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As this is my first time ever, getting involved in a web log that is, please forgive uninteresting parts and by all means make me aware of them.
Due to matters of the heart I have moved back to Holland in 2004 from living on Phuket Island, Thailand for the previous 8 years.
As hearts are among the least reliable life support systems and people in general only have one of them, I died July 5th 2005.
Well…….although I really felt like dying, I am slowly getting a grip again and start seeing a tiny spot of light at the end of the tunnel.
As you can see from my profile I am running a small travel agency out in the south of Thailand getting people to enjoy various active outdoor activities such as SCUBA diving, sea kayaking, mountain climbing, jungle (jeep) safaris and such.
Although it has been a horrifying and very sad experience, in which many natives and tourists alike lost their lives, during “our” December 26th tsunami life must go on.
As some of you might have learned, we had huge water problems on the west coast and that did not help business. BUT all is back to “normal” now.
Phuket Island’s main income is out of tourism and so no tourists…….no income.
It has been said many times so one more time want hurt, if you really want to help go and visit Phuket. Stay in their hotels, participate in their daily excursions, go on their live aboard dive safaris, eat in their restaurants and buy your souvenirs.
Okay, so you think that was boring? Well, a guy is aloud to make a living, right?
My story……..
Last living in Holland in the town of Wassenaar, running a fitness center called Aerofit.
Having done that for about 3 years (almost 24/7) I thought it time to move on………
How I got to Scuba diving:
After teaching, the Friday last, aerobics class in Jan. 1992 (in an other fitness center) we all sat at the bar having a drink when one of the class participants complained about business not doing too well at the travel agency he was working at.
We talked some and I got a very good deal traveling to Diani, Kenya at cost price.
One little problem was the flight would be the next Monday and I had no idea of what to expect or do out on a beach somewhere in Africa. In fact I had never before thought of visiting Africa. Grabbed some t-shirts, shorts and got on the way.
Once at Diani I had a really nice hotel including pool and such only this is not my idea of a holiday. I always need to do or explore something. After breakfast and a dip in the pool I started wandering the white powdery beach. I remember how strange it was seeing guards walking the beach carrying riffles in between sun bathing Europeans. Well to get to the point, I stumbled over a sign saying “Scuba introductory course starting NOW”. Bringing back to mind pictures of Jacques Cousteau’s adventures and the frogman from old James Bond movies I though to give it a go. Again, I never considered perusing a scuba license before. Before long they sat me down in a small office like space, and I was watching a video about the first steps into breathing under water. As this holiday hardly costs me a penny I decided to go for it and get my Open Water Scuba license right there. It would set me back some 200 US Dollars but hé, at least I would have a goal in Africa.
It took me 4 days including 2 days out on a boat and actually being submerged into the Indian Ocean. I thought this experience to be unrelated to anything else I had ever experienced before in my life. It became the soul activity of this week, except for a few visits to the “Jungle baby bar” where I drank some beers and got into the “dark African” rhythms (dancing that is for the idea of 1 out of 3 Kenyans being HIV infected did not appeal too much to me). Once back in Holland I browsed around some to find a small dive school in the nearby village of Voorschoten. This couple, who had just enthusiastically started a school in their house, educated me further into the techniques and wonders of the underwater world. Needless to say diving in Holland was not at all what I have experienced in the Indian Ocean of the coast of Kenya. Anyway, I was bitten by the Scuba bug and devoted a holiday to diving. My choice was the Maldives. This was my first intentional leap into the ocean without having an instructor or a known buddy at my site. I do admit being nervous but the excitement won and it became one of the most rewarding holidays I have made so far. In 1992 the coral bleaching had not taken place yet and so I remember the Maldives as an underwater garden of colors and shapes of coral beyond any imagination. Of course the fish as well but I have been told they are still there for anyone to see. While being on a safari Dhoni, cruising the north Male atoll and diving when ever you felt like it, I decided to become a Dive Master myself to be able to show others, in a safe and pleasant way, the wonders of the Oceans. I have worked as a dive guide on Curaçao (one of the Dutch Antilles), east coast Malaysia, Bali (Indonesia) and needless to say all possible sites of the west coast of Thailand (including Similan and Myanmar former Burma).
Okay, now you know how I got into Scuba diving.
