..since my last birthday, the big 3 (http://www.deltanik.com/index_geb.htm) and -this year's day has been quite different. While I gathered all my good old friends around me last year for several days, my 31st birthday started out as one normal workday on the vinyard. No, that's not true: my campground neighbours and collegues  Maria + Jan sang 'Happy birthday' to me in czech AND in german, at 6:30am...

Even though I felt lonely the eve of my birthday, I was more than surprised what Sarah, Pete, Son, Maria and Jan came up with!!! 

Sarah, my 'vinyard superviser' had made a yummy chocolate cake and brought it out to work...a nice feast for the next few lunch breaks - or "smokos" how they are called in kiwi. In the evening, Pete and Sonia had invited me and my friends for dinner,  the plan was to got to the "winterfest" in town afterwards and see the public fireworks. But we were late and missed them... So Pete spontaneiously decided to dig for his "BIG BOOM BOX" and start a private firework for me...

My first birthday in winter...
Only a few daysbefore, a massive snow front had hit Central Otago which transformed everyting into a fantastic winter fairytale. In saying that...making the trip home from work was rather an adventure than a fairytale - the 45min trip took us 3,5 hours. We could not work for a few days, which -financially seen- was pretty tough, but from the tourist point-of view a great chance to explore the mountains...

the last day...

I quit my short-term schnippeling job to travel the South Island for a couple of weeks with my friend, Katie (on the left). We have done a nice 3day hike and an impressive boat cruise on Milford Sound. After a short stop in this Internet Cafe we are heading to see Franz Josef Glacier and Mt. Cook. I assume that this is enough reason to excuse my lazyness about updating the blog...but I DID upload some new pictures in the last 2 folders of the photoalbum. Sorry...

maybe my next job will be sheering sheep?

love, anika

Ok, here's the game:
Whoever finds out first what is depicted on one of  the following 3 photos will get the first- and nicest- postcards from my trip (from Angkor Temples). The second one gets the second postcard and the third one, the third.....

The order of the pictures is irrelevant for now, so you might want to start with the easiest. And if somebody finds out 2 pictures at a time...well, he just gets 2 postcards!Please use the 'comment' -link for your guesses, so that I can backtrack who was first...and second...and third...

The description of this picture in the album talks about 'gettting the 2nd postcard'. But since I have not yet managed to send one at all, we are still talking about the first... And for this picture, I only accept PRECISE answers... "Some kind of worm" is just not exact enough :-)

pure Laos - that's an easy one.

Number 3... It might help to know that I have reached Bankok again. Try to see this pictures in different ways, different manners, different situtions. Maybe a good beer and some good thai food will help.

Have fun!

Greetings from PHnom PenH!

I have arrived in Cambodia, the country whose history is described in my guidebook as "The good, the bad and the ugly". I must admit, that for none of these parts I had been aware of the intensity - not the Ankor Imperium, nor the Khmer Rouge tortures and genocide of the 70s. From total ignorance (Unkenntnis, nicht Ignoranz in diesem Fall) I plunged into the history of the Cambodian Kingdom today and I am just blown away. But how did I get here, to start with....

back in Laos...   During an amazing 4-day Motorbike trip through the Bolaven Plateau, a 1000m high volcanic and absolutely flat area that rises above mighty Mekong I was finally able to reach those remote Laosian areas that I had seeked during my whole trip. Being released from the dependance on bus routes made me produce a lot of endorphines and the feeling of real freedom. I could call 100m wide waterfalls with refreshing swimming ponds my own. Sadly, there was nobody to take a picture of me swimming...

This feeling  was very quickly gone, when I realized that I jumped on the wrong bus after my last blog entry - when I tried to reach the Cambodian border. I ended up getting stuck on one of 4000 Islands on the Mekong, a very flat area near the border, where the shallow river reaches a width of 14km . I decided to make the last 25km the next day by bus....which did not come....and thus made me finally agree to hire this moto-taxi: 

 I know what you are thinking: "What was she thinking???"

