Its amazing going from asia to europe. I flew into Amsterdam from Bangkok. What an absolude contrast! I have never seen anything like it, there are bicycles everywhere! It seems like there are more bikes here than people. My first day here, the weather was incredible. Absolutely stunning and really sunny. It was quite a nice welcome to Europe. Everyone was telling me all day, “you are so lucky with the weather!” I had nothing to compare it to, but it sure was nice.

I managed to buy a nice jacket at the second hand store for 7.50 euro which I thought wasn’t bad at all. My friend Aaliyah picked me up from the airport and took me out to the beach in the Hague which was an incredibly beautiful place. I am amazed at all the different styles of buildings here. They are so different from back home. It is like being in another world. A lot of brick work and funky designs. I can’t wait to see some of the older buildings here. I also can’t get over How flat it is here! The entire country is completely flat! They must save on gas here.

I stayed in Utrecht for a couple of days with Aaliyah, it is such a nice city! Small and not so busy. Again, plenty of bicycles. But a beautiful european city, with cobble stone roads and old brick buildings.

Matt flew in from London to Amsterdam to catch up with me and to celebrate kings day. It was so good to see him again after 6 months traveling in different directions. We stayed together in Amsterdam with Romy, (our friend we met her back in Vietnam), so it was like a reunion of the good old day! Kings day is celebrated once a year on the 27th of April. It was such a lively event. Families were out on the street, markets set up all over the city and in other cities. Smiling faces everywhere. We went to a hip hop festival that was free in the north of Amsterdam which was actually really good! The sun was shining and people were happy.

And the aftermath of Kings day

I think I am still trying to transition into a very different way of life and a different way to travel here in Europe. It is quite different meeting people when you are on holiday and everyone else is work. I almost feel like i should start working! I have really missed it. Especially in recent months. I feel like building something!