Keine weiße Weihnacht'

für uns dieses Jahr. Im Moment ist es 19:13 Uhr und es hat 17 Grad (Actually a bisserl cold für Hochsommer aber vielleicht will Melbourne uns vorsichtig an dieses Klima gewöhnen). Die Sonne scheint hier in Elwood, es ist kaum eine Wolke am Himmel und das Jahr neigt sich dem Ende zu. Es war ein bewegungsreiches, wunderschönes und aufregendes Jahr. Es ist das zweite Mal in Folge, dass unsere Familien daheim ohne uns Weihnachten feiern müssen, denn letztes Jahr waren wir zu dieser Zeit in Neuseeland und kurz darauf in Fiji (Amazon Dank muss(te) trotzdem keiner weinen ;-) ). Auch dieses Jahr geht es bald in einen Flieger, denn wir werden "Boxing Day" und "New Year" mit Sonja und Alex in und um Perth verbringen (so Tigerairways denn will ...).

Dankbar sind wir für das Glück in dieser kurzen Zeit hier eine Heimat gefunden zu haben. Philipp stellt nächstes Jahr die ganze Logistik für Australien auf den Kopf und Tina hat es geschafft, ein Projekt zu bekommen, das ein wenig weniger Reisen beinhaltet (so lautet zumindest die Stellenbeschreibung). Langweilig wird uns also nicht. Dafür sorgen auch unsere Nachbarn und Freunde mit denen wir schon allerlei Pläne für nächstes Jahr haben. Dieses Land ist schließlich riesig und 20 Urlaubstage sind sooooo wenig. Das beigefügte Fotoalbum gibt ein paar Einblicke in das kürzliche Treiben der Elche down-under.

33 weeks in Melbourne

Ankündigungen gab es ja schon viele, aber Anfang Dezember war er tatsächlich da - unser erster Besuch aus Deutschland. Obowhl, ob man das beim weltreisenden Markus so noch sagen kann ... und der zweite ist auch schon angemeldet. Barbara/Oma Taunus/Philipp's Mum wird uns im Februar/März besuchen kommen und die Golfplätze sowie Tasmanien testen. Im Herbst vielleicht noch einmal umziehen (ich hätte schwören können, unsere Wohnung hatte nen Balkon, als wir sie angeschaut haben), im Winter wollen wir uns dann Darwin ansehen und irgendwie müssen wir dazwischen auch noch arbeiten. Und natürlich wollen wir noch ganz viel Besuch bekommen ...

Wir wünschen unseren geneigten Lesern, dass die staade Zeit bereits begonnen hat und das Leben sich im Moment um Lebkuchen, Glühwein und Vorlesegeschichten am Feuer dreht. Dass ihr alle mit lieben Menschen zusammen sein könnt und dass die guten Vorsätze sich von ganz alleine umsetzen. Prost und Guten Appetit.

Mutig sein, das Leben ist viel zu kurz, um zu zögern!
Alles Gute und nen guten Rutsch.

Besteckshublade

Melbourne at the moment is a about 4 movies (hmm ... maybe not, I have seen all of them already) and 25 Satay-Sticks away from me. Next week I will be home to celebrate and smile at the upcoming 40 and then it is back to KL until mid November. So I am quite happy, that Philipp not only loves visiting kangaroos and has a job that keeps him busy but also has frequent visitors to entertain him.

Why? Because we have a green airmattress that frequently hosts couchsurfing guests. What is couchsurfing? It is sleeping on your best friends couch - and replace "best friend" with "people you have never met before".
Curious? This is where you find us on couchsurfing.org.

Last week we (Philipp) had a guest who is on a mission: Surfing couches for 12 weeks (in Melbourne, where he actually lives himself) and writing 12 songs about it. Our green airmattress was his first couch. And the first song is out now: Besteckshublade. Music & Lyrics: Brett. Voice: Philipp. Location: Our home and surroundings in Elwood.

See the video on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/12-Songs-In-12-Weeks/104152136313890

Amazing project - I am looking forward to the final concert (and hope I am not again a third of a day away ...)

The language of colors

Travelling is exhausting. But resting is boring, uncool. That is why most travellers spend their days on the road with a Lonely Planet in front of their eyes, their fingers holding on to a very expensive camera to click at everything that moves, and their ears hunting the (thought so) coolest location in town.

When I came to Kuala Lumpur this time, I forgot my Lonely Planet at home (and I think they are too expensive to buy another one). We currently only have 1 camera and as summer started in Melbourne, I am stuck with my iPhone (I love it, but it sucks at taking pictures). And my last aSmallWorld forum entry (back in 2006, asking for good food in Milan) nearly had me kicked out of the network. Destined to be boring this time?!