Apart from the fact, that this scooter looks like it could break down anytime by the mere weight of a skinny, short asian guy, riding with my huge & heavy backpack in front and me in the back was quite a challenge for the driver. We both had an acheing back after the 45min ride. I should have become suspicous before jumping on, when he asked for only 3$ in advance. I realized from where he received his extra money when I found myself not being dropped off at the newly opened, official bordercrossing along the main road. Well, I was dropped off at an old landcrossing checkpoint, where it was not possible for me to get a Cambodian Visa. This, and the fact that I could neither get a Laos Visa there, I only noticed after having passed Laos customs....

Communicating with hands and feet while terribly swearing (fluchen) in German at the mafia-like systems of taxi drivers and custom (Zoll) officials working together to rip off (ausnehmen) poor little German Girls being stuck in the jungle....I found out that it was another 22km through the forest to somehow arrive at this official Cambodian Customs Hut. I had no other choice than taking the only TOTALLY OVERPRICED tuk-tuk available (10$ for a ride that should have cost 1$). No doubt,  the driver is a good friend of the scooter driver. It was a heavy up-and-down along a dirt road, and despite holding onto the structure with both hands, I hit my head several times on the roof.

This picture was only possible because the path was relatively calm here... 

See the spare tire?

In the beginning, I was actually a little scared, that the driver and the only other man who was sitting with me on the back of the pick-up-landrover would stop somewhere to rob me. I was prepared for giving them all my mony...and for the case of any worse event, I was holding on tightly to the knife in my pocket. I felt relief when a monk got onto the car a few minutes after we started. This trip was honestly one of the highlights so far. Strangely, we arrived on the main street about 2km south of the Cambodian customs, meaning from the Cambodian side...  

Cambodian Custums seen from the Cambodain side.

Despite other expectations, getting a visa was no problem, it just took 5 minutes. But when they asked me to pay an extra 1$ to stamp the passport, I very selfsecuredly said "NO!" -which surprised me a litte. The fact that they handed it over to me directly without any other discussion surprised me even more. Well, from then on, everything was easy, the Tuk-Tuk tuk (aeh, took) me to the next village from where I could catch the next bus to Kratie, a lovely, sleepy, heavenly village on the Mekong. Now, I let the pictures speak: 

View from my guesthouse balcony, on the central market.

Another sunset on the Mekong with a nice glass of french wine.

Afterwards, I had a glass of beer with some fellow travellers...
which made me feel really sick in the morning.

 View from the balcony in the morning

My stomach did not take the mixture of alcohol too well...especially after not having had a sip (einen Schluck)  for a few days - due to my amobea pills. Accordingly, the bus ride was not the most enjoyable I have had so far, and probably neither for the guy sitting next to me... It took me 3 plastic bags for 6hrs bus ride.

But I was rewarded by fascinating Phnom Penh. Yes, one H after P and one after N. In the afternoon, when I had recovered (erholt), I discovered (entdeckt) one of those supermarkets to pamper (umsorgen) all the foreigners who work for NGO's here. I got myself a nice, NICE (meaning expensive) french cheese. Hmmmm....

happy again

In diesem Sinne, au revoir et
a la prochaine!

Travelling up north to Laos, my private life has been changed to a certain degree. Yes, of course I am still married. But my husband Cris is no longer working in Singapore. Actually he had to cancel our vacation due to (wegen) some severe problems at work back home in Germany. But he will return in just a week from now to continue our travelling... Plus, he is not an IT-nerd (Computer-Fuzzy) anymore. Nonono. I am married to a police officer now. And of course, if anyone asks me espacially at the hostels) I am working for the German Police Force, too. Well, this is probably the best way to prevent anybody to enter my room and grab my backpack.

It took a while, but I am really enjoying making up stories (mir Geschichten ausdenken). And again I have the feeling of 'TRAVELLING EQUALS LEARNING'.

Happy new year (of the pig) to all of you!
Take care,
anika

...and not a tourist.
Yes, I have achieved the major characteristics for being a traveller:
- I bought myself a pair of Tevas (hiking sandals)
- I have a new necklace (Halsband)
- I bought some thai-boatsmen-style pants and a shirt
- I am doing something I have never done before nearly every day
This all makes me feel like I am 22 again. I know, that to some of you, this might not sound as something you would not strive for (anstreben) in first case. But I love it!

take care,
anika

...as I have mentioned before.  Here some impressions:
Cats are incredibly small. Not only skinny, but small. I thought that I had watched a 2 weeks old kitten for a while, until I saw its kitten coming.
Thais love eating all sorts of colourful things. I started trying out whatever crosses my way, but I have to admit, that I had to throw away nearly full cups with -?- twice...

