Ourwalkabout.nl is a blog about the world trip Michiel de Wit and Judica Wondergem are making in 2010.


24 ° 20 'N, 109 ° 25' E
22 March 2010, 15:18

Travelers are

Twenty-five days on the road. Judica and I have become travelers. Never was I so long to travel. Tonight for the first time I listen to music on my MP3 player. I'm not bored, there is always something here and if there is nothing going on is that on purpose to rest.

Outside shooting landscapes beyond. Now dark, earlier still lit by a sun that the past day has become warmer. We cross the Tropic of Cancer and occur in subtropical area. Everything changes, while there remains much the same.

Beside me is my backpack. My house. Now I know the way home. I toil with more than when I left the Netherlands. A new pair of pants from Beijing, a few t-shirts. Along the way I have three pins collected, one with the proud face of the great Khan, some stars and a palace on red from China and a stately building from Irkutsk. But not everything has survived. A thermometer had to stay behind because he plengde red tears and my brown pants have accidentally exit a not-so-sexy open crotch received.

Life was so far according to table. Arriving that delivers what stress. You look away. Where can we buy food? Where can we go in the evening eat something? What is fun? Cities are easy. Now we travel through to Vietnam. For now we shun the cities a little, because stadsmoe. But in cities speak English, everything is safe and easy. Outside is the hands-and-footwork. We love our picture dictionary ready.

This afternoon we apparently eaten duck. It was a bit tough, but certainly looked appetizing. I initially thought some kind of beef to the dish to have see it. We had no idea what to order and so essentially anything with someone. Interesting sensation. It was tasty, but knowing what it was I had never ordered. In Vietnam, they eat everything. Almost literally. Some species are even threatened by the Vietnamese appetite.

Another hour or three before our train stop in Nanning. We are ready to leave China. Vietnam beckons. But we have not gone. Travellers should own their transportation concerns. How are we in Vietnam? The train, probably. But there are not buses? Perhaps that is cheaper? How long does a bus left? Comfort? Yet the train but do then? $ 35 is not much for a train journey. What is the way our daily budget? Are we not too expensive? But alas, today we have only six were spent, so that's still good? All these questions.

Our Chinese companion snores. Many people snore. As people get closer to your ear to sleep, they snore louder. This is the rule. Luckily I have earplugs with me. Train Banks also do not really sleep well, so much sleep is wrong by a sawmill not really. A few songs and then listen to yourself go a little over one ear. We are travelers.


39 ° 54 'N, 116 ° 19' E
22 March 2010, 12:07

The largest train station in Asia

Minor trauma last night. Large building. Very large building. Last night at 18:46 you left our train from Nanning to Beijing West (south China). We had no idea that Beijing West would be greater than the central station. In fact, we did not expect the largest train station across Asia trap. It was an impressive experience. Armed with only a departure time and train number (T189) we find in the immense departure. It felt more like an airport than a train station, to be honest.

Anyway, we hit the big screen. Four columns of train numbers and times gave the state of affairs for the next few hours again. Although we had plenty of time, our train was already in the first column. Apart from 'T189' and '18: 46 'we recognized among all the Chinese symbols nothing more than a '9'. No idea where to hit. Perron, we thought? But the station was no indication of platforms to see only 'waiting rooms'. On 9 than waiting for it.

Waiting Room 9 did not mean a departure hall at Schiphol. 8 rows of seats and loads of people, all packed like they wanted to go long journey. Further along the walls, stalls with food and drink. Except for a men's and ladies' room we found to our vberbazing also a 'boiler room' where people could prepare noodles. We ended dutifully but in what seemed a row for train T189. Because thank God, our train was on a number of the four billboards in the hall mentioned.

After half an hour of waiting we were surprised by males in red. In the hope that wiser, we showed them our train tickets. Immediately they enthusiastically motioned us to walk. My bag was, after a few grunting sounds of surprise at the weight on the shoulder of one of the males helped. At the entrance of the hall were the bags placed on a cart and raced to a desk. We ran behind our luggage tense: what will they do? At the desk we had two 'tokens', as you also a cloakroom would get in exchange for 10 yuan. No idea what the plan was continued, we walked - fearful that our bags with clothes and food in a baggage car would disappear - back to the male.

What happened next was truly amazing: we shot somewhere a door and thus end up in a long gallery above the tracks. Many trace. The red man was easy to get to the platform with our train and stopped the cart at the top of the long staircase. We had to give back the tokens. I was looking for a lift or a sign that we are our bags on our backs had lifted, when the male (only 70 pounds) to the weighty cart along a narrow slope slid down the stairs. He had all his weight into the throw and employ approximately 45 degrees lean back to the cart to restrain. It seemed impossible.

Arrived unscathed raced down we go to our car, where we - after all the commotion finally assured - boarded the train. Our 4-seater coupe was empty. Only a few hours later (when we were all under the covers) were added at two Chinese. The oldest of the two (Niu) spoke a few words of English and gave us most of the day occupied. He showed me Chinese wine tasting (wine nothing, just booze!) And we tried a few simple things to explain, including the fact that our train has been delayed two hours apparently, somewhere tonight. The arrival of the train, according to the timetable half past eleven at night, but this is now somewhere in the middle of the night. That will be a short night ...