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Supermarkets near Dreamville, Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland Stage

We’ve been working at Tomorrowland (Global journey helpdesk @ Dreamville) the past 6 years and the single most asked question from people at Dreamville is: “where is the nearest supermarket outside of Dreamville?“.

Of course, we know that there is a supermarket inside Dreamville but there are a few smaller issues with it:

  • It’s more expensive than a normal supermarket (due to costs for cooling, transport, etc.)
  • There is often a huge queue.
  • Where is the alcohol?

Closest supermarket

In general, the closest (big) supermarket is Carrefour (Molenstraat 83, 2841 Rumst). They tend to stock up daily with the necessary goods (breakfast, drinks, ice cubes, and alcohol). It’s about 15 walking from Rainbow 1. Starting at rainbow 2 it’ll be closer to 20 minutes walking.

Disclaimer: these time indications are dependent on the amount of alcohol in your blood.

Carrefour Dreamville Tomorrowland

Open the image via Bettertraveltogether.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/dreamville-carrefour-tomorrowland.jpg.

Other options

  • In Boom, there is an Aldi (Kerkhofstraat 385, 2850 Boom). It’s a cheaper store and tends to sell out less fast than Carrefour. From Rainbow 1 it’s 20 minutes walking.
    Just head towards the festival and instead of entering the festival turn right about 100 meters before the entrance of the festival (ask someone for Aldi and they’ll tell you how to get in that street [Dirkputstraat] if you can’t find it).
  • In Boom, there’s a Colruyt as well (the biggest supermarket) in the Papensteenstraat 1, 2850 Boom. To get here you’ll have to walk 15 extra minutes from Aldi. That is a total of 70 minutes (back and forth). Only do this if the urge for alcohol is really too big. You could also grab a taxi from Rainbow 2, but that might get expensive.
  • Finally, there are some people (locals and bars) selling breakfast in the streets around Dreamville. Just stroll around a bit and you can find a good (and healthier) breakfast for around €10. Café Den Bierstal is the closest bar to rainbow 1 that I know that sells breakfast.

Keep in mind / FAQ

  • You can’t enter Dreamville with glass bottles, so don’t forget to bring plastic bottles if you plan to buy alcohol in the supermarket.
  • Last year you could buy a bag of ice cubes at Carrefour for €5/bag. They sold out fast.

Got any question about Tomorrowland or Dreamville? Let us know in the comments below!

2 weeks Bangladesh itinerary

Tea plantation

We ended our 6 weeks in India in the Sundarbans. A region shared with Bangladesh. We’d never thought of it before, but we thought: why not visit Bangladesh?

Before we knew it, we were on the plane that took us to the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka.

Definitely our craziest adventure so far! If you’ve ever been to India, add a huge language barrier and some dirt to your memories and there you have it.

Before we tell you our itinerary, we have to be very clear. We really recommend you to consider booking a tour in Bangladesh as this country is not ready for tourists, yet.

Just a few people speak (decent) English and English signage is basically non-existing. It’s very hard to find decent information online to guide yourself through this complicated but extremely beautiful country.

Fact: the reason there’s so little information online about Bangladesh, is because it’s really hard to get a VISA card for the people of Bangladesh. The money needed to get accepted for a card is too high. For that reason, they can’t buy any stuff online (like a domain name or web hosting). Most companies only have a Facebook page (or group).

A local guide who speaks Bengali will definitely make it easier to enjoy Bangladesh.

We spent 2 days with Jahid from Sreemangal Tours in Sree Mangal and these were without a doubt the 2 best days of our entire Bangladesh adventure.

3 people on 1 bike, what could possibly be a better experience?

We are in no way affiliated with him, he doesn’t even know yet we’re mentioning him.

Be aware: Bangladesh is a very cheap country, however, accommodation is a lot more expensive than in other Asian countries. If you want something decent and clean you pay at least 25-30 dollars/night for a private room.

Because there’s not much tourism (and thus competition), hotel owners just ask however much they want to charge.

General information about Bangladesh

Location

Bangladesh is located in South Asia. It is surrounded by a small border with Myanmar, the Bay of Bengal lies to the south and it borders India on the other three sides.

Currency

Taka (Tk)

Language

Bengali

Bengali vs Bangladeshi

Bengali is not only the word for the language, it is also an ethnicity. Bangladeshi is the nationality.

Bengalis are Indians as well as Bangladeshis. The difference is a Bengali from India can be a Hindu (70%) or Muslim (30%) while Bengalis from Bangladesh are 90% Muslims. Only 8% are Hindus and 1% are Christians and Buddhists.

Bengali culture has strong Hindu influence. Bangladeshi culture is a mixed culture of both Hindu and Muslim culture.

Visa

Citizens of the European Union, USA, Russia, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Singapore, and some other Asian countries can get 30 days visa on arrival.

The visa is quite expensive at 51 USD each.

Best time to travel to Bangladesh

October to March: the weather is cool and comfortable. There won’t be any rain then.

July to September: the full monsoon takes place. Hot weather cooled down by occasional monsoon rain. The country is at its most beautiful. The countryside is very green and the rivers are in full flow.

Itinerary

We’ve spent 2 weeks in Bangladesh. We chose to do the eastern side of the country, as we had already visited the Sundarbans in India. Otherwise, we would definitely stay a week more and include the Sundarbans on this trip.

Dhaka

Length of stay:  3 days
Where we stayed: Hotel Shalimar Intl., the cheapest option we could find in Dhaka. It was a decent hotel, no luxury but clean and quiet. The biggest plus is the location: very close to the train station and most busses.
How we got there: We took a flight from Kolkata (India) to Dhaka. This is the easiest option if you need a visa on arrival.

What to do in Dhaka:

  • Shopping at New Market (clothes, shoes, scarves,…)
  • Visit Lalbagh Fort, the most beautiful and quiet place in the entire city. Be prepared, in Dhaka traffic is worse than in New Delhi or Mumbai (India).
  • Walk next to the river. You can see all of the dirt and rubbish of Dhaka being organised and recycled. There are literally mountains with smelly dirt all over the capital. Impressive and perhaps even life-changing.
  • Take a ride through Dhaka with a riksja or a tuk-tuk.
  • We ate at a local restaurant close to the train station, we don’t even know the name (as we couldn’t read it) but they had the best Chapatti ever!

Also, Yentl’s worst experience in the last 7 months happened in Dhaka! You can read about it in our 7 months around the world trip blog post.

Sylhet

Length of stay:  3 days
Where we stayed: Farmis Garden. We chose this one because of the location and free breakfast. The first room they gave us had no working shower, so they immediately upgraded us to another room.
How we got there: We took a bus from Dhaka to Sylhet.

What to do in Sylhet:

We walked around the city, enjoyed the shopping street and visited the mosque. The mosque is truely beautiful and there are lots of locals around during the day. We ate some street food in the shopping street which was really good as well.

Sreemangal / Sri Mongol

Length of stay: 3 days
Where we stayed: Merina Hotel, a new hotel in the main street in Sreemangal. 1 or 2 guys in the hotel knew a few words in English, but the check-in was smooth.
How we got there: We took a bus from Sylhet to Sreemangal, which we found thanks to our tuk-tuk driver who spoke a few words English (literally “bus Sreemangal where?”).

What to do in Sreemangal:

  • Walk around the village, visit the local market and the shopping street. You can even walk on the train tracks, even when the train arrives (slowly ;)).
  • When we were in Sreemangal, it was the last day of Punja Durga so there were a lot of festivities and processions.
  • By coincidence, we crossed Jahid from Sreemangal Tours on the street. We were glad we met him because he spoke really good English and showed us the beauty of Bangladesh. The next day we did a tour through the tea plantations from Sreemangal with his motorbike, and this was the best experience we had. (Note: we were sitting with 3 on his motorbike, he also suggested taking a tuk-tuk for the day). Afterwards, we ate a delicious dinner at his house and he gave us some more tips about Bangladesh for the next days. Check our recommendations at the end of this blog post.
  • Drink the famous seven-layer tea.