Well, I am. I slept through all Saturday with its Monsun rain which was pouring from the sky. Absolutely lovely, though it doesn't get me any travellers-coolness-points. So today I had to hit the road. I took my sketchbook, my pencils and headed towards art.

Kuala Lumpur has a few - mostly historic-ly attached - museums, which (I have to admit) didn't interest me much. But Suria KLCC has an art gallery which exhibits contemporay young artists and the National Art Gallery promises to show Malaysia's finest (and is even on facebook ...).

So, I spent the day surrounded by art from Malaysia. And while I was sitting in the galleries & museums and finished some of my own paintings, I wondered whether I actually understand what I did see today. At all. It is colors on canvas (mostly). Beyond that it is culture and language. Both of which I do not know (at least when it comes to Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur). So, any chance of understanding? Maybe not.

But it was a fun day in my very own fantasy world. With a lot of stories for which I probably will never know whether they hit the nail or went completely off-track. I also noticed: It actually might not even make a difference. The language of colors does not exist on Google translate (nor does it on Wikipedia, yet).

traces-in-the-sand is back ...

Hello, g'day, cheers and 'gude ... we are back!

It has been 4 months now (18 weeks) that we left winter Frankfurt to arrive in winter Melbourne. Everyday life has settled by now. The pictures tell the stories of our first 120+ days here.

3 weeks in melbourne

http://tinyurl.com/3weeksinMelbourne

6 weeks in melbourne

9 weeks in melbourne

18 weeks in melbourne

Aftermath ...

This week it will be 3 weeks that we are back home. We are back to work, to mobile phones, to trains on time (unless affected by the local bakery conspiracy), to accurate weather forecasts (cold!) and to fun stuff like dentist appointments. So, why exactly did we come back? ;-)

To finally close our adventure I had a closer look at what you have to think of, organize and spend for 18 weeks on the road. Here it is (in no proper order and not all of this actually happened to us):

• Don't forget the proper vaccination - some of them require a few months in advance.
• Make sure you cancel all unnecessary insurances and memberships on time - keep your local health insurance though as it could get quite expensive in case you are brought back in pieces.
• The weather at home will in most cases be different to your vacation countries when you come back. Make sure you store your winter boots in a place where you can easily find them when you need them. "Some box somewhere in the garage" is not an exactly great idea.
• If you can afford it: Keep your appartment (rent it out, help your sister with a roof over her head during an internship, ask colleagues on project in town, ...). After  weeks on the road there is nothing better than the first night in your very own bed. Even if the fridge is still empty and dust bunnies (funny, in German its mice) have errected their mighty kingdom in your living room.
• Take a netbook. Nobody wants to organize 12,000 pics 3 months after coming home ("Honey, where did we take this picture?"). It also helps to geo-tag your pictures either manually with Picasa or automatically with GPicSync. 
• Also, the webcam is a handy tool in case of some unexpected announcements at home which can be easier digested by talking to someone and actually look at him/her.
• After you packed - take out half. 
• Clean your shoes, your camping stuff, your clothes - Australia and New Zealand don't like foreign dirt in their countries. 
• In south New Zealand wear white - Sand-flies are suprisingly attracted to dark colors.
• In north-east Australia stay away at least 50m from water if you don't want to end up as crocodile breakfast. Yes, that includes rivers and boat railings.
• Only pre-book the flights that you need to schedule to a specific day. Try to do that way in advance and use the internet to see whether it might be cheaper to not take an around-the-world-ticket. Local flights can always be booked closer to the actual flight date which leaves flexibility for the opening of this amazing exhibition or a spontaneous legendary party with your new friends.
• Flights around x-mas to the southern hemisphere are quite expensive. Really!
• Sydney over New Year is always fully booked out. Really!
• In Hong Kong every bank issues its own money. To avoid false money you may dance to the money god or eat your plate very empty - there is no way to identify it on your own upon getting it.
• Always carry tissues. They can save lives!
• If you have a campervan the size of a 3-family-home you do not need a Top 10 Holiday Park (or call it Big 4). Do yourself a (gigantic) favor and choose one of the many DOC campsites, at least in New Zealand (Our favourite was Kidds Bush, close to Lake Wanaka). There is no point in paying for a shower if you do not intend to use your bathroom on wheels.
• Make sure you have someone who opens your mail at home (and pays the bills you forgot about upfront ...). Also make sure your secret girlfriend does not send love letters to your old address - there is just so much to explain ...
• Don't send home souvenirs with DHL. It is very expensive and the customs fee doubles in some cases the prize. If you have to send stuff home, try to give it to some friends or at least send it from a private address to a private address and declare it as a "gift" to the recipient. That might save you the customs fee.
• Minivans are also Campervans even if they fit inside the white parking space markings where it says "No Campervans".
• You can get tickets even though you are from the other side of the world.
• No electricity means it is dark after sunset.
• Tipping is not appreciated in every country. Read up on your travelö country and do not trust everything the Lonely Planet says. For Asia use Loose or Reise Know-How (in German).
• In Vietnam you cannot get US$ from any ATM or bank - it is prohibited. But you will need US$ to transfer to Cambodia. So bring the notes. Otherwise: there are forbidden black market money exchange booths in this one street which every bank clerk knows ...
• Smile, you are on holiday! And yes, it doesn't matter if it rains (it could be 46 degrees hot) or the train is late (at least, there is a train). Relax!
• If (usually very young) backpackers are talking about money and how much things cost and where this or that might be even cheaper - leave. They will not stop doing so.
• Nothing is for free, Cambodia even charges you 25 US$ pP to let you out of the country.

