Markus out and about

I moved

2011-07-05T12:58:00.001-07:00

.. my blog. To http://markustraveling.wordpress.com/
- pretty much the same - but they have slideshows, which excite me.

Chau

Christmas

2010-12-26T21:58:00.000-08:00

Long time no see. I am alive, the e-coli was not fun but pretty quickly over. The course have ended, I have left Udaipur, and I have been spending time with my friend the beach.

The last weeks of the stay in Udaipur was hectic and slightly crazy, and even if we missed exams back home, we got our fair share of stress with writing final reports and making final presentations. In the end it all went well, like it normally does, and we had some great last nights with other volunteers and people we know. My marvelous father came down two days before i left, and was literally just in time for my presentation. Left for Mumbai, with sitting seats in a bus, this went fine, and we met up with the brits from Seva there. Had some fun days as tourists again, saw the absolutely amazing thiefs market, less amazing meatmarket, and bought old bollywood posters bigger than I am. Also 'starred' in a Bollywood to come, with some of the biggest bollywoodstars, Kareena Kapoor and Shahrukh Khan. Look out for RA ONE, coming out in 7 months, starring Dad and I as festive dancing people in a london club in the final song, 'ta ta'. Left for Goa on train a couple of days later, got bumped up, so we had blankets and pillows, and ac! Fun and comfy. Said bye to brits again and left for anjuna beach after some quick consultation with travelbooks, and had some really nice days there, and spending a day on an Royal Enfield, driving around trying to find anything else than beaches that would be interesting. Since Christmas eve we have been with the brits, just south of goa, where there is almost no tourists, and a very laid back atmosphere. We have had some great days here, introducing the brits to aquevit and trying to celebrate christmas, even if we do spend half the day in the sun or water on the beach, and spent christmas eve eating barbecued fish and sitting around a bonfire. Dad and I will stay here until I leave, he'll go south, and ill start on my hometrip.

I'll do some photoes when i have time, but this just might be the last post from India, see YOU soon.

P.S. Merry Christmas & a Happ New Year!

Work and babies

2010-11-14T07:14:00.000-08:00

I got diagnosed with ecoli the other day, so did Karianne, so its been some lazy hazy days. Instead of talking about that, i have put out photoes. The first are from work, and the other ones are obviously not.

Camels and Peacocks

2010-11-14T06:18:00.000-08:00

I have

2010-11-14T00:10:00.000-08:00

- Used up a big tube of toothpaste that I bought in India

- Been in Incredible India for three months

- Seen more Bollywood movies

- Read 'In spite of the Gods' by Edward Luce, and i think you should too

- Been on a two day camel trek while riding Raju the camel

- Slept under the stars on sand dunes during the said camel trek

- Been dressed as a peacock (Indias national bird) during the most kickass halloween party India has seen so far, hosted by lovely vb-people (and won the award of best partygirl)

- Probably landed an extra role, in a french movie, as an officer. Will be given horseback riding training and will be flown from Goa to Tamil Nadu (South India) and back for the last day of shooting, in late december, with Greg.

- Gotten quite acquainted with imodium

- Bought my ticket from India in early January, when I will meet this guy. (Can you blame me?)

I don't really like writing but i am well, and all is fine, will try to upload some photos soon instead.

Random photoes

2010-10-10T03:17:00.000-07:00

First pics from working, a coulpe from mount abu, and the two last of a visit to a deaf school that we are visiting when we have time.

Haa means Yes, Nahi - No

2010-10-10T02:47:00.000-07:00

The last weeks have been great, working a lot and being out in the field, which means in rural areas of Rajastan. Because of the moonsoon being so recent, and lasting so long, most areas are still green and beautiful, and there are still some small rivers. Most of the year, these areas are arid and yellow, so we have come at the right time for pretty scenery.

I have divided my time so that this month is dedicated to the Balsakhi program, where I will follow young women working with neonatal and infant health and nutrition. I did so some days of the past week as well, but now i will not have any of my comentors with me, just me and Sanjay who will translate for me. Last week I spent two nights at the block office in Kotra, the area furthest away from Udaipur. Beautiful place, great people, and fun traveling with a gearscooter. I slept under the stars on my balcony there, and I am looking forward to going back!

