Traveling is awesome because people are awesome!

After traveling through so many different countries and cultures I am safe home again! :-) It would have been easy to continue this trip for longer, but I think it was a perfect timeframe for travelling as it would become daily routine otherwise and you would start to forget all the great moments from your previous destinations. And I guess I should keep some destinations for future vacations ;-)
Backpacking is an adventure by itself and I am glad for all the wonderful experiences and moments I was allowed to have and the awesome people I got to meet! It is impossible to share that online, but let me try to sum it up with a few more pictures below. For many people traveling is a synonym for freedom and I had to think about Janis Joplin many times along the road singing:

"Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose."

A simple phrase but kind of true for travelers. At the beginning of my trip I was always worried about forgetting something on the train or getting robbed. Although there is not much one can lose anyhow on such a journey with only one backpack. But after a while this little fear was completely gone. I realized that there are no tangible assets one cannot substitute somehow. Double-checking my passport, wallet and cell phone - lets go! Certainly, I traveled through countries where theft is usually not a big problem and I have not had any valuable belongings with me - this would be stupid anyway. But the absence of this fear makes life just so much more easier and gives you the real feeling of freedom - and changes life forever I guess. The trust into your fellow travelers, fellow citizens or local people is a gift many travelers will unfortunately never learn and I am afraid those will therefore never find the real freedom and happiness of traveling. Unfortunately this situations may changes again once you settled down somewhere again, but lucky will be those who can maintain this lifestyle wherever they are...
When I am reading my own blog posts after a while I somehow feel like it was not exciting at all... But don´t worry, it sure was! I somehow just don´t want to be too overwhelmingly writing about one place but giving an objective view when visiting so many countries in a row. Every single place on my journey was amazing and I am more than thankful for every single moment I had and every person I met! So, enjoy watching my pictures and I am looking forward to hear and see you all soon!

Yours, Clemens

So where are all those strange places he has been to...?

And another point of view onto my train journey from Europe to Asia - as far as you can follow the route at least.

First stop out of Austria: Warsaw, Poland where politicians celebrate their national holiday at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

2nd stop on a wonderful spring day in the wonderful city of Kiev, Ukraine with one of many wonderful basilicas in the background.

Can you read it? ;-)

"Transsiberia" -  And a glass of hot tea which is inseparable with this cosy place for me.  

Less cosy but way more astonishing - Lake Baikal and its famous Shaman Rock.

Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner in Mongolia. Doesn´t matter, it was mostly something with Yak - milk, meat, bread or yogurt... ;-)

A Buddhist temple in central Mongolia and one of the most colorful religious sites I have ever seen. The place where I am standing, below this kind of umbrella, is actually the holiest place inside the temple and reserved for the Buddha (statue) itself ;-)

Coming to the wild part now - horseback riding through the wonderful Mongolian countryside with two great fellow travelers...

...for several miles to a distant nomadic Ger and playing with their hundreds of baby animals... :-)

Yes, I felt in love with Mongolia :-)

...although this one kicked me off once ;-) But where else do you get heavy rain in a sand dessert while Camel riding?

Two Gers of a nomadic family where we stayed overnight and its beautiful "neighborhood".

Beijing at last - the Olympic bird nest stadium.

We were lucky here and got one of the best sunset of the year as some rain cleared up the foggy sky a bit in the late afternoon.

I love Chinese food :-)

Some crispy scorpions on the stick. A living one on my chest. ;-)

You know you are in Vietnam when you are in the middle of this traffic chaos!! Check my short video here if you want to get the full dose: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lszcuo0uW5Y  

Although I prefer this more quiet place here.

Yes, the hike up on top of the island was worth it ;-)

Good Morning Vietnam. - Sunrise from our boat in Ha Long Bay.

The Ha Long Bay in the jungle - or call it Phong Nha Ke Bang Nationalpark with it`s amazing cave systems which are still mostly unexplored and (thought to be) the biggest in the world. Check my previous post for more pix of this amazing UNESCO world heritage site.

Local women in the ancient city of Hoi An. 

Some action in the highlands of Da Lat.

The Angkor Wat temple complex. - Check out more about this place which is called one of the seven wonders of the world in my previous post.

Getting lost in Bangkok and discovering the best places and food of the city by chance.

Ao Ton Sai, Thailand - yes this comes close to Paradise. And is for sure a climber´s paradise! 

The landscape near Krabi and Phuket in Thailand is quite similar to the one in Ha Long Bay- optically and geologically - only a bit less spectacular but the sea / its water is much better because cleaner and clearer.