Speaking of money ... expect to pay ... a lot ... even more. But still, being able to browse through all the pictures and with one thought be back at a black sand beach in New Zealand - priceless.

1. Close to 40% of our total budget was used for transportation & flights. That includes rental cars and gas. If you can choose cheap flights or share trips there is a lot of money to be saved. Or try a bright smile and a love story for your free upgrade to Business Class.
2. App. 15% went towards accomodation but only if you camp a lot, use a not-so-luxury-campervan and occasionally surf couches, especially in the cities. Agoda (in Asia), Expedia, Hotel.com and tripadvisor offered some great deals for us. If you stay in (amazing) hotels all the time, this will be more. A lot! Even in Asia and painfully expensive everywhere else.
3. Only about 10% of our budget did keep us alive, healthy and happy by eating and drinking. That seems quite low until you know that ...
4. another 20% were spent in cash. Not even an excel freak like me tried to track what we spent that for in detail. I mean, come on, I was on holiday ;-)
5. As important - money wise - as eating and drinking was obviously Sightseeing. Also close to 10% of the budget. A lot of "sights" come for free and quite a few of them are priceless anyway, while others burn your credit card.
6. The rest of the budget goes towards minor important stuff like mobile phone SIM cards (China Mobile SIM Ka!), UMTS pre-paid sticks and new cameras. Buying clothes and souvenirs was not an option as we didn't follow our above mentioned rule of packing only half. Our backpacks were way to heavy with app. 20 kg each.

From a cost distribution perspective (didn't I say, we are back to work ...) I would say that we spent too much on transport. The ideal world traveller would shift a few (up to 10, I would guess) percent of this either towards accomodation or sightseeing (or both). But on the other hand: 20 hours on a bus scam was never an option either.

Have fun travelling!

Mein Namensvorschlag für die Lufthansa A380

Fliegen gehörte die letzten Monate ja zu unserem Leben wie die Sonne. Aber diesen tollen Vogel haben wir leider noch nicht erleben dürfen. Vielleicht klappt es ja so!

Bitte nach diesem Bildchen Ausschau halten oder wahlweise dem Namen "Rose".

Mein Namensvorschlag für die Lufthansa A380: "Das größte und modernste Passagierflugzeug der Welt sucht einen Namen. Helfen Sie mit und gewinnen Sie 1 Mio Miles & More Prämienmeilen – unter lufthansa.com/A380"

Und wer uns ganz lieb hat, der voted auch noch für uns ;-)
Vielen Dank.

And then, it is over

We are home. It is winter in Frankfurt. The pile of mail is about 30cm high. The cars drive on the wrong side of the road. The mobile mailboxes still have funny messages on them. Winter boots can be found in a moving box deep down in the garage. The air is fresh and clean. Leberwurst and proper beer can be bought around the corner. The jetlag wakes us up at 6am. But apart from that: it seems like we have been away for only a second. It also feels like a second, until you open Picasa and look at thousands of pictures.

Thank you for traveling with us! We hope you discovered a few places you also want to visit one day. We for sure were excited about every reader.

To all who want to see more pictures that the roughly 2,000 we uploaded over the past weeks. Come and visit us for a dinner or simply invite us - we will bring the netbook ;-)

Take care!


Ah, you're right - PS: Project status update:
The "Natural Tan" album followed us along our travels. 215 pictures document how we have changed over 126 days on the road. The three below not only mark the happiest days of our travels (guess why ... ;-) ) but definitely define the highlight of our tan.

Von Natural Tan

Von Natural Tan

Von Natural Tan

My travel diary (project "stranger") is full and will provide an everlasting memory to all the wonderful people we met on the road. Thank you for sharing your wishes & thoughts with me.

