the trip

well, it's long gone now...i've been back to london for some 12 days now already. and it's surprising how being busy and moving houses and getting back to your daily concerns almost makes you forget (so fast) about great times you've been having - even though it hasn't even been two weeks since i came back.

so, well, i think it's not a good time anymore to post full stories of the trip. should have done that two weeks back. but my method for overcoming stress, rage, frustration these days, is to consciously think back to the times in china, malaysia, thailand and singapore, the friends i met, the places i saw and all the new experiences, and SMILE.

such different places, and quite a few days of staying there, i just will go into listing some moments from the trip, which, as said already, was much more than what i was expecting.

some selected moments in chronological order :-)

- staying at sathe's place even though he was not there
- finding out that in a 15+ million city like shanghai you can't count on your english to survive
- meeting aiesec alumni i knew of before and new friends, randomly in a party in beijing and in shanghai. devrim, chris, birtan, fulvio, da li, to name a few
- the great wall of china. need i say more?
- amazing food, when i had smn there to help me with ordering :-)
- KL - such a chilled place. couldn't take my eyes off the petronas towers, which explains so many photos of them
- playing scrabble late at night at pilli's with her and caro
- seeing a salsa bar full of chinese people skillfully dancing to salsa tunes in KL! surreal experience, but i guess salsa is a global phenomenon by now
- 36 hour trip in extreme temperatures and humidity, from KL to Koh Samui. train, bus, night boat
- snorkelling in thailand - so beautiful down there
- hanging out with a few people we randomly met in thailand - sunsets at the beach bars
- the best airport in the world: koh samui! you have to go experience this yourself!
- nights out in singapore and catching up with lots of friends
- ktv with ying, chao, brenda, ceci
- being the only backpacker in a plane full of people with suits, on the way back, transferring from amsterdam to london on an early morning flight.

i am forgetting a lot but the purpose of this is not to remember everything. the overall feeling i have is that i do not regret a single moment from these three and a half weeks, and that all was kept in good balance of seeing new places and meeting my friends. surprisingly, it all worked, and i just wanna say a big thanks to all of you that made my life easy. to all friends we hanged out with - my home is your home, whether in london or anywhere else on this small planet. see you soon.