Harassment at Ben Gurion Airport // Going Home

Sorry for posting this last message of this trip so damn late (been back now for more then 6 weeks, the same length of my trip) but better late then never.. right?
Here is my story of the last 2 days travelling back from Israel to Groningen.
On sunday the 26th (of August) I left Citadel Youth hostel in Jeruzalem around 18:30 after saying goodbye to some good lads I met during my week stay in the most holy city of this world.
My flight was planned for 6 o'clock on monday morning to Berlin (this was the cheapest flight I could find to mainland Europe for being back on time in Groningen for Gronings Ontzet (sort of holiday in my city) on the 28th. This 3 hour flight only costed me $ 220,- or 160 euro.
I had to check in 3 hours prior to flight and because I wanted to make sure I was on time and was looking forward to playing some frisbee at the airport I arrived around 20:00 o'clock at Ben Gurion airport close to Tel Aviv.
Had an expensive koosher Big Mac menu and listened to some music on the very uncomfortable chairs at the airport (didn't find anybody who wanted to play frisbee with). Slept maybe for 15 minutes before I queued in the enormous line infront of the check-in around 2:00 at night.
And now the fun starts!
While I was standing in the queue I was being asked by a nice airportlady to show her my passport; some normal questions followed about where I was going to fly to. When she saw my ''coolest" visa of Syria the shit hitted the fan. While still standing in the queue I was being questioned by 3 different airport persons seperately about my muslim country stamps of Jordan, Syria and Malaysia (which I visited in 2004). "Why did you go there","Do you know anybody there", "Why do you fly to Berlin if you live in Holland", "Why do you hitchhike", "What are you gonna do when you don't get a ride","What do you study","Why are you able to travel so much","How much does your school cost","Bla Bla Bla Bla..."
Ok just imagine how I felt being extremely tired, sick of the Israely mentality, and just wanting to leave this "muslim hatefull" country. After being questioned for close to an hour while my back was being scanned I was sent to a special table inside the big airport hall. Here I was questioned again by 2 more persons and I had to empty both my bags. So also my big bag which it took a long time to pack. All my stuff was scanned individually and I had to pack my bag again.
More questions followed about if I met any Syrians or Malaysians when I was travelling to those countries. How can I not meet the Syrians?? They are so friendly and kind people but I just answered with no I only had contact with travellers. They even wanted to look at my photo's on my camera and asked me why I had so much photos of the ''Peace'' wall that the Israely government is building to seperate Palestine and the Israely territories.
They guy who searched and scanned my bag was still sort of friendly even when I was jokeing about if this is the normal airport procedure or if it was just because of my long hair. After that I had to go with him to a small room where I was being searched.... no people not rectally.... only had to take of my shoes.
After getting the greenlight the airport guy let me through hundreds of people waiting to check in and I changed my elektronic ticket to a boarding pass in a few minutes, you should have seen the looks of all the people who were wondering why I could pass the emormous queue.
Waiting for 2 more hours in the terminal in a state of insomnia finding out that my flight had a delay of 2,5 hours wondering what time I would start hitchhikeing that same day from Berlin.

Finally left the airport at around 8:30, fell a sleep right a way so missed my free breakfest in the plane goddamned (and I was so hungry!)

Arriving in Berlin around 11 in the morning and wondering if I ever would make it hitchhiking in one day back to Groningen at this time. Took 3 trains/subways to a station called Nickolasee where I knew from previous hitchhike experience was a gasstation in the direction west. Started hitchhiking at 13:00 o'clock and after 2 small hitches I had a good 4 hour ride to Dortmund with a friendly couple who gave me some food and drinks aswell.

Got some sleep in their car and after Dortmund found 2 more rides to Hoogezand (15 minutes by train from Groningen) because it was already 21:30 ,having hitchiked for over 8 hours, I decided to travel by train to my peacefull Greenroom in Groningen for free because I seriously had no money left.

That night my friends Freak, Reggie and Pappique came by and it was good to see them again. I travelled exactly for 6 weeks had the best time and learned allot! Met some really cool people on the way and learned allot about the ooh so friendly muslim people, the culture, and the religions in the region.
The media really pictures a totally wrong image of the middle east and muslims in general. For the people who hate the islam and muslims, as I know several who do, just go to the middle east and see for your self. My view of Israel has changed after the many stories of people in Palestine and Israel and also the checks on the airport didn't do my perception of the Jewish state good. I had a nice time in Jeruzalem and seeing my friends Avi and Yair again but I can say that I won't ever come back if the Israely government changes their strategy against their neighbours. I am proud of my Israely stamp in my passport but that is also because I have to renew my passport in march. With a stamp of Israel in my passport it is impossible to go to muslim countries like Indonesia, countries in northern africa, or for example Iran. Iran will probably be my next destination next summer.
I had the best time and I want to thank all the people I have met in this trip. I hope you all enjoyed my posts.

Ma'am Salama

Hate and Love in the Promised Land

At the moment I'm already spending my last hours in one of the most religious cities in the world; Jeruzalem. And in this last week of this trip I have seen some amazing sites and experienced some interresting things.
On friday the 17th I arrived back in the West; Israel through the south at a city called Eilat. We (still travelling with Neil and Tom) took a direct bus to Tel Aviv where I met Yair a friend I met in Bolivia 2 years ago. The next 3 days I stayed at his place and met up with Avi and Yaki 2 other guys from Bolivia. Went out a few times and chilled at the nice beaches of Tel Aviv. It was good seeing them again. Yair helped me with finding a flight to Europe on an Israely last minute website.
Tel Aviv is a very modern city with nice beaches. In jordan and syria I heard from several travellers that the security in Israel is pretty tight, and at every busstation, big shoppingmall, club, museum or holy site you have to open your bag or put it through a Xray machine. On monday I met up with Tom and Neil who where staying in a hostel and we took the bus to Jeruzalem. Jeruzalem finally... In this trip I had 4 things I really wanted to see; Istanbul, Syria, Petra and Jeruzalem. Isreal is not a huge country and the busride only took about an hour.
We found a nice hostel in the old city with a great panoramic view on the roof, for 30 shegel (about 6 euro) we had a nice bed on the roof.
The old city of Jeruzalem is not extremely big and all the holy sites are only a few 100 metre from each other. In the next few days saw the the Western (Wailing) Wall, the Al-Aqsa Mosque. We couldn't enter the mosque because we are not muslims; we found it pretty strange because we could enter the big mosques in Istanbul and Damascus, later on we found out it was because of political reasons. Visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre build on the location where Jesus was ''crucified'' and ''buried'' which is suprisely near to each other (about 20 meters).
The old city of Jeruzalem is divided in 4 quarters; the Jewish, Muslim, Christian and Armenian quarter. Many people say it's an international city but it's still completely controlled by Israel. In the old town on many corners you see heavely armed IDFers (Israely Defense Force) and many of the Muslim and Jewish holy sites have check points where bags are checked for bombs or weapons. You can feel the tension is this city.
On thuesday we took a bus to the border with Palestine (West Bank) and saw the other wall the infamous "Peace" wall according to Israel. A huge 6 meter high concrete wall with guard towers on the corners, it reminded me of something I saw last year somewhere in Poland.
In Palestine I visite Bethlehem, the church build on te location where Jesus was 'born' and we took a taxi to Ramalah the capital of Palestine where we saw Arafats tomb and by accident president Abbas in a long row of cars and heavely guarded vehicles. Saw allot of gravity on the wall and some swastikas aswell. Walking to the streets of the West Bank we feld the friendliness of the Muslim population again which we recognized from our amazing time in Syria. I imagined that the Bethlehem and Ramalah would be more poor and dirty but actually it's not. A very interresting place to see and good to see and hear both sides of the story. In this last week I talked to many people who life here of have an opinion about the conflict between the Palestinians and Israely. Many people do want peace but you also hear so much hate from both sides for example few days ago I talked to an American
who moved here and had interresting opinions about that Muslims can't vote if they live in the 'Jewish' state. And yesterday talked to an ozzie guy named Lucas where I smoked a few Shisha (waterpipe) with, he went to Hebron and talked to a Palestinian guy who lost some family members in several fightings/wars with Israelies. I experienced many more of these interresting stories but I think I can better explain them in person.
Went to the Holocaust museum which was pretty impressive and saw some very touching photo's and video material. On thursday Tom and Neil went to Tel Aviv to make their way to the airport for their flight back to England, I had a great time travelling with them.
The last few days I went to the Mount of Olives (visited another church, build on the location where Jesus was ''betrayed and ''arrested'') and took some nice photos of Jerusalem. Bought allot of souvenirs and ate many good felafel sandwitches.
After sleeping for 6 nights on the roof waken by the muslim praying at 4:30 and the many churchbells every half an hour starting at 6 in the morning I had a great time here in this Holy city.
Monday morning at 5:45 I have a flight to Berlin (Berlin?!? but I thought Joost lived in the great nation we call The Kingdom of the Netherlands.....), right... Berlin. This was the cheapest flight I could find costing only 220 US dollar, flights to Amsterdam were more then 400. I started my trip hitchhiking so I want to end it hitchhiking aswell... and Berlin is only a small 600 km from Groningen so I think I can reach it in a day.
Because my flight is so early tomorrow morning and I have to check in 3 hours before flight I will head to the airport in a few hours and look for someone who want to play some frisbee with me across the terminal. I hope checking in will go smoothly if they see that I visited the ''great'' enemy of Isreal; Syria.
My next post will probably be from my own Peacefull Greenroom.
Shalom/Salaam.

