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Going to Austria with almost 30 friends,a s we do it now for more then 10 years, is always a very special yearly ocassion. But this year it was even more special for me, because we just returned from Brazil and were away from home and friends for almost a year. Our last night in […]

The infamous carnaval is celebrated in different styles throughout Brasil.  6 particular cities provide prime party opportunities.  We opted out of the raging action of RIO de Janeiro and Salvador and headed north to Olinda.  Why do people celebrate carnaval?  To be BAD..really BAD and pay homage to the king of carvaval–KING MOMO!  Carnaval celebrators […]

Brazil is the last country on our journey through South America and we are very happy, that our first week there was already added to one of our „round the world“ highlights. We started in Sao Paulo, where we stayed with Renata, a friend I have known for more than 10 years. She nicely welcomed […]

Lucky us, we have managed to officially find the most hideously looking dogs on planet EARTH!  For the first time in my life, I wished that I could have and could operate a shotgun…put these things out of their misery!!I love ugly dogs because sometimes they are just so ugly that they are cute…but these peruvian dogs […]

In Chile it was AVACADO heaven, here in the land of ancient treasures, Perus mangos send me on a high!  From street vendors and in supermarkets, they are smiling at me from every angle.  I bought 4 huge, beautiful mangos for 2 soles–a total of approx. 50 cents (euro)~or 1.25 canadian $.  They are perfectly […]

When I asked Whitney a year ago, if she would like to go with me to Rapa Nui, what the Chileans call their Easter Island, she answered that she had heard that is was just an island with a couple of stones lying around. I told her, that this was wrong. I talked so much […]

Merry X Mas – Frohe Weihnachten – Feliz Navidad wuenschen wir Euch allen vom anderen Ende der Welt. Wir sind mit Freunden aus Hamburg in Patagonien und geniessen die Bergwelt. Nach einem riesigen und leckeren Gulasch in Calafate am Heiligabend geht es nun auf eine 3 bis 4-taegige Wanderung in den  Nationalpark Los Glaciares. Mit […]

The drive along the chilean Carretera Austral was high up on our „Places to go“ list, when we started planning this trip 12 months ago. This road starts in Puerto Montt and makes its way south through amazing Fjords along the eastern side of the Andes. After 1200 kms the mostly gravel road reaches the […]

They call their Buenos Aires nicely Baires. And indeed, it is a great city that every guidebook and every traveler talkes about. We planned to stay three days but due to some problems with Whitneys Brazil Visa we needed to stay eight and did not regret a single day. Chilu, an argentinian girl we met […]

In the north of Argentina and close to the border of Bolivia, Salta´s landscape was ideal for a horseriding excursion.  I´ve yet to convince Mr. Becker of trying on the cowboy boots and „cowboyING UP!“ on a black stallion.  As for me, I’ve been „half“ bucked off horses over and over and so I know […]

We crossed the border from Valparaiso (Chile) to Mendoza (Argentina) and some things got even better: The steaks here are just fantastic. (Sorry, amigos in Chile, your steaks are very good as well, but Argentina plays in a different league…). The drive to Mendoza across the Andes is just like being on an organized tour […]

I think my legs deserve a tiny break from flying. Our 14 hour flight from Auckland to Santiago de Chile did my veins in to the point of near explosion. .Varocose veins are always a catastrophic souvenir. Santiago just sounded good to me; this being my 1st touch down on South American soil. We were […]

Thommy and I are blessed with such incredibly loving and supportive family and friends!!! Thanks a million for all your positive encouragement and sweet wishes to Us! The happy gingerbreads are still OVER THE MOON WITH JOY and are in the process of planning a small wedding celebration where the fantastic canadians will finally get […]

„Sweet as, enjoy your trampin´!“ The Kiwis have their own language and it makes travelling here a bit more unique. „Sweet as“ could mean as much as hey, well, cool, great or yes. Or just all of these or nothing. „Tramping“ is Kiwi-speak for hiking, trekking or bushwalking. Sweet as! On our arrival day in […]