Other than work we have had a couple of fun parties at the VB guesthouse, where a great group of volunteers live, we went to Mount Abu and got sunburned last weekend, and yesterday some of us went to lake ravi, that has crocodiles in it, swam across it and back, and got even worse sunburns. Johan and Lachlan are in Dehli this weekend, to watch games from the commonwealth games (who knew about them, hm?) and we are moving rooms, because tomorrow we are getting six new guys, one Danish volunteer, Henrik, and five Indian college guys. Will be fun!

Hindi is slowly getting somewhere, but because our teacher has fallen ill we have not had too many classes. I can say my name, where i am from and some lines from different hindi popsongs, but a conversation is still hard. Yesterday I bought a movie and my second movie soundtrack, and I am still loving my bollywood. Did i give you the link to the eighties greatest song?

Dad is coming to Goa to spent christmas with me! And so are four of the british volunteers living in VB (as is a gang of their friends), and possibly Maria from Boliva, Lachlan and Fredrik, and I also know a guy I met while traveling thats going there. So christmas in Goa looks like it will be a BIG hit. Woop whooop.

Finally got to put out some photoes, they are not amazing, but its a glimpse of whats happening.

Phal means fruit in Hindi

2010-09-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

So, I am currently in Udaipur, in the third week of our course, and loving it.

Since last time, I have seen Taj Mahal, been followed by the jewel-mob in Jaipur, and took almost a week in Pushkar, where i turned 22 years old. I have met a bunch of great people, and started the course which is the reason for me being here.

The other people that also take the course with me; Karianne (kk), Johan, Fredrik, Lachlan and Mattias come the weekend before we started, and we soon found our rooms and tried to settle down. We live in the house of Mr. Arvind, who will go into our rooms and turn of the lights if we havent, and who have been so grateful as to give us a curfew of 9.30. He looks like he is cut out from some movie from the 90's with a hockey in a ponytail, cut offs and tank tops. Great guy. The place is great, and much better than the other volunteers at Seva Mandirs, given that our techers at home did not think us fit to have the normal standard. So, embarrassed as we are, we have a tv, a roof top gym and maid and delivery of dinners and breakfast. The last week we have started to make food ourselves, but it was nice to indulge for a bit.

The first weeks was mainly classes in development, the Indian context, about the role of NGO's in India, etc, and Hindi lessons! The second, we went to field visits, and got to see some of the many ways that Seva works with the rural population, and on Friday we had presentations of projects we could choose to work with. I was lucky enough to get two! I work on a micro program for obstetric health care, where it will be implemented in another area than it has been before, and on a Neo-natal health care program, where I more or less will be reviewing if it works. Both projects are super exiting, and even though I can hear people snore at the titles, they are great projects. I Also have one american and one indian co-mentor, and they are both competent and willing to learn me all about this. I have spent most of this week reading up on the health and practices of pregnant women, and about feeding practices and diseases of newborn. To say I am learning something new every day would be a gross understatement.

The next weeks will be reading and field visits, and I am thrilled. At home we are cosying ourselves, most of the time, allthough the long hours and required reading + hindi lessons sometimes get the better of, ehem, me. Thank god I have songs like this to make it all better. (The song is from DABANGG which i went to see last weekend)

There's a bunch of other stuff happening of course, like us all getting to know the other volunteers, visiting deaf and blind schools, and i also visited a hiv/aids center the other day, but the main idea you should get is that we are having a great time, the volunteers and staff at Seva are amazing, and that I am learning a lot, this is my sixth week here, and it is all good.

pics will come, at some point.

m

Namaste!

2010-08-24T06:42:00.000-07:00

So, Intro; I am using this blog because I am currently in India, traveling for three weeks, before I am doing a field course/internship in Udaipur, in the state or province of Rajasthan, east in India. We are five people from my class doing this course, and I will be meeting up with them in less than two weeks. The course itself is a bit of a mystery to us still, but we will be working with an NGO called Seva Mandir, that has been working in the area for more than 40 years, and have more than 70,000 households working with them. So, obviously we are all very very exited. The course ends on the 18th of December, and after that I am going to travel for some weeks, go visit Lisa in Canada, and then learn Spanish in various countries in Central America before starting my exchange semester at EARTH University in Costa Rica in May. I will be home in the end of August next year.