Going to Thailand:
As decided I left Holland to try my luck in the sun, Thailand. At the time my sister and her boyfriend got an offer to buy a small bar/restaurant in center Patong and asked me to join them and help set up the business. It was September 1995 and so we still had about two months before high season would kick in. It soon became clear that being in Thailand holding a tourist visa and working was not the best of ideas and so we decided it best for me to work away from the watchful eyes of immigration. The only option was being out on a boat, dive guiding. So I went off living on boats for the better of the next two seasons being on shore for 2 or 3 days every 2 months.
Have to go now but will continue soon (please let me know your findings).
Due to matters of the heart I have moved back to Holland in 2004 from living on Phuket Island, Thailand for the previous 8 years.
As hearts are among the least reliable life support systems and people in general only have one of them, I died July 5th 2005.
Well…….although I really felt like dying, I am slowly getting a grip again and start seeing a tiny spot of light at the end of the tunnel.
As you can see from my profile I am running a small travel agency out in the south of Thailand getting people to enjoy various active outdoor activities such as SCUBA diving, sea kayaking, mountain climbing, jungle (jeep) safaris and such.
Although it has been a horrifying and very sad experience, in which many natives and tourists alike lost their lives, during “our” December 26th tsunami life must go on.
As some of you might have learned, we had huge water problems on the west coast and that did not help business. BUT all is back to “normal” now.
Phuket Island’s main income is out of tourism and so no tourists…….no income.
It has been said many times so one more time want hurt, if you really want to help go and visit Phuket. Stay in their hotels, participate in their daily excursions, go on their live aboard dive safaris, eat in their restaurants and buy your souvenirs.
Okay, so you think that was boring? Well, a guy is aloud to make a living, right?
My story……..
Last living in Holland in the town of Wassenaar, running a fitness center called Aerofit.
Having done that for about 3 years (almost 24/7) I thought it time to move on………
How I got to Scuba diving:
After teaching, the Friday last, aerobics class in Jan. 1992 (in an other fitness center) we all sat at the bar having a drink when one of the class participants complained about business not doing too well at the travel agency he was working at.
We talked some and I got a very good deal traveling to Diani, Kenya at cost price.
One little problem was the flight would be the next Monday and I had no idea of what to expect or do out on a beach somewhere in Africa. In fact I had never before thought of visiting Africa. Grabbed some t-shirts, shorts and got on the way.
Once at Diani I had a really nice hotel including pool and such only this is not my idea of a holiday. I always need to do or explore something. After breakfast and a dip in the pool I started wandering the white powdery beach. I remember how strange it was seeing guards walking the beach carrying riffles in between sun bathing Europeans. Well to get to the point, I stumbled over a sign saying “Scuba introductory course starting NOW”. Bringing back to mind pictures of Jacques Cousteau’s adventures and the frogman from old James Bond movies I though to give it a go. Again, I never considered perusing a scuba license before. Before long they sat me down in a small office like space, and I was watching a video about the first steps into breathing under water. As this holiday hardly costs me a penny I decided to go for it and get my Open Water Scuba license right there. It would set me back some 200 US Dollars but hé, at least I would have a goal in Africa.
It took me 4 days including 2 days out on a boat and actually being submerged into the Indian Ocean. I thought this experience to be unrelated to anything else I had ever experienced before in my life. It became the soul activity of this week, except for a few visits to the “Jungle baby bar” where I drank some beers and got into the “dark African” rhythms (dancing that is for the idea of 1 out of 3 Kenyans being HIV infected did not appeal too much to me). Once back in Holland I browsed around some to find a small dive school in the nearby village of Voorschoten. This couple, who had just enthusiastically started a school in their house, educated me further into the techniques and wonders of the underwater world. Needless to say diving in Holland was not at all what I have experienced in the Indian Ocean of the coast of Kenya. Anyway, I was bitten by the Scuba bug and devoted a holiday to diving. My choice was the Maldives. This was my first intentional leap into the ocean without having an instructor or a known buddy at my site. I do admit being nervous but the excitement won and it became one of the most rewarding holidays I have made so far. In 1992 the coral bleaching had not taken place yet and so I remember the Maldives as an underwater garden of colors and shapes of coral beyond any imagination. Of course the fish as well but I have been told they are still there for anyone to see. While being on a safari Dhoni, cruising the north Male atoll and diving when ever you felt like it, I decided to become a Dive Master myself to be able to show others, in a safe and pleasant way, the wonders of the Oceans. I have worked as a dive guide on Curaçao (one of the Dutch Antilles), east coast Malaysia, Bali (Indonesia) and needless to say all possible sites of the west coast of Thailand (including Similan and Myanmar former Burma).
Okay, now you know how I got into Scuba diving.
