ab in die wueste

today finally we found 3 people together, hired a car with driver and decided roughly the places in gobi which we would like to see. we will bring our tents and just travel around like we feel.... yeah...so excited to start tomorrow... :-)

hiking around ulanbaatar

Wow, that hike was a great one yesterday! :-) you can't imagine ... just take a minibus for 45 minutes and walk for another 10 minutes you will be in the middle of nowhere. flower meadows, forest, animals ... aaaand no cars, no sounds of machines and airconditions ... just the nature and you. even i wished to meet somebody but for the next 10 hours i didn't meet a single person. ;-) met some deers though.
unfortunately the pc here doesn't allow me to upload pictures... it will follow later...
uuuhhhh ... it is snowing outside...

mongolia, ulaanbaatar

Yes, I am here. :-)
At the ticket counter in Beijing they told me that the train is nearly full and i could get for that day only a deluxe ticket. Well, otherwise i would need to stay another 3 days in Beijing... so I bought the deluxe. It was nice. There are 2 beds in a cabin. They bring you linen to make it feel clean. It didn't feel dirty before though. I was so excited! Nearly didn't sleep the night before. I think right after we left the railwaystation i was already asleep. the ticket office might have lied to me, because I was alone in my cabin. Many other cabins were empty and also the "hard bed" were not total occupied. But i enjoyed my own room after staying in the dorm for a while now. The trip was nice.
At the boarder in Erlian the customs officer took our passports at about 8:30pm. Then we had to leave the train and we all went to the customs building. This was locked then and we all had to stay in until about 11:30 pm. It had a relatively cheap supermarket there and all of us stocked up on food and water. After we got the passports back I fell immediately to sleep and don't know when we left the station. About half hour later the train arrives the Mongolian boarder Zamyn-Ued. The customs officer woke me up and passports were collected again and the officer had to wake me again. I immediately fell asleep again but then woke up at the early morning. Going through the dessert. I saw my first Mongolian camels outside. Of course many horses, sheeps and not many houses.
Arriving in UB was like arriving in a nice little charming town. Also now after staying here for 2 days I still like it and feel the same. Today i spent most of the day walking around from guesthouse to guesthouse and leaving a note that i look for travelbuddy for independent traveling. Like already in Malaysia also in Mongolia they want to bring you around only in tours. It is possible to come around by public transportation though. However I would like to share with somebody and hope to find a few backpackers who don't want to drive around in jeeps all day long but also experience the nature and local life. If not, i will leave the city after 7 days latest on my own. Meanwhile there are many things to do around UB as well. Today i was in the monastery for example and participated the afternoon ceremony. Quite interesting to see. The monastry itself reminds me very much the old monasteries I have visited in Tibet.
Tomorrow I will go hiking over the mountain next to the city. It will be 7 - 9 hours walk. I met a few people today who did it at least partially and the all say it is so wonderfull and it doesn't feel like it is next to the city. so let's see... :-)

Beijing

now it was the second time that i was visiting beijing and i want to draw a conclusion of my feeling about this huge city.
the guesthouse i stayed is a really nice place and i can only recommend the "sleepy-inn" at the xihai lake. the girls who are running this place are so nice, friendly, helpful, funny, ... find out by yourself! and the little puppy "guoguo" is so cute...
all people i met in beijing were friendly and polite except one single person who thought he could twit a foreigner. but not one who lived for 4 years in china. ;-) ...and he got really pissed about that.
i still don't like all the pics of mr. m. everywhere. how can people adore him so much?
the air is much cleaner than during my last visit. is it because of all the trees, grass and flowers everyhere? did i just not recognise the trees last time because it was winter? ;-) or has this changed with the olympics.
it is a good policy that cars can't go to the city everyday of the week.
where have all the street hawkers gone?
where is the pekingduck?
public transportation is so easy and cheap. why should one take a taxi?
how many flipflop can one run down in just a month in beijing?
strange combination of old fashioned and modern
how often did they xray my small backpack?
the barstreet in zhuhai seems to be more busy :-)
where do they bring all the sofas around the lakes in rainy days?
i love the foreign language bookstores.
where did the horse come from?
what will the dog in the photo wear in winter?

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The olympics...