Vehicles here are not only loud and exhaust-intensive, they are beautiful and used for no-matter-what. See this cocktailbar:

His Majority, King Blumenkohl is depicted (abgebildet) everywhere: on traffic islands, in hotels, on skyscrapers, in the bus, next to the train timetable...

I would probably be shot by the Thai CIA if they knew what Blumenkohl means in German.
Everything here is "same same - but different". This is not only a slogan to be found on Tourist T-Shirts, it is the prase I have heard -looking for a room - nearly as often as
HEY YOU, WHERE YOU GO? This really is a heavy test on my nerves. I cannot walk 15 meters without hearing that sentence, mostly from 'teksi'- or tuk tuk-drivers, but also from 'flying vendors' or anybody else. After getting really mad, I chose the 'doing as if I heard nothing'- method, folling by giving answers like 'straight', 'nowhere' or 'insane'...
You better not mess around with Budda. Well, you would not, but just in case, they put up signs for that everywhere... This is the biiiiiig budda I visited today in the famous WAT NU? (german insider) aeh - Wat Poh. Check out the Fotoalbum to see people as a scale to it.

Thais are rude. Nobody ever tell me again that Americans are superficial (oberflaechlich) and Thais are friendly. I DO NOT AGREE. Maybe there are some superficial Americans, and probably there are some friendly Thais, but most of the time not around me. The times when white people were interesting not only for their money are over. They do not even make the effort to hide their frowning face (misbilligender Blick lt. leo) behind their fake smile until one leaves. I guess, mass tourism just spoilt them. This of course is my personnal oppinion and impression, I guess other travellers might see it differently.

After all these impressions I figured, I am ripe to visit a new country. Well, I bought a train ticket to go to Laos tomorrow. And a map. It is called "Laos, Cambodia & Vietnam". So, stay tuned for news. ;-)

Of course, I uploaded new pictures into a second Thailand-folder. Somehow I screwed up again and they are in reverse chronological order. I am sorry. I tried hard.

YEEES, I did find a place to sleep. Not as crappy as in "The Beach" (a movie playing in Th.) and not in Kao San but still not as paradisy as the stays on Tarutao...
Well, I uploaded some pix (pictures) but I will not include all of them into the blog for it will take too long to load. You can check them out in the link "Fotoalbum". Some have comments, but I am a little too lazy - or too curious about Bangkok - to do that for all of them. There are two girls sitting right next to me - watching the latest series of 'sex and the city' on the computer. I can imagine doing something else here now...

BANGKOK IS AMAZING. Or as my guidebook says: Ladies and Gents, fasten your seatbelts!
Well, here I am!

dear friends and family!

First of all, thank you very much for your lively e-mails and Kommentare. I have been in  a very, very remote and secluded (abgelegen, einsam)  area for the last week - which I enjoyed a lot - but there was not even reception for my mobile, not to speak of any internet connection... So I am sorry to only come back to you now, and not be able to answer the mails personnaly, but I hope that I will have the time for that soon.

Secondly, I know that most of my blog's readers are german, but there are still some that do not speak or read german fluently (yet...) so this is why I try to put up this blog in english. I will try to make a point now of translating some words within the text, so that everybody will be able to understand it more easily. Falls trotzdem etwas unklar sein sollte, koennt ihr mir gerne mailen oder kommentieren, ansonsten kann ich die Online-Uebersetzungen von www.leo.org waermstens empfehlen. A propos waermstens...

I have finally arrived in the hot city of Bangkok (yes, Nicole, it is still on the list). I have been sitting in the internet cafe now since 6.30 am (morgens) when my overnight-bus from Krabi arrived. Well, I am sitting here, because some stupid spammer broke my blog and I had to fix it in first place. Then, I sit here because in the groovy area around Kao San Road, all hostels are completely booked out and I hope to find a room as soon as check out time arrives around noon. Well if not... I will just continue my travels.

