Guys, I'm back!
'Was she even gone?' I can hear some of you think. Well, yeah. I was gone. About a month ago I put my last blog post online and disappeared for the summer. All this time I've been thinking about a way to explain where I'd gone and what I'd been doing since that last post went up. Let me tell you this: the simple answer "I was on vacation in Southeast Asia" doesn't even begin to cover it.

I've been in Finland, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. I turned 21 in Bangkok, obsessed over street art everywhere and sat in countless tuktuks. I've slept on mattresses on the floor, queen sized beds, the chairs of uncomfortable minivans and everything inbetween. I stood in the back of a pick-up truck, got stuck in a bamboo raft with my bracelets and had a mud fight in an elephant sanctuary. I made way too many jokes about the Mekong river, flat islands, and Freek Vonk (Dutchies will understand). I couldn't escape Ed Sheeran, but listened to Nico & Vinz all the time to quote them in the title of this blog post. I met people from Austria, Canada, Scotland, Australia and even one from my hometown (she was a bit stuck-up though). I spoke English, Dutch and German at the same time. I even learned a bit of Lao: Koi mak mung Lao! I like Laos!

I cycled, walked, went on boats, buses and planes. The only thing I didn't do was run. Instead I swam: in oceans, rivers and waterfalls. I drank awesome banana shakes, great banana shakes and not a single bad one. I learned about Buddhism, the way the Vietnam war affected Laos, and the Khmer Rouge. I took over 800 pictures, made four vlogs and countless memories. Then, after four weeks of travelling through Southeast Asia, I sat down on a Thai island and wrote everything down. From the rocky start in Bangkok to the jungle trek in Chiang Mai and the slow boat that took me to Luang Prabang in Laos. I wrote about the Lao capital Vientiane and then about Phnom Penh in Cambodia. I went on to write about Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, then finished my writing marathon with Ko Samet, the Thai island where I sat writing on the front porch of a cabin with sea view. I had pictures and stories for over 20 blog posts. By the time I was done it was time to go home.

So where have I been? Everywhere. Nowhere. I lost myself in jungles and on rivers, found myself in the countryside and busy cities of Southeast Asia. Now I'm back home in the Netherlands, but that's not the end of the adventure. For you guys it's just the beginning. Over 20 stories about Southeast Asia are in my drafts, waiting to be told. I hope you'll stick around for a while to listen.