Mongolia July 2009,second part:

When we got our tour for Grassland ,we were about 6 people and were supposed to get a car with the guide. It took 2 hours to get there. It was such a spiral

way and bumps on the road anyhow with listening to Mongolian music and some Chinese with us practicing their English for free as usual, which is not a big surprise we arrived. It was a nice impression to see grassland but such a pity to see how they want to treat you ,cause you are a foreigner.

The food was quite basic and economical and we slept in a Mongolian tent(yurt) which was made from concert and hard ,but the same shape of traditional one.
The next day we paid for 2 hours horse riding which was good and nice to have some horse riding. In fact Mongolian horses are short and me and Wijbren had

imported European horse other wise for Wijb would be such a pain in butt to sit in a horse which his feet would drag on the floor, longer than horse's leg .!

Anyhow we walked along a small lake and saw the wrestling and racing match which was nice. After 2 days we backed and the following day a bit rest and hag around the city and then went to desert tour which was 4 hours far from Hohhot and quite far in fact .


The area was quite small and it was nice to see real desert but riding on camels for 2 hours and some areas were so steep and we both were scared to fall from camels and all 2 by 2 camels hooked on each other ,with one guide in front. To me horse riding was much doable than camels, they were a bit nasty and slow.. but I could managed to take some nice photos on the camels. One time camel was scared and I was close to fall…
I can cope wth camel riding bt to be hoenst is not my favourite things to do and wijbren's face was so pssy and full of anger casue he didn't have ny proper saddle just siting on bundle of blankets.

We had 4 tents and when we arrived to oasis settled our camp there and we had another Dutch boy and 2 Korean girls and a Spanish guy. Our driver was a bit crazy and had 2 big bottle of Baizhou( Chinese wine) which taste terrible.


We had to company those crazy guys and drank the whole 2 bottles and some beer which was not what we wanted. At least on grassland we had nice Austrian and German couples and better company at night for barbecue ,but anyhow it passed and we had to listen to stupid ,charming conversation of those 2 girls and guys ,crush on each other and were drunk and in the morning were all of them pissed…anyhow the way back we waited and a big German truck came to pick us and took us back to base camp out of the desert and then the way back to Hohhot…

Trip to Mongolia July 2009

Located at the center part of northern China, it was inhabited by Eeduosi people 20,000 years ago. With a long history, it was called Inner-Mongolia for the first time in the Qing Dynasty.

Beautiful and abundant in resources, Inner-Mongolia is a province with the wildest longitudes in China and its special location dictates the abundance and variety of its tourism resources. With grassland scenes and folk custom as its two major tourism resources, Inner-Mongolia has such natural scenes as vast grasslands, deserts, forests, and lakes.

After staying in Beijing for a week then we got our first class train ticket to Mongolia,lets correct it inner mongolia,which the capital is hohhot.......

Our hostel was nice but the impression from the city was terrible as the train station was so dirty and filty better to say...after 22 hours on the train our guide from hostel took us to our hostel and we rested the first day and hang around the area and we found out quite few nice muslem restaurants with Kababa dishes.

This pagoda is quite unique in Mongolia. The style is from Indian Buddhism. Although it is called the "1000-Buddha Pagoda", there are actually some 1563 carvings of Buddha on its exterior walls. Inside the Pagoda there is, sadly, nothing at all - it was all stripped-out and destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. However, the empty interior has been used to display an ancient stone-carved Mongolian Map of the Cosmos - on Buddhist principles. Another copy of it is outside, set in the walls of the Pagoda grounds.

Inner Mongolia's dairy products include cheese, milk curd, salty milk tea, and fermented horse milk, all of which are acquired tastes. Those who visit yurts (Mongolian tents) in the grassland (see last paragraph) will probably be offered fermented horse milk, which is supposed to drive away cold and invigorate circulation, although it has been known to bring on headaches in a few people!

Then what we did on the first day was visiting five temple pagoda which is located on the East side of the city.This pagoda is quite unique in Mongolia. The style is from Indian Buddhism. Although it is called the "1000-Buddha Pagoda", there are actually some 1563 carvings of Buddha on its exterior walls. Inside the Pagoda there is, sadly, nothing at all - it was all stripped-out and destroyed in the Cultural Revolution.
However,

the empty interior has been used to display an ancient stone-carved Mongolian Map of the Cosmos - on Buddhist principles. Another copy of it is outside, set in the walls of the Pagoda grounds.

basically Hohhot is like other cities in China with cleaner and fresher air infact.

We decided to get 2 tours to got to grassland and sleep there overnight and another tour to desert,Gobi desert and stay in oasis for one night and practic our camel and horse riding which was a great experience in fact.

the last 2 days in Holland

These are last few days left in Holland and I am a bit sad.

Well describing the feeling is hard ,Wijbren's parents are really nice and we are both having great time here,but always whenver you are happy you have to leave soon.This is life ,can't stop the good or bad time.

