On the first nightly pee break, I saw that the sky was clear and the stars were twinkling. I love night hiking on the beach. You don’t get lost, you don’t trip and you can take many breaks.

So I set my alarm at 4 and started packing. It was a tiny bit difficult because I was really comfortable in my sleeping bag. I started hiking at 4:50 with the moon and the stars. I started an audiobook on Storytel (so it wasn’t Harry Potter!!) and time went by fast.

Soon the sun started rising and lit the sky beautifully. The first 13km were enjoyable…. The other 17km less. Painful feet, the sun burning, and no change of scenery.

However, after my second break, Grant caught up with me and that was a huge help! The first hour we chatted while my sore feet walked away the kilometres. But with the final 8 km approaching I felt worse and worse. Especially because I felt nauseous and that could be an indication of a heatstroke. So I asked Grant twice for a break and he kindly stayed with me. Also dipped my bandana in the ocean to cool my head. In the end, I think it was a lack of sleep and too much food for lunch.

Finally, we were at the exit of the beach. Unfortunately, the campsite wasn’t. So another 500m. Doesn’t sound very far, but for my suffering body it was.

Still, our arrival time was fine! Got there around 3 and only Hayden (new face) beat us to it. As we rested and chatted, my body recovered. The accidental splurge of 100 grams of sugar in my tea might have helped as well.

Eventually, everyone from the previous campsite arrived. The Kiwi brothers, Anna and Andy. And another new (sunburned) face: Sandro. The rate of exhaustion differed per person. The worst was definitely Sandro and the best were the brothers.

Again a happy bunch and the communal area was used extensively. After tea, I said good night to Colin who was finishing his notes on the birds. Soon I was back because I couldn’t find my lip balm. And a while later I was back again.

I got an important phone call from my 4-year-old nephew. Yes, I was extremely tired and wanted to go to bed at 9 o’clock. But I cannot say no to his cuteness. So we chatted for half an hour. Back in my tent for a fourth night, I wasn’t able to finish my blog writing. The next morning my alarm would ring again at 4 am to enjoy the stars and avoid the afternoon heat.

So I visited Tika in Timaru and together we visited Mette in Christchurch for the weekend Both friends from uni. It was a lovely weekend but only one story is worth telling. At least Tika thought so. This is on her request.

On Saturday evening Tika, Mette, and I went into Christchurch for a bite and a cocktail. Sipping Espresso Martinis on a rooftop bar, which is only 5 stories high! Around 10 pm we had our food and two cocktails and with our advancing age, that is the new perfect recipe to hit the dance floor. So we went to Fat Eddies a bar with live music and a nice mixed crowd.

Both Tika and Mette are in a relationship so the focus was on me. With two wingwomen on my side, we scouted out the potential. I had to explain to them what I find attractive. Starting off with no facial hair. This shocked them both, but at least they know their boyfriends are safe. Furthermore, I prefer blue eyes. After a while and some bad suggestions, I started pointing to a few guys who I thought were (kinda) attractive. Surprisingly enough there was one tall blond guy who was attractive and I felt like I could overcome the moustache situation.

After mentioning it, we continued we girls chat and didn’t focus on it. But then….

This drunk girl approached me if I was single and looking. So automatically I said no. Because it sounded so desperate. But she was chatting with the take mustache guy. So I corrected myself and she was a wingwoman for him.

Mette and Tika both laughed believing this was it! But after I introduced myself to him, it turned out Conner didn’t need a wingwoman because he was in a relationship! Damn! Why, why did the woman drag me down here? Can it please once go according to plan? So naturally as soon as he said girlfriend, I bailed as quickly as I could. To return to a laughing Tika who requested I post this on my blog…

An uncomfortable night with a sore body, wind flapping the tent, and rain. In the middle of the night, I moved my tent so it was more sheltered. Which helped a lot. Not all pegs went in smoothly but in the end, it was fine. For the rain it wasn’t. Before The Philippines, my tent was waterproof, but I think the heavy rain in the Philippines took its toll. And so the tent was leaking. I tried rearranging it, because the two layers ALWAYS stick together in one of the 4 corners. but it didn’t work. Very annoying and it needs fixing. For now, the best option was to pack and start hiking. It should be dry and sunny soon.

