tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30092953135771303002024-03-05T01:05:55.408-08:00Horn to be wildUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-73552748988157532182016-02-09T13:37:00.001-08:002016-02-09T13:37:50.405-08:00ICONSPEAK goes live<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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From dirt to shirt - a crazy story...</h2>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJbUz-olIiVBLMHeqpnWhyFBQakRxx47QSdau2enge86HUWkXN_cTGSWQQrRyLr4lgpUYWmQzLjR9KiGuNbWIsNe2K0E6OV1m4H4xf24r1E-ZOJntcnKjCApK9EkVEg0EHpEwO8i0-txHS/s1600/IMG_0628.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJbUz-olIiVBLMHeqpnWhyFBQakRxx47QSdau2enge86HUWkXN_cTGSWQQrRyLr4lgpUYWmQzLjR9KiGuNbWIsNe2K0E6OV1m4H4xf24r1E-ZOJntcnKjCApK9EkVEg0EHpEwO8i0-txHS/s320/IMG_0628.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Some very loyal readers of this blog might remember the following post - titled "Motorcycle Diaries": <a href="http://horntobewild.blogspot.de/2013_04_01_archive.html" target="_blank">http://horntobewild.blogspot.de/2013_04_01_archive.html</a><br />
<span id="goog_344761623"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_344761624"></span><br />
If you read it once more or if you simply recall it very well, you will remember that my friend Flo and I had an amazing time on our fake motorcycles with fake licences in Vietnam... And you might also recall that we stranded once during a monsun storm in the outback - lost and with only one bike running.<br />
<br />
This story and the many other encounters where we could not be helped with speech, inspired us (and some spirits, yes) to actually come up with something hyper simplistic that would allow anybody to talk to anybody - functional and simple communication. Just as we did it on a paper block back then (see picture). The easiest and purest form which requires no charging, no software updates, no internet connection what so ever - is clothing.<br />
<br />
So we came up with <a href="http://www.iconspeak.world/" target="_blank">ICONSPEAK</a>. You will see we really "just" took a set of most essential icons and put them on a shirt - as simple as that. And yet, it may sound simple, but there was quite a thought process going into the desing - and we got a third member to our team, helping us out with lots of valuable inputs from a design/graphics point of view. Welcome a board Streit!<br />
<br />
The Story of the shirt and the background of the business is explained in more detail on the <a href="https://iconspeak.world/blogs/main" target="_blank">blog</a> of the online store - go and have a look.<br />
<br />
yours,<br />
<br />
Georg<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_U-W4pw3oM5FJDBXCCiKgBqgGNbECVtWV-g6a_3FlRv2tzjfSaackzHBlNQIuPC9uGTnkQ6RpC_MAkSyPDwjXGJVsH-qgeCTkl63ODwB9gRmvtfKhcIBmNBawiHiUnNW4bH_gWURJw7UR/s1600/iconsslideshowwaterhotel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_U-W4pw3oM5FJDBXCCiKgBqgGNbECVtWV-g6a_3FlRv2tzjfSaackzHBlNQIuPC9uGTnkQ6RpC_MAkSyPDwjXGJVsH-qgeCTkl63ODwB9gRmvtfKhcIBmNBawiHiUnNW4bH_gWURJw7UR/s640/iconsslideshowwaterhotel.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-5725965562080130412013-07-27T05:24:00.000-07:002013-07-27T05:24:54.544-07:00Moments<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Time passes
like nothing, even now that I am back, back in an office chair. The days since
the arrival in ZRH were not much less extraordinary than the 102 before; they
were similarly packed. Much of the time was spent on meetings with friends,
shared beers and BBQs or on demanding fights in the local beach volley fields. And
yes, next to some casual office hours, I managed to finish the long awaited
time-lapse movie!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Brace yourselves, this movie is quite packed with input and emotions - at least for me. On 102 days of my journey, I took a picture of myself. Now, all these pictures have been put together - to keep me dreaming and to make you wanna go see the world. Of the roughly 4'500 pictures which I took, the video includes only a very small share. Should you be interested in more stories/pictures/details - I have plenty. In 102 days I have acquired a significant knowledge about e.g.; how to ride and fix a motorbike in Vietnam, how to avoid jailtime in Laos, or how to kayak in the Himalayas during monsoon. These insights are ready to be shared...</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/aFdyOqdfor4?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">too fast? - watch again ;-)</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">At this point I would also like to thank you all for reading my blog this patiently. What once started with the intention to keep a few friends and family posted, soon gathered a surprisingly big community of readers. By now the blog has more than 2'000 klicks - still counting, thank you. Sources are various, going from Switzerland over Russia to South Africa...</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Whenever this domain will be activated again, you will be most welcome to tune in.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br />in great appreciation of all the feedback, </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Georg</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-63907236602504294192013-07-13T06:45:00.000-07:002013-07-13T07:09:37.280-07:00Home<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">thinking about...?</td></tr>
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Home sweet home. Yes, I made it back home to beautiful Switzerland where things seem unchanged, everyone and everything did very well without me noticing it. Unlike my promise, this post is written in the cozy chalet of my parents and not in India. The days were too packed and the internet options too vast, not allowing me to write a last post from India.<br />
Already the boarder in Sanauli pointed out the differences between Nepal and India; more people, more dust, more hectic, more street vendors (for various goods) and more cows. Apart from that the two countries leave a relatively similar impression in the lonely travellers mind. There is maybe one more thing, the name "George" as a negative association in India, due to the former British King, named George as well. I kept emphasizing that my name is written without the "e" at the end and that I am a Swiss citizen, not related in any form to the folks from the rainy island. Not willed to dig deep in the British-Indian history, I will keep this topic away from this entry, nonetheless, some things are very aparent in India and therefore will make it into the blog. <br />
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In Sanauli we caught a bus to Gorakphur (similar to Sanauli, just bigger), where we changed our mode of transport to train. Overnight we drove for some eight hours towards Varanasi (former Banaras), where we arrived in the morning hours while the holy town was just waking up. Contrary to the city live, we did not feel like waking up, the bumpy train ride could not offer a decent and required amount of sleep, so we recovered that for a few hours.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Holy Varanasi</td></tr>
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It was anyway good to be fully awake when we wandered for a first time through the narrow alleys of Varanasi. There are plenty of things you need to watch out for; turds (piles of excrements, be they humen or animal source), quite aggressive street vendors, and death ceremonies. Varanasi has a special place in the Indian-Hindu belief siystem. Those who are burned or sunk here can escape the cycle of reincarnation and go directly into the Nirvana - so the belief. You read right, burned or sunk; Most of the people are burned on one of the Gaths along the Ganges river, if the reason for death is related to pregnancy, illness like leprosy or follwed a poisoning by any animal, the bodies are not burned, they are thrown into the Ganges. To make sure that they sink, a big stone is tied to the legs. The exact opposite (to burn the poisoned and sik and maybe sink the others) would make more sense in my eyes, maybe not from a religious point of view but definitely from a hygienic perspective.<br />
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We saw lots of corpses being cremated, we saw people washing themselves and their belongings in the Ganges, we saw baby bodies disappear in the brown river with a stone attached to their legs and we saw others brushing their teeth with the very same water. You can say and think what you want and I do not want to spend too many lines on the topic of religion, but think of it; how much good could be done on our world with the power that some religious leaders hold? Why e.g. don't the Buddhist monks teach that littering is no good (and why do they do it themselves in some cases?) or why doesn't the Catholic churche finally pluck up some courage and end the ridicolous questions around the topic of contraception? Seriously, you can belief what ever you want, but at least in some cases one should also belief in science. And don't get me started on the topics of tolerance and diversity.<br />
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Enough about that, here are three other things you can enjoy in Varansi, apart from all the holy ceremonies and sights. Delicious Lassis, some truly good silk shops and true Indian movies: <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A good Lassi comes with a fly on top</td></tr>
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In Varanasi it could easily happen that while you are sipping your banana-chocolate lassi, a death ceremony walks by, including the corpse, on their way to the Ganges. It could also happen that some guy from the steet keeps talking to you, about how you should come to have a look at his or his father's silk shop next door. We did enter quite a few as we wanted to get some tailor made silk made Alibaba trousers. In the end we decided for the most sympathig one and had "Pappu" made super stylish pants for us. Pappu also showed us pictures with him and Goldie Hawn on it, she is a regular customer of his. I can give you more details about the location of Pappus shop, should you be willed to buy silk in Varanasi, just contact me. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pappu & me with some of his silk</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lootera, currently a hit in India</td></tr>
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Another delight is to visit a true Indian cinema. In Varanasi, the cinema is probably the most sophisticated facility of all. We went to see "Lootera", the story about a thief who falls in love with his victim. One thing is clear, Holliwood guys like Michael Bay or amateur actors like Richard Geere, Nicolas Cage or Shia Labeouf are strongly advised to either visit acting classes again or otherwise prepare for their retirement. Bollywood has picked up with western movie productions, espiecially the acting performances are top! The times where Indian movies were all about dancing and singing are not gone, but these movies, which we all think are the only bollywood movies have a different purpose anyway: they allow young Indian couples to get some privacy, if you know what I mean. This is why the stories in those movies are mostly rubbish and this is also why they are artificially prolonged through musical inputs and dances. Yes, this is tough news for the classical bollywood loving Swiss single lady in her late fourties, it might even blow her out of the Birkenstocks or Mephistos... Even Indians themselves know that these movies are rubbish, no one watches them, instead they go to the theatres to focus on something completely different...<br />
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On the way to Delhi, there was enough time to include a one night stop in Agra, where we could visit the famous Taj Mahal. Stunned by its beauty we spent quite some time around the Taj, she must have been quite a woman, Mumatz Mahal - why else would anyone errect such a temple for one single Lady (especially if you are Persian and muslim)?<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Can't Taj this, dum dumdumdum (know the song?)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Taj is not the only beautiful thing in Agra...</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinYjmP4D2LC33_aZycMh_ZLfgbxIEVSMivMwBO7B_xoPlCyHCWO_4DVfZSN6bJDfIMhVS5U6ZUx8ET2LfG939jp0BWAaUdcP9FwlBcfxCUBf85Z_rwZoP-zewAN99fieUBAamJG6MycKrV/s1600/IMG_4790.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
Well then, then we arrived in Delhi, went out for a delicious last diner acompanied by some beers and then my days in Asia were numbered. The brand new top notch metro brought me alongside slums and garbage dumps to the international airport. The ride reminded me of the various contrasts that India has to offer; e.g. when walking through Varanasi it is hard to belief that the very same country also has a astronautics programme running...<br />
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Sitting in AY022, somewhere over the Kashmir mountnains, I listened again to 'my travel song'. "Rotted on the Vine" by Ian Fisher. Endless thoughts went through my head, goose bumps and more than cliché emotions came up. Here is the trak: Rotted on the Vine - by Ian Fisher. Song begins at 1.50.<br />
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And here is another, sort of teaser for the upcoming time lapse movie; a merge of self portrait 1 and 102.</div>
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keep it up, GH.</div>
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Gansweid</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-50622039627565791232013-07-04T04:19:00.001-07:002013-07-04T04:19:48.563-07:00Eiger, Moench & Annapurna<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJpUbuPacErBP6ZaRXhG6j-LGWQiKyAhVg87TGo8xbHs9T2TJT5FT96w_oQTDdVYfW9DDIk-9dk3dqbKJZnXKfCMn__2QeF9XELVICZq3hQVzqvrrnhMlDrzyVL6BLZ1s4F0ZQiTIyU58I/s1600/WP_20130626_06_04_06_Panorama20130626064157.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJpUbuPacErBP6ZaRXhG6j-LGWQiKyAhVg87TGo8xbHs9T2TJT5FT96w_oQTDdVYfW9DDIk-9dk3dqbKJZnXKfCMn__2QeF9XELVICZq3hQVzqvrrnhMlDrzyVL6BLZ1s4F0ZQiTIyU58I/s640/WP_20130626_06_04_06_Panorama20130626064157.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annapurna South & Annapurna 1</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">on the way up...</td></tr>
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Remember the last post, when I told you about us, going for an eight days trekking to the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC)? The above sunrise picture is proof that we made it. We hiked through fog, clouds, heavy monsoon rains and were in a constant fight with leeches, but we made it. Eventually we were up and back down in Pokhara within only five days. Local guys and guidebooks keep telling you that ten to eight days are needed, but since we only had good views on the very top, we decided to speed up to Sherpa velocity.The guys carrying all the supplies into ABC do it in four days and earn 3'000 rupees for one turn.<br />
The trek itself is nothing extreme or ''super tiring'' like other travelers might tell you. It all depends on your speed, should you really be fed up with all the stairs and the too big backpack you brought along, there are plenty of locals along the way, always ready to be your guide or porter for a few rupees. That we walked most of our time through typical monsoon rain did not matter at all, after a certain altitude, the rain turns to fog, later the fog will make space for clean fresh Himalayan air. The sights we eventually got from ABC were outrageously beautiful and unique, nevertheless they still reminded me a lot of certain places in Switzerland. Here are some more pictures for those who stay at home:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mt. Hiunchuli & moon</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvTP8sstcMGF9V7fReZLnKZb2L5SGSzXIs9fji5Y0zRTGU4OQ8Lp1w3D91mZyfKSTAafDgoPW-crNk0-Z6Jgq8QK0Xg5tBCBQ-c3nAtDbg3EeUDLV9hQ5nBUGQf3JNr70_-q4ISjok8K8M/s1600/GH+014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvTP8sstcMGF9V7fReZLnKZb2L5SGSzXIs9fji5Y0zRTGU4OQ8Lp1w3D91mZyfKSTAafDgoPW-crNk0-Z6Jgq8QK0Xg5tBCBQ-c3nAtDbg3EeUDLV9hQ5nBUGQf3JNr70_-q4ISjok8K8M/s320/GH+014.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annapurna South with some first shafts of sunlight</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY9Qs1f1KuBK3FfkJYmals7I9qZrokv_b5NDRgXlAFI_j_6wv2S-8CGj9HqhUuost9CLCAJQF16q6KPL5Jr04c8hObn4nhB6UUjcXA6tZ5K-Zin_M8lMK9NWkHgg_x5_QUtOh2P41m6-9i/s1600/GH+015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY9Qs1f1KuBK3FfkJYmals7I9qZrokv_b5NDRgXlAFI_j_6wv2S-8CGj9HqhUuost9CLCAJQF16q6KPL5Jr04c8hObn4nhB6UUjcXA6tZ5K-Zin_M8lMK9NWkHgg_x5_QUtOh2P41m6-9i/s320/GH+015.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mt. Machhapuchhare</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSAaGMz-j0-OxPaHRCwFnB8rRmMdcsZWO14zwifkrReGkSgc7UybAxCFgsRwlOfpkOZk3JX8KZL-WNuY7mm-DtEbXwrY5K3vQ5dNSVdh-6jl7Oa8_Q2nEZXuo6NAnBeiA_NMd0P0HmVJXl/s1600/GH+017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSAaGMz-j0-OxPaHRCwFnB8rRmMdcsZWO14zwifkrReGkSgc7UybAxCFgsRwlOfpkOZk3JX8KZL-WNuY7mm-DtEbXwrY5K3vQ5dNSVdh-6jl7Oa8_Q2nEZXuo6NAnBeiA_NMd0P0HmVJXl/s320/GH+017.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annapurna 1, reclected</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Yes, the trekking was beautiful indeed. Since it took us
only five instead of the planned eight days, we had some days to fill in our
itinerary. Hmm, what to do in the Nepal Himalayas during monsoon season..?