Me and Wijb both had great summer we had so much tension before what to do ,what is the best ,getting visa for Europe ,thinking about Marriage,other things for future..

we passed from Xian and visiting some nice places around Xian and then Beijing 2 times and especially for Wijbren was great to be in Beijing before leaving China and seeing bBeijing after Olympic 2009 ,and all changes was a great choice and then Mongolia as Wijbren never been to Tibet and was not so suitbale because of tension go there and I spent 1 month there .

so we were happy but the time pass all good memories stay in mind which is the good part of travelling and being in Holland and Germany and changes in matter of atmosphere,people,food was a great all together.

But now we need to focus on our unfinshed plans and back to our city in China and possibly back to Beijing to sort out and finish hopefully our business with embassies.\

I can't say after5 years I miss China or I feel home but anyhow everyplace has its good and bad things.

I hope we can manage to come back and one day live in Europe which in so many ways have less tension and streesand it is good for my future art and our both jobs.

Anyhow we planed the last day of week go to Giethorn which is located in the

borader of Friseland and other Dutch provinces in Holland.

This city calls "venice of the North" and all is because of having so many canals and houses built on the water.

But you could see bangalows or 2 floors houses not more and with small yard full of flowers and nice decorations,which were really eye-catching.

something which is obvious in Holland is bicycle. Many of 15 million Dutch own a bicycle.In small,flat country without any far distances,the bicycle is the ideal form of transport.

Windmills:

Since the 13th century windmills were used in the Netherlands,around the 17th century there were more than 10,000 windmills.

in any towns and small or big cities you still can find some wooden nice windmills,but mostly these types are left behind and new wind power energy they used is with modern wind mills which are like skyckrapers.

Anyhow that small town had its own special beuty with canals and woden boats all over,full of tourists hanging around the cafes' and we were walking all around the town and got a tour boat for almost an hour passing though the canals ,and reached to a handmade lake which was just 80 centimeters deep and safe enough for everybody to swim there.

In fact we saw so many kid's and couples playing in the water ,sun bathing,boating,fishing, and even one floating restaurant which was a brainy idea to sell some drink and ice creams in the middle of lake.

It was a great experience to be there and sit on the boat floting in the water....

Trip to Amsterdam,

Yesterday the whole family decided to have a day trip to Amsterdam.
When we arrived there was almost 12.30 p.m and after having a drink in a cafe ,me and Wijbren and parents got seperated .

We walked about an hour around the center of city and found a tourist information and got our day boat ticket around the Amsterdam.





As Amsterdam is so famous for its canals,it was a great idea in fact.Amsterdam is the capital of the city and its a meeting point of cultures.

Legends say Amsterdam was founded by two fisherman after they landedon the banks of the Amstel river.

Towards the end of 16th century merchants from Antwerp moved to Amsterdam and its became ofr a short period the biggest and one of the richest town.

Noth sea canal was dug in 1876 and connects the port of Amsterdam with North sea.this canal gave the dutch economy a big boost.


in the center of city we saw the Dam which is really the heart of the city.is the place where celebration,festivals and mourns happend.and there you can find national monument which was erected in 1956 to commemorate the people who died in World War 2.

there is another place you pass by boat tour which is central station was designed in 1889 by architect Cuypers,the same person who designed the Rijksmuseum.Both building are significant resemblance.


the city is famous for its canalsand it calls as Venice of the north because of 90 cannals and more than 1000 bridges.
Visitors can see so many magnificents houses built by the side of canals,which the their prices are enormousely high.

There are couple of nice Musums to see ,as State museum ,Van Gogh museum,Maritime Museum and Historical museum.

The state museum which we went in yesterday was 4 floors and full of master piees from Van Gogh,Rambrandt,Johannes Vermeer,Jan steen.
The Rijksmuseum(national) is one of the reasons that I visit Amsterdam frequently. Currently the gallery is undergoing restoration so only a small taster of the collection is on display.
They were renovating the mseum,and we had to stand on a long line ,but the entrace ticket and all standing worth it!.


You could see the master piece from the most famous Dutch artists.There is a art with Dollhouses which was amazing how to make and creat the whole Doll houses with all equipments.



City of flowers, is anoher name ofr Amsterdam.There is a seasonal festival from April till May ,a place close by Amsterdam which calls Aalsmeer,where youc an see different flowers flourishing.


At the beginning of singel you encounter the catboat.there are 80 cats living on this boat,which is amazing.
The Stopera is abuilding you will find on Waterloo Square.It houses both the town hall and the music theatre,and was built in 1986.

Opposite of central station,on the conrner of Geldersekade and prins hendrikkade stands the old Schreierstroen. The tower dates back to the Middle ages.The tower is known for the tower of tears. as this was the place where old days the wives and sweethearts of the sailors used to wave goodbye to thier loved ones.

