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