So, The last week has been very good, I had a good flight and sat next to two very nice Sikhs going from England to shop and visit the Golden Temple north in the country, they would never themselves stay more than about three weeks though, "too hot" "too dirty" "too much people"
When I landed I met a nice Californian movie maker/editor named Dave, and we shared a cab into the center of tourist Kolkata, where we found a really nice place teeming with volunteers from the first center of Mother Teresa. However, before I got to know them, I had to fix a little problem. I left a plastic bag with books, clothes, phone and ipod inside the cab. This was fixed by about fifteen Indian men who all ment they knew the guy, called a bit around and told me to wait one hour. I did, while thinking my stuff was pretty much lost, but then a guy came knocking, and said we should go to the airport again, to pick up my stuff. I was not completely sure that it was there, when I asked, he said yes, but then he asked if I had left it in the front or in the back, so yeah, I was not particularly confident. However, when I got there, I was guided to our previous driver, who had my bag "ofcourse!" and my belief in the phrase so often heard here "No problem in India" was founded.

I spent some lazy days in Kolkata with some great people, Mac, Carrieann and Julie, who had all been there for some time. Because it rained, and I was adjusting to the hot and humid climate (still am) I did not do much besides walk around, and visit the Khaligat, a temple made in honour of Kali; My first temple here was a great experience, guided by Mac, we got to look Kali in her three eyes, throw flowers on the fire and make a prayer.

I left Kolkata after 4 days, taking an overnight train to Varanasi, one of the oldest cities in the world, being a religious center from around 600 b.c. On the train I was bought chai, had a small girl over me was puking, and met two teachers, a good trip. In Varanasi I met a Brit named Nick, and during the last 4 days, (got here on sat morning) we have walked in the old city and gotten completely lost, walking in to the burning ghats without knowing it when we were discussing if we wanted to see people burning or not. There we got a tour and the history and information there is to know from a nice scam artist, (I work for the poor, we need lots of wood to burn, whatever you can give sir, not enough sir, everything is good sir, not good sir, etc) but it was worth it. We have also been on a boat ride on the Ganges, and seen pretty much everything that floats in it, been to a magic show, had palm readings, (I will live to be 87, travel much, lucky number 7, day wednesday, colour red, and I will have two kids, boys, and i have a heart as wide as the pacific) I have also gotten up at six every morning to go to yoga, which I will try somewhere else as well, this was a bit shit if you ask me.

Varanasi is a great city, teeming with religious everything, and especially now because of a Vishnu festival. The old city is beautiful, the ghats (stairs down to Ganges, where people prey, eat, hang, wash themselves and clothes, etc) are really interesting and I have met many nice tourists here. However, there is a certain amount of "need hasj, come to my shop, need something", and just normal scams in general you can take. Because of the amount of tourists here, you get a bit tired.Today I went to see the place where Buddha gave his first sermon, which was good, the autorickshaw back and forth though was way more fun than seeing the actual place, interesting as it was. On the way in i got properly angry and nearly screamed at a guy for suddenly wanting to change our previously agreed deal, he was a proper prick, so I left him and threw what I though he deserved on him. However, this was still twice the "Indian price", and on the way back I had a good haggle with a nice man, and we where up to nine people in this one little rickshaw, this is a record I intend to break during my stay here.

Tomorrow, I am going to the cinemas to see a Bollywood flick, before taking an overnight to Agra, I am taking the train with a Spaniard that we met the other day, and hopefully well go together to see the Taj Mahal, before I am leaving for some hectic days, seeing Sikandra (a formerly huge city, now ruins), Akhbars tomb (a great emperor, who worked hard to join the different faiths in his country) and Keoladeo National Park, apparently the best bird watching park in Asia (or so says "The rough guide to India")

Then Its Jaipur (the pink city), where I will celebrate my birthday, and then for some quiet days in Pushkar, before ending up in Udaipur next saturday. If somebody had heard any of my previous plans; I discarded them as being way too hopeful.

