5:42 - Namaste from India and Nepal
Current mood: pleased
Category: Travel and Places
Blog 4: ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />India and Nepal: Namaste mero satis!..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
First of all apologies to everyone who was attending news from me, Jeroen and Jan, I'll explain the whole thing why I unfortunately didn't make it to Oz.
Then I want to wish all of you a freaking good 2008, for the western world too late maybe, but we just had the Chinese New year here.
Many things happened to me in the past few months after I returned from India, good things, some not so fun ones, but from all I learned a lot and again I got the proof that in the end everything will be fine, no matter what happens.
But for now only about my trip to India and Nepal, the stories about the last 3 or 4 months are too crazy to believe for some people. But one thing is a fact, Koh Pha Ngan really is paradise!
Loaded full of good vibes of my visit @ Koh Pha Ngan I continued my trip to India, to be more precise, I started in Kolkata…
I will honestly say that it was not the best city to arrive after this good time in paradise…
"Welcome to India" said the taxi driver when Pascual and I entered his Ambassador. "This must be a joke", I thought, "This place cannot represent India" while I tried to ignore the noisy, smelly, chaotic mess…
This might have been the first idea on India of many.
We would notice it soon enough that the country has much more to offer then an ugly city like Kolkata.
Pascual, a Spanish guy who I met in Bangkok at the airport, asked me if I was interested to follow him direction Darjeeling before going to Kathmandu.
Darjeeling is situated in north India, between Nepal and Bangladesh and it's world famous for it's thee.
You can see the most beautiful sceneries over valleys filled with thee bushes and rice fields.
In Darjeeling we went for a daytrip to the Tiger hill by sunrise, where we got treated on one of the most beautiful artworks in nature.
The ever changing colours of nature when the sun comes up and lets it's light and warmth burst through the thick layer of mist, revealing the hidden mountains while behind us the clouds were crawling over mountaintops, as if it were spirits driven by the wind.
That same day we already went up to Gangtuk (Sikkim) because we had to try to reach Kathmandu in time, still visiting on our way as much as we could.
We would be on the road by jeep for another 7 hours, or more even.
The driver was happy enough to tell and show us a lot of the region where he lives, so we met some of his friends and were often enough astonished by the views where he stopped for.
Everywhere we went we got a kind and warm welcome accompanied with a nice smile.
We met Rozen, the guide from a small travel agency, and decided to go visit the TsanghuLake. This lake is situated at an altitude of more then 12000 feet, with its close neighbours China and Tibet.
Unfortunately we were too much in a hurry to go visit the holy lake, a bit north of Gangtuk. It seems that in this lake, somewhere in the middle of a forest, not a single leaf of the trees is floating in the water. Each time a leaf falls, some birds come and pick it up to drop it somewhere on the side. A place I really want to see on my next travel, where I will take more time for India and Nepal.
Then we got the bad news that day that it would be impossible to cross the nearest border to Nepal. Only for locals, no tourists… That would mean another 48+ hours of non-stop bus and jeep rides… First up to Siliguri, then to Kathmandu.
After this hardcore ride to Kathmandu, which took 6 days instead of the expected 3, I was happy to see a real bed and a shower again, and went to sleep early.
At least, I tried, until my friend Rana told me he was on his way to pick me up to go to a mountain party.
Once at the party I had to get a bit of rest in the car. Sleeping in a normal car was even luxury after these few days of sleeper trains, bad hotels, crazy jeep drivers,… By morning time Rana woke me up to go witness another beautiful sunrise from the terrace of the party.
The whole Kathmandu valley was covered in clouds, as if it was a mystical lake, while at the right side the snowy tops of the Giants of the World, the Himalayas, turned orange of the first rays of light of another beautiful day. Again a postcard moment…
A few days of rest passed, the trip was quite heavy this time and the Nepali specialties didn't make me more active then I was.
A few visits through the city later, Rudy from Singapore arrived and a few days more Nas from Oman. Nice seeing you guys back!
Two days before the Shanti Jatra festival started, I heard they had changed location, unfortunately I was too late to tell the news to my friend Oasis, the owner of "The end of the universe". He was already in Last Resort 5 hours further instead of Nagarkut, at 20 minutes of his hotel where the festival would finally go on.
At this festival I heard some (for me) new styles of psychedelic music.
The place was full of freaks and everybody was in the mood for a good party. I also met Marc (Psyboriginal) after a long time again and the two psychedelic Swiss guys, Thomas and Michael who I met at Koh Pha Ngan were also partners in crime again.
Sadly enough I don't have any pictures of the festival, but you can find them on the website www.shantijatra.com
When the festival was finished we spent another night in Nagarkut and went off to Pokhara.
In the Bodhi Home it was again a reunion of people who were in September at Koh Pha Ngan.
Pokhara had a far less crazy traffic then Kathmandu and other parts of Nepal, so Denni, his girlfriend and I went for a scooter ride around the lake, what almost finished for me with a blocked engine when the river suddenly seemed to be much deeper then it first looked like. A good way to find out that my new trekking shoes weren't waterproof.
I was lucky enough to get the bike rolling again, it would have been a long walk back home otherwise.
A couple of days later I would need to return to Kolkata, because I wanted to see the heart of India, Varanassi, on the way back.
