Bizzy Lizzy
Liz Verheyden Joined: December 20th 2007
Logged in: January 10th 2012
Logged in: January 10th 2012
BEFORE
TRIP 1: South East Asia - Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia: 6 months backpacking trip with my buddy Danielle!!! (Jan '08-July '08)
TRIP 2: Tanzania - Mt Kilimanjaro: 7-day Lemosho Glades Route (Sept '08)
TRIP 3: Indonesia - Jakarta & Bandung: 6 weeks Pilates course (Dec'08-Feb'09)
TRIP 4: Canada - Toronto: 3-weeks Pilates course (Aug '09)
TRIP 5: Indonesia - Jakarta: 1.5yrs at Re:formation Pilates studio i.e. work! (Sept '09 - '10)
TRIP 6: Switzerland - Gstaad: 2-month seasonal work contract (Dec'10-Jan'11)
Travel Blog Posts
View from Telo Moyo
November 2010 Having finished my work contract in Jakarta, end of October, I just couldn't wait to get out and explore Indonesia some more! My love for mountains (and bagging them) drew me to Central Java, with its abundant choice of volcanoes! Initially I hoped to climb (and bag) 4 gunungs (ie. mountains) in approx 1 week, but after the first one I already saw that this would be a bit too much on the legs.. So we dropped Gunung no. 2 - Gunung Sindoro. Leaving us with Gunung Sumbing (3370m), Gunung Merbabu (3145m) and Gunung Lawu (3265m) to be completed. We flew from Jakarta to Semarang (team: Dan, Zubayr and Liz) late Friday afternoon and discussed our first trip, and many other exciting trips, over dinner. Saturday was set aside for organising our first ascent ... read more
Sengiggi - Lombok
Hello Again! Lets talk about the past few months (June-Sept '10)! :) I get to start with probably the most amazing trip of them all! A 5-day live aboard boat trip from Lombok to Flores! (June '10) I was planning on doing this trip by myself, but luckily, last minute, I heard about a friend of a friend (from Amsterdam) who was travelling around Indonesia and keen to find some travel buddies. So I met up with Marlies in Sengiggi, a touristy beach village in Lombok. We clicked within minutes and started the Gin &Tonics! The next day (Day I) we got to meet the group which we would spend the next 5 days with, in a very confined space (I did not particularly book a luxury cruise ship...) Late afternoon we got moving and watched ... read more
Plaza Senayan Arcadia
It is definitely time to update you on my travel adventures again. I see that I last wrote to you in January, so that are 4 full months to catch up with! I am still working at Re:formation Pilate Studio and it is going great. I have to keep practicing hard to be able to keep up with the level of some of my clients! Of course I have been running around Jakarta and surrounding areas, both with Jakarta Free Spirit Running club as well as with the crazy people from Hash House Harriers. Jakarta Free Spirit regularly organises some local races (March ’10) and I managed to squeeze myself into the number one position during a 21.1km race and won 1 million rupiah worth of Puma gear! (if you convert it to ZAR is doesn’t ... read more
JFS 27km run
Selamat Natal & Tahun Baru!! Yet another festive season spent in Indonesia! ;) Let's summarise my last couple of months in Jakarta I. A couple of interesting runs II. A few nights out III. A day trip to Bidadari Island - Pulau Seribu My 2 running groups always give me ample opportunity to explore the surrounding areas and increase the distance in the legs. So I joined a couple of TGIS Hash runs again and got up at very ungodly hours on my sunday morning to get to some remote place selected by a fellow runner.. BUT the runs are always more than worth it! One sunday morning we ventured out to Pelabuhan Ratu (West coast of Java) at 3am in the morning (approx 2h drive) to hit the (off-)road at sunrise. It was an amazing ... read more
Java Volcano's
Selamat Siang! Im 2 months into my Jakarta-work-adventure and Im starting to feel like it's all rather normal! I guess it means that I am settling in! ;) Not THAT much has happened since my last blog, but last weekend's events made me decide to share some more pictures with you! From 16-10 until 18-10 I left the island of Java to climb Gunung Agung, the highest volcano in Bali, measuring 3100m at its true peak. Most people, both local and tourists, summit the mountain at 2900m on a more convenient side of the crater. But my hiking group of choice aka Java Lava decided to take a more challenging, off-the-beaten-track, route. At 2300m we branched off from the more established path to traverse over the lava flow to the other side of the crater to ... read more
Re:formation Studio
And the Jakarta story starts again! I arrived in Jakarta last week Wednesday (2/09) on the evening of the 7.3 scale earthquake which shook Western Java. Not sure yet if Im happy that I was safely in the air while it happened or not. I THINK I would have loved to feel what its like! ;) But I guess I will have to wait for the next one! hhh! Lucy, my new boss, was waiting for me at the airport with her husband. It was very nice to be received in fluent english! She did some grocery shopping for me and she made sure that my apartment was freshly cleaned! What a nice welcome! The next day she picked me up to go visit the studio. It was very funny to walk in and realise I ... read more
Niagara Falls
Hello again! Time has passed way too quick as I have come to the end of my Toronto adventure already.. As you know, most of my hours were spent sweating away at the studio practicing Pilates. I have since taken a special Injury course which was actually mainly theory and after that I started my Rehabilitation course which I was looking forward to so much. There was a completely different crowd in this course compared to the previous ones and it was definitely much more international. Nationalities ranged from Canadian & American to Philippino, Thai, Brazilian and a lovely South African (hhh ;) ) The course was very creative and very interactive! Overall a great experience and I just can't wait to apply all my new knowledge at my new studio in Jakarta!! I also finally ... read more
Mary, my host, and me
Ola! It’s been about 6 months since my last trip so a new adventure was due! This time I ventured to Toronto, Canada for 4 weeks of more STOTT Pilates courses. Completing my advanced Pilates levels as well as some specific rehabilitation focused courses which I am very excited about! I arrived last week Monday after a smooth yet long trip via London. The directions I received from my host were on the dot and I nicely navigated my way through the city by bus and subway with backpack and all. It took her, aka Mary, less than an hour to get me a subway pass, internet and a cellphone! She really is on the ball! ;) She is a funky Indian lady who has a 2BR apartment. And crazily enough she rents out both rooms ... read more
Singapore
Ola, Ola! Why not blog from the home country, right? Life is not only exciting in far away countries - so the home lifestyle is definitely worth blogging as well! What have I been getting up to since I left Jakarta on the 14th of Feb? 1) Mini-Singapore trip on the way home 2) Wacky wine tasting weekend in Bonnievale - Western Cape - SA 3) Walking from Silvermine (Muizenberg) to the Cable Car station (City Bowl) - approx 35km SINGAPORE Who can stop in Singapore and not pause to have a quick 'window' shopping moment? Right, difficult! So I chose to have a 2-day stop-over to see what all the 'organised & clean' fuss is about. And they are right! After one month in Jakarta, I thoroughly enjoyed the first 12h of organised, structured, clean, ... read more
A good side of JKT
Hello again! Lets discuss life in JKT during rainy season... hmmmmmmmmm....... Still not quite my favourite big city but it has its charm. Luckily I stay up in the higher area of JKT so I avoid the floods. Yet my apartment is showing serious strain with the high amounts of rain. The walls are so soaked with moisture that I have to deal with regular power outages. But having to get Starbucks coffee every time the lights go off is not a bad deal ;) My running shoes have unfortunately not made their way out of the cupboard yet, which is the downfall of city life (& the rain..). When I arrived in JKT my landlord reassured me that I could get a bike to cycle to the Pilates Studio everyday to be outside and to ... read more
