15 months of travelling are over now. I am sitting in the plane home, trying to look back on all that time. These months have passed so very quickly, I can still not believe a more ‘normal’ life is just around the corner. What is it, I have found on my journey? A lot. Hard to describe what – but I will try.

I have met so many people I would have never got to know otherwise, made many new friends. I think they are the most valuable bit of the journey. I have also learned a new language, Spanish, and thereby found a new facet of my personality which I am very grateful for. I have also had the time to pursue a hobby, photography, semi-seriously, which has left me now with several ten thousand images to go through (ouch!)…. Buenos Aires is a gem I have encountered. I would have never believed a city could so much capture me. But again, this has probably all to do with the people I have met there, be it in the language school or outside – Argentineans and others.

Then, I have seen breath-taking natural beauty in so many places. Among the most impressive are certainly the mountains and glaciers all along the Andes. Surely a literally and figuratively eminent place occupy the glaciated five- and six-thousand-meter summits I have scaled and walked about in Bolivia and Peru. Places of outlandish beauty – when the weather is fine. A fierce and seriously life-threatening environment – when not. I was a lot closer to death by hypothermia than ever before in my life on one of the climbs. And I have witnessed a tragic accident in the distance once, climbing one of the mountains in Peru, which has made me much aware of the fragility and the temporary nature of life.

As for unique landscapes I have seen, Bolivia had certainly the biggest share of all countries I have been to! The Altiplano with its lagunas, salt lakes, geysers, and volcanoes has to be mentioned here. Also the jungle was absolutely amazing, swimming with the pink river dolphins was very special and the abundant wildlife everywhere is truly impressive. And then Lake Titikaka, yet an other unique landscape of stunning beauty!

Argentina – being one of the biggest countries on earth – is incredibly varied, too. From the desert landscapes in the north covered with towering giant cactuses along the rugged Andean peaks, at times in their somewhat more modest but nevertheless special beauty, e.g. near Bariloche, and the vast glaciers farther south, towards the endless Patagonian plains and the heavily weather-beaten landscapes of the southern end in Tierra del Fuego. And then the falls of Iguacu, clearly one of the wonders of the world.

In Chile I have seen a similarly varied natural beauty, as it is covering the same climatic zones as Argentina. Climbing the active volcano Villarica was only one of the special experiences and trekking around the Torres del Paine together with Volker was very memorable, although the weather was mainly rather ‘patagonian’. In the far north, the Atacama desert with its almost surreal desert landscapes was impressive.

Of Ecuador I have only seen the Galapagos Islands. But what I have encountered there in terms of wildlife on the islands and in the sea surrounding them, easily tops all I have ever seen anywhere else! The incredible joy of playing around with flocks of sea-lions while snorkeling is hard to describe. And just the memory of their incredulous looks under water with their big black eyes focused straight into mine, from less than arms length away, still sends shivers along my spine.

The Red Center of Australia with Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) also deserves to be mentioned, it is a very special landscape. In Sydney I have found one more special city – hard to imagine there is any other city in the world with a more beautiful setting and a comparable quality of life. The gorgeous beaches and the immense Harbour Bay in the middle of the city – where else would you find that paired with an almost perfect climate and very open and social people? It was great meeting so many friends there, among them several I had met before in South America. It was a great little break from travelling staying wit my friends there for quite a few weeks.

Finally, during the last weeks travelling through Thailand and Cambodia, I realized I should have really reserved much more time for South-East Asia! There is just so much to see, to learn about, to taste, to understand… I have only had a very quick glimpse of that. Angkor Wat was certainly an overwhelming highlight and I truly wish I had had more time than just three days to explore the incredible temple ruins! I will sure come back on a later trip. And then, life on a white coral beach under the palm trees, the crystal clear sea caressing your toes while sipping a fresh coconut comes very close to paradise. But you already knew that, I guess.

So, am I any wiser after my journey? I do not think so. Any questions of life answered? Surely not. Has it changed my perspective on the world? Yes, to a degree. I am maybe asking similar questions as before, but in a slightly different way, it seems to me. Very hard to explain. So many experiences that have left me impressed, puzzled, wondering…

I feel I have received an enormous gift – the great luxury to take the time to do what I really enjoyed, to explore what I liked to see, to change my plans whenever I wanted, and to encounter what I had never expected or been looking for. This is it, maybe, what made this journey the beautiful treasure I feel I have found. I feel deeply grateful for that.