In the bus I met a lady from France, an American guy and a couple from Spain.
It were four completely different types of people, with different origins and different ideas of travelling. We would be passing the days in Varanassi together and see that this mix would be an interesting one.
It turned out to become a very nice time in the so far craziest and most chocking place I have ever seen in the world. (Well, there are still many countries to visit, but this place must be among the craziest ones)
I cannot really explain all the things I have seen there, most of you would ask me why the hell I (or other people) would even think of going there but you need to be there to understand it.
The gap between their culture and ours is huge, which gave me the first real culture chock on my travel. It took a couple of days before I could really say if I liked it or not, because it needed lots of processing for the brain.
Now I can say I liked it a lot, because this place made me think of many things in life, how damn happy we can be to be in good health and have the possibilities to do what we want to do, go where we want to go…
-Note, congratulations with your marriage! It was a real nice surprise to hear the good news! You are a good couple, I wish you all the best in love and life
-Howard, sorry that I didn't contact you anymore in Kolkata, hope you're doing fine man.
-Ben, ne dikke merci om me te komen bezoeken hier, t was echt te gek u nog eens terug te zien met Els na die lange tijd!
-
For the people with who I exchanged pictures during my travel, I hope you can all read this and want to do me a HUGE favour.
I lost all my pictures of these 9 first months of my travel, the only ones I have left are on this blog, but I would really like to recover as much as I can from the original pictures.
Well, here I am again, finally, with a story that will hopefully make the working people who read this, forget the stress of work and daily life for a while.
There are many things I could write again, it was an impressive period that just passed. But I'll try to make it not too long, there will be very soon the blog about the travel to India and Nepal too.
The farewell at Bali was a painful thing, the people I met were wonderful and luckily enough I will see most of them again in February when the next Darkmoon production will go on the 7th at Gili Air.
Afterwards I stayed a while in Singapore again, Gaby from Swiss was also there for his visa run and Michel would come over later to travel further with me.
And a big surprise also to see Herman and Veerle appear too. And as usual it was wonderful to see them again.
By the end of August Michel and I decided to go to Koh Pha Ngan to celebrate my birthday.
The 2nd of September we arrived in Krabi and went immediately to the Cashew Nut Guesthouse to see Hassan and the family again.
Hassan was not there, but his wife was extremely happy to see me again, she obviously didn't forget the time from the Greenspirit festival.
First I thought that the Half Moon would be on the 4th, but as if the gods were on my side, it was happening on the 5th.
A day before my b-day we stopped at JB Hut, to stay there with Beo and the family.
As usual we got a very warm welcome as if we arrived back home after a long time. (this feeling of being at home on Koh Pangan got a boost, more then ever)
The evening of the 5th had come and Michel and I were ready for one hell of a night into madness.
First we stopped at a bar close to Ban Tai where we got drenched into buckets of vodka-red bull. A good start for the night.
At the party itself I introduced him to the "real" buckets. The deadly Sangsom mixed with red bull and some coke. I should have known what the concequences would be, but we got carried away to find the bottom of every bucket again and again.
Lucky enough we considered a break in our alcohol consumption, as we saw the brain cells jump out of our ears like the people who wanted to escape from the Twin Towers on 9/11.
By the morning time we got a new boost of energy to dance on Notes dj-set. Man, every time again you play the music that makes me forget everything and dance as if it is my last time.
This is for Wout, guess what man? During Notes set, "GI Joe" was still dancing. I think he heard you say that you would defeat him at the Greenspirit festival. He just doesn't want to give up. I told him about it and he would be pleased to meet you one day to teach you how not to get tired and keep on dancing. ;) The proof is there, you're becoming a little bit a sissy on the dancefloor :P (Graptje he kamergenootje)
By the end of the party I had to take care of Michel, he kind of lost his mind because of the Sangsom. Further details he will tell, if he can ever remember it again. :p
Somewhere in the afternoon we woke up and felt there had to be more dancing to satisfy us.
Peter came also over from Koh Tao to celebrate my b-day.
So we went to Ban Sabaii where we met some of the nicest people who are living on the island. Supphatra, Jonny and his family in Ban Sabaii, the Half Moon crew, Note and Dina, the Shiva moon crew, Cosmic, Carlos, the list is long because it seems like there are no assholes on the island. (Only one, the Swiss guy who is the last 8 weeks travelling with me)
As ever, Ban Sabaii was full of good vibes, as almost every party here on Pangan, but this is a special place.
Here, at parties, I find the feeling back that I missed somehow in Belgium, people dancing to celebrate another wonderful day in life on a nice blend of different styles of psytrance that bring you on a nice trip to the psyskies.
Michel and I got in a conversation with Note about dj-ing and he invited us in the Half Moon studios to show what music we can bring, this resulted in a booking for me at the next Half Moon. A big thanks to the Harmony team and also to Jonny from Ban Sabaii for this wonderful opportunity.
We heard also that two days later there would be a Shiva moon party in the jungle. So there we also went for, it's only once a year your birthday, so why not be sure you celebrated it properly?
The Shiva moon was again a blast, like the ones that I went for in the past. As a big surprise, Gappeq from Australia would be playing there that night. At the start of his set it rained quite hard, but the music was stronger then the rain, so the people wouldn't be stopped from dancing.