After half an hour I saw another lovely camping option and looked for a dry area. Thus after a bathroom break, I continued. Soon after was another parking spot with camping options. This time there was a dry seating area. Thankfully I sat down started to eat snacks and made tea. Soon the sky became lighter and after another 30 minutes, it was dry!! Whoop whoop.

Also, two other TA (Te Araroa) hikers arrived and had a brief chat. Two Kiwi brothers (Colin and Gordon) hiking their own country. They also confirmed that the trail was just the river. Love that and luckily the river wasn’t too high with the fresh rainwater.

Soon I arrived at 90-miles beach. Today was the first of three days it will take me. Another 20km and I would be at the campsite. I saw one more hiker and with different break intervals, we passed each other several times.

The hike was much tougher than expected. I mean last time was gruesome. But I expected it to be different this time. And it is much better, still my body is sore and I have to put in effort to keep walking. Maybe the hardness of wet sand or maybe I’m just a pussy. Regardless it was tough but I made it.

At the campsite, I met:

Gorden and Colin (New Zealand)

Andy (Switzerland)

Anna (Japan)

Grant (New Zealand)

As I was earlier on the campsite I had plenty of time to do all the chores. There was even a cold shower!! For dinner I invited everyone over. They didn’t come running, but in the end everyone came to the same spot and we had a very relaxed and happy banter.

I ended the day with a beautiful sunset and I’m now in bed hoping the kiddo’s from the other car campers will run out of energy

So Bali is of course not part of Vietnam however as it was only a seven day stay, I might as well post it here. So on Sunday Juli and I returned to Ho Chi Minh from Hanoi and early on Monday I would fly to my sister in Bali.

This was not part of the original plan. But I was just not happy traveling by myself through Vietnam. I love my sister. I actually went on a trip through California with my two sisters. So I knew we would be alright. Her husband also didn’t have any problem with me coming and my nephew was really excited. And so was I.

The flight and border control went smoothly. The only stress factor was to get my visa for Vietnam again. I only had a single entry so I needed a new one. Typically it takes 3 days and I had 5 days. But yes it definitely stressed me out.

All in all, I saw my sister end of the afternoon and it was the right decision. So we hang out together. I luckily had a special costume made earplugs for swimming because fluid still came out of it. This also meant a visit to the doctor the next day. Se discovered that there is a hole in my eardrum. So again a lot of pills and no swimming. Eventually, with contact with Dutch specialists, it was decided I could go in the water but have to keep my head above water. Better than nothing!

The next few days we hang out together. Visiting beautiful sites and my nephew loved his little helmet and sitting on the scooter. We also did a lot of swimming, especially when we went from Bali to Gili Air. My sister and brother-in-law saw turtles while snorkeling. In the meantime Ravi and I were chilling together. There are no particular outstanding stories. It was just a happy time.

Way too soon my time here was over. On our last night, we went out for (virgin) cocktails. Still on antibiotics. During the cheers photo, my nephew could not wait any longer. So he started sipping his strawberry milkshake.

My nephew and I are already big friends (although granny is his number one favorite person). But spending so much time with him, I grew very attached, and thus saying goodbye was hard for us both. I’m not saying who, but there were some tears.

First of all, thanks to everyone who gave me a hitch! It took 14 hitches and two days to get from Waikenea to Cape Reinga. Not bad!

At the cape, constructions were well underway, however, the official trail is still closed. Just like all other hikes starting from the Cape. It looked fine, but the sign was clear (although to some it wasn’t) I even asked two different guys working if there was any way I could take the trail. Not only because it’s beautiful. But from the moment I decided to do the TA again, I saw myself walking down to the first beach and recalling the emotions of the first time (freight, excitement incomprehension, and pain because my backpack was very heavy).

My attempts were feeble and there was no way around walking the first 15 km on the road. Apart from hitching this time around I want to walk every step. So that wasn’t an option either.

Even though I was road walking I still had similar emotions. Although the feeling of incomprehension was replaced with unbelieve. Am I really going to do this again? Four months of hiking.