Exactly, kayaking and paragliding! Spontaneously we booked a four days
intensive training for kayak beginners and headed off for the Trisuli river.
Due to the low season, we were the only guests staying in 'Camp Amsterdam'
(yes, the name has its reason), some three hours west from Pokhara. We had four
great days, chief guide Akash and his friends ensured plenty of training and
lots of fun. Our days were filled with paddling and eating local food, the
nights were filled with singing and drinking local roxy (rice wine). Legendary chef
Bissal made sure we would get enough 'sandwiches' for our different hungers...</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXcjRpG5A3ZDY7tLfjZDsqhz-N013aVrWm9Gk1hGczw2XirXY0Unc7jgB6Ex84F2XpoAv1-zfOyr0Sx_uat0LszFPlJrx0U-WzQ8U09XFIGFF0wmZ6QtWzOYD_ExgP0Q60dfO4w3Db13sd/s1600/GH+020.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXcjRpG5A3ZDY7tLfjZDsqhz-N013aVrWm9Gk1hGczw2XirXY0Unc7jgB6Ex84F2XpoAv1-zfOyr0Sx_uat0LszFPlJrx0U-WzQ8U09XFIGFF0wmZ6QtWzOYD_ExgP0Q60dfO4w3Db13sd/s320/GH+020.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">30/06/2013 self portrait</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGAILo9rKOm4uDLuzXp9GSVLkaUO_aXWQa2HAzxPx14HHallsR-IjEpxCuc-5oWukB_Kts_0UrSLRM9eq7g4s80AtITNf95fBbIAWTHDw9rWIhwFfZ0c8NUePWX6ucyst9Mj9dXKfSYCe/s1600/GH+024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglGAILo9rKOm4uDLuzXp9GSVLkaUO_aXWQa2HAzxPx14HHallsR-IjEpxCuc-5oWukB_Kts_0UrSLRM9eq7g4s80AtITNf95fBbIAWTHDw9rWIhwFfZ0c8NUePWX6ucyst9Mj9dXKfSYCe/s320/GH+024.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bissal, chef.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The self portrait above is one of more than hundred, I made one on every single day of my journey, starting with a picture of fresh shaved Georg sitting in the train towards ZRH airport. At the end of my trip, I will do my best to arrange a nice time lapse movie. This will then answer the redundant question; 'did this trip change you?'. The movie will be posted here, as the last post (until HornToBeWild is reactivated for a next trip, e.g. Tripoli to Capetown).<br />
<br />
Kayaking itself is loads of fun. Fred and I were total rookies and never touched a true kayak before. The four days were intended to give us a good introduction to the sport and to teach us the survival essentials. 'Surviving' really is what we were focusing on, when we paddled down rapid Trisuli for the first time..! Contrary to the season, the water levels are very high due to the monsoon rains. We must have looked totally lost in those huge waves and whirlpools, struggling to bring our kayak fully under control. Likewise starting to ride a motorbike in Ho Chi Minh City, starting to kayak in the Himalayas during monsoon is a true baptism of fire, Eskimo-role ahoi! Unfortunately I don't have any footage of us kayaking available right now, we did all of it with Fred's GoPro camera, which is totally waterproof and shock resistant. Contact me once I am back for some videos and pictures of us flipping over in rapid, cold and brown water.<br />
<br />
After four days we were happy to grant our muscles and grazes some rest, we drove back to Pokhara. A short interruption of the daily monsoon madness allowed us to go for a paragliding flight from top of Sarangkot mountain. So far it was a tandem flight, however it reinforced my intention to go for a pilot license as soon as possible/reasonable. While flying over water buffalos and rice fields I thought back, thought about our time in Nepal and concluded that I definitely have to come back one day. The mixture of culture, geography and nice people is unique here, Nepal became an unexpected highlight of the trip.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-y21vAEyw4zGLTWnS4B_EhWb9jEvdByKB8oI_GZVSstj0y8Ty3lB24jFn4MdkB2iyskXwlOw00FjUxLJ9605k0LLTjXYJyDKMi-QuTANgze69YbDb-RCTqDrahlKOButYIXlzAwekC4qw/s1600/GH+025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-y21vAEyw4zGLTWnS4B_EhWb9jEvdByKB8oI_GZVSstj0y8Ty3lB24jFn4MdkB2iyskXwlOw00FjUxLJ9605k0LLTjXYJyDKMi-QuTANgze69YbDb-RCTqDrahlKOButYIXlzAwekC4qw/s320/GH+025.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Para- para- paradise</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-CQCp04Uo5SjB7VeFS_d_urf8d8npr9ptcRVpwQgsygOmwDOfbTdv-xrdtYEs4kH7SwMWYtOmithiTZg4dpWwNBseVYGeVS9BqK9xSTZkPWFVttt1FL8LoUOxbVKXz26z7ia1npV9k9NZ/s1600/GH+026.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-CQCp04Uo5SjB7VeFS_d_urf8d8npr9ptcRVpwQgsygOmwDOfbTdv-xrdtYEs4kH7SwMWYtOmithiTZg4dpWwNBseVYGeVS9BqK9xSTZkPWFVttt1FL8LoUOxbVKXz26z7ia1npV9k9NZ/s320/GH+026.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pokhara from Sarangkot (or Interlaken from Niderhorn?)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Yet another highlight and probably the last one is awaiting us. Tomorrow morning we will leave for India, crazy Varanasi is our destination. We will see how we cope with the local culture of death and birth, I am very excited.<br />
A last picture (there were many this time eh?) is showing a typical Tibetan food, which the Nepali people happily introduced in their kitchens as well, Momo's. A recipe is available on request, so is a dinner, if you bring some imported Gorkha beer.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFnb3hesCsm1-91s9PftEG9goC40N9kBk8_MF2bOyUE6IC3wdzCvRDLU0Ckg94IwUM0IWP6NGF8FAdrlc5TwdGjONYrGyYXfZEimUCg36OhRRTSostrOLWC-zJGvhJVFdJxvDbQvu0TNnj/s1600/GH+012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFnb3hesCsm1-91s9PftEG9goC40N9kBk8_MF2bOyUE6IC3wdzCvRDLU0Ckg94IwUM0IWP6NGF8FAdrlc5TwdGjONYrGyYXfZEimUCg36OhRRTSostrOLWC-zJGvhJVFdJxvDbQvu0TNnj/s320/GH+012.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Momo's, that good, I could not even take a picture before I had my hands on them...</td></tr>
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Next post will come from India, country no. 8, last one.<br />
<br />
stay tuned, GHUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-43548064225643097872013-06-22T10:14:00.001-07:002013-06-22T10:14:59.868-07:00UnansweredLike when entering a chicken farm, Fred and I felt slightly
amused when we boarded our Lhasa bound train in Chengdu. All the passengers had
a ticket with a designated place and bed and the train was only about to leave
in some 45 minutes – still, loud and intense arguments arouse all around us (as
if there were fewer places than passengers or a free seating with only one
window-seat). Anyhow, we found our coach and our beds, made ourselves comfortable
and kept watching the chickens with great amusement.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGtjE4nTmofPEQ2Gtlu-UOYOzaFhkSLn9pd42mWeY6n70pt979rwwvNzRHKQO1iRHPVdDzKGffz5fPzoigPYZF93v0mIWXhdM6K78mvoomL36hqD6Evil7kcwG3PnGREMKTDeHn9tKYHnq/s1600/GH2+022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGtjE4nTmofPEQ2Gtlu-UOYOzaFhkSLn9pd42mWeY6n70pt979rwwvNzRHKQO1iRHPVdDzKGffz5fPzoigPYZF93v0mIWXhdM6K78mvoomL36hqD6Evil7kcwG3PnGREMKTDeHn9tKYHnq/s320/GH2+022.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The World is Flat - tss..!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNaNwjkSEwU2sT38Z3r2KHPwFjxbZGHG2LBQCtsR8BkVrquQSozUD7y33gIQfJYjZojIA4lzSb0YmHki1MfvMBQzjDh8ivdJzhyphenhyphen3bGEuVqyZFJwkaMIgSwEG0jS1jkzo1PcWM-XyhLP7nN/s1600/GH2+023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNaNwjkSEwU2sT38Z3r2KHPwFjxbZGHG2LBQCtsR8BkVrquQSozUD7y33gIQfJYjZojIA4lzSb0YmHki1MfvMBQzjDh8ivdJzhyphenhyphen3bGEuVqyZFJwkaMIgSwEG0jS1jkzo1PcWM-XyhLP7nN/s320/GH2+023.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oxygen outlet</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX_7b1UUzTQ3HtTnGCJY7jm62MUEv6lOulc1q-Ddanl9rSP9S5k2GIGt9dzicNHTu4YSWHTkCi-8QU106GJAn0Tw-CK5JwYMti5aFx5RQNTGolKgj-Jqtpu5sssJb7LxJLOPkDJtO9e6Ys/s1600/GH2+024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX_7b1UUzTQ3HtTnGCJY7jm62MUEv6lOulc1q-Ddanl9rSP9S5k2GIGt9dzicNHTu4YSWHTkCi-8QU106GJAn0Tw-CK5JwYMti5aFx5RQNTGolKgj-Jqtpu5sssJb7LxJLOPkDJtO9e6Ys/s320/GH2+024.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Noodles? Rice? </td></tr>
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The Qinghai Express left on time, we were about to spend two
nights on it, travelling from west-central China towards its western province
Tibet (in my Blog I will refer to Tibet as a province of China, more about this
topic later in this post). The time on the train was not too hard to kill, some
sleep here, some noodles there, a breathtaking look outside the window or a few
pages of a book made the time pass easily. Ironically I am currently reading
Thomas Friedmans 'The World is Flat' – while climbing up to 5072 meters.</div>
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As scheduled, we arrived in Lhasa on the 12. of June
(exactly one month left for my Asia-Trip). With only little acclimatization
problems, it felt good to finally be in the famous capital and biggest town of
Tibet. Although we were recommended to stay in the hotel for the rest of the
first day on 3650 meters, we could not stop ourselves and started exploring the
town by feet. Our goal was clear; we needed to see the Potala Palace!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEEV1Z5qHIsFOZzeX1-2bL7diZeuAp6_r8Fb8NjofZsJ1VZa7ImQ6Cn-VJ-sq-bK5hXggqAWw6m07RY3r8v93jmcOyJ3oIXUWCHSgR7-Y2riNx_sbdahtsXl8mZMwm-2qjr9FvXyCqUjM0/s1600/GH2+037.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEEV1Z5qHIsFOZzeX1-2bL7diZeuAp6_r8Fb8NjofZsJ1VZa7ImQ6Cn-VJ-sq-bK5hXggqAWw6m07RY3r8v93jmcOyJ3oIXUWCHSgR7-Y2riNx_sbdahtsXl8mZMwm-2qjr9FvXyCqUjM0/s320/GH2+037.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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We found it – like hundreds of Chinese tourists. For some, I
was the greater attraction, like in other countries in Asia, they were very
surprised by the tall, white and long-nosed fellow. In extreme cases, they
dropped everything and ran straight to me, just to get a picture. Feeling like
a star, I fulfilled all the wishes and continued replying 'no' to the question
whether I knew Yao Ming – the Chinese basketball superstar.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hello, my name is George and I DO NOT play basketball!</td></tr>
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We spent three days in Lhasa, exploring the surrounding
sights, including not only the Potala Palace, but also various monasteries and
temples. Our very competent and friendly guide Sonam helped us to understand
the meaning and importance of all the places. He also brought us closer to the
Tibetan Buddhism, a religion very different to the other types of Buddhism
which I encountered so far.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Debating Monks and Lamas</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi84T-EJKNJgxgYk3BhL-t61XDf5wH5jK3qdq3-X-CWblL4rrA4PgXyvX89hYtZGWHXtg7YWRV20_WMcVdzzzvJfc5zGjTlM5xA3o7cwjW4n7sF6sFnS_z5IpGnuVy3FAmjso7DMsOHIl8j/s1600/GH2+043.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi84T-EJKNJgxgYk3BhL-t61XDf5wH5jK3qdq3-X-CWblL4rrA4PgXyvX89hYtZGWHXtg7YWRV20_WMcVdzzzvJfc5zGjTlM5xA3o7cwjW4n7sF6sFnS_z5IpGnuVy3FAmjso7DMsOHIl8j/s320/GH2+043.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is the hand a hand - or something else?</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: left;">As a little desert, we decided to go for a boat trip in
Lhasa. The day before we left towards western Tibet we rode a speed boat on
3650 meters – an experience for its own. Then we (group of 8 individuals, as
travelling alone is prohibited) drove to Shigatse and kept on exploring
monasteries, high mountain passes and unique landscapes on the way. As there
were plenty of all the mentioned, I will not even try to upload a justifying amount