The whole night was full of surprises, smiles and BIG fun.
You might think that we had nothing else to do but partying, and somehow you are right. After a good sleep the next party started again at Ban Sabaii with those nice freaks again.
When I almost started thinking this would be enough partying for a while, we read that Sabaii Sabaii would be playing for the first time after his stay in Europe. And this time at the Black Moon a few days later.
BM and the Ban Sabaii after party were a success too, but now we really needed a rest for a few days, also because I needed to prepare my set for the Half Moon.
In the meanwhile at JB Hut, there arrived a kind Ozzie man, called Collin. He seemed to know Jan (Toko) too, who gave him the advise to pass here when going to Thailand.
Collin, who knows how to enjoy life to the fullest at his age, didn't hesitate to come with us to the Half Moon party at 3 o'clock in the morning.
The Half Moon, another dream that came true…
I remember dancing there a few years ago and thinking that I would really like to play there. And this time I was standing on stage. Ready with a nice mind breaking set. The people loved it.
BIG thanks to the harmony team for this. It was a wonderful experience.
The time passes fast when you are having fun and quickly we noticed there wasn't much time left before our visa expired.
But there were still lots of things to do, so up to my weakness, trying to plan things and get a little structure in my life for the next days.
Michel would be returning to Bangkok sooner than me to arrange his return to Bali. Before that we would pass at Koh Tao to celebrate Peters birthday.
When Michel left I returned to Pangan to play at Tommy's bar at Full Moon and the Ban Sabaii party. This would become a never to forget farewell party.
At the Full Moon, Patt was playing when I arrived, nice set, after him played the guys from Korea also a great set and then it was my turn to play with the changing colours in the sky of the rising sun, the nicest scenery so far when playing.
It happened straight in front of me as if I was watching how nature was painting another psychedelic artwork in the sky. This influenced my choice of tracks a lot, psychedelic it would be.
Music for when the freaks come out, and they were all there.
Suppi, O, Cosmic and Carlos insisted that I would follow them to Ban Sabaii and not go to sleep first. This would be my farewell party, and off we went. On our arrival Jonny played a master set. There were not many people, just us. So it would become some kind of a private party for the 5 of us.
The strong feeling of unity was among us. You might think I am becoming a hippy with the way I speak, but it just was like this. The time of my life, remember? We danced and danced then slowly some other people arrived who got immediately dragged away into the nice feeling on the trance floor. In the evening it would be my turn to play, my last time for this that I could give the people all my energy to make them freak out. What a wonderful farewell…
Ban Sabaii, home of the beautiful freaks…
Koh Pha Ngan, magic Pha Ngan.
So far, this was for me the most beautiful travel experience I had, unbelievable how nice the people were, how good I've felt during these weeks, how wonderful life can be.
My travel back to Bangkok was a bit weird, with a smile on my face of all the nice things that happened, but a little sad that I had to move on. But this time no worries, here I will come back too, and not for just a holiday.
When I arrived in Bangkok Michel dragged me to the guesthouse to take a shower and straight after that we went to Ooze. Yeps, Jacky started Ooze again. The people from "The Club" had no idea what quality psy is all about and fucked it up there, so Jacky just started the legendary Ooze bar on Soi Rambuttri again to preserve the vibe.
Sweet memories from my first time Thailand came back.
I guess this is enough for now, hope you enjoyed to read this as much as I enjoyed experiencing this story.
Ps: To all the freaks I met on Pha Ngan, guys/girls, you all have a special place in my heart. I will never forget this wonderful time, we'll catch up soon again!
2:04 - Apah kabar my friends. The Bali story
Current mood: thankful
Category: Travel and Places
After a night of serious partying in Homeclub, I woke up only 1 hour before I had to check in at the airport.
Stressssssss!
But after what happened last year I swore never again to miss a flight, not even this time.
Once arrived on Bali I spent the first days in Kutah, the most tourist place that's known for surfing, partying and sadly enough the terrorist attacks in '02 and '04.
When I noticed the style of people hanging around there, I knew I wouldn't stay to long there, so after a few days the travel went to Mt Bromo in Java. Finally I would see an active volcano from close by.
We stayed in a hotel at the edge of the main crater, with a magical scenery. It felt like having a hotel on the moon.
The trekking eventually left at 4am, with a miserable temperature at this altitude. First we drove to one of the higher peaks nearby to see the sunrise over the volcano with in the background another active one that puffs up dust and ashes once in a while. That same feeling of being so small as on Koh Tao with the storm, came back.
Afterwards we drove into the main crater to climb on the Bromo that's situated inside. Because it was very cloudy inside the vision was often not more then 20m, sometimes 10m. Some guides told it wouldn't be clever to do the tour alone on the crater, but that didn't stop me from going there. Now I was there, so I had to see it. The sulphuric gasses where sometimes too much and gave me a bit a dizzy feeling, but the walk was really special.Check the pics
Next stop was Lovina, where we could rent a nicely pimped jeep to explore Bali again, went for a morning boat ride to see the dolphins at sunrise and went to Tanah Lot, a temple on a rock in the sea.
After all the moving around it was about time to relax again, at Gili Air where Babacool and the crew already were staying. Gili Air is the perfect island to live the extreme lazy life. It is a bit similar to Koh Lipe, only a bit more developed, at Gili they have horse cars, not on Lipe. Wout, hombre, you had to be there!