Some info about the photo's; A tourist with a God save the Beach t-shirt touching the holy stone, where Jesus was put on when he came of the cross; the ''Peace'' Wall; the Western Wall; Some IDFers eating icecreams and your favorite traveller Joost himself enjoying some amazingly good Jelly Beans infront of the Grotto where Jesus was "buried" and "resurected"

5 Days in Jordan is 3 days to long

Our last 2 days in Damascus, Syria on saturday and sunday we (me, Tom and Neil) spend buying some souvenirs and going to a syrian bathhouse. This was quite an experience; for 400 syrian pounds about 7 euro we got a rough massage from a big arabic dude and a good scrub from another, and we sat in a big sauna which was pretty nice.
On sunday we bought our ticket out of Syria for a busride to Amman, Jordan. Left beautiful Damascus the next day pretty early for the 7:30 bus. After 2 hours we got to the border where we received a pretty cool visa for 10 JD (about 11 euro).
Made it to Amman few hours later and hassling allot with money hungry cabdrivers to get a ride to a cheap hostel. The same day we chartered a taxi to the dead sea, and took a dive. The temperature was over 40 degrees which felt insanely hot coming from an aircon cab. You can really float in the dead sea believe me, the photos will proof it. On thuesday after fighting with some annoying cabdrivers we made it to the minibus station to get a ride to Wadi Musa a small town close to Petra.
Checked in a cheap hostel (we thought) for 2,5 Jordanian Dinnar per person for a matress on the roof. The people in this hostel (Valentine Inn) were really rude and I can highly recommend not to stay in this hostel if you are ever planning to visit Petra.
In the morning we got up at 6:00 to be the first at the gate to the ruines. After walking to the Siq (a long passage between to cliffs) of about a kilometer we made it to the amazing Treasury (the first temple you see used in the Indiana Jones movie The last crusade); Amazing. That morning walked around the main temples and saw some stunning views over the mountains of Jordan and the dessert. Really an amazing experience. At the end of the Petra trip I called my good friend Dutch-formerly-known-as-Dennis the biggest Indiana Jones fan of Western Europe to tell him that I was standing at (for him) a holy site; the Treasury.
In the afternoon chilled at the hostel and booked a desert tour through Wadi Rum, a national park. The following day left by minibus to Wadi Rum with 4 others to do a 1 day 4wd trip.
That thursday saw some amazing locations in the desert of Wadi Rum and the beautifull mountains around it. Running down a big sanddune I destroyed my sandals (for the people who I've travelled with know that my sandals are holy for me) but one of the drivers fixed them with metal wires. Visited some Lawrence of Arabia sites (for the people who have seen the movie) and relaxed at our Beduan camp to see the nice sunset. The chicken in our dinner was specially prepared in a hole in the ground and grilled that way, which made it delicious. At night the sky was amazing, full of stars and you could see the milkyway very clear. Everybody slept outside and this night was one of my best nights of this trip. But before I went to bed did a bit of streaking into the desert; great feeling! 'one with nature'.

Left the next day after breakfest to the taxi in the village of Wadi Rum and to the border with Israel. After being scammed again in the Jordanian taxi we finally reached the promised land. Jordan never again! What a rats, everybody is after your money and we noticed it so clearly because we just came from Syria (one of the friendliest countries in the world) The Israely people working at the border were suprisely friendly, we still had to wait more then an hour for our stamp and were questioned about why we went to Syria, what's you grandpa's name, what is your email adress and have you met anyone in Syria and what are their names bla bla bla. But of us 5 waiting for our stamp I got my passport back first after being questioned last maybe because of the Lion of Zion tshirt I was wearing of the biggest Dub artist in Holland; SlimmahSound.

We finally entered the country and changed our busticket to an earlier time.

Back in the west; western prices, seeing drunken bums again and girls wearing only hotpants and tiny shirts comparing with the many burkas and scarved women you see in the 'real' middle east.

Syria equals Amazing

Salaam Alaykum everyone,

So finally I'm in Syria. At the moment in the capital Damascus and the last week I have seen allot of interesting things and experience the amazing friendliness of its people. About a week ago I left Turkey and arrived with 2 English dudes Tom & Neil ,who I met in the bus, in Aleppo.
Walking around the city and the market gave me the most amazing impression of how kind the Syrians really are. So many people want to talk to you, and ask where we are from or what our names are. Took some great photo's of allot of people and visited the Citadel (a castle up a hill with an amazing view). Compared to Turkey which I thought was a little bit more expensive then I hoped it would be, is Syria a great place to stay on a budget. Food, travelling and accommodation are very cheap here. Kebabs for less then an euro or a kilo of the best baklava for 2 euro, bed in a hostel for just a few and travelling for 3 hours on a normal bus for not more then 3 euro. Tom & Neil came up with a nice name for Israel naming it Disneyland because we don't want to get into trouble if people hear us talking about our next destination after Jordan, so eversince we talk about visiting Disneyland, Mickey mouse, Space mountain (giving names to some places we want to visit in occupied Palestine, how they call Israel in the Arabic world)
On the streets here in Syria you see in general more men then women, and most of the women you see are scarfed or are wearing a burka. In Holland you hear allot of people say that the women with burkas in Islamic countries are being suppressed by men to wear such an outfit and giving women equal rights as men. While talking to so many people in the last week I realized that it's just the way it is in Islamic countries. Women don't argue about it and you don't see any suppression on the street, in contrary I experience so much friendliness which I think gives a great impression of what the Islam is all about. Everywhere you do see posters and portraits of the 'great' dictator Bashar al-Assad and his father.
On our first night out we went to a restaurant and ordered some lamb testicles which we saw on the menu. How did they taste? you might ask .. Well they were sort of baked not the best flavour but I managed, in contrary to Tom & Neil who couldn't finish their portion.
The next day travelled to Hama where some huge waterwheels (up to 20 m high) are spinning around in the river, they transport water from the river to the parks around it for irrigation of the plants. A local gave us a tour through the old city and showed us some more waterwheels. At a sudden point during the walk around the old town we saw a very antisemitic board hanging on a wall near a school. (see the photo added)
In the evening Tom & Neil met a very friendly Syrian named Obida. An amazing guy who showed us his shop and bought a delicious milkshake for us and some kebab. The next day we met him again and he showed us some more of his city and we each got a t-shirt from his shop. Neil bought him a Koran as a gift and we gave a football to his cousins who we met in his shop.
The second day in Hama we did a day trip to a huge well preserved castle on a hill called Crac des Cheveliers, with an amazing view.
On Wednesday travelled to the west of the country to a place called Tadmur/Palmyra to visit some stunning roman ruins. When sitting in a restaurant that night me and Tom decided to buy a fake ISIC card (international student card) for 7,5 euro each. At allot of sites here in the middle east you get a discount when you have such a card. I forgot to get one back home so this was a great possibility to buy one. I bought a fake one in Thailand few years back and it gave some discount back then, but unfortunately it was in my wallet which was stolen in Kiev last year. In Palmyra we started to talk to a dutch guy called Joost aswell.
After an hour the guy came back with the cards but instead of Joost mine said Doost. I wasn't planning to pay for that (I'm proud of the name Joost and so was the other Joost) and he would change it later he said. Later on he came back with the card but the D was changed in a J so badly done with some duck tape I didn't want to pay for it and only Tom got a fake one.
Thursdays we left early to Damascus, one of the oldest cities in the world and explored the old part. Bought some nice souvenirs at the bazaar and visited one of the biggest mosques in the world . Friday is a day of rest in many Islamic countries and hardly any shop was open but the cinema was. Meeting the 2 other dutchies (Joost and his girlfriend) from Palmyra again and after a good meal we decided to watch a movie. In Syria they don't have the latests movies but they showed the comedy White Chicks which I found pretty funny sometimes. The weirdest thing about the movie was that 2 times suddenly the movie stopped and a soft porn movie was showed with Anna Nicole Smith for a few minutes. We were quite confused about this un-Islamic thing but when we left the cinema it got clear to us, we saw a guy walking out of the cinema and zipping up his pants. All the way back to the hostel we laughed really hard about this strange incident and how the cinema covers up these kinds of movies with old Hollywood movies.
In a few days time we are planning to take a bus or train to Amman in Jordan and then straight to Petra, one of the most famous temple ruin sites in the world.
Damascus is a great city and at night time all the shops are open till around midnight. If you wonder if I feel save in this country or city. Well I think that in many western cities you will feel more unsafe then here in the cities of Syria even at night. I think the crime rate is allot lower in Islamic countries then in many Western/European countries, so maybe the world would be better if everybody would turn to Islam. ;) The many Muslims I met here are so friendly and open to tourists and people of other religions. But I still do find there is much hatred here to the Zionists, not even the Jews but the people who are suppressing the Palestine territories.