Yep

As I started late afternoon, the road was nice and quiet. The sun wasn’t very strong and my backpack fell heavy because I loaded up with water in case of a dry camp (=no water available at your chosen camp spot). The beginning was fine and even a car stopped to offer me a ride but full hardily I continued.

As usual, the last bit was the hardest. Determined to finish the road walk, I was very pleased with the camper place at the end of my road walk (well tarmac because still 5km of gravel road ). It was getting dark so I followed my routine. Tent, bath, food, tea, blog writing, bed. Perhaps I should have swapped bath with food. It was not yet dark, two houses had a direct view and I had a fuck that attitude. Oh well, it’s probably more hilarious to see me bathing than anything else.

It took a while to fix everything. Despite my experience, I still needed a few nights to smooth the process. Now of to bed and hope I don’t forget to take a picture from my tent in the morning.

Oh by the way, my hips feel bruised so the process of laying down is painful. Just so you know it’s always nice and lovely.

On Friday night I saw Julie again. This would be our last weekend together as Julie would go visit the Netherlands next week. I already knew this beforehand and looking back, it might have been better to fly a week earlier to New Zealand. Out of the heat. But I didn’t and with the new plan to visit my sister and her family in Bali, I was glad that I didn’t.

We stayed in a lovely hotel close to the old city center. On Friday night we went to eat Izakaya, but on our way down, we saw an irresistible store. Full of pottery. We spent an hour collecting our souvenirs. I got myself four small dishes and I got Tika (she moved to New Zealand for a year) also four small dishes which can be used for your teabag. The most Dutch thing there probably is. But they were adorable and I got extremely excited. Julie also found little dishes to give to a friend in the Netherlands. So after they were wrapped up carefully, we continued to our food.

The restaurant was lovely. The only thing was the children of another guest. Who ran up and down several times before I decided to ask the children to stop. Which they didn’t. Then the staff of the restaurant tried to stop them. Unsuccessful. Only after the parents paid and were leaving, they stopped. Please don’t get children if you are not going the raise them.

On Saturday morning we joined a walking tour. Very lovely and learned a lot about the city. Besides the obvious touristy locations, we also visited small local houses. I did get a bit claustrophobic because it was extremely narrow and the electrical wiring was all over the place. A fire could develop at any time. Especially when the tour guide showed the empty fire extinguisher, I just wanted to leave.

The next stop on the bridge wasn’t much better. I forgot the reason why they stopped maintaining the bridge. But they had. I’m not sure what the Vietnamese don’t understand about corrosion of metal and the inevitable failure of the construction if it isn’t maintained. She offered to take a photo of me and Julie and we were both holding each other for dear life.

In the afternoon we went to a tailor shop. I wanted to get a custom dress for my friend’s wedding, and Julie got a lovely top. We could have probably negotiated the price a bit more, but we both hate to do it. So we accepted the price.

We still hadn’t eaten at that point. So we went to a restaurant at 2 o’clock. The time is worth mentioning because it was after lunch. But this did not speed up the process. After 45 minutes we still didn’t get our order (avo toast and a rosti). But we were promised it was coming within 15 minutes. After an hour it still wasn’t there. We waited for another 15 min. In the meantime, I walked through the restaurant, but no one had food. So I don’t know what was happening in the kitchen but not much. After 75 minutes I asked if the kitchen was making our food. They told us within 15 min we would have our food. At that point, we were done with it. So we told them we would leave. There like yeah let us get the bill and both Julie and I were like NO! We both worked too long in restaurants to accept this. Plus we were both HANGRY at that point.

We ended up eating ‘lunch’ or early dinner somewhere else and went back to the hotel for a little catnap. We did go out for a second dinner but only had an appetizer each. But it was still nice. Just to hang out with Julie on the other side of the world.

Sunday morning we were woken up by screaming children in the hall. Jokingly Julie said it was probably the same kids of Friday night. As I went into the hall to tell the parents of. I discovered that it WERE the same kids….. Yes, I have an opinion about this, but okay moving on. After breakfast visited the women’s museum. It wasn’t spectacular because the storytelling (at least in English) wasn’t great. It leaves a lot of open ends, but still, it was nice to get an insight into their culture.