Easy life, good life.
Together with Michel, Marilyn and Cue we went to the full moon party on Gili Trawangan, but wtf… what was that… A Boring party with again my beloved drunk tourists, so we ended on a deserted beach to have a good nights sleep. But as a present from nature we got woken up by a magical sunrise over Lombok.
Psychedelic Beach Beats was approaching and everybody started to do his part of the preparations of what would become a blast of a party. The dj booth would be the most original I have ever played in, in a tree house. Right before the party was a turtle ceremony, the people from legend took care for turtles during a few months and they were now big enough to be released in the sea.
Many people came there to witness it.
After the ceremony played a local reggae band, who also opened the party. During their gig arrived more and more people, some came with small boats from the other islands to go crazy for a night and then return home.
The nice thing about all the party people is the balanced mix between the crazy locals and tourists, there were even older people from the village partying. The party got eventually filled with pleasant freaks, our friend Cue and her hilarious Korean friends (nice meeting you guys, you were wonderful), some friends from Singapore (Panjang, Linda and Marilyn, as ever it is nice to be with you guys), a Japanese couple that rocked the dance floor, Prepec and the guys from Legend went completely out of their minds, and off course the Swiss crew.
Adi, you really organized a wonderful party, I hope you can continue this for a long time. Respect to you, Diana, Gaby and all the other people who cooperated at the party. It was a real pleasure for me to be part of this event and will do everything to be there at the next party!
3 days after the party we returned to Bali, to Seminiak, where all the people from the party would be and where I would meet some really wonderful locals and Alan and Joanne, an amazing couple from New Zealand. I rarely met people with such a great charisma, it was really an honour to meet you and we will meet again in New Zealand, that's a promise. Same counts for Jelena and Tracie from Sydney, we didn't spend much time together, but you were also one of the interesting people I met.
The nice thing about Bali, something I noticed before, is that you really can have the feeling of being in another country when you just go 15 minutes away from the coastline. People don't speak English anymore and the further you go, the more you see that some aren't used to see white people.
Like the day I went for a ride with Gaby, to Gunung Batur. A volcano on Bali with a wonderful lake where we bumped into a football game with locals.
I could keep on writing, but the stories would never end. Hopefully you are satisfied for now and I will keep you informed when I have plenty of new stories to share with you guys!
Greetzzzzz to everybody I met so far and to the Kermtcentrale and all people I love, miss you guys!!!!
Currently
listening
:
Psycho Thrapy
By
Nexus
Release date: 29 March, 2005
Zo, voor diegenen die zich al een tijd afvroegen hoe het hier met me gaat een kleine update van de laatste maanden. (Foto's zijn toegevoegd trouwens)
Kortom gezegd, t gaat hier super goed met me, heb al mooie onvergetelijke momenten gekend, teveel op nu in 1,2,3op te sommen, maar ik zal mijn best doen.
Toen ik in Singapore aankwam, werd ik al direct goed ontvangen bij Marilyn en de vrienden.
Alhoewel Singapore niet mijn favoriete land is, heb ik er een paar goeie vrienden aan over gehouden. Mensen die van het leven profiteren door op de gekste momenten een feestje te bouwen of ergens spontaan heen te sjeezen als het weer eventjes wat saai wordt. Een enorm leuk volkje dat me nauw aan het hart ligt en ik als een paar van mijn betere vrienden zal blijven beschouwen.
Het is best indrukwekkend hoe het land groeit, op economisch vlak is het precies een sneltrein die net goed op gang gekomen is.
Ik heb een paar keer de kans gehad om met An mee te gaan audio- en videosystemen te plaatsen. Zo kreeg ik de rijke buurten een beetje te zien, ongelofelijk hoe er sommigen leven. Super design huizen met het beste van het beste opgebouwd. Sommigen hebben er meerdere home cinemas met een audiosysteem waar veel producers van dromen.
Dit staat zo hard in contrast met hoe de meeste gezinnnen er wonen. Er is een enorme kloof tussen arm en rijk.
Na ongeveer een maand bracht Riet me het eerste Belgische bezoek op mijn reis. Wat een enorme leuke verrassing was. Volgende keer hebben we hopelijk meer tijd om ook iets te kunnen gaan drinken en nog eens goed plat te gaan van het lachen zoals we meestal doen als we mekaar zien.
In Homeclub heb ik bijna wekelijks de kans gehad om er te spelen. Telkens voor een geweldig, prettig gestoord volk. De psytrance scene is er best klein en je maakt er nog de reacties mee van enkele jaren geleden in Belgie op feesten. Sommigen hebben dan misschien wel eens iets over de muziek gehoord, maar nog nooit een feestje meegemaakt. En ze gaan er verdomd hard in op als ze eenmaal de vibe te pakken hebben.
En dan is er de groep full on party lovers waarmee ik samen gewoond heb met hun Maleisische vrienden. Felt just like home at some moments.
Kelvin en Roy, de twee bazen van de club, vonden mijn stijl zo goed dat ze me carte blanche gaven om er bijna iedere keer als ik zin heb te spelen.
Er is intussen al sprake van een Kairoo label night. (Sven, ik hou u hier nog van op de hoogte)
Thanx to Omproject and Homeclub for the crazy parties!!! Hope we can repeat it more often.