Going to Thailand:
As decided I left Holland to try my luck in the sun, Thailand. At the time my sister and her boyfriend got an offer to buy a small bar/restaurant in center Patong and asked me to join them and help set up the business. It was September 1995 and so we still had about two months before high season would kick in. It soon became clear that being in Thailand holding a tourist visa and working was not the best of ideas and so we decided it best for me to work away from the watchful eyes of immigration. The only option was being out on a boat, dive guiding. So I went off living on boats for the better of the next two seasons being on shore for 2 or 3 days every 2 months.
Have to go now but will continue soon (please let me know your findings).
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Loop Crazy!
8 Sep, 14:34, 42
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Loop crazy 
Het lopen in deze prachtige omgeving in 't Gooi is helemaal geen straf. s'-Ochtends vroeg over de Westerheide kom ik regelmatig reetjes tegen
(ik bedoel die beestjes op 4 poten, voor alle duidelijkheid), er lopen Schotse hooglanders te grazen en wanneer de heide in bloei staat waan ik me in een paarse oceaan. Toch loopt het "anders" wanneer ik ergens voor train.
Met mijn vaste doordeweekse loop maat Rob, en met Marion en Claudi van de zaterdag ochtend IRR ploeg hebben we ons opgegeven voor de 7Heuvelenloop (www.zevenheuvelenloop.nl) rond Nijmegen de 18de november 2007. Mijn trainingen bestaan de laatste weken uit -maandag rust
-dinsdag ochtend (vaak met Rob en David) de rode paaltjes route over de Zuiderheide (tussen Hilversum en de A1) van ca. 6 km door bos, over fietspaden en een stuk zandduin
,
-woensdag (solo) een rustige duurloop tussen de 10 en 13 km
,
-donderdag ochtend (Rob & David) over de Tafelberg heide bij Blaricum,
-vrijdag avond een rondje vanuit Hilversum naar La Place, rechts af naar 't Bluk en over de heide (fietspad) terug (7 km),
-zaterdag ochtend vaste prik, met de loopgroep IRR (www.improverunning.nl) vanaf restaurant De Tafelberg in Blaricum (www.tafelberg.nl) meestal een duurloop met intervallen/piramides over heide, fietspaden, bossen en soms een stukje asfalt,
-zondag ochtend vanaf La Place, Laren, een rustige duurloop over de Westerheide met name om de "nieuwe" lopers/sters te leren kennen en tevens een herstel training na de vaak zware intervallen van zaterdag.
Eenmaal ingeschreven voor de 7Heuvelenloop gaat het trainen toch, onbewust, fanatieker. Ook heb ik meer "zin" in andere, tussenliggende, lopen. Zodoende ook ingeschreven voor de bridge to bridge loop van 10 mijl rond Arnhem (www.bridgetobridge.nl) op zondag 9 september (volbracht in 1:16:47) en denk ik er sterk aan om me ook voor de Bergrace by night op te geven voor de 12,6 km (www.bergrace.nl). Op zaterdag 29 september doet de IRR haar club kampioenschappen in de Wolfskamer in Huizen (www.avzuidwal.nl) waar ik bij wil zijn, afstand is 10 km. Daarnaast heb ik plannen om met een aantal lopers van de IRR in estafette vorm mee te gaan doen met de Bosmarathon rond Soest waarbij 4 lopers elk 10,5 km moeten volbrengen (www.bosmarathon.nl).
Hoewel bij mij de nadruk ligt op het meedoen en niet zo zeer op het "neerzetten" van tijden ligt dat voor een estafette natuurlijk wel even anders. Andere deelnemers van onze ploeg zullen nl. wel willen "presteren". Mmmmm daar moet ik het dan ook nog wel even over hebben.
Leuk, vind ik het, om "nieuwe" lopers/sters te ontmoeten die zich aansluiten bij onze GooiLoopZooi club (voor hyvers zie www.glz06.hyves.net) en meelopen wanneer ze kunnen. Het blijft "lekkerder" trainen met z'n 2tjes of een klein groepje dan alleen.
Het is hier in de omgeving een waar hardlopers paradijs, zoveel routes, zoveel verschillende terreinen en zo weinig "last" van auto's, fietsers, scooters of de anders zo vaak gehoorde klachten in Nederland. Niet te vergeten natuurlijk de vele mogelijkheden om na het trainen een kopje koffie/thee te drinken en lekker even na te kletsen en dan ……………… gaat ieder zijns weegs.
