Laos & Cambodia - prepare yourself for a long journey!

LAOS
Where can we start? Laos is amazing, sad, shocking and peaceful. It`s a rollercoaster of good and sad but it`s probably the best or most interesting country we have seen.
We arrived after crossing the border from Thailand to Laos in Chiang Kong/Houei Xai, which was fairly easy after a bit of ride. We decided to take a public bus (backpackers always try it the local way...) and after 6 hours and a bumpy ride we arrived at the border. Seemed like in the middle of nowhere but in the end the crossing and visa on arrival was very easy. We needed to cross the border by boat which was quite amazing, as you can literally see both countries. We arrived in Houei Xai and were already greeted by a tour guide who recommended a guesthouse (most probably his mum`s!) and organised the boat ticket to go to Luang Prabang.

So we stayed one night in this little village in Laos and had a nice dinner at the Mekong River at the Riverside Restaurant. Food was great and the beer too! Laos Beer is almost as good as Bavarian beer so I felt like home (almost!). The next day we got picked up by a tuk tuk together with a few other foreigners and loaded with pillows (as we were told the boat has the most uncomfortable wooden seats!) and sandwiches. After a short introduction and advice from our driver ("don`t let anybody carry your bags as they just take them and run away" etc - we felt very safe!) we went on the boat and luckily got VIP seats (well, basically old bus seats that were used for the boat but practically much better than the wooden benches). The journey itself (day 1: 7 hours) was actually not too bad and the view / landscape was absolutely stunning. Let alone the feeling of sitting in a slow boat, cruising along the Mekong River was not too bad!

A few drunken Englishmen with a bottle of whiskey, but apart from this, not too many embarrassing moments (as in: I am embarrassed to be European!) and we arrived and stopped in a small village called Pak Beng, all is made of hostels, guesthouses, restaurants and anybody who has been living in this village owns a shop, hotel or restaurant, so around 20 people awaited us to check their accommodation. In the end we chosen a small guesthouse but probably not the best option, as they managed to rip us off twice - not giving the right change and pretending to have heard the double amount of breakfast we ordered, of course we paid the whole bill. But it was quite nice to stay in this VERY rural place! Day 2: We were told to go on another boat, which seemed smaller and we thought, oh they will split us in groups but no - EVERYBODY went on again, so people were sitting on each other, but again, we managed to get the better seats (well done italian-german punctuality!).

This time it was dragging a bit, as you have already seen it all - people washing themselves in the river, children playing and trying to sell you all kind of stuff, women washing / searching for gold, fishermen, dead cows and a few other things. Some nice, some not. But in the end, we arrived in Luang Prabang, a really nice village, with a french style (great baguette!)and a great night market. We only stayed there for one night, checked out the market, the main streets and the mekong riverside and took the first bus to go to Vang Vieng.

After this nice rest we went to Vang Vieng, the journey was uphill and very curvy so I had troubles in keeping my breakfast where it should be! But the surroundings and small villages were simply stunning. Very green, lots of small villages, some supported by UNESCO and a lot of happy faces (well a few of them threw water at us, which is normal here, so we learned to watch our camera!). We arrived in Vang Vieng after 7 hours drive and we loved it straight away. Although it s mainly famous for tubing and partying (for which we are considered to be too old, but hey!) it s much more than that. A totally cool place, lots of nice restaurants, pancake and sandwich huts and a cosy atmosphere overall. We met a lovely couple from Norway and had a few drinks in a "river bar". Although we felt - again - a little bit misplaced as we already reached the age of 25 (BOTH!), we had a lovely night. The next day we then went tubing. Oh , this is GREAT fun. At first we were unsure if we liked the generally "tubing-and-get-drunk" attitude, BUT we just loved it:) You swing around and jump of ropes, you can have a drink at one of the bars, chill out, playing volleyball and sit in your tube floating down the Mekong River. It`s great - and the nice thing about is that you contribute towards their communities in renting one of those tubes. So all in all, a great thing! But it s still a bit of work to paddle down 4 km and in the end we gave up and walked back:)
After the last night in our beloved guesthouse (we felt like king and queen!, big bed, balcony and bathroom inside....what a wonderful world!)we then went on the EPIC journey in crossing 2 countries in one go. As we wanted to go to Siem Reap/Cambodia as soon as possible we decided to take the challenge and go as fast and far as we can.