of pictures, otherwise Nepal might suffer a total breakdown of </span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><span style="text-align: left;">all their internet connections.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbFAiigmXpNsHilQSVgcTaq8VZYRmyRCtKYoQkIHfLsNxDRAepgSskIAGkx_Cu5A2c-rfp6WEk9xHES4Ji7gx36cjgsWQNtfvnaWq2CuyyJXjeTbMQb_emQDE8YiNsoEWpq3w2YJLf64we/s1600/GH2+035.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbFAiigmXpNsHilQSVgcTaq8VZYRmyRCtKYoQkIHfLsNxDRAepgSskIAGkx_Cu5A2c-rfp6WEk9xHES4Ji7gx36cjgsWQNtfvnaWq2CuyyJXjeTbMQb_emQDE8YiNsoEWpq3w2YJLf64we/s320/GH2+035.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Then our tour guide Sonam had the brilliant idea to leave one day earlier for the Everest Base Camp (EBC), since weather forecasts promised a higher chance to actually see the mountain one day earlier. So we jumped in our Landcruisers and drove up to 5000 meters, to the ETC (Everest Tourist Camp). The real base camp is not accessible without an 'Expedition Permit' which is issued only in exchange to a vast amount of money. The ETC welcomed us with oxygen supply and a cozy Yak tent. We both had little issues with the altitude and kept wandering around for some shots. As the moon came out, also the clouds disappeared, and we could spot the great Everest for a first time.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiajS1PIakurm6BvzFp_hsniV69C5fhB6Q6chQEuA4ayJYv9FIl3Dfbx7oCf3hsgLW4PLr3oBux9uHM3x4nUcO8Vxu9J8obLcexZ0M3E9DWgwYvHeftyo36WVhOsBMPxmj5gOHpPoPD-Qb4/s1600/GH2+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiajS1PIakurm6BvzFp_hsniV69C5fhB6Q6chQEuA4ayJYv9FIl3Dfbx7oCf3hsgLW4PLr3oBux9uHM3x4nUcO8Vxu9J8obLcexZ0M3E9DWgwYvHeftyo36WVhOsBMPxmj5gOHpPoPD-Qb4/s320/GH2+001.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yak tent</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_EiryDvE9L143_AhwnAeUS-bgPz0WogrIIPt9XUCXCvLvogziNqMzubBb2fT09Dsz7rFF50NhprR8MAFnSnVndkgxdoDx1ZJzcAEZOXndnuIFFoqRy5q60hInYgV6han7gkJjj7HKJH9R/s1600/GH2+002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_EiryDvE9L143_AhwnAeUS-bgPz0WogrIIPt9XUCXCvLvogziNqMzubBb2fT09Dsz7rFF50NhprR8MAFnSnVndkgxdoDx1ZJzcAEZOXndnuIFFoqRy5q60hInYgV6han7gkJjj7HKJH9R/s320/GH2+002.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If you look like this, take some oxygen...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOM9PGU66T3kq0u8Hkkv-ndymSN8lrv7DVMXlTza6sWJi_ZlwOwmbe2Byv4koDjWWV3a36UBm22LIHLIYAKDCzQCop-CB8d2pepNDNUIy-oSt6ekmWhDDFsOfeANCOvxim5o3-Mb2t0dQ/s1600/GH2+003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOM9PGU66T3kq0u8Hkkv-ndymSN8lrv7DVMXlTza6sWJi_ZlwOwmbe2Byv4koDjWWV3a36UBm22LIHLIYAKDCzQCop-CB8d2pepNDNUIy-oSt6ekmWhDDFsOfeANCOvxim5o3-Mb2t0dQ/s320/GH2+003.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yak + Everest + Light Art Tibet</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC_nceocUlk41EJ9QDtn6gumZaFVXm41SixuCuAcOeJtoY5zs93jgKvyIYoNx4rDfYcYrSugomOKctHXAX20yrglJMcKQEjG2IKkdeK5U49QObEOoERs7XHeBPwtO9PgFSfYmiB3D0Ppmh/s1600/GH2+007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC_nceocUlk41EJ9QDtn6gumZaFVXm41SixuCuAcOeJtoY5zs93jgKvyIYoNx4rDfYcYrSugomOKctHXAX20yrglJMcKQEjG2IKkdeK5U49QObEOoERs7XHeBPwtO9PgFSfYmiB3D0Ppmh/s320/GH2+007.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What do you mean - ''the tallest''?</td></tr>
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Not all the group members adapted this well to the altitude.
Two girls from Malaysia suffered badly; one could not get rid of horrible headaches,
the other had to vomit overnight. Also I did not feel too well the day after,
as we climbed even higher, towards the real base camp. On 5250 meters I
encountered a pulsating pain in the back of my head, it did not get any better
for the rest of the day. Only a ginger tea in the lower Tingri helped. The tea
helped this much that Fred and I spontaneously decided to climb a nearby
mountain for some sunset shots. While climbing from 4500 meters to 4900 meters,
we realized what the thin air meant under sportive exertion. First you don't
even realize the difference, but once your heart rate is on running mode, your
lungs have difficulties to keep up with the pace. Also simple things like
having a sip of water from your bottle will lead to a shortage of air right
after. Still, we reached the mountain top and took some good shots. Equipped
with plentiful prayer flags and a stone pile used for sky burials, the setting was perfect for some intense moments.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3-_DvbAZHVCSORcl5NtUwWXr2jdZG8ePnk2vrLBkCa5waDgB3N-I9J_XE8rphD0DREkIe9Ue8D0uoSGFsZPn3t59wS_kch5ana6EF5Znlq5kzJBbwpkzXBG3YqXebiLf-6stOUQpFI7ci/s1600/GH2+011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3-_DvbAZHVCSORcl5NtUwWXr2jdZG8ePnk2vrLBkCa5waDgB3N-I9J_XE8rphD0DREkIe9Ue8D0uoSGFsZPn3t59wS_kch5ana6EF5Znlq5kzJBbwpkzXBG3YqXebiLf-6stOUQpFI7ci/s320/GH2+011.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You know the song from the 'Becks Experience' commercials?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiwaZBpCfLU-ZBqv3mes1TOD6_ucNDREotwqM1OszyQpo8iGbl3hnm9gvZBTIrsQRzqV1qr0_87WAaEbhzDhVGK1LbzEMmsP_PvNv8HqO6-hYTGidQmWn76uu9nl3gh7hi9zx3a53JHzlu/s1600/GH2+012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiwaZBpCfLU-ZBqv3mes1TOD6_ucNDREotwqM1OszyQpo8iGbl3hnm9gvZBTIrsQRzqV1qr0_87WAaEbhzDhVGK1LbzEMmsP_PvNv8HqO6-hYTGidQmWn76uu9nl3gh7hi9zx3a53JHzlu/s320/GH2+012.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ashes to ashes, dust to dust</td></tr>
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Further bumpy hours in our hyper reliable Toyotas (I am not sponsored, its just a fact) brought us to the Nepali boarder in Kodari. The day we left Tibet, we encountered one of the most strict exit controls I have ever seen. As mentioned on several internet pages, my Lonely Planet guide for Tibet was indeed confiscated. The over motivated Chinese official took my entire backpack apart, happily removed the guide book, stuffed all in the bag again, smiled at me and mentioned that I look alike with Gerard Pique. I smiled back and told him the book was a special present for him (As I was leaving Tibet, I did not really need it anymore and was not too upset about the situation).</div>
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Leaving Tibet means leaving China - according to the situation as of today. However, I did feel like leaving China already when I boarded the Qinghai Express in Chengdu. The provinces of Sichuan and Tibet are immensely different, be it for its culture, its geography or its people. The Chinese conquered Tibet in 1950 and are investing in the province intensely ever since. They did build a train and an international airport, paved hundreds of kilometers of roads and support local families and farmers with money. They also built many schools for the local children. This may sound very positive, nevertheless, it has its downsides too; the schools teach only in Mandarin (no Tibetan language), the roads lead to the spots which are now exploited by Chinese enterprises, lots of the local culture are getting lost between the intense police and military presence. The Tibetans are not even allowed anymore to hoist their original flag or to have a picture of the Dalai Lama in their houses. Controls and spot checks in homes can lead to 2-3 years in jail, should they find any picture of flag. A real punch in the face of any Tibetan is the huge Chinese flag on top of the Potala Palace... All these measurements lead to the fact that some young Tibetans don't even know anymore who his holiness the Dalai Lama is. </div>
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As we traveled through Tibet, I had the chance to talk to many Tibetans, Chines and tourists. The Tibet question definitely remains unanswered and is not that easy to close. A 'free Tibet' with an individual nation would probably lead to chain reactions in entire China. There are minorities of Uighurs and Muslims in many corner of China - all of them would raise their voices should Tibet be freed. What might be a good solution is the one which is asked for by the current, 14. Dalai Lama (living in exile in India, not even allowed to be buried in Tibet). He is asking for a free Tibet in a cultural sense, that Tibetans would be allowed to climb mountains when ever they want, that they could live out their cultural habits as they did in the past, and that they would be granted a passport just as a normal Chinese citizen. Then, he and also all the Tibetans I spoke to, would not even mind the fact of belonging to China. To all the demonstrators with 'free Tibet' flags I must reply: go and visit this beautiful place, talk to the people and learn. The situation is not as easy as you think. Also a glimpse in history books reveals that even in the past, the situation was never really clear. Also Great Britain and the CIA played some unexpected roles...</div>
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Enough about this political situation. We are now in Pokhara, Nepal. Tomorrow we embark for a 8 days trekking to the Annapurna Base Camp and back. We hope that the current weather situation will not destroy our plans...</div>
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Until then, try to stand as still and motionless as this Chinese solider - vis a vis the Potala in Lhasa.</div>
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GH</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-93uwWZAB-BRjk2CWGU1QwI1QdGeaO2uID5HUm9JQM7RdZH0MiNWwhA3xYe_5ea7_jml-2ygfEHuVokyHC6slqDHyJB0nUfR64UN94NmPt70FMkLYmne-5TYERR3Mjmp68Gm18pvYK9u/s1600/GH2+027.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5-93uwWZAB-BRjk2CWGU1QwI1QdGeaO2uID5HUm9JQM7RdZH0MiNWwhA3xYe_5ea7_jml-2ygfEHuVokyHC6slqDHyJB0nUfR64UN94NmPt70FMkLYmne-5TYERR3Mjmp68Gm18pvYK9u/s320/GH2+027.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'Oh, that tall guy, I would love to get a picture of him - but I cannot. Might he know Yao Ming?'</td></tr>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-5679110810205967572013-06-22T08:12:00.000-07:002013-06-22T08:57:45.609-07:00Contrasts<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
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<div class="OutlineElement Ltr SCX222765282" style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
<span class="EOP SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Dear readers, it has been an unusual amount of days since my last post. I hope you did not quit the feed meanwhile and started following any other hobby to waste your precious time..? Funny facts: 1) ''The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted'' 2) 1'000 blogs are created every hour 3) Chinese Government does not only strictly control Google, also it blocks pages like Facebook or Blogspot. The latter is the reason why this post was so far only on my Skydrive, waiting to reach you. To somewhat compensate, there will be two posts at once (now please a big 'hurray')! This will keep you posted in the usual bite size. So here is the first one: 'Contrasts' (referring to the vastly different worlds in Myanmar and China).PLUS, I am encountering some issues with the formatting on this Nepali-style computer here, some parts of the blog just won't get posted... hope that you can still enjoy the reading.</span><br />
<span class="EOP SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvkpb29PsR0H_5hERY3Ne6gmsdyA1fszjAwfWz9FLLMtFTBdB2tR1JMd2O6MdHibwmA0Vv1OYflTDeI-vf-ipKq7oYuWsmEhyphenhyphenPAT3Cw9hoZS1vIgvkVZw5MUgeLG6QgwJ8fBEM_iekUqxl/s1600/GH+002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvkpb29PsR0H_5hERY3Ne6gmsdyA1fszjAwfWz9FLLMtFTBdB2tR1JMd2O6MdHibwmA0Vv1OYflTDeI-vf-ipKq7oYuWsmEhyphenhyphenPAT3Cw9hoZS1vIgvkVZw5MUgeLG6QgwJ8fBEM_iekUqxl/s320/GH+002.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">The overwhelming Myanmar embraced us with its friendly people and breathtaking scenery for two of the most beautiful weeks of the entire trip so far. Furthermore, Myanmar certainly was an easy start for Fred, who was totally new to Asia. Filled with welcoming places, historical sites and diverse landscapes, time went by even faster than an occasi(a)onal attack of the runs. </span></span><span class="EOP SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span> <span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Our night bus to </span><span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Nyaungshwe</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> greeted us with the daily evening prayer, which sprinkled on us through the dusty speakers. In </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;" xml:lang="EN-US">c</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;" xml:lang="EN-US">ontrast</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;" xml:lang="EN-US"> </span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;" xml:lang="EN-US">to</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;" xml:lang="EN-US"> the well intended words, our following ride was definitely less peaceful; we could hardly sleep a minute, especially after the tail pipe fell off - which resulted in our bus sounding like a monster truck. What should I complain, we are backpacking through Asia, episodes like such are definitely an enrich</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;" xml:lang="EN-US">ment</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;" xml:lang="EN-US"> to our trip.