In the afternoon we went back to the tailor to get a fitting on our clothing. We didn’t have much time there before we had to catch a taxi to the airport. Yes, this did stress me out, but Julie kept me quite calm. Kudos to her. The fitting of our clothing was definitely needed. But at that point, it already looked very promising. The final garments would be sent by post to Julie her house.

We did get to the airport on time and back to Ho Chi Minh we went. To spent on last evening together before I would leave for Bali early the next morning.

So after the horrible weekend. I stayed till Wednesday morning in Ho Chi Minh. Went to the ENT doctor and got more antibiotics for the price of €360. Thank god for health insurance! Still got ear pain and by Wednesday I had fluid dripping out of my left ear. Nonetheless, the doctor cleared me for flying so on Wednesday I flew to Hanoi to visit Minh Bin.

The area of Minh Bin is absolutely stunning. I’m really glad I decided to come here. The hostel is also very nice, although it sucks I can’t join the swimming pool volleyball. It is also the place where a cocktail would be very enjoyable, however being again on antibiotics, this won’t be an option.

The first night I joined 3 other Dutch girls for dinner. Who recognised many others from early hostels. Turned into a nice group and we ended up playing some games. To my delight, everyone went to bed at a reasonable hour.

The next day I woke up fresh. One of the girls told me yesterday that renting a bicycle was very doable. Sounded great to me, finally some freedom and exercise. Plus it’s the cheapest and I’m Dutch. So it couldn’t be better.

I took off to get to Trang An. Went a little bit too fast over a speed bump, so my phone fell and my back wheel went over it. Oopsie. But the protective phone case did its job. On the way to Trang An, I stopped at a tiny temple. Normally with a tour, you would go straight past this. So I was glad I could make my own decisions. When I arrived at Trang An, I could see why it was so touristy. Absolutely gorgeous.

As I was by myself I had to wait for others who I could join. I was paired up with a lovely Vietnamese lady and her brother and father. She has lived in the USA for several years, so her English is very well. The views were amazing. For our comfort, they supplied umbrellas to protect us from the sun. The brother was sitting next to me and held the umbrella. After some time I offered to swap. But the woman explained that it was an honor for him to hold this up for me. It made me feel a bit odd because I’m very used to carrying my own load (sometimes very literal) and not very comfortable if I sit back whilst others are working.

The boat tour took about three hours and I would really recommend it. After that, I had something to eat and continued to cycle to the next destination. A very old city. I enjoyed especially the climb and the rewarding view. After that, I decided to return to the hostel and chill for a bit.

In the evening I went for dinner with my roommate and reconnected with the Dutchies for a card game. Again a very welcome chill night.

The next morning I went to Mua Cave, which oddly enough is a hilltop with temples on top. I was there in the late morning, meaning the temperature was already above 30 degrees Celcius. Damn. So so so hot!! Everyone was sweating except the locals. But it was worth every sweat drop. It was really pretty. Again.

Once my core temperature dropped back to normal, I went back to the hostel because it was nearly time to catch the bus to Hanoi to meet up with Julie for the weekend. Officially I had already checked out. But I needed a shower! So I sneaked back into my room, but no one gave me any trouble.

The bus ride back to Hanoi went smoothly apart from still being on medication and the constant liquid coming out of my ear. I enjoyed the last few days. Maybe it’s so bad after all.

After a few more days in Ho Chi Minh with Jouke and Julie, I went to Da Lat for 3 days and would meet them again for the weekend to do a hike together.

I booked the bus to Da Lat for midnight so I would arrive at 6 a.m. and have some sort of sleep. The pick-up locations were extremely random. So I thought my safest option would be a bus station. But once there, there were no other passengers and no buses. Luckily there were security guards who helped me. They phoned the bus to make sure it would come and I had to wait outside. At 12:15, still no bus, and the guard was like no you have to wait ag the road. So I was really scared I missed the bus because I was at the wrong location. Stress level to the max, but at half past 12, the bus did arrive. Already delayed there was no time to put my backpack in the booth so I had to share my sleeper bed with my backpack. Still, I was 10000x comfortable than I was on the bus to Stockholm. So I fell asleep.

