip the next day! But first, we went to see the famous throat singing, traditional dances, and live Mongolian music in a very lavishly decorated concert hall. The unusual sounds took some getting used to, but we definitely enjoyed the unique experience and the feeling of "we are in Mongolia" really dawned on us then, truly amazing.

After leaving the hostel the next morning, we searched for a taxi and as it turned out, anyone who was willing to drive you for some money had the unofficially official taxi driver licence. We arrived at the busstation, which had no signs anywhere and only Mongolian script, were directed to the right bus by someone, and waited. We learnt that busses all have licence plates which are organised into where their destinations are, and that they can be recognised by these plates. Perhaps the Mongolians figured that this system would render signs useless? We'll let it slide for this once, haha. After about two hours driving, the bus suddenly stopped on the side of the road. We were wondering what had happened or if something was wrong, however, after seeing all the men go to one side and women to the other to pee, we gladly joined them. Once we arrived in the little village, we looked around if we could find our first family with the Ger to Ger sign, but since we arrived earlier than planned we decided to wait in the restaurant. All eyes were gazing, making it even harder to tell who would come to pick us up. We tried to read the menu to maybe get some food, but it was futile. Eventually we settled on coffee and tea. We were still wondering by whom and when we would be picked up, when a traditional looking Mongolian man suddenly stood in front of us with a big smile on his face. Of course, we were much easier to find than the other way around. He took us with him to the car and we were on our way, however not before dropping off a friend (we guess) and getting 20 kg of rice and flour each, 6 potatoes, and some sweets. After about a 20 minute ride through the increasingly empty steppe, we arrived at the gers. They had four gers: one for sleeping, which we called the Sler, one for cooking (Ker), one storage ger (Scher), and one with unknown contents.. We were shown to their guest Sler and were offered a typically Mongolian milk tea, after which they left us alone for a while. We later went for a camelback ride to a nearby holy rock and shrine. While camels look aesthetic, they make up for it in lack of comfort. After a good hour and a half of bouncing around on a spine, we were happy to see the shrine. The two camels were still raising their young, who would simply follow their moms everywhere without having to be instructed in any way. The cute tiny fluffy and jiggly hills on the backs of the babies made us crack up more than once. We ended the day with some sheep herding, which was truly a family endeavour; everyone was helping, even the children who were about 2 and 5 years old. However, once the kids had discovered that a much quicker and significantly more fun way of getting around was on our backs, they stuck to us like tape!

The next day, our host father for a day brought us to the next family that had their gers set up next to a small river. In the distance, you could see the mini-gobi. Having another few hours of nothing to kill on the steppe that hosted the simple and relatively unchanged traditional Mongolian lifestyle, we decided to make our way up to a shoulder of a nearby hill. The 15 minute climb introduced us to several insects that we had never seen or heard of before and that even gave us a hard time imagining what kind of insects they might be. One kind had mantis-like legs, a massive rear part of the body with a giant needle sticking out, and came in camouflaged editions, as well as a red one. On the hill, we saw our host father for that night herding in sheep in the distance. We chucked upon the realisation that keeping your animals, which could mean anywhere between 200 and 800 sheep, horses, and camels, within a days walk from your ger was actually the main activity of the day for a man. When the man got home, we left for a nearby shrine on a hill, from which we had a great view of the surrounding valley. That evening, we stared up the sky in awe for a little over an hour, and took some amazing long exposure pictures of the night sky. The milky way was brighter than either of us had seen in our lifetimes; our gazes were pointed upwards untill our necks hurt too much, when we decided to call it a night.

The third day, we were situated on a hill and had a great view of the contrast between the mini-gobi and it's surroundings. On horseback, we left to explore it from a little closer. We entered a thin strip of desert via, surprisingly, a river and marshy lands. The first trees we'd seen in days grew in the sand, which is very unusual. No wonder there were multiple advertisements for research groups that are interested in this peculiar case of desertification. We were even quite interested ourselves! That evening, we had a lovely dinner with other guests that were also staying at the same family. The Korean doctor and his wife were very eager to share their Mongolian vodka, kimchi, and other Korean foods with us. Later, we took some pictures of the night sky together, which resulted in the pictures that our phones can take looking pretty measly. But don't worry, they still look pretty epic! Hopefully we can manage to upload some. The next day, we walked to a rock formation on a hill nearby. We climbed to the top and had a great view on the area surrounding us, including the eagles that were flying around us! In the afternoon we had to take the bus back to UB. We trusted our host family that they would bring us to the bus on time, but while being in the car of the daughter of the family, it didn't seem all that organized.. We waited for a bit next to the road, without going to any bus station. We started to worry that we were not in the right place and would miss our bus. However, after a good while waiting next to the road, our bus came and simply stopped at the side of the road to pick us up!