CAMBODIA
So then, there we go: various busses and a few tuk tuk s later we finally arrived in Siem Reap, a journey of 36 hours!
1) Bus from Vang Vieng to Vientiane (4 hours)
2) Tuk Tuk from Vientiane city to bus station
3) Public Bus from Vientiane bus station to friendship bridge/border to Thailand
4) Bus from Thailand Friendship Bridge to Nong Khai Bus station
5) Bus from bus station to Korat (6 hours)
6) A Long 5 hours wait from midnight to 5am at Korat`s busstation
7) Bus from Korat to Aranya Prathet (border to Cambodia) (4 hours)
8) Border crossing, long queue but we finally reached Cambodia!
9) Bus from border to bus station
10) Bus from bus station in Poipet to Siem Reap (3 hours)

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS and WE NNEEEDD A SHOWEERRR!!

So we arrived in Siem Reap, the main point to explore the temples of Angkor Wat. We checked in at our guesthouse and realised that the climate here is unbearable, over 40 degrees!

Day 1: We rented a tuk tuk for 2 days and Jumro drove us round to see 8 temples in total. Our hightlights were Banteay Srei and Banteay Samre as well as the waterfalls (which were dried up so yo ucould only see trees but amazing carvings where the waterfall is normally during wet season).

Because of the heat and our european immune system, we were sweating like pigs (Raf managed to change the colour of his T-shirts 3 times, naturally!). After 14 bottles of water and 2 ice teas later we arrived back in our guesthouse, exhausted. The temples are amazing though, something we both have never imagined. Well it s not called on of the 7th world wonder for nothing!

However, seeing all those poor children, who smile at you and want to sell you accessories, food, drinks and ask you for money to go to school, makes you think how good you have it actually. And it s very hard to say no thanks, when they look at you with their big eyes and cute voice. On the first day we returned with 2 books, postcards, bracelets and thought - right, maybe we just buy water next time.

Day 2: Absolutely amazing day. Although Raf had a bit of a weak moment (when we lied down at Angkor Thom and spilt a bottle of water over his head), we really enjoyed the second day too.

We had three hightlights: From all the 7 temples we have seen we really liked Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm - where they shot Tomb Raider!, and of course Angkor Wat.

It is simply unbelievable those 1000 year old temples, with hundreds of meters of carvings and stones. We walked through Angkor Wat and tried to understand how they could have built such a thing, but it s truly a world wonder and hard to describe.
Back in our guesthouse, we just fell in our beds...over and out.

Because of our physical exhaustion we decided to "take a day off", where we basically just ly in our bed, with air-con in the room, watching one movie after the other. And it was great! We just smiled all day long...:)

The next day we headed to Pnomh Penh, another 7 hours drive in the bus. By the way- It`s Khmer`s New Year`s celebrations, so all shops are closed (not the best timing for us!) and most people celebrate with their families or public places. Although it is said to be the biggest event in the year, we did not notice anything, other than closed shops - GREAT! We also did not really Pnomh Penh as a city itself, really creepy areas, smelly and lots of traffic. We did not want to stay in the streets later than 6pm when it s getting dark, as we have seen many poor areas and most people don`t let you go unless you buy something. We also went to Choeunk-Ek Killing Fields - a shocking reality story of their past, when Khmer Rouge soldiers wept out 2 million Cambodians for nothing but pure power - and this happend only a few decades ago, in 1976. My eyes were filling with water when we saw the mass graves and the video that described their horrible death. All this made us even more sad about the country and its people and it also did not make us feel more comfortable, as we knew they lost everything. It gives you an awkward feeling when you are walking along the streets with your lonely planet guide "budget travel through southeastasia" in your hand. We also checked out the Silver Pagoda and the Royal Palace (from outside). This area is really beautiful and the seafront is not bad either.

This is it - bye bye Cambodia and hello to Vietnam!

Mel and Raf aka sweat-shirts

Thailand - where you go?

And here we are - after a long 12 hour journey to Phuket we are finally there. Apart from our hostel, Tulang Guesthouse - which seems more like a 4 Star accomondation in Europe - our impression is less impressive than Malaysia...We already experience a bit of a challenge not get bitten by dogs, as it was 5am in the morning when we tried to walk to our hostel and a gang of dogs waited for us. With shaking knees we decided to back off and waited until the sun was rising...(cowards!)
After Phuket we headed to Ko Phi Phi and felt like real tourists (for a change!). The boat was packed and full of Europeans and Chinese and when we arrived at the pier in Ko Phi Phi 1000 s of people tried to sell you accommodation (starting with "where you go") and everybody told you that it s SOOO expensive to stay here and this is the price to pay etc. Of course, after 2,5 months travel we know that everybody is lying. Therefore we headed with a taxi boat to Long Beach, apparently one of the nicest and affordable beaches at Ko Phi Phi - and we found out there IS accommodation even for backpackers budgets!