Tai, a moose on drugs

As you may probably have noticed, we were accompanied by two mooses during our travels. Glenf & Soeren both come from Sweden where they grew up in a yellow & blue home called "IKEA". About ten+ years back they were old enough to go travelling for their first time: to Germany. Soeren was about to meet Martina, while Glenf crossed Philipp's path.


It was not until early 2009 that Glenf and Soeren finally met but they liked each other instantly. Since then they conquered glaciers, drove off-road, flew over Aoraki/Mt. Cook, sailed the Whitsunday Islands, were chased by Paparazzi, threw wild parties, and happily survived a dozen other adventures (while of some of them they still need to recover ... viewer's discretion is advised ;-) !).

But the best part - they told us - is always, when they meet friends: like Nils in Shanghai, Pätrick in Munich, or Urs while climbing the Mont Blanc.

No wonder they were very much excited when we met another moose in Bangkok, where we spent the last 5 days of our 4-month holiday: Tai. We immediately decided to adopt him and take him home with us. Unfortunately we heard rumors that he had turned towards the dark side of life and worked as a drug carrier from very early on. All of his seams have been opened multiple times. The wound in his head probably is a sign of a recent gang fight and for sure needed immediate treatment. We decided not to test the excellence of the Thai, Bahrain and German border control and drug search dogs. And with 4 heavy hearts we decided to leave Tai behind.


Our other adventures in Bangkok included:

1. Siam Ocean Aquarium - Ocean Walk - Shark Encounter (also under water!)
   This visit again proved it: Aquariums & Under-Water worlds for sure are my favourite sightseeing places, still waiting to be able to visit the world's largest
   
2. Emerald Buddah - Grand Palace - Huge Buddah
   Very much colorful!
   
3. Cooking Class - Hands-on activities - Surprisingly good food (although we made it ourselves!)
   Since he was first mentioned in the Lonely Planet, Nusi has 2 cooking classe a day, some of them as large as 14 people. We were lucky and were only 4. As an introductionary course it was a great experience but the famous Thai smile is missing in this place. No wonder, Nusi doesn't like Nutella, that's why! ;-)

Moving to Bahrain on our way home, we ...

1. Enjoyed the stopover arrangements by Gulf Air which included a giganto-enormous hotel room, dinner and transport - all for free. Great! But still, we had to add a new highlight to our "having fun while traveling"-experience. So much complaining, about nothing. Amazing. And in the end even we were "attacked" for being relaxed and smiling, can you imagine?
   
2. Miss-judged that 15 km on a GPS can actually turn into nearly 75 km on the road. Our taxi-tour to the Tree of Life was exquisitely expensive.
3. But with a sunset over the desert and a bread-baking lessons in the local souk still worth the fun.

All (and more) pictures from our last week are posted in the new "Bangkok, Bahrain & back home" album on facebook. Enjoy!

Roadmusic

We didn't post our travel music in quite some time - but our visit to the Limoncello today shot me back in time - about 22 years. Back to our "Wintergarten" at the house I grew up in on a sunny spring morning. Lying on the floor next to our dog, looking into the bright blue sky and listening to a cassette - over and over again.

Here is another catchy song for today:

Look at her clothes - awesome!

I just love the 80ies ;-)

The World is Just ... Awesome

Man, I cannot get that song out of my head.
(just click yourself through this album. the songtext is in there)


I love the mountains
I love the clear blue skies
I love big bridges
I love when little whales fly
I love the whole world
And all its sights and sounds

Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da
Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da

I love the oceans
I love real dirty things
I love to go fast
I love childish kings
I love the whole world
And all its craziness

Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da
Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da

I love my mooses
I love arachnids
I love hot magma
I love the giant squids
I love the whole world
It's such a brilliant place

Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da
Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da
Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da
...

T-5 and a Physics-Question

121 days ago we left Germany at about 17 degrees and sunshine on a mild September Sunday afternoon. Four months, 6 countries, over 50,000kms and a few ups and downs on the thermometer later we are close to the end of our "holiday". Angkor Wat was a closing highlight for our Cambodia journey. Start with pic 82 to see some tourist-pictures. We safely arrived in Bangkok (that taxi driver trying to trick us should have got up earlier yesterday!) and enjoy a nice hotel and the Spa-menu (all of it!).

Today's Thai massage created some weird cracking noises on my side of the room, but the Aromatherapy Massage tomorrow will hopefully be smoother. Apart from that we (possibly) will do a little bit of sightseeing. And cooking.

