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

19. Cambodia

Cambodia is one of the countries you do not expect too much from. You know that there is the must-do-Angkor-Wat, but besides that everything you have in mind when thinking of Cambodia is pretty sad - poor people, malaria, genocide by the Khmer Rouge, prostitution and so forth. I have to say that despite (or may due to?) all this, we were pleasantly surprised with Cambodia! Angkor Wat was no surprise - it is absolutely stunning and totally worth the visit.

Angkor Wat

There is also prostitution, and of course there are the evil mosquitoes. The big surprise for us were the Cambodians - they were the friendliest and nicest people you can imagine, always smiling despite their dark dark past not too long ago. I will sure spend more time in Cambodia the next time I visit!

It is all about Angkor Wat in Cambodia - even the beer!

About the dark past, in Phnom Penh we went to the torture prison S21 and to the "Killing Fields" where thousands lost their lives. Some people find it disturbing to show where it happened and what happened. I think it is good that these museums were installed. As a German, I do know what it means to live with a dark history, and in my opinion it is better not to forget what happened and to learn to live with the past than to forget about it...

S21 - The Khmer Rouge's torture prison

18. Thailand

Thailand is for me due to the variety of things to do definitely one of my favorite Asian countries. The people are very friendly, the food is excellent, the beer is cheap. What else can one ask for?

We started in the south of Thailand in famous Phuket. Not a bad place, but Phuket City was quite boring and the main beach we went to was very touristy. I am sure that if you invest more time and money, there are some really nice spots to be discovered!

Gay parade in Phuket

Literally on the other side there was Koh Phangan, the island next to Koh Samui, that is famous for its outrageous full moon parties. We missed unfortunately the full moon, but stayed in some really nice bungalows in a little bay in the middle of nowhere. No electricity at night, no phone working, no problems. This place was pretty close to paradise (if you forget about the cockroach and spider "attacks" at night).

Our beach

One of our bungalows

Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, is a busy city. On the water ways, on the streets, there is a lot going on! It has to offer a ton of temples ("Wats"), the king's palace, a million shopping malls and also a really good night life in the tourist area. The one and only Khao San Road is sure not everyone's favorite place, but I sure like having a cold beer, watching football on TV and eating some insects. I celebrated my birthday there with my cotravellers as well as with Flo and Kate, a German-Thai Clark-University-couple that married last year in Bangkok. Good thing to have friends like them in a city like that! :)

Auge um Auge...

Buddha statue

TukTuk - Race! Yeeeah!

In Chiang Mai, a small city in the north of Thailand, it is again much more about nature. We made an elephant ride (sorry Jasmine, but I really did not have the feeling that the elephants were treated that bad) and some other activities and relaxed in our hostel pool before heading back to Bangkok and then to Cambodia!

Thai boxers do not have to be tall...

Elephant riding in Chiang Mai

17. Malaysia

After experiencing Indian craziness, we felt like being back in the Western world when getting to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. The city is green, very modern and clean. Besides the Petronas towers the attractions are limited though. In Malaysia we were also joined by our friends from home for two weeks - quality time!

Jonas amazed by the towers - what a spontaneous reaction!

"Monkey Business"

Georgetown on Penang was our next stop as our friend Claudius was working there as an intern. The island on the West Coast of mainland Malaysia offers an interesting mix of Chinese, Indian and Malaysian culture and of course cuisine. This and the beautiful nature (including some really nice beaches) make it definitely a place that is worth a visit.

Temple dorks

Monkey Beach on Penang

Even though we saw only a part of Malaysia, I can say that it is a beautiful island with a relaxed atmosphere. As it is a muslim country, alcohol is a little expensive, but the cheap food definitely compensates!

16. India

India is different - it is a different continent, maybe even a different world. Coming from a very (or even too?) organized country, I asked myself many times how this chaos can possibly work. Well, I did not find an answer yet, but it somehow does.

We stayed with our friends Peter and Frederike (thank you so much!) in Delhi and made some trips in the region. This way, we got some nice snapshots on Indian culture. In Delhi we saw the new and old town and attended a typical Indian wedding reception (oh yes, there was some crazy Indian dancing going on!).

Then there was the world famous Taj Mahal in Agra, which was a stop on our 3-day-Golden-Triangle-trip (New Delhi - Agra - Jaipur), and it really is as beautiful as everyone says!

Amritsar in the North-East was our next destination. It is home to the most important Sikh temple. The Sikh (aka the typical turban-wearing New Yorker taxi driver) had split from the Hindu as they did not agree with the cast system. Their religion is based on the principle of everyone being equal, and this liberal attitude can also be felt visiting the Golden Temple in Amritsar.

Amritsar also has to offer another very unique spectacle - the border to beloved Pakistan is closed every afternoon performing a ceremony during which the spectators on both sides (they even built stands for the people!) are cheering for their respective soldiers and countries. The border soldiers walk up and down as if they applied for the ministry of silly walks and finally close the gate - just hilarious!

Last but not least I have to admit that I was once again surprised with the delicious Indian food. Vegetarian or not, it is all so good!

Pictures will follow as soon as Franziska has uploaded them - check out her Picasa Web Album.