Cox’s Bazar

Length of stay: 3 days
Where we stayed: Iqra beach hotel. Nice and clean hotel, but they do not speak English 🙂
How we got there: We took a night bus from Sreemangal to Chittagong, and from there another bus to Cox’s Bazar.

What to do in Cox’s Bazar:

  • Cox’s Bazar has the longest natural beach in the world (125 km). This is, of course, the main attraction. Don’t expect that you’ll be lying on the beach in your bikini, this is still a strict Muslim country. Expect a lot of Bengali people in one place and tiptoe your feet in the water.
  • We visited Maheshkhali Island close to Cox’s Bazar, which was cute, and not really touristy. Expect a real local island with lots of people who never saw tourists. In Cox’s Bazar, we were lucky we found an English speaking local who helped us with the speedboat to the island as it wasn’t 100% clear where we had to be (as we didn’t want a private speed boat).

Tips & tricks for travel in Bangladesh

  • For women, always wear long pants and sleeves. You are in a strict Muslim country.
  • Consider booking a tour before going to Bangladesh.
  • Learn the numbers before you come to Bangladesh. They use another script in Bangladesh. For example, an 8 is a 4 and a 7 is a 9…

Other recommendations

As stated in the intro, we do recommend you to book a tour in Bangladesh since this country is not ready for tourists, yet. But you can, of course, enjoy this stunning country without a tour guide as well.

Our recommendations for Bangladesh, based on the suggestions of the few locals that could actually respond in English:

  • Barisal (floating markets at the Ganges delta)
  • Sundarbans (largest mangrove forest in the world) – we did the Indian part.
  • Bagerhat (15th-century Muslim city, sixty dome mosque)
  • Sylhet region (tribal villages Jaflong, Lalakhal canal)
  • Chittagong (ship-breaking yard, a graveyard for old ships)
  • Chittagong hill tracts (hills, tribal villages)
  • Sonargaon (old capital, abandoned Panam city)
  • Rangamati (Kaptai lake)
  • Puthia (a small village with Hindu temples)

Have you ever visited Bangladesh or another hidden gem without many tourists?

Made in Bangladesh pinterest image
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Colectivo from San Cristobal de las casas to Chamula

Bus Collectivo San Cristobal - Chamula

Many people want to visit Chamula in Chiapas, Mexico, for the beautiful church.
Tours from San Cristobal start at 300 pesos (€15) each. We paid 72 pesos for both of us and had a real, authentic experience with locals. We even had the privilege of being there during Semana Santa (Easter week).

There are many different colectivos going from San Cristobal to the nearby cities. A colectivo is basically a shared minivan that leaves every 5-15 mins, depending on the passengers. They have a fixed price for the entire route.

They all have a different starting point, but most of them start at the Mercado region in San Cristobal. At your destination, the departure will be at the same spot as the arrival.

The colectivo San Cristobal – Chamula leaves at Calle Honduras (according to Google maps near number 15) the price is $18 (~€1) per person per way. It was just around the corner of our hostel Casa Caracol (ran by a German couple with a son) so very convenient for us.

Pinterest San Christobal to Chamula
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Our worst hostel night so far

Great title, right? Well, so was our first night in Canberra, the capital of Australia.

Canberra

We left Melbourne for Canberra at 11 pm, so we arrived around 6 am in Canberra. Way too early to check in (2 pm) at our hostel, YHA Canberra. Thanks, Greyhound busses!

As we didn’t really sleep on the bus, we fell asleep on the couch in our hostel when we were waiting for the check in time.

Check in

At 2 pm we could finally check in. Room 301, a 10-person dorm room. The room was very big with a terrace and had 2 Australian residents who had been there for a few weeks already. Our other roommates were 2 Danish girls, 1 German girl and 1 Russian girl. After us an Italian and Britisch guy checked in our room as well.

We always love it when there are many girls in our dorm, as they tend to snore less.

We had a nice talk with our roomies and afterwards went into the city to buy some groceries.

Skyfire Canberra

Every year in March a local radio station funds fireworks over Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra. The fireworks are synchronised to a music soundtrack which is broadcast on the station. The event is called Skyfire.

Because of Skyfire, our hostel (YHA Canberra) held an event. Free sangria on the rooftop and afterwards we would all go together to the lake to check out the fireworks.

Most of our roomies didn’t want to go. Only the Russian girl joined us.

Sangria on the rooftop

We had a few glasses of white and red sangria on the rooftop. As we hadn’t had a drink in a very long time, we were happy there were some crisps as well.

When we were about to leave for Skyfire the Russian girl told us she’d rather stay in the hostel as she met a nice guy from the UK who wasn’t going either.

We went to Skyfire with around 20 other people from the hostel and it was a great event with very nice fireworks.

Our best night ever

We returned to the hostel at around 10 pm and had a few more drinks at the rooftop. At 11.30pm we returned to the dorm to find it empty (besides the 2 snoring residents).

Great, they’re snoring. It took us half an hour to fall asleep as they were snoring very ‘irregular’.

At 1:30 AM we were awoken by a weird noise from the Russian girl who had entered the room. Luckily, I fell back asleep, but not for long.

30 mins later I was awoken once again by the Russian girl, but this time she was accompanied by the Britisch guy. They were literally having sex in the (top) bunk bed at the other side of the room. Good thing he didn’t last long and I fell asleep again.

Wake up, baby!

Our lovely Russian roommate had set an alarm clock at 5 AM to check the hotair balloons. Only, she didn’t wake up and everyone else did. Katrijn walked over to her bed and woke her up and told her to turn of the alarm. She did eventually.

She snoozed it 5 times. At 5:30 am she finally left the room with her stuff and didn’t re-enter afterwards.

At 6:30 AM the Italian guy had to leave and at 7 we all decided to get up as well.

Suprise

That’s when we noticed the horrible smell on the other side of the room. Remember the weird sound at 1.30pm? Apparently, our Russian friend wasn’t that good at drinking vodka as we all thought.

She had vomitted in her bed (lots of it) and on the floor as well. Before the Brittish guy joined her in that bed, that is.

We also noticed that the guy who was sleeping below her wasn’t awoken yet so we let him sleep, removed the sheets and threw them in the laundry baskets.

2 hours later he woke up and told us he didn’t notice anything as he is deaf and turns off his hearing apparatus at night.

YHA Canberra

We’re not sharing this funny story to blame YHA Canberra, as they did a great job. As soon as they knew they came to clean the room with chemicals and a hot water steamer.

Sometimes you’re lucky when you sleep in a dorm, sometimes you’re not…

What’s your worst (or best) hostel experience?

7 months around the world trip

It’s been over half a year since we left Belgium, so it’s time for a recap. Not only a recap of the places we visited, but also how we felt about travelling, and especially about how we’ve changed in those past 7 months.

Which countries have we visited on our honeymoon so far?

August 5th 2018 we left Belgium via Ukraine to Sri Lanka. We stayed in Sri Lanka for 3 weeks and then had a ‘real honeymoon experience’ in the Maldives for a week. After the Maldives, we went to India for 6 weeks and Bangladesh for 3 weeks. After those 9 crazy weeks in 2 of the poorest countries of the world we went to Thailand for 3 weeks, where we learned to dive. Thailand was followed by 3 weeks Vietnam, 1 week Hong Kong (1 day Macau) and 1 week Taiwan.

We then visited Dubai (United Arab Emirates) for a week, together with Katrijn her parents to celebrate Christmas. New Year’s Eve we arrived in Cambodia to celebrate together with one of our colleagues from Belgium. After 3 weeks Cambodia (Yentl was sick for an entire week) we returned to Thailand. We’ve visited the Northern part of Thailand and afterwards we met up with Yentl his mom and grandma to explore Bangkok and Koh Samet.

When they left we took the train to the south, to Malaysia. We spend about 2 weeks in Malaysia, took the bus to Singapore where we stayed for 4 days and right now we’re staying in Bali, Indonesia for 2 weeks.

As you can see we’ve travelled very fast. This is only the second time we’re staying somewhere for more than 4 days…

Today we’re going to our second accomodation in Bali for another week of doing nothing but working on the blog and Yentl on his company website.