While travelling we have learned about a few things:

• Chaotic traffic runs better when there are a lot of motorbikes involved. The more cars (or elephants) on the road, the higher the risk of a traffic jam. It actually works better when everyone is ignoring street lanes, traffic lights and driving directions.
• Mooses make friends. Even really grumpy tourists smile when they see two stuffed animals accompanied by their so-called-grown-up owners. This rule can also be applied to 8 spoiled kids with 2 helpless mums on a business class flight, who are clearly marked by 1 week "off" their nannies/au-apairs. And suddenly the "little bastard" (quote!) is quiet/sleeps.
• No matter if you travel for 3 days, 2 weeks or 4 months. You I always pack too much. And you I always carry stuff you never wear. This time a woolen poncho which I thought would be great for cold evenings (those that were cold required a parka not a poncho). Fazit: I have packed and unpacked this thing at least 75 times, but I like it too much, to throw it away (and there is not even 1 single picture with it, go figure). Fazit 2: Packing sucks! And a fancy front-zipped backpack doesn't change that a little bit.
• If you are homesick - go to Mc Donalds. No matter what letters the menu is in, what direction they read & write in and whether they speak 1 word of English or not. You already know what you are going to order anyway and you know what you get. Easy point-it picture menus included. And if you are lucky, they even show Bundesliga.
• Good hotels are a heaven. Period! Only Pippilotta and a tent on the beach can measure up.
  
• Oxygen-mask bags do not inflate. (Obviously Philipp paid attention to one of the 12 emergency procedures announcements we heard since September, good boy!)
  
  
• And now a Physics-Question: Salt in warm areas is always clotted - no matter how much rice you add or how small the whole is. It is also the same with graters and saltshakers that have a lid. Anyone any ideas to solve this?
  

A little bit respect and a little bit of fun

... sometimes simply seems not to be part of the travellers world.

Have you ever noticed that a lot of travellers look grumpy?
They sit in a Tuk-Tuk somewhere in Asia and look annoyed (ok, it is 40 degrees outside and the Tuk-Tuk is not a brand new BMW). They sit on a boat while cruising some turquoise islands and look hungry (well, no Schnitzel on the Fijis or proper bread in China). They squeeze into a tiny guest house and complain about the old mattresses (perhaps they should have invested more than US$ 5 for a double-room?!). But also in a 4-5 star "etablissement" like we are currently staying at in Angkor the people mostly do not look happy. It seems there is always something that does not work for them: the weather, the food, the tour programme, the (or no) internet, their company, the money they paid, ...
I still think about 2 swedish girls who would spend their days in Phnom Penh sitting in front of the TV, watching Hollywood movies. Sightseeing is boring, especially when it involves history.

While spending the last 2 days mostly in religious temples and places of worship it is amazing how many people simply cannot read, not even a stupid simple sign. They climb the temple towers to prove they can do it, they wear close to nothing or complain about the uncomfortable walk-ways. They pat every kid's head and ignore the "No pictures"-signs wherever possible (Is this because you bought a very expensive D5 which you just cannot handle?). Why did they decide to travel 20,000 kms, when all they want to do is to behave as (badly as) they do at home? For example, yesterday I had to listen to a(nother) "Tschörman tourisst" who assured me about 20 times that the typical tourist pictures are nothing he would normally do and that he is really ashamed of doing this (ähm, then why?). After that he took off and positioned himself in the middle of the "real" Aspara dancers and pretended to be some kind of very cool Heavy Metal band lead with his groupies. It was obviously one of the highlights of his holiday! Then - of course - he discussed about 5mins whether the prize for the picture would be 5,000 riel (about 50 cents) or 1 US$.

Didn't they all make the choice to leave their comfortable home to explore a different country and experience something new - something that they cannot see or do every day at home in Wanneikel?

We of course also had our days of frustration and 3 weeks of continous rain may be a blessing in some really dry areas of the world. Sure, in the meantime, I am absolutely craving a "Leberwurstbrot" and a proper washing machine. And the never ending "Mistaaaaar, please buy this. For school. Very cheap prize" at every possible corner can be hard to take. But on the other hand: We didn't go away to be home.

We went away to find something new. To learn (... to relax (guess who ;-) ?), to cope with the heat (guess who ;-) ?), with the food, with different ways of sleeping, other languages, weird bus schedules, ...) Which we did, maybe in little steps, but we did. Amazing things every day. The pictures prove it:

• China & Hong Kong
  
• Australia 1 / Australia 2
  
• New Zealand 1 / New Zealand 2
  
• Fiji
• Vietnam
• Phnom Penh / Angkor Wat

Thank you, world!

No words

To those who know me well, it may be surprising but the "sightseeings" of our past days has left me kind of "speechless", in this case more "writeless". It is hard to put into words what we learned, saw, read, heard and experienced. It was both - pure beauty and pure horror.


