my fab life in windhoek :)

hello people back home :)

how u doing? how's the weather back there today? i've been told that it's cold and rainy. well here in windhoek the weather is just great!! today 25+ degrees, sunny. lovely weather. so first i spent the morning in the sun next to the pool in the guesthouse, and then i went to windhoek's vondelpark (ok, the park is like 100 times smaller than vondelpark in amsterdam but the idea is the same: park in the city center with nice restaurants) and had a very nice lunch there. sighhhhh, life is GREAT :)

so what's up?? nothing really exciting happened to me last week... i wake up, go to the office and then back home. i've been working for 2 weeks now so i can tell u all about my daily routine. bottom line, i really enjoy it here, i'm learning a lot, and i'm having a lot of FUN too :)

i wake up every morning at 7-ish. i'm usually awake before my alarm on my mobile goes off. i technically force myself to wake up before the alarm goes off cos i've got a highly annoying alarm. i can't change it so i try to avoid that the damn tone gets stuck in my head for the rest of the day...

first stop toilet. since i've no en suite facilities i have to go outside to go to the toilet (outside as in to walk outside, not as in bush toilets)... three whole steps does it take from my room to get there. i open the door and that's also the moment that i wake up all other guests on the premises. the toilet door is squeaky as hell!! the door desperately needs some oil!

next stop bathroom. located 2 steps from the toilets. there's running water (real running water, A LOT), and also warm water. so i take my time in the morning, causing a huge queue ;) then breakfast time. 5 steps from the bathroom to the dining room. breakfast, that's usually toasted bread (i don't trust the bread here. i only eat fresh bread, as in REALLY fresh bread. dry, old bread tastes good again after a few minutes in the toaster), tea, AND carrot cake for me. yes carrot cake. they have carrot cake here every morning and it is DELICIOUS man! i take a piece every morning :) so sebas if u read this, we have some serious work out to do when i get back ;)

then to the office. there's no public transport in windhoek and it's 5 kms from my place to the office. so to get there, i take a taxi. that's what i call an adventure. there are lots of taxis here so it's no problem to hail one. the taxis here are old and small, with music playing loud, and not very reliable looking drivers either ;) also, u share the taxi with others so it remains to be seen how and when u get to your destination... but no worries, so far so good :)

the office is a small room. there are 3 people working there (incl myself), C managing director, and E tour guide. the work i'm doing is really useful and interesting. right now i'm busy with search engine optimalisation for the company.

go back home at 5-ish. same exciting ride with taxi. back home chilling a bit, sometimes to the supermarket to get some things for dinner. then cooking. usually some frozen veggies with rice or pasta. easy. after dinner i go back to my room and read my book or play with the DS (big brain academy is highly addictive man! plus, i've already got F-O-U-R platinum medals!!), and then off to bed...

so this is my daily routine. similar to my routine back home (wake up-work-bed) but in a very different setting. what i miss most is my social life. there isn't much to do in the evening so i go to bed very early. sometimes i go out for dinner with other guests or with C... BUT, i discovered the TV this afternoon! YAY! i did notice the TV room but never been there. today, after i got back from the park, i switched on the TV and guess what was on TV? grey's anatomy!! i haven't watched TV for like a month and the first thing i see when i turn on the TV is GA! and also an episode i haven't watched yet. fantastic! i've seen that there are more cool TV shows so my evenings are booked from now :)

gotta go, they're closing this place. until next time!

p.s. no still no pics. still haven't found a place where i can insert my memory card... haven't been looking either i have to say...

