5pm ish..

Time to say goodbye to the lovely people I’ve been staying with (remember more about them and my stay coming soon) its a bit strange, leaving and some of my friends aren’t there to say goodbye to. It feels more like a “See you later guys!” then “Bye, bye, I’m leaving to another continent.”

John (a good new friend) brought me down to the beach where I will spend my last night.

On the way we stop so I can inquire and book my bus ticket to Phuket airport for the following morning. First place, no luck, too expensive and not bringing me the whole way. So off to the second one, much better, full distance and better price. IT’S A DEAL
As I count out my money I realize I have just enough to pay for my ticket, but not enough to pay the people I’ve been staying with the last two nights on the beach. Grumble!!

I decide to dig through my backpack back at the beach hut. First though we have a swim and I receive a wonderful Kung Fu lesson/introduction from John in the setting sun.

7pm ish..

Time to say goodbye to John.

Then I dig through my bag, no luck I only found another 20 bhat, not enough..
For some funny reason, I start to feel very stressed out, I can’t place it. Where is this coming from? Is it because suddenly I’m alone again, is it because of my flight coming up? Is it because I cant find enough money? No.. How can it I just have to run to the ATM and I’ll be fine.. Or will I?? My heart start pounding? Where is that silly slip of paper with my new indian ATM pin code? Shit!!! My Dutch card has run out of money so it’s hopeless trying that one.. I look everywhere, nowhere can I find that paper though..

I literally watch myself for 6min spindling downwards in my mind, falling into this pit I just dug for myself, but knowing I can stop myself but for some reason not doing so. Suddenly my sense comes back, I jump of onto a foot hold and decide to track where I last saw that paper, I decide that was in the Atcha pony hut and I quickly login to Skype and call them. Si picks up (one of the friends I didn’t manage to say goodbye to) and I ask to speak to John. Together with my memory and his physical presence at the farm, he finds the paper and all is good.

In my haste to find the paper I totally forgot to Thank and say goodbye to Si while i had the chance!
I will write a mail soon!!!

So happily now, I stroll to the 7-eleven to get hard earned stress relief of seeing money come out of a machine.

I arrive and type in the pin, yay it works…

or does it?

After all the options I’m asked to enter my pin again as its (according to the machine) been entered incorrectly. Hmmpfffgrbbb!!!

I try, and try again.. THEN: POOOOF:.. “Your card has been blocked, please contact your bank for more details.” GRB#!!!gr*_#%!!!

What now?

I tip toe my way to the other ATM machine, a little string of hope remaining in my heart. Nope! Same thing! So out of desperation I try my Dutch card. Of-course that doesn’t work either.

I’m deep in that pit now, as I walk back to the hut I try to figure out why I feel so low about all this? There really isn’t a reason I need to worry about money, I can always change some euros in the morning. So why then is this triggered with the money thing? Weird..

1am…

I have a wonderful chat with Mischa and we solve the issue of paying the guesthouse by her transferring some money to my Dutch account and me going to get it from the ATM. Thank go for MOMS yes I know that sounds silly, but it sure feels reassuring and good!

Love you Mischa!

Love you world, with your silly little ways of putting us in the right places at the right times.
Because you can bet your ass that we are always at the right place at the right time.

Goodnight!

Round round round the year, around the world! As my visa for India comes to an end, I make my plans to head out.

Where to though?
It’s been to Europe every summer for the last 5 years.. So that doesn’t sound very exciting anymore. Plus I would end up working in the Mediterranean again, as a stewardess, that also doesn’t sound very exciting.

USA? Nah.. Can’t work there, plus it’s not somewhere I want to live or build up a social network.

Australia? Hmmm, now we’re getting somewhere!

I research about work, travel cost, visas and all goes smooth and within 6 weeks all my plans are set, Thailand for two weeks, and then to Perth for a week (or more, I’m flexible) and then fly to Brisbane to start a job I’ve found online!

Couchsurfing has been scavenged for potential friends and I’ve joined meetup.com a great site for meeting people with similar interests!

My last weeks in India were up and down, tough for a while, going through changes, letting go of what is no longer of importance.
Mischa came to see me and we had a really nice time!

Isa and I finished our Eurotrip movie and a lot of other projects.