All in all, YES -it s worth a trip, you also start to feel like Leonardo Di Caprio in THE BEACH as soon as you do another boat/snorkeling trip to Ko Phi Phi Don, where you will find the famous Maya Bay/Beach. However, the amount of boats and tourists force you to wake up from your dream: No, you are not Leonardo di Caprio, you are just a backpacker trying to get a nice picture! Anyway, the snorkeling was amazing and the tour with our private little taxi boat was definitively worth it. The island itself is of course overpriced and we tried to find out the cheap places to eat - that don t really exist.

After Ko Phi Phi we headed straight towards Bangkok, after we checked out Phuket beach for a few hours. Again, VERY touristy and it does not really feel like Thailand, apart from the cheap markets. The journey to Bangkok was alright, 12 hours in a really comfy bus, with toilets (oh yes - this was shouting out "Halleluja" - especially after our slight problems with diarrhea!) etc. We were a bit concerned as the situation in Bangkok seems to be a bit dangerous at the moment, as the "reds" try to dissolve the government and there were a few bomb attacks where nobody was hurt. But of course, not the best circumstance to travel there. In the end, we did not see anything at all and everything was peaceful. However, Bangkok is not a city where you want to stay more than a night. Again, overpriced and it takes ages to go from one place to the other, well, if you take local busses as we did. The short journey on a riverboat was nice though and we have seen the famous Wat Pho - temple of the reclining Buddha. Really impressive, definitively worth a visit.

We then decided to take a local bus (we learnt our lesson afterwards!) to the Nothern Bus station to get a ticket for Chiang Mai for the next day. It took 2 hours to get there and we were more than exhausted and annoyed as we thought that 4km should not take more than 20 minutes. Well, not in Bangkok!

After our slight mental breakdown in Bangkok we arrived in Chiang Mai - Oh my Buddha! What a great city! Not just that you feel safe and comfortable, with loads of nice little cafes, restaurants but also, you can do more than a few activities, such as elephant tour, rafting and visiting tribal villages. This is what we did.

We stayed in Julie s Guesthouse, a good decision, as we had a lovely and spacious room, a great atmosphere and good food. We felt great and relaxed. Yesterday, we had a really good time with the elephants and rafting. They brought us to an elefant camp where we went on the back of an elephant - at first it felt a little bit weird and you always thought you hurt the poor guy, but in the end you realise, their skin is like leather and they are so huge and heavy that you don t need to worry about touching them. It was great, you wish you could take them home! In the end we also paid the elphant directly - he picked up the 100 Bt with his trunk & also gave back the change, amazing! They even played a little concert at the end, 2 elefants with an instrument and the other ones dancing. You thought you are in a movie or something. After that, we headed to the rafting point. And it was so much fun!

The first part, white-water rafting was a good laugh and the second part, bamboo rafting, which meant you are more underwater than above, was more for the Thais to laugh at us Europeans:) In the end, we also visited a small village (a bit smaller than Unterwangenback where I come from and a bit less civilised, but pretty similar:)) This tribe was called "Lisu" and the people basically live of handicrafts and agriculture. Amazing how simple you can live your daily life and the houses they are living in are about 10sq meters for a family of 4.
What we also discovered is that most people say they speak English, but the majority of those does not understand and reply what they think they understood - a few nerve breaking conversations but now we know to be a bit more patient and to ask 3 people instead of one person.

Mel & Raf aka. lost in translation

Malaysia: We found our paradise - even on a budget!

Yes, we like Malaysia. As soon as we started to land we already felt more comfortable than in Indonesia - well, cannot be any worse can it?:) We arrived in Kuala Lumpur, a really cool city and we have seen the twin towers, Chinatown and Little India. Lovely people and lots of cultural stuff here. And we also had our first feet therapy - little fishes eating our dead skin (sounds yummy doesn`t it?!) - We both laughed like chickens, cause it`s tickling really badly, but it was such a great thing to do!

At the beginning it seemed FAR TOO LONG to spend 2 weeks in Malaysia (for us super-quick backpackers, as we tried to sort out Raf´s visa for India), but in the end we fell in love with this country, in any sense. The food is great (you can see this as well when you check out the latest pics, as we put on some pounds...:)), the people are absolutely charming and friendly. Still shocked by the Indonesia culture, Malaysia is another world.

Cameron Highlands is an absolute highlight. We stayed in one of our favourite places so far, Fathers Guesthouse, a bit uphill in a nice remote area where you can really chill out and enjoy movies and good food. The tea plantation is like on a postcard, you cannot see any other colour than green and even I drank tea (once in a lifetime experience:)) We also did some nice hiking with another German girl we met at Cameron Highlands and the local farmers don`t hesitate to give you a lift on their little trucks to get back to town. As we still have a few days "to kill" we decided to go to Penang/Georgetown, a little ferry ride from the mainland on the west coast of Malaysia. We, again, stayed in a great place, Stardust, and had the biggest room ever so far! 2 huge double beds just for us...oh yes...even better than home:)
Georgetown is a very historic and cultural city with lots of temples. We even had two private guides, one from a lovely Muslim man who explained us the daily prayers` procedure (with me dressed like a little Muslim follower, check out the pics on facebook!) and one from a slightly drunk Chinese chap (who still had a bottle of whiskey hidden in his pocket). At least we learned how to pray in Muslim and Buddhist style, very interesting cultures. Our personal highlight in Georgetown was Keh Lok Seh temple. The biggest and most interesting temple/site we have seen so far! And now we know that I am a pig and Raf is a monkey (who would have guessed??? - all based on the Chinese horoscope!)