The pictures - might be able to - tell our story:

• Mui Ne: 2 nights on the beach - see Vietnam album starting with pic 67
  Relaxing: beach - Margaritha - white sanddunes - sunset
  
  
• 3-day Mekong-Delta: Floating markets and villages and snake for dinner - see Vietnam album starting with pic 111
  Pure life: snake wine - wedding crasher - ferry logistics - floating markets - real pasta - west meets asia
  
  
• Phnom Penh: Khmer Rouge history horror and fried spiders - see Phnom Penh album
  (and our last blogpost)
  Unspeakable horror: lost future - cries for help - brutality - ideological obsession
  
  
• Siem Reap: Quite relaxed and excited to meet the 8th wonder of the world - see Siem reap album
  It is all about architecture: balance - interior - and more to come ...
  

By the way: The countdown is running. We will be back home in 10 days. Unbelievable!

Knallstock in Absurdistan

So here we are in Cambodia. We did travel to Phnom Penh from Vietnam, so there wasn't much of a cultural clash. The first impression was that the country is even poorer than VN: The irrigation-pumps were mounted onto wooden carriages. The motocycles were older and until now nobody opened a taxi-company within a bigger city.

Second impression: It is definitely a poor country. The overcrowded minibus-shuttle (18 people in a Toyota Hiace) droped us in the eastern part of Phnom Penh so we took a Tuk-Tuk to our hotel and there it started. The guy did speak reasonable good english so why is he "only" driving a Tuk-Tuk? Obviously it pays off to charge the tourists with higher fares instead of working in an office where his still astonishing language skills aren't appreciated that much. We liked that funny driver (Safety First!) and arranged to pick us up for a typical tourist-tour in Absurdistan the next day:

• Killing Fields
• Happy Club Shooting Range
• Genocide Museum

Sounds a little bit weird? Ahhh ... don't worry. If you have ever seen a German KZ you will see that it is the same thing on a smaller scale. There are no words to describe this. Neither the cruelty which has been commited here nor the feeling you have leaving such a place. However the Cambodians have something to "cheer you up": The Happy Club!

Although this establishment is run by the 911 Para-Commando Battalion they really make sure it looks less like an army installation and more like gun & rod club - I've never been to one in the US but this is how I imagine them to be. We drove by two barracks before we entered a side-street and ended up in front of a huge gate. The guard on duty looked like he had a good time but fortunately he was unarmed. I'm always a little bit freaked out by people with guns where I'm not sure what they are doing with this thing. So he opened the gate and our Tuk-Tuk driver from hell (Safety First!) entered the gate only to find ourselves in front of two APCs. From there on is was pretty straight forward and not different from ordering a pizza at the Italian around the corner.

"I'll have a clip of AK47 and ... errrr ... the 60 looks nice but I don't feel like machinegun today ... hmmm ... maybe a Famas? ... ahh what the heck. Just a beer." Yes there is a menu. And yes you can just order anything from a basic Colt .45 up to full scale RPG. Latter you have to shoot at another site but the "small" firearms can be shot in one of two indoor shooting channels on site.

The Lonely Planet strongly discourages travellers to go to the Happy Club (which has been renamed from Thunder Shooting Range. Happy sounds better). They say the country has suffered a lot from war. Yep. That's right and only sixteen years ago the Bundeswehr lost its first soldier on a mission abroad right in Phnom Penh. But now it's good and you can ease our mind by saying to yourself that if you shoot these weapons nobody gets hurt except the arab guy on the target (just in case you misread his facial features, he is wearing a Fez - so far for political correctness in cambodia), the stock of ammunition in this country gets less and moreover the guns don't get any better from using them a lot. Well ... nice try. In the end I believe by going to the Happy Club you fund a military unit. That's the ugly truth. But still >> it's fun!

Anyway. We left the outskirts of Phnom Penh and returned to the city in order to get a nice and decent meal. This time it really should be for the greater good. The only problem was that Martina decided to inspect the food before it was prepared. In this case preparing meant frying and since alive means fresh this one was pretty much alive.

Her scream would have waken the dead arab for sure.

The Happy Club:

The peaceful side of Vietnam ...

... comes in bright colors, soft fur, quiet minutes with your favorite newspaper, a happy smile, bright cakes, your community evening massage, a 5 EUR-dinner at a comfortable restaurant. And motorbikes. Everywhere. Preferred method of transportation for families of five, the recent acquired 3-seater couch or close to due-pregnant woman. Don't worry, they will not run you over - especially not, if they actually can see where they are going ;-). There is no such thing as waiting for a free road, just blend into the flow, it will never stop anyway.

The Cao Dai Temple was an oasis of quiteness in bright pink. The mass could have been a 30-min escape of the busy world outside - if it wouldn't have been for "Klaus-Dieter" and "Ingehold" (all names changed; no similarites intended!) busy trying to trample down every inch of the temple in their white tennis socks (including throwing their camera down the gallery and ignoring the rule of covered arms & legs). Grrrr, tourists! Cao Daismus has some famous followers around the world (one of them was Shakespeare; so says the Lonely Planet) and is actively practised by about 3 Millions around the world. How tree grooming exercises fit into the charta remains a secret to us.