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back in china and looking back last days in malaysia

Wow, kaum bin ich zurueck in China muss ich feststellen, dass mein blog wohl von der great firewall geblockt wird. Ich kann ihn weder anschauen noch bearbeiten. Aber da stehen wir doch drueber. ;-) Von jetzt an werden die Geschichten per mail gepostet. Es geht auch ueber die Proxydingsbums (was ich hier im Detail natuerlich nicht erwaehnen kann), aber damit kann man keine Bilder laden...

Die Maedels auf dem Foto versuchen sich vor ein paar Regentropfen zu schuetzen. Da fragt man sich natuerlich welchen Sinn das macht, nachdem man einen Tag schnorchelnd im Wasser verbracht hat. Die Gruppe war aus Hong Kong. Ist es reine Gewohnheit? ;-)

Now I am back in good old China and have to find that I can neither view my blog nor can i post any news. It is hidden behind the Great Firewall. But hey, for what did we gain experience on this topic during the last few years? ;-) There is always another way. Now blogs are posted by mail or with the p-server. However, in this way it is difficult to upload pics... let's see how it works.

The girls on the picture try to hide from a few raintrops. What is the sense behind this after spending a day snorkeling at the beach? The group was from Hong Kong ... maybe they are just used to hide from the rain?

I really like the way how the Chinese government is handling the swineflu. Arriving by plane you have to stay on your seat and a team comes in to check everybody's temperature. If all is fine you can leave. (i was lucky and didn't experience what happens if they found somebody with high temperature.) Then you come to the next check: here you have to pass over your passport and the health declaration form. While they check the data and stamp the form the temperature is controlled again. then you proceed to the next stop: Give back your health declaration and pass another temperature control. All in all three times check. It shows that they really try their best to keep the risk of infection low.

 
 

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at the airport in kota kinabalu

Oh how nice it is to have a past traveling for business! Thanks my old collected asiamiles I can now enjoy the free internet at the airport lounge. :-)

The last few days were nothing spectacular. Just a few relaxing days at the beaches around. in the evening enjoy the very local streetfood in the city. there's such a big delicious variety for 1 - 3 RM (which is less than 1 Euro).

There are still two things to mention: :-)
1) From my last few Ringits I bought muself a bar of chocolate. Wow, I am so proud that i didn't eat it at once! :-) But for those who know me can already guess what happened... Of course I was not able to share my room overnight with a bar of chocolate! So finally I finished the whole chocolate last night.
2) I had my first serious challenge during my journey! After ordering the most special and delicous TomYam-noodle soup I faced the problem to eat a soup just with a spoon. Where are the chopsticks??? How can someone eat a soup just with a spoon? The waitress saw my wide opened eyes and after explaining her she brought me at least a fork. :-) Did I stay in China for too long? And why didn't I bring those very nice chopsticks which were special designed for traveling? :-)))

sepilok

Sepilok is the centre where orphan or sick orangutans receive help to grow healthy and then they learn how to live in the jungle on their own. Most of them are able to move back to the jungle later on.
Many people go there to visit their anchestors. That's why the visits to the park are limited now. You can go in just 2 times daily when the orangutans get their food. Sometimes you wonder who is watching whom? The primates the humans or the humans the primates? Sometimes you wonder who is the primate: the one behind or the one in front of the camera...
Anyhow, this project is something nice. Malaysia is really doing something to preserve the wildlife.

Now please guess: where are they from?





That was yesterday. Today morning i waited for the public bus to Sandakan. It was a nice drive with funny conversations. Just after arriving in Sandakan I knew it wasn't the place where i would stay even for a night. So i went to the tourist office just to learn that the only way out are some of those organized tours like jungle tours or rivercruises. Since this are always groups of 30 - 40 people i thought that this is nothing for me. So I left, thought about what to do and decided to go back to Kota Kinabalu. I will treat myself with 3 days of island hopping. It will be my last beaches for a while. After that i will not see the sea for long looooong time...

sabah - malaysia (heute auch in deutsch)