We also headed to Melakka for a short trip / 1 night, a well-known historic city, occupied by the Dutch, Portugese and English, so a real European / Malay mix.

We had a great time there, well, apart from the little slide down the stairs. Yes, I managed to slip when I walked down the stairs of our hostel that I could hardly breathe and thought my back fell apart. But after "nurse Raf" put a few plasters on the wound and I had a cold beer at night, it all was less painful.
Making our way back to KL, Raf successfully managed to get a stamp in his passport - India here we come!! And then....finally: The Pearl of Paradise - Pualau Perhentian.

We did not expect too much at all and were not sure if it `s only a real touristy place with a random beach. We were wrong. It was like in a movie, a real paradise where you feel like a different person.

We stayed in Matahari Chalets (a small bungalow only for us!) and enjoyed every second. The sun was very strong, the water was crystal clear, a few water taxis were crusing around and you could have dinner right next to the sea. It was a dream, somewhere everyone should spend their honeymoon (I am not saying anything!). We also did a great snorkeling trip where we spotted turtles, coral reefs and lots of different, colourful fish (Rafi even held Nemo in his hand! - briefly - ) and .....SHARKS! - no, we did not try to play Leonardo Di Caprio in the Beach, they are actually sharks, but small ones and don`t attack humans (we were told!). It was an amazing experience to swim with the sharks and fish and we felt a little bit like heroes:)
After 2 wonderful nights/days we needed to leave this little beauty and headed towards the border of Thailand...

Arielle and Nemo (above sea level)

Indonesia: Rocco Rocco Rocco!! Kopi Kopi Kopi!!!

After 2 nights in Singapore we took Jetstar (comfortable flight for about 3 hours and then the longest 10 seconds in the world as we went in a little thunderstorm and thought "this is it"!!!) - anyway - after our arrival we checked out the taxis and realised that we need to pay twice as much as we expected (not speaking about the arrival fee of 25US Dollars!).

First night, we stayed in Sanur, hotel was nice (finally a double room with ensuite, oh my god!!) and the town itself is not as touristy as other places. We then went to Kuta, which occasionally feels a bit like Ibiza for the budget traveller. It`s a very touristy area and everyone rips you off where they can (fair enough!) - example: we took a taxi to our hotel and he said "you can find your hotel round the corner" - well there was a corner, but no hotel. When we asked the locals they said it s another hour to walk. (WTF?!!) - But we learnt our lesson (one of many...!)
BUT - the long walk (and we did not dare taking another taxi!) was worth it, the hotel is really nice, and we feel like posh backpackers. We stay in Balisani Padma (for 11 Dollars!), swimming pool with bar, really BIG rooms with balcony and a minibar. What a paradise!! However, when you walk through the streets you always get the same questions "brum brum? wanna rent a motorbike? yes massage?" - they try to sell you everything and anything. "no thanks" does not count as they repeat it all over again.

We then headed to Denpassar to catch a bus to Probolingo, where Gunung Bromo, an active vulcano can be seen! We took one of the local busses with air-con (well, it did not work, so we just tried not to pass out!) which takes around 9 hours to arrive in Probolingo, the village where you start your journey to Gunung Bromo, an active volcano. After a dreadful few hour journey, we took a ferry to cross to Java (where we saw a few sailors with boats that seemed like "self made" ones). After a few more hours, a heavy thunderstorm and lighting hit us and when we stopped for dinner all the electricity went off (and we nearly wetted our pants!). We can say that "thunderstorms" here are different to what we know from Europe...SCARY MAN!!

Anyway, in Probolingo they dropped us off a different stop to all other (local) people where the bus driver introduced us to his friend (and left us there!) who tried to sell us a tour. Well, in the end we were not convinced and stayed one night in Probolingo (our hostel was a real shithole) where we woke up at 2am cause a big carneval celebration went ahead (just in front of our hostel of course!). The next day we checked out a few other places and finally went with another tour operator. We stayed one night in Joshis Guesthouse, absolutely great, although awful decoration. It is run by a German lady and her indonesian husband (strange combination). Food was excellent and the room was nice. We then got off at 4am (for a change!) to see the sun rise of Gunung Bromo, absolutely AMAZING!!!