Buildings here in Vietnam come in toast-slices. Does anybody know why? We already learned it is all about style, feeling relaxed & comfortable and the proper view. But we still are not quite sure whether the "Beauty Salon" I visited for a Manicure & Pedicure (EUR 3,20 in total) actually performes these activities on a regular basis. Quote from the advertising: "touch your sense - Staffs are young, beautiful and professional". Aha ... ;-)

So far, so late - again. Hmm, these New Year's resolutions (like: getting enough sleep) start off really bad. Of course all Vietnam pictures (and yes, there are more) can be found in the new apactravel album on facebook. We are off to Mui Ne for the next 2 nights before cruising through the Mekong Delta into Phnom Penh.

Do something fun today!

Travel back in time (to today?)

Our last two days were a journey through time - back into the Vietnam War (like it or not, there is no way around it here). We have visited the Cu Chi tunnels, an underground network of caves & bunkers which served as a hiding & living place as well as strategic "tool" for the Viet Cong. The guided tour included (admittedly "slightly" propagandistic) insights into the structure and history of this scary world buried beneath the ground, some hands-on crawling experience (imagine you "run" down here to seek shelter from gun & tank fire ... and don't forget to hold on to your pink Longchamp bag ;-) ) and the rather hair-raising stories told by a former flight attendant who used to fly in American soldiers and fly out mere survivors at an age of 21. "They were not well, the still are not well" was her summary, still shaking herself today. One wonders, is that the reason why some soldiers volunteered to become the so-called "tunnel rats"? Special forces to destroy the tunnels (and their inhabitants) from the inside. Why the hell would you sign up for a job like this? Crawling in pitch black, claustrophobic narrow tunnels where each turn & corner surely did not contain a pleasant BBQ invitation (not to mention the exploding, slightly hostile world on the outside).

The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City succeeds well in making you even more sick to your stomach with 100s of pictures of kills, tortures, genetic birth defects due to Agent Orange (be aware, the pictures are painful to the eyes!) and documentations of the sheer madness of this war (any war!). While the Cu Chi tunnels lively highlight the traps & tools to "defend" the Viet Cong against the American attacks, the museum rather eloquently focuses on the "gruelty" of the the Americans towards Vietnam people. The Ho Chi Minh City Museum adds a little more background information around the activities & reactions across the world and allows for different viewing angles. But still, massively one-sided "sightseeing" over here. Very moving, though. Hard to digest ... what would I have done? Why do people fight?

And: Did we learn anything?
Can we make the world a better place by being better people? Does it make a difference? Can we, can you stop fighting? Not there, but here.

Where are we?!

Our dopplr badge led to some confusion - according to dopplr Philipp is back home already. He's not! But we will be (unfortunately) soon: Arrival in Frankfurt is planned for Jan 31, 2010. If nothing happens to Gulf Air or we decide to simply stay in Thailand for the rest of our lives. ;-)

We are currently in Vietnam. But let's connect to our last "route description".

1. On December 26 we visited Karekare and Piha Beach. Great views and some serious magic.
2. Dec 27 we flew to Nadi on the Fiji Islands and spent the night with a couchsurfing host in a real Fiji village - not the ones made up for tourists.
3. Dec 28 & Dec 29 we enjoyed Manta Ray Island Resort - perfect snorkeling & awesome food.
4. Dec 30 - Jan 2 we spent on a very remote island, celebrating New Years until the generator was turned off and sleeping most of the time.
5. Back in Nadi for one night and a big day.
6. Another 2 nights in Auckland to watch Avater 3D and meet big fellas at the Auckland Zoo.
7. On Jan 5 we left Auckland for Hong Kong with a comfortable Air New Zealand Flight - love their entertainment program!
   Btw - question: How do you reduce your hotel prize by 30%? You book 1 night more than you actually need (sure, that was the plan ...) and pay less than you would have paid for 1 night less. Comprende? Ok, Hotels.com helped a little ...
8. Jan 6 strolling around Kowloon, exploring the markets and specialty stores. Either the Sushi that night or a rotten dragonfruit kept us busy with window-sightseeing from the hotel for the next day.
9. On Jan 8 Hong Kong lit up a little - time to visit the Peak. And meet up with some well known guys ...
   Ever wanted to be a Consultant? There is a consultant for every skill set! It's all about a self-explaining name, but we were not quite sure if it would help to make the description even bigger ...
   