The next day in UB we spent resting and washing some clothes. In the afternoon, we went to a Soviet monument a bit south of the centre from where we had a good view of the city. Standing here, we realised how big UB actually is and how far it stretches. The centre with some high rise and more fancy looking buildings were easily distinguishable from the outskirts with gers, small houses, and soviet flats. We walked back to our hostel for a good night of sleep to be ready for our next mini trip: National Park Terelj! We took the bus to Terelj the next morning and were dropped near Turtle Rock, where our local host would pick us up. This N.P. contained green hills with many trees and rock formations, so different from what we had seen the few days before! Once installed in our ger, we walked to the other valley, passing a rock formation with one very big rock standing in the middle with only a small surface area to balance on. In the other valley, we walked through a field full of Edelweis flowers towards the meditation centre. On the path towards the centre, many sayings from Budism were displayed, which we patiently read. We enjoyed the silence of the meditation centre and the view on the valley. On our way back, we wanted to visit the Turtle rock, so we hitchhiked to the rock, took some pictures, climbed the back as far as possible, and even went through a small gap between the stones to get to the other side! The evening sunlight was warm and gave a nice warm glow to the rocks. Having spent another day walking and looking around, trying to enjoy every moment and?memorise every detail, we walked back to the ger. The following morning we took our bag and started our trip to the village Terelj, which was two valleys further, so we crossed two passes, enjoying the views and nature. Once we reached to road to Terelj, we realised there weren't many people with whom we could hitchhike, so we would go with anyone in any direction. A Monolian couple picked us up and invited us to go with them to the river. That sounded even better than Terelj, so of course we couldn't say no! At the riverside, they started to unpack everything, they had prepared an entire picknick with sheephead, wine, melon, and a lot of other food! We were not allowed to leave or reject any of the things that were offered to us, so in the end we shared everything. We told about our trip and sang a Sinterklaas song for them in exchange for a Mongolian song. After this fantastic lunch, we left them for their siesta and walked back to the road to hitchhike to the big statue of Genghis Khan. Soon we arrived at our new destination. The statue was big, but besides that not very impressive. We walked around for a bit and decided to head back to UB.

Our last day in UB, we went to the museum of national history. We learnt about the old ages and about the Mongolian empire. After having absorbed enough information for the day, we walked around the university area and found a cinema. We decided to go and see "Alpha", a movie about how humans might have started to domesticate wolves. Although not any English word was spoken in the movie (luckily there were English subtitles next to the Mongolian!) it was a good way to spend our time! In the evening we had a date with our Mongolian friends (the once that invited us for the lunch) in a night club. We found out that they had invited multiple friends and some family, all to meet us and have a fun night! Beer and vodka was ordered and of course we still couldn't reject any of it. We ended up on the dance floor with around 15 people in total, all rich business people of whom no one could really dance (including us, except we weren't rich). Nevertheless, we had a lot of fun and after two final vodka shots we went home, being a bit tipsy. Walking home, we reflected on the amazing adventures that we had in this country and how crazy it was that we had met and got to know these locals. Truly unforgettable! Slightly worried about tomorrow morning, we went to bed. Waking up at 6:30 was not a lot of fun, but we managed to get to the train on time. Thank you, Mongolia, for the unlimited adventures! Next stop: Beijing!

Blog 2: Mother Russia

To state that Mother Russia is underwhelming would be to lie. Not only did she show us her gorgeous and impeccable nature, the display of organisational and national prosperity was a surprise to both of us. At first glance, the station at which we arrived in Moscow looked barren, old, and even shabby. Upon entering the main hall, which boasts marbled floors, 10 meter pillars that are built in accordance to the ancient Greek guidelines, and more security than passengers, it became clear that this initial glance did not result in an accurate mental representation of what we could expect of Russia. Pestered by our YouTube biased view, we immediately took notice of the chaotic traffic, abundance of squatting, Adidas clothed (just kidding) smokers, and endless arrays of old and grey flats. A man held up a sign that said "Tiara Tours"; instinctually, we approached the man and he introduced himself to us as Pet'r. The, roughly, 15 minute drive to our hotel displayed and confirmed even more of the negative images of Russia that we were unconsciously expecting to see. Unable to see beyond those images, we arrived at our hotel and were greeted by a man whose job prospects certainly did not match his intended course of life. This incongruence showed in both his facial expressions and his tone of voice. Our hotel room thermometer displayed a comfortable 29 °C when we opened the door. We put our backpacks down, looked at each other and, without words, excitedly agreed: We could not wait to see, explore, taste, and feel everything within our reach!

