Dear all

This would be my last blog after a long traveling around the world. So far I'm ok, but sometimes some problems with healthy. At the moment I'm going better and better.

Due of my visa on arrival in Indonesia, I left Indonesia after 30 days. On the first week of January I went Singapore for a couple of days. I have been to Marina Bay, Sentosa Island, Chinatown & Little India. The weather was nice and from time to time it was raining. But after the rain, the sun was shining too. The photos of Singapore I will upload that later on my blog. A second time to Singapore was definitely not boring, but every time I will come there, they are building more and more. Absolutely amazing what kind of projects they are doing at the moment.

Eventually when I came back in Indonesia, there was a planning to go to Bali on the 2nd or 3rd week of January. Unfortunately my aunt changed the plan, because 3 of her staff went sick and she couldn't go to Bali. The last few weeks I met friends, hang out and saying goodbye.

Further I spent with family and preparing for Chinese New Year (Gong Xi Fai Cai). Since 2003, Chinese New Year is an office holiday in Indonesia. Lots of decoration you can see around the shopping areas in Jakarta. Those decorations are red lanterns, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese knots, papercutting.

The last week of the month, it's very crowded. Mostly of the people are shopping for decoration or giving presents to family and love ones. The red envelops (Ang Pao) is a special gift to give luck and to ward off the evil spirits. Also a big family gathering with food is a must together to celebrate Chinese New Year. For me it will be the first time that I will celebrate Chinese New Year with family.

I'm looking almost to the end of my world trip. I have been away for almost 9 months and I have seen a lot of things around the world. It gave me a boost and satisfaction for the future in life.

It brought me to the following countries and cities: NYC, Hawaii (including Maui), Japan (Tokyo till Hiroshima), China (Beijing to Hong Kong), Singapore (2x), Malaysia (2x), Australia (Sydney to Brisbane) and Indonesia (6 months).

My memories to NYC:

It was my beginning of my world trip. The following things I have seen so far were:

-Chinatown

-Little Italy

-Central Park

-Battery Park

-United Nations

-Ground Zero

-Wall Street

-Times Square

-Esplanade

-High Line on 13 / 14th Street

-Pier (Downtown)

-Yankee Stadium

-Flushing Meadows Park (US Open)

-Brooklyn Museum

-Brooklyn Botanical Garden

-Brighton Beach

-Coney Island

-St.John's Episcopal Church, Woodbridge, NJ

My memories to Hawaii:

I stayed in Hawaii for almost a month and definitely it wasn't bored for me. The nice weather and the area that was so chill. Everything was easy going and laid-back. It was definitely one of my favorite places of my world trip.

The Pan Pacific Festival, a festival that was very nice organized and they were a very large number of people from Japan. The activities of the festival are dance, food, parade, demonstration from different dances. The places were on different location, but still at the Waikiki area.

The trip to Maui was amazing. The road to Hana has a lot of curves. Some intersection you can go and see the beaches. Those were amazing and the nature was incredible as well.

The elevation on the Haleakala National Park was at 10.023 ft = 3055m high. From that point you can see the top of the Mauna Kea at Big Island. The distance between those tops are 160 km. That was definitely a beautiful view and it wasn't that cold on the top.

In Kailua, at the east side of the O'ahu there was a Pancake House. The have everything about pancakes. It was all Hawaiian made, so it tasted very good I must say.

North Shore was a nice spot to hang out for awhile. A local shave ice store called Aoki's in Haleiwa. This seems to be famous by the locals. The shave ice was delicious and it was big.

Memories of Japan:

Japan was highly listed of countries that I wanted to visit. I started with someone that I met on the plane from Honolulu to Tokyo. The person was so helpful when I was in Tokyo. It was a truly friend that I kept remember. It was also the first country that I visited in Asia.

The high-speed train (Shinkasen) was truly amazing. I went from Tokyo to Sendai, to Nagano, to Osaka, to Kyoto and Hiroshima. Places what I remembered:

-Shinjuku

-Shibayu

-Harajuku

-Yoyogi Park

-Kyoto (with their temples)

-Nara

-Osaka

-Hiroshima (visiting the memorial park)

Definitely I want to come back, because there is so much to see. I met a lot of people in Kyoto and those people I won't forget that fast. Memorable day was the world cup final between Spain - The Netherlands.

