Category Archives: Travel diary

Countryside

by jose

“Left or right?”

I had no memory of that roundabout. The way to the bridge we had taken to cross the Ayeyarwady river was ahead, but I could not recall which direction we had come from. I had been too busy striving to follow the villager — who had showed us the way to Sagaing Hill on his own motorbike — to memorize reference points.

“No idea!” came the reply behind me.

“Whatever. Let’s eat at that restaurant over there,” I suggested while pointing at a building, which was actually no more than a roof above packed tables and low stools set on the bare ground. It was filled with locals. That was a very good sign.

“Yeah, looks amazing”

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The Temples of Angkor, Cambodia

by ladina

Angkor Wat is probably the most famous ancient monument of Southeast Asia and, therefore, was one of the top things on our “to-do-list” for this round-the-world trip. Once arrived in Siem Reap, the modern city standing next to the ruins, I realised that there is much more to see than the famous main temple: the whole area of the historical city (built by the Khmer empire between the 8th and the 13th century AD), with its moats and uncountable temples, is worth several days of intense visiting. While exploring the ruins, I learned a lot about Southeast Asia’s past (a topic never mentioned in our Eurocentric education), as well as Hindu and Buddhist faith and mythology. The first day, we decided to have a look around the minor temples by bicycle.

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Dim sum (點心) and more

by ladina

Jose suggested in an earlier post that he should work on his persuasion skills. I can confirm that he improved, or let’s say that he changed his strategy.

“It’s an egg. Really, it’s just an egg!” he says as I suspiciously eye a black, greasy something in my sticky rice soup (or congee, 粥) that I ordered for breakfast. If he says so… I put the thing in my mouth and chew — and almost instantly want to spit it out again: not only its texture but also its taste is beyond anything I could possibly eat at this time of the day. I force myself to swallow it against my better will, after all I do not want to be impolite and show bad manners in a restaurant.

Jose does not feel bad at all: “If I would have told you that most of the Europeans do not like this egg, you never would have tasted it!” Very nice, thank you… That is really thoughtful. Considerate. I think I could have lived without the experience of tasting century eggs (or preserved duck eggs, 皮蛋).

Hm, yeah. I am not yet convinced by his “progress”.

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In the storm

by jose

I checked the time on my cellphone — I had forgotten to turn it off to save power. 2.52 am. I stayed on my back for a few moments, looking and listening around me. Ladina did not seem to be disturbed by any of it: she was fast asleep — and for the better, since not only had we woken up at 4.30 the previous morning to see the sunrise from the top of a dune, but she also would have to drive for the whole following day. My driving license was still stuck in a cargo plane somewhere between France and Hong Kong.

A gale, more powerful than the others, violently shook the tent. I thought I heard a line ripping outside. I really had to go out.

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Back to the future

by ladina

Being ill whilst traveling is not a nice experience — and yet it is part of the deal, especially when you travel for such a long time and in countries with low hygienic standards. It is not too bad to lie in bed for some days and be reminded of the fact that we live in a fragile body and that health is a mighty bliss. What is a bad thing though, is to stay in bed for more than a week, not being able to eat or walk around and enjoy yourself. Unfortunately, over the last few weeks, I found something that is even worse than being sick myself: to see my love and travel companion in pain, to watch him suffer and not being able to help him. It was a nightmare that lasted many days.

 

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Wildlife watching

by ladina

One of the reasons why we chose to travel in this region of Africa was the animals which we could observe here in their natural habitat. We all know them quite well: the zebras, giraffes, rhinos, antelopes, elephants and, of course, the king of the savanna, the lion. We know them from our zoos in Europe, documentaries on TV or – as stupid as it may sound – from Disney’s “The Lion King.”

However, none of these approaches come close to what you see and feel there, out in the wilderness, where you can admire the animals as free living creatures.

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Taxi

by jose

An old lady, wearing only her bathrobe, came out of her house and started walking through the front garden.

“I came to see who is taking my daughter!”

The occupants of our taxi — not a cab but actually a minibus in South Africa — greeted her, and our driver, Steven, grunted his name.

“Steven.”
“Why are you looking so miserable? Sad to leave PE?”

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Ein Blick zurück

by ladina

Als ich in der Primarschule war, wurde mir erzählt, dass die Lehrerin der Parallelklasse die Schule verliesse, um auf eine Weltreise zu gehen. Es muss das erste Mal gewesen sein, dass ich mit diesem Wort konfrontiert wurde. Als kleines Mädchen konnte ich nicht verstehen, wieso jemand von hier, wo ich mich so wohl und behütet fühlte, weggehen wollte. Zudem wurde mir zum ersten Mal bewusst, wie gross die Welt ist, als ich mir vorstellte, wo diese Lehrerin überall hingehen würde. So verspürte ich das Gefühl der Weite und des Unbekannten in mir, was mich damals sehr beängstigte.

Heute beängstigt es mich immer noch. Aber gleichzeitig löst es in mir auch eine Sehnsucht aus, einen Drang dieser Weite, diesem Unbekannten, dieser Freiheit zu begegnen. Der Ruf der Fremde lässt mich nicht mehr los und obwohl ich mich immer noch wohl fühle in der Schweiz, weiss ich jetzt – gut fünfzehn Jahre später – dass man das Zuhause, die Freunde und die Familie verlassen muss, um andere Gegenden der Welt zu entdecken.

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