p.p.s. good to know that mr laptop is still alive. i'm missing him big time. please take good care of him... :)

p.p.p.s tonny-boy, there are no tigers here so can't get u one, sorry :)

p.p.p.p.s ferry, :) ;) :P

so far so good :)

hello folks,

here i'm again :) well i know that u are all dying to see some pics but unfortunately that's not going to happen. at least not today. i found a internet cafe but this place doesn't allow me to use memory sticks/cards. so u just have to be a lil bit more patient :)

so bet u wanna know all about my 10 day trip. well, it was FAB!! for 10 days i've been living like a princess. i've been to the most beautiful places in namibia, slept in the most luxery lodges, and had the most delicious meals u can EVER imagine :) the only thing i had to worry about was to worry about nothing ;) it's such a shame that i can't upload the pics, u'd be soooo jealous hehe :)

the safari tour was like a private tour cos there were only 4 of us. S & D from the states, our tour guide R, and me. so we started the tour with 2 days in etosha NP... we went on a game drive and animals we've seen include springboks, steenboks, oryxes, wildebeasts, impalas, elephants, rhinos, zebras, giraffes, ostriches, and many many other birds. springboks and zebras are seen everywhere and anywhere. they're like kangaroos in aussie or sheep in NZ. unfortunately we didn't see simba, mufasa, or nala. they were hiding from us :( it's a bit difficult to spot animals during the wet season since they can be anywhere and don't have to come to waterholes for water. so yeah, such a shame we didn't see lions... but this doesn't mean that they weren't around cos i could hear them loud and clear from my tent in the middle of the night, and again during breakfast. so yeah, they were definitely around ;)

after etosha we drove further up north to palmwag and hoanib. to get there was extremely difficult. the main road has been washed away by the rain so we had to take the back back baaaack road to get there. it was travelling at 20 km/h max and i can tell you from my bruises that the ride was extremely bumpy... and also we got stuck. in the mud. yeah u go on a guided tour and think that nothing could happen to u... well not so true. we got stuck very badly. we were driving in the river bed (it's okay to drive there in the dry season but not when it's wet and muddy obviously) when we got stuck. we were very close to the camp (u could see it) but R couldn't find the way up since the road has been completely washed away... so we went back and forth, up and down the river, trying to find our way and then it happened. stuck. great. so we called the camp via radio (thank god we had radio on board cos there is no cellphone reception in the middle of nowhere) and the camp people came to rescue us. it took them like like 3 hours to pull the landrover out but we reached the camp, eventually... siiiiiiiigh...

but this place (hoanib) is beautiful man! so remote, so desolate, so peaceful, so quiet. we were the only one in the camp. the view from my tent was absolutely amazing. also R, C (guide at camp) and me went mountain climbing (not as in real mountain/rock climbing but we did climb the mountain) and the view on top was just STUNNING! absolutely one of the highlights of the tour :)

another highlight of the tour was kayaking in walvis bay and the sanddunes in sossusvlei. we went kayaking in the lagoon of the ocean with seals and dolphins!! how cool was that!! the seals and dolphins were like everywhere. anyway, i was paddling like mad to keep track of them. and apparently i was too enthusiastic cos i got seasick. it was disgusting i can tell ya. the waves were high but i didn't notice them cos i was too busy following the dolphins. so the last part wasn't very enjoyable for me...

sanddunes, another favourite. the dunes are like 300m high and beautifully shaped. S and i climbed one of the dunes which was very very cool! we also saw the sunset and sunrise over the dunes. again, very impressive.

so now i'm back in windhoek. very different than what i had experienced during the safari tour. spacious and beautifully decorated rooms have turned into a small single room with no en suite facilities, delicious meals have turned into quick meals, beautiful and remote areas have become busy places filled with people and cars. no more quietness or animals... but this place isn't bad at all!! yeah my room is small but not smaller than my room in the netherlands, and my bed is is super SUPER comfy. i have to 'cook' my own meals but i can buy everything in the big supermarket around the corner. i have everything i need, so don't worry, i'll survive my 2 months here hehehe.

okay gotta go now. time's running out. see ya next time. i do have internet in my guesthouse but it's extremely slow so i only use it to check emails. but i do have access to fast internet at the office so i can secretly do some stuff during office hours as well ;)

see ya next time!

p.s. could u please tell me what's happening in the netherlands? weather, politics? i update u about my life here and u update me about things in the netherlands. deal. what happened to the geert wilders movie anyway?