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!

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?