The pictures come in different orders and all that, guess whats whats and ill be posting again in a week or so.

Sarajevo, Lake Bled, and then Home!

2008-09-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

Soo, my last days interrailing!

After three days in Mostar, I went to Sarajevo. The train went 07:30 in the morning, and lucky as I am, I sat next to a chain-smoking guy in a pretty neat suit, drinking beer.

When I got there I eventually found a hostel, after following some girls that had the same backpacker feeling around them as me (read: dirty and a bit bad smelling.)

The hostel was really good, and I wish I could have stayed there for longer. Met some pretty cool people there, amongst them, two icelandic girls (Go scandinavia!) more aussies, some americans and went out with the bunch, having a really good time. The next day I went to the historical museum in Sarajevo, and that was a really good museum, I learned a lot about the history of Bosnia and Herzgovina, and a lot about the war in the nineties.

I decided to go to Lake Bled in Slovenia for my last days, because some of the others really liked it, and why not, right. Had a pretty good overnight to get there, and half the way I traveled with an aussie girl. Nice to travel with somebody for a change.

Lake Bled was absolutely amazing. The lake is so nice, and with mountains, the castle and the island with a church it is a huge tourist magnet. I am really glad I got there when the tourist season was out. Half the city is old and really nice, and half is full of new ugly tourist hotels.

Met really nice people here as well, hanging out in the hostel bar. First day I walked up to the castle, and saw the city, second day I and yet another aussie walked up to a lookout spot in one of the mountains, and the view was amazing! third day I went on an adventure tour!

The adventure tour contained:

Seeing Jazna Lake
Hike on top of the highest mountain pass in Slovenia

Hike to the karst spring of the River Soca

Rafting on the river Soca

Swimming in the beautiful Kozjak Waterfall

Jump from a 12m high bridge

Beer and car train to yet another Lake - Bohinj

End of day. - alltogether 11 hours, and we were eight people.

The rafting was really fun, it was also completely different from last time, in Equador.

The first part of the river was very calm, and our guide told us to sit on the rail, with both feet on it, one hand on our head, and one in the air. Then, he made the boat go around, really fast, screaming that we could not change posititions. When we had kind of mastered this, he ran and pushed all of us in the water. Fun. We also stopped twice, once he turned the boat around against a rock, so that we used the backside of it as a slide into the water, and the second we climed up a rock 5m high, and jumped from it! (Jump long, not hit rocks!) In the end of the raft he almost made the boat go round, (photoshoot time!) as you can see in some of the photoes!

Also, I actually jumped from 12m! I was shit scared, but did it anyway.

The tour was really worth it, so much fun!

Also, it is worth mentioning that the water had the nice and warm temperature of 5C.

That was really the last day, used the nights in the bar, playing darts and boardfootball with the other ones. And I had a 8 dorm room all by myself, so i had things everywhere, wich was nice!

The way home was really quite ok, never mind the the 35 hours on trains, it went fast.
So, now I am back home, going to wash all of my clothes twice, and looking forward to see everybody home:)

Until next my next travels!

Last pictures from Interrailing 08!

Adventure tour

Lake Bled

Pics from Mostar

2008-09-26T10:26:00.000-07:00

Mostar

2008-09-23T05:32:00.000-07:00

Hello!
I ended up in Mostar anyway! There is no trains going south here, so a bus took just 4 hours.
Driving on the coast made me fall a bit for Croatia after all. On the way we passed the boat "Karina", the restaurant "Kuk" (For real), and a big wood fire, there were about 10 planes going from the ocean to the wood with water and back again. A bit scary, we drove straight through it, and could see both trees and the ground burning.
Anyway, got to Mostar, and it is really nice here, a lot of buildings are old, a lot of them renovated after the war, and this place kind of represent the history of the country.
Mostar is famous because of its bridge, one of the oldest of its type. The bridge was destroyed during the war, but with Unescos help they rebuilt it.
Yesterday I went to a place outside of Mostar, Blajed or something, where they have a spring coming out of a mountain, and its the biggest in Europe! The water was totally clear! Also, they have the ruins of a big castle, deserted after a big earthquake that ruined all of it. The castle/fortress was buildt by Herzog Stefan Vukcic, and Herzegovina named after him.
Today I have just walked about some more, the city is very diverse, and I have seen a Mosque at one side of the road, and a church at the other. Because of the many mosques here you can clearly hear the call to prayer, and I really like it.

