Category Archives: World Trip 2013

It’s the Eye of the Tiger

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Thinking back about our previous entries about Nepal, we had made very mixed experiences. To give the country another chance, we wanted to find out how they would treat us at the less touristy spots. Thus, we made our long journey to the north-west to visit “Bardia National Park”, the remote alternative to Chitwan, the latter being a popular place on the standard route to India. The dialogue preceding our decision was like follows:

“Hey Thomas, that sounds cool. In Bardia we can do a walking safari.”
“Mmhh, okay ….”
“Wow, and here in the travel guide it is said that sometimes rhino and tiger attack. Hence, they say the walking safari can be a real danger.”
“Booked!”

But of course, this was an exaggeration. We were heavily armed, all of us carrying a massive bamboo stick. Our guide had done a 7 days training program and gave us a 30 seconds introduction about what to do in case of an emergency:
rhinos –> run zigzags and find a tree to climb on
tigers, elephants, crocodiles –> normally won’t attack at all …. let’s go!
Speaking seriously, there has never been a casualty caused by wild animals in Bardia and the guides are all really experienced, having grown up and worked there for many years. Continue reading →

And all due to plate tectonics

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Yes, we admit it. We did it. We just did what everyone does – we went trekking at the Annapurna. And we can say: Everyone is right, the Annapurna region is just an amazing hiking area.

The physically most exhausting part we had to endure at the beginning and at the end of our excursion from Kathmandu: Riding the bus is hard work in Nepal: The seats are designed for people of maybe half the height of ours and probably one third of our leg length. On the other hand, in order to enhance blood circulation, the Nepalese build their roads as bumpy as possible and carefully avoid to construct cars with shock absorber. Nevertheless, on Saturday evening we safely arrived at our hostel in Pokhara, shaken like a Polarroid picture. “We”, again, are not two, but three: Tamara took holidays from her internship and we travelled together. We benefited a lot from her, because she is physically fit and a great travel mate with whom you can joke and talk about nearly everything, except the most important topic on earth: football (soccer).

Since Tamara had only limited holidays, we decided to go on the “Annapurna Circuit“, do one half of this three-weeks-trek and return by bus. On the first day we started from Nayapul, walked some hours and were really lucky in the choice of our lodge: They had satellite-TV with an Indian channel that broadcasts the German Bundesliga. So we were able to watch the match “Eintracht Frankfurt” against “Mainz 05″ while sitting in a lodge in the middle of the Himalayas! With the match itself we were not so lucky, it was deserved 0:0 with an entertainment factor on the level of cricket …. Continue reading →

Mixed Impressions in Kathmandu

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So many things that characterize our time in Kathmandu already happened in the first hour in Nepal. At the arrival you have to pay 40 US$ for the visa. When I put the money on the desk, one official took it away and then an other one asked me to pay the fees. I told him firmly that his colleague already had taken the money, which he first denies before – by miracle – remembering he had put the 40 US$ in his pocket …. welcome to Nepal!

Out of the airport, we were soon surrounded by taxi driving touts, who wanted to bring us for a huge amount of money to a hotel of their choice. We got so annoyed that we decided to look for a public bus instead, and indeed, one person explained us where to go. Entering the bus, all the locals looked at us extremely surprised, obviously wondering whether we were on the wrong bus or whether they were. But anyway, they kindly offered us their help to find our way to Thapatali.

Everyone knowing Kathmandu may now be attempted to ask “Thapatali? I thought the name is Thamel?”. Exactly that was the reaction of all the taxi drivers and their enthusiasm faded remarkably when realizing that we do not want to go to the tourist-ghetto of Thamel. Yes, we were going to Thapatali, because there we met Tamara, Steve’s former fellow student in Mannheim, who is currently doing an internship at the GIZ, the German organization for development aid. And luckily we had the chance to stay at their guest-house, because this Kathmandu upper-class district was much more original than Thamel’s “Europe Town”. Continue reading →

A birthday coincidence in Kuala Lumpur

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The day we made it to Kuala Lumpur was a special one – the 18th April, my birthday. Even though the plane was late, our Couchsurfing host Charles was so kind to wait for us and drove us to his flat. We did not tell him about my special day, because that might have seemed a bit demanding. But anyway, Charles made my birthday a great one. In the evening we went out for dinner to a typical Malaysian street food market.