Hope you enjoyed this insanely long post, when in Jordan I will write again.

Making my way to Syria as a Christian?!?

Friday the 3th of August

The last time I updated this blog was on the 31st of July when I was waiting for my visa for Syria. (At the moment I'm already in Syria but you will read about that in my next post, first one about my way to Syria)
Around 15:00 o'clock I went back to the Syrian consulate and got my passport back with......A syrian visa, yeeahhhaa. A few hours earlier I had small issue with my application form. I filled it in with all my details. But with the question 'religion?'... I stated 'No Religion' because as many as you know Joost is a Pegan, the woman behind the counter said to me 'No you can't fill in No Religion!' So at the moment I thought well.. what shall I write down Atheist/Pegan or a religion, in a haste I just wrote down Christian and a few hours later I got my visa, but it doesn't say what religion I have. I think they just want to be sure that I'm not a jew.
That day I chilled out some more on the roof terrace of my hostel and said goodbye to Alex the funny dude from Wales I have been hanging out with the last couple of days and had a big laugh with about a guy snorring in our dorm and another guy slapping him with a towel.
Jumped on a minibus to the busstation and then a big bus to Antalya (the big tourist place allot of dutch travel agencies promote) and then on a minibus to Olympos. After a journey of 13 hours I arrived in a beautifull valley of some sort with beautifull canyons
and checked in in a sort of treehouse dorm with aircon.
The last 3 days spending my time chilling out on the beach with christal clear water, playing frisbee with a lebanese/canadian dude 'Fady' and chilling out with 2 americans Ben and Eilleen. And I can save some money aswell because breakfast and dinner is incl in the 20 lira (+/- 12 euro)
Saturday the 4th I left Turkey for my big journey through Syria and after 25 hours of travelling I arrived in Aleppo with 2 English brothers I think will spend some time with the next couple of days.
At the moment I'm in Hama and soon I will describe my time in Syria in another post and post some pictures aswell of my eating lamb testis;). By the way Syria is AMAZING!! Seriously.. forget everything what Bush says about Syria. The people here are so friendly and the country is beautifull. Ooh and I hope this story will be posted because I can't visit my blogspotsite to see because it is forbidden it says (maybe by the government orso or just the internet cafe) but I can type new posts... weird.
Ma'is salaama.

Istanbul...The city of 3 million moustaches

So after a few border stops at Bulgaria (shitty small stamps) I had to wait more then 2 hours at the Turkish border and they were checking everybody's bags for alcohol or tabaco. With help of my fellow turkish buspassengers I got send the right way to the hostel I was planning to stay in, Big Apple hostel in Sultanameth.

Istanbul is a real great city, where the west and middle east come together. The city has many mosques and some churches aswell, 5 times a day the muslims pray and the speakers on the mosques are sending the prays all a cross Istanbul, which is not really that bad actually; it doesn't wake me up at 5 in the morning.

Here at the hostel where I have been staying now for 5 days I have met some really nice people from all over the globe. I have been visiting some real nice attractions like Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque with a few backpackers I have been hanging out with. Alex from Wales, Beth and Oli from Canada and Ozzie Dave; really cool guys and at night smoking many waterpipes and drinking turkish beers in the Beanbags (zitzakken) on the roof terrace of our hostel with an amazing view over the river Bosphorus (the river that splits Europe and Asia) and the Blue Mosque in the back. The last few days 2 fellow Dutchies adding to the bunch and my Yoga teacher Gavin from England/South Africa.

Yoga?!?.... Yeah Joost has gone spiritual. I did a small personal course with Gavin of 6 times an hour to learn the basics. I do it mainly because of releasing tension/stress and becoming mentally stronger. Not that I have any stress here but the last years I have created an interest for it and hearing from people that it's really working for them.

I find it really interresting and Gavin is a real good teacher, I plan to practise it further on my own. Saturday bought some nice stuff at the Grand Bazaar like a new cap and shorts and some bananatabaco for the waterpipes and practised my bargain skills at the over 4000 shops.

Eating many kebabs and really experience the Turkish lifestyle here in Istanbul, life is good here and really worth it working so many hours the last 5 months.

Yesterday been walking allot to reach the Dutch consulate to get an recommendation letter which I need to apply for a visa for Syria. Even had a clean shave for it but still had to pay 48 lira (about 24 euro) just to get a letter which says; 'Yeah Joost Copray is a good boy may he enter Syria please'. Bought a busticket to Olympos for tonight (the 31st) to chill out in some treehouses they have there. Got up early today because I had to be at the Syria consulate before 11 oclock to apply for my visa (30 euro), at the moment I'm waiting (and updating this blog) to get my passport back at around 15:00. I really hope I get in because I heard some spectacular stories about Syria. This trip I will skip Lebanon because of the mess the country is in right now, really ashame because Lebanon has some great sights I want to visit. After Syria I will move to Jordan and then to the holy land to visit some friends.

Thanks for the nice reactions on my blog and hope you are all well. The photos are from me standing infront of the Blue Mosque and a photo of some Bananatabaco.

Rushing to the Balkan

Thuesday 24th of July

After watchıng the Ferry depart from the harbour of Barı, I had a good conversatıon with Ina (the Albanian girl I talked to at the busstop) about our studies, life ın Albanıa and travelling. After that night sleeping in a sort of comfort chair I woke up around 8 when the Ferry arrıved in Durres. Walking out I forgot to get my passport back and had to walk all the way back wıth my backpack to the reception through a bıg crowd of people waiting to get out.

Fınally out Ina was waıtıng for me at the entrance to Albania, she lives ın Tirane and hopping with her on the bus and her mother who was waiting for her it took us 30 mınutes to get to the capital. My first ımpressıon about Albania?; Well it's not a rıch country I can say. Allot of houses are being build, and there are quite some people begging for money but life is changing in Albania according to Ina. Ina studies in Rome, she returns back to Tirane a few times a year and everytime she notices new changes in her city.

With approval from her mom I was invited to her home to have a shower,some food and she wanted to show me her city

Tirane is not really a huge city, you can easily walk in a day from one side to the other, but because today is 42! degrees Celsius it's not very pleasant to walk all the time. Ina showed me the National museum and told me some interresting stuff about her country.

Heading back to her house she offered me some real good traditional food (bread;)), fresh milk,fruit and her father offered me some Grapi (strong alcohol) Had some good conversations with her father, sometimes with Ina translating, about the norms and values of Albanians. Ina and her family were so friendly and kind to me they really made my day in Albania unforgetable. Her dad even offered me to stay in their house. Got a real got impression about life here in Albania. Ina helped me to get a busticket to Skopje (capital of Macedonia) and took that bus at 18:00. I want to thank Ina and her family for her hospitality and friendlyness. The busride took about 9 hours and during that ride I had some nice conversations in German with some Turkish guys. Arriving around 3 oclock and buying my ticket to Istanbul for 42 euro departing at 4 oclock, I thought..... Already paid for my ticket and receiving it it said 16:00 oclock!! Had to f%$^ing wait for 13 hours, well hack! Shit Happens.

Slept for 3 hours on a metal bench and then watched for several hours people arriving and departing, writing in my journal and updating my blog in a internet cafe.

Finally 16:00...... Middle east here I come.

Italia Italia, Sunny Italia

On thursday the 19th I left Affoltern close to Zurich. Saying goodbye to Jorine my travel companion for the last 3 days, she will be travelling to Swiss for the summer.

At 8 o'clock I left Mariekes house and quickly I was picked up by a car to being dropped of at the highway 30 minutes later. Twice that morning I was standing at an entry of a highway where cars were driving at speeds of 100 km by me.

But miraculesly I ended up on the good road in the direction of Milano and could hitch at gas stations again. Got a ride from a Italian comediant which I found not that funny and got a ride from a dutch couple who were driving just close by Vada.

Got out, saw the sign for the camping Molino a Fuoco and started walking in 30 degrees celcius because I thought it was close by. After an hour walking Jelke called me and picked me up on the way.

Jelke is a good friend of mine who I travelled with to South America 2 years ago, he is guide at the camping and guides a group of 18 singles of all ages form 27 to 57. He does various excursions with them from mountain biking to city excursions to Pisa or Florence and changes groups per week. He arranged a good tent for me and I met other guides and a group of children entertainers (in dutch; animators) of an agency called Sun & Fun.