Memories of China

My other country what I want to see during my world is: China. I started in Beijing and brought me via Shanghai, Xian, Three Gorges, Guilin, Wuhan and Shenzhen to Hong Kong. What I have seen so far:

-Great Wall

-The Forbidden City

-Summer Palace

-Olympic road

-Shanghai Expo 2010

-Acrobat Show

-The Bund

-Xian

-Terra Cotta Army

-Three Gorges

-Yangsuho

-Hong Kong

Memories of Singapore (2x):

After 18 years I came back to Singapore. High develop country with many projects they are building. Amazing to see and definitely one of the best city in the world.

-MRT

-Orchard Road

-Marina Bay

-Marina Bay Sands

-The MerLion

-Sentosa Island

-The beaches

-Chinatown

-Little India

Memories of Australia:

One of my dreams came out: Australia. I wanted to see that country for a very long time. I started my trip in Sydney and moved further to Brisbane. A very nice country to hang out and if I have another chance to go again, then I want travel more up north to Cairns. The following things what I have seen so far:

-Opera House

-Royal Botanic Garden

-Darling Harbour

-Chinatown

-The City

-Manly Beach

-Walking to North Head at Sydney National Park at Manly Beach

-Surfers Paradise (Gold Coast)

-Noosa Heads (Sunshine Coast)

-Brisbane

-Canberra

Memories of Malaysia (2x):

I have been twice to Malaysia and I visited my friend who lived and worked there. Mostly of my time I stayed in Kuala Lumpur (KL). KL is less then Singapore, but much better then Jakarta, Indonesia. The following things that I remembered of KL:

-Central Market

-Chinatown

-Masjid Jame

-Menara KL (KL Tower)

-Petronas Tower

-KLCC

-Golden Triangle / Bukit Bintang

Memories of Indonesia

Indonesia has the biggest Muslim population in the world. My parents, my family came all and lived in Indonesia. I have spent 6 months to see how life is. It was amazing to spend with family to celebrate Independence Day together as big family gathering with lots of food.

A country that has a lot of people, who are living in several areas in a shelter, but also the amazing shopping malls that every year will come. The distance between poor and rich is amazing. Also the complex of houses in several areas is amazing. It's like you got the money, you have the power to build up a huge house.

It's already amazing to see the traffic here in Jakarta. After a while you get used to that. Sometimes you want to ban the easy busses like Kopaja, Metro Mini, Microlet etc. Also the motorcycles are sometimes a trouble. Something good for the city will be a subway. It reduced CO2 + it's more efficient as well. But in a country where corruption is still there, it's hard to make decisions. Speaking of corruption, those police officers should ashamed themselves about stopping us of doing things wrong. You gave that officer 10.000 RP and he's a happy person.

But other things of my good memories are the meetings with my friends. Hang out, going out, spending time together with dinner or just at home. Further what I have seen so far is the Christmas. The decorations are nice and a Christmas tree in front of every shopping mall. Also the shopping malls in the month December opened till midnight. It was amazing to see how many people came.

I celebrated Christmas for the first time in my life in Indonesia. Galore Bukarno during Christmas Eve was fantastic. There was an advent organized by the Christian church. During the event there were more then 45.000 people and it was a good and nice event. My moment was the candlelight that went on with a nice song. It was hard to describe what I felt, but it felt good.

New Year's Eve I spent with family having BBQ and seeing some fireworks. It was so funny that I can walk relaxed with a nice short and t-shirt. In Holland it's to cold and mostly I went to a club that I spent a lot of money.

So this is my short memories of what I have done during my world trip 2010/2011. I want to thank everyone who supported me during my traveling. Thanks for the messages and e-mails. I hope when I return in Holland to meet you guys and share my thoughts with you what I have been through. I can say this: in those 9 months, it was my happiest life ever. I learned a lot of culture with lots of different varieties. I have been through to a lot of things in positive and negative ways. But after all, I have survived this and definitely I'm proud on myself to do a 2nd world trip in a row.

Greetz from Jakarta, Indonesia

Patrick Delsine