We arrived perfectly on time and with little sleep, it took me a minute to gather my thoughts. Once I stepped off the bus, I was bombarded with: ‘taxi, taxi taxi’.

Damn

Did not improve my mood. Plus I would take a Grab scooter anyway. The scooter brought me to a coffee shop for some breakfast and some quietness to wake up. Then it was off to my hostel and at 9 Mr Ban’s brother in law (Mr. Vliet) would take me on a tour.

The tour was beautiful, but I was very tired. Also, I could feel that my left ear felt a bit infected. But the most cringing thing was that the guide would make an after-movie. So at every stop, he made me do walks, poses, and all that Instagram stuff. I haven’t looked at the full video. I cannot do it. Too cringy.

At night my ear started to hurt very badly and so the next morning I had to go to the doctor. The diagnosis was indeed an infection of the ear canal. With 5 different kinds of pills and ear drops I was sent back to the hostel. The pain was too much to do anything else.

Now an ear canal infection happened to me before and I recovered fairly quickly. So I assumed I would feel good enough for the hike. I booked my bus ticket and hostel and so Friday I dragged myself to the remote area of the hike. Unfortunately, I did not feel better. Even worse because my other ear was flaring up as well.

Very unfortunate but I had to cancel the hike. Juul and Jouke were doubting to go, but hiking in Vietnam is very expensive. A 100€ for a weekend. So I encouraged them to go. I was very sad I had to miss it. But it got worse

On Sunday I was supposed to drive back with the walking group to Ho Chi Minh. So I waited all day and looked forward to chatting to Juul. In the afternoon Julie texted me and her location. that was nowhere near me. Turns out they returned from a different spot, but the organisation knew I was supposed to be picked up. So why they didn’t tell me this? So I waited two days all for nothing. Still in pain, I had to take a late bus and would return at 3 a.m. I was done. Weeping in self-pity I called my mom and several friends to complain about all the things that were going wrong. They did cheer me up and the host of where I was staying was so incredibly lovely (Thich Home). Ylva (my Coast 2 Coast buddy) suggested going to Bali instead of continuing in Vietnam.

So in the late bus, I thought about it. Because my sister was in Indonesia. Why not visit them? Nothing cheers me up as much as being Auntie. It turns out my sister’s family will be in Bali next week!!
Something to look forward to but first the upcoming week.

I arrived on Friday evening in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam where Julie and Jouke were waiting outside to pick me up. I haven’t seen Julie in 8 months and Jouke even more.

But as it was late and we had to get up early for our booked Mekong Delta tour. So we decided to catch up on the bus to the Mekong.

The Mekong tour was organised by Mr. Ban. A kind man, who has no clue about interpunctions. So his texts were always hilarious. Nevertheless, it became clear that in addition to the normal itinerary, we would visit his nephew’s first birthday. Why not? Three awkward Dutchies with no present for the birthday boy. This was also the very first activity and it was to be our lunch as well.

There were only 2 scooters so Julie and me arrived first and a few minutes later Jouke. We were extremely early, they expected 100 guests (for a first birthday ??) but currently, it was just us 3 and Mister Ban.

Eventually, we were set at a table with Mr. Ban’s sisters to eat a 15-course lunch. Honestly, it did not stop! And all the sisters wanted us to eat everything! First of all, it was way too much and secondly Julie and especially Jouke are more adapted to eating weird food than I am. So I hid the food that they put on my plate. Not sure if that is polite, but I saw no other

Besides the food, there was also karaoke and they begged us to perform. Of course, the one with the best voice felt really embarrassed. So it was Jouke and me. Obviously, I cannot refuse a performance. Yes, it was horrible and yes 90 of the 100 people of course arrived when it was our turn. Luckily I’m blessed with very little shame!

After the birthday we visited a beautiful temple. Very nice and quiet and very new. Only a few years old. The thing that surprised us most, was the fact that they used the temple for 3 different religions: Buddhism, Christianity, and hindoeïsme. How lovely to see that they can share rather than fight.

After that, we visited a small local market, where we could see all the raw meat and flies that we probably just ate. Not the best place for me, so I stayed at the fruit and veggie sellers. The only good thing was that there weren’t any snakes that they sold. Dead or alive, it doesn’t matter I’m truly phobic for snakes.