Next week we’re flying to Melbourne, Australia. Next on our list: New Zealand, USA (via Hawaii), Mexico,…

Frequently asked questions

Travelling the world for an entire year is not something you’re doing every now and then, so we’re getting a lot of questions. Below we’ll try to answer the most frequently asked questions. We’ll answer some of them individual, but the first few questions we’ll answer together.

When will you be coming back to Belgium?

We intended on travelling for an entire year (so until at least August 5th 2019).

Believe it or not, travelling is exhausting. Sometimes we really long for our own bed and stupid things like cooking our own meal or meeting up with friends. On the other hand, is this an experience we probably won’t be doing again anytime soon.

We also played with the thought of returning a bit earlier and then travelling in Europe for a while.

But honestly? We don’t know yet…

Haven’t you killed each other yet?

Nope, not yet.

We don’t think we’ve been separated for more than a week yet in those 6 months, and that includes Yentl his toilet time.

After a while, you know when your better half needs to be left alone or when (s)he needs a hug. It’s not always the easiest, but you really get to know each other through and through.

We think it’s really important that you listen to each other, and that you sometimes do things because your partner wants to do them. That includes going to a nice restaurant every now and then for some #healthyfood… ?

How much does it cost to travel the world?

The million dollar question.

It depends.

We try to travel as cheap as possible. That means oftentimes taking the cheapest meal on the menu or spending less on accommodation. And, yes, sometimes we do need some more luxury, and then we just pay for a better accommodation. It’s simple as that.

But on the other hand, when you have to book an accommodation every single night, you do get good at booking amazing and cheap accommodations. On average we paid €7,37 per night per person in the last 6 months for accommodation. And about half of the time that included breakfast (ranging from one piece of toast with jam to a breakfast buffet).

We try to stick to a daily average budget of €20 per person. That is with everything included: food, lodging, transportation, but without the flights.

So far we’re averaging €19,75 per person per day (€27,21 if we would include the flights), unfortunately, the next few countries are going to be really expensive… Yes, Australia, New Zealand and the USA, we’re looking at you guys!

How are you able to pay for a year of travelling without working

Well first of all, that’s what they call savings. We’ve both been saving money since we started working.

Secondly, when we got married (just before we left) we asked people explicitly to not give presents but travel money instead.

As you can read in the previous paragraphs, the third reason is that we travel very cheap. €20 a day equals around €600 a month for accommodation, food, transport, activities and so on. Compare that the rent or mortgage you’re paying right now and it puts it in another perspective.

Lastly, Yentl had his side job as a web developer. This income we only use for travelling.

What was your favourite country so far?

Katrijn

That would definitely be the Maldives. The sea over there is amazing. Out of this world. It’s so clear, has lots of beautiful fish, turtles and dolphins. Combine that with the white beaches surrounding the islands and you’ve got yourself a dream come true!

Oh, and the breakfast over there? Delicious pancakes every day!

Last but not least we went on a snorkelling trip and had the opportunity to swim with turtles!

Yentl

That must be Sri Lanka. It might be because it was our first destination in Asia, but I really loved the people in Sri Lanka (as they are super friendly) and the food (fried rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner) is so good and cheap.

The country is also very diverse, you’ll find a lot of culture in Sri Lanka, but also beautiful beaches and lots of wild animals (monkeys everywhere).

What was your least favourite destination so far?

Katrijn

That must be Cambodia.

We did have a great time in the orphanage over New Year’s Eve, really enjoyed the crab market in Kep and were amazed by Angkor Wat.

Unfortunately, Yentl was sick for an entire week in Cambodia, so we were stuck in Phnom Penh for 6 days (which we had visited the week before). Furthermore, the people in Cambodia weren’t as friendly as in most other countries in SE Asia (in my opinion).

My least favourite part of Cambodia must be the Chinese people taking over. Rich Chinese millionaires are building hotels all over Cambodia. That does not only mean that there is constant noise and dirt, but they also ruin many of the beautiful cities with ugly skyscrapers.

Yentl

Taiwan must be the destination that failed my expectations the most. Perhaps I had too high expectations for Taiwan, the ‘Republic of China’.

When we were in the capital, Taipei, I ended up staying a lot in the hostel as the buildings and monuments in the city failed to impress me.

Luckily we had an amazing hostel (Sleepy dragon hostel) with great people so I didn’t mind too much and I got to work on the blog a lot.

What were the 5 things you will never forget of these past 7 months?

Katrijn

  1. Visiting the Taj Mahal. It was high on my bucket list, and it did not fail to impress me. It truly was a magical experience!
  2. Getting a certified diver. It was very exciting and a bit scaring too, but I’m so proud that I dared to do it!
  3. I really loved George Town in Penang, Malaysia because of the cute houses and the beautiful street art everywhere.
  4. The beach in Pottuvil, near Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka. This beach was deserted. We were literally the only ones there as you can see in the picture below!
  5. I’m never going to forget Hong Kong because it’s an amazing and vibrant city that literally has everything: modern buildings, old temples, churches, mosques, good food (Michelin rated street food everywhere!), nature, local markets, people of almost every ethnicity,…

Yentl

  1. Learning to dive in Koh Tao, Thailand (and getting my first tattoo there as well, sorry mom.)
  2. The beautiful beaches and super clean water in the Maldives. I didn’t swim in any ocean for the next 2 months because it just felt very dirty.
  3. Being on a snake boat (those very long and not so sturdy boats) at night in the Sundarbans in India for a ‘night safari’, knowing that there are snakes, crocodiles and tigers in the wild there. It was super peaceful and quiet and there was no light beside the little lamp our boatman used from time to time whilst navigating the small rivers and the stars above.
  4. When we first arrived in Bangladesh we were (and still are) amazed by the lack of English (or any other language but Bangla). The country is the least visited in the world (in terms of tourists/people living in the country) and you could immediately see why. The country is super poor and hotels are very expensive (starting at 20-25 dollar per night for the cheapest rooms, compare that too 5-10 dollar rooms in Thailand, India, Cambodia… you’ll get a private villa with pool for 25 dollars a night there) and some people earning as little as 1,5 dollar per day.
    The thing that I will never forget about it, is going to the train station in Dhaka (the capital). There was no signage at all in English so we were kind of gazing around when all of a sudden 20’ish kids ran towards us and started begging for money. They just hang around our legs like little koalas and wouldn’t let go until some locals helped us and shooed them away. It literally breaks your heart when you’re standing there, but there’s nothing you can do about it because if you give them money you’re learning them that it’s okay to do this. All you can do is give them some food (opened, as otherwise, they would just sell it again).
  5. We went to Varanasi in India, which is famous for the public funerals next to the Ganges. Bodies get burned right next to the river so that the Gods can take the souls to the next life. The bodies are wrapped in white sheets, and then put onto logs which they burn in front of your eyes. Because of the many herbs and oils you don’t really smell too much of it though, but impressive nonetheless!

What was your worst experience in those last 6 months

Katrijn

At the time it wasn’t that much of a bad experience as we gradually rolled into it, but the dirt on the streets in India and Bangladesh is really disgusting if we look back at it now. Cows literally doing whatever they wanted on the streets (in some cities there are more cows than cars on the streets…). Imagine how much dung there is on these streets…

Even though there are a lot of tourists in India, some of the locals really aren’t used to seeing Caucasian people. Resulting in a never-ending quest for selfies with ‘white people’. There hasn’t been a single day that no-one asked us for a selfie or was starring at us in India.

One of our first days in India (when we still liked taking the selfies) there literally was a queue of people wanting to take a selfie… ‘Can you please hold our baby and can we take a picture?’ 🙂

Yentl

Being sick. I’ve been sick for an entire week in Cambodia and it really sucks if you’re in a foreign country. Those moments you really miss your own bed and food.

Thankfully I had Katrijn to take care of me. Thanks, Kattie 😉

How have you changed in those past 7 months?

Katrijn

First of all, it opened my mind even more towards other people, cultures, habits. Which resulted in a broader world view. I love to see how people live, work, eat,… Sometimes it was shocking if we saw for example kids working on a junkyard or come to us and beg for money or food. It breaks my heart to see this and makes me realise even more how lucky and spoiled we are in Belgium.