And then I was off! Landing in Bangkok yet again, third time! Taking the bus to Koh Lanta to go and stay at the Atcha Pony Hut, a self sustainable, permaculture community with horses and wonderful people!

I ran around in the rain for 25 min and got soaking wet together with my horses. My heart shook at the thunder which was directly above me and i felt great respect for mother nature and her powers. It also put me right in the moment, for standing in a wall of rain with the gods thundering around you.. what else is there but right NOW?

As most people are concerned about safety I’ve included the video that explains the thoughts behind that topic.

Hope to see you there!
my profile on CS

Am I ready for the world?

Of course I am..

There is no other possibility. Isn’t that a relief?

All is taken care of, worrying is a waste of time.

There is just one thing you have to do..

What Beau? WHAT?

Simple… DREAM.. Day dream, night dream, draw dream, write dream, talk dream..

Just remember not to stand in your own way. To worry is to stand in ones own way.. Why? Because what ever, I repeat, WHATEVER you give your energy to (negative or positive energy, doesn’t matter) that thing will grow, bigger and bigger.. Needing more energy..

But do not ignore it either.. Because that is being irresponsible for your one life, not wanting to learn.. No bad effects will happen, but everything that would grow from learning that lesson would be put on hold and the lesson will come at you in stronger and stronger waves till it could take over your whole reality.. Ouch, no fun ey?

Don’t worry, there is a simple way out..
Look at the thing you worry about, what is the underlying need that triggers it? If you’re worried about money, it can be a need for ‘security’. Have a look and, whatever emotion you find, hold it close to you and ‘feel’ it without judgement, give it love, because there are no bad or old emotions, they just are..
Nice example with anger when you are, steam coming out of your ears, angry, allow yourself to be. Say to the anger: HI I see and accept you, I know you’re there for a reason and I will try to find the reason and learn from it, thank it for showing you something and you’ll find it’s gone.. Whoos… Just like that.. How come?

I believe emotions are there to show you something, let you know what is going on inside, listen and be in touch with yourself. It can be easy..

So I’ll leave it at that.. I had no idea when I started to write this post that this is what I would write about, so it’s a random scribble of brain flow of coffee.. Yummy cappuccino!!
I hope it makes any sense, and as always I’m very open to talking about it! Find me on G+!

Have a wonderfullishious day!!

Hey.. It’s my birthday I can do what I like!!

I had a great rooftop gathering with friends and a wonderful chef, Raja, who cooked amazing food!!

The next friend gathering was a week later, nearby my house! I made a dream come true! I rode bareback, no bit with a guitar to the location in the dark.. ROMANTIC!! I’m hopeless when it comes to that… it was great, I made friends and played guitar around a campfire.

Rode back around midnight with the most amazing horse!!

Early morning rise, sunlight in my bed, fresh air, warm temperatures, ahhh….
I run downstairs to meet my horses through new eyes, those of a more experienced horse person on a physical level of horsemanship.
I look at Koda and feel embarrassed, I called that “in shape?” I take a note to change that over the course of the next 2 months.
Majura gets a makeover too, it’s getting hot and ticks are brewing under his long mane, so off it goes, snip snip… He looks like a boy now! His coat gets a snip too, shorter hair as his genes have given him a thick coat.

I’ll be updating how this journey goes!

What’s happened since?
…… GASPS!!!! I can’t believe I didn’t write about my victory in the endurance race! Wow, how could I forget!!!
I’m so sorry! Well here goes

The race was harder then I thought it would be, the first lap I didn’t go fast enough, doing 20km in 01:11:00, we were into the midway vet check in 5 min and passed with flying colors, 30 min rest. The second lap I wasn’t going to let anyone down and trotted, cantered most of it. Reaching the finish line 10min faster then the first lap. And again, excellent recovery time on Alaknanda’s part, superb horse!

It was a great experience and if the opportunity arises i will compete again next year in the same category.

Two days after is the price ceremony:

We’re in a garden, grass beneath our feet and trees surrounding us, in front there is a beautiful Rajasthani hotel, with if I may say, the right side is longer then the left.. Hihi..