We were both really stunned by the beauty of nature...After that our jeep driver (Michael Schumacher is nothing compared to him!) drove us to the actual volcano (well not literally in there!) where we could walk to the edge (try not to slip...) with other stunning views of the mountains, the landscape of Bromo....A picture to die for...

After our great day trip we had a pick up with 3 other Germans from Berlin to go to Borobodur / Yogyakarta. We had a personal driver who drove just the 5 of us (for 9 hours!) to Yogya. Oh my God - Indonesians know how to drive...after Gunung Bromo THIS driver was even "better". No rules, just like a battlefield - overtaking wherever, whenever and whatever. Although air-conditioned, we were sweating like it had 30 degrees in the car - I guess this is their way to drive but seriously, worse than Naples!! :)

We finally arrived after another LONG and stressful journey where we stayed in Yogya to go to Borrobodur the next day. We made our own way there and the temple, which is the biggest Buddhist temple in the world, was another big highlight. Absolutely worth it, but a shame we did not know much what it meant (well, wikipedia should do). We also saw a few monks who did their prayers, and we were amazed about this really peaceful place.

After these hightlights, we had our personal highlight, although we did not know (yet). Of course, the two tourists decided to go for the cheaper economy train to Jakarta for 2 Euros per person and 11 hours. Too good to be true. Well, true it was but good...no. We realised that the train has a certain number of seats and approximately double the numer of passengers. Which means, 1/3 sat on the floor (dirty with all the rubbish lying around) and the rest is squeezed together. We even needed to pay somebody who worked on the train to get a seat (seperate ones). Very sceptical about the whole thing, the party started..."rocco rocco rocco (which means smoke/cigarettes)....kopi kopi kopi (which means coffee)" - a few dozen people walked from one side to the other trying to sell ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING...it was loud, everyone smoked, and us two, the only tourists who are on the train. GREAT IDEA! ...the hours passed...and the train stood still...for hours...after a while we realised that we were delayed..for 6 hours! CAN IT BE ANY WORSE?? Yes it can. People started to beg for money and what was worst, SING for money, with a lound amp and a voice to run away...! It was all very surreal, absurd, unbelievable. We counted the minutes...After a neverending journey we finally reached Jakarta, after we have seen many slums, tents and wrecked houses where people are living, tons of rubbish everywhere. Not a nice pictures, but reality.
A very nice woman helped us to get a local bus to Gambir station, where we wanted to find accomondation...We thought it was all over, but then a gang (called 2000 - 2000 guys who run a kind of Camorra metropole here) got on the bus, saying something in indonesia, scary guys with bruises on the arms. We got told to give them money, otherwise we get into trouble. Well, that s welcome to the capital! Anyway, after a last night in Indonesia/Jakarta we took the plane to Malaysia...and we feel so much better, safer and comfy here to be honest.
Raf & Mel (safe again)

Singapore: We love restaurants...

We cannot believe we were in Australia a few days ago, as THIS seems like a total new world here. Singapore is very developed, big skyscrapers, lots of business people, a great metro system and absolutely stunning food! It`s a bit like a slap in the face when you get off the plane as it suddenly has 30 -40 degrees and the air stands still. As we arrived at midnight we needed (AGAIN) to sleep at the airport, slightly uncomfortable - but hey, we are already used to it. We stayed in a very nice hostel though - aircon rooms (it s like gold...!) and nice people. First thing we did - checking out the cheap places to eat. Chinatown and Little India are great for good and cheap food, you pay 2 euros or less and get noodles with seafood (like heaven!).

We met a really nice couple from Germany and went together to see a few Buddha and Hindu temples, absolutely surreal when you enter and you feel like a little ant next to a 20 meter Buddha! Being in Singapore, we were looking forward to the rest of Southeastasia, as it seemed a great place on earth to travel.
Raf and Mel aka. "noodlemania"

Australia - BIG country...

Another lovely flight with Emirates, and we hoped to stay longer on the plane!! Nice wine and salmon...but then, back to backpacker`s standards.
Brisbane - HOT! not the city so much but it is HOT - Nothing compared to NZ. We went to see the city, really nice by night actually. There is also an artificial beach in the middle of the city, but we needed to wait a bit longer to enjoy the REAL beach in...Hervey Bay. Well, let`s say a taster. We arrived after 6 hours drive and stayed in the Woolshed Backpackers, a really nice hostel, although we arrived late and were locked out - plus the fact that we were hungry and tired caused Mel to curse the hostel, but after a bit we found the key...and we also found a "possum" in our room. A real one. At first we thought it`s outside, but we were wrong. The second night we stayed awake just in case it would attack us. But I think it was more scared than we were.
From Hervey Bay we went to Fraser Island, WOW! We booked a 2 days tour with a cool guide who has been living at Fraser for about 35 years. We got to see Lake McKenzie (superclean rainwater, you could drink it and my hair felt like I went to the hairdresser!), Lake Wabby (totally cool, felt like Leonardo di Caprio in THE BEACH) and a few other things such as Coloured Sands and Indian Heads (great views...no sharks but big waves!).

