(these pictures are taken with my iPhone because I forgot my camera, hence the quality)
Are you an Easter fan? I never really was. I didn’t like chocolate, eggs or bunnies when I was younger, so there wasn’t a whole lot for me to like about it.
Nick and I normally don’t ‘do’ Easter. But this year we figured we might as well enjoy it. And we did. We had such an incredible day. I wish for many many more days like this Easter. We spent the day strolling around a design/art and a food market in Amsterdam, where we had delicious homemade hotdogs and drank locally brewed beers. I even got a sunburn. Can you believe it? It’s only freakin’ April and I got a sunburn!
Looking back, I can’t tell you exactly why we had such an amazing time. Was it all the beer we drank? Was it the sun? Or was it all the delicious food? (look at me eating those nacho’s). All I know is I wish it was Easter every month!
How was your Easter?
After a month and a half-long hiatus, we’re back! And we’re so glad to be back! What have you been up to this last few weeks?
In the time we were gone, we: moved twice, lived in a tiny attic above a store with no door or bathroom, celebrated Christmas twice, drank champagne on New Year’s Eve, both worked two full-time jobs, painted most of our new house, are trying to decorate our new home and we’ve even been trying to squeeze in some hours of sleep here and there.
We’re not done, not even close and this storm we’re in, it’s not calming down any time soon. But we’ve found balance together within this storm and I quite like it. It’s been windless for far too long.
There is so much we want to share with all of you, but for now we’ll keep it short. Happy New Year, we’ve missed you and we’re hoping to connect with you soon!
Have you ever been apple picking? This Saturday was my first time and I had so much fun. We took our bikes to the orchard, which is really close to our house.
We were handed a box which we could fill up and fill it up we did. We haven’t been out much the last week and we made sure to soak up every bit of sunlight.
At times it feels like I’m always working. I do this to myself. Because if I relax, work will never get finished. But when I take a break, pick some apples and relax. I suddenly remember why I need to relax. I need to refuel my creative mind and sometimes all it takes to have some new ideas is to get away from it all.
What did you do this weekend?
(big thanks to Nick’s sister for taking some really great pictures of us together!)
We had such a great time in Cameron Highlands. We needed to refuel our energy, breathe in some fresh air and get a good fix of nature before committing to Kuala Lumpur for a month and a half. Plus Cameron Highlands has relatively low temperatures which is great after half a year of Asia’s humid hotness.
There is so much to see and do in Cameron Highlands, our highlights were visiting tea plantations, strawberry fields, cacti, bee farms, millipedes (they are my worst fear together with caterpillars), frogs, turtles, butterflies, spiders and a lot of jungle.
Tea and me are best friends and we have been so for years now. It’s the first thing I drink when I wake up and the last thing before I go to sleep. Seeing how tea is grown and processed was great. The tea factory filled the air of the surrounding area with a scent of a flowery black tea, it’s the only thing you smell when arriving at the plantation. I stole a tea leave and I’m drying it between some books so I can hang it on the wall of the house we one day hope to live in.
Not before long we had seen all we wanted to see in Cameron Highlands and we made our way to Kuala Lumpur where we still are now.
So far Kuala Lumpur has been great, our creative juices are flowing. We are creating, inventing, thinking, discussing and dreaming all day long. Work has never been this good. We are finishing up projects and starting new ones and we are doing what we love. Everything has been so well. Until yesterday.
We like to think we are positive and happy people and nothing will get us down. Until something happens. We go from ‘don’t worry be happy’ to ‘when life gives you lemons, you sit and sulk at the bus-stop’. We had just found out Nick’s MacBook needed to be repaired and he won’t be able to use it for about a week. A week! In the busiest month of our lives. We have clients piling up, projects to finish, projects to start
We left the shop quite upset and sat down at the bus-stop. There was an old man waiting. Not wanting to talk because we were to busy feeling sorry for ourselves, we didn’t say anything to him. He didn’t care and started to talk to us about where we wanted to go and which buses we had to take, what was the best place to exchange Euro’s, and where to go for shopping.
He stopped every bus and asked if it was going to our destination anyway, even though he could tell us exactly which bus we had to take. When our bus arrived he got on the bus with us and paid our bus-tickets before we could politely refuse. We were in shock. This is the greatest random act of kindness we have ever experienced and even though it was only 1RM (about €0,25) bus-tickets it meant the world to us.
Has it ever felt like a stranger knew exactly how you were feeling and went out of their way to make you happy again?
I love traveling, but today I just want to go home and drink tea with my mum in the living room I grew up in and not worry about anything. Instead I’m in Bangkok, working. Our family dog has been getting older for a while now and today my mum will take him for his last walk to the vet. It hurts not being there to say goodbye.
Thinking about Hoi An reminds me of why I’m traveling and why I love it so much. One of the reasons we left everything behind and are so far away from our native country is to find a new place to call home. Even though we already know it’s not going to be in Southeast Asia, if it would, it would be Hoi An. Hoi An made us feel at home.
We fell deeply in love with Hoi An. We loved its streets, its beaches and even its touts couldn’t bother us as much as they do elsewhere. Of all South-East Asia’s countries Vietnam has a special place in our hearts and Hoi An is one of the reasons.
Hearing the news about my mum’s dog made me think about our own dog. Nick and I got a dog only two months after we met. Zena was a stray dog and it was love at first sight. She is currently on an extended sleepover at Nick’s father and she is having the time of her life. Still, I wish she was here today.
Editing Hoi An’s photo’s couldn’t have come at a better time. Seeing them cheered me up, remembering our great time there.