Beijing – Shanghai – Xi´an – Beijing. Our „Classical Tour de China“ in 12 days. From the ancient Terracota Warriors to modern ex-pat parties overlooking probably one of the most dynamic cities in the world, we had a great time and a great mixture of sights and fun events. „Thomas?“ we heard somebody calling behind […]

….but caves will neve hurt me ( for the germans; this is what we tell our kids in Canada when they come home crying because they were getting bullied by the cruel kids…the real version goes like this „sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me!“).  So we are 1 […]

After enjoying Java and especially its great volcano Bromo for our Indonesian appetizer, we decided to leave this island right after we had returned from our Bromo hike. All the direct transportation to Bali had left already so we needed to find our own way…that made it a little more adventurous. Changing transportation four times, […]

What a change and what a great start into Malaysia! By Minibus, we went from Thailands Hat Yai early in the morning to Georgetown in Malaysias north western island of Penang. We entered a different world. On our city walk we went through areas thinking that we were in India, then areas where we felt […]

Besides my personal embarassement of sporting an atrocious red and white stripped sun-effected body, there are always monumental moments when travelling.  We have a laugh over something daily, actually so often that we start to live in our own bubble of confused and comical interactions with asian culture and the people.  Daily visits to public […]

How much a beach, sun and christal clear water can change. With the first dip into the ocean we realized, that now a very relaxed part of our trip is starting (-; Kampot, our first stop in cambodias south, is a small fishing village at a river very close to the Gulf of Thailand. Very […]

4 nights in Chiang Mai….4 nights in the same bed. This puts Chiang Mai high up on our list of the places which we have stayed the longest. And that for a good reason. Firstly, we needed to recharge our own batteries after being on the road, secondly Chiang Mai is a great place to […]

Sabaai-dii from Laos! Our decision, to make a short tour through Laos on the way to Thailand was perfect. Unfortunately the trip from Jinghong (China) to Luang Nam Tha (Lao) was not the expected easy direct bus connection, but instead an 11 hour journey with 2 buses, one minibus, one bike taxi, a 10 seater […]

From gorillas, dogs and penquins, they train them all in Hollywood.  I was first impressed with the amazing german shepard in „The Littlest Hobo“, but with the bewildering Mahoot and elephant relationship that we saw in Nepal, the Hollywood MUT came crashing down.  But ladies and gents-a new mind dazzling discovery: CORMORANT FISHING!!  Here in […]

Maybe we haven´t searched high & low, but postcards in Yunnan Province (China) are hard to come by. Sooooo….the alternative is to make one. Here it is….the European version of a Chinese ROBOCOP! All it takes is a new sharp blade with the touch of a creative master (yikes!) (I feared more for Thommy from […]

Attacking tigers, ferocious bambis, biting zebras and blood sucking red ants—We have survived! The jungle safari in Nepal’s Royal Chitwan National Park was on order after our wonderful trek on the Annapurna Circuit. After recovering we made a fast and whimsical decision to join up for a 3 day, 2 night jungle safari. With the […]

2,5 seconds out of the hotel: „Sir, Riksha?“ „No, thanks“. 3 Seconds later „Mister, Taxi? Where are you going, Mister? Cheap!“, „No, thank“, „Where are you going? 100 Rupees, cheap!“,“No, thanks“. Riksha driver: „Riksha, Sir?, „No, thanks“. Next corner, „Sir, Carpet? Silk! Very good price, lucky first customer!“ Smile back, „No thanks“. Boy in front […]

Those have been relaxing days! After the trek we just haven´t done a lot. Three days in Pokhara went by very fast. This little city has an incredible setting. The tourist area (Lakeside) is right at the edge of the Phewa Tal Lake. And right behind the Pokhara hills you are the big white mountains […]

We are….why aren´t they? Just how many HONKS does a HORN have? That´s exactly what we noticed the minute we took our first taxi ride from the airport into Delhi. Is it music to their ears? Its absolutely noise pollution to ours—There´s a definite difference in how ONE uses their HORNS here compared to Canada […]