Sunset on a lonely beach near Krabi with a seafood BBQ and a night cave snorkeling tour to watch the phosphoric plankton glowing in the dark.

Enjoying the last days of my journey while being excited and looking forward to a new chapter in life.

Discovering the great city of Singapore with my friend Tom, a local expat..

...and watching the firework beneath us from top of the "Marina Bay Sands Hotel" - the "Surfboard-building" behind us in the picture above. It was the last of six rehearsals before their final show at the National holiday including a concert, street shows and a military parade. They were seriously practicing this event every Sunday for the last six weeks, what tells a lot about the Singaporean people and their high ambition! 

Yes, they really have these laws in Kuala Lumpur as seen here in the public metro...

...but yet a lovely city with really friendly residents! The Petronas towers are the highest twin tours of the world as you may know! The highest floor is up on 360m, but makes the view over KL less impressive as the twin towers themselves are missing then ;-)

We got an amazing sunset in a great bar opposite of the towers to celebrate my last evening in Southeast Asia. I took a flight later this evening to Istanbul...

...where I crossed the Bosphorus from Asia back to Europe :-)

There ain´t no better place for this return after entering Asia a couple of weeks earlier and several mile further north in the Urals.

This is more unique and special as it may looks like. Me drinking coffee happens usually only every five years. But after drinking tea with milk and salt in Mongolia I decided to try the famous Turkish coffee as well ;-)

What a perfect view over Istanbul and the Bosphorus from the European side while walking through this beautiful ancient city :-) Now imagine it is the last day of Ramadan and the Muezzins starting to pray all around you! That´s the vibrant Arab life :-)

Back at the Danube and Budapest really makes me feel like I am almost home!

St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest - A good place to thank the lord for watching on me.

It´s not too bad being home again :-)
Yeah, my backpack and me really built up an intimate relation after sticking together so closely for so many miles ;-)

Thanks again to everybody who made this trip so great and all my Couchsurfing hosts and friends in all the different countries who really made this journey extraordinary and so much different to what one would get anywhere else. You are always welcome at my place wherever I will be living and working in the future!
Take care and all the best,
Clemens

Southeast Asia

Hello my friends!

And sorry for having been so lazy the last weeks. I just tried to make the most out of my journey and not wasting any time in the internet - which was quite limited actually anyway.

However, here I am with some pix and thoughts about my Southeast-Asia adventure. After finishing the first part of my adventurous trip in Beijing I flew down to Vietnam via Hong Kong. And even though I have only been at the airport in Hong Kong I was already able to see and feel the difference to Beijing/China. Vietnam was again completely different and the hot and humid night of Hanoi was, together with my local friend Hoang, welcoming me to a very new world.

Although it was rainy season it never hit me hard. One - more less regular - hour of pouring rain in the late afternoon was more than appreciated anyway and only at the caves of Phong Nha-Ke Bang we got hit a bit harder by the tail of a typhoon. I feel like I better show some pictures now as they can tell more than 1000 words but... give me a second…

My 2^nd main part in southeast Asia was Thailand, which I discovered together with Patrick, an old friend from back home, for three weeks. A completely different way of traveling. First because I was not by myself anymore and second because Thailand is kind of a strange country for traveling I feel. Everybody speaks English but it was impossible to get beyond the “touristic borders” and seeing the “real life” there, which was always the aim of my travels. Thailand is a country where people would sell their soul if somebody would pay for it (sorry my friend Alfredo for stealing this phrase from your song ;-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RoEHG0Hk2Y)! Well, one cannot sell its soul, so they sell everything else they can: themselves, their wives, sisters and daughters. Only for some luxury articles and not like in Cambodia where it might be still a matter of hunger and poverty. And that makes it a perfect place for pseudo-rich (western) tourists who are willing to purchase it all! For an hour, for a day, for several weeks… Well this pretty much describes my first and also last awkward impressions about Thailand and its touristic places as it is hard to avoid them. And a thousand embarrassing drinking tourists from England, Australia and the US, etc. are not making it any better. Thank God they have one of the most gorgeous beaches I have ever seen and if you pay a good amount of money for, you can even expect some friendly and helpful locals. Sorry for being so harsh with this country, but I have just seen so many other great places why I have probably other expectations, relations and comparisons for a fair rating. Nevertheless – it was worth visiting and as always I found some exceptions and great people - locals and fellow travelers!

Welcome-dinner at the home of my friend's family in Hanoi. Giving me a first introduction to Vietnames food - and it is delicous!

Second introduction to Vietnam's lifestyle - its insane traffic and transportation. An organized chaos.

My friend Hoang giving me a ride through Hanoi's rush hour to the Bus station.

