Backpacking made me appreciate nature much more. Before my backpackingtrips through Southeat Asia I was never really interested in nature. I think that was partly because of the ‘not knowing’; I had never seen mountains or waterfalls in real life, so I had no idea of its beauty or impressiveness. Growing up in The Netherlands I mostly saw green grass and a few dunes near the coastlines, it is a very flat country. During my two trips through Southeast Asia, I seized the chances to see the things that nature had to offer. So although I used to get more excited about spending time on a beautiful beach than between green ricefields, I wanted to give myself the oppertunity to see new things….and with success.
1. Waterfalls I had no idea that I would like waterfalls as much as I ended up doing. During my first trip I did not see any waterfalls, because it was dry season. But last year I saw many; three different waterfalls at the Bolaven Plateau and the Kuang Si Falls in Laos, the Erawan Falls in Thailand and the Tegenungan waterfall on Bali…..and they were pretty impressive.
2. Mountains, rocks and volcanoes Like I said before, The Netherlands is a flat country and I had never seen mountains and hills before. The boattrip through Halong Bay in Vietnam was the first time I saw huge rocks and it took my breath away. Last summer I saw beautiful green hills in Vang Vieng (Laos) and even a vulcano (from a distance) during my stay on Gili Trawangan (Indonesia).
3. Ricefields Ricefields were the ‘nature thing’ that I had looked forward to the most. When I started googling my upcoming destinations, I got really excited about the green ricefields. I had planned to see some inSapa (Vietnam), but sadly it was the dry season. In 2016 I visited Bali and saw the famous Tegalalang riceterrace and the ricefields around the Campuhan Ridge Walk.
4. Dunes Sanddunes were another thing that I had never seen in real life. I have always loved the beach but I had no idea what I could expect of sanddunes..and they were great! I saw both the white dunes and the red dunes when I was in Mui Ne (Vietnam) in 2015.
5. The underwaterworld I love the beach, but before 2015 I had never gone snorkeling and diving. During my first trip in 2015 I fell in love with snorkeling and the underwater world….all those bright coloured fish…they were so awesome! In 2016 I got my open water certificate and could enjoy the underwateworld even more.
-> Are you a nature lover?