The next 4 days were time for relaxation. Swimming in the Mediteranian sea (which I haven't seen in more then 10 years) Playing frisbee and hanging out with the Sun & Funners, helping them with preparing a BBQ and a pastaparty for a group of single parents with children.

On saturday I went with the group to Florence because they had a seat free in the big tour bus. Florence is a nice city, big and full with tourists. Played some frisbee with Jelke in a park, walked around bought an italian flag for my bag and had a 3,5 euro icecream (which is a cheapest one because big ones are over 8 euro!) That night went to a nice club with a big group, the club was at the sea and part of it was outdoor. Allot of young 15 year old italians who hardly reach the 1,70 m but had a nice night.

The last day chilled at the sea playing frisbee, and watched the last night of the single-parent-group-children who performed some funny acts. On the photo added you see the group Sun&Funners singing a song.

Monday the 23th left early in the morning, said goodbye to Jelke and I was dropped of at an entrance to an highway to Grosetto, within no time I past Roma and Napoli sometimes in cars driving 180 km per hour. My last hitch was from an Italian who dropped me of at the good direction to Bari (the harbour with ferries to Albania/Greece/Croatia) even if that wasn't in his way and he bought me some food and drinks. Really kind. And he bought me a busticket from that gasstation to Faggio so I could take a train to Bari because he thought it would be hard to get to Bari in 1 day.

Last year during my eurotrip people said that it would be hard to hitchhike through Italia but I find it really easy actually. Even when the driver doesn't speak english I can still make small conversations with them talking with hands.

Took the bus and then later the train at 19:00 to Bari. Took a bus to the harbour and started to talk to an Albanian girl who wanted to take the ferry to Albania.

First my plan was to try to find a truck and hitchhike to Albania on the ferry by truck. But after travelling a whole day I decided to buy a 70 euro seat for the ferry who left at midnight from Bari, Italia to Durres in Albania.

Had a nice comfy seat to sleep in.

(At the moment I'm in Skopje, Macedonia waiting now for almost 12 hours for my bus to Istanbul when I'm there I will write more about my trip through Ambania)

Journey To The Holy Land

Monday 16th of July;

Jorine already arrived early at 8 in the morning but we left at around 9:30 because I was late with packing

Our first destination first was Munchen, to visit a friend of mine I met in Laos, but at the last moment he wrote me that he had a big test on thuesday so monday would be a bad day to comeby. Friends of Jorine were heading to Brussels to stay with someone they knew so we planned to hitch in the direction of Belgium through Holland; which turned out to be a dumb decision.

After 11 hours of hitchhiking over small distances we stranded at 300 km further from Groningen at a McDonalds near Veldhoven. We should have taken the road through Germany.

Coincidentally we met there 2 French backpackers (Lucas and Susan, thanks guys) just coming back from a festival 'Summer Jam' who had a spare tent with them. We found a nice location near a small forrest and slept there with the 4 of us in the 2 tents. 4 Hitchhiking backpackers with dreadlocks, well ok I don't have dreadlocks but it felt like it because we got a ride in a cabrio that day, but Lucas, Susan and Jorine have.

The next day we were certain to make it to Zurich that day. After being lucky to being picked up be a dutch truck driver at the German border we had less luck because we were in a traffic jam for 5 !! hours getting dropped of close to Frankfurt. From 22:00 to 2:00 we still had 2 rides

getting stranded at a motel sharing it with 2 german hitchhikers (for 40 euro) who were making their way to Vienna, Austria. Bastian and Lisa and almost a drunken truckdriver who wanted to sleep in the same 2 person room, but we kicked him out because he had his own bed in his truck.

Wednesday we planned to leave early but started around 9:30, first person I asked brought us to past the Swiss border near Basel. We had a flat tire on the way but fixed it. He also bought us some food and a coffee which was very nice. After that we were in no time in Zurich centre taking the train to Affoltern a small suburb where Marieke lived.

Marieke is a cousin of Jorine and speaks dutch aswell. Jorine was going to the Gunter festival with her the following days. We could stay there for a night and had a nice pasta meal. Marieke is a nice woman with 2 busy young children, and that day I witnissed how much it takes to raise children.

Tomorrow I will leave early trying to make it to a small place called Vada under Pisa in Italy to visit a good friend of mine; Jelke, who is working there.

Travel Introduction 2007

Aaah finally my blog is working again, had some password problems. I will describe everything per few days)

Finally the date the 16th of July is nearing, the day I'm looking forward to eversince i'm back from my eurotrip.
After 20 weeks of internship at Kameleondorp making days of 11/12 hours a day (incl. travelling to) and sometimes 7 days a week I really needed to get away and this time out of Europe. To the Middel East with my goal making it to Isreal through the Balkan, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
Why??? ......Why is Joost travelling to this 'dangerous' region of the world, you might ask.
Well.. Exactly; to proof the opposit. Many people only think of the middle east of 'dangerous' muslims, war and bombings.
I heard from various friends that the middel east is amazing and really friendly. Of course you have violent places at the moment in Gaza or in parts of Lebanon and I won't be visiting those places, don't worry.
I will be hitchhiking as far as possible through Europe and continue by train or bus. I'm planning to travel for 6 weeks and hitchhike back but will decide on the end of my trip which route.
For the first 3 days I will be travelling with Jorine a neighbour and recently a good friend of mine. She is going to Switserland to backpack and I didn't find it a problem to make a little detour through Swiss.

Last Friday great party and the weekend busy with arranging/buying things for my trips, sometimes pleasantly being disturbed by my girlfriend (yes finally... I hear everybody say, joost has a girlfriend, for a week now orso)

Tomorrow; Monday the 16th of July I will be travelling again. YEEEEHAAAA!!!