Ha Long Bay in northern Vietnam. It literally means "descending dragon". 

One of many UNESCO world heritage sites I've visited. And in reality it is even more beautiful than it looks here!

A first highlight in Vietnam - with many more to follow!

Seeking shelter at a local family's place in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National park as our bus got stuck along the dirt road and heavy rain isn´t stopping.
 

To reach the entrance of the cave we had to walk the last miles through dense jungle and several rivers. Great fun and a real adventure with a multicultural team!

One adventure follows the next - we finally reached the cave and deserved some food while enjoying a stunning view out onto the jungle on the one side and another breathtaking view into the pitch black darkness of  the silent cave on the other side. 

Due to the heavy rain outside, the river inside the cave was too strong and dangerous, so we could not walk as far as we actually wanted to do - to a nice lake in the cave. 

You would miss this entrance even though you are standing 50m in front of it. I have never been to a jungle as dense as this one and a good guide is simply your life insurance out here.
 

Heading on to another cave and back home after a long but unforgettable day!

 The Paradise cave above was just discovered in 2005 and is open to the public no longer than 2011. It is right next to the world's biggest cave in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National park. We did a 7km hike into this wonderful untouched world and leaving the touristic crowds behind us. I could post a thousand more breathtaking pictures of this amazing and marvelous place...

I feel like this is the land of the underground ;-) - amazing caves and (war) tunnel systems from the north to the south. They even expect another cave which should be even bigger than the current one close to the border of Laos - only they have not found its entrance yet. 

From a natural marvel to a cultural marvel - the emperor city of Hue and its citadel. 

And its marvelous food! ;-) having curry chicken together with some Couchsurfers at a friends place.

And it's typical street food - hell, I tried a lot of weird stuff ;-) 

Hoi An and a speechless sunset.
 

Some action in the highlands of Da Lat - canyoning, abseiling etc...

And getting a heavy flush in its beautiful but strong waterfalls.

My last National park in Vietnam - Cat Tien - which I explored by bike and foot. And got lost - without a guide this time - but after a detour with some more places I was originally not planning to visit I finally found my target place:

The crocodile lake. Where a seldom species of crocodiles are supposed to live. I just could not see any - nor Tigers, Elephants or Rhinoceros.

But monkeys, geckos, snakes, cockroaches and especially Mosquitos where watching my sleep in this lovely cottage build up by WWF. I was the only guest here due to wet season- my luck but a completely unnecessary fear of tourists.
 

Back to civilization at a Couchsurfers place in Saigon / Ho-Chi-Minh City.

And visiting it's war tunnel systems. 

Kind of small down here up to 12m below the surface and also quite humid but allegedly they are already enlarged in size for tourists. A must-see for every visitor is also the war museum in HCMC. Cruel and authentic. But it was the first time in my life in this museum that I felt like I can understand what solders and war veterans were going through... Not only in the American-Vietnamese war.

A boats tour in the Mekong Delta

If one picture can describe a country, this might be the one for Vietnam. A paradise for somebody like me who loves fresh and tropical fruits!

A floating market on the Mekong delta. Life takes place on the river here.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

One of the Seven Wonders of the World - of course depending on what list you are looking at. But yeah, this place is impressive! 

An incredible amount of stones in the middle of the jungle. It's hard to compare this temple complex and largest religious monument in the world with anything, but the fact that Angkor Wat had more than a million inhabitants at a time when London just had 50.000 was quite stunning.

And the jungle is taking over again, while many temples are still waiting to be uncovered and excavated.

The insanity of Bangkok - @Khaosan road.

And it's cultural part. The Grand Palace...

...with some really attractive architectural buildings.

Heading south for the real thing in Thailand - its beaches and diving in Koh Tao :-)

Charging batteries on an amazingly beautiful and yet quiet beach in Koh Phangan for the Full moon party in the evening ;-)

Ao Ton Sai - an astonishing beach where I have not much to comment...

And a 30min walk + some climbing away I found this wonderful lagoon to swim in. Surrounded by 100m high cliffs in the jungle.

Everybody gets what he deserves... Right!? ;-)

Koh Phi Phi - our last Island before heading on to Phuket where our ways separated again.

As I headed on south for some surfing in Singapore ;-)

Well, at the end I really got my feet onto the surfboard properly for an amazing view over the Singaporean skyline and watching a firework rehearsal (for their National Holiday a few days after) from above. 

A great place and evening to finish my Asia-journey in Kuala Lumpur. What a sunset! :-)

Good Bye Asia. It was a pleasure. See you soon!

A map of the places I traveled to in southeast Asia for those who are interested...