Omdat de drukte, de onpersoonlijke sfeer op straat, de 1001 wetten op de stomste dingen en het "Big Brother is watching you" gevoel me te erg werd vertrok ik na een maand of twee naar Thailand, om er een paar vrienden op te zoeken zoals Nu en de Oozebar crew in Bangkok en Peter op Koh Samui.
Tijdens mijn verblijf in thailand leek het er precies op dat ik nog steeds in België zat, ongelofelijk hoeveel belgen ik tegen het lijf ben gelopen. En met bijna allemaal had ik gemeenschappelijke vrienden.
In Bangkok viel ik al direct op een feest van de mannen van Ooze, sfeer alom. Ik ben er een dag of 5 blijven hangen, toen werd het hoog tijd voor de relaxede sfeer op Koh Tao.
Eindelijk terug zon, zee, strand en adembenemende views over het eiland.
Hin Wong bay, Freedom beach en Tanote waren geweldig om te zien. Just like island life should be. Alleen jammer van de nogal overdreven aanwezigheid van bezopen Engelsen met hun "Temptation Island" juppy gedrag op Sairee beach. Degoutant...
Hier op Koh Tao ben ik Peter gaan bezoeken en heb ik Herman en Veerle uit Antwerpen leren kennen. Sommigen onder jullie zullen hun wel kennen. Het is een super relaxed koppel, ben blij dat ik hun heb leren kennen. Ze brachten een enorme meerwaarde aan mijn verblijf daar.
Ze wonen hier in een huisje dat een zicht heeft zoals geen ander huis zal hebben, tegen de berg aan met een killer view over de zee, waar je de mooiste zonsondergang kon zien terwijl een legertje termieten het balkon probeerde te veroveren en reuze vleermuizen over je hoofd rondcirkelen met het grappige kabaal van geckos op de achtergrond.
Met hun en Peter ben ik een dag naar Koh Pangan geweest om naar de Half Moon Party te gaan. We hebben ons er ziek gelachen, lang niet meer zo een lol gehad op een feest, en damn Herman, uwe humor... gieren maat.
Ik was wel even enorm bang dat ik malaria of dengué had opgelopen, op korte tijd twee keer serieus ziek geweest. De eerste keer viel nog redelijk mee, maar de tweede was een lijdensweg van enkele dagen. Maar zoals ze zeggen: what doesn't kill you, makes you only stronger.
Voor het eerst heb ik hier ook een tropische storm zien opkomen, dan overvalt je wel even een gevoel van klein en nietig te zijn. Het was een prachtig schouwspel van la Pacha Mama, de kleuren en vormen van de wolken, de wind die opzet en extreme temperatuurswisselingen meebrengt... Magic... Check de foto's
In mijn tweede week Koh Tao zijn Fars en Schevelien aangekomen, weeral een aangename verrassing. Ze hebben me uit een comateuze slaap doen ontwaken. De nacht ervoor hadden Peter en ik het nogal netjes en stevig uitgehangen.
Zo snel als ze geacclimatiseerd waren heb ik ze op een tochtje over het eiland genomen zodat ze de mooie stranden die ik had gezien zelf mochten meemaken.
Echt, thanx dat jullie zijn langs gekomen, het deed me keiveel plezier. Jammer dat mijn drang om verder te reizen te groot werd en dat onze wegen zich redelijk snel scheidden.
Na de nogal woelige boottocht naar het vaste land werd ik er nogmaals op gewezen dat de wereld piepklein is. Ik ontmoette Pieter, Gwen en Sandy uit Belgie. San kende Jan (Toko) en Pieter kende Tom met zijn beste knorrende huisgenoot Fonzy.
San doet vrijwilligerswerk ergens in de buurt van Kanchanaburi en ze zou normaal met Gwen terugkeren naar daar totdat ze hoorden dat ik in Bangkok moest spelen. Plannen wijzigen was een kleine moeite voor hun, dus gaat er eens deftig gefeest worden met een paar nieuwe Belgische gezichtjes.
Op de nachttrein naar Bangkok ontmoette ik Andreas, een uiterst boeiende kerel uit Duitsland die al 12 jaar op Koh pangan woont.
In Bangkok aangekomen besloten Pieter en ik om binnen een paar dagen samen erop uit te trekken richting het noorden, op naar Chiang Mai en Pai.
Na een slopende tocht met de bus, waar een paar luidruchtige Israelis het niet nodig vonden om rekening te houden met de rest van het volk kwamen we in Chiang Mai aan. Ik was verrast door de rust die er in het oude stadsgedeelte hing.
Pieter en ik besloten om er direct een brommer te huren om de streek wat te gaan verkennen. En damn, de bergen zijn mooi.
Maar het zou nog mooier worden, de dag erna zijn we in een heuse "Alice in wonderland" tempel aangekomen. We konden onze ogen niet geloven, net alsof we zelf door "the looking glass" gelopen waren. Verwelkomd door het witte konijn en een drie koppige olifant liepen we een pracht van een tempel binnen met de gekste beelden van dieren en serieus mooie beelden van buddha. Om het nog trippier te maken zagen we een regenboog toen we er vertrokken die de hele tijd naast ons is blijven hangen totdat we terug in Chiang Mai stonden.