Hitchhiking back West

No I'm not dead, I know it has been a while since I last updated my blog. Ok so what have I been doing the last 2 weeks.
After I came back from Ukraine I spend about 5 days in Krakow in the appartment of George, a friend who I met 2 weeks earlier in a hostel in Krakow.
So the next day, monday the 7th of August I wondered through the jewish quarter of Krakow which contains allot of synagoges. Went into one (had to wear a jewish little 'hat' if I wanted to enter) saw a photo exposition and a movie about the Warsaw ghetto and the deportation of the jews. At the moment I'm reading a book called 'The Pianist' and it's also about the Warsaw ghetto in WWII, I found it very impresive to see a real movie about it. That night went to a club with George and his girlfriend and a friend of her.
The next day slept allot and went to the cinema 2 movies for about 7 euro (Pirates of the Caribean & The Da Vince Code) It's been awhile the last time when I went to the movies.
Wednesday I said goodbye to George and took the bus to Bratislava at 10:30. Around 19:30 I arrived in the capital of Slowakia a few hours later then expected. I smsed my HC contact and Katti picked me up. She and her boyfriend were planning to visit a movie so I went with them to see a movie called Show Begins (an English musical movie with Will Young?!?)
After the movie we went to their place and I got a nice bed to sleep in. Thursday morning I dropped my bags at Katti's work and I explored the city a bit. In the afternoon picked up my bags again and took the bus to Wien with my last Krones. In Wien got 2 metro's to Bernhard's house (my host for the next 3 days) Bernhard was already hosting 2 Lithuanian girls ''Elena & Ruta''. Bernhard is a cool guy, dokter and former left wing activist. That night we went out with the 4 of us to a small club with rockmusic, had a great time and they even played some Michael Jackson. The next day I spend my day in the park practising POI and playing frisbee with Bernhard on the background there was a huge tower. There are 6 big old towers from WWII in Wien who were made to protect the capital by having big cannons suited on it to shoot airplanes out of the sky. The rest of the day spend watching german Simpsons and playing cards.
Saturday the 12th the girls left early hitchhiking to Zurich. I walked around the Old part of Wien visited the big cathedral and a crappy free museum.
The following day I planned to leave at around 9:00, eventually it was 12:45 when I was standing at a good hitchhike spot. After half an hour I got a hitch from 2 guys who invited me to stay at a lake at a summer house with them and a group friends.
I thought why not and ended up at a beautifull lake with a nice group of people and had a nice BBQ that night.
Haiko the guy who picked me up from Wien brought me to a good hitchhike spot in the direction of Innsbruck. Got picked up by a pilot who had to go to Salzburg and he insisted me that I had to visit Salzburg because it is the nicest city of Austria. So I dumped my stuff in a locker at the trainstation walked around the city and left within an hour. I had to decide or I would go to the girls Elena & Ruta in Zurich or I would go to Stefan in Munchen. Munchen was closer by and because it was already 16 oclock I left to Munchen with a quickride from a happy couple. Stefan is a guy who I met in Laos 2 years ago and travelled with him for about a week.
It was nice to see him again and that night we bought a bottle of Martini and went to a few clubs for free with the connections of Stefan. Went to bed at around 8 in the morning.
Thuesday slept almost the whole day till 16:30, spend the day exchanging music and watching a movie.
The next day I thanked Stefan and his mom for their hospitality and I was standing at the road around 9 in the morning trying to get to Zurich in 1 day. Eventually arrived in Zurich at 8 oclock, long day of hitchhiking 6/7 rides and had to wait about 30-60 minutes between every ride that I got. But eventually had a ride from a Porche and a Ford Mustang. The old guy in the Porsche even wanted to have dinner with me and he gave me his email address. I told him that some friends of me were waiting in Zurich and he dropped me of at a gasstation where I found someone with a Ford mustang who took me to the centre of the city.
I wasn't able to find a host in Zurich so had to stay at an expensive €26,- dormitory room in a hostel, good that they have free breakfest.
Got up early had a big breakfest and took some bread with me for my lunch/dinner. In this period of my trip I was travelling on an extreme low budget 5-10 euro per day, hitchhiking and staying at people's houses and eating bread with chocolateppasta and drinking only water. Only walked an hour and a half through Zurich then I left hitchhiking at 11:00 in the direction of Paris. Hitchhiked first to Basel, then with a few rides to Metz, as it was already 19 oclock and I was standing at a gasstation at the highway I planned to spend here the night. As I was updating my journal and sending an sms message to the girls who were already heading to Paris that I could not make it to Paris in 1 day, when suddenly a guy asked me if I was trying to get to Paris. I said yeah and because he was heading to Paris aswell I had a good ride of about 3,5 hours.
After catching 2 metro's in Paris to the hotel the girls picked out to be the cheapests I arrived at 24:00 o'clock. Good to see some familiar faces again, that night we bought a big bottle of 2 liter wine and had a small party in our hotelroom.
Friday 18th of August we walked all day long through Paris with our bags looking for a Host; rain, extreme tired after 2 hours of sleep and finally when I'm in Paris I still can't see anything because we had no money to stay in another hostel.
Eventually we found a guy called Louis in the suburbs and it took us 3 hours to get to his house.
Saturday I went with Elena to the Louvre, one of my goals this trip to visit this huge museum. Walked around between 11 and 16 o'clock ofcourse couldn't see everything but saw some incredible master pieces. The rest of the day we visited the Notre Dam and the Eifeltower and later that night we went out with some friends of Louis.
I planned to leave Paris on sunday but because we arrived back at 6 in the morning I slept sunday till 15 o'clock and after that Louis showed us Paris a bit; Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge, Arc de Triomph & Champs Elysee.
Elena & Ruta cooked a nice pasta meal with a special cheese sause.
The next day (monday) left Louis' house at 9 in the morning took a train and 2 subways to a good hitchhike spot. I heard that it's always hard to hitchhike out of Paris but seriously I had a ride within a minute after I made a sign I wanted to go in the direction ofLille.
After 2 rides I ended up at a gasstation at Abbeville with a Belgium guy who wanted to hitch south. We asked allot of people but because allot of cars were already full with kids I finally found a belgium couple who wanted to bring till Antwerpen. They had a nice van without any seats in the back, I was sitting on a camping chair and at every sharp turn the van made I was sliding to the other side with my chair.
Arriving in Antwerpen around 20:00 and took the train to Roosendaal the first dutchtrainstation, in the Netherlands I can travel for free during the week with my student card. I wanted to visit a good friend of mine (Dennis) in Leiden in the West of Holland but because there was some trouble with a leaking fuelcar I arrived in Leiden around 1:15 at night after travelling for 16 hours.
Thuesday I spend the day watching some movies at Dennis' place and later on I went to see Sanne a friend of mine who I met and travelled with in Australia. Stayed the night at her place and in the morning I went to see my grandparents and had a great breakfest at their place. I wanted to stay longer in the west of Holland but because my parents planned to leave the next day for a few weeks on vacation I wanted to see them before they left.
I arrived back in Groningen at 16:00 by train. After 55 days of being on the road.
I had an amazing trip, saw incredible things and tasted some of the fine cultures Europe is rich. And ofcourse the people I've met during my journey made my trip wonderfull. It was great to meet my friends which I met in other trips and met again in this trip.
I had no expectations of any city of country and maybe that's good because then you will never be disappointed; right?! I visited my main goals I wanted to see; The Love Parade, Auswitch and the Louvre. And learned allot about the history of Europe.

Well friends and Family this is the last blog message of my Eurotrip, in my next trip I plan to do the same thing with this blogsite.
Where will Joost be going next? "I don't know, just keep in touch and you will find out"

My email and MSN is go_pray@hotmail.com

Thanks for reading and keep on travelling

Greets Joost.

Like a stranger in Kiev

Back in Krakow at the moment after spending a week in Ukraine. Planned to stay there for 3 weeks but finded it pretty hard with the Ukranian/Russian language and the cyrillic alphabet they have and also the lack of tourists/travellers which I thought was a positive thing but if there are hardly any then is pretty hard to communicate. Here is the story of my adventours in Ukraine.
So left around 18:00 o'clock on the saturday the 29th of July by train from Budapest to Kiev. Shared my train cabin with a woman from the ukraine who spoke some english so I could practise my Ukranian with her. In the long ride I met some Swiss guys and a russian guy who told me about the differences with Russia and Ukraine.
The ride took about 25 hours (1 hour time difference) and I arrived at 19:00 the next day. The first moment I stepped of the train I heard marching sounds from the speakers sort of national anthem of Ukraine I think, well to me it sounded pretty russian (well the language is almost similar) I met on the station 2 guys and a girl from the czeck republic who where planning to go to a guy called Alex which they contacted through Hospitality Club. I had also send an email to him and from the Czecks I heard that I probably could stay at his place aswell.
Arrived pretty late at his house because they needed to exchange money first which took some time, had to take 2 subways and a bus to get to his house.
Because in the suburbs of Kiev they don't have streetlights at sometime pretty big potholes in the road and it was raining and dark, it took us quite a while to find his house. (Well the Jacub and Tomas did because they knew a bit of Russain)
Arrived in a small house and were welcomed by Alex's mom. Took a shower and slept on the floor of Alex his room.
The next day we explored the city saw a big Lenin statue visited Independence Square ,where the orange revolution took place, and went to a famous Monastrie with caves where they kept mumified monks to display & to a minitature museum where an artist carved like chessbords on a hair and other incredible things. Had some cheap dinner and drank a few beers in a bar with nice live music. Kiev is a big city it looks pretty western with big shops everywhere, Macdonalds and LCD television sets in the subways but besides the russian letters on the buildings and everybody speaking russian you wouldn't know that you were in a former Sovyet country.
Without the guys from Czeck I would be probably be lost finding Alex's house or ended up staying in a expensive hostel.
Monday morning we said goodbye to Alex and put our bags in the locker room at the station, visited some churches, the Chernobyl Museum and the Freedomstatue of Ukraine. Because of the size of Kiev we travelled by subway all the time and also because it's only 1 Hrivna (6,5 hr in an euro) per ride it was pretty cheap.
At a certain moment when it was really full in the subway someone picked my pocket and stole my wallet, I noticed it only a few seconds later when it was stolen but still I looked for the person who took it but it was already to late and the guy probably left the subway at the next stop. Goddamned, well the good thing is that I had all my valuable stuff like Passport, drivers license and bankcard in my moneybelt and only lost around 6/7 euro in Hrivna and some small memory things I collected during travelling throughout the years. And later on I noticed that also my return ticket back to Budapest was in there, I didn't really plan to go back to Hungary but still I wanted to try to sell it it to other travellers who were heading to Kiev and Budapest. Well shit happens right?
Because the train was already full to Odessa I planned to go to L'viv in the west of Ukraine that same day. Said goodbye to Elishka, Jacub and Tomas thanks for your help with finding my way the first days in Ukraine. The first available train to L'viv left at 4:29 (thats right at night) spended my time on the internet and reading & guarding my bags between the sleepin bums on the benches at the train station of Kiev.
Still had a good night rest in the train and when I arrived in L'viv at around 14:00 o'clock on wednesday, a german guy called Florian was waiting for me at the station. In Kiev I contacted a girl in L'viv who could help me with accommodation and one of her other guests picked me up at the station and showed me around town that day. He left later on to Romania.
My first impression is that L'viv is like the Wild West or should I say Wild East, everybody is driving like grazy and allot of roads are under construction and buildings under restoration. People call it the next Prague but then without the millions of tourists; it's a beautifull city.
I liked it right away.
That day I met Iwanka my hostess for the next 3 days. Iwanka is a very pretty girl, extremly kind and friendly and always willing to help me with finding my way in the city.
Later in the evening we went to Iwanka's aunt's place where her mother and her aunt have a publishing company. Her aunt was hosting 6 other people from Hospitality club and 3 other dutchies from my home town Groningen, small world isn't it?
Had some drinks with the group at her aunts house and later Iwanka's mom brought me and Iwanka back to their house in a small former rally car (the first car in the Ukraine), I forgot the name of the car but soon I will post some pictures of it. It was an amazing experience and her aunt even has a same brand car as her sister.
The next day I walked around town visited one of the old orthodox churches and the viewpoint with the ruines of a castle. I also bought a ticket to Krakow at the busstation with the help of Iwanka because the busstation is about 8 km out of town. I planned to leave Ukraine because of the lack of other travellers and also because of the language difficulty and mostly because my money is running out pretty quick.
Later in the evening played some cards with Iwanka and Viera (another HC guest). Friday I went with Viera to the cemetary of L'viv which is famous for the size of it (400.000 people are burried here) and the beauty of all the overgrown stones.
I bought some nice flowers for Iwanka and her mom for hosting me, and founded out on time that it was an oneven number of flowers (oneven numbers mean badluck and are meant for funerals) so had to take one out.
Iwanka made I delicious meal for me before I left and she even brought me to the station (which is still 45 min by rolleybus or tram)because I didn't know which bus to take. My bus left at 22:00 and I feelled sad to leave Iwanka and L'viv. I want to thank Iwanka and her nice mom and aunt again for everything they did for making my stay in L'viv amazing, and maybe see you in the future in Holland or Ukraine when I have short hair or even dreadlocks ;)
That night had a rough night sleeping on half a chair because a large man was taking the space of his and half my chair.
Arrived at 6 in the morning at George picked me up around 9. (remember George everybody? no? well it's the american guy who I met in Krakow 2 weeks ago) George now has an appartment in Krakow, he works here and is searching for the perfect girl to spent his life with.
It's kinda weird being back in Krakow and I noticed that the weather changed allot, 2 weeks ago it was around 30 degrees and now it is les then 20. Time for wearing shoes again, which I hate when I'm used to sandals.
Yesterday caught some sleep during the day and me and George went out to some clubs. Today got up late and walked around the city.

