johannes – Backpacking around the World

Projekt Fotobuch Antarktis – Review Saal-Digital Fotobuch

Lange hat es gedauert bis ich mich im Corona bedingten “Sonderurlaub” an ein Projekt gewagt habe dass ich eigentlich schon zwölf Jahre früher in Angriff nehmen wollte. Ein Fotobuch meiner Antarktisreise im Winter 2008. Eine Reise die ein echtes Highlight darstellt unter den zahlreichen Reisen die ich in meinem Leben unternehmen durfte.

Es wäre wohl nicht dazu gekommen, wenn mir nicht auf einer Social Media Plattform ein Beitrag von Saal-Digital aufgefallen wäre. Vor allem die Fotobücher mit Acryl-Cover waren eine große Versuchung.

Mit viel Motivation und dem sehr benutzerfreundlichen Editor von Saal Digital war es innerhalb von wenigen Stunden möglich, meine Lieblingsmotive aus über 2000 Bildern, die ich damals gemacht hatte, auszuwählen und in einen ansprechenden Entwurf für das Fotobuch zu zu verwandeln. Dann hieß es – Bestellung abschicken und darauf zu warten bis das Resultat im Briefkasten landet. An dieser Stelle sei erwähnt dass ich durch einen Gutschein von Saal einen unschlagbaren Preis für das Fotobuch bekommen habe ;-).

Online konnte man sehr gut den Projektstatuts verfolgen und innerhalb weniger Tage erfolgte der Versand und in nur zwei Tagen war das Packet aus Deutschland bei mir eingetroffen.

Die Verarbeitung hat meine Erwartungen wirklich übertroffen, der weiße Ledereinband mit dem Bild hinter Acryl passt natürlich perfekt zur Antarktisreise.

2008 war meine Ausrüstung noch nicht so hochwertig, was sich auch in dem einen oder anderen Bild bemerkbar macht, aber die meisten Aufnahmen kommen wirklich unglaublich gut zur Geltung und das Fotobuch begeistert auch meine Kinder.

Alles in allem muss ich sagen dass ich sehr zufrieden war mit dem Service und wohl auch in Zukunft das eine oder andere Fotobuch bei Saal bestellen werde. Die angebotenen Tools sind sehr einfach zu bedienen, die Abwicklung hat reibungslos funktioniert und das fertige Produkt hat meine Erwartungen bei weitem übertroffen!

Trans Mongolian Express…

29th of August
In the morning we met with Masha, our tourguide who introduced us to Kevin, a local tourguide that took us to the Forbidden City and Tianamen Square. Kevin was very carefully selecting his words when he introduced us to Tianamen square and adviced us to not take pictures of soldiers and not use our cameras if a policemen would “re-educate” someone.But he asured us that that would happen rarley anymore. Tianamen Square is enourmes in sice and used for official ceremonies by he political partie. it is also home of Maos tomb and people que up for up to two hours to see the upper part of his torso. Only two other leaders are preseved and displayed in a similar way, Ho Chi Min in Vietnam and Lenin in Moscow. The forbidden city once was home for the king, this family and many many concubines (one king had up to 3.000 concubines. Most of them would be given as presents to the king by leaders of local tribes etc. The forbidden city has more then 9.000 bedrooms and it sure must have been a logistic nightmare to keep that giant palace afloat. Most of the interior is gone, and was taken to Taiwan, where it is in a Museum, but of course the buildings remaind and are an impressive testemonial to the once great king. The last king actually became a gardener after he was overthrown by the communists. After a nice lunch at a cafe near the palace a small group of us walked back to the hotel, which was a proper hike of about 50 minutes, but Bejing is very easy to navigate as it has a similar layout like most American cities. In the afternoon I went for the pearlmarket and Allen helped me bargain for watch. that I went to the palace of heaven and wonderd around the park for a bit, before heading back to the hotel and joining the group for a acrobatic show and a nice dinner at a local tea house.