Because of this new view on the world we’ve taking a much more ecological approach whilst travelling. No more straws in our drinks (only our own reusable bamboo straws), never accepting a plastic bag and always carrying our own reusable one.

In Asia you really see what goes wrong with the environment and that does motivate us to do better in Belgium and whilst travelling.

I’ve also tried becoming vegetarian or even vegan, but I must admit that I can’t be a total vegetarian. I love meat too much. So we ended up being flexitarians. We try to ban meat as much as possible, but from time to time we do eat meat. And I’ve lost some weight, which is never a bad thing. 🙂

And last but not least we have a lot of time to think about the future: what do I want to do as a job, where do I want to live, what do I want to do with my life? I don’t know the answers yet so luckily we still have a few more months to think.

Yentl

When you don’t have to work for 6 months you get to think a lot. I also read a lot of those “self improving” books and they also make you think. A lot. About who you are and who you want to be.

As most of you know, we both work at Karel de Grote University College in Antwerp and we both have a ‘1-year unpaid vacation’ after which we can return to our jobs.

The first thing that I learned in those 6 months is that we (in Belgium) really have nothing to complain about. When there is a small hole in the road in Belgium, people start complaining. In Asia they don’t even complain when there is no road. We complain about earning 250 euros less. In some Asian countries, some people don’t even earn 250 euros per month.

We’ve met some great people in Bangladesh who had the best IELTS levels in English, but just couldn’t leave Bangladesh. Because they were too poor to pay for the plane and because the government doesn’t make it easy for them to obtain a visa for Europe for example. If they want a visa for Europe, they have to show 10 000 euro in their bank account. 10 000 euro is 50 times what some people earn per month in Bangladesh. That is more than 4 years working, without spending a single cent.

The second thing I learned about myself is that I want to do more for other people. Use my strengths to help others where they need help the most. It also made me think about my job. Is it really helpful what I’m doing? Or am I just working to earn money? As there are still bets running on whether I’m returning or not I won’t answer that question here ?

Besides my job at KdG I’m also the owner of a little web design and marketing company respux.be. I’ve decided a few things for my company as well.

  1. I’m too cheap to offer the quality I want to offer. I made websites for as little as €500, that is just ridiculous knowing that there are websites that easily cost € 500 000. What I want to achieve is to make websites that pay for themselves.
  2. The company has to become even more professional. My clients deserve a professional approach from the first contact to the last, and every step in between.
  3. I’m going to make 1 free website per year for a non-profit organisation.

And last but not least I’ve lost 20 kgs (44 lbs / 3 stone) in the last 7 months already… ?

If we had to summarise how we’ve changed in 1 word it would be ‘less‘.

  • less weight
  • less meat
  • less alcohol
  • less spending
  • less luxury
  • less waste (as in plastics etc.)
  • and last but not least: less money

Got any question for us? Let us know in the comments below!

Day trip from Hong Kong to Macau with the HZMB bus

The new HZMB (HongKong Zhuhai Macau Bridge) connects Hong Kong with Macau and Zhuhai (China) since Oktober 2018. As we both are not that fond of boat trips we decided we wanted to try this new bridge for our day trip to Macau.

We didn’t find that much (usefully) information online, so that’s why we’ll go in a bit more detail than usual in this post. For all general information and up-to-date pricing, you can consult the official HZMB website

How to get from Hong Kong to Macau?

There are plenty of options to reach the gambling crazy city of Macau. 

You’ll see immediately why we chose the HZMB bus instead of the ferry. Cheap and no seasickness. The disadvantage is that it takes longer to get there (compared to the nonstop bus coach or ferry).

Downtown Hong Kong to immigration

As we were staying in the Kowloon area (Micro hotel; the cheapest downtown Hong Kong hotel we could find with decent reviews) we had to get to the bridge first.

You can take any ‘A’-bus as they’ll all go to the airport, but the easiest is bus A21 or NA20 (night A20) as you won’t have to change busses at terminal 1 or 2 and it’ll take you directly to the migration offices of Hong Kong. 

Price for a one-way ticket: 33 HKD ($4). Returnticket is 50% off if you use an oyster card and return on the same day.

When you arrive at the ‘Hong Kong bounder crossing facilities’ you’ll have to present your passport and the little paper you got when you entered Hong Kong.

When you pass this checkpoint you can buy your shuttle ticket for 65 HKD ($8). It’s 70 HKD between 23:59 and 6:00.

Passport control + buying your ticket won’t take you more than 10 minutes.

You just follow the signs for Macau and you’ll be guided in the right queue. 

The shuttle bus takes 35-40 minutes to cross the bridge. Not only will you not be troubled by seasickness, you’ll also get to enjoy the sea from a different perspective. 

The bridge is 55km of amazing views.

The Macau side of the bridge

The shuttle drops you off just outside the immigration building. Just follow the signage and you’ll end up in a huge hall with over 30 immigration desks. Hand over your passport and you’ll be granted entrance for 90 days. Depending on your home country you might have to get a visa in advance, but most countries have a visa exempt.

Once you’re through immigration you can take any of the following transportation methods:

  • taxi
  • a local bus (bus 101x and 102x stop at the hzmb building)
  • a free casino shuttle bus

Macau has over a hundred different, free shuttle busses. Each and every one of them is sponsored by one of the casino’s, so they’ll drop you off close to their casino. If you need to be somewhere specific, just search for a casino nearby and use google to find out their free shuttle.

At the hzmb building there are 2 main shuttles going to the 2 ferries. Macau outer ferry and the taipa ferry. We took the one to the Macau ferry and walked from there.

We’ll write down what we’ve visited in Macau, but feel free to do whatever you want. If you just want to know the easiest way back you can read that at the end of this post.

Macau city

So we started walking at the Macau ferry and we headed south, past the Legend Palace Hotel and the Lotus Square towards the Grand Lisbon. You can continue visiting the following highlights in a beautifully Portuguese influenced city:

  • Macau Museum
  • Ruins of St. Pauls
  • Senado Square
  • St. Augustine’s Square
  • St. Joseph’s Seminary and Church
  • Mandarin’s House
  • Macau Tower

We went further to the Grand Emperor Hotel where we took the free shuttle to Studio City in the Cotai area.

Cotai area

This is the area in Macau with the most famous, the biggest and the craziest casinos/hotels:

  • Studio City is a palatial cinema-themed high-rise hotel.
  • The Parisien has a ‘small’ version of the famous Eiffel Tower.
  • Inside The Venetian, you can sail in an authentic Italian gondola with a singing gondolier as if you are in Venetia, Italy.

When you are only in Macau for one day, you have to stay until it’s dark. All the lights of the casino’s lit up after sunset en it’s magical!

Of course, you can also stay in Macau, but don’t expect it to be cheap. Want to check the hotels and prices in Macau?

Return to Hong Kong

After spending the day in Macau (without losing too much money in the casino) we returned to our hotel in Hong Kong.

  • Free shuttle from the Parisien to the ferries
  • Free shuttle from the ferries back to the HZMB building
  • Shuttle bus over the HZMB bridge
  • Local bus A21 back to Micro hotel
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Best travel apps and websites in 2019

Phone with apps

Travel agents can be very expensive. And you can basically do the same with a few travel apps on your smartphone or laptop.

The apps with an asterisk (*) are the ones we use ourself most of the time. In the table of contents below, you’ll find an overview of all the apps listed in this post.

Accomodation

Agoda

Agoda is mainly used in Asia. We’re not using Agoda as we get better deals with our genius accounts (you get this after 5 bookings I think) on booking.com.

Airbnb *

We use AirBnB in Europe.

Booking.com *

We have over 100 bookings on booking.com already, it lets us find cheap accomodation with the necessary comfort.

In the app, we use the filter max 20$ per night (2p) and a minimum rating of 8 and then sort on lowest price first. We then pick the first (thus cheapest) accomodation we like.

This link will show you the exact filters we use on booking.com

Expedia

Personally, we only use Expedia when Google Flights tells us they have the best prices.. 😉

Hostels

We aim to book private rooms most of the time, so we never start our search here. If we don’t find anything on booking we check the hostel sites.