My plans for the next weeks are, well I bought a ticket to Bratislava (capital of Slowakia) for wednesday and already found some accommodation there through HC. And then going to Austria and or I'm making my way back to Holland quiker then planed because of the money or I'm hitchhiking to Rimini, Italy where I have a friend where I could stay for a few days and chill at the beach.
From now on I'm only gonna try to stay at people's houses through Hospitality Club and hitchhike all the way back starting from Bratislava.

Tomorrow I'm planning to go back to Auswitch and maybe explore the saltmines the next day.

I hope you are all well and enjoying your vacations just like I am.

Greetz Joost.

Heading to the great Unknown, Ukraine here I come

So Thuesday I took the train to Budapest together with the English (John, Mike, Lewis, Hanna and Helen) Jumped on the train of 22:30, I had a seat on the train (because of my budget) the others sleped in beds. Met two mexicans who told me some nice stories about there Hospitality Club experiences and how they really could stay on their budget. Hospitality Club.org is a site where people offer accommodation for travellers, it's a safe way to stay in houses of locals and they can show you around town aswell. It's mostly travellers who offer their house and I'm already a member for alomst a year now.
Had a good night rest because I was able to sleep on multiple chairs. Arrived in Budapest around 9 in the morning, I tried to dodge off all the people who want to sell me a bed in there hostel. Finally found the cheapest hostel in town for around 8 euro's a night. Stayed on the 7th floor of a big hostel in Pest (BudaPest is defided in two parts Buda & Pest), did my laundry and walked around town visiting some sights; Castle Hill, Basilica and Heroes Square. I think I walked more then 20 km that day, arrived back around 19:00. Budapest is a nice but big city not extremly filled with tourists yet but I did see allot of Dutch people, it's actually quite expensive here in the city I expected it to be cheaper here in Hungary.
Listened to some music that night with 2 german skaters in my dorm room.
Next day I met up with the english at the Basilica at 13 oclock, in my way to the big church I bought a Lonely Planet about Ukraine. So now I just have to go, right?
After meeting up with them we walked to one of the thermal baths, Budapest is famous for. Chilled for two hours in the hot open air 37/38° degrees baths, sounds insane huh when it's 30 degrees outside. Went to the sauna and the normal swimming pool.
In my way back to the hostel I passed by the train station, first I checked the internet if there were any people offering accomodation on Hospitality Club in Kiev (the capital of Ukraine). After finding allot of places where I could stay in Kiev I decided to get a trainticket to Kiev for the 29th of July, a 26 hour train ride and this time I have a bed; alright!!
That night climped up to the Citadel (a big hill in the city with a big statue) with the english guys had some cheap supermarket beers and went to a festival close by the city called Pardon. This is sort of the longest summer festival but was really quite small, met some nice hungarian people.
Friday I woke up pretty late and sended a sms to Lewis that it would be better if we met at 15 oclock instead of the planned 14:00. In my way to meet them I bought a Ukrainian phrasebook at the same store I bought the LP, because I notice that the local people really appreciate it when you try to speak in there native language. And in the Ukraine they hardly speak English.
When I was waiting for them at the Basilica on a bench a group of 15 Taiwanese students started talking to me. I thought that they wanted me to take a picture of them but they wanted a picture of me with them on the bench. So after a few pictures from different camera's I asked why they wanted a picture of me. They said "Because you are hansom'', well cool, I thought! Later on went to a Statuepark with statues of Lenin and Stalin, had to take the subway and 2 busses to get there. Wasn't really that big as we expected. Said goodbye to the english (and scotish, sorry Mike) Was cool to travel with you guys, hope you have a save trip and see you in the future in York.
Cooked some corn for dinner and packed my bag.
Today I have spend my time reading and waiting for my train, it departs at 18:20. I'm really looking forward to go to the Ukraine, I heard some amazing stories about it and very few tourists. And really cheap for travelling and food, accomodation is still expensive but if I can stay with people througout Ukraine it will hardly cost me anything. I'm planning to stay for about 3 weeks in Ukraine and then head back home.

So wish me look on my 26 hours train ride and my journey in the former sovyet parts of Europe.

Si-Ah!