We stayed in a really nice resort and got good food (we felt like on holidays for the first time I think!) and apart from the very nasty mosquito bites (we looked like we have some kind of illness!), we had a fab time on the island...
We then headed to Noosa Heads, gosh we wished we stayed there longer as it was great. High waves, nice place to stay (even with a bathroom in the room! How posh...). After only a day, we then headed to Byron Bay, a bit eco and hippie, but well, if you go to Australia, I guess this is it:) The hostel called Arts Factory Lodge has their own brewery, pool, hammocks etc., but also lots of party people - we as a couple felt old and boring and even got told to "live a little" (??Well, we are just on a world tour now so I think we do!) But this is what you get when you are over 25 and everybody is under 20:) Anyway, we got a bit sunburnt as well, but we should not complain as it has still minus degrees in Germany.
After this rather embarassing (or "we-are-not-18-years-old-anymore") stay we took an overnight bus to Syndey:

Great city, we had about 3 full days there and we really could have spent a few days more. The opera (although the story is a bit sad, as the architect never got to see his work at the end) is great and felt a little bit like you see the Eiffel Tower for the first time. We also did a free sightseeing tour and went to the lovely districts Glebe (a bit like northern quarter in Manchester!) and took the ferry to Manly. Really nice day trips and worthwhile! We slept at the airport on the way to Tasmania and were a little bit stoned once we arrived (not literally!). We were both really fascinated about Virgin Blue (so everyone should fly with them if you get the chance), cool airline.
So - Tasmania or Tassie. No words left for this beautiful spot of land. The "cities" felt a bit like my little town in Germany, as a so-called "city" is everything from around 10.000 people and a "town" can be everything from one person.

The landscape absolutely stunning. We rented a car for 4 days (and converted it to our living room, dining room and bedroom) and went all the way from Hobart, the capital, to Port Arthur (historic site), where we did a ghost tour, Freycient National Park (Wineglass Bay really stunning as well as the Wineglass Beach), and all the way up to Launceston.

From there we went to Pipers Brook where we did (a few:)) winetastings, yummie!! We could get used to this ceremony every day!! We also went to a strawberry picking farm and had one of the best (apart from the ones my grandma grows!) strawberries ever! We also went to Cradle Mountain, absolutely beautiful spot and went all the way back through forest, giant trees to Russel Falls in Mt Field National Park. We did another wine tasting in the Cole River Valley next to Richmond and checked out the oldest bridge in Tassie. In Tassie you can do 1000 nice little shortwalks on the way and you feel like you need to stop every few minutes, but we drove around 1300 km in 4 days....Tassie has also nice coffee bars, great tarts!
All in all we had a great time and it was probably the best time we had in Australia. Tasmania has everything if you like nature, wildlife and sleeping in your car:)From Hobart we flew to Melbourne where we arrived 5 days ago. Gosh - this city is THE city, our favorite so far, really got everything from cool bars, great nightlife and cafes, a beach, lots of arty districts and architecture. We totally fell in love with it. We also met Jackie (Mel`s ex-colleague from MIF), was great seeing someone familiar:) We did a few FREE city tours (that s also good about Melbourne), we checked out the Botanic Gardens, Federation Square and of course the Queen Victoria Markets, great food and cheap souvenirs! We also went to St Kilda (beach) and to a few nice districts but the highlight was the Great Ocean Road.

We rented a car (again) and used it (again) as everything but a car: sleeping, eating, chilling out. Anyway - the drive there (about 3-4 hours from Melbourne) is absolutely stunning. The highlight of the the road is of course, the 12 Apostles (although there are only 9 visible), but also the The Arch, the Thunder Cave and London Bridge are worth seeing. We also spotted some koalas (they are sooo cute!!) hanging in eucalyptus trees and we also saw penguins wobbling back to their cave after sunset. A great 24 hour trip!!

And that s the end (of Australia!) - from tomorrow it s all about Asia, starting with Singapore, which means we finally can afford a dinner instead of cooking supermarket food, what a luxury!!

MEL & RAF aka. the Fast and the Furious

New Zealand - here we come!

