Now, it’s April and the/my world hast changed a few times over since then. I occupy a full-time job now (oh maybe that’s why). There has been an incredible winter to do all sorts of snow activities. There … oh, so many million things nobody but me is interested in; Busy, to say the least. To fill the void, I’m going to post this instead:

To give it a try, I’ve submitted my first picture to my the desktop wallpaper site of my choice, interfacelift.com. And guess what? It got voted! Psyched.

Here’s the link to ‘Morning Heart‘.

But the real thing to be psyched about is that the wallpaper received almost 20,000 (!) downloads within just four days. Although living is all about enjoying the moment, it’s for some reason a great feeling to know that you’ve just shared one tiny moment with so many other human beings. But of course, not a single one will ever know how great it really felt to actually be there to live that moment.

So I had to. Italy & southern France to warm up, the climbing was as excellent as always. Just a bit cooler that year, but this only meant that we could head straight for the south faces. And get a good tan, too.

What followed a just few days later was an adventurous journey through the Balkans, a region I long wanted to pay a visit. I added ‘adventurous’ with a purpose there … have you ever tried to take a night train from Beograd to Sofia? You should. Anyway, the trip started off with a real proper train up to big Berlin, examining some great graffiti there. Then, by now we (that is, Maria and I) headed down to Dresden just to hear the accent (and some very knot-y climbing in the Elbsandstein) before following the call of Budapest. I’ve been dreaming since years to check out this praised city, and this year, our timing was even perfect: Sziget Festival! Being one of the biggest music festivals worldwide, it also proved to be the most amazing one I’ve ever attended. A whole island, literally in the middle of a stunning city, filled to the bursting point with world-class gigs and people rejoicing at the sun. Beat that!

The next stop was Beograd, capital of proud Serbia. Once again, wandering around and getting lost turned out to be a superior tactic to explore the very heard of it; At the end of the day, we’ve had a cheerful (and also considerably hungover) group of locals showing us all around their city, inviting us for local food and, of course, beer & home-brewed rakia. We even ended up driving to the favorite local ‘pool’: A dammed up side-arm of the Danube. Where all we planned to do was to lie in the shade of a tree to take a rest from the train ride … well, didn’t quite work out that way.

But after that, we’ve had enough of big cities and the Bulgarian mountains were luring us into their endless serenity. To start things off properly, we unexpectedly found ourselves (by utter random chance, as so often) amidst the annual gathering of a nature-worshiping cult, praising the sun. Nice people, though; Quite fascinating to witness a few hundred people dressed in pure white dancing and jumping around in huge, concentric circles. And so we wandered on, worshiping the sun, too. Besides that, the Rila and Pirin mountains of Bulgaria seem to have a liking for crystal-clear mountain lakes – perfect to pitch your tent just right next to (anyone agree with me that there is no such thing as getting up at sunrise and splashing ice-cold creek water all over your face?).

Turned out that it is actually really hard to communicate with people in Bulgaria; Furthermore, it doesn’t really help what everything is written in the Cyrillic alphabet. At one point, we ended up in a border town and our plan was to cross over into neighboring Macedonia, through Albania, and up to Montenegro. But all we got was a lot of ‘No bus! No bus!’ and so we figured what the situation probably won’t be much better in the countries to follow. And we needed a shower anyway. Thus, we decided to take a route a bit less complicated and headed south towards Istanbul, the promised city (by, well, just another night train). What we experienced there was once again mind-changing. The hostility of the Turkish people was simply incredible and CouchSurfing turned, as so often, out to be an unforgeable experience. Great folks, great days. And that is in a mega-city of 13-or-so million people; I’ve only heard the stories of other traveler’s experiences in the countryside. There’s a lot to learn for you, Western Europe!

‘What are you going to do with yourself, Ed?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know’, he said, ‘I just go along. I dig life.’
- Jack Kerouac, On The Road

I think it was Alexander Huber who infested my with this idea of viewing ones life as a big book, every single day represented by a blank page that is yet to be filled. Some pages will display only a few words scratched on them, some are more like a whole magnificent book by themselves, featuring coloured illustrations and all. I still like to live and think by and with this analogy, it’s a beautiful one; And accordingly, I’m about to close a big chapter, 206 pages long and a hell of a read.

