Finally doing what I came here to do!!

Dear family and friends,

The last time I wrote to you was still in Cambodia. I just arrived in Phnom Penh, the captital. I chilled their for a few days before I left to Siem Riep, which is known for its huge amount of temples and other archeological sites. It is the national pride of the Cambodians, what is definitely understandable because it is a stunning place. The temples with its inscriptions of female dancers and warriors, the huge trees that has found its way between the rocks and stones, it is just magical.
Siem Riep was also the place where I has my first yoga lesson. After not having done any sports since I started traveling, that was definitely a good energy boost.

From Siem Riep I went straight towards Sihanoukville, which is all the way in the south of Cambodia. I had the plan to make a few stops at interesting places on the way, but because of a friend that was dealing with a time limit and therefore was not able to make those stops, I decided to go with him. Sometimes you have to priorities and make choices. We cannot always have everything we want :)

Sihanoukville is famous for its beaches and it is quite known as a party place. But if the weather is rainy then Sihanoukville loses its charisma and their is actually not much to do besides going to the beach.
After my friend left I stayed a few days on an island called Koh Ru, also known as the Bamboo Island. I stayed at the side of the island which was totally deserted. The guesthouse with a handfull of bungalows was actually not even open, but through a local contact I could stay there as long as I wanted with no money charged. Pretty awesome! There were a bung of guys maintaining the place for high season. They made me feel really relaxed and welcome. On the island it was the first time the sky was full of bright stars. Because of the rainy season it can be pretty clouded and you will see no stars. Shame, cause I love to watch the stars at night.
After a few days on the island I went back to mainland. With the bus I left to Kampot, only two hours drive from Sihanoukville. It is a charming little town. On the back of a motorcycle I checked out a nearby cave (with the help of local kids I was able to do some crazy climbing), a pepper plantation and Kep; a beautiful small seaside town with still lots of French characteristics left from the kolonisation time.

After Kampot I had to go back to Phnom Penh. My visa was close to getting expired and I still had to arrange a visa to India. Yep, I decided to go to India instead of Vietnam. There are a couple of reasons for that.
First and the most important one is a dream and wish that I have for as long as I can remember. I always wanted to do an intensive course in some kind of physical activity and become a master in that. Before I left traveling I decided that this physical activity was going to be yoga (which form I did not know yet) because I truely belief in its power of gaining a healthy body and mind. I havent done any of that since Im traveling. I actually have been doing totally the opposite. I have been drinking, I have even started smoking full time again after quiting for four years. I had lots of fun and I would not trade it for the world, but this way of traveling was not what my hart said I really wanted to do. So I decided to skip Vietnam and go straight to India, cause Vietnam is not the right place for practising yoga, India is!!

The second reason why I decided to skip Vietnam is because of all the bad stories I heard from fellow travelers. You wont belief what kind of things I heard. Most of them were about locals being very rude, scams, agression and so on. Especially in the north of Vietnam. Allthough I belief that you have to see first with your own eyes before judging, these bad experiences from all different kind of travelers helped me to make my decision to skip Vietnam a bit easier.

It took me four days to obtain a six months visa for India. I arranged a bus to Bangkok and from their on I would fly to New Delhi. I was so excited and nervous at the same time. I knew it was going to be intense.

On saturday 17th of september I flew to Delhi. I feel very fortunate that I met Nicolas from France on the plane. We arrived 11 o'clock at night, which I dont think is a good time for a girl to be alone in a big city like Delhi. So Nicolas and I worked together and found a guesthouse where we could stay.
My first impressions were smelly, dirty, creapy man, reckless cab drivers and untrustworthy. Even the next day when the sun was shining, I still felt the same. I had to leave this place quickly!

I booked a bus ticket to Rishikesh; 'the yoga capital of the world'. As soon as I arrived I started to search for the right yoga school for me. Because their is so much on offer, with many being to expensive and not even good, you really need to search hard.

I think I got lucky or maybe it is meant to be , cause I found a great one. It is a bit outside the center and its not actually even a school. It is just one man with a yoga hall. I think he is somewhere in his sixties, but you wont belief how young his body still is and what he is capable of. Unbeliefable!
He is a real master in yoga; exactly what I was looking for. Im also renting my own stay at the yoga hal, which has a bedroom, kitchen and bathroom, all for 150 rupees. That is like a bit more then two euros.

I will tell you what my day (seven days a week) looks like:

06.30                wake u

07.30 - 09.00    yoga exercises

09.00 - 10.00    breathing and meditation

10.00 - 17.00    the idea is that you keep yourself busy with making your own breakfast and lunch (main course which should be eaten before 14.00), buying grosseries etc.

17.00 - 18.30    yoga exercises

18.30 - 22.00    light dinner, some reading etc and then go to bed

The yoga system is all about routine, what I definitely appreciate after two months unregular lifestyle.
Im planning to stay in Rishkesh for minimum a month. Im enjoying yoga so much, the teacher is great, the town is really awesome; it is completely vegetarian (selling meat is even illegal), there is hardly no alcohol, you have the share the streets with lots of cows (cow shit), monkeys, donkeys and fireflies. I can amagine staying here for a while.

It was again great sharing my story with you guys.

Ohh btw, I have an Indian phone number. Im switching sim cards all the time (during midday = Indian, during nighttime = Dutch sim card). A bit annoying but okay ;)
You can always reach me on my Dutch number by text, but just to be sure here you have my Indian number as well: +91 97 18 03 77 12.

Take care everybody.

xx Liekachu