It was also a very humbling experience to get to know many wonderful people, mainly in South America, to whom such a journey would be economically beyond even their wildest dreams. That made me very aware of the incredibly privileged situation we are in – us in the ‘developed world’ to whom such a journey is certainly affordable. (If you disagree – just skip buying the next car. And there are many long-term travellers out there on even a much lower budget…) The privilege, of course, goes much further than just the economical situation we live in. Nevertheless, among the poorest people I have met on my journey have also been some of the most generous and happiest people I have ever spoken to.

The list of things I feel grateful for would have to be much longer to be complete, but I shall stop here. I have never regretted my decision to take time off for this journey, not even for a single second. This is not to say there were not also moments when I was not so well, tired of it all, lonely, ill or frustrated. Travelling is not holidays – I have written this quite early in my blog. And those of you who have been travelling yourselves will certainly know what I mean by that. But the occasional hard times are more than fair a price to pay, in my opinion.

What is next? I will see. I am certainly looking forward to the future adventures life has to offer! And I do have a motivation to ‘do’ something ‘sensible’ again for a change! I actually miss work. I would have never believed I would ever say that.

Many thanks to everyone who has been part of my journey!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2007 to all of you!

Enough suffering in the heat of Bangkok! So I decided to head up to the 'cool' north... I had booked a 12h 'VIP' bus for the overnight journey. I would be picked up from the hostel, how convenient! This turned out to be true, but slightly different from what I had expected. A little while after the scheduled departure time, a young girl on a vespa turned up and signaled me to hop on with my two backpacks. OK, I thought, whatever, as long as I would not have to spend all of the twelve hours on that vespa.

And off we went through the narrow sois near the hostel (small alleyways packed with all imaginable sorts of food stalls and other shops, not to speak of the crowds). A few surprised foreigners jumped out of our way while we continued to race through the maze of tiny side-streets until we reached a big avenue. There we went straight onto the sidewalk in order to avoid the traffic. More scared and unbelieving foreigners rushing to get out of our way... When we reached the bus, simply parked on one of the two lanes in the middle of the heavy traffic, what had been promised to be a deluxe bus with air-con and all comfort, turned out to rather ramshackle. At least the aircondictioning worked. Smashed windscreens and window had simply been 'fixed' by covering them entirely with adhesive plastic foil etc. Anyway, I have certainly had much worse in Bolivia.

I actually managed to sleep quite well until at about five o'clock in the morning the bus broke down and the drivers woke us up so we could get out and push the bus along the highway. This and several following futile attempts to start the engine again took a little while until we all got onto the bus again. I simply went back to sleep, what else can you do? At about seven two sawngthaew (converted pick-ups with two rows of seats in the back) turned up to transport us the remaining 35 kilometers to Chiang Mai.

Chiang Mai turned out to be really pretty and very pleasant. The climate is just perfect, the early morning welcomed us with temperatures well below 30 degrees, what a relief! I spent that day walking around the old town to see the most important temples. This is a little difficult, since there seem to be temples and shrines at about every second corner - so which is the one you are supposed to see according to the guide book? But they are all very beautiful! The food was a very positive surprise, too. Although dirt cheap (dinner for three with yummy dishes and washed down with several milkshakes: 4€), absolutely delicious. First we thought we had found a particularly good restaurant, but after a while it became clear that all of them were very good! And then the street vendors - even cheaper but not less tasty. I felt truly sad I had not put this place at the end of my little Thailand journey, since it would make for a perfect place to relax and hang out. The only thing that was a little disappointing, a major tourist attraction according to the guidebook, namely the night market - is just that, a tourist attraction. Any imaginable kind of souvenir, tacky stuff to decorate your home, cheap t-shirts, industry-produced 'handicrafts' and so on. I have certainly seen worse, but this marked failed to impress me.

Worth to mention is also the ceremony and the little firework on the 5th, His Majesty The Kings birthday. Very pretty also the long chain of little fire-driven hot-air-balloons in the sky! And the majority of the people dressed in yellow shirts to express their love for the king whose counterfeit looks at you benevolently from every street corner from photographs, huge and tiny. Makeshift shrines for His Majesty The King can be found in every street and every major square has certainly a massive place of devotion set up in a prominent spot.

Darwin is a strange place. I can tell. I have been here for a week. It is fully tropical, it is hot, it is humid. Palm trees and flowers everywhere, mango trees line the streets and parks, flocks of screaming cockatoos, noisy parrots... Nice beaches, but nobody would consider a dip in the crystal clear sea, aggressive salt-water crocodiles and deadly box-jellyfish are far too common. So if you do have to leave the air-conditioned interior of buildings during the day, you try to spend as much time as possible in the pool.