Seeing horrible things in Oswiecim

Hello everyone, at the moment I'm in Krakow, Poland. Been here now for 3 days and planning to head to Budapest tonight by nighttrain.
So you all might be wondering what has Joost been doing the last week between Berlin and Krakow. Well....
Monday the 17th after I posted my last blog, I went cycling on Tine's bike through the city. And seriously you need a bike or public transport if you want to see some sites in this massive German city. Visited Checkpoint Charlie, the famous checkpoint between east and west Berlin but there where so many tourists around aswell in the museum about the checkpoint. And went to a photo exposition about WWII and to a museum where they had a exposition about an old ancient city divers found near the coast of Egypt (Zou wat voor jou geweest zijn Dutch).
Next day did the same cycled around Berlin visited the Holocaust monument, the Jewish Museum and another museum about Egyption art. And I saw the location where Hitlers bunker probably would have been located and where the russians burned his body.
Wednesday morning I said goodbye to Tine's roommates and left before 8 by train to a station in the suburbs close to the road that would take me to Dresden/Prague.
Ooh and I really want to thank Tine again for letting me stay in her room. (Thanks Tine)
After waiting for an hour on my hitch spot I decided to look for a better location, walked for an hour then took the train to a better location where I was being picked up within 10 minutes. The guy with a really nice but slow van brought me all the way to the border with the Czeck Republic, and he only needed to go to Dresden so made a detour of about 2 hours and he gave me a free coffee at a Rasthof. I arrived at the border around 14:00 after a 3 hours ride, had to walk another 40 minutes to get to a gasstation where I was looking for people heading to Prague. Allot of people had there cars already pretty packed but eventually around 16 o'clock I found a ride with 4 dutch guys who rented a car and who were driving through europe. Arrived at 18 in the capital, found a hostel walked around the city and the same evening I bought a ticket to get to Krakow for the next day. Why? Well in the few hours I walked through the city I finded it extremly touristic and not allot of travellers and just wanted to leave again.
The next morning got up early walked around the city for a few hours saw the amazing castle and bridge (highlights in the city) but I just didn't like it to be here. I have heard it from allot of travellers that Prague is not worth it to visit, there are somany tourists and maybe because of the heat it just made it unbearable to stay longer in this city. The rest of the day I stayed in the hostel and watched some TV.
Left at 20:00 o'clock to the trainstation to catch my train, because I had sort of an open ticket valid for 2 months?!? and without a seat number or anything I went back to the ticket office and asked about which seat I had. Then the guy said that the train was already booked full, God-f**king-damned, and I especially bought a ticket to leave that night. Well shit happens right? So I made a reservation for the next night and got a trainticket with a seat number. Talked to some young people from Czeck and they said that the hostel on the campus of Prague would be cheaper to stay. So took a bus up the hill close to the stadion, checked in the hostel and bought a nice Pizza and some beers to make me feel better.
Friday had to check out at 10 and spend my day reading, listening to some music and fixing my sandals in the park up on the hill till about 15 o'clock when a big thunder storm was coming closer and closer. Took a bus and subway back to the trainstation where I waited another 4 hours, talked to a couple of american girls and played some chess with them.
Finally it was 21:00 and jumped on the train away from Prague in the direction of Krakow. Bought a nice seat in the train because I wanted to save 10 euro's which you had to pay more when you wanted a bed on the train. Shared the compartment with 4 young 17 year old girls who were drinking allot of booze during the train ride.
Had a nice chat with them the whole ride, slept for not more then an hour. Arrived in Krakow at 6 in the morning, found a nice hostel and slept till about 13:00. Wondered through the city (still touristic but nicer) later on met 2 american dudes (Andrew and George) and went out to check on the night life in Poland.
Bought some famous Polish vodka and nice big beers and visited some cool bars.
Sunday we left with the 3 of us to Oswiecim (Auswitch in Polish), a place which has been on my list for quite some years now. It takes a little bit more then an hour to get there and we took a guide who showed us and 24 others through the museum Auswitch I and Auswitch II Birkenau (the place where all the barracks and gas-chambers were located)
It is really a terrible place and sometimes really hard to imagine what really happened here. After visiting a gas-chamber the last one remaining where the germans first tried the deadly gas Zyklon B on 600 polish prisoners and walking through torture chambers it really touches you. Well it did to me and allot of other travellers who visited the place, who I talked to later on. But there are still allot of tourist who ignore the ''Don't take pictures" signs and take pictures of places where horrible things happened. During our tour Andrew found a bone between the barracks, it looked like a human bone, a part of hip bone or something. Really strange huh?, so later on we wanted to talk to the manager, who wasn't in but a woman who worked there said that it would be highly unlikely it to be a human bone. So we asked her if she could find it out and maybe if it would be a human bone she would take care of it in an appropriate way.
Only stayed for 20 minutes at Birkenau, because we had to catch the last bus back, sad actually because I really wanted to walk around there for a longer time. Birkenau is a huge camp and I mean gigantic, allot of barracks are destroyed during the years or by the germans and there are no more gas chambers or crematoriums left, all blown up by the germans who wanted to destroy the evident. But there are still some barracks left in which you can see how the people who were kept alive, lived but mainly its a place full of ruins.
Got back around 20:00 o'clock by train.
That evening played some cards with a big group of backpackers and I decided to stay another 2 days in Krakow, because of the nice atmosphere in the hostel.
Next day (monday) played some cards started early with drinking with a big group and went out to a nice club. I also decided to go to Budapest, Hungary so bought my nighttrain ticket for the day after (this night today the moment I'm writing this story)
I was still deciding which direction I wanted to travel to because Ukraine really sounds beautifull, I heard some amazing stories about that country. And not allot of tourists at all but because the train to Kiev was already full I decided first to go Budapest and then maybe head to Ukraine or maybe Romania. Its amazing to have no plans and being able to change your route anytime you want.
Today didn't do allot because it's also so extremly hot (in Budapest it will be even hotter!), in my way back in a few weeks I want to visit Auswitch again and stay longer in Birkenau and visit the Salt mines which I heard some good stories about.
So tonight I'm gonna head to Budapest by a 10 hour train ride with a group of nice english travellers.
I hope you all still enjoyed this massive story about my adventures here in the east.

I still love to travel here and experience so many new things, seeing new places and meeting so many interesting people.

Do Widzenia.

Sharing the Love with 1.199.999 other party people.

So already another week has been passed. At the moment I'm in Berlin staying at Tine's place in the heart of beautifull Berlin. Tine is not in, she went to her parents place in the south of Germany to work on her school paper. But she said that I could stay in her room as long as I'm in Berlin; really cool. I didn't expect to be back in Germany within 2 weeks but I had a very special reason; The Love Parade! Only a few days ago i heard that the Love Parade would be back in Berlin at that moment I was in Vilnius, Lithuania so I decided to go and visit Tine and party hard.
On sunday the 9th of July I took a bus with Ian to go to Vilnius, as we arrived at the hostel which Ian booked there were no more beds for me so I stayed the night in a different hostel. Met 3 ozzies and went with them and a canadian girl to a bar to see the Worldcup finale between France and Italy.
Next day I went back to Ian's hostel payed for 2 nights and visited with a group of 5 others the famous Trakai castle just outside Vilnius, a castle surrounded by water. Really nice but everything was restored and looked pretty new. Played some frisbee and visited a torture museum. That night went to the same bar as the day before and had a beer with the group.On thuesday visited some interesting sites in Vilnius with the same guys, (Ian & Ian, Sebastian and Liam) A big church, a castle with an amazing view over the city, the Frank Zappa statue and the KGB museum. Unfortanetly I nticed that they had one of the highest bungee jump sites of Europe in Vilnius from the TV tower, 168 meters, but you could only jump in the weekends. Really shit, well another reason to come back right?
After a few days spending in the baltics and learning things about the history of the soviet era , you really notice that the Russians weren't that nice in the time they 'owned' the surrounding countries. They killed allot of people in the time after WWII.Vilnius is a great city, bigger then the other Baltic capitals, so I decided to stay a few days here.
I noticed that there are allot of really expensive cars in the Baltics; Jaquars, Lexus, BMW's and have to say it again allot of pretty girls, the same as in Sweden.The day after we (me and Ian) bought a ticket for the night bus to Warsaw, Poland. That day visited a smal place just outside the capital called Paneriai.
In the second worldwar the nazis killed 70.000 jews here and burried and burned the bodies in huge massgraves. Very touching and frightning to see what 'people' are capable of doing to each other.
Later that day played some card games and left to the bus at 22:00 o'clock for a 7 hour ride to the capital of Poland.We arrived with an australian girl Trisia around 5 in the morning, went to an hostel checked in and had a free breakfest. Bought a dayticket for the tram for less then a euro and visited a palace, climped a tower and visited a museum about Warsaw (Warsaw was destroyed for 85% in the war) Saw a short movie about the life in Warsaw before and after the war.
Went back to the hostel had some good cheap Kebab and watched the movie 'Being John Malkowich' on the beamer in the hostel.
The following morning said goodbye to Ian and Trisia and left Warsaw at 11:25 by train to Berlin. A few days ago I heard that The Love Parade would be back in Berlin on saturday the 15th. Because I was just sort of in the neighbourhood I left to Berlin to visit Tine, a friend I met in Cambodja.
Tine was already waiting for me at the station at 18:00 o'clock, it was good to see her again. She lives real close to the station and that night we went out to Friedrichshain (a real nice area in the big city of Berlin where allot of bars and clubs are located. Had a beer near the river the Spree at a beachbar next to the Berlin Wall.
The next morning Tine left early to her parents house and she planned to stay there for a week. I could stay in her room and borrow her bike for the time I attended to stay in Berlin.
Around 15:00 o'clock I left by foot to the Love Parade wich was only 15 minutes from the place where Tine lives.
I have never seen so many people in one location before. Dozens of trucks with DJ's on top driving around in the crowd and people dancing around it. Saw DJ Tiesto, ATB and Paul van Dyk and many other heroes of mine. I can deffinetly recommend it to everybody who love House music, and I am thinking about going every year to this amazing event.
Had a great time, met allot of nice people and allot of Dutchies. The dutchies you can easily recognise in the crowd and you just say 'Goed Volk?' and you have another good conversation.
At 23:00 o'clock the Parade stopped and everybody went to the after parties. I called some german guys I met earliers and met up with them hours later (big city and a huge tram system). Went to a club called Cassiopia which had 4 rooms with different kinds of music, got there at 4 and left at 7 o'clock in the morning.
Went home and slept till 17:00 o'clock the next day. Sunday didn't do much and later in the evening went out to have a beer with the room mates of Tine; Anja and Maria and checked the price to get to Prague at the trainstation. 44 Euro for a 5 hour ride, I decided to go and hitchhike to Prague on Wednesday to save some money because I spended around 60 euro at the LoveParade.
Berlin is a really cool city, nice people, allot of things to do and relatively cheap (food and hostel accomodation) for a capital in West Europe. And my german is improving I never thought that I could understand so much and even speak some basic german. People appreciate it if you speak the language in there country, I had the same when I was staying in Poland. I carry a phrasebook of eastern europe so I can look up some words to use.
My plans for the next 2 days is to visit some sites and museums in Berlin by bike, nice and cheap compared to pay 2,10 euro everytime for the subway or train.
Wednesday I'm heading to Chech republic and then Krakow, Poland then probably Budapest and the direction of the Ukraine, maybe even do some charity work for a week or 2 in Romania but have to see about that.