</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The four days around lake </span></span></span><span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-position: 0% 100%; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Inle</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> were a pure delight. We spent our time riding bicycles, ferries and fisher boats, we explored floating gardens, local temples and monasteries. H</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">ighlights included a wine tasting in Myanmar's biggest winery (see picture), or me ending up in a show-fight against seven young novice monks. Usually our days ended with one or more glasses of either Beer Myanmar or Beer Mandalay, which are both to be recommended. Going hand in hand with the Burmese beers are the local cigars. These contain Tamarind and Banana-grass, which is making them taste deliciously sweet. Already wearing the Myanmar-style long skirt ''</span><span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Longshi</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">'' like every man, plus consuming healthy doses of local drugs - our way in to any bar conversation was a breeze. As a sort of cultural highlight, we were invited to attend a baptism ceremony of a local girl; music and dancing, until our ears and feet</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> were numb</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">.</span><span class="EOP SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br /></span></span></span></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The four days around lake </span></span></span><span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-position: 0% 100%; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Inle</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> were a pure delight. We spent our time riding bicycles, ferries and fisher boats, we explored floating gardens, local temples and monasteries. H</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">ighlights included a wine tasting in Myanmar's biggest winery (see picture), or me ending up in a show-fight against seven young novice monks. Usually our days ended with one or more glasses of either Beer Myanmar or Beer Mandalay, which are both to be recommended. Going hand in hand with the Burmese beers are the local cigars. These contain Tamarind and Banana-grass, which is making them taste deliciously sweet. Already wearing the Myanmar-style long skirt ''</span><span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Longshi</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">'' like every man, plus consuming healthy doses of local drugs - our way in to any bar conversation was a breeze. As a sort of cultural highlight, we were invited to attend a baptism ceremony of a local girl; music and dancing, until our ears and feet</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> were numb</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">.</span><span class="EOP SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Could it get any better? Why not, our next stop was <span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-position: 0% 100%; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Bagan</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> and its ca. 4'000 temples, pagodas and stupas - yet another milestone of my Asia trip. </span><span class="EOP SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">However, our enthusiasm was slowed down soon after arriving in </span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Bagan</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">. We found out that the long awaited sunrise flight with a balloon over </span><span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Bagan</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> could not take place, oper</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">ations</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> were shut down due to the low season... That was bad news of course, but we immediately started looking for alternatives, locations offering similarly jaw-dropping views. We found 2: (1) The </span><span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Aureum</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> Resort Hotel, a crazy, </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">not-from-this-world, who da f* is </span><span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Burj</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> Al Arab, Hotel-tower and (2) </span><span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Tant</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span><span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Kyi</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span><span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Taug</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> Pagoda, which is a beautiful golden pagoda, located opposite the river, vis-à-vis old </span><span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Bagan</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">, offering an</span></span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> incredible view over the entire plateau.</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> These two spots more than compensated for the balloon flight.</span><span class="EOP SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span><span class="EOP SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTVUF5vpEHD5THqTmMzrllPY1D_EbdY8yLezYKiLw_elZOHx7CjzRQuvR11oH0oo3f0PiseMkBqxbty0WM4Aa78lxz9Gm_BPXwnwyzfBz-_1bTqsvaXRbvpgllaJZ55pcOqy5hpW7gGMqb/s1600/GH+010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTVUF5vpEHD5THqTmMzrllPY1D_EbdY8yLezYKiLw_elZOHx7CjzRQuvR11oH0oo3f0PiseMkBqxbty0WM4Aa78lxz9Gm_BPXwnwyzfBz-_1bTqsvaXRbvpgllaJZ55pcOqy5hpW7gGMqb/s320/GH+010.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="EOP SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><br /></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">The current low season also had its benefits, on most of the temples and locations which we visited</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> we were on our own, something unthinkable during the highly frequented months of January and February.</span><span class="EOP SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Tired of endless hours in night buses built for short Asians, tall Fred and even taller me decided to take a plane for our last domestic leg in Myanmar. Air Mandalay flew us within 20min from </span></span><span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-position: 0% 100%; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Bagan</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> to Mandalay for only a little more money compared to the bus alternative. An elderly fellow passenger with a strong French accent in his English was apparently not too comfortable with the entire flight; fully confused he kept on asking ground personnel</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> after our landing, whether this is Mandalay now? As if the heavily oversized 'MANDALAY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT' sign was not big enough.</span><span class="EOP SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">We were convinced to be in Mandalay and hence left the plane and hopped in a cab heading towards central Mandalay. Our time in the former capital was limited, so we focused on the main sights: Royal Palace and Mandalay Hill.</span><span class="EOP SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgasRDdUAYVoTx0w1lkxAY34Lehd6BEfyoTftM_19uS_hkqRR1tnEn-Jyy0Ew7so1qHse9p36sf9R8j7DCy5kCl_rfTVojZQwp7jfLWmlFRGhe3_70UCTBlPDxc0h6h8N4j5Dhyphenhyphenk4OQP_2X/s1600/GH+011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgasRDdUAYVoTx0w1lkxAY34Lehd6BEfyoTftM_19uS_hkqRR1tnEn-Jyy0Ew7so1qHse9p36sf9R8j7DCy5kCl_rfTVojZQwp7jfLWmlFRGhe3_70UCTBlPDxc0h6h8N4j5Dhyphenhyphenk4OQP_2X/s320/GH+011.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi6wa4dnj_fmQiGffsi9FZdyOqnOyGou2yuLN00Tm7CzQ4MSxiNEDriNpt8Z5kqbJyfw7rjqDXAK9HuPuJBdsVxnxzEyuIKOTt1XD2lDSfeoi4kMZ9O2uvivnbCvq8TZRV3qrluBtZI9xu/s1600/GH+012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi6wa4dnj_fmQiGffsi9FZdyOqnOyGou2yuLN00Tm7CzQ4MSxiNEDriNpt8Z5kqbJyfw7rjqDXAK9HuPuJBdsVxnxzEyuIKOTt1XD2lDSfeoi4kMZ9O2uvivnbCvq8TZRV3qrluBtZI9xu/s320/GH+012.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Only one day after, we left Myanmar with bottles of water and knifes in our bags, by plane towards China, Chengdu. Already the transit stop in Kunming delivered us a massive cultural shock, right into our Swiss rookie faces. Yes we were still in Asia, but we felt like teleported some 50-100 years into the future. Top notch fa</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">cilities</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> and highest standards of everything awaited us, China has arrived, long ago. All I knew about Chengdu was its 3 letter IATA code (CTU) and that it is famous for Pandas. However, I had not a single clue about the city's beauty and it's high standard. Coming along with a easy-going lifestyle, one could quickly feel home</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"> in CTU</span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">. In contrast to this stand the facts that barely anyone speaks English (even in such a metropolis) and that lots of online content are still blocked by the Chinese government. I am accessing the </span><span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">blogspot</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> homepage with the kind assistance of a foreign proxy server, provided by our Tibet tour organizer.</span></span></span><span class="EOP SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">Now, our backpacks are packed yet again, in a few hours an incredible train journey towards Lhasa will start. With oxygen masks provided in the train, we will climb over 5072 meters of </span></span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">altitude, on our way to the Tibetan capital.</span><span class="EOP SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; color: windowtext; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span class="EOP SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US">The next post will probably follow from Kathmandu, Nepal. Until then, </span><span class="TextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" xml:lang="EN-US"><span class="SpellingError SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; background-image: url(data:image/gif; background-position: 0% 100%; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">在這裡,我想在中國寫我的名字,但我不知道怎麼</span><span class="NormalTextRun SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; background-color: inherit; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span></span><span class="LineBreakBlob BlobObject SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span></span><span class="EOP SCX222765282" style="-webkit-nbsp-mode: normal !important; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"> </span></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-78350193427688757212013-05-30T23:45:00.000-07:002013-05-30T23:45:41.338-07:00Mind the gap<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuCkeT7D963UmmItHPPr8KSJHqxuSIPjVmAdw_GKFzwFJK5PJUu_rGsNWFNX7HU7ThlVhaXUyElBXY9H-dkm8V7PvLzIAyxo5NMYqX3O9rDwgBwJkYIDI0KVb3S-pWZQrinL5KmgaHLGj1/s1600/Picture+002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuCkeT7D963UmmItHPPr8KSJHqxuSIPjVmAdw_GKFzwFJK5PJUu_rGsNWFNX7HU7ThlVhaXUyElBXY9H-dkm8V7PvLzIAyxo5NMYqX3O9rDwgBwJkYIDI0KVb3S-pWZQrinL5KmgaHLGj1/s320/Picture+002.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Night train Nong Khai - Bangkok</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
It
was a funny way, the one I choose to exit sleepy Laos… The pick-up brought me
and some fellow travelers way too early to Thanaleng station, where we were
supposed to take the connecting train over the border, to Thailand – Nong Khai
station. What to do with one hour to spend at a remote and desperately empty
railway station outside Vientiane? Ok, first pay the USD 10 for the 1 day
overstay but then – then kill two bottles of whisky with the local station
staff and the crew of the train you are about to board. Yes, that’s what
happened, my little knowledge of Lao vocabulary flattened the way into the
funny round at the only table of the station. The 6 of us really killed the two
bottles within one hour (felt like 10min). The driver of the train was a
responsible guy, he only had a few glasses, instead of several. Then it was
time to go, ciao Laos, welcome Thailand, country no. 4.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTTqtTLhdZVkVZrDNfvQRPUkwuTw8Gk0oNHGg2k1vpvXU9dZQC0Lp81ieRnY6EnuHNxsnOfB93a8icQ8_wgbs9NjT5DJxmvpPyPMfUE7xzsfhsHhuPhqcXUg8aAhZMM3W4L1Ekj3VeERJz/s1600/Picture+003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTTqtTLhdZVkVZrDNfvQRPUkwuTw8Gk0oNHGg2k1vpvXU9dZQC0Lp81ieRnY6EnuHNxsnOfB93a8icQ8_wgbs9NjT5DJxmvpPyPMfUE7xzsfhsHhuPhqcXUg8aAhZMM3W4L1Ekj3VeERJz/s320/Picture+003.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bangkok - from Bayoke Tower</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
night train brought me to Bangkok, where we arrived in the early morning hours.