Short update on the last two weeks:
From Taiping, my last stop in Malaysia (btw -meaning 'by the way' / uebrigens- I really enjoyed my time there. I have not yet had the mid-time frustration or Decke-auf-den-Kopf-fall-Syndrom. It seems like my last entry sounded a little frustrated, but it was just because the McD food was lying heavily in my belly) I slowly made my way to the southernmost island of Thailand's west coast, KOH TARUTAO. It was phantastic. I did not believe that there are places on Thai islands that are not yet packed with tourists. Yes, there are, on Tarutao.

The island is completely covered with thick rainforest, full with all kinds of wildlife. There are some white-sanded-paradise-beaches and some rocky areas. A few very nicely set up bamboo-bungalows and tent hire is the main touristic infrastructure. Guess, what I did.... Well I rented a tent (for 150 baht/day = 3,30 Euro) and made my way across and around the island. I filled up my fuel tank for the camping stove (Benzinkocher), baught some noodles and water and started hiking. Already on my first stop, I found myself all alone with only 3 Thai park rangers. I put up my tent on an elevation, so that I could overlook a very cute little pier.

The decision to go for a walk to spot some wildlife was a good one, seen that i spotted 3 water monitors, a rhinoceros hornbill and some squirrels. It turned out to be a bad one though, when I found a monkey sitting in a tree above my tent, chewing (kauen)  up my noodle packages...

Well, no more food...
So I decided to not go into unknown places any further but to return to the main 'headquarter' beach which already had been very beautiful. It came differently.
3 Canadians arrived, tourists from the 'totally laid back, being pierced and tatooed all over' - kind. I realized that they were the ones responsible for my unrestful sleep of the night before - due to their terrible guitar playing. But still....I somehow made  friends with them. We ended up continuing the hike around the island together. One park ranger, who obviously was surprised to see us wanting to do this endeavour (Unternehmen) joined us and even invited us for food, boat rides, hikes... It was phantastic.
His english was very poor, so we communicated with hands and feet. I ate some weired seefood-things that I never had before, but the best was collecting it by ourselves.

From this great nature-experience, I continued my way to Krabi, where I fell into a acute shock of an overdose of tourists. I left this amazing scenery after only one day to now be standed in Bankok. Chinese new Year is coming up tomorrow and I guess that is the reason why everything is full. I will now start searching for a place to sleep tonight. Included some pictures, there are some more in the album...but there are still more to come!

big hugs from Thailand.

a.

Der Abschieds-Trupp am Frankfurter Flughafen. Die anderen Reisenden waren vielleicht neidisch...

Der erste Eindruck von Singapur bei meiner Ankuft war beeindruckend. Blueten, Kolonial-Haeuserreihen, Hochhaeuser, Moscheen...

der Blick von der Terrasse der Jugendherberge - direkt neben der Moschee

Das Haus auf der linken Seite ist seit 2 Tagen mein Zuhause. Herrlich.

 Singapur hat auch was von Disney-World...

Von hier aus rufe ich meine liebsten an. Manchmal kreuzt eine Kakerlake den Weg

Surprise, surprise. I have not been here for 24 hrs yet but I have already changed my flight.... I considered 2,5 weeks as too short to really enjoy the flair and the variety of south-east-asia, so I will stay here till end of march. I think that buying the 'Lonely Planet - South East Asia on a Shoestring' made me lick some blood... Well, therefor, I will skip Australia to go to NZ first, to not arrive there in deep winter. On my way back towards Germany, I will meet Cris in August in Sydney and the rest is still uncertain...

I have arrived very well after a great hop over here with Kangaroo-Airlines (Qantas): great on board entertainment and the last available window seat. The later allowed me a glimpse on Koh Phi Phi, the paradise island of Thailand that I had planned on visiting in about a week. But now, that I have more time....

The cultural shock was mainly about the extreme, EXTREME, tidyness of Singapore. I feel like doing something illegal all the time... Am I allowed to drink water on the street? Am I allowed to eat chocolate on the Metro? What about a beer in public places? At least, there are signs that tell you not to cross the street without a traffic light. But the intense odours (Gerueche) and the phantastic food make up for that.

I am glad that I escaped the Schneechaos (sudden start of winter) in Germany, I guess I am constructed for the singaporean kind of climate.  It is humid, yes, and it rains from time to time. I'd rather call it outfall of humidity - compared to the rain of Aachen. And it is warm, warm, warm!!!

more later, lah

anika