Malaysia is a very multicultural country: about two third of the population are Muslim Malayans, twenty percent are Chinese, a bit less than ten percent are of Indian origin. It is a peculiarity of the country that traditionally the minorities are economically much more powerful than the rest, but over the last decade the Malayans have caught up, mostly due to government initiatives. Nonetheless, the distinct ethnicities have almost always lived together peacefully since the independence from the UK in 1957. We really think that we could still learn from the coexistence of all these different groups, because culture or religion does not prevent them to behave in a respectful and tolerant manner.

In KL, there are even more Chinese and Indians, so the city is in a simple charming way international. When we say international, do not think of westernized, like Shanghai or comparable cities. Internationality does not mean modernity here, the city does not have to prove its multinational character – it is simply rooted in the country’s tradition. English is extremely widespread, not only the educated ones speak it. So even though we were new to the city, we never felt alien or strange, but in a certain way we felt at home from the very first moment. Continue reading →

China at a glance

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We know that we our previews posts on China might have been a bit contradictory, which partly depends on us but mainly on the country. China is a nation full of contradictions. So now we will try to give a more general view and put some structure. First, after refuting so many prejudices about China, it is time to corroborate some of them:

  • Chinese are loud: definitely true, and even worse when on the phone ….
  • Chinese travel in groups: true, but the younger ones start changing that.
  • Chinese follow the rules: true, but in the traffic, there seem to exist some rules we have not figured out yet!
  • Chinese are consumption and status-orientated: true, but it would be an exaggeration to say that advertisement by European companies actively tries to change that. And by the way, this does not prevent Chinese from being curious.
  • Chinese are always gaming: true. Always.
  • Chinese cities are ugly: unfortunately often true, especially the suburbs and the smog. However, some cities have large parks and local neighbourhoods with a nice atmosphere.
  • Chinese officers are terrible: often true, in fact everything in which state is involved seems rather unkind.
  • China is overcrowded: true. For example, if you want to do a day trip to a small town on a weekday, you will travel with two to three thousand other persons in the train.
  • Chinese are organized: true, in good and in bad. Sure there are some exaggerations, especially everything which includes government’s participation becomes cumbersome and people are inflexible. But we have also experienced that often it is necessary, see one point above. For instance, you have to check in at the train station as if it was an airport. At first sight this seems tedious, nonetheless, when seeing the masses, you realize that it is inevitable.

On the other hand, what is definitely wrong is that they always smile. Some do, some do not – just like in Europe. Still, the positive aspects of this country impressed us much more. Whether they smile or not, they are very helpful, at least if they are not working for the government. Even more, when they see we have problems with the language or handling things, they take their time to help us, are really tolerant when we do not behave like expected and are very creative in finding pragmatic or also unconventional solutions. For instance, in a restaurant, if they do not have an English menu, they would take us to the kitchen so we can show them with which ingredients they should cook the meal. In other situations, they phoned a friend who spoke English and many students have a translation app, just in case they lack a word.

Moreover, they were extremely interested and eager to talk with us, no matter whether they could speak English or not. At the beginning, they are often uncertain and shy, which is quite understandable given that after so many years of practising English, this may be one of the first opportunities to talk with a foreigner. Nevertheless, during the conversation, when they see that we appreciate their efforts, they’ll become more confident.
You feel clearly that the nation is open for about 30 years only and that the alien still has a really strong appeal. The country is developing very fast, in some areas they are already competitive or even leading. However, in a certain way it remains surprisingly pristine. You see: China really is contradictory.

Our impression of China also is reflected by the experience of other foreigners living there. Yes, there are many of them who seclude themselves, never learn a word Chinese and are condescending towards the locals. But we have met many other very different people, from the German music professor over the Austrian engineer to the “Wayne Rooney”-like British teacher. They all have in common that despite the disadvantages of the country, they are fond of it and are happy to be there.

To sum it up: although we are not quite sure whether we would like to live in China for several years, we somehow have an idea why so many different persons like it here – it is a pleasure to discover all these many things the country has to offer.