The vibrations and noises of the train kept me easily awake, even though the
early morning times. Looking out of the windows, I could see how we slowly but surely arrived in a bigger town. The
tracks took us through slums, school areas, Don Muang airport and Porsche
garages. All those environments were overlapping and seemed to sort of coexist,
without much interaction. As we finally made it to the station and as we all
managed to squeeze ourselves out of the tiny doors, we had to stop on the
platform for another little while. Everyone dropped his bags and stood still,
in order to listen to the Thai national anthem (and I thought we had left areas
of Vietnam-like nation pride).<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2o7L_MLUR-YHxzvtrq9bdinlNdTXYc3Kff4JJrRA5dCePuB46_HnMNYllv_TSZJT15RigqRt1qz80ET0_zfJAkvHaAZ24NEGUI97e50rr4XGk5avWaZJ1-Nr2qlH14SJJx4gY5zQlkIcm/s1600/Picture+005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2o7L_MLUR-YHxzvtrq9bdinlNdTXYc3Kff4JJrRA5dCePuB46_HnMNYllv_TSZJT15RigqRt1qz80ET0_zfJAkvHaAZ24NEGUI97e50rr4XGk5avWaZJ1-Nr2qlH14SJJx4gY5zQlkIcm/s320/Picture+005.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
It
did not take me long to arrive in the ‘’Big Mango’’. On the first day I managed
to figure out how; (1) to ride for free in all the Tuktuks (just tell them to
stop at their friend’s tailor- or jewelleryshop, the driver will get a coupon
for food if he brings customers), (2) to end any conversation with aggressive
street vendors who intend to sell you ‘’bumbum with young lady’’ (just ask them
about their daughter) and (3), to find a drumset! After not having hit any
snare or tom for almost two months, my hands started to abuse any pair of
chopsticks available. To find a true set and rent it for one hour was a true relief
– for an addict like me. Two days after, my drummers heart experienced even
greater joy, after playing jazz in Paris and seeing Jojo Mayer live in Bern,
another milestone was achieved, I joined a late night blues session in the
heart of Bangkok. Should you ever be in Bangkok and tired of all the lady boys,
hookers and street vendors of Khao San road (the most famous backpacker and
tourist spot), I strongly recommend to walk to Samsen road 13 and enter ‘Adhere
the 13<sup>th</sup>’, where you can enjoy high quality Lao beer and live blues
at its best. Should you be a musician yourself, you would be more than welcome
to jam along – a great place.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAuM8ae6unHbKkFJRXJKbBcqpZKv637c1mBGLvjhmbJSYmoAUFBXf4sMXKIUqH3bKu5dle7GZLYmaL5nvL9ldbMRR01plwBmdUZJ3eBFBo5XisLQNBIXKV-DGoQ6eh-9SP5j_lsB6WqHo4/s1600/Picture+008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAuM8ae6unHbKkFJRXJKbBcqpZKv637c1mBGLvjhmbJSYmoAUFBXf4sMXKIUqH3bKu5dle7GZLYmaL5nvL9ldbMRR01plwBmdUZJ3eBFBo5XisLQNBIXKV-DGoQ6eh-9SP5j_lsB6WqHo4/s320/Picture+008.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BKK China Town</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During the 5 days in Thailand’s capital city, I also figured
out that the best way to travel around the city is the boat-busses, which circulate
on the many rivers and canals with high frequency. For a fraction of what a
Tuktuk or taxi driver would charge you and with a lot more atmosphere than the
subway or the sky metro the boat busses bring you around town in no time. They
also bring you to Bangkok Chinatown:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Maybe together with the Chatuchack weekend market, Chinatown
and the surrounding Little India and Arab Corner made it to my favourite places
in Bangkok. And guess what, with the aid of funny gestures and ‘miiaaoo’
noises, I found a place where I could finally satisfy my cat-hunger (Bangkok
has it all, from drumsets to lady boys to cat soups)! The soup was delicious
(no kidding here), although the meet was very well boiled and maybe I did not
experience the true flesh taste due to the quite spicy soup. I shall go for
another one in Chengdu therefore, one without a soup around it. Plus, I don’t know,
maybe it’s the cat, but somehow I feel like I could go for a rat right now…<br />
Apart from the food experiences in China Town, I was also fascinated by the
network and cluster effects that perfectly played their power in those areas.
All Hindus, all Chinese and all Muslims somehow managed to live together and to
create their very own Bangkok around them. I could even pull out my few words
of Arab, in order to communicate with locals at a mosque.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3JYJ1NOkKDeWZAHmHaXmmypsOyXQKmg_EWpDNkpn9ZAswu6NXk3NnTuoosMV48ANwJDlf9XiLJ5sq8medEBZ6IURqQpn5sl1psXgNl7hHF5Zo-LB2HsVWrXjdS4rfkfo83kU07wMuEzBZ/s1600/Picture+019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3JYJ1NOkKDeWZAHmHaXmmypsOyXQKmg_EWpDNkpn9ZAswu6NXk3NnTuoosMV48ANwJDlf9XiLJ5sq8medEBZ6IURqQpn5sl1psXgNl7hHF5Zo-LB2HsVWrXjdS4rfkfo83kU07wMuEzBZ/s320/Picture+019.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hello? - Anyone? - Minglaba?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then it was time to leave vibrant Bangkok, country no. 5,
Myanmar and my friend Fred were waiting in Yangon for me. My previous position
at Panalpina Airfreight allowed me to travel for free from Yangon International
Airport to Yangon down town. After riding on the back of a local pick-up to the
main bus station, I quickly made friends with a Qatar Airways airfreight staff,
who paid for me the bus ride downtown. I never imagined that my internship in
Basel would one day allow me to ride a bus for free in Yangon Myanmar… Once Fred
and I met up, we wanted to arrange a short call home, in order to confirm our
arrival (see picture) – our efforts were not honored with success.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In Myanmar were welcomed by the friendliest people I have
met so far on the entire trip. People are happy to see foreigners, have a short
talk with them and maybe show them their business. We came to see a local
printing office (where my little knowledge about Heidelberg machines was a good
deal of help), as well as a local movie production office. The latter also
inspired us to go to a local cinema – which was a great deal of fun too. Other
than being impressed by the locals and their friendliness, we visited various
pagodas in Yangon. Dressed up like locals (with a long skirt) we visited also the
Shwedagon Pagoda, one of the most important buildings in Buddhism. Unlike in Mecca,
anyone is allowed to visit the pagoda, even a nonbeliever like me. We visited
this mighty place a sunset time and stayed until the night arrived. Impressed
by this much gold and the sound of 3154 little bells in the wind, we could not
leave. We circled the pagoda twice and hat good talks with monks who came to
this place from near and far. Later that evening we explored another local
custom and chewed some tobacco nuts. All the men are doing this here, all day
long. Once they are done with a nut, they spit it out on the street – which is
fun to watch and irritating at first for sure.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgadkSmKlpKgtangKwbm6rmj-NNBkhIcrPBrxAlN2Eu9H3gYiCd8hqqbHqTslxoGPLLrqeZ0EigPHW-3PbaaGJV9rGARq5QTzOQqAZiYOPWgPduHJlgY9POqFwFx4VIgpGNYY5UgW8yw4Hm/s1600/Picture+022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgadkSmKlpKgtangKwbm6rmj-NNBkhIcrPBrxAlN2Eu9H3gYiCd8hqqbHqTslxoGPLLrqeZ0EigPHW-3PbaaGJV9rGARq5QTzOQqAZiYOPWgPduHJlgY9POqFwFx4VIgpGNYY5UgW8yw4Hm/s400/Picture+022.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shwedagon Pagoda</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yesterday we spontaneously entered a local train which took
us during three hours around entire Yangon. On the way we saw beautiful places,
had funny conversations with locals and witnessed how Buddhism is not able to
deal with family violence. In brief, take the local train should you ever come
to Yangon, it will make your day. At the time we were back, the daily rains as
well as darkness have arrived – mystical. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMvAEhS_8xTzwDc2qDVWAmGtLFtJ5JgL4ztprxrebPJJg-TiRThBsPHnPisM6QGiT4D3EITZ5fuONI_KkHPnjLUqOwUr8KDxT2EaGUWKnXqM70Vl9_3kIb4N6Hu3v2jMOQcwr0i-8_L9w9/s1600/Picture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMvAEhS_8xTzwDc2qDVWAmGtLFtJ5JgL4ztprxrebPJJg-TiRThBsPHnPisM6QGiT4D3EITZ5fuONI_KkHPnjLUqOwUr8KDxT2EaGUWKnXqM70Vl9_3kIb4N6Hu3v2jMOQcwr0i-8_L9w9/s320/Picture.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fred vs. Asia</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Next destination: Inle Lake.<br />
<br />
Stay tuned, GH.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-81123009656480858002013-05-21T00:39:00.001-07:002013-05-21T00:39:47.292-07:00Chaos in LaosThe floor is even! No its not, its definitely not flat! - or is it?<br />
We never really figured out, whether the floor of the Moon Pub in Vang Vieng is now actually flat or uneven. In spite of the floor question, the place anyhow made us wonder, its strangeness is hard to be topped - maybe on the same level as an unique party I once attended in ancient soviet buildings, in the middle of Estonia. To give you a hint of what was happening there; first of all, to get there you needed to cross an ancient airbase, built by the Americans some 40 years ago (mostly to support the operations in Vietnam, also to export tons of opium, which was growing happily on the fields around Vang Vieng). Bewildered by this historical place, you would then arrive at the Pub, located in a sort of hangar/barrack, filled with 1.50 tall hookers standing on beer cases to appear taller - that's why the floor question came in. Then when looking around, checking the crowd, you could not tell whether people were on alcohol, weed, mushrooms or sober. Some of them might also been bitten by the giant spider that was crawling on the entrance door. In brief: Chaos in Laos.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4FmH3H3YB3vzlZ3uJi_lS83tKwZZonZY9rpwQLkfQvCY8SL4gigVpiuxhGH8wq4OBJqxwx5E08A6M0_YJXTgjPwj8RnFQ7DwHKsDyNsTzznxlN8NH2NpPOQFAq3Mdc5L2-EtulKF9uDjm/s1600/GH+006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4FmH3H3YB3vzlZ3uJi_lS83tKwZZonZY9rpwQLkfQvCY8SL4gigVpiuxhGH8wq4OBJqxwx5E08A6M0_YJXTgjPwj8RnFQ7DwHKsDyNsTzznxlN8NH2NpPOQFAq3Mdc5L2-EtulKF9uDjm/s320/GH+006.jpg" width="320" ya="true" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset view over Luang Prabang, Phousi Pagoda</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Before we eventually ended up in the chaos of Vang Vieng, we took some pace out of our journey and travelled during two days on a slow boat from Huay Xai via Packbeng to Luang Prabang. The boat ride took two full days on the Mekong, driving us through breathtaking scenery and manouvering us through razor-sharp rocks that stick out of the river, due to the current dry season. The captains were skilled enough to ensure a very confortable ride, on which we had time to become friends with some great people. With some Canadians, Americans and Germans who we met on the boat, we decided to kick off our swimming season at the Kuang Si waterfalls near Luang Prabang. Quite some monks shared our intentions:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgKQfS_qkwev6qCsEZRK4EEWd_DSsOWTT1EWiWcayY_1aPLXjhCyJyqDAqK9SXYWhYr_PmfHiAQgqlZy9KipNQXx1AFuC_L0fv-KfrHNtmBPPP9OJ2FVGY8uokjEJzwBWEKkRoVt4vt56J/s1600/GH+011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgKQfS_qkwev6qCsEZRK4EEWd_DSsOWTT1EWiWcayY_1aPLXjhCyJyqDAqK9SXYWhYr_PmfHiAQgqlZy9KipNQXx1AFuC_L0fv-KfrHNtmBPPP9OJ2FVGY8uokjEJzwBWEKkRoVt4vt56J/s320/GH+011.jpg" width="320" ya="true" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How much Laos can one get into 1 picture?</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggGoLa0DGtwWvpgF8AKsk7RO5HFcBqZAUX7KvCoH_x_goNZENiFjdPnBQwkzn8Kb3oUJtr7FMnn36TT43pxCZNZXDnxcXJSQpPRFBvtYvzsSdHgf3GEWOrMe3UbyYJssbnUJMpFa8K5c-j/s1600/GH+010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggGoLa0DGtwWvpgF8AKsk7RO5HFcBqZAUX7KvCoH_x_goNZENiFjdPnBQwkzn8Kb3oUJtr7FMnn36TT43pxCZNZXDnxcXJSQpPRFBvtYvzsSdHgf3GEWOrMe3UbyYJssbnUJMpFa8K5c-j/s320/GH+010.jpg" width="320" ya="true" /></a></div>
The falls were absolutely amazing, one of the most beautiful places of the entire trip so far. We met a guy from Brazil over there, he was close to tears, telling us that he had never been to a more beautiful place in his entire life before. Since the water was surprisingly fresh, we could finally also cool down from the 40 degrees Celsius, that made the last days to a permanent bath of sweat.<br />
Luang Prabang itself was by far smaller than we expected. With some 60'000 inhabitants, it barley is a town. However, with lots of French influence remaining, and a well preserved Lao culture, the place is tempting to stay for more than just a few days. Also in Luang Prabang, we found a bbq-restaurant which is run by two guys from California, US. So it came that one night we skipped our fried rice and noodle soup diet and went for a huge and delicious piece of meat. Similar to the wine experience we had in Hoi An Vietnam, as we did not have a proper piece of meat for quite some time, it felt as the best meat we ever tasted.<br />