Hostelworld

We aim to book private rooms most of the time, so we never start our search here. If we don’t find anything on booking we check the hostel sites.

Hotel tonight

Last minute hotel bookings, often with steep discounts.

Trivago

You can always doublecheck the hotel you’ve found on Trivago as they’ll search for the cheapest price of a given hotel.

Flights

Flio

The app and website provide you with lots of information about various airports around the world. Wifi, lounges, food, transit info…

Google flights *

Our go to website if we have to book a flight. We especially love the desktop site where you can say for example Brussel to Thailand. After that you can just explore the map and see cheap prices for other destinations like Laos or Indonesia.

Hopper

Hopper tracks flight prices and gives you periodic updates on whether you should buy now or wait.

Kayak

Kayak searches across various travel sites for rental cars, hotels, and flights.

Skyscanner

Comparable to Kayak.

Food & drinks

Foursquare *

We mainly use Foursquare in Europe, but we often try in other continents as well.

Google maps *

Sometimes we check the restaurants nearby on the Google reviews as they give a good idea of the quality.

TripAdvisor

We like the restaurant locator in TripAdvisor, but we don’t always agree on the pricing ($-$$$$) they give a certain restaurant as it greatly depends on one person’s opinion.

Yelp

The American version of FourSquare.

Zomato

The Asian version of FourSquare.

Navigation

Google maps *

We mainly use Google maps to check for distances and traffic, as we rely on tuktuks and buses most of the time. It’s also useful to check bus schedules and departures (but always double check on local websites).

iExit

This app tells you exactly what is at the next highway exit. You can add favourites so the app notifies you when you’re getting near one.

Maps.me

Many people use this map because of the offline mode. We stick to Google maps.

Pokémon Go *

You say what? Check out our blog post on how we use pokemon go on vacation.

Planning

Google trips

If you use many Google products you can easily use the Google Trips app as it’ll gather all information from your Google Calendar, gmail and Google Maps and give you suggestions based on what you’ve booked and visited in the past.

Privacy much? 😉

Instagram *

Search for your destination in the search bar and you’ll find many hidden gems!

Ps. https://instagram.com/bettertraveltogether 🙂

Lonely planet

We personally don’t use the lonely planet website (unless we end up there after a Google Search), but the ‘real books’ will never get old.

You can buy the books on Amazon etc.

Pinterest *

Search for destinations and save what you like to your boards. Don’t forget to save this post. ?

TripAdvisor *

The best thing about TripAdvisor is the huge community behind it. You’ll find many unbiased reviews. Hotels, hostels, attractions, restaurants.. you name it!

Transport

12go.asia *

A very good starting point to get from point A to B. It’ll show you the available busses etc.

You can then still buy the real ticket in an office nearby as that’s easier if you don’t know the closest pick-up point.

Gasbuddy

USA, Canada and Australia

Gasbuddy helps you find a gas station nearby, including the current prices. They’ll also let you know if you should drive a little further if you can save some money.

Google maps *

We mainly use Google maps to check for distances and traffic, as we rely on tuktuks and buses most of the time. It’s also useful to check bus schedules and departures (but always double check on local websites).

Grab *

We use Grab most of the time, untill we find out what the local tuktuk app is.

PassApp *

Hire local car driver, tuk-tuk and motor in Cambodia.

PickMe Sri Lanka *

Hire local car driver, tuk-tuk and motor in Sri Lanka

Uber *

Biggest advantage of Uber (imo) is that you don’t need local currency to pay the driver. Uber is not that widely used in Asia though.

Waze

Community based app. It’ll show you traffic, but also police stops etc.

Fun & language

Aldiko *

Lets you read eBooks in many different formats (pdf, epub…)

Duolingo *

Whether you want to become fluent in a language or learn a few simple words, Duoling will help you with that!

Google Translate *

We both speak 5 languages, but there hasn’t been a single trip when we didn’t have to use Google Translate. Most of the time we use it for ingredients or dishes.

Netflix *

Binge-watching series and films..

Offline games *

Some examples: 2048, candy crush, sudoku, world flags (good to learn whilst abroad)…

YouTube

Did you know you can download YouTube videos to watch them later?

Random apps

Banking app *

At some borders, they’ll ask you to show your bank account to confirm you have enough money to fund your travel in the country.  

Calculator app *

When there’s a language barrier it’s easier to show a certain number than to explain it with words.

Dropbox *

Let’s you save your files safely in the cloud. We’re paying $99 per year for 1TB of storage, but at least we know anything we save on our desktop is safe forever, even if our laptop gets stolen. Also has an offline mode for things like music or passport photocopies.

Google Fit or steps app *

Turn on the app and don’t think of it again. It’ll show you some cool statistics after your travels.

Google Photos *

Just install it and let it sync on wifi. Thank us later. If your phone gets stolen, broken or corrupt you won’t lose your precious pictures like many people do every year again.

Instabridge *

Need wifi? This app will show you public networks nearby andit will show you the password of certain private networks as well (if the owner or someone else shares it).

Lightroom *

Want to edit your travel photos so they stand out even more? Lightroom is free on mobile!

Sim Toolkit (Android) *

Bought a sim card and don’t recall your new number?

Speedtest *

Not sure which Wi-Fi network to use in your ho(s)tel?

Use this app to check what the down and upload speed is and then use the best network around based on those numbers.

The weather channel *

Works in most locations and shows lots of weather related information.

Tunnelbear *

500Mb free VPN per month.

WhatsApp *

Chances are you already installed WhatsApp, but don’t forget you can (video)call your friends and family with WhatsApp as well!

XE Currency *

Best free currency app. Add the currencies you want when you have internet and it’ll still work when you’re offline!

What is your favourite travel app? Let us know in the comment!

The best travel apps
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Why Instagram is getting FAKE

First of all: we don’t want to offend or judge anyone. This post is our personal point of view on Instagram these days. And we’ve experimented with about 90% of the bad stuff explained below.

As most of you know Yentl has his own web design & online marketing company so this post will give you a bit of a marketing insight on the matter as well.

In our opinion Instagram is getting fake, because of the following 4 reasons:

  • Fake followers
  • Fake engagement
  • Fake life
  • Fake pictures

We’ll try to explain for each of these why they occur and how we think they’re affecting Instagram.

But first: how does Instagram work?

To fully understand why Instagram is getting fake, you need to understand how Instagram works. Instagram is mostly based on engagement and interaction (in 2018 at least).

We’ll explain how engagement works on an account with 10k (10 000) followers. Don’t worry, it’s the same for small and big accounts.

Once you post a picture, Instagram will show your picture to about 10% of your followers. This percentage will vary based on the engagement on your previous posts.

Let’s say from those 1000 (10%) followers, 300 like or comment on your picture. That’s a 30% starting engagement.

Based on that starting percentage Instagram will show your picture to 3000 (30%) of your followers in total (2000 more).

The entire algorithm is of course way more complicated than just 1 calculation, but this is the general idea behind it.

Hopefully you do now understand why you’re seeing all those very likeable cat pictures on your Instagram, but never that selfie of your aunt Margaret. Unless she’s incredibly famous and sexy of course.

Fake followers 

Fake followers are as old as Instagram itself. It’s an easy and cheap way to increase your followers. A simple Google search shows that you can buy 5k followers for less than 40 USD.

Why do people buy fake followers?

Let us start by saying:

Don’t buy fake followers on Instagram as they’ll ruin your account

There won’t be any engagement from these accounts, so Instagram won’t show your pictures to your real, organic audience as explained above.

Anyways, it does happen, and here’s why:

  • It gives you a certain social status
  • The current generation is growing up with a need for likes
  • You can only use the swipe-up feature with at least 10k followers. (Guilty of wanting that!)
  • People think that the more followers you have, the more brands want to work with you. That is not true, anymore. As of lately, brands start to check engagement rates too. There’s no point working with someone with 100k followers if they only reach 1000 of them.

Fake Engagement

So here’s what happened next: people got themselves fake followers and noticed they broke their accounts. Whoops.

How do you fix that? With fake likes of course!