On 6th of May I arrived in Kota Kinabalu (KK). It was not difficult to find guesthouse. Just walk through the city. There are many many many...
Next morning I took a little boat to go to the Island. When you buy the ticket you have to tell them the time when they should pick you up again. All day I enjoyed so much at the little beach. Just reading, sleeping, watching, ... doing basically nothing. :-)
Am 6ten Mai kam ich in Kota Kinabalu an. Ein Hostel war einfach zu finden. Du laeufst einfach durch die Strassen und suxhst Dir eines aus. Es gibt sooo viele. Am naechsten Morgen bin ich mit einem Boot auf ein super-mini Inselchen gefahren. Beim Ticketkauf muss man gleich mit angeben, wann man abends wieder abgeholt werden moechte. Ich hab den ganzen Tag am kleinen feinen Strand genossen. Nur gelesen, geschlafen geschaut, ...eigentlich habe ich den ganzen Tag ncihts gemacht. :-)
Next day i strolled around the city and booked my bed on Mt. Kinabalu. Wow, that was last minute... they are always booked on the hut. If you plan to go there book in advance! Next morning I took a minibus to the park entrance. There i met 5 guys from UK and shared the guide with them.
Am naechsten Morgen habe ich die Stadt und Umgebung zu Fuss erkundet und habe meinen Schlafplatz fuer die Berghuette gebucht. Wie immer bei mir war es mal wieder last minute. DAs sollte man tunlichst vermeiden, denn die Huetten sind immer ausgebucht. Ich hatte Glueck und jemand hatte storniert. Morgens bin ich dann mit Bus zum Parkeingang gefahren. Dort habe ich 5 Jungs von England getn und habe mir de Tourguide mit ihnen geteilt. After filling endless forms and paying all fees we started. It was a great yet stiff hike through marvellous nature with different climate zones.
Nachdem wir endlos Formulare ausgefuellt und alle moeglichen Gebuehren gezahlt hatten gin's endlich auf auf'n Berg. Der Aufstieg war steil aber unglaublich schoen. Er fuehrt durch wunderschoene Natur mit unterschiedlichen Klimazonen. The night we spent on the mountain hut (wll i would not even call it a night) until 2:00 am. We got up and started climbing to the top at 2:30am. Many people with headlight climbing up. After about 2.5 hours I reached the summit at 4092 m. It was a good feeling. But it as a freezing wind. Why did I forget my gloves? From climbithe rocks and with the rope my hands were freezing! I was wearing each single piece of cloth i brought. Even the little towel functioned as a scarf. ;-)Because it was to cold I did not await the sunrise but went down. It was such a relaxed feeling and the sunrise from a few meters down was still fascinating.
Die Nacht haben wir auf der Huette verbracht. Naja, es war nicht wirklich eine Nacht, denn um 2 mussten wir aufstehen. Um 2:30 gin es dann rauf zum Gipfel. Es war eine lange Lichterkette von Stirnlampen, die sich da hinaufgeschlaengelt hat. Nach ungefaehr 2,5 Stunden habe ich den Gipfel mit 4092 m erreicht. GEniales Gefuehl! Allerdings wehte ein eiskalter Wind und ich habe jedes Stueckchen Stoff, das in meinem Rucksack warals dung benutzt. Warum habe ich nur meine Handschuhe vergessen? Vom klettern ueber Fels und mit Seil waren die Haende eiskalt! Selbst das kleine Handtuch musste als Schal herhalten. ES war zuuu kalt um auf den Sonnenaufgang zu warten. Ich bin wieder abgestiegen. Nur ein paar Meter weiter unten war es angenehmer und auch von dort war der Sonnenaufgang faszinierend. So finally we went down the hill to the park entrance at about 1800 m. Today the first steps after getting up were quite hard! I nearly fell into the bed of my room mate. ;-) So today just relaxing... tomorrow drive to Sepilok.
Am Ende sind wir wieder zum Parkeingang auf 1800 m abgestiegen. Heute frueh fielen die ersten Schritte wirklich schwer und ich waere fast in das Bett meines Zimmergenossen gestolpert. ;-) Heute war Entspannen angesagt und morgen geht es weiter nach Sepilog zu den Orang Utans.

Kuala Lumpur

Hallo an Zuhause!
Heute nur ein paar Bildchen...die Story vom Frisoer kommt ein andermal ;-)

Today just a few pics...

Zhuhai Bollerwagentour 2009

It is first day of my holiday and i am happy to spend it with my friends in Zhuhai. Like last year we did a "Bollerwagentour". :-) Like last year it started being a bit messy and like last year it worked out well...