In a mini-van, driven by a pirate, we squeaked around the curves on the way further south to Vang Vieng. This very beautiful piece of road (Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng), with mountains high enough and valleys deep enough to scare some of the passengers, made us feel a bit like home. Again our wish to still be on the bikes came up, maybe only because we did not really trust our pirate behind the steering wheel. An even better idea would be to conquer the country by para glider - this would allow one to get more out of the beautiful mountains and to get rid of those endless hours in tiny Lao buses.<br />
Vang Vieng is famous for the 'tubing' which means that you get a tube and a tuktuk, drive some 5km upstream and then let yourself float back again, with the one of the other stop a one of the bars along the river. As we stopped more than once, we did not make it back before a huge thunderstorm broke out. The strong winds coming along with it made us float upstream (!) at times. Apart from the tubing, there is not too much to see in Vang Vieng. Too many restaurants and bars, no true Lao culture and more western than Asian food on the menus. Far different from places like Oudomxay or Huay Xai.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kiridara resort? approved!</td></tr>
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Now we are in Vientiane, the capital of Lao. Still we are travelling with Josh (US), Daniel and Thiemo (DE), who shared with us a great time since we met on the slow boat. Vientiane is also the place of splitting up, the three will head for Ha Noi Vietnam, Flo took the bus this morning towards Udon Thani Thailand, from where he will take a flight to Chang Mai Thailand. He intends to spend a week or ten days in a monastery, with no talking, no drugs of any kind, hoping to learn proper meditation. I wish him good luck for this, although, knowing him well, I doubt that he will endure the full week... . Flo and I had an absolutely great time and unique moments, like back then when we:<br />
- were arguing with an entire lobby filled with Vietnamese officials and neighbours<br />
- had a swim in a bay famous for shark attacks<br />
- threw baby powder at strangers in order to celebrate Khmer New Year<br />
- nearly died on our way from Saigon to Ha Noi<br />
- tasted snakes, krickets, ants, dogs, French wine or Californian bbq<br />
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The above picture is showing the two of us, chilling in a pool of a five star resort in Luang Prabang. Of course, we sneaked in for free, because we can. My time in Laos is also coming to a halt. Tomorrow I will enter a train bound for Bangkok. After a short stay of a few days in busy BKK, I will fly to Yangon, Myanmar where I will meet up with Fred, another great friend from back home.<br />
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Congrats to the Swiss Hockey team for a) the silver medal and b) demolishing the Yankees in the semi final, that earned me some good money ;-)<br />
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until then, GH, living the life.<br />
<br />
To finish this time a bit different (not talking about my hunger for a cat), here is some wisdom that I would like to share with you dear readers. Its a quote coming from the Bertrand Russell book, which has been me travel companion since the very first day:<br />
<br />
"In action, in desire, we must submit perpetually to the tyranny of outside forces; but in thought, in aspiration, we are free, free from our fellow men, free from the petty planet on which our bodies impotently crawl, free even, while we live, from the tyranny of death." - Bertrand Russell<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-49188933049666771412013-05-11T04:29:00.003-07:002013-05-11T04:29:17.076-07:00New WorldSuccess! After talking to various backpackers and local scalpers, we managed to find buyers for both of our bikes. ''Claudette'' and ''Du Hung'' were sold for a total of $600, the exact same price as we paid for them initially in Ho Chi Minh City. Given the fact that Ha Noi and Saigon are two totally different markets, we were pretty lucky. Overall the journey on the Honda Wins cost us about $150 for both (all included, repairs, fuel etc), which is still less compared to bus prices from south to north. To sum it up, travelling through Vietnam on a bike with zero bike experience and a fake licence is just great, its the only way to discover the true Vietnam.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7e2pfAaiSVvF-O6I9JMf82nHa0cfPQvrdiz01h1V5U7e3KahqPxZoNzhAj5icycf_HIynCxhYXBQVXj-WhAwUrlnovFAbm3oAN9j0xhSZgjS1r4VOoU44oyN_QTkydo1lit7Oaiv-1Beo/s1600/GH+001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7e2pfAaiSVvF-O6I9JMf82nHa0cfPQvrdiz01h1V5U7e3KahqPxZoNzhAj5icycf_HIynCxhYXBQVXj-WhAwUrlnovFAbm3oAN9j0xhSZgjS1r4VOoU44oyN_QTkydo1lit7Oaiv-1Beo/s320/GH+001.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Enough about bikes, we sold them and took the night bus up to Sa Pa, a mountain village in the very north-western corner of Vietnam. It is always a battle of pros and cons, when its about night busses; yes, you somehow save time as you travel while you sleep vs. no, you will not sleep anyway in these shitty 160cm long beds with all the Asian-Karaoke-Sound coming along with it.<br />
We arrived after few minutes/hours of sleep in the early morning hours. Sa Pa and its neighbouring villages are known for the different tribes that live up there. Most popular and biggest tribe are the 'Mong', others are the 'Zai' or the 'Dsou'. All of them have their very own language plus they speak a crushed Vietnamese to communicate with each other. To fully get into this new world, we decided to do a home stay instead of an overpriced hotel booking. A French couple which we met in Cat Ba recommended us this option, and also told us about 'Shosho', the lady at whoms place they were staying. So it came that Flo and I were wandering through Sa Pa market at 7am, looking for a certain 'Shosho', who supposedly has her right hand cut off (now think of the gestures and conversations we had this morning). Eventually we sat on the back of two scooters who brought us to Ta Van, a village some 15km below Sa Pa. 'Shosho' was no where around, instead a certain 'Sausai' who was offering home stays as well. However, here place was nothing like a home-stay, it was more like a Ho-Tel. We waved her off and started to talk with two local Mong women. After some talks, they started to walk up mountain with us and brought us to 'Xu's place. Xu is also a Mong and we were told that we could stay at her place, if we wanted. Of course we wanted, since the house was in the middle of all the rice terraces and since it was truly a Mong home, nothing artificial.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlZ8PAF5Rsk8xYCil6m9p9-PDgx1N4eHjDJ2xcprIpOD028jwNTcnHOxQJ-Dle_6G3LQ79dnmGcraCt0AUGSpjE3FC_d93wb7fxOwBQUFVXVOt7bBzT-QLdAuGNV6sZkwmmhQPt4EYLfZc/s1600/GH+005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlZ8PAF5Rsk8xYCil6m9p9-PDgx1N4eHjDJ2xcprIpOD028jwNTcnHOxQJ-Dle_6G3LQ79dnmGcraCt0AUGSpjE3FC_d93wb7fxOwBQUFVXVOt7bBzT-QLdAuGNV6sZkwmmhQPt4EYLfZc/s320/GH+005.jpg" width="320" /></a>We spent the day walking through the rice fields, talking to Mongs, playing with locla children. Xu and her family were absolutely genius, we had a great time. She told us that together with her husband, she would like to get into the home stay-business. We, being her first guests ever, told her to please not transform her lovely house into another fake home stay that will sooner or later appear in the Lonely Planet, she should rather keep it as real and simple as it is now. Should any of you readers be interested in this option, I have name, address and phone number of Xu.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monastery in Houay Xay</td></tr>
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After having seen a totally different Vietnam in Sa Pa and Ta Van, our days in the communist country were numbered, we headed off towards Laos. In busses and banana cases with wheels we drove into the interior in Southeast Asia. Again, a totally new world awaited us. With Dvorak's New World Symphony in the ears, we kept on climbing up and down the endless jungle mountains of northern Laos. In between we saw rural villages, huge areas of deforestation, bomb craters from one of the two Indochina wars and over and over again, beautiful views. At times, the wish of still sitting on the bikes came up, since the streets in Laos seem to be much saver and much calmer. However, with only very few mechanics on the way, it would not really be ''Claudette-Land'' here. <br />
We arrived in Houay Xay and directly went to the booking office of 'The Gibbon Experience', which is a local tour operator, offering trekkings into the Lao jungle, with the possibility to see Gibbon monkeys in wild life. So it came that we spent the last three days far from any civilization, deep in the jungle. We slept in tree houses, we zip-lined through the bushes and we swam in remote jungle waterfalls. It was an amazing experience, mother nature at its best. This morning we got up at 4am, zip-lined through the darkness and walked to a viewpoint, from where we could follow the breathtaking sunrise<br />
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We were lucky to have an experienced guide, he knew exactly where to be at which time, in order to actually see a Gibbon. There is unfortunately no foto-proof of it, but we did see one, rushing from one tree to another, too fast for any camera. I do have pictures however, from all the spiders, rats and praying mantis, with whom we shared the tree houses at nights. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho1nisEIYSsS2tqqFf8JIDCK1Kx1b4X-6UJmKN28phdfUibGcXJPQi5lbt2qqelYm15Xj2WFxB92zOH_KXl1-eDJNlFNDPTb_FpyT95RXGtwAt02WAYVv3io1O8w5DbXx_NYZr_-bp8pBi/s1600/GH+010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho1nisEIYSsS2tqqFf8JIDCK1Kx1b4X-6UJmKN28phdfUibGcXJPQi5lbt2qqelYm15Xj2WFxB92zOH_KXl1-eDJNlFNDPTb_FpyT95RXGtwAt02WAYVv3io1O8w5DbXx_NYZr_-bp8pBi/s320/GH+010.jpg" width="281" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7WR3SCalvNTCoIzbrN5R_mCp1LtsnEXtrKtzcqZHcvdAtIyMiPQn2DplDUw1TquACKxPDf63t3B8T3PNhLcihoEhKnK9x2is5VCG2gThJxCNIQ63xvDM9sZNhPGx29F4XSctudpL89duP/s1600/GH+011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7WR3SCalvNTCoIzbrN5R_mCp1LtsnEXtrKtzcqZHcvdAtIyMiPQn2DplDUw1TquACKxPDf63t3B8T3PNhLcihoEhKnK9x2is5VCG2gThJxCNIQ63xvDM9sZNhPGx29F4XSctudpL89duP/s320/GH+011.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Yes, the guys were huge and not for all of our six group members...<br />
I shall however terminate this post with nicer pictures, showing our main activity of the past days, ziplining through Lao jungle mountains:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQNtHXjsYCF3Y5Q8Tp8Y3FUlEG-LPWQgmBPFGEfjvTl65KZg1lqmyJKu7Ex_7RQFGfOq4tDkhqzHMTYV652wzqmbHjz-hiX1gTL4UMWSSMli9HHwObBA0fOwFibUe6L2NyHWbANhb3yJxT/s1600/GH+009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQNtHXjsYCF3Y5Q8Tp8Y3FUlEG-LPWQgmBPFGEfjvTl65KZg1lqmyJKu7Ex_7RQFGfOq4tDkhqzHMTYV652wzqmbHjz-hiX1gTL4UMWSSMli9HHwObBA0fOwFibUe6L2NyHWbANhb3yJxT/s200/GH+009.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2-cgZWuKfB-fxlsGBJ8DFyzcgs06wi9AI58_OgMyAzq7mk0uF7XR3CJGk3zwrIIJ96KW1cb3AlHRayzJSWdLRhF42JoiiUfUZkYIrP5aLn4_Hhjy6vRDQd7TEIgJwl9q3KeMGNz4sxctE/s1600/GH+008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2-cgZWuKfB-fxlsGBJ8DFyzcgs06wi9AI58_OgMyAzq7mk0uF7XR3CJGk3zwrIIJ96KW1cb3AlHRayzJSWdLRhF42JoiiUfUZkYIrP5aLn4_Hhjy6vRDQd7TEIgJwl9q3KeMGNz4sxctE/s200/GH+008.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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stay tuned, GH<br />
<br />
