24. Warsaw, Berlin and home...

As we had not much time left we decided to keep it short - one night in the Polish capital Warsaw and one night in Berlin. The Polish capital Warsaw has changed a lot since the Iron Curtain came down. It has regained a lot of its old flair and is a nice international metropolis now.

Staying with my friend Tomek did mean of course to have the obligatory glass of vodka (and every other drinkable or undrinkable liquid that is left in the appartment - old Polish tradition)! I will sure be back in Poland for the Euro 2012!

Traditional Polish costumes?!

In Berlin, we stayed with Franzi's friends Timo and Verena (thanks!) before heading back to the origin and destination of our journey - Karlsruhe! Friends are very good friends, if they organize a welcome back party for you! Thank you so much! :)

My brother Christof and I at the party

Last but not least I would like to thank all of you for - supporting us, hosting us, travelling with us, having a beer with us or just reading this blog. This trip was unforgettable, and the memories will definitely stay with me for the rest of my life!

My parents visiting us in Argentina

Special thanks to my girlfriend for being so wonderful even when being so far away and for being even more wonderful when being with me. Ich liebe Dich!

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Special thanks of course also to my sister - people kept on asking us how we could possibly be so crazy and travel with eachother and that they could never travel with their brother/sister. Of course we had our little fights, but we were always there for eachother and had so much fun together! I do not regret a single day to have gone on this trip with my dear little sister! Danke, Franz!

World travelers - Mission Completed!

23. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania

Is it fair to summarize these 3 nations? Sure not, but I will still do it as everybody does. It is just their destiny to be stuck with their small neighbor countries (and Russia) and their common history in the last 20 years! Sorry! :)

Tradition in all Baltic states - "Locks of Love"

In Estonia, we stayed with new and old couchsurfing friends and had such a great time with them! Thank you so much Aron & Nisa (Tallinn) and Silver & Teele (Tartu, a beautiful student town further in the South)! Estonia is in terms of people, language and money (euro!) a lot closer to Finland, but if you leave the historical centers of the cities you still get this somewhat interesting soviet flair - which is absolutely the same for Latvia and Lithuania. The center of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is a true beauty with its medieval flair. It is even cultural capital of Europe this year!

The Latvian capital Riga is another gorgeous city, and to wrap it up immediately - Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, is also great! If you are ever in doubt about where to go for a couple of days - visit the Baltic capitals. They are beautiful, full of history, packed with bars and restaurants offering good beer and incredibly unhealthy food. Just perfect!

Old Town Riga

Fried bread-stick with sour cream and a mushroom soup in a bread... mmmmmh!!!

Well, I have to add at this point the only somewhat disturbing thing. We were in Riga for the Easter weekend, but we were not the only ones having this idea... It turned out that Riga is a popular destination for English bachelor parties as they do like beer and have very cheap flights to get there. Having a look at this (fortunately!) wiggly picture will explain why these English bachelor parties can be disturbing sometimes...

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22. Finland

After a short visit of a Chinese travel agency it became clear that the trip with the Transmongolian from Beijing to Moscow was almost impossible to achieve in the little time we had to prepare. Getting a visa for Russia in Germany is not that difficult, but getting it in Beijing is a true pain in the a...! Looking at different options, we chose to skip Russia, to visit friends in Finland and to make our way home via the Baltic countries and Poland.

In Finland we stayed with my friend Karin (thank you so much!) and discovered Helsinki. It is a nice little city, but a visit in summer time will definitely be necessary to really get to know Helsinki. With the cold weather, the obligatory sauna visit was even better though!

Cold and beautiful - Helsinki

To get to Tallinn, we took one of the booze ferries. The Finns like to take those to buy cheap alcohol in Estonia or already on the ferry. And at 9am the "party" started - live music, dancing Finns and cold beer! Kippis!

Ready to hop on the booze ferry to Tallinn!

21. China

If you really want to understand China, you will have to learn the language and spend a lot of time in this country. We just got a glimpse on China in the 2 weeks we spent there. There is a lot of disturbing things about the chinese culture (or should I say behaviour?), but there is also an amazing amount of positive things to discover in this huge country.

If you say so...

The big cities (well, let's say the very, very big cities as there are so many big cities) are very different from eachother. There is Hongkong, the former colony of the UK, offering everything other Western cities offer plus breathtaking nature and of course the Chinese culture and food. It is definitely one of my favorite cities in Asia!

Hong Kong by night

Then there is Shanghai - it is a huge, modern city with thousands of skyscrapers and some nice old spots (like the Bund or the old tea house). Overall, the progress has destroyed most of the flair of the old Shanghai though. Well, that is at least what I think as there seems to be nothing old left anyway...

Shanghai by night

Wanna buy turtles?!

Beijing on the other side was able to conserve some of the old flair with its old Hutongs, at least until now. Then there is of course the Forbidden City, the Olympia sites and some other interesting sites within Beijing. The top attraction is outside the city though - the Chinese Wall. It is even more impressive when you see it in person, and just visiting the Wall would already justify a visit of China.

The one and only Wall

Getting around in China is fairly inexpensive as there is an excellent system of night trains going pretty much everywhere. The only problem is the language. Chinese are not known for their excellent English skills, and learning Chinese is a question of years not of months. But having our personal Chinese speaking guide (my girlfriend Sandra ;)), we got along very well and also visited the terracotta warriors in Xi'an and the grasslands of the Inner Mongolia. Especially the later one was very interesting as it was quite unusual and showed us some spots beyond the typical travel paths.

Terracotta Warriors in Xi'an

Me with my horse "Helmut" and Sandra with "Soße"

Last but not least, a comment on the disturbing things. Is it wrong to spit in plastic bags, to smack loudly and to stare at foreigners? Well, let's say that it is definitely different from our culture. ;) I have to say that the food compensates for these somewhat unusual behaviors - I have never eaten so inexpensive and so good food in my life! The Chinese are true magicians when it comes to preparing incredibly delicious food in no time!

Mouth watering Chinese snack

20. Vietnam

Guess how many people live in Vietnam!? 90 million!! And when you are in Ho Chi Minh City (what a terrible new name for Saigon) you get the impression that every single Vietnamese has a scooter. You feel like being in the middle of a motorcycle race when the lights turn green! And crossing a road without traffic light is also quite an adventure - just walk slowly and let the scooters try to avoid hitting you. It works, but it was only later when I saw the statistics: 12,000 people die every year on the streets of Vietnam...

Daily scooter race in Saigon


Besides that, Saigon is the economic capital of Vietnam with a good variety of places to hang out, eat (mandatory: "Pho" - Vietnamese noodle soup!) and drink for very little money. The Mekong delta is also not too far and worth a day trip as well!

In the beach capital Nha Trang, people come to party and to hang out at the beach. After a couple of days with average or even bad weather we kind of underestimated the sun when going on a snorkeling cruise. Pain and red skin were the punishment...

Snorkeling frog

Vietnamese fisherman

Hanoi, the capital up in the north, is different from Saigon. All seems to be a little smaller, and even as a pedestrian you get around easily in the center. We took advantage of that and had a great time eating, drinking and shopping on the streets - everything is happening on the streets, and this creates a really nice atmosphere!

Beer corner in Hanoi

Street life in Hanoi

The highlight of the Vietnam trip was definitely the trip to the Halong Bay. You get to see thousands of little islands and stay one night on a typical old junk boat.

Halong Bay