De dag erna besloten we naar Pai te vertrekken, het hippie stadje richting de grens met Byrma. Toen de minibus ons kwam oppikken zag ik er Nele en haar moeder in zitten, tweede keer op een week tijd.
Sorry Wout, ze vertelde me dat ge haar gevraagd had om me mee terug naar Belgie te brengen. Maar da zal niet lukken, het leven is hier veeeeeel te goed. Ik heb een beter idee, kom naar hier, ik beloof u da ge er geen spijt van zult krijgen. Hier is meer fun als in België en breng de Kermtcentraaltjes mee.
In Pai besefte ik al snel dat ik te veel tijd had verloren in Koh Tao. This is the life how I like it the most. Alles rustig aan, super vriendelijke mensen, een bijna surreële omgeving... Ik kreeg al direct spijt dat ik al snel terug naar Bangkok zou moeten gaan om dan door te vliegen naar Singapore en uiteindelijk Indonesie. Maar ja, het zal er niet weg lopen en terug gaan doe ik 100% zeker. Ik ben letterlijk verliefd geworden op de streek daar, ik kan nog steeds moeilijk vatten hoe vriendelijk iedereen er is en hoe verdomd adembenemend de omgeving is.
Op een paar tochten met de brommer zagen we warm waterbronnen, een prachtige grot die stonk naar vleermuizenkak, maar te mooi was om waar te zijn en zichten over valeien waar je sprakeloos naar kon blijven staren.
En we hebben de arm der wet ook een beetje beter leren kennen. Blijkbaar waren de lonen niet gestort en vonden ze geen beter idee dan alle toeristen op het dragen van een helm te controleren. 200 bath aan ons been, niet onoverkomelijk, maar de schoftjes in hun strakke bruine pak vonden het me net iets te grappig allemaal.
Dus na een veel te kort veblijf in Pai ging de reis terug naar Bangkok waar ik Lars en Evelien gelukkig nog even heb gezien voor ik naar Singapore vertrok, zodat we nog deftig wat konden bijpraten en afscheid nemen.
Het was me even een hectische tijd, in Singapore aangkomen moest ik nog 1001 dingen snel regelen, voordat we allemaal naar Homeclub vertrokken voor een deftig feestje met de mensen van Omproject. Wat natuurlijk weer ouderwets uit de hand liep zodat ik toen ik wakker werd nog juist een uur had om op de luchthaven te geraken om naar Bali te vertrekken.
Maar dat verhaaltje met een uitgebreid verslag over Psychedelic Beach Beats in Gili Air komt er later nog aan. ;)
PS
To all the people who crossed my path during the last few months, it was really nice to have met you guys/girls. I had heaps of fun with all of you and I hope we will meet soon again!
Herman en Veerle, ik hoop jullie ook snel weer terug te kunnen zien, het was enorm leuk op Koh Tao en ik zal mijn uiterste best doen om tot Nieuw Zeeland te geraken tegen de tijd dat jullie daar zijn. Trouwens, veel succes met jullie cursus voor dive instructor.
Peter, hopelijk zie ik u nog verschijnen hier in Indonesie.
Pieter, nog eens ne dikke merci voor de beestige tijd in Chiang Mai en Pai. Als ik terug in Belgie ben (wat nog efkes gaat duren) dan gaan we het eens stevig uithangen. Veel succes met uw examen voor Europese Commissie, hou me op de hoogte als ge geslaagd zijt.
En voor mijn beste Kermtcentraaltjes, ik mis jullie keihard. Iedere dag wou ik dat jullie erbij konden zijn, want het is echt te menens the time of my life. Dit was nog mooier geweest met jullie erbij.
En voor degenen die ik vergeten ben, dat is niet persoonlijk, maar anders zou de lijst hier waarschijnlijk te lang worden, maar jullie missen doe ik wel.
What can I say...? This was a wonderful night! Never expected this party to be as good as it was. All the people that showed up were there to completely let themselves go crazy.
For the warming up Psydaddy and MaryJane shared the decks. Some nice easy going music to let the muscles loosen up a bit.
From midnight the Lani boys Phasid and Jahru played a more powerful melodic set, the crowd loved it, from the front to the back everybody started dancing. Testing some new Lani tracks on the audience was a good thing, the reaction was how it had to be.
Fraktophon followed them up, with his complex and uplifting style. He played a few new tracks aswell, killersounds from a wicked mind.
After him I followed, playing some crispy tracks, starting up slowly to let the music go up and up and up...
The surprise act, Bitkit, he told me he'd play a set with his old music, not all the tracks from his debut album Logical wich is a super release from him. Again it was a massive blast on the dancefloor.
Then there was R'Deem, who played a Deem on set, nice full on tunes that tickle your senses.
But then... mayday mayday, mothers keep your daughters at home, Tohm and Kairon... they served the best of psychedelic tunes of 5 years ago, to finish the freaks of. They brought back the feeling of how it was in these days.
Each and every artist/dj played a tremendously good set, I'm so gratefull for that guys. You all rocked the house! A big thanx to Dimi for the decorations and Dorien, Dries, Wout and all the others that helped at the party. Tnx guys, will never forget this!
4:54 - WTF...??? Stop the madness!!!
