"On the road....still (but temperarily settled)" Mique's Profile

A new addition to the family: Eaindra Ayana. Born on the 23rd of July. 2.4 kg and 47 cm in length. And she's growing nicely.......

Another year in Burma. I keep having this on my page... Maybe when the internet connection will get better (and if, maybe in the distant future, we have an internet connection at home... Yeah, I keep on dreaming), I will be able to revamp this page. It is high time but every time I try, i find the connection is too slow to accept my (minor) changes...... I keep trying though...

So where have i been since september 2004? Well i think it is best to update the list regularly whenever i 'change country' again. Romania, Hungary, Romania, Hungary, Netherlands, France (a little over a week in those 2 countries to visit family & friends), Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Mongolia, China, Thailand, China, Burma, China, Japan, South-Korea, China, Tibet, Burma, Thailand, Laos, Thailand, Burma, France/Netherlands (this time for a whole total of 3 weeks!), Thailand again, Laos for the whole of a day and a half and back to Thailand and now in Burma (again), The Netherlands..... Thailand, Burma, Thailand and Burma. (i won't mention all the times i go to Thailand for my visa which is every 2,5 months...)

I've celebrated my 2 year travel anniversary!!! With, of course, a cocktail called 'around-the-world'. Not that i've made it that far (yet). But i'm working on it ;-). Correction: 3 years now. And counting.... (i just relaised that i have left my country over 5 years ago!

Stinker has decided to get his own weblog since Nina left us in China. Follow his travels at skunkonthego. The old weblog is available at: Stinker and Nina's world

People are already starting to worry. I'd planned more or less to be traveling for 2 years. That was a year and a half ago. I've got friends now that remind me that my next birthday should be somewhere near the Netherlands. Or ask me if i don't think it is time to come back. I do sort of miss a few things but most of the time i'm too busy enjoying myself..... So i guess i'll be traveling a bit longer then i planned. But things can change. I still have about half a year left of the original 2 years (i'm writing this in februari 2006!)

Some general info:
I've left the Netherlands over a year now (september 2004) and i've made my way into Russia finally. I apparently have a very slow pace of travel when i have enough time. I've been to some really of the way places which i love and of course since i do like so many things i always find too much to do in the countries i'm in. I spend 8 months in Romania, 2,5 almost in Ukraine and 3 months in Russia. Only Mongolia i did a bit faster (little more then 3 weeks) thanks to some travel partners.

The VT-group in London

The VT-meeting in London (april 2004) was great fun. we even tried most of the drinks even though it was quite difficult to find a spot to try them and uncorking the wine bottles was less easy then expected... ;-)

I'm a real VT-meeting addict. So far i've met quite a number of my fellow VT-ers on these meetings..

You can find pictures of this on the following pages..
London
Den Haag
Budapest
Maastricht
Vaals
Valkenburg
Breda
Scheveningen ,
New York , Delft

I've met a fair few people more but i just don't seem to be able to keep the list up to date. So you find VT-meeting pictures scattered all over the place

Make a difference

As the old man walked the beach at dawn he noticed a youth ahead of him picking up starfish and flinging them into the sea.
Finally, catching up with the youth, he asked him why he was doing this.
The answer was that the starfish would die if left in the morning sun.
"But the beach goes on for miles and there are millions of starfish", countered the old man. "How can your effort make any difference? "

The young man looked at the starfish in his hand and then threw it back in to the safety of the waves. "It makes a difference to this one", he said

Author unknown

My junk

At the last queensday's free market (the 30th of april 2004) that i was in the Netherlands i started to get rid of all the stuff i have accumulated over the years. Everything i don?t wan?t or need to keep and that i wouldn't use in the next 6 months i put up for sale. By the time i took the picture i had already sold quite a few objects but it still looks like a lot. And i had a few boxes with books that you can?t see on the picture.. I didn't manage to sell everything but i made a good effort on it. I had a mini van fully loaded including stuff on the passengers seat. When i went home i had only one layer of boxes in the van and the unsold bike... so all in all i think i did well.

The bike got stolen a few weeks later...

Dutch friends whom i miss a lot

Are you tired of all those namby, pamby, girly, sissy, completely
wet friendship poems, that never come close to reality?
Well, here is a series of promises that really speaks to true
friendship:

1. When you are sad - I will help you get drunk and plot revenge
against the sorry bastard who made you that way.

2. When you are blue - I will try to dislodge whatever is choking
you.

3. When you smile - I will know you've finally had sex.

4. When you are scared - I will tease the crap out of you about it
every chance I get.

5. When you are worried - I will tell you horrible stories about how
much worse it could be and to stop your bloody whining.

6. When you are confused - I will use little words.

7. When you are sick - Stay the hell away from me until you are well
again, I don't want whatever you have.

8. When you fall - I will point and laugh at your clumsy self.