After the market, it was already time for dinner! They still had to cook it, so we went for a walk. A girl decided she wanted to join and didn’t understand that we just wanted to be by ourselves. Moreover, she was intentionally doing weird stuff to get our attention and she decided we wanted her in the picture we Juul and me.

The walk didn’t do much for our appetite. So none of us could eat much rice. So we slipped off to our bedrooms. Did some chatting and reading and went to bed.

On Sunday we had rice for breakfast. Yum. And then of we went for a boat tour over the Mekong Delta. That was really nice and as the Mekong Delta was used during my Masters, it was nice to actually see it. On the river, we stopped at a fish farm. Mr Ban explained how they raised the fish and sold them. The most shocking is how often they have to eat (after a few hours also during the night if I remember correctly). But that is then all you have to do.

After the boat, it was time for one last rice lunch before getting to the bus. Or so I thought, but directly after lunch, we went to a small local restaurant to try local food. What?! Why?! Not the best itinerary. With an overloaded belly, it was time for the bus. Luckily it wasn’t too bumpy.

Overall a nice weekend, but also with a lot of awkward moments.

Together with two friends of Flor: Liana and Dwight. We booked a 3-day tour to climb Mt Apo. We had to carry our own gear, but the food would be carried by a porter. The original itinerary was:

Day 1: climb to basecamp

Day 2: climb to the top and back to basecamp

Day 3: return from base camp.

Sounds very doable.

We stayed overnight in a bunk room and got up before 6 a.m. to get to the meeting spot. Joel our guide was there and we had some breakfast and put lunch in our containers. After that, we drove to the track. The last bit of the road was unpaved and I held my heart but the 4×4 car made it! The motivation was the more we drive the less we have to walk.

Parked the car and it was time for our briefing. Honestly, there is not that much to brief. We walk up and we pause whenever we want a break. Hiking is that simple! But the guide did inform us already about the paths, the views, and the expected duration. There was also a scale present. This is for the porter he got paid per kilo. His was 30kg! Cannot imagine the food that must be in there. I offered to carry some, but I also didn’t want to take away his job. An odd feeling. Not surprisingly my backpack was the heaviest at 14kg and Liana had the lightest with 10kg. So quite evenly distributed.

We set off after the group pictures and soon Dwight realised that walking uphill is an exercise. But it was only 7:30 am so plenty of time to walk 6km. First through farmland and later through rainforest. Absolutely stunning! And the similarities to the Northlands forest of New Zealand surprised me! Yes, there are different trees, but also the same as the tree fern. Moreover, it had the same feel and character to it. Like the terrain with roots, fallen trees, and big steps up and down instead of a gradual trail. According to the guide, we made a really good pace and we were much faster than most. The Sweden trail legs were still there so I personally could go faster, but I prefer company over pace and I don’t think I was allowed to hike solo. The fog came in after the break increasing the mystical feel of the forest. But also made me worried because my tent isn’t designed to withstand tropical rain. And the rain forecast isn’t mild.

At midday, we reached the campsite! So there wasn’t anything more to do than pitch the tent and relax. The newest addition to the campsite was a shower. The water was provided through a hose. Getting cold refreshing stream water. I mean yes it’s cold, but also really refreshing and makes me feel so much better! Flor went after me and even Dwight and our guide embraced the cold water.

Flor brought a tarp which we used over the sitting area. This was a good decision because it rained in the afternoon. So underneath the tarp, we could eat our dinner dry. Unfortunately, the rain intensified as water was already seeping a little bit through the floor of the tent I was worried. The floor was explainable because even though we were on a slope and not the lowest point. Still, a puddle formed. The large raindrops sometimes penetrated through the outer fly. Giving a little spray that would come in the tent. I was so so so worried. My down-sleeping back is not supposed to get wet. I did get out to assess the situation. I created a trench that drained the puddle. Re-pitching the tarp over the tent or relocating the tent would be a hassle and probably get us more wet than it would be useful. So unless rain came straight through I didn’t want to do anything.