Tomorrow I am going to Sarajevo, there I will be for two nights, and then go on to Slovenia again, but now to Lake Bled. Its really beautiful there, and I think they still do kayaking! :D
Stay there for 3 days, and then go home.

M

Ljubljana and Split

2008-09-20T03:54:00.000-07:00

So. This will be a long one.

I spent the last day in Vienna at the Leopold Museum, and my new favourite painters are Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt. A really good museum, and so many good paintings.
Then, I went on an overnight to Ljubljana (Slovenia) , a terrible night i can confess, as I slept something like two hours, all cramped up in a seat with people snoring (every f'ing time) and when the train got there, six a clock in the morning I was a mess. After walking as a mess for about 90 minutes, with my backpack, I found a hostel, and got right to bed. Got up a bit later and saw the old town, it looked a bit like Prague, but way smaller. The next day was due for seeing the castle (fun), shopping (only found a pair of shoes) , swimming (more like bathing really) and cinema (Kung Fu Panda rocks).
The same day I planned the next days : go to some caves in the south, and then catch another overnight to Split in Croatia. The next day I was up and ready, and got on the train to Koper, where it should be easy to get a bus to the caves and be back before 7 to take the next train. Or so i thought. The only bus there went at three, and did not come back until five in the morning. So I was stuck, and decided I wanted to go straight to Split Instead, because I obviously was wrong about how to get to the caves, and it was freezing in Slovenia. And I wanted sun and sea. Spent 7 hours reading 'how to be good' by Nick Hornby, then got on the train to Split, and after waiting and sleeping and getting up and changing and waiting for trains, and so forth, I got there 17 hours later.

Split is nice, and the old town pretty, but not as hot as anticipated, and its quite windy. Yesterday, (the day i got here) I walked around and ate and saw the castle/fortress, and went to bed early. Today I have been to the City museum and the etnografical museum, and neither was really any good, and I went to the beach. Might go back later and actually swim if it stops to be so windy.

I had a big plan to go both sea kayaking and rafting, but seems like everything is closed down since it is just out of season. Dont seem to out of season though, as there are tourists absolutely everywhere. In big fat groups of americans, scandinavians and the slimmer japanese, and thats why I am leaving tomorrow. But I have no idea where. I wanted to go to dubrovnik, but it is basically impossible to find anywhere to stay, and its expensive, so right now im looking up other alternatives. I also wanted to go to Mostar in Bosnia, after a hot tip from Marina, but im totally afraid of more overnights. I only have about one week left now, and I want to make the most of the last days!
So stay tuned 'til next time, when my next destination will be revealed.

Vienna first 5, Cesky last 5!

2008-09-16T04:42:00.000-07:00

Random pirates from Cesky Krumlov

2008-09-16T04:28:00.000-07:00

Vienna

2008-09-15T04:50:00.000-07:00

'ello.

I was very lucky in Vienna, because I got to stay at Adas place, she was just in Vienna for 3 days to get some of her stuff, because the lucky girl is moving to London.
Ada has been great, showing me around the tourist places as well as some more hidden places.
Vienna is definetly in a class for itself when it comes to how incredibly beautiful the buildings are, and the massive amount of art, exhibitions and culture in general. Its really nice to see how much they put into the whole art scene, and Norway could learn a thing or ten.
Friday I met up with Ada, after getting completely lost a couple of times. We went to meet some friends of Ada, and I got to see some of the nightlife here. Saturday we walked around, and saw the city, and then we went swimming, and that was fun! Sunday we walked some more, I went to see the movie "Wanted", and we went out again, at a place called the bat, and drank champagne. Today is all about the museums, Ada went to London earlier, so im going to check out the Leopold museum, and I might go to a couple of others, if im not totally fed up with art after the first one. So, thats Vienna in short for you. Might also say that the weather is bad now, raining and quite cold. A good day for museums!
Later on I am going to Ljubljana, the capitol of Slovenia. Its another over night train, and I will have to change in the middle of the night, but thats fine. All used to not sleeping, and getting my back stuck in wierd positions after trying to sleep in the trainchairs.