(p.s. no cat could be found in Ha Noi :-(<br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-81239550936390323172013-05-01T23:39:00.000-07:002013-05-01T23:39:11.393-07:00From south to north<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglh1Rb1urinYZDnrAM0Fc2Fbfi2FXlD1g6u7KkOZz6i0DkNXu397-PdD7Asqcw8K82gGgZAl8xviJqXtRb-_RJh55E2-7IEthbxh7cGCN1c5IWDehC5RPCkUEDIvx-I42H792UE7F-wAL1/s1600/GH+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglh1Rb1urinYZDnrAM0Fc2Fbfi2FXlD1g6u7KkOZz6i0DkNXu397-PdD7Asqcw8K82gGgZAl8xviJqXtRb-_RJh55E2-7IEthbxh7cGCN1c5IWDehC5RPCkUEDIvx-I42H792UE7F-wAL1/s320/GH+001.JPG" width="240" /></a><strike>Strawberry</strike> Rice fields forever... We made it! Approximately 2'000 km lie behind us, yesterday evening we arrived in Ha Noi, with our bikes. With goose bumps on our arms, we drove over Long Bien Bridge in Ha Noi, the view over the town and its humble skyline was proof that we arrived. Unlike when exiting Ho Chi Minh some two weeks before, we were very confident on our bikes. With ease we curled through the masses of motorbikes, busses and lorries. We will encounter difficulties back home in Switzerland, should we continue with our Vietnamese driving style... It really is a dangerous place, the streets of Vietnam. Everyone is a pirate, and every second one is drunken on top. Worst of all are the bus drivers, they must be under immense pressure to maintain a certain schedule and to run their line as fast and as many times as possible. The only way to survive is to become a pirate yourselve and to have a rice wine with locals here and there. Sometimes I tried to explain their way of driving with their sacrificial offerings; we visited multiple temples and religious locations where people would offer literally anything, hoping that it would bring them luck. Some offered money to the goods, others a watermelon or a pack of cigarettes. Right after they would swing themselves back on the scooter and hit the road with not a single look back, left or right. With 40 deads per day on Vietnamese streets, I am sceptical about this method of insurance... <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoJrJqrhmXsW4qjFw33Q0ewyNXPMrMHz9npBMbqQJh51_U9QmX3QKMmHPNKFq279wVEnkvMvgR865gmD8gYwdUaVHvoJcy7h4A4omyK0wkZEIMVBWnhWKAge7AmgVTK0hQkgi7SWp2Uu0b/s1600/GH+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoJrJqrhmXsW4qjFw33Q0ewyNXPMrMHz9npBMbqQJh51_U9QmX3QKMmHPNKFq279wVEnkvMvgR865gmD8gYwdUaVHvoJcy7h4A4omyK0wkZEIMVBWnhWKAge7AmgVTK0hQkgi7SWp2Uu0b/s320/GH+004.JPG" width="320" /></a>Our journey through Vietnam took us to places where no bus or train would ever take you to. We stopped at beautiful small fishing villages to taste delicious seafood meals, we made breaks at remote beaches that we only had to share with sharks. All in all we both somehow cought fire with this travell-on-a-bike-through-a-remote-destination idea...<br />
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The picture on the right is showing the morning sun over Tam Coc (near Ninh Binh). After stopps in Hoi An, where we got some tailormade suits, and Hue, we arrived at 6 am at this wounderful place. To gain some time, we loaded our bikes from Hue to Ninh Binh in a nightbus, which turned out to be a great decision. At the time we arrived in Tam Coc, no one was awake yet, just us and the sun. We still managed to hire a local lady for a boat trip through jungle hills, sharp rocks and underground caves.<br />
Later that day we (stopped at the mechanic again for Claudette) headed for Hai Phong, the container harbour of Ha Noi. We managed to find a ferry to Cai Vieng the same day:<br />
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Once on the island, we drove to Cat Ba. Amazing landscapes and a broken clutch accompained us on the way. Once there we were about to discover that every single room in every thinkable place was taken by Vietnamese tourists who came here to celebrate the Victory of North Vietnam over South Vietnam. As everything was full, we had to take any offer available and were in the end happy to find this cosy place:<br />
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Ok, yes, it was full of cockroaches and the roof was leaking. But guess what, we are in Asia and this is Asia. Furthermore, the room came with a private roof-top terrasse, which offered us the best view you can get on Cat Ba harbour and on the festives taking place due to the independance day. So we spent a good time with the following view, some beers, and communist songs in the background.<br />
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The reason why we eventually went to Cat Ba was not the town itself (although worth a trip), we intended to book a boat trip through Lan Ha Bay and Halong Bay, starting from Cat Ba. Should you ever intend to see the Halong Bay as well, I strongly recommend to do it via Cat Ba as well. Prices are not even half as high compared to what you pay from Hanoi or from Halong City. We managed to book a tour for $20 each, including a full day trip through the two bays, snorkling, swimming, caves and kayaking in the bays plus food included (and even good and plenty of food). <br />
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Halong Bay really is as beautiful as you always think. More than 3'000 islands and hills offer a unique experience. There are two downsides however 1) in Halong Bay itslef, there are too many tourist boats (go to Lan Ha Bay, fewer boats there, just as beautiful). 2) The littering issue! The bays are in parts full of swimming plastic bags, water bottles or beer cans. Its horrible how this amazing place gets more and more ruined by the waste thrown into the sea. We witnessed a couple of times how Vietnamese people threw their empty bottle or can out of the ferry into the water, as if it was supposed to be like that... It also has some dangers when swimming in the bay, you might easily confuse a swimming plastic bag with a jellyfish...<br />
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Nonetheless, we had a great day in the bays, our endless hours in the saddles of our bikes were more than rewarded. The following morning we left Cat Ba in pouring rain, we were heading for Ha Noi. Voila, here we are now, trying to sell our bikes. It seems however, as if Ha Noi is not really the best place to get a decent price for a Honda Win. These ''Hondas'' are made in China and are far less seldom in the north than in the south of Vietnam. While a really good Honda Win costed about 350-400 USD in Saigon, similar bikes are available here for 250-300 USD. So we will see... either we find a French backpacker willing to pay a nice price, or else we will keep them and drive to Sapa by bike instead of bus. This would ultimately mean that we would also take them to Laos later on... (if Claudette does not fall apart earlier).<br />
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Ha Noi is at the same time probably the last chance to find a fried cat - unless I might be lucky in Chengdu, China later on...<br />
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stay tuned,<br />
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GH<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-42336441745231411962013-04-21T10:23:00.000-07:002013-04-21T10:23:24.597-07:00Motorcycle diariesHave you seen it, the movie? ''Motorcycle diaries'', about the 23-year old Ernesto Guevara, travelling through various countries with his friend, on a motorbike. I thought a lot about this one, since the movie I am currently in is quite similar, I am 23 years of age as well, also travelling on a motorbike through unknown territories. However, my title could also be ''Motorcycle diarrhea''. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The last two days have been extremely packed with unique adventures, none of my writing will ever allow you to really imagine what we are experiencing here. One thing is for sure, if you go to Vietnam, you have to travel the country by motorbike, its the only true way to fully arrive in the Vietnamese culture.</div>
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Flo and I had little to zero knowledge about motorbikes, still we bought two and decided to bring them from Saigon to Ha Noi. Starting off in Ho Chi Minh City as total rookies is definitely not the easiest start you can think of. We planned to leave in the early morning hours, when ''fewer'' of the 3 million bikes are on the streets yet. Our plan failed, as a first stop at the mechanic next door delayed our trip by almost two hours. We joined the traffic at 8 am, rush hour. Surrounded by a concert of horns, we headed north-east. I easily felt home in the horn-concert and happily joined with my signal. We both agreed that our mothers would immediately faint if they had seen us. Plus they would never let us back on the bikes again... Its really hard to describe how we survived, but we did.</div>
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Between scooters loaded with various materials, goats, pics, other scooters, chickens and even humans, we fought our way to Bao Loc, where I developed another exit plan for my life; plan 'F' (in case A-E would fail): I become a winemaker in the Vietnamese highlands. </div>
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For hours we were chugging through huge fields of either flowers, bananas or avocados. The ground seems to be extremely fertile up here, plus its rusty red due to big share of iron in it. Mixed with swarms of butterflies and vintage cars, we sometimes felt like being on Cuba...</div>
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The second day on bike brought us via Da Lat to Nha Trang. We were going deeper and deeper into the mountains of Vietnam. In remote villages, all the children ran to the street in order to greet those westerners on bikes. For some we might have been the first white guys they saw... Later we climbed a mountain pass on route 'DT723'. From our side it looked just foggy on top, so we did not think any worse and drove on. What we did not know was that we would get into some of the heaviest rain I ever experienced on the other side of the pass. Immediately the sky was not just ''foggy-grey'' anymore, it was ''the-earth-is-about-to-collapse-dark'' around us. Harsh street conditions did not make the situation easier. As we were far from any house or shelter, we drove on. When we were about two thirds down the pass, the rain came to a brief halt and I managed to take this shot, which is showing the view to the coast, towards Nha Trang, our goal of the day:</div>
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To make matters worse, the engine of my bike broke down short after. As long as it was still going down, I was able to roll by myself, for other parts, Flo had to pull me with his bike. It really was a baptism of fire, those two first days on a motorbike...</div>
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A stop by the guy on the left was necessary to make my ''Cloudette'' (name given to my bike by previous owners) working again. It turned out that all the rain has caused a short-circuit somewhere in the jungle of wires. With the help of body language we came to an agreement about what to fix and what to pay.</div>
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In complete darkness we drove the last kilometers to Nha Trang, where we were very happy to finally relieve our (attention bad word!) asses from all these vibrations.</div>
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Nha Trang is a strange place, people call it the 'beach capital of Vietnam'. Its true, it does have a beach right in front and it does look a bit like Copacabana. I am not sure though if the true Copacabana is also that packed with Russians... An estimated 90% of all the tourists here are from Russia which leads to signs and menus written in Vietnamese, English and Russian.</div>
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Today we spent some good times at Vinpearl, a funpark located on one of the islands around Nha Trang. The cable car in the picture took us to this barely visited but actually well made park. For some 450'000.- VND we had a great time not only on the scooters, also by observing the Vietnamese and Chinese tourists. Somehow they were not at all used to attractions like this, many could not express their joy, others lost total control over their emotions and again others had to puke already after a trip on a very easy-going swing. All in all the place was quite surreal, lots of fun and impressive all together. On the way back, we parked our bikes in front of a seafood restaurant. I had an entire grouper which I could select by myself from the fish tank. Again, we ate like Kings for the price of a Happy Meal.</div>
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Oh and we did not yet taste a cat... We were looking for it in various places, but we could not get one so far. We will keep searching. Meanwhile another animal made it onto our dishes; snake.</div>
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Snake is somewhat crispy, somewhat chewy and tastes a bit like nothing or chicken. Its not the best food we had so far, but its definitely worth a try.</div>
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Tomorrow morning we will enjoy a mud-bath before hitting the streets again. Next stations are planned to be Quy Nhon, Quang Ngai and Hoi An. There just must be a cat somewhere...</div>
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stay tuned, GH.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-1356129296214321942013-04-18T03:54:00.000-07:002013-04-18T03:54:22.330-07:00xin chaoYes, I know, it has been a while since the last post - thank you for your patience. Here is a new one, another desperate effort, trying to summarize the countless experiences of the past days... I shall start with a nice picture, to make you all jealous:<br />
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What you can see is Ostres Beach, close to Sihanoukville, Cambodia and our boat, on which we left soon after to a island and snorkeling tour.
