MASTER OF HIS OWN DESTINY: Thanks to his websites, Peter van der Lans is now free to pursue his passions in life

Peter van der Lans gave up a steady income in Holland in 1998 to travel the world. A little over a decade later now, he makes enough to enjoy his passion for exploring a fulltime pursuit.

As Peter puts it: "The freedom I earned with the websites is what makes my life worthwhile now. Instead of being the slave of a company, I choose what I want to do, which is totally the opposite of the life I had in Holland or the UK, where I had a Monday-to-Friday job.

“Freedom in life cannot be paid in money. I am master over my own time now, instead of having a boss who rules my time. It’s the freedom that is priceless."

Tell us about yourself In 1998

I gave up my job in Holland to start travelling for a year...rented out my house and went on the road. I did a journey over India, China and Southeast Asia. After about a year I came back and bought a bicycle and started cycling.

The first bicycle journey was from Amsterdam to North Pakistan and back. After that I did several other long journeys, including almost two years in China. Since 1999, I have cycled almost 100,000km and did the Amsterdam- Malaysia journey twice. I live in Malaysia now but still travel a lot.

Because of one of my websites, I spend a lot of time in Yangshuo, a small town south of Guilin in China.

Pulau Pangkor (www.pulau-pangkor.com) was started in October 2004. At the time I had just arrived in Malaysia with my then girlfriend who was a local in Sitiawan, Perak. I needed to earn some money and didn’t want to go into the obvious teaching business.

The site grew quickly and started to earn me a living. A few months after I started the site, my girlfriend and I parted ways but as I liked the quiet life in I stayed.

The other reason, of course, was that I had the Pangkor website. I started a second site: Bicycle Adventures (www.bicycle-adventures.com) which grew slower than I wanted.

Reason was simple, the Pangkor site needed a lot of attention and as a result it is now the largest website about Pangkor, Lumut and this part of Perak.

The third, Yangshuo Travel Guide (www.yangshuo-travel-guide.com), was because of a friend of mine in Yangshuo. She convinced me I could do a website about Yangshuo as I had lived there for a while.

Your reasons?

The idea of starting the Pangkor site was to generate an income out of the Internet because I didn’t want to have an ordinary job. That point I achieved within six months.

At the time Google was my main monetisation model and ever since May 2005, I earn a cheque from Google that covers my costs in Malaysia.

Have your online endeavours changed your life?

Part of the change started about two years ago when I met someone here in Sitiawan who runs a teambuilding company…He has his place on my website and I help him out when he has groups; I do the rope-courses or jungle trekking in his programme. Especially the rope course he has set up – it’s a very rewarding thing to do. Writing about my own travel experiences has also made me friends in many places.

When, for example, I go to Yangshuo even in high season, I will be able to get rooms. Additionally, because of the websites, I get invitations from people who think it would be great if I put their children’s weddings on the website.

Thus I have certain privileges others do not have.

The foremost feature in Cybersphere that amazes you?

The idea of making friends online – and worldwide – when 10 years ago was only possible by intensive travelling in an area and keeping in touch with letters, email or phone calls. I am not a big fan of these systems, I hardly understand how they work and what really their relevance is.

It seems a lot of chit chat and little substantial stuff. That said, I did find a long lost friend through Facebook.

Through Cyberspace communication many things can happen. What would you really like to achieve?

I want the Yangshuo website to grow into one of the leading websites for this part of China.It is possible, but I need more time. My ambition for the websites is to give people what I know and allow further exchanges of information.

If there were someone you could influence to take up blogging…

Some years back I felt my mum could easily do a website using the systems I am using. It would have been a great way for her to stay in contact with me. At the time my brother lived in the United States and my sister, married an American, was there on and off too.

A personal blog for people who have overseas relatives is great. Of course you achieve this with email and phone calls, but writing a blog makes the writer more aware of the thing he/she is doing in life.

Any memorable incidents?

I have plenty of memorable moments and no, I would not want to change anything in my life. This doesn’t mean I regret certain things, but I am now what I am because of my past. If I could change one thing in the past, I wouldn’t be right here and right now.

Additional thoughts?

I have often said that students who finish their study should travel for three to six months in another part of the world to discover that life in their own country is not the only way of living. Other people, with other cultures and religions, are not better or worse than you.

Travelling makes you very aware of that principle. It is also something you can’t really learn from books, Internet or TV. Some things in life you have to experience yourself.