M

Its thursday, and im in love

2008-09-11T06:04:00.000-07:00

.. with Cesky Krumlov!

I have now been here 4 days, since monday morning, and i have had such a good time!
All I have been doing is sitting around in the sun (atleast 30 degrees here as well), reading,
chatting with people and it has been great. This is one of those places where people just stay,
and never return home. There is actually a norwegian here, working, and its been ok to speak a bit norwegian again, after a couple of weeks without it. He has even donated a recipe for waffles, so in the deli here, they sell Norwegian waffles. Funny.
The only big things that has been happening is a big rafting/bar crawl on tuesday, where we all dressed up as pirates and with a boat we travelled from bar to bar on the river. So much fun, some pictures will come later, because this computer is shit.
I have met so many Australians here, beacuse they have a busabout thing a bit the same as interrail, but with buses, and one of the stops are here, at Hostal 99. But they are all fun, and i can not say it enough, this place rocks. I dont think I have ever been this relaxed and completely chilled out.

Tomorrow I am going to Vienna, and I am looking very much forward to it!
In Vienna I am meeting Ada, and she lived there for a whole year and will hopefully show me a bit around. Not sure how long I will stay there, but atleast over the weekend.

So long - Markus

Krakow

2008-09-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

Summary of Krakow:

30C every day, hot as in hard-to-move hot.
Saw it was 15C and raining in Oslo. (Heeeeheee)

Went to a museum called Muzeum Czartoryskich , where a princess many years ago started collecting paintings, egyptian art, and armoury amongst other things to show the people.
Now it contains a lot of paintings, among them "Lady with an ermine" by Leonardo Da vinci.
A very cool museum. Went on a guided tour to Auschwitz and Birkenhaus, a really good tour, Im glad I went, even though it was very disturbing to see how bad the conditions actually were.

Krakow has has a big festival going on these days, with parades and a lot of funny things going on. Enjoyable! They have the biggest medieval sqare in all of Europe here, and a cool castle, a bunch of nice churches, and a lot of history. Also met some nice people here, and im in general very happy with my stay here.

Tonight im going to a small medieval town in Czeck republic called Cesky krumlov, with castles, towering mountains and very nice scenery in general.
Here are some random pictures from Krakow, notice the Norwegian "nettbuss"!

More Poland

2008-09-05T07:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to see a museum before I left for Krakow, the Warsawa Rising Museum. The Museum was dedicated to the struggle of the people in Warsaw during WW2, and how they fought against both germans and russians, both in the fight, and after, to tell the real story behind what really happend. I went there with Naomi, Millie, and Lisa, girls I met at the hostel the night before.
Then, I took a train to Krakow, and thats where I am now.
At first, (and second) glance, I liked Krakow better than Warsaw. Guess its unfair to say it is because of the old town, cus nothing here was destroyed in ww2, but really, its beautiful here.
And, if you belive the fables, the town was founded on the grave of a dragon, killed by Prince Krak. Way cool. (But really the word Kraken means something like crowe, and Krakow means many crows)

Anyway, tomorrow Im going to auschwitz. Think it will be a very special experience, but it will be very interesting to see, and to have seen it. On sunday im going on againg, this time to Czeck republic. Not sure quite where, but have talked to some travellers at the hostel, and they told me about a really old town, so im going to check that one out, and maby go there.

Here are som pictures from the last days, the two first are Saskia and Sarah, doing YMCA, and the second is the highest church tower in Holland.
The rest is Warsaw, and the two war pictures where taken at the museum "Warsaw rising".
Sorry about them being the wrong way, cant seem to get them straight..

Warsaw

2008-09-03T11:42:00.000-07:00

Last days:

Spent Sunday with Sarah and Saskia, playing cards and listenig to music, very relaxed and very nice.
Monday I went to meet Aslak in Utrecht, drank a lot of coffee, and got a bit jealous of lucky Aslak studying in a really nice town! Funny meeting him in Holland of all places!
After Utrecht I went straight on a train to Warsawa, and that was 17 hours almost without sleep, as I had a really good book, (the book thief) and a snoring guy beside me.