Sihanoukville was our last stop in Cambodia, before heading to Vietnamese boarder. To sum it up in brief; don't stay there. If you want to see beaches and enjoy remote sandbanks, you should rather go directly on one of the islands (e.g. Koh Rong). Sihanoukville left an unsympathic impression on us, weird people from all over the world come here to party, although nothing really makes you feel like party. As the weather was not solely delightful either, we soon decided to take a Bus towards Ha Tien, Vietnam.<br />
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The border-crossing procedure was quite an event as well, we were measured our temperature and then had to pay 1 Dollar each (of corse its one dollaa), as our temparatures (both 36.5 degrees celcius) were apparently too high for Vietnamese standards. Once in Ha Tien, funny hotel names like the one in the picture remembered us of delicious food experiences during Khmer New Year festives in Sihanoukville. Yes, dog does taste very good, I can only recommend it. Its best with a Cambodian curry like the ''a mok''.<br />
Back to Vietnam; Ha Tien is a very untouristic destination, kids and other people of all age came to us in order to greet us and because they wanted to compare their height with mine. It was very sympathic to have people around who just wanted to talk, and who did not offer you something disturbing for one dollaa. <br />
We had dinner with two old ladies who did not talk a word of english - still, we had a great time and loughed a lot.<br />
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The day after we travelled from Ha Tien to Vinh Long, on the Mekong Delta. The bus driver forgot about us and only let us out after we somehow realized that we must have passed Vinh Long. So we ended up once again on the back of two scooters who took us back to Vinh Long downtown. For some 100'000.- Dong they rushed with us to the riverside, where we found a contact for a home stay on the Mekong Delta. By ferry we reached the home of a local family, who rents out some of their rooms as a kind of guesthouse to travellers. Here is what they prepared for us as dinner:<br />
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Mmmmh, fishy fishy fresh from the incredibly busy and more or less dirty Mekong.<br />
The next day began for us at 5 am. when we were driven by a ferry to a floating market on the Mekong. To see the river and the surrounding villages awakening in the early morning sun was a remarkable experience of its very own kind. All of this was accompanied by the ''beatiful'' sound of the two-cycle boat engines.<br />
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Now we have arrived in scooter-town, Ho Chi Minh City. The town has its very own and special rhythm; its incredibly busy in mornings, days and evenings, but almost dead silent at night. Communism does not allow you to party all night long, unless you pay a fortune to get in one of the newly opened and hyper fancy roof-top clubs. Since we can get plenty of posh-clubbing back home, we preferred to have some Saigon beers on the Bui Vien street, the place where the action happens. Fire-spitting kids, ruthless drivers of any kind of vehicle, grilled-on-the-spot calamaris and angry old women - you have it all, in Bui Vien street. What you can also find there are quite a bunch of backpackers, some of them also willing to sell their motorbike. We talked to many guys and tested quite a number of bikes and could in the end make a good deal (we think). We managed to buy two Honda Win 110cc bikes for a total cost of $600. We will hit the road tomorrow and try to make our way up to Ha Noi within some 2-3 weeks. Biggest challenge will be to get out of Ho Chi Minh... here the streets are full of the typical South-East-Asian scooter madness and almost no street and direction labels can be found. Per day, 40 people die on Vietnamese streets, we will do our best to ride save.<br />
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Today we visited the War Remnants Museum in Saigon. After what we saw in the Khmer Rouge Museum in Phnom Penh, we were once more shocked by what we got to see. We both knew more or less what happened in the Vietnam War (1957-1975), but what you get to see in western documentaries and school books is unfortunately a varnished reality. The war crimes conducted here by the French and US Army were of indescribable brutality. Especially the effects of the toxic attacks conducted by the US Air Force, are beyond any measure. Some American visitors were fist posing like roosters outside of the museum, in front of various tanks and airplanes. Once those guys were inside the museum, their false pride subtly gave way to mere feelings of guilt. When we were still in Vinh Long, we saw a second-generation victim of Agent Orange attacks, collecting money for his charity organization - his head was about twice to three times the size of a 'normal' head. Also in the museum, I found the girl in the picture below. She obviously had no clue where she was going, otherwise she surely would have changed her dress code. I think she thought I liked her beauty, when I took the picture. Instead, I liked her dullness.<br />
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Now, evening is breaking in and our stomachs are grumbling for some cat. We will see what Saigon has to offer...<br />
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Until then, stay tuned, GH.<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-42043164640628670892013-04-11T09:30:00.002-07:002013-04-11T09:30:45.390-07:00Happy Khmer New Year!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As sort of a dessert for our stay in Cambodia, we came to experience some crazy nights while celebrating the Khmer New Year (officially 13th to 15th April) with local and true Khmer people. Basically everyone goes crazy, people eat and drink a lot, dress well and then throw white powder at each other. It feels like being in this new Sony commercial, showing the colour festival in India. As Cambodia cannot afford colours, its just white here. But its good, for once we were not the only white guys anymore and we can say that we truly arrived in Cambodia.<br />
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The last days in brief: We left Battambang and headed south. Stopped in Krakor (literally in the middle of no-where) and hired some local guys to bring us on the back of their scooters to the floating village of Kompong Luong. Unlike other ''floating villages'', Kompong Luong is really floating. Depending on the season (dry or wet) the village is 39 to 45 km away from Pursat, the next bigger town. Kompong Luong is consisting out of a Cambodian and Vietnamese part, overall approximately 200 houses, tied together and floating freely on the Tonle Sap lake. A local guy took us on the boat through this incredible place. We saw the school, post office, police station and a crocodile farm - everything floating. Many inhabitants of Kompong Luong were happy to see us, probably not many tourists make it to this very remote and impressive place.<br />
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The above picture shows parts of Kompong Luong and me, sitting on a crocodile cage. </div>
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After visiting the floating village, another crazy mini-bus ride took us to Phnom Penh, where we spent some remarkable days of lots of good food, impressive history and legendary nights. I shall at this point come back to my earlier promise and post a picture of some classical Cambodian-style electric installation:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of these also make scary noises and are used as high-lines by monkeys</td></tr>
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We did not only taste eel, ants, beetles, raw-eggs and crickets in Phnom Penh; we also searched for some cultural experiences of a sad kind and therefore visited and ancient Khmer Rouge prison and a killing field. It is terrible what happened at those places only some 30 year ago. Only seven prisoners survived the horrible torture at ''Station 21'' (out of some 20'000), one of them was present that day and we could talk to him with the help of a translator. He survived only due to his skills as a mechanic, the Khmer Rouge needed him to fix their typewriters... We had a deep and telling conversation with him and drove back in our TukTuk, without speaking much.<br />
Later that day we were disappointed by humanity once more; we met two typical Australians who told us about ''their best experience ever'' - they payed $700 to shoot on a cow with a bazooka! There is no moral philosophy that justifies this behavior in any way. We were offered the same programme by drivers as well, but we declined gratefully without regret. There is much to do and lots to experience when you travel, but some things are just wrong and you should simply not do them - even when you can afford it and think you are a bad-ass back in Australia.<br />
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Now, we are in Sihanoukville, south coast of Cambodia. For the first time we have not 35 to 40 degrees anymore, its raining cats and dogs - a refreshing change. What did not change are the inappropriate offerings, the littering issue, the disgustingly old sex tourists and the fact that everything is available for ''one dollaa''.<br />
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Next destination Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh - where the cats taste delicious, we were told, I will keep you posted ;)<br />
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stay horny, GHUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-76190259397811156092013-04-06T05:07:00.002-07:002013-04-06T05:07:26.996-07:00One dollaa<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Siem Reap has been the destination where we spent our last 4 days. Probably the most touristic place in whole Cambodia - due to the world famous Angkor Wat which is situated there. While Flo and I cruised through the impressive temple scenery, tourist swarms from South Korea, Taiwan or China found it more comfortable to rush through the main attractions by bus (with A/C of course). Still, you definitely get to see more on bicycle, even if its 41 degrees Celsius... <br />
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While talking to locals, we not only learned a lot about Angkor Wat, we also acquired a significant Khmer vocabulary - which is of big use when it comes to negotiating with TukTuk drivers or waving off ladyboys or other inappropriate offerings. <br />
Siem Reap itself is very pleasant, in spite of the many tourists. The town offers huge and beautiful local markets, frequent power cuts, delicious grilled fish from the near by Tonle Lake and ANYTHING you can think of for 1 Dollar. In the local dialect, people pronounce ''one dollaa''. So where ever you are, sooner or later someone will come up to you and say something like: "Sir, hello Sir. Two for one, buy from me, one dollaa, just one dollaa Sir.'' Then you will have to look again to figure out what exactly they are selling as it might be Mangos, Postcards, Marihuana, their Sister, a Massage or a simple TukTuk ride.<br />
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This morning we arrived in Battambang (ca. 300km north west from Phnom Penh), where the two locals on the picture introduced us to the ''Bamboo train''. Since the railway system is in a very bad shape (constructed by the French centuries ago, untouched since), no official trains are running any longer. Since a couple of years now, the locals started to build their own vehicles in order to use the rails. These platforms that resemble a flying carpet, make up to 50km/h and are used to transport rice, people and tourists here and there. A ride on such a ''train'' takes you through remote areas, bush fires, local villages and is at times bumpy and slightly scary. Overall however, it is a legendary experience, something you will not do somewhere else that fast. <br />
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Later today we witnessed the flight of 2 billion (honest figure, not our estimation) bats, while leaving a cage in order to get some food. Plus, we visited a former killing cage of the Khmer Rouge Regime. These places and experiences are sometimes tough to digest and fill the day with ease. <br />
It is also interesting to see backpackers and tourists with an ''I can change the world'' attitude here, they mostly have little knowledge about the Khmer Rouge and then wonder why their Che Guevara t-shirt with the red star does not really call for positive feedback.<br />
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Tomorrow or the day after we will head south, try to spend the night in some remote fisher village around the Tonle Lake and then continue further south, direction Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville.<br />
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I will keep you posted about how many one-dollaa-opportunities we realized...<br />
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cheers, GH<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-82469252153603945872013-04-02T07:22:00.000-07:002013-04-02T07:22:27.432-07:00Ashton Kutcher in CambodiaSo it begins - finally all the preparations have come to an end. I wish all this would be much easier, I wish the thinking of country boarders would more and more come to a halt, but Southeast Asia (and many other parts of the world) prove something different. Anyhow, I had to foul the Chinese authorities for a first time and book various flights in order to get my desired visas and permits. All this sums up in reduced flexibility in regard to my itinerary.<br />
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Monday 1st April<br />
Boarding an Airbus A380 is nice, you feel like going on a cruise ship, being one of 471 ants, a board of SQ345 ZRHSIN. The head steward looked an approximate meter up to me and said after taking a deep breath: ''You Ashton Kutcher!?'' Since I get this a lot, I played the game: ''No, Matthew, his brother.'' (I have no clue whether Ashton has a brother). Anyways, the Chief Steward was ''very honored to have me on board'' - so was I.<br />
A great flight with perfect service and lots of comfort in economy class ended 12h later in SIN Changi Airport. Shortly after Silkair operated the connecting flight to Phnom Penh. There, a foreign feeling struck me, I felt exactly as a farmer from Lauenen (remote CH village) who would go to Zweisimmen (another remote CH village) - I felt, that I was never that far from home. Old record holder Muscat was outplayed significantly.<br />
From Phnom Penh, a Bus took me towards Siem Reap, northern Cambodia. The ride was about 6hrs long and provided a great introduction to the country. We came across places and scenes from a different world.<br />
We had several full-break wake up ''calls'', due to near-fatal accidents with either cows, children, TukTuks or monks. Later, when back in Phnom Penh, I will try to post a picture of the electrical installations down town - it will be hard to digest for all the Swiss...<br />
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Night and myself have arrived in Siem Reap. I will now try to grab some bowl of rice and later meet my former fellow student and friend Florian. Flo will spend the next ca. 4 weeks with me, this being the end of his trip, which he started some when in January... <br />
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In a sweaty and dirty hostel lobby - GHUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0Siem Reap, Cambodia13.36866 103.86440300000004-12.1533745 62.555809000000039 38.8906945 145.17299700000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-19404925181328559402013-03-04T03:29:00.000-08:002013-03-04T03:29:03.640-08:00Dear Visitor,<br />
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Finally, this blog will start to entertain you. While since years it served merely as a backup and blocker of the "horntobewild" domain.<br />
Intention of the blog will be to keep you guys updated about the planned 4 month journey through Asia, by a certain Georg Horn. The blog will continue to be written in english, as many of my friends are not in posession of the mighty skill of understanding swiss-german.<br />
Travel start is intended to be the 1st of April 2013 (no kidding here), countries I plan to visit are as follows: Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, China, Tibet, Nepal, India.<br />
Visa-issues and budget restrictions might bring deviations to the order...<br />
For now, skiing, drumming, trip-planning and vaccinations are in focus.<br />
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stay horny,<br />
<br />
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GeorgUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3009295313577130300.post-14776393232720879992011-10-16T13:05:00.000-07:002011-10-16T13:05:24.247-07:00StatusDear online community,<br />
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This blog is currently under construction - content will follow soon...Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0