Anyhow, there’s chairs lined up like in a cinema and the two bands situated to the left of the garden. (whom start playing at random times). In front is a magnificent table full of prices. I’m excited, last night I heard the official results about my race, I came first!

So we wait, and wait, and wait.. Finally the maharaja of Jodhpur arrives and the ceremony can start. First all the placings are announced and then everyone is summoned to collect their trophies and medals one by one, my race was first to come and collect, so there I stood smiling in front of everyone, posing neatly for the required picture while receiving the medal, a big grin on my face as I walked back to my seat.
One guy had to go 3 times to pick up a throphy as his horse was a Marwari and it had finished first place in 80km and was best condition Marwari of that race and best condition registered Marwari of the whole event! He won 31.000 rupees!!! Most of that was from the best condition Marwari awards as there are some very generous and ambitious people and stables prompting this promising breed for sports, the stable i rode for: Ashvesira stable run by Gaurav Joshi is one of them.

Then they called my name again!
What?
“For best performing female rider we award this throphey to Beau Bikker”
I rise, and flabbergasted make my way up to the table, again going thought the short ritual of posing with the price.

So there you have it.. Two prices! I’m soo happy and they look so nice in my apartment here in Tiruvannamalai.

<;?php get the entire IHD working the way it shou/d, all by yourself without banging your head on the keyboard in the process ?>;

Sigh.. If only it was that easy, but alas php is not that user friendly.
But, hey may I share a fun story with you?

Few days ago in my desperation to get someone to do the difficult parts of php for me, I found a company, they agreed to do it for a price that was within my budget! I started with the easiest problem….

Alas.. I sat with them for 2 hours while they tried to get their heads around the code.. Finally they gave up, Yea!! Gave up! Imagine my feelings then.. “Gulp, they can’t do it, and they are professionals..”

If you know me then you’ll be thinking: “but come on! This is Beau, and Beau combined with challenge within her learning curve, is unbeatable!” or I hope you were thinking that .

So home I went, home= Jodhpur Rajasthan right now (more about that later) sat down at the desk and went wild.. 2 hours later, I had it fixed.

———————

HORSES:

Thus, I’m in Rajasthan! I’ve been planning this for years! Ever since I joined Facebook, and saw the pictures of the beautiful Marwari horses there, I have dreamed to come here!

The reality is different from what I had imagined, the reality meaning the reason I am up north.
I’m up north to participate in the National Endurance Ride of India, a friend: Gaurav Joshi (world’s youngest trick rider & former National Endurance Ride Champion) is training me how to win. I’m riding one of his mares, Alaknanda.

All in all it’s exciting, feels so natural that I think I will pick this up as a full time activity, ride, breed, train, buy horses for Endurance performance.
The race is in 6 days and I am as ready as can be. Alaknanda and I have a good bond and she has come a long way from my first ride, where she kept pulling and rushing. Now she is relaxed, saving her energy, listening to me.

I feel torn about the training methods, it’s traditional English riding, bits, saddles, dressage etc. it goes against what I do at home. But then, it’s works. I feel more and more, that if you want to do natural horsemanship (or however you may want to call it) you need time, and lots of it! Ideally, you need to breed your own horse, bring it up yourself, then you’ve got a horse that will follow you everywhere, compete with you. So if you have 5 years? this is my dream!
First things first, VISA, MONEY, buy mare, breed, get foal. and so on..
Can you help? Yea!
For Visa, I’m looking to get a business visa so I can registerer my own business.
For money, you can help out by letting me design an amazing website for you, or you can donate!
For a mare, well, that really comes down to money as I’m picky about the animal’s capabilities.

Keep on dreaming! Love!

Not to worry, I’m fine, so is Isa whom was riding in the backseat. She has a sprained ankle.
We were on the highway, overtaking a bus (this is a four lane highway with a grass separation between the sides)
So the bus was on the left and the road was clear, so we accelerated and started to overtake, as we are about the pass the bus, suddenly a small white cow decides to cross the road to the right, directly in front of the bus. There was no way we could have avoided the accident, we hit the cow and flew off the bike onto the grass mid section. The bike is absolutely broken, but right now that is the least of the problems.
The police have decided to mess with it and have taken the bike hostage in a way. I’m on my way with Hans to get the bike now, wish us luck with everything! We need it!