30th of August
I had to get up early to see the Great Wall, a good 1,5 hour drive away. The weather was very cloudy, which created a mystical atmosphere, but blue sky would have been just have fine. I and a fewllow group member did a fair walk on the wall and actually managed to visit about 8 watch towers. After our return to Bejing I tried to visit Chairman Maos Mausoleum, but that lazy bastard is lying in this coffing 24/7 and still only works about two hours a day – from 10 am till 12 am and he even gets monday off! Well, since Mao did not want to see me I hoped back on the underground and for two yuan I was on my way to the Olympic Center. Its a vast area and the stadium really is an impressive sight. After that I joined Allan and Michelle for the food market, but after beeing offerd scorpions (alive on a stick alive before beeing deep fried) and snakes and all sorts of insects for dinner we eventuella ended up at a korean restaurant for a decent meal.

31th of August
To catch the Trans Mongolian we had to get up early and meet at the lobby of the hotel. Fortunatley our hotel was located just across the trainstation so we just took our bags and walked over. After sitting around in the waiting hall it was finally time to board the train. The train adventure was about to start. The chinese carriages are basic, but since beds where and even the meals at the restauraned turned out alright – meatballs and vegtables for lunch and chicken for dinner. On the train there is not much to do but talk to fellow travellers, have a few beers or even hand over 45 yuan for some chinese white wine called “the great wall”…

1st of September
We arrived in Ulaan Baator in the early afternoon and where greeted by Julia, our tour leader that would stay with us all the way to St. Petersburg. She gave us a little tour around the city and as we walked down the street I had my first attempt of pickpocketing as someone tried to grab stuff from my backpack while walking. It would later happen again as I walked into the postoffice an got stuck in the revolving door with a young kid, who sneeked into the with me. Unfortunatly for him the door got stuck and I turned around just to see him when he had his hands in my backpack. I gave him an angry look and he disapeard quickly after we finally made it out of the door. At night we met Mosho and Julia again.

2nd of september,
In the morning we visited the Gandan Khiid Monestary, home of a giant Buddha statue (about 26,5 meters high). There are many monks around the compound, praying for what every you pay them for. Religion, especally buddism is on the rise again after it had been oppresed by the Russians for a good portion of the past century. It was a little bit odd seeing a lot of the monks, praying and at the same time checking there phone. I think I even saw one monk, using his brand new Android phone to check facebook. Not the kind of Buddist monk one would expect. Compared to China, Mongolia is well developed in terms of internet access. Lots of places have free Wlan and Facebook and other services are not blocked. After the Monestary we headed for the Winter Palce, which was used by the last King of Mongolia, Jebtzun Damba Hutagt VIII (what a name). The stuffed animals the king collected have seen better times, but in all it was a very interresting place and slightly different to the European castles I’ve been too.
We conclued the guided tour at a monument for the Russian soldiers who fought along the Mongolian Army when Japan tried to invade the country. At night we went to a Monolian BBQ, and visted the sky bar on the 17th floor for a cocktail and watch Asian business men entertain themself with a flock of cute looking girls. The scene could have been right out of a James Bond movie…

3nd of September.
In the morning we headed out of Ulaan Baator and into the Terelj Natinal Park to stay at a Ger Camp. Along the way we stopped a few times to have a look at camels. In 2006 a giant Ghengis Kaahn monument made of stainless steel was constructed to attract tourists. Fortunatley for us, mass tourism has not yet kicked in and there where only a few other busses at the place. But in a few years time this could be a hot spot on the map of many tours, as there are also plans underway to build a ger camp with around 200 tents around the statue among a few other attractions for a so called Ghenigs Kaahn amusement park. In the early afternoon we arrived at the Ger Camp where we had lunch and went for a little horse riding tour to the Turtle Rock. I and two other travellers witnesses the slaughter of a sheep there. The sheep was fighting the guy who was dragging it close to a tent. There, three men put the sheep on its back, and one of them made a cut to the sheeps abdoman and but his hand right into the sheep, most likley reaching for the heart and killing the sheep. The scene was not gruesome the three men then blessed the sheep before it was prepared for dinner. We did not stay for that long and headed back to our camp where we joined our fellow travellers inside one of the tents for a few drinks next to a cosy fire place, as it gets very cold at night. The day finally concluded with me, Allan and Jenna sitting outside our tent and having a cigar while looking at the stars .

4th of september
Before we headed back to town we tried our luck with a mongolian bow and arrow. I spent the rest of the day walking around Ulaan Baatar, sending of some postcards and stocking up on Vodka and food for the trainride to Russia. In the evening we boarded the train to Irkutks. Our group shared the carriage with three other companys, Vodkatrain, Intrepid and Sundowners mostly Australians and Kiwis, but also a few Germans. A few Vodkas with the my fellow “Vodkatrain” companions resulted in an early night and a good sleep.