Okay enough dramatic descriptions! The same afternoon we went to the famous Red Square, walked around in the gardens next to the Kremlin, and observed the St. Basil's Cathedral. Impressive sights, but of course stacked with tourists.. We walked towards the river and found a park with magical music coming from hidden speakers, as if you were walking in the Efteling! On top of the hill there was a weird glass roof, which looked like a turtle's shield and wasagood cover for the unexpected rain. After a nice Thai dinner (why would you eat russian food in Russia?) we went back to our warm hotel room. The next morning we went on a more exciting trip towards Kremlin Izmaylovo, a small (but still full of uniqie buildings and decorations) Kremlin-like palace. This place was like another fairytale land with all its colourful buildings! Behind the first square we discovered a big flee market where many different things were sold, from antique art (or kitsch, it's hard to tell?) to souvenirs, and from paintings to second-hand shoes. After some lunch, we went back to the city centre while enjoying two famously beautiful subway stations on the way. In the center we went to GUM, a beautiful building with way too expensive shops, and walked towards the other side of the river for a great view on the real Kremlin. Tired from all the walking we rested in a big parc full of art and went back to the hotel. Once it was time for dinner, we googled what restaurants were in our neighborhood. After picking one, a short walk brought us to a boarded up entrance.. Was the restaurant permanently closed? Well, maybe not, there was a small entrance around the corner! So the restaurant still existed and it has a lovely menu, which was completely and only in Russian.. With the help of Google Translate and the waitress, we were able to make an educated guess, which luckily resulted in a delicious dinner!

All in all, we were very surprised by our impressions of Moscow and the Russian people and culture. The initial seeming poverty of flats and housing was negated by the stunning subway stations, some of which were true works of art. In general, all public spaces were in pristine condition; gardeners working, people cleaning up, and fine craftsmanship led to a lively and lovely atmosphere, truly making the plentiful parks worth spending time in. During our train ride from Moscow to Irkutsk, which takes 87 hours, we had the pleasure to be accompanied by a Russian mother and son from Novosibirsk, the capital city of East Siberia. Galina and Dionis were initially not very talkative and a bit glacial. However, quickly after introducing ourselves, pictures were showed, music shared, card games played, and phone numbers exchanged. On the first night already, our compartment was filled with 7 persons! Next to us 4, there was Hannah (Flamish), Kamiel (Polish), and another Russian neighbour. Despite the rising heat in our compartment (no airco unfortunately), lively conversations in English, Dutch, Polish/Russian, and French took place. The days passed quickly with the occasional hunts for food on platforms and stations during the 10 to 30 minutes stops, and of course the time difference. When our Russian mother and son left us, we were accompanied by Russian parents and their 1 year old daughter. She made the cuteness level of our compartment raise sky high and many staring competitions were played continuously.

After 3 days and almost 16 hours, we arrived in Irkutsk where we were picked up and brought to Listvyanka, a small village at Lake Baikal. Before going out and exploring the village we first took a long desired shower and nap! We enjoyed the quietness thoroughly and slept 3 hours instead of the planned 1.. oops :o The next day, we went out to find a viewing point and took a refreshing dive into the largest and deepest lake on earth! While avoiding all the Chinese tourists we found a nice place to have dinner and celebrate our baby (9 months together)! The next day we went to our homestay in Irkutsk where we stayed with a Russian mom and daughter. They showed how we could go to all the sightseeing spots of Irkutsk. We walked another 22000 steps around this, for Siberian standards, old town. Several old and crooked wooden buildings, colourful churches, and massive statues could be found all over the city! A final dinner and that is all that we could explore and enjoy from Russia this time.

We found several things to be true and characteristic of the Russian culture and people and distilled them into the following seven points:

1. Enjoying your work is not common, pretending to enjoy your work is even less common. Many were not afraid to display their displeasure and meet you with short and monotone grunts instead of the smiley responses one can expect elsewhere.

2. What lacks in private wealth, is made up for in communal wealth. The remaining elements of communism are adamant, leading to little no property and luxury owned by (the majority of) individuals, but truly remarkable public spaces. Evenings were always lovely, with plenty of folk out and about in the gardens and well-maintained public areas. We believe that this leads to a more connected and interwoven society: something we can learn from in our individualistic country.

3. Traffic is organic. The lines on the road? Those are more like suggestions, right? Small villages, big cities, it matters not. If you can fit your car there, you can drive there!

4. Carrying your own speakers around and playing music of your choosing loudly in public is common and accepted. Often, cyclists, people on scooters (the ones where you paddle with your feet), and chatting people will have a speaker playing their music. As a result, overlapping music is not rare. In restaurants, playing loud, very unfitting music, is also custom. Think Electro House and Hard Bass for breakfast, or a lunch in a park close to a river (?!).

5. On the topic of restaurants, one should never expect all their food to arrive at the same. It happened to us only once and that was because the food was already done.

6. People wear masks and are quite cold and distant at first. Once theyunderstand that you act out of genuine goodwill or interest, they open up and becomeenthusiasticand will do everything within theirvocabulary to understand and help you. Take for example our Russian bunkmates, who took us in likechildren!

7. Russian people are generally very interested in what you think ofRussia. It seems that they are very aware of the somewhatdistorted image you may find on theinternetdoes not portray the country welland arecurious to hear what your opinion is. The word "scared"might be toopowerful, butseveral individuals have sought verbalconfirmation from usthat Russia is not the drunk,macho, and poor country we see onthe internet.

Ciao Russia, untill we meet again. Next stop, Ulan Bator, Mongolia! The (only) 23 hour train ride will traverse us south into the typically Mongolian steppe, where we will continue our adventure.

Lots of hugs from us!