Warsawa has been fun, met an american last night and went out, very enjoyable, and today I have been walking in the old town, that was totally rebuilt after ww2.
Tomorrow im checking out some museums, and then going to Krakow!
Im starting to get in to the whole interail thing, and im quite enjoying myself!
(Miss everybody at home though!)

Picture time

2008-08-31T05:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some photoes!
I just had time to load some pictures, but not
to write about them, so you can have a guess
about whats happening in them. Haha.

Amsterdaaam

2008-08-31T01:14:00.000-07:00

Boom.

Friday was a blast! We danced into my 20th year in a church turned nightclub, I got a birthdaysong in dutch (Vera and her friends), and we had a good time.
Yesterday we slept in, hung out in the Vondel park, ate amazing amounts of fruits and played cards. In the evening we met Sarah, saw the red light district, and went out.
We also got to teach Sarah some norwegian, (ja, nei, takk, hvordan gaar det?)
I also said goodbye to Kirsti and Ming Kit, who went straight on the plane after the party.
Haha, I slept like a horse, hope you guys did as well :)
Had a great time!

Thanks to everybody for birthday messages!

Today im going to meet Sarah and her friends again, and watch som music, because there is a music festival here right now. And tomorrow I am meeting Aslak in Utrecht.
I am also going to .. Warsawa tomorrow. I decided to go there instead of Germany because its cheaper. Yeah. And Kirsti gave me a book called "a year of adventures" where there is things to do for each day of the year. In it I found rafting in slovenia, so I might do that. We'll see.

Amsterdam baby!

2008-08-29T11:50:00.001-07:00

Hello!

I dont have much time to write now, because we are all going out in about 5 min.

But, these days have been really good! We went to the Van Gogh museum yesterday, and met with Vera, and she showed us the red light district, but in daytime it was quite lame.

Today we went to the "Rijksmuseum" and god to know a lot about Holland, and saw some paintings by Rembrandt, and that was also fun! Tonight we are going to a "famous" club, called paradise, where we will be dancing in to my 20'th year!

Other than that I have to tell you that the city is amazing, incredibly pretty, with canals and stone brick houses. It was really cool meeting Vera again, and tomorrow we are meeting Sarah, so everything is good and Kirsti and Ming Kit loves eachother.

I will post pictures when I have time!

And also, I have decided not to go to Berlin, because my budget is a mess after some shopping we did today. Heh.

Markus

Travel route

2008-08-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have had some time to think and check the net, and here is my first draft of a travel route.

Holland, Amsterdam
German, Berlin
Czeck republic, ?
Austria,Vienna
Slovakia, Bratislava
Sloveina,Ljublijana
Bosnia, Mostar
Some beach place?
Turkey, Istanbul
And.. somewhere I find a cheap flight home.

But I will probably do some changes, but I like plans, and now I have one!

Interrail

2008-08-25T10:01:00.000-07:00

Hello.

I am going to write most of this in English, as it might be some people who would want that, and I know that my biggest fans, (Hi Mom, Hi Dad!) need the training, and so do I.
And I think I might use this blog for every trip I make, might be easier. And please, correct my English, but be sensible. If I have had a lot harsh comments, then leave me be for a while, eh?

But to the point; I have decided, I think, that I'm going on an Interrail. Leaving Amsterdam on Monday. But before that, I'm going to have a kick ass time in Amsterdam with Ming Kit and Kirsti! I am not sure where I'm going, but time will show, and as I have a bit less than 48 hours before leaving, I have plenty of time to plan this whole thing.
I will try to be good and keep things a bit updated, I promise.

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Along the iron veins that traverse the frame of our country, beat and flow the fiery pulses of its exertion, hotter and faster every hour. All vitality is concentrated through those throbbing arteries into the central cities; the country is passed over like a green sea by narrow bridges, and we are thrown back in continually closer crowds on the city gates.

John Ruskin (1819-1900)