Gillie
Gila Schmidt Joined: June 1st 2008
Logged in: February 20th 2011
Logged in: February 20th 2011
Statt uns die Welt vorzustellen, wie sie sein könnte, sehen wir sie wie sie ist.
Samuel Johnson (1696 - 1772)
oder noch einfacher mit Wilhelm Busch:
Darum, Mensch, sei zeitig weise! Höchste Zeit ist´s: Reise, reise!
Travel Blog Posts
Old Woman Praying at Pemyangtse Monastery, Sikkim
Now, finally, the last (?) instalment of my travel accounts “One Year Off“. Of course, it’s not the end of the year yet - I have just a little more than two months before I need to go back to work - and I’ll be going on another short trip at the end of this week - but that’s only within Europe, the Pyrenees to be exact, and that doesn’t really seem to count. Why did it take me so long to write this blog entry? I haven’t really got a clue (and I have already been back here in Germany six whole weeks) but one aspect of it is that I am not sure what to write. An incredible number of diverse experiences seem to have overwhelmed my brain so that everything is a big ... read more
Thank you, guys!
Who is this Teddy Afro and what does he have to do with me, you may very well ask. Well, he plays reggae and I love reggae, he is an Ethiopian musician (and some kind of hero in his country - check the Net if you are interested) and I was in Ethiopia and got to know his music, AND: I went to a disco in Awasa with “the boys” (thank you for taking me!) where they had live music and also played some songs of Teddy Afro and it was packed and hot and fun and everyone danced and shouted the lyrics and smiled at me (the only white person in the room!) and women hugged me and said “welcome”, and I just danced and danced and danced … Henok, Dani, Malarku and Masvin, ... read more
What's going on down there?
Okay, here comes part 2 of my travels in Ethiopia. I'll just let the photos speak for themselves. For places check the map in the last entry.... read more
Bete Gyorgis
Of course, Timkat is not in February but January. But I was there and it was incredible!!! What a colourful, joyous, loud (!), exciting celebration! And that was just the beginning. Four weeks did I spend in that most amazing country. Condense that into a single blog entry? No way. So bear with me. Here comes part one. I arrived in Addis Ababa early on January 17th so tired after a rather sleepless night on the plane that a first tour of the city didn't leave much of an impression besides it being huge and noisy. Although, even if a bit bleary-eyed, I did acknowledge "Lucy", who can be found in the National Museum. She is a 3.5 million year-old female hominid who was discovered in the western desert in 1974 and for more than twenty ... read more
Visting friends next door
The saying goes "The Vietnamese plant the rice, The Cambodians watch the rice grow, and the Lao listen to the rice growing". That would mean that life in Camboadia and Laos is slower - which it is - and quieter, which it is not. People talk, music is played and roosters crow just as loudly as in Vietnam. And all that as early as 5.30 in the morning. Add to that - even earlier - the wake-up call from the nearby Wat (= monastery) - a clanging-banging of some kind of drumgong - and you don't want to live ... I mean, you might as well get up. As there is much to see and do it's not a bad idea anyway. I loved Siem Reap. Not only because of the fascinating heaps of stone mentioned ... read more
Angkor Wat, finally
How fast things change, how soon you forget. No, not forget, but new impressions tend to overlap with old ones. I have now arrived in Cambodia. Fortunately not via Bangkok like my friend Hartmut who was a day late as he got stranded in Thailand. He quickly gave up on planes and made his way to Siem Reap over land. So, after spending three and a half weeks in the company of my sister I was on my own again, if only temporarily. I am not a scaredy cat, but if it's night, your hotel transfer is nowhere to be seen once you have left immigration, and the taxi driver takes you to an area which isn't only just bumpy lanes but also pitch dark .... A good night's rest and an explorative walk early the ... read more
Crossing the bridge - Which bridge?
This is for you, Julie. (Well, that's not quite true, of course, but anyway.) It's a rough translation of the last blog. I did the German version first as I am now travelling with my sister and as it so happens we do tend to speak German with each other. I won't write a lot as our days are full and we normally just fall into bed at a rather early hour. I do manage to write my journal, well, most days I do, but I didn't really have the energy to do a blog. But today, I mean, yesterday, the reason being that it is raining again, and raining hard. Hoi An has been spared the taifun (as in tropical storm - I have no idea how to spell the word) but the rain has ... read more
Fuer diejenigen, die das englische Blog vielleicht ignorieren haben: Es enthaelt ein paar neue Informationen und Bilder. Viel Spass.... read more
Stromversorgung in Hanoi
So, diesmal haben die Deutschsprachigen unter euch den Vortritt. (The Germans will be favored in this blog. But I'll try and do a translation soon.) Das liegt aber auch daran, dass ich jetzt mit meiner Schwester unterwegs bin und damit die Umgangssprache nicht mehr Englisch ist. Viel wirds heute nicht geben, denn die Tage sind vollgefuellt mit Erlebnissen und das ist auch anstrengend, nur halt eine positive Anstrengung. Abends fallen wir immer todmuede ins Bett, da bleibt gerade noch Zeit ein paar Notizen ins Reisetagebuch zu schreiben, aber die Energie fuer einen Blogeintrag ist nicht mehr da. Aber heute. Das liegt auch daran, dass es mal wieder in Stroemen regnet. Der Taifun ist zwar an uns vorueber gegangen, aber die Auswirkungen spuert man hier in Hoi An doch. Also das erste Unterkapitel koennte heute vielleicht heissen: ... read more
Es regnet, in Stroemen, unaufhoerlich, und wenn du denkst, jetzt geht's aber nicht mehr schlimmer, legt der Regen noch mal einen Zahn zu. Das beruehmte Wasserpuppentheater von Hanoi? Hier, direkt auf der Strasse - und ich spiele mit. Also Hosen hochkrempeln, Plastikschuhe an, mein 5 Euro-Plastik-Regencape uebergestuelpt, und los. Meine Fuesse sehen jetzt schon so aus, als ob ich 4 Stunden in der Badewanne gesessen haette. Dies waren meine ersten Notizen an meinem ersten Morgen in Vietnam. Aber nun von Anfang an. Immer noch sehr traurig ueber den ploetzlichen Tod eines sehr lieben Kollegen (ich denke an dich, Ruediger), kam ich am spaeten Abend von Halloween in Hanoi an. Halloween, wie passend. Es regnete heftig und hatte es wohl schon seit einigen Tagen getan. In dem Hotel, in dem ich eigentlich unterkommen sollte, wurde renoviert, die ... read more
Where I am now 
Where I am going next 
Where I've been 