One piece of advice: Never book a direct flight Manchester to New Zealand, it´s a killer!After 30 hours on a plane you are seriously getting crazy....Manchester - Dubai (7hours), Dubai - Bangkok (6h), Bangkok - Sydney (9h), Sydney - Christchurch (3h)and a few hours on each airport, getting off and on the plane again....AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! We tried to keep track about what time it was but no chance...You feel nothing in the end, just your body walking through the check points, but you cannot really imagine what´s happening.Anyway, the food with Emirates was fantastic and all we did those 30 hours was: Eating, drinking and watching DVDs - every few hours...

BUT, we arrived at Christchurch (how happy we were to read this name on the screen!!)on the 15th at 3pm and felt a bit like drugged...(shame we weren`t!). We stayed in the Cokers (good choice of name...!) Hostel in Manchester Street! Wasn`t the best choice but after 30 hours all you want is relax and get normal again, so we decided to change to Coachman Backpackers. Still jet-lagged we went up a hill with the gondola in Christchurch, where you have a wonderful (windy!) view of the town - just to remind us that we are really in New Zealand, still a bit surreal.
After two days and a bit of recovery from 12 hours time difference, we headed to Queenstown, a great great city with a good vibe, where we immediately followed the sound of music and ended up in a festival, drinking beer! OH yes, we finally arrived. Later that afternoon we booked the impossible...a bus to Milford Sound (a must do, simply impressive!!). The bad things is you spend 5 hours on a bus (one way!) and 2 hours on the boat, but hey - welcome backpacker life!

Because Queenstown is known for adrenalin seekers, Raf decided to do a bungy jump from Kawarau Bridge, about 43m. I was quite nervous just watching him (fall) and it was really pure adrenalin rush!! (I am talking about ME, how did HE FEEL?? His heart was on fire...) It was a great experience and he looked like he had seen the most beautiful girl in the world (that would be me of course) after the jump! Amazing feeling it must be.....


From Queenstown we headed to Franz Glacier to do some hiking. Gosh - we came back home, totally soaked, totally knackered....The Glacier looks great from far away and on the postcards, but unfortunately we did not see much of it. We decided to do the BIG WALK (everyone who knows us would say...."you are not fit, why would you chose the LONGEST WALK??" Well, we don`t know....it was an incredible experience, lots of nature surrounds you, great fresh air, and we definively made up on all those bus travels as we spent 10 hours walking or better said hiking...or better said floating, as is was raining so heavily that we were rather swimming than walking. Anyway, a great day but unfortunately our hard work was not blessed by a great view as it was foggy everywhere.But we can say we walked up to 1300 meters (Alex Knob it was called). After our endless journey to the forest and back we cannot move anymore so we will be more than happy to take a 10 hour bus to Nelson tomorrow....We did not know that you can feel all your bones after such a hike!
After a long long drive in a 20 year old little bus, we reached Nelson. The drive was nice though, we saw the whole West Coast of the South, so a bit of a consolation for the uncomfortable chairs. Nelson is a nice city, a bit touristy but the Abel Tasman Track was worth every penny. We had lovely weather, a nice little boat tour and then we walked round the Abel Tasman for 4 hours, having a look at the most beautiful spots, just nice. Our most used sentence was "This is nice...."! Definitively the best day so far.

After the track we took the bus to Picton, an astonishing nice little city on the Harbor. There, we did another (! - we are getting sporty here!) track, called Queen Charlotte Track. We did not really know which one we preferred, Abel Tasman or Queen Charlotte but it was different, as Queen Charlotte seemed less touristy, there were times where we thought we lost the track as we could not see anybody around us, which was nice! Another 4 hours walk, a bit muddy at the beginning but nice views and a nice little picknick with wine and muffin and a gorgeous view! A perfect day to celebrate Rafs 30th (!) birthday. No joke, this is true! I surprised him in the morning with a 3-0- candle stuffed in muffins and a voucher for SKYDIVING in Taupo , so he`ll never forget his birthday....When I started to sing "Happy Birthday" in my sexy pyjamas the wrong Raf went in the room and the guy looked rather scared, but after the second try and it was the right one:)
Anyway, back to the Queen...As another birthday present I asked a few whales to say hello and when we took the boat back from Queen Charlotte we saw 2 whales (one baby whale swimming just next to the boat!), it was the most amazing experience ever...you cannot be much closer to nature.

