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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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. [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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Fuer diejenigen, die das englische Blog vielleicht ignorieren haben: Es enthaelt ein paar neue Informationen und Bilder. Viel Spass. [View Full Entry]

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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 me [View Full Entry]

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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 [View Full Entry]

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