The rain continued all night and it was still pouring at midnight (our original wake-up time). I needed to pee already but the guide decided not to wake us. I did not want to go out and as soon as I was back in my warm sleeping bed be called to get up. So I fell in and out of sleep with a full blather. Eventually, we got woken up at 2 a.m. I sprinted off to pee!

Crazy enough with all the food that was brought up, there wasn’t anything for breakfast. We would get breakfast at the top carried by the porter. Luckily I brought snacks because there is no way I’m capable of walking up to the highest peak, in the dark, for multiple hours without food.

The night hike was great. By myself, I would be so scared from all the weird tree shadows and I would be scared to get lost. But Joel was here to guide us up and with 5 headlamps, it wasn’t that dark. Soon after we started I struggled a bit. The height, the climb, the terrible sleep, and, what I didn’t realize, a lot of Sulphur in the air from the vents of the volcano. When looking at the city lights in the valley, you can see the air being hot, as you see above heated tarmac. I used my buff as a mask which helped. 10 minutes later my body was accustomed to the hiking and the air and it was much easier after that.

Because we departed later than we originally were supposed to, we weren’t at the top at sunrise. But seeing the boulders we had to climb over, made it easier. It was challenging but also a lot of fun! We made it to the top after a final tough climb. It is rewarding to reach it and even more special to do it together. Of course, the real work started at the top. I mean modelling for all the photos is exhausting!

When everyone was finished with the photos we started to descend to walk towards our breakfast. But the Porter is so quick that we didn’t get far. I still needed to get used to the rice breakfast, but as I was already awake for 5 hours, it felt more like lunch. Then for the people who know me well, they know that I can find rice on itself difficult, but I finished my meal in a record time. Nomnomnom.

As we were so fast, we would descend all the way back to the car. As I dislike going downhill, it wasn’t something I looked forward to. But I survived Kebnekaise, so I would survive this. Probably.

The way down to camp was doable. Just take your time, focus on your footing, and don’t forget to enjoy the view as you go downhill. Even the forest part at the end to reach base camp wasn’t bad. There we could relax if we wanted because they were still busy cooking lunch for us (I know so spoiled now!!). Flor and I decided to start packing up. Probably the Dutch genetics to be efficient and to finish the job as quickly as possible.

After another delicious lunch, we set off. The fog had come again and soon the tropical rain came. The temperature and getting wet weren’t the issue. The trail became so so so so so so slippery! I did fall a few times and on one of the falls I twisted my knee slightly wrong. Nothing too serious but definitely something to be careful about as I want to hike way more miles! After a stupid decision by stepping from one slippery fallen tree to another while there wasn’t anything to hold and I wobbled and to stop myself from falling 1m down, I tensioned my whole body. My knee did NOT agree with this and started to hurt whenever I would slightly bend my knee. It took 5 minutes for me to be able to set aside my pride and asked for a break so I could apply tape. Luckily the guide was prepared and gave me a kneeband. It didn’t take the pain away. Duh, it’s no painkiller, but it took away my fear of injuring it further. I decided not to take painkillers. If I prevented bending it didn’t hurt and I take those pain signals very seriously. There was no good reason to push and risk injuring myself more. So based on the pain I continued slowly down.

It took forever

Even when we saw the town, the pure clay downhill was torture and I fell again. Luckily I didn’t hurt my new. Only my ego because it was so slippery I couldn’t stop sliding 😂 I ended up head down in the mud. It did cheer up Flor who was also struggling. I think our guide noticed that we needed cheering up. So he suggested walking where there was water because that wasn’t slippery. I mean Flor and I both do know enough of Earth Science to know that it wasn’t true. So Flor said ‘Nah that looks even more slippery’ and Joel was like ‘Nah I’ll show you’. And he slipped and almost fell. So funny (sorry Joel! We did laugh at you).

The last creepy big jump over a stream that eroded about 2m into the ground was the last challenge. eventually, we did the jump at a slightly less scary location, but still. As I still couldn’t bend I jumped on my left foot and then let myself fall forward, so I would fall back and crawl further up (with a straight right leg). #ManateeOnLand

But we made it back! So tired but also so proud and fulfilled.

Thank you, Joel and his crew Paul and John, And thank you Liana and Dwight, and most of all, my traffic cone Flor!