Ever noticed those #L4L or #F4F between the hashtags? Well basically you ask people to like your picture and you promise to like one of theirs back, same with the follow for follow.

And yes, you can even buy fake likes.

Same price, different ‘product’, but it gets pricy after a while.

A few years ago, when I just started my online company some clients asked me to do it for them. At first, I did it (at their own risk), because it got them quick and good results.

But after a while, their organic reach died. Literally died. They just had to buy likes to keep up the presence. We ended up creating new accounts and we grew them again, the right way.

Instagram pods

Buying likes is not the only problem. Your real followers see right through it. Well, at least some of them do.

So that’s when people started creating Instagram pods.

An Instagram pod is a group of about 15-20 people who have Instagram accounts in the same niche, in our case ‘travel’. When one of the members posts a new image on IG, they notify the group. Depending on the group rules the other members have to either like or comment on that post.

How do pods work?

At first, people posted the URLs directly to their posts in the pods. Instagram got a hold of it and they started punishing the pods. Then the pods moved to other platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram. Instagram punishments followed. The current trend is that you make some kind of fake conversation in IG direct message groups (for example, you tell the others what you’ve eaten) and then they’ll know you posted something new and will go to your profile and like/comment/save your latest picture.

We’ve been in 3 pods ourselves. It seemed nice to have a few extra likes and especially followers, as we wanted to hit those 10k followers for the swipe up.

It worked out nice, got us some new followers and lots of engagement. But we had to spend at least an hour on the pods per day, per pod.

We know a few fellow Instagrammers who are in 11 or 12 pods. That’s just crazy if you know how much work it is! They are the entire day on their Instagram (about 8 hours a day they told us), and yes it pays off if you look at their followers. But at what price? And how long until Instagram starts punishing these accounts again?

We started using pods at the end of September and in November we decided to stop with it because it was too time-consuming. We saw a drop in engagement, but a huge spike in the joy we have on Instagram again. We’re focussing more on our stories now, and less on those likes. In the end those likes mean nothing anyway.

Money can buy you everything on Instagram

Next in line: personal Instagram assistants. Starting at $10, you can get your own personal Instagram manager.

We’ve never tried them and will never use them as you never really know what they’ll do on your account. They can ruin your account in 2 hours. Easily. But I guess there are some good social media managers you could find there as well.

The idea: they engage with other users for you. They follow accounts, like other pictures, or comment on niche-specific posts.

Basically the stuff you actually have to do yourself to get noticed on Instagram nowadays.

Fake life

Again: no judging here. It’s just what we think of it, and we were heading that way too.

Now that we’re travelling the world full-time, we have a lot of time to think and to look around.

There hasn’t been a day where we have not seen someone posing for a picture. Not a single day.

It’s all for ‘the gram’. Trends like #husbandofinstagram are being created, not because it’s funny, but because it’s true.

I’m one of them. I take a gazillion of pictures, every day. It used to be all for Instagram, but nowadays it’s more for personal memories. They just end up in our Dropbox, instead of online.

Sponsored post #ad

The thing we hate the most is seeing those sponsored posts.

People selling their soul for a free watch etc. You can literally count what they have to do: ‘post 3 pictures with the watch visible with these hashtags and 5 Instagram stories telling people why you love our watch’.

We’re not saying sponsored posts are bad. The opposite is true. Influencers are the future of marketing.

When I tell my friends that I really love my OnePlus or Dell XPS, they will look into these devices because they know I’m a geek who’ll only use the best equipment available. That’s what influencers are all about.

And yes, we do are jealous too when we see fellow travel bloggers staying for free in a nice hotel. But only when their only task is to write an honest review. Positive and negative. Just their honest opinion, nothing more, nothing less.

Fake pictures

Anno 2018 it’s hard to scroll on your Instagram feed and spot a picture that has no filter on it. And that’s okay.

People love to look at beautiful pictures, but we kind of liked the early filter-free Instagram too.

Anyways, we’re using Lightroom filters too. Not because of the likes, but because we like our filtered pictures more ourselves 🙂

But then there are the millions of edited photos. Photoshop edited. I’m really good at Photoshop editing, but I would never make myself skinnier on a photo. Agreed, I was too heavy, but still, I wouldn’t do that. Because it’s fake, and that’s not how we want to be.

PS. if you want our Free Lightroom filters (desktop and mobile) just let us know in the comments below and we’ll send them for free 😉

What’s the solution?

There is no easy solution for Instagram, as many people are earning a lot with their accounts. It’s a multimillion-dollar business, and when there’s money involved things are hard to change if that would make people earn less money.

That being said we do think there are a few easy steps you can follow yourself to make Instagram less fake.

  • post more stories as they are more representative of your ‘real life’.
  • only follow accounts you really like and feel connected with. I’ve read somewhere that @bettertraveltogether is a nice example 😉
  • Engage with people because you like their content, not because you think they’ll return the favour.
  • Don’t post fake pictures or heavily edited ones, unless it’s obvious and it’s your kind of thing or USP.
  • Enjoy Instagram. If it’s getting too stressful and time-taking, take a break.

Thank you for reading! Let us know in the comments if you agree with us or not.

Instagram is getting fake
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How to spend 1 day in Kandy with a personal driver

Elephant in Kandy

In Kandy, we stayed in Kandy City House. The owner, Lucky, offered us a day trip with one of his friends. We would go to the elephants in the morning, followed by a visit to the tea factory, spice garden, botanical garden, a big Buddha statue, the temple of the tooth and we’d finish at the Kandy dance. Total price would be 6000 LKR for both of us (which is €33 or $37,5) plus 600 LKR entrance fee to see the Buddha statue.

We doubted a bit because it’d surpass our day budget, but we agreed eventually.

A few minutes after 7 am our personal driver arrived. Sounds cool, doesn’t it? He listened to the name Lala and was super friendly!

His English wasn’t that good, but we understood what he wanted to say. Only while he was driving, it was sometimes a bit too difficult because of the surrounding noize as he was obviously sitting in front of us.

We left at 7:20 as Katrijn still had to finish her freshly brewed coffee. The drive to the elephants should’ve been 1 hour, but we arrived around 8:35 as Lala stopped from time to time to show or explain us something. We saw the railway museum, the highway museum and at a certain moment he stopped on a bridge and pointed to the trees. ‘Bats’. And indeed hundreds, if not thousands of bats were hanging in the trees. Some were even flying around.

The elephant orphanage

Once we arrived at the elephants it was clear to us that we didn’t go to the wild elephants (as Lucky kind of told us), but that we arrived at the orphanage. Before we arrived in Sri Lanka we said that we wouldn’t visit an orphanage because of the elephant riding etc.

Prices of the elephant orphanage

Lala told us that the entrance price was not included in the total price. Great.

Prices at the entrance were:

  • 5000 LKR pp for feeding, washing and riding the elephant.
  • 3000 LKR pp for a medium ride on the elephant
  • 2000 LKR pp for a short ride (20 mins!)
  • 1000 LKR pp to just see the elephants

1000 LKR is €5,5 of $6,25. You do the math… ?

We told Lala that we didn’t want to go in because we didn’t want to support people who allowed elephant riding for fun. He then drove us to an even bigger orphanage that didn’t allow people to ride on the elephants.

Not riding elephants

At the second orphanage (Pinawalla) there was only one entrance price for foreigners: 2500 LKR. They assured us that you could not ride the elephants so we paid the 5000 (€27 / $31). People from SAARC countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka) only have to pay 700 LKR.

At that elephant orphanage, they have a daily schedule for the elephants:

  • 8:30 Orphanage opens
  • 9:15 Bottle feeding
  • 10:00 Walk to the river
  • 12:00 Return from the river
  • 13:15 Bottle feeding
  • 14:00 Walk to the river
  • 16:00 Return from the river
  • 17:00 Bottle feeding
  • 18:00 Orphanage closes

When we went in they just started feeding the elephants. That means around 50 elephants were brought in front of the visitors where they could eat some palm leaves. 2 employees were guarding them with a nasty stick, which you can see below and another one was running around with a gun, just in case. We did not like this, at all, but at least they didn’t use them.