The light district is a well known area for tourists which shows prostitutes are waiting behind the red light for the clients. it is an international area in this city.

There are Spies which we can see the houses have mirrors which stand on the outsides of house.A person who sits in the living room can see who rings the bell.

Well after visiting all this and city hall we dropped somehwere to have some food and all the way back home with parents.It was such a good atmosphere and feeling to be one day in the capital anyhow.

Trip to Holland ,Forth part

Trip to Holland….

Today Sunday, we decided to be active again and Wijb's Dad come up with nice idea that we can see flower festival.
In fact I had an idea that Holland should have a Flower festival someday as this country produce flower and export. Anyhow we couldn’t find the flower festival but we went by car to couple of towns and cities.

The first stop was Hoorn which is located in North of Holland in fact Hallum the place that we are located is in Friesland which has totally different language with Dutch and these people are the race of Frisians who came long time ago from Finland and Sweden to the North East part of Holland.

The Netherland has 12 provinces and leeuwarden is the capital of Friesland.

The Hoorn is in another side of lake and the country bridge connect the North east ( Friesland) to the North part of Holland and other part of the country.

We had a nice sight seeing there and then we moved toward Volendam city ,that is another costal city near the lake and sea. As you could see so many tourist hanging around souvenir shops there ,but we could find a nice fish snack shop and got to row fish sandwich one salmon and another eel- fish which were totally mouth- watering.
After staying there for a short time and sitting in a nice café’ watching tourists and taking some photos from the ships we moved to another city Marken.

Finally we end up to our village and back home. I think I have seen most towns and cities in Friseland and North part of Holland and now my adventures goes toward the capital and center of the country. I can say as we passed by train from Holland to the South East to Germany ,the whole country is full of fields and small villages and towns and in South and center turn to bigger cities.

Trip to Holland third part

Trip to Holland third part:
Monday was a quite nice day Wijbren needed to sort out some documents ,so we decided to go to Groningen which was around one and half hour far from Hallum and we got to Leeuwarden and from there got the train to Groningen.

We passed couple of times from Leeuwarden these days as it is a transferring city and basically is a big town with enough facilities. The city was so much for Wijb as he spent almost 9 years of study there. He showed me his university and we hang around the city for a while.


As usual I took some photos from boats which I love their style and harbor. we went to municipal office and I faced with a long queue as We face in Asia, but luckily very organized.

We were looking for a hair dresser that,I wanted to high -light my air but finally dyed it with anther type of brown color and quite nice amount of Euro.

These days in Europe I try not to think and convert currency ,just in case of not making my life miserable. Wijb found his old comic book hop and gave me the whole story of old times and it was such a freaky place to work in.

Well no misunderstanding it was quite big and full of books ,but like a haunted house and in some part was dark enough to crawl and find your way out of books, so many books, comics features and different crap around .

We got some small shopping and tried to find reasonable sale shops .It took another 2 hours to get train back and then bus to the countryside. Wijb wanted to call his Dad to come and pick up us on the train station but I told him is not necessary and but good enough.

Calling from public phones are pretty hard as coins sometimes don’t work and most people use mobile and our mobile doesn’t work in Europe and no credit card.
I was trying to use the toilet on train station and toilet just use the mobile to call and pay the amount of money was so weird that one.
Anyhow last night we were so tired and had to pack and get ready for Tuesday to get the train and go to Berlin.

Now I am sitting on the third train and see the sightseeing and hopefully be back home soon.

Our trip to Germany Third part

Trip to Berlin Third part:

On Thursday me and Wijbren decided to go to my embassy and ask some questions ,just to be sure about our documents. It was a kind of trip in fact .Taking the train to the Alexander and then long trip around one hour to the embassy, but beside the embassy was a big park, or I call it like forest park and we spent couple of minutes walking around ,in out skirt of city center.

the way back we stumble by the snack shop and got some stuff and observing other tourist which is sometimes quite fun though .

The rest of afternoon we decided as we were close to the Berlin Zoo ,go and see Zoo. It was really amazing Zoo. To be honest I had not seen such a big ,clean, green zoo before. The tour guide told us t s one of the best in the world and I must confess it took 4 hours walking and such a great relaxing place though. Beside the zoo was a huge park and a river pass by which tourists boats were hanging there.

Berlin’s Siegessäule - Victory Column - is another of Berlin’s monuments that has reinvented itself through the ages - from symbol of Prussian military victory in the 19th century to that of Berlin’s thriving gay community and favourite tourist spot today

There were so many specious from different part of globe ,the number of birds were so amazing ,majority from Africa and Australia, lamas and camels were part of other interesting animals to see.

It was around 4 in the afternoon we gave up and got out to eat something and back t our neighborhood. Friday quite slow as we were so tired and rest and got sandwiches to get ready for our journey the way back to Holland.