Current mood: discontent
Category: News and Politics
This weekend I was watching the news and saw there has been a Neo Nazi gathering close to my place to "honor" the German soldiers who have died in WWII. Watch this video and cry how this kind of idioty is still possible... it's in Dutch, but the images will speak for themselves.
Every single MF who is in this video or who is active in Neo Nazi groups, should be hunted as an animal and put into one of the camps where millions of people (including my grandmothers brother and father) died during the war. I'm not the kind of person who carries hate in his heart, but for this kind of insanity, there is no excuse. Every possible sollution to stop this extremism should be allowed. (no, I don't mean USA style bombing or idiot actions that kill heaps of innocent people, these are acts that should be stopped too right away) It's not only the Neo Nazis but every extremist organisation who spread terror or hate in this world that has to be STOPPED. I know, it's maybe impossible to reach, but stop all kinds of war, nobody will become a better man of it! Spread the word of love and respect over the world.
Because I'll be leaving on a long trip around, Australia and Asia to spread the Kairoo message and join with my love, I organise a farewell party.
All artists are confirmed:
Live Fraktophon Kairoo rec The youngest member of the Kairoo family, but not at least the less talented one.Wouter Notebeart joined the Kairoo stables a year ago after closing down his sound engineer education, causing since then a consistent buzz in the label with his highly creative and inventive music. Fraktophon stands for psychedelica, bombastic musical arrangements, melodies massive basslines and surprising breaks. Not the regular psytrance, but once again a real musician at work, creating his own particular story in each and every track… to put it in one word: MUSIC!!! Fraktophon presents the more psychedelic side of Kairoo, keeping in mind that main influences are Juno Reactor, Infected Mushroom, Eat static and so on…A perfect night time creature to take you out of the dark night, into the blistering dawn and rise your head with a smile into the awakening sun…. Myspace Fraktophon
DJ'S
Delysid Kairoo rec Delysid gave his first public appearance in 2003 at a legendary club called 'The Zoo', founded and owned in that time by dj Shive . His reputation and confidence grew behind the decks and Delysid evolved in a psychedelic style true to his nature. Delysid stands for strong full on and nightime music, filled with crispy sounds and mind breaking twists. Recently he was asked to join the stables of Kairoo Records, home of live-acts like Lani & Bitkit and DJ's like Kairon, Jharu & MaryJane... In the meantime, travelling all over the world he got to play at magical places like Thailand (Green Sprit), Singapore and etc…From the 20 th of April, this man will be spreading the Kairoo message all over Australia, India and Sout America. If you have the chance to get him behind the decks while he's passing, you will be guaranteed to have a good time. Myspace Delysid
Kairon vs Tohm Kairoo rec
vs
Kairon:
Founder of Kairoo Records and labelmanager. Due a longtime background as dj in the electronic dance and club scene, this guy is the right man on the right place…anytime of the night and any place of the planet. With a wide selection going from groovy progressive into night time psychedelic and heavenly morning trance, he can lift you up with a stashbag going back ten years in the history of psychedelic trance and even further…
Tohm:
This guy prooved himself many times to be an EXCELLENT dj!! With a musical taste not equaled, this is a prime time record spinner. A wide range of musical interests brings this man to be a very beloved and wellrespected Kairoo dj in his home country. Everyone who heard him play still remembers this experience as it was yesterday. Nighttime, morning or daytime, there's nothing he can't handle!!
Now they join their forces to serve you a complete dancefloor blast!
Phasid vs Jharu (Kairoo rec) vs
Phasid vs Jharu, this duo doesn't need much of an introduction. Both artists are highly repected with their live act Lani. This night they'll play a back to back dj set, like lots of people saw them perform before Lani was actually founded. As very experienced people in the music scene they know how to play their audience and make you guys go completely mad. Prepare for a complete dancefloor mayhem, these guys will rock the place again! Lani website
Mary Jane (Kairoo rec) vs Psydaddy(The Zoo) vs
This young Djane has quite a history and enough party experience to blast everyone away with here typical melodic sounds and atmosphere. Started dj-ing five years and in the meantime builded up quit a reputation behind the decks. As Kairoo's leading lady, she crushed many trance floors all over Europe and beyond. With her female charms, excellent music choice and technical skills, for sure she rocks every dancefloor!! This time she'll be sharing the decks with Psydaddy, known from the Psythursdays and several other parties. Prepare for a melodic meltdown on the dancefloor! Myspace Mary Jane
R'Deem (Purple Snow Productions)
Roscoe Deem has been interested in music for as long as he can remember. His journey started out as a techno dj, where he mastered the skills needed to be a dj. After three years of playing raw pounding techno at established parties and playing beside artists like dj Rush, Claude Young and Marco Bailey his taste in music was changing and he looked for newer horizons!
He found the answers he was looking for in the more psychedelic and progressive scene to which he was introduced at the end of 2001. Playing in the scene for some time now, he managed to make a name for himself and played beside artist like Son Kite, Vibrasphere, Xibalba, Symphonix, Etnoscope, Haldolium, Bim, Alexander Ligowski, … ! He will perform this time under the alter ego of Deem-on, powerful psy-trance with a touch of full on now and then. Website Purple snow
Due to some reasons the line up has changed, BUT, I can tell there will be a veeeerrrrrryyyy nice surprise act. Location Kempense stnwg 106, Hasselt, Belgium
13:39 - Ziptedidooda yiptedijahey, my oh my what a wonderful day
Current mood: excited
Category: Travel and Places
Just a short blog for now. Those who liked my travel stories and pics, hold on to your seats, from 20th of April I'll be flying back to Singapore, to pick up the Misses and dive into a new adventure of trvalling and mixing at parties abroad.