Life starts around sunset. Not only is this the time when the locals leave work, but it is also the moment when the travelling crowd has sufficiently sobered up from last-nights excessive drinking and partying and has digested the 3pm breakfast. Time for a drink. Or two. If you do not move too quickly then the humid 30+ degrees can be almost pleasant (at night, that is, during the day it is alwyas above 35!). The average traveller hereabouts is 19 years old. Only very few above 23, only the exceptional weirdo above 30 (that's me, hence). Priorities in life seem to include not much more than binge-drinking and partying. And everybody is oh-so-poor. That means buying the cheapest possible food from the supermarket in order to save a dollar or two, and then, not much later, to go out and spend insane amounts of money on booze and drugs... A 50$-night out is considered a very cheap one, indeed. Due to the relatively big time-lag between Australia and Europe or America you can often hear a traveller whinging on the phone in the middle of the night "Mum, can you send more money? Everything is soooo expensive hereabouts!"

Darwin is a transient place. I can tell. Most people only spend a night or two in one of the huge hostels on the main strip. Who is here for longer has a reason. A lift to somewhere else that is not going to happen before Tuesday next week, waiting for some days before the tour to Kakadu or Lichfield national park will start, stranded because the passport had expired and the new one has to arrive by mail in everything in between a week and a month, or general lack of organization. What there is to see in Darwin, you have seen pretty quickly - the museum which actually has an excellent exhibition on Aboriginal art, the parliament building (since Darwin is the capital of the Northern Territory), the shopping mall. Not much more to mention. Well, except for the nightlife which is quite tremendous! No surprise with so little to do during the day and the oppressive heat.

Time to leave. Everybody is very glad to leave this little boom-town with so many concrete apartment flats - very recently finished ones and the ones still in construction. And I am leaving, too. Hurray! One last day and shortly after midnight I am off again to Sydney.

One last remark - go and see Brasileirinho. If you enjoyed Buena Vista Social Club you will totally love Brasileirinho (by Mika Kaurismaeki)! Saw it last night in the open-air deckchair cinema with a thin-slice moon and fruit-bats overhead. Fantastic! I must go back to South America... The film is about choro, a traditional Brazilian form of music, sometimes dubbed Brazilian Jazz. Besides the music which is fabulous, the photography is just wonderful. I can only say it again - go and see it!

When I got out of the plane last Saturday it was like a hair-dryer constantly blowing into my face... Day temperatures between 33 and 39 degrees, at night maybe just below 30. Every hostel has a pool and you do need it. It is the only place to hang out during the day.

Alice itself is a rather spread-out and boring outback town, practically deserted during most of the day when the heat is just too much. And it is supposedly much worse during summer when temperatures regularly hover above 40 degrees. I am very grateful I do not have to endure that! It is usually a dry heat though, makes it much more bearable. Wet cloths on a cloths line dry in about 45 minutes... The only real nuisance, though, are the ubiquitous flies.

I had decided to ignore my aversion of guided tours and go on a three-day camping trip to see Uluru and the other things around here in the outback. And I was very glad I did so! I really enjoyed myself. Our guide, Chris, turned out to be a real aussie bloke who told us first thing that we had to live up to his reputation to always have the noisiest, smelliest, dirtiest and most obnoxious groups. In order to make sure we would not underestimate the amount of beer we would need during the three days, he gave us a little example of aussie maths on the windscreen (which he never wiped after this and other drawing exercises), see here. So according to his experience on average everyone of us would consume 31 beers (he actually reckoned 61, since we did have a few German and Irish people on the bus)... And he was not too far off, since the beers did go down very well with the heat.

Chris was actually not just very good at beer-maths, but as it turned out soon also very knowledgeable about everything regarding the land, flora, fauna and Aboriginal culture. No question he did not answer without a wealth of information and personal stories. Besides that, he is also just a terrific personality. I am very glad I got to meet him through this trip. But this actually holds also for the rest of the group (the "family"), which was a funny mix of people between 19 and sixty-something. We got along very well and camping out in swags (the aussie equivalent of a bivy-bag, made of heavy cotton and with a comfy mattress) under the stars and sitting around the camp fire together late at night was truly great. Thanks to everyone for making this trip such a pleasure!