Het lopen in deze prachtige omgeving in 't Gooi is helemaal geen straf. s'-Ochtends vroeg over de Westerheide kom ik regelmatig reetjes tegen
(ik bedoel die beestjes op 4 poten, voor alle duidelijkheid), er lopen Schotse hooglanders te grazen en wanneer de heide in bloei staat waan ik me in een paarse oceaan. Toch loopt het "anders" wanneer ik ergens voor train.
Met mijn vaste doordeweekse loop maat Rob, en met Marion en Claudi van de zaterdag ochtend IRR ploeg hebben we ons opgegeven voor de 7Heuvelenloop (www.zevenheuvelenloop.nl) rond Nijmegen de 18de november 2007. Mijn trainingen bestaan de laatste weken uit -maandag rust
-dinsdag ochtend (vaak met Rob en David) de rode paaltjes route over de Zuiderheide (tussen Hilversum en de A1) van ca. 6 km door bos, over fietspaden en een stuk zandduin
,
-woensdag (solo) een rustige duurloop tussen de 10 en 13 km
,
-donderdag ochtend (Rob & David) over de Tafelberg heide bij Blaricum,
-vrijdag avond een rondje vanuit Hilversum naar La Place, rechts af naar 't Bluk en over de heide (fietspad) terug (7 km),
-zaterdag ochtend vaste prik, met de loopgroep IRR (www.improverunning.nl) vanaf restaurant De Tafelberg in Blaricum (www.tafelberg.nl) meestal een duurloop met intervallen/piramides over heide, fietspaden, bossen en soms een stukje asfalt,
-zondag ochtend vanaf La Place, Laren, een rustige duurloop over de Westerheide met name om de "nieuwe" lopers/sters te leren kennen en tevens een herstel training na de vaak zware intervallen van zaterdag.
Eenmaal ingeschreven voor de 7Heuvelenloop gaat het trainen toch, onbewust, fanatieker. Ook heb ik meer "zin" in andere, tussenliggende, lopen. Zodoende ook ingeschreven voor de bridge to bridge loop van 10 mijl rond Arnhem (www.bridgetobridge.nl) op zondag 9 september (volbracht in 1:16:47) en denk ik er sterk aan om me ook voor de Bergrace by night op te geven voor de 12,6 km (www.bergrace.nl). Op zaterdag 29 september doet de IRR haar club kampioenschappen in de Wolfskamer in Huizen (www.avzuidwal.nl) waar ik bij wil zijn, afstand is 10 km. Daarnaast heb ik plannen om met een aantal lopers van de IRR in estafette vorm mee te gaan doen met de Bosmarathon rond Soest waarbij 4 lopers elk 10,5 km moeten volbrengen (www.bosmarathon.nl).
Hoewel bij mij de nadruk ligt op het meedoen en niet zo zeer op het "neerzetten" van tijden ligt dat voor een estafette natuurlijk wel even anders. Andere deelnemers van onze ploeg zullen nl. wel willen "presteren". Mmmmm daar moet ik het dan ook nog wel even over hebben.
Leuk, vind ik het, om "nieuwe" lopers/sters te ontmoeten die zich aansluiten bij onze GooiLoopZooi club (voor hyvers zie www.glz06.hyves.net) en meelopen wanneer ze kunnen. Het blijft "lekkerder" trainen met z'n 2tjes of een klein groepje dan alleen.
Het is hier in de omgeving een waar hardlopers paradijs, zoveel routes, zoveel verschillende terreinen en zo weinig "last" van auto's, fietsers, scooters of de anders zo vaak gehoorde klachten in Nederland. Niet te vergeten natuurlijk de vele mogelijkheden om na het trainen een kopje koffie/thee te drinken en lekker even na te kletsen en dan ……………… gaat ieder zijns weegs.
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Comments
8 Sep, 14:59
Hoi Chris,
Nou ik geloof dat het geen straf daar in het Gooi te trainen
, klinkt heel mooi!
Ik heb je verhaal hier links gelezen, ik vind het wel leuk om zoiets te lezen. Er staan wel een aantal spelfouten, maar ik sta versteld hoe goed je engels kan schrijven.
Ga zo door zou ik zeggen!
Fijne weekend, Charlotte
Nou ik geloof dat het geen straf daar in het Gooi te trainen
, klinkt heel mooi!
Ik heb je verhaal hier links gelezen, ik vind het wel leuk om zoiets te lezen. Er staan wel een aantal spelfouten, maar ik sta versteld hoe goed je engels kan schrijven.
Ga zo door zou ik zeggen!
Fijne weekend, Charlotte
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