10. Jan 9 was even more sunny and put Victoria Harbor and Hong Kong Island in amazing lights. And with a 3h delay we left to Vietnam that night. Arriving at 2am in the morning at an absolute fabulous hotel.
    
11. Jan 10 - City Sightseeing and tour bookings, but above all: enjoying 30 degrees celsius and a bustling scootermadness around us.
12. For Jan 11 we booked a 1 day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels (German) which were used by the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. Can you imagine living 3-10m below the earth, moving through tunnels about 60cm wide and 80cm high? We tried today - fun for 10 mins, no fun for any second longer. And the traps they used to "capture" soldiers hurt by looking at them.
    
13. When did you attend a guided tour the last time? We haven't for years so we decided to change that. On Jan 13 we leave for a 2-night tour to Mui Ne and on Jan 16 we will leave Vietnam towards Cambodia with another 2-night tour through the Mekong Delta.

So far our travel plans. What are you up to lately?
The Hong Kong pictures are online, start with picture 165. Vietnam pictures will follow soon.

Not quite ...

... all pictures from New Zealand were online before - but now they are (start with pic 181). Hong Kong pics are in preparation while enjoying "backpacking deluxe" with another Business Class flight to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.*like*

PS: Ever seen a giraffe chase after zebras? no? Here you go.

Memories

A quiet day like today is perfect to take a break and look back. Our apactravel journey started on September 27, 2009 - about 3 months and a little bit ago. So far we have visited 5 countries, 4 are still to come until our return to Frankfurt on Jan 31, 2010. We have seen cities, lakes, mountains, caves, villages, animals big and small, people (mostly absolutely wonderful, some weird), cars, trucks, trees, glaciers, islands, bikes, boats, campgrounds, hotels and many more. We have lost only 2 cameras and did not experience any theft or serious injury. And in addition to all of this there are so many fantastic news from home to keep up with!

Looking at the pictures - we have roughly uploaded 1,000 pics already (about 20% of the pics we actually took) - most of our days were simply packed. Just wondering, how do you keep the memories of a journey like this?

One way might be my little red travel diary which by now holds wonderful stories from all the travellers we met along the way, I even have collected some handprinted pictures. The actual "travel-diary-ing" though is a tough job to keep up with. Ever tried to write a diary really every day?!

Another way could be our "Natural Tan" project which by now holds over 170 pictures and shows how we changed along the more than 40,000 kms we have already travelled. What do you think about the progress we made so far?

Von Natural Tan

Quite relaxed for an average moving speed of 101 km/h, isn't it ;-)) ?

For sure it is a day like today or our days on the Fijis where we simply did nothing. Apart from breathing, maybe. And as the Fijis were just wonderful we have added a few more pictures to the Fiji album.

 Do you remember the best day of your life?

Nachtelfirokesen (engl. night elf with a mohawk)

A short note upfront: this is one of the rare occasions where the German word is smoother than the English. We will stick with German.

"Nachtelfirokesen" are probably know to everybody who plays WOW (World of Warcraft). So was I told. I also was told they originally were thought to be an invention by some smart marketing guy to help promote the game by the help of Mr. T.

All bull***, we met one on Piha Beach in Auckland ;-)

The new 17 pics (Start with pic 164) were the last pictures of New Zealand - Good-bye southern hemisphere. We are already in Hong Kong, busy with hotel-room-window-sightseeing and sleeping as Philipp doesn't feel very well (either the Sushi or the Nashis ...). So we rest until the "Po Chai Pills"  (I cannot believe there is a Wiki-page for them) do their work.

@Mums, don't worry, he is already feeling better! And yes, I make sure, he drinks a lot ;-)

Something old, something new...

Something old: We are still on holiday ;-) .
Something new: Welcome to 2010!!!
Something borrowed: The fins to follow the Manta Ray.
Something blue: This was our "neighborhood".

Our New Year started slowly and remote on Nanuya Lalai Island at the Cold Coast Inn Resort. No electricity, no hot water, but a lot of sun, dancing and relaxation. Luckily our camera runs on batteries so we can show you some of the best pictures just here. But still, the highlight was the Fiji Beach Resort & Spa beach bar. Yes!

Happy New Year!!!

Unbelievable - our week in Fiji is already over. We are back in Auckland, busy preparing to leave to Asia in 2 days. 600 pics want to be sorted, geotagged, commented and (a few of them) uploaded.

The short version: Very blue water (or turquoise?), Manta Rays are giganto-enormeous when they swim 2m left of you, snorkelling was amazing and the Gold Coast Resort literally is at the end of the world! We have worked hard on our tanning project and are so relaxed that even our Fiji cab driver became nervous today waiting for us ;-)

Hope 2010 started off well for you - it seems to be a promising year already ;-)