Whenever one of the elephants tried to leave the perimeter one of the 2 guards would point his stick toward him/her and he/she would turn around. You could clearly see that they were afraid of them. We were sad that we paid them 5000 rupees, but we kept positive.

Food for thought

One of the older elephants was separated from the group and brought to some kind of ranch with a stage. People gathered around the stage. On the stage were bananas, pineapples and watermelons. You could buy a basket of these fruits for 250 LKR to feed them. Nice, something positive!

The downside is that it is only 1 elephant who got fed. Or I should say who got stuffed. From time to time he turned his head around to give himself a break from people stuffing fruits in his mount whilst taking a picture for their Instagram. We obviously only did the latter 😉

Sunscreen

It was almost time for their bath. Some other elephants came back from the river and were brought to the same ranch. They started taking sand with their trunks and they were throwing it on their back. Apparently, they use mud as sunscreen to protect their skin from the sun rays. Adults will often stand over their calves to cast shade and protect them from the sun.

Bathing time!

The only thing we looked forward to, as the animals could drink and bath. An adult elephant has to drink over 200 litres of water, each day! They drink about 60 litres of water at once. The elephants were lead across the street, through a shopping street, towards the river. All of the shops had to take their stuff inside as there were about a 100 elephants passing.

First one of the employees used a huge hose to blast water over the elephants and afterwards they could stay in the river for about an hour. At least we left with a happy thought.

Not spicy, please. Not spicy!

Lala was waiting for us at the parking and started his tuk-tuk again. When we were driving for 5 minutes he asked Yentl if he wanted to drive the tuk-tuk. Another 2 minutes later Yentl was driving like a real Sri Lankan. Lala’s words: “You good driver, you can work for me.”

After 15 minutes Yentl decided it was enough. Good call as we passed the police 500 meters down the road and we didn’t have our driving license with us.

We arrived at a spice garden. Guides will show you around in exchange for a fee, but we decided to walk around by our own. Lots of herbs and spices to taste and smell and we saw some special fruits too, like red bananas!

Tea for two, please!

Next up was a tea factory. Kadugannawa Tea Factory Garden Centre is the one we’ve visited. A guide will show you around for free and explain you the whole process in English. It’s English they’ve learned by heart and is well understood, but questions are hard as they’re not really good at talking in English. When the tour is finished you get a nice cup of fresh tea, served with Jiggery. Small cubes of honey you have to bite a chunk off and then drink your tea. So tasty even Yentl loved the tea! You can then buy some stuff at their local shop or give them a tip.

Botanical gardens

Another expense we didn’t foresee. The botanical gardens cost 1500 LKR (€8/$10) per person. We walked for 2 and half hours through the gardens and saw lots of beautiful flowers, cactuses and trees. It’s well worth the money. These gardens are free for the Sri Lankans and thus an often used meeting place for young couples. You can see them hugging and kissing their loved ones everywhere.

Did we mention wild monkeys? 

Buddha everywhere

There must be millions of Buddha statues in Sri Lanka, but the big ones are always special. This time it was a huge, white Buddha sitting on top of a building (Bahirawakanda Vihara Buddha Statue). Entrance is 250 LKR pp. You can climb the stairs behind Buddha and enjoy the fantastic panoramic view. Don’t forget to cover your legs and shoulders and to take off your shoes.

Temple of the tooth

Normally the next stop would’ve been the famous temple of the tooth which houses 7 teeth of Buddha. Entry is 1500 LKR per person. It’s an amazing building, but you can only see a golden casket in which one of these 7 teeth is placed. As we visited the temple the evening before we skipped this, but you should definitely go to the temple. You don’t have to enter the temple, you can go on the domain for free and not enter the temple. Make sure you’re covering your legs and shoulders. We had to return to the hotel for other pants the evening before… ?

Kandy dance

The final stop of the day was the famous Kandy Dance. Lala dropped us in the street and told us to go behind a house, where we would find the famous place. A local showed us the way and told us that it was 1000 LKR entrance per person and that we could check out the place first. On the outside, it looked like an abandoned house on the outside, but inside it was a huge hall with lots of chairs and a theatre kind of stage.

We decided we had spent enough money for the day and that we were tired enough of the nightly prayers next to our hotel that we went back to the hotel.

What did it cost?

So instead of the 6 000 LKR we paid 15 000 LKR (6 000 driver + 5 000 elephants + 500 tea tip + 3 000 botanical gardens + 500 buddha). If we would’ve gone to the temple and Kandy dance it would’ve been 20 000 LKR. A whopping €110 or $125.

But it was worth it. It would’ve been nice if we knew the total price in advance, but then again.. welcome to Asia! 🙂

If you want to do the same trip, you can stay at Kandy City House or find a driver in Kandy. 

A day tour in Kandy, Sri Lanka
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6 weeks in India

We had a lot of ‘fear’ and doubts before we went to India, as we’ve heard crazy stories. And before you go on in this itinerary, we have to warn you. India is not for the average traveller. We can best summarize it with the following quote:


India is not a vacation, it’s an experience.

Yentl Geldmeyer

Nevertheless, we’ve enjoyed every moment in this super diverse country. India has so much to offer: beaches, culture, nature, friendly (and less friendly) people, crazy traffic and delicious food!

There were only 2 things we really disliked after a while

  • Cows everywhere. Literally everywhere. Including the huge pies, they leave, everywhere on the streets.
  • People staring or asking for selfies. If you’re tall, have blond hair and/or blue eyes you’re going to be a real celebeity. Imagine being tall and blond with blue eyes… One of the first days in India we had a queue of people wanting selfies. Literally, a queue of more than a dozen Indians waiting for a selfie. 

Kochi / Cochin

Length of stay: 2 days
Where we stayed: Kevin’s Placid Homestay, a very lovely owner who showed us a bit around.
How we got there: Flight from Malé to Cochin airport, then a taxi from the airport to Fort Kochi.

What to do in Kochi Fort:

  • Visit Santa Cruz Basilica, Jawahar Park, Princess street, Vasco Da Gama Square, Chinese fishing nets, Mattancherry Palace, Jew Town, Jewish Synagogue and the spice market of Kochi Fort.
  • Boat cruise through Kerala waterways.
  • Watch music performance @ Kerala Kathakali Centre.

Where to eat in Kochi Fort:

  • Veggie dinner @ Grandma’s Kitchen
  • Roti @ Dal Roti

Resort @ Marari beach

Okay, these 2 days are not really part of our ‘budget’ trip through India. Why did we stay in such an amazing, beautiful (and expensive) resort? We got it as a wedding present from some of our colleagues. Many, many thanks if you guys read this!

Length of stay: 2 days
Where we stayed: A beach symphony, an amazing private resort next to the Marari beach
How we got there: The resort provided taxi service from our previous accommodation, this is the best way to get there since it’s hidden in a small fishers town.

What to do in Marari Beach:

  • Enjoy the pool at your resort
  • Stroll on the beach
  • Visit the city centre with a bike or tuk-tuk
  • Visit the harbour where they have a fish auction
  • Home coconut fibre factories where they make coco rugs

Where to eat in Marari Beach:

  • We ate in our resort since we had a private chef, the food was delicious! #sorrynotsorry

Bangalore / Bengaluru

Length of stay: 4 days
Where we stayed: The little blue window hostel. Hands down the best hostel we’ve ever stayed in. Not because of the quality or the price, but because of the owner. Roshan is a very friendly Indian who helped us a lot to make this 6 weeks India itinerary, he booked some bus tickets (without charging us anything) and we even went for drinks with him and his wife.
How we got there: Flight from Cochin to Bengaluru, from the airport you can take public transport (bus) to The little blue window hostel.

What to do in Bangalore / Bengaluru:

  • State office (Vidhana Soudha)
  • Cubbon Park
  • Government Museum
  • UB city (shopping center)
  • Bangalore Palace
  • National Gallery of Modern Art
  • Commercial Street
  • Ulsoor Lake
  • Chickpet flower market
  • Bangalore Fort
  • Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace
  • Lal Bagh Botanical Garden
  • Gandhi Bazaar
  • Shree Dodda Ganapathi Temple

Bengaluru is a big city where there is a lot to discover!