SO - after a lot of tracking it only took a short ferry ride to reach Wellington, on the north side of New Zealand. We went to the botanic gardens and saw Te Papa Museum, the best museum we probably seen so far, with a MEGA Squid! Unfortunately we don`t have the money for a few beers but we look forward to Asia for this:) After a short stay we took the bus to Taupo, where our BIG day started. We are still feeling the adrenalin a bit in our veins...A combo of Skydiving AND Bungy is definitively enough within 10 hours, but it was WORTH IT, every penny and every second...! BIG DAY. First of all, our lodge in Taupo called TIKI LODGE was great, lots of nice people and a cosy atmosphere. Once we arrived we decided to go for a combo of Bungy and Skydive the day after so there we go:
8am - wake up and we both felt really nervous....it was a GREAT SUNNY DAY, clear blue sky...We were really happy! But thank god we took the bus in the morning already, cause we would have gone mad otherwise...
10.15am - we and 4 other people got picked up to go to the airport, where we got a bit of an induction. Dressed in red with a cool pilot cap we started to go to the small (!!) yellow plane and got to know our instructor who would do the jump with us. All nice chaps, they did jump between 5.000 and 20.000 times!! UNBELIEVABLE!! So all in good hands.
12.00am - We got squashed in the plane and everybody could feel the slight tension...there we went....5.000 feet.....10.000 feet....12.000 feet - where the first 3 people already jumped off. Just seeing them jumping or falling or whatever WITHING SECONDS was VERY scary....this is the time where you think "AM I MAD OR WHAT???" But no time to think....A few last words from our instructors and you start to panic...no wonder, 15.000 feet - the highest possible.
And that`s the moment of your life (literally!!) I (Mel) went first (no choice there!) and after a few seconds, a quick hello in the camera (the moment I missed caused I got ready to jump...) you hold on to your equipment and there you go...YOU FALLLLLLLLLLLL! After a few seconds you start to realise...oh my God, I jumped out of a plane!! Raf went after me, but I was too busy trying to understand what I am doing, so could not see anything apart from the Lake Taupo (the biggest lake in NZ!) and lots of mountains...it was beautiful and we both loved every second....It felt like 5 seconds but you are actually falling for more than 60 seconds!

The parachute opened at 5.000 feet and you start to relax a bit more. Raf did not feel too well after it cause the instructor took a few very fast turns so he felt a bit dizzy at the end. All in all, worth doing 100%, I personally want to do it again as it was the BEST experience of my life, that `s for sure. Maybe a skydiving instructor could be another option for a career? (Mum, I am joking!:))

But that` s not it... yet...

12.30pm - We checked out the DVD and chose our T-shirt, it was great to see the DVD as it really is 60 seconds!
13.00 - Drive to the next adrenalin site: Bungy - the bit where Raf is less scared,I am more scared of it than the Skydiving...Cause YOU need to jump!
Quick decision if I wanted to do a Tandem with Raf (which means even if I don`t want to jump I WILL anyway) BUT I was brave enough (stupid!) and wanted to jump on my own.
13.45: After a quick word of advice and checking your weight you can go on the platform/bridge where you jump off. (I looked down once and thought - SURELY NOT!)
Raf jumped first and left me all by myself 50 meters above the ground. He did so well, jumped after the 1-2-3 count like a professional (well he already did it once before!!).
My turn, SCCCARRRY - the instructor counted 1-2-3 but I was still up there. I said "I cannot jump, ...count again", so she counted again and I jumped. I only remembered that I made funny noises and then SPLASH - the body was half in the water and you realise "This is it!". Raf nearly lost his T-shirt when he jumped and I was half naked, but hey.
All in all, a great experience, a real adrenalin shock, but worth it. In my opinion scarier than Skydving, in Raf`s opinion less scary than Skydiving...so I guess you need to do it yourself to find out!

Our adventure just started and the next stop would be Tongario Alpine Crossing, 7 hours walk/hike. Bus pick up at 5.30am, this is not a holiday we can tell you this!!:) The Crossing is kind of hurt cause it was so beautiful. Definitively the best walking/trekking we did so far. Beautiful landscape, craters, lakes....although the `Devil`s Staircase` was a bit steep, we got rewarded with the nice views.
It was not as exhausting as we thought (probably because we got used to walk for a few hours a day!) but we fell asleep like a baby this night.

Next day: Bus to Rotorua...and you can SMELL it once you approach this city, it`s unbelievable how it stinks! As if you are walking through a festival site on the last day...like a toilet! Supposed to be healthy, we are not quite sure...
Nice little city and we encountered our first Maori experience, everything for no money and nothing too touristy. We visited a small Maori village and a guy called Sonny gave us a 1,5 hour tour through the history of his people. It was fascinating, interesting and really beautiful. We enjoyed every second and every `hungi` greeting (quote as he `hungied` Raf: `You are easy to hungi`!).
We spent the evening in the Polynesia Spa, absolutely great. There were 4 outdoor pools, all between 30 and 42 degrees, quite HOT when you spend longer than 10 minutes...We really enjoyed it...After all those hiking tours! Well earned..

Our last stop in New Zealand was Auckland, Kia Ora! The city itself not very spectacular but the day trip to Devonport was worth while...

Raf & Mel aka. "the adrenalin couple"