On the first day we visited Kings Canyon, an impressive gorge cut into the reddish rocks with some beautiful pockets of vegetation. We came into our camp after dark. Next day we drove on and enjoyed an impressive walk through Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) in the morning, a visit to the cultural center and some walking near Uluru (Ayers Rock). I decided to climb the thing, as the decision is left to every individual - despite some of the indigenous people prefer you not to climb the rock, it is not completely out of bounds as several other areas where you simply are not allowed to go at all. And I am very glad I did go up. The views were truly amazing. The climb used to be an important step for the male initiation process. Boys around the age of 12 were lead up the rock. And I believe being able to see the whole landscape around in a birds-eye view must have been totally exhilarating to these people who knew all the features of the landscape below so well through their nomadic way of living.

After that we had to rush off to the sunset spot where already hundreds of tourists were occupying every possible centimeter to take the obvious picture... But the view still was impressive. Camping again, very early start next morning at 4.45 am to be up for the sunrise. Quite beautiful. More walking at the base of the rock and then an other long day driving back to Alice through the desert. Arrival at about 5 pm.

If all goes well, I will be heading up north to Darwin in the next days. I got a lift with a French guy wit a camper-van. More soon.

After a pleasant winter in Buenos Aires (six weeks ago) and a nice summer in Berlin (until last week) I now enjoy what is technically late winter in Sydney. When I arrived last Thursday the weather here was actually exactly as good as during the last days in Berlin (20 degrees and sunny), a very smooth transition hence. But I can assure you, it has even improved in the few days I've had here so far! I even have enjoyed almost half an hour bouncing around in the waves today. Not too bad.

I am very lucky I can stay with Katharina and Justin on their spare couch in their fabulous apartment very close to the center! Not only did Kat fetch me from the airport, but they also gave me innumerable tips about what to do and where to go in Sydney. On Friday I went along the east coast from famous Bondi Beach down to Cogee Beach, where Justins work-group was having a barbecue. I had a look at the university labs at UNSW (University of New South-Wales) and felt quite reminded of my time in academia...

During the weekend I went wandering through the city and saw a very nice Giacometti exhibition in the National Gallery. I spent a few hours reading a book in the beautiful Botanical Garden only disturbed by the incredibly loud squeaking and screaming of rainbow lorikeets and cockatoos flying around everywhere (the latter are just unbelievably noisy!).

Today I went together with Anna (who I had met in Argentina a long time ago) first to Palm Beach, the northernmost of the Sydney Beaches, and then from Dee Why Beach back to Manly. The numerous northern beaches of Sydney are just all gorgeous! Then we had a few drinks at Manly Wharf and some jummy Thai food. On the way back on the ferry I got the whole treat of the harbour at night... Yet an other perfect day!

Get some more visual impressions here and here.

Nine hours to kill in Brunei airport - and that after a longish journey already; a train ride from Berlin to Frankfurt, a flight Frankfurt - Bangkok, a flight Bangkok - Brunei. I am rather done now. And of course, right now there is an announcement, the flight to Sydney is delayed by a further 45 minutes.

My time in Berlin went by very quickly, but I did notice a few idiosyncrasies which were not that clear to me before:
- very few people on the streets
- you always get very much personal space (almost too much, I feel now)
- it's a very green city
- there is very little traffic, even during rush-hour (compared to really big cities)
- very effective and clean public transport (and buses incline to let you step in and out more conveniently!)
- the soccer world cup apparently has changed a lot - there is much less unfriendliness (people now use the words "please" and "thank you" all the time!)

I was truly surprised on the train from Berlin to Frankfurt (spotlessly clean, carpet on the floor; a few minutes delayed as due to a technical issue the travelling speed had to be reduced to a mere 200 km/h instead of the usual 250 km/h) when overheard a discussion between two ladies on the fact that one insisted on having the empty seat next to her stay empty because she "needed" the space. In the end the offended woman got up to look for a an other two seats somewhere else... Weird world where empty seats next to you are considered a necessity.

My flights so far with Royal Brunei was quite interesting, too. An obviously through-and-through islamic airline. The stewardesses wear a veil decoratively draped around their head and shoulders but leaving the face visible. Before the take-off they always play an official prayer / blessing in Arab beginning with a triple "Allah uh akbar". I have never flown before with a direct blessing of Alah and hence felt very safe. Then, the flight information system continuously displays besides the usual stuff (altitude, distance to destination, outside temperature etc.) the current distance to Mekka and the actual direction relative to the airplane. In case you need to say your prayers and bow into the proper direction... The service and food, by the way, are really quite good (no alcohol, though - Brunei as a country is entirely "dry"). A little disturbing, though, the ubiquitous reminder that any sort of drug crime is simply punished by death in Brunei. But I certainly did not consider any offence here!