Where to eat in Bangalore / Bengaluru:

  • Food street: if you like typical Indian street food, this is the place to be.
  • They sell Belgian Waffles everywhere in Bengaluru, we had to try them!
  • Try the Malai Kofta in one of the restaurants close to the hostel, it’s delicious. Roshan will explain to you where it is ?
  • The Biere club: international or Indian beers combined with good food. (a bit expensive though)
  • Arbor Brewing, great place for a night out, even on Sundays!

Hampi

Yentl’s favourite city in the last 3 months!

Length of stay: 3 days
Where we stayed: New Lakshmi Tourist home, basic homestay next to a goat farm! Very close to everything in Hampi.
How we got there: We took a bus from Bengaluru to Hospet and then a tuk-tuk to Hampi (14km).

What to do in Hampi:

  • Bike temple tour
  • Visit rice fields @ hippie lane
  • Visit waterfalls
  • Sunset from Matanga Hill
  • Scooter tour through hippie lane and the rice fields

Where to eat in Hampi:

  • Mango restaurant was our favourite, delicious and freshly made Indian food.
  • At hippie lane, you have a lot of restaurants with western food.

Goa

Length of stay: 5 days
Where we stayed:

We stayed in the wrong parts of Goa as we really did not enjoy the city as much as others told us it was awesome for them.
How we got there: Nightbus from Hampi to Panaji Goa, local bus to Dona Paula and to Colva. It’s easy to travel around in Goa by bus.

What to do in Goa:

  • Enjoy the beaches
  • Dona Paula viewpoint

Where to eat in Goa:

  • Veggie restaurant: Malabar restaurant in Dona Paula
  • Coffee café day in Colva

Mumbai / Bombay

Length of stay: 3 days
Where we stayed: Horn Ok Please Hostel, really modern hostel, hidden in the busy streets from Mumbai.
How we got there: We took a flight from Goa to Mumbai, from the airport you can either take a local bus or a tuk-tuk to the hostel. Don’t forget to take a train at least once in Mumbai, just to experience it, you can easily take a train from Bandra station (close to the hostel) to the south of Mumbai (Churchgate Railway).

What to do in Mumbai / Bombay:

  • Visit Elephanta Caves
  • Explore South Mumbai: Gateway of India, Town Hall, Rajabai Clock Tower, The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai University, Oval Maidan, Flora Fountain,…
  • Shopping @ Hill Road
  • Watch the sunset at Juhu Beach

Where to eat in Mumbai / Bombay:

  • Lunch @ Samrat Hotel, all you can eat thali! A bit more expensive but really delicious.
  • Veggie restaurant Elco
  • A night out @ Bar Exchange

Udaipur

Length of stay: 3 days
Where we stayed: Mewar Avenue
How we got there: We took a night train from Mumbai to Udaipur (16 hours), make sure you reserve your sleeper in time!

What to do in Udaipur:

  • Lake Pichola, you can take a boat trip if you want
  • Musical fountain, from here you can take the cable ride to the mountains
  • Walk through the Rose garden
  • Visit the Jagdish Temple
  • We enjoyed the Ganesh festivities when we were in Udaipur, just go in the streets and you will find them everywhere.
  • Visit the City Palace, it’s really beautiful, you can walk around for a few hours!
  • Just walk around in the city centre, there are beautiful buildings and ghats everywhere.

Where to eat in Udaipur:

  • Go to Café Edelweiss for some good coffee and delicious homemade cake! ?

Jodhpur

Length of stay: 3 days
Where we stayed: Gopal guest house, we do not recommend this one.
How we got there: We took a bus from Udaipur to Jodhpur.

What to do in Jodhpur:

  • Visit Fort Mehrangarh, you get a free audio guide with your (expensive) entrance
  • Walk through the blue city, who is not that blue… When you see it from the Fort it looks amazing though.

Pushkar

Length of stay: 3 days
Where we stayed: Shankar Palace, a cosy and quiet guesthouse with a nice garden.
How we got there: We took a bus from Jodhpur to Ajmer, you get dropped off next to the highway so the best option is to order an Uber from there. Don’t take one of the taxis at the bus stop, they are overpriced.

What to do in Pushkar:

  • Walk around the town and enjoy the chill and hippie vibe.
  • Visit the holy Pushkar Lake, watch out for the tourist traps! (See picture below ?) Go at night for the music and some local dancing.
  • Visit the Gurudwara Sahib, it’s a beautiful white temple.

Where to eat in Pushkar:

  • Funky Monkey Café for good Indian coffee and a healthy breakfast (= yoghurt, fruits, muesli).

Jaipur

Length of stay: 3 days
Where we stayed: Chalo Eco Hostel
How we got there: We took a bus from Pushkar to Jaipur.

What to do in Jaipur:

  • Jaipur is the pink city, you must visit the Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar and the City Palace.
  • Go shopping in the Johari or Tripolia Bazar.
  • Visit an authentic textile company where everything is handmade.
  • Visit one of the beautiful forts like Ajmer Fort or Jaigarh Fort.

Delhi / New Delhi

Length of stay: 4 days
Where we stayed: Hide-in hostel, this is a good hostel in a great neighbourhood. It’s located close to one of the metro stops, and it is not in the typical backpackers’ neighbourhood.
How we got there: We took a local bus from Jaipur to Delhi, the worst bus ride ever!

What to do in Delhi:

  • Visit the Lotus Temple, Red Fort, Friday mosque, Lodhi garden, India Gate, Connaught place, Memorial park from Gandhi, Mausoleum from Safdarjung,…
  • Discover the beautiful Akshardham, it’s free and easy to reach with the Delhi metro.

Agra

Length of stay: 2 days
Where we stayed: Rhine In hostel, the owner was rude so don’t stay at this place! He was kinda begging for 10/10 reviews…
How we got there: We took a train from Delhi to Agra, which takes about 3 hours.

What to do in Agra:

  • Visit the Taj Mahal, of course! ? Try to go as early as possible, they open the gates just before the sunrise. Prepare to wake up early…
  • You can also go to Mehtab Bagh across the Yamuna River to see the Taj Mahal from another perspective.
  • Other things you can discover: Agra Fort, Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar’s Mausoleum, Baby Taj.

Varanasi / Benares

Length of stay: 5 days
Where we stayed: We stayed at Moustache hostel, they had dorms for couples!
How we got there: We took a night train from Agra to Varanasi.

What to do in Varanasi / Benares:

  • Go to one of the famous ghat’s to watch a body burning ceremony, be prepared for this one!
  • Do a boat tour on the Ganges with sunrise or sunset, this way you can see the city in a different perspective.
  • Walk through the small streets from Varanasi, experience how the local people live, eat, drink and celebrate.

Where to eat in Varanasi / Benares

  • Brown bread bakery, they have delicious bread, cheese and lasagna!
  • Open hand café (close to Mustache hostel) has delicious food. Make sure you try their wraps!

Kolkata

Length of stay: 1 day
Where we stayed: Backpackers park
How we got there: We took a night train from Varanasi to Kolkata.

What to do in Kolkata:

  • We were only here for one day before our tour to the Sundarbans, that’s why we didn’t see a lot from Kolkata unfortunately. But be sure to take one of the famous yellow cabs!

Sundarbans

Length of stay: 3 days
Where we stayed: Backpackers eco-village
How we got there: We booked a tour with Backpackers eco village. To get to their village we took a minivan, a speedboat, a tuk-tuk, another speedboat and another tuk-tuk! ?

What to do in the Sundarbans:

  • Best thing to do is book a tour if you want to visit the Sundarbans, we were very happy with our 3 day tour.
  • We slept in a little cute bamboo hut in the eco village.
  • First day we walked through the village, did a mud fight and a night tour with a small boat.
  • Second and third day we did a boat tour through the Sundarbans from 6am until 6pm to visit the different watchtowers and spot animals, unfortunately we didn’t see a Bengal tiger.
  • The organization took care of the pickup and drop off in Kolkata center.
  • They also provided food 3 times a day which was delicious and a huge portion every time!
6 week itinerary india
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