5th of september,
In the morning we arrived at the border, of Mongolia, where Toiliets are 150 Turiks and nothing muc going on except waiting for the passport to be processed. We had a couple of hours on the russian side as well, which we used to walk around the border town and have a little lunch and stock up on some food. I bought some caviar and bread to celebrate my arrival in Russia and shared it with my fellow travellers the same night. Around 11 the train arrived in Ulaan Ude where most of the passengers got of the train and only our group continued on to Irkutsk. Unfortunatly going around the lake at night also meant that we would not get to see the lake along the tracks.

6th of september
Arrival around 8 am in the morning, short stop at the hotel, bus to Listvayanka and stay at private home with an elderly couple, the landlady prepared a fantastic breakfast with nice pancakes. After that we met at the lake Baikal Museum for a guided tour and finally walked for about 40 minutes to the center of the city where we had a late afternoon lunch at a local market. I even got a taste of hot smoked Omul there, a really tasty fish from the Baikal lake which kinda tastes like salmon.

Around 4:30 we went to local celebrity, Nikolai, who runs a Banja (Russian Sauna) and the B&B Baikal Dream. After three rounds in the sauna, every time beeing wiped with a branch of birch we headed back to our host and got dinner. In the evening we visited the Lake Baikal hotel close to our apartement and had drinks there. September seems to be already off season as we where the only guests at the bar.

Good morning sex and a flight to Bejing via Abu Dhabi

The day started early, as I had to catch a train from Passau to Munich Airport at 7:25 am for my 12:20 flight via Abu Dabi to Bejing. What a loooong day of travelling! After a breakfast and the traditional blessing by my mother, I and my brother drove to Passau in Bavaria. Just as we crossed the border to Bavaria, a cow jumped on another cow and tried to make sweet love to her. Never saw lesbian cows having Good Morning Sex, but it sure put a big grin on my face and made me realize, if this is how the day starts, well, what else lies ahead of me?

Munich is usually a very boring Airport, but after I had checked in my luggage (18 kilograms… holy cow!!!) I headed for the area between Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, and to my surprise there was a surf tournament going on! They had a huge pool and a wave mashine and people where sitting around watching the surfers. I decided to go for a final bavarian breakfast with “weisswuerste, brezen and beer before heading to my gate. The times on the plane went by quickly and since I only had about an hour in Abu Dhabi I was able to continue my journey without much hassle. Upon my arrival in Bejing I was picked up by a driver and taken to a hotel. Unfortunatley not my hotel, so I had to go on the underground and go to the bejing railway station. But even that was no big trouble. After I checked in a I did a little walking around the area and ended up at a nearby Shopping mall. I slept pretty much the rest of the afternoon, until I met my fellow travellers and mosho, our tourguide from bejing to Ulaan Batoor. He is Mongolian and will start studying Economy and Law in Vienna this fall… What a suprise. After the introduction the whole group walked to a chinese restaurant where I had my first taste of “real” chinese food. Various dishes with chicken, shrimp, peanuts, beans and last but not least bejing duck. Not bad at all I have to admit!

Trans Mongolian Adventure 2011

Well, this is the first articel I am going to write about my Trans Mongolian Adventure. The trip  was in the making for several years, I think the first time I seriously considerd doing the trip goes back to 2007, when I was travelling Cuba with my good friend Severin. I never  wanted to do the trip just by myself, but ultimatly that is how it is going to happen. Initally Severin and I had the trip planned for 2009, but we decided to move the trip to 2010, but again the 2010 departure fell through, and that was the moment I decided to do the trip 2011, regardless if someone would join me or not. Having travelled by myself for more then 11 years, it was not too much of a problem anyway.

Four Island Tour

28th of November: 4 Island Tour
Lying on the beach all day long is not my cup of tea so I decided to do some island hoping and opted for a 4 Island tour and do some snorkeling around Hong, Chicken and Bamboo Island. And the 4th island? Sorry; I don’t recall the name of it 😉 ! After my return I hired a longtail boat to Raleigh Beach for sunset, which I have to admit was one of the best sunsets I have seen in Thailand.