Hope you are all well.

Tschüß.

Speeding to Riga

Stranded in Riga at the moment and posting a small update of the last 2 days and my plans for the next weeks.
Yesterday I met an american guy 'Ian' who was planning to head to Riga (the capital of Latvia) I planned to join him and after a 5 hour ride in a bus with an insane 'fast driving' driver, we arrived there around 18 o'clock. Checked in a hostel with a hostess who only could speak Latvian and still could understand us?!? Accommodation for 8 Lats, around 12 euro.
That evening had a cheap dinner in a restaurant with Ian and later on watch the footbal at 22 o'clock (1 hour time difference here in the east) in a bar where they served warm beer.
This morning walked through the town visited some old sites and bought a small Latvian flag to sew on my backpack.
Today I'm planning to move to Vilnius with Ian and stay there for a few days, because that is suppose to be the nicest city of the baltics.
Maybe you are all wondering why I travel so fast and only stay for a day or 2 in a city, well actually I'm looking for a nice relax town or city with some backpackers where I could stay cheap for maybe a week or 2. And if you visited the highlights in a city like Riga or Tallinn you want to travel further and see other things. Also I skipped Norway and Finland just because of the high prices they have, and I sort of made a new travel route for the future to head up to Norway then to Finland and Russia, all camping for maybe next summer. If people want to join me in that trip, let me know, you can sign up at the bottom of this post.
At the moment I can just make it with 20 euros a day, but I'm looking for something cheaper and hopefully I will find it in Poland or even more south.

My plan for the next days is to head to Poland and then maybe Berlin to visit Tine, a friend I met in Cambodja and Thailand. And then go further south in the direction of the Ukraine and Bulgaria.
I attached one photo of my being in front of the Scientology office in Copenhagen. The connection is really slow here so don't have the time to post more, sorry.

Peace out.

Back to Basics in the East of Europe

Finally I'm in east europe. For the people who don't know where Tallinn is, its the capital of Estonia, located right under Finland.
Today I'm already travelling for a week and I have crossed a huge distance. I posted my last blog on sunday when I was staying in Denmark.
On monday I went went Maris and Helle to a lake close to centre of Kopenhavn. In the afternoon we had a big lunch/dinner in a mediteranian/vegetarian restaurant. All you can eat for around 8 euros, really good actually.
The next morning I left around 9 o'clock, said thanks to Helle for her hospitality/tours through the city/her kindness. (Thanks again Helle for everything, it was great to see you again and let me know when you get to Holland)
My plan was to walk to the bridge to Sweden, that's around 7 km from the city. After half an hour I asked someone the direction, the woman said it would be pretty far to walk to whole way. So I bought a busticket of the last Danish Krones I had. Took the wrong bus (thank you very much danish woman) and ended up somewhere completely in the wrong direction. After an hour walk I arrived at the airport (close to the bridge). After 20 minutes I got a ride across the bridge and I was dropped off close to the city of Malmö in Sweden. Had to walk for another hour with my full 27 kg of bagage on my back. And arrived around 13 o'clock in the centre and sat down in a park.
Did I already tell you about the girls in Sweden. Well what they say is true. (you where right Ramon). Sweden is packed with amazing looking girls, everywhere you look, Goddamned. In Denmark it's the same.
But where was I, o yeah; So I was sitting in a park sending a text message to Johanna (one of the girls I met in New Zealand) because she was also in Malmö and we wanted to meet up.
Suddenly I ended up talking to 2 girls who where sitting next to me. One Danish and one Swedish (thats right nice, good looking girls) We played some frisbee, listed to some music and talked till 17 o'clock. They even bought me good falafel bread-snack-thing, which is sort of famous in Malmö. After the girls left I walked to the trainstation and asked how much the nighttrain was to Stockholm. 544,- Swedish Krone almost 60 euro.
It was already kinda late and if I didn't get a good hitch I certainly had to check in to an 20-30 euro hostel. So I decided to take the 23:00 train to Stockholm. Unfortunatly I didn't meet up with Johanna. After waiting for 5 hours, watching the footbal game (Germany-Italy) on the station and updating my journal I jumped on the train.
The train even had beds and I was sharing a cabin with 5 others, so 6 bunkbeds. I always like to sleep on trains especially when they have beds. After talking to a Swedish couple I fell a sleep and we arrived around 7 the next morning. A swedish girl (called My) I met in Bolivia was staying in Stockholm at her parents place and she smsed me how to get to her place. I took a bus and arrived at her house. Was real nice to see her again. She immediatly gave me a room in the guesthouse with a private shower. (Yeah it was a big house nicely located in a park just 15 minutes outside the centre)
She also gave me a bike which I could use to explore the city. That day I cycled around the beautifull city of Stockholm and visited some free museums. A real nice old city build one many islands. Later that evening we went to visit some friends of My in a suburb where they showed some of their music they made. Actually really good elektro/drum&bass music.
The next day I woke up late had breakfast and cycled to the terminals from where the boat was leaving to Tallinn. Bought a ticket for 595 SK for the ferry of 18:00, 15 hour boat ride to the capital of Estonia. I wanted to leave the expensive Sweden and go and live cheap in the east.
Went back to My's house and watched the rehearsel of the match France-Portugal after the match she brought me with her parents car to the terminal. Said goodbye (thanks again My for your nice house and hospitality and it was real cool to see you again) and checked in to the ferry. Shared the cabin with a russian, a swedish and an american guy.
Real fancy expensive ferry and because the food was to expensive, I had some muesli bars and a can of corn which I had with me.
I arrived around 10 in the morning in Tallinn. When I was walking out of the ferry I asked for a stamp in my passport which they normally wouldn't give. I started talking to an Australian girl and we visited some museums and nice attractions in the beautifull city of Tallinn.
Sorry everybody have to go the russian guy from the hostel is getting on my nerves because I already passed my 2 hours of internet time.

Soon I will post some photo's.

Head aega (Goodbye in Estonian)

Joost.

And why have I never tried to hitchhike before?

Køpenhavn is great, I never expected to be here so quick, within 17 hours! from Groningen. Hitchhiking rulez. I left Groningen around 13 oclock, intensely wanted to leave before 10 in the morning but I still had to pack allot.
After still having an extreme lack of sleep because of all the short nights of the last week. (nights studying before my test on wednesdays and goodbye parties after the tests) After waiting for an hour a woman stopped and pointed out that I was in the complete wrong direction if I was planning to go to Hamburg, so she brought me to another hitchhike spot in Groningen. Around 15 oclock 2 dutch speaking german girls picked me up and they said that they were heading to Meppen. So where the hell is Meppen, I thought, but jumped in and left in the direction of Germany.
Dropped at a parking space and was eventually picked up by a russian guy from Kazackstan (this probably because it was 17 oclock, just when the German football game was on) After a short ride to a Rastäte where allot of trucks were standing I waited for 2 hours till the game would finish and a german girl started talking to me. During the extra time I thought I never would be picked up because if Germany would lose everybody would be so sad that they wouldn't want to pick up a hitchhiker.
Eventually a dutch truck came and the driver noticed that the girl was hitchhiking, after talking to the driver that only I was trying to get to Hamburg he eventually decided to take me with him. My plan was to get to Hamburg to visit Tanja, but because I would arrive after 23 oclock in Hamburg and that the truck was heading to Kopenhavn I decided to ride with 'Sjaak' the dutch driver to the capital of Danmark.
Listening to some interresting stories in the life of a trucker and a few times a rockclassic cd with formula one sounds between the songs, we arrived at the ferry between Germany and Denmark around 1 oclock at night. I didn't have to pay for the ferry ticket which was nice of him and after sleeping for a few hours (still really tired) we arrived in the middle of the centre at 7 oclock. I smsed Helle and she picked me up and brought me to her home. I met Helle in Bolivia and worked with her in the animal refuge for 2 weeks, she told me that I could stay in her house the time that I stayed in Kopenhavn. Really nice to meet her again after a year.
That day we walked through the city and stayed in the park in the afternoon together with Maris a brazilian friend of her which just arrived the day before. Later that night we went out with another danish girl. Experienced the nice but expensive danish night life. 5 to 7 euro's for a beer. The next day we went to Christiania a small 'sort of' town located in the city. Sort of hippy community with a real nice atmosphere and beautifull houses (made by the people who live there themself)
Tomorrow or the day after I'm planning to hitchike to another place in Denmark and visit a friend I met in Australia or I will be going to Sweden and visit some friends I met in New Zealand.
Hitchhiking is really cool, sometimes you wait for a few hours and you think why the hell did I start this nonsens. But eventually you will reach your destination and in the way you meet all kinds of interesting people and it doesn't cost anything.
So I can really recommend it.
Well guys, hope you are not borred yet with my stories, I'm planning to post my next one within a week when I arrive in Stockholm.

Farvel (goodbye in Dansk)