Since Greenspirit festival in Thailand last Newyear, some doors opened for me. Got some once in a lifetime opportunities that I don't want to let go. Mixing music and spending some time with the sweetest angel I know, Marilyn. It's already getting really exciting, the first tickets are booked now, now waiting for the Working and Holliday Visa in Oz and all should be ok to start right... So, for the last few weeks that I'll be spending here, I'll have heaps of work to do to arrange all stuff to leave in peace and go for an adventure of a year.
And don't worry, I'm thinking of organising a special goodbye party with the Kairoo family, or will it be a farewell party? Well, we'll see :)
After our nice stay in Singapore we arrived in Krabi gain. So, we went immediately for the Cashewnut guesthouse, with the extremely friendly muslim family. Their hospitality has no limits, because their bungalows where full, we could sleep for a night in the house of the owner's brother. I was really touched by this. We decided not to stay too long in Krabi, so one day of sightseeing with the motorbike before we went off further south. We got the advise to go to Koh Lipe, a nice and quiet island very close to Malaysia. So, why not check it out? After one hell of a ride and an old lady who tried to rip us off with her way too expensive services for boatconnections and money exchange (but she didn't succed, old bat) we arrived at the Pakbara Port, therefrom leaves the boat to Lipe. I didn't know where we would be heading to, a new place where it seems to be one of the most quiet places of Thailand. The boattrip was about 3 hours to go there, we passed maybe 50 small islands, there were so many little paradises around... Very nice to see. Once we arrived at Lipe, we noticed there was no port, so we got picked up by longtails in the middle of the sea. Wonderful, it seems that there even wasn't electricity during the day, only for a few houses. By the time we put a foot on shore and sat down for a nice and cold beer, a certain Keoh came to greet us. "Welcome to thailand, we only smoke and drink all day long" And he was damn right, the whole island was such a relaxing place to be. We spent most of the day just hanging around, enjoying the weather, smoking a bit, and explore the tiny island. And tiny it was, to pass it from the southern beach to the northern, it was only a 10 minute walk. This really is the palce to be when it comes to relaxing, there was slightly too much tourism to see. At the beach there were only tourists wandering around, even Kairon was there (check the pics) We were so damn surprised :) Well, there isn't much to say about this relaxing week at Lipe. It was really all Shanti shanti...
After a good chilling out after the festival we went off to Singapore. The country where almost everything is illegal, even chewing gum
I had one of the most frightening landings ever there. Well, actually I'm always afraid of landing with a plane, but this was really bumpy. The weather wasn't really good, lots of rain, but the temperatures were good. First we had a very warm welcome at Marilyns place by Rahul and Neena. Two wonderful people.
At first our plan of getting a tattoo was planned to be done in Koh Samui, but we couldn't make it. So we went to Visual Orgasm. Visual Orgasm portfolio
Wout could go immdeiately under the needle, Marilyn and I were for the next day. So we could still think a bit about the design. Becasue of all the tattooing, we didn't get much to see of the country in the first days. Only the heaps of eathouses and shopping malls with their extremely cold aircon. You really need a jacket there if you don't want to get sick. On friday we went to the famous Zouk club, a really nicely decorated club. It's like a perfect mix of Fuse and Larocca. We partied a bit there, but I didn't want to too far in it. The day after was the Omproject party at Home club, I really wanted to be in shape for that one. Seems that the psyscene is very young in Singapore, not many parties, not many freaks. But that changed since my set I guess. (don't have pics available at the moment, but will get them online very soon!) Home club, it's an underground club. When thinking of an underground club, I always think of some dodgy neighbourhood. But here is everything so clean, no dodgy neighbourhoods to find. No prob, but it's so funny to see how clean every single corner is in this country. Probably the cleanest place where I've ever been. Lots of countries can learn something from it. At Home, there were already some people partying, first played Rudi. One of the wonderful people I've met during this trip. He played some nice tracks and projected loads of positive energy on the dancefloor. After him played Ann, his style was more intence. Not really my style, but well selected tracks. Then it was my turn. At first there waren't many people on the dancefloor, but after 2 tracks the whole place was packed with people. Each and every one of them was freakin'. Got so much energy from the crowd and gave them my part in return. Track after track I let them go under in a whirlpool of psychedelic sounds, rocking the place! Thank you all for this experience! I loved playing there, and hope to get this opportunity soon again!
On monday we decided to go and ride a bike on one of the small islands around Singapore. We went to one of the last untouched places, there still was nature. No buildings or anything industrial. At the island was a small temple, like many others, dedicated to a German girl who's been living there. She died after falling on a rock, then the people decided to build a temple for her. In stead of putting some statue of a god in it, they put a barbie doll with long dark hair in it.
I can say that here I made some really special friends, and found the most special person in my life. My aim will be to get as fast as possible out of Belgium and meet up with her to explore the world. Heavy siol!
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