Flicking through it, one can read of snow-covered peaks, of real-life dragons, of endless road-trips, of those miseries of packing up a wet tent in the morning and putting it up again in the evening, of insightful conversations with total strangers that are about to become respected friends in just a minute’s time, of days filled with the longing for a home, of endless and empty beaches, of the best sunset imaginable, yes, one will even be advised to absolutely never leave the selling of a van to the very day prior to your departure. In short, I’ve done my best to fill each and every of those blank pages as colourful and vivid as I could. That was my mission – I think I did pretty well.

People will continue to ask, ‘So, tell me, what’s your favourite place of all?’ Well, there is no such place. It’s neither A nor B that matter, it’s everything in between. It was proven once again that flexibility is a traveller’s very best friend. In a nutshell, Nepal was a beautiful culture shock, still vivid in my mind. Thailand was a holiday from Nepal, a delight for all senses. Singapore a huge, modern city (yes, and it still is, in face I’m writing those lines whilst patiently waiting for my final connection at Singapore International Airport and, as it turned out, they offer public Internet kiosks free of charge; brilliant). Indonesia an adventure for its own, featuring a paradise of a millions islands and day-long delayed ferry rides. Australia a big and exciting road trip and a lot of deep blue. New Zealand an even bigger road trip (6349 km, in fact), a lot of magnificent rock and even more magnificent people. But you shouldn’t put anything in a nutshell, frankly – go ahead and write a book.

So, even seven month of intense travelling around the globe have to come to an end, eventually. It will be a whole new idea to work through those memories – there were simply too many to be processed instantly. Doubtless to say, those seven month were the most adventurous and exciting of my life. Of course. It was the best decision I’ve ever made. Of course. I would do it again. Of course.
But now, I’m off the road, I’m coming home. And I’m glad to.

If there is one sole conclusion that has to be drawn from my first extended trip around the world, than this is it: It surely hasn’t been my last one.

So, New Zealand, aye? The one place I was always looking forward to visit, the paradise of my dreams. Well indeed, as it turned out, reality matches those dreams pretty closely. To fly into the Nations second largest city a few days after it got severely destructed by an epic once-in-a-century (so we all hope) earthquake made for quite a special situation. The following weeks were strongly characterized by this event. But one thing struck me above all: How whole New Zealand united in an almost inconceivable way, their spirits raising higher than ever, ready to rebuild what got destroyed.

Kiwis spell ‘colour’ and say ‘bro’ quite frequently. They are hostile, humble, and surprisingly friendly, it a very honest way. They are proud of their little nation, but without waiving a flag to show it. And I’m not even talking about those wildly varied, unspoiled landscapes that appear in a beauty beyond my words to describe. An endless autumn. I’ve just added a few pictures therefore, judge by yourself. Sometimes, I get reminded of home, the mountains and cows and all, just that those here are surrounded by an ocean. To make a long story short, this place really appears as a kind of paradise. As a place that makes you feel welcome, that makes you feel home. An Instant Kiwi.

Randomness had me stay for precisely one month, as it turned out, down in Down Under. After couchsurfing Sydney for about a week, I decided on a spontaneous road-trip some thousand kilometers up the coast, from Melbourne to Adelaide. Of course, it was great times and even the Japanese groups posing in front of the Twelve Apostles somewhat amusing; but I don’t need to tell you about those, you’ve heard the stories, you’ve seen the pictures. The things that were much rather interesting were the small pleasures of life, e.g. camping on a golf course, bouldering in sandstone-paradise of the Grampians, or those funny creatures hopping ’round the camp-spots, trying to steal some of your freshly-grilled Spam (Uh yes, Spam indeed). Correct, we were living up the camping (or as some might call it, the cheap) life, because Australia is, apart from being massively huge and vast and wild and beautiful, mainly: ridiculously expensive (especially coming from Asia leaves you with a rise of prices of literally 3000%).

My favorite little place, however, was the island of Tasmania. It had the deepest blue I’ve ever seen, anywhere on this planet. This fact alone made me stop about a hundred times, gazing down some 200m cliff-face straight into the ocean, and think out loud: ‘Wuuh.’ A magnificent and fascinating place; Driving around, in this vast remoteness, is a treat by itself: You’ll get the most stunning landscape without seeing anyone else, for hours (minus the millions of road-kills of which you could feed a smaller city with and the Wallabies obviously trying to commit suicide, for whatever reason). And above all, I’ve seen the most adorable living thing imaginable and from now on my official favorite animal of all times: A Wombat. A life-changing experience.

My Asia was a bucket shower.
My Asia was a million smiles.
My Asia was the best food I’ve ever had.
My Asia was bitter cold and blazing hot.
My Asia was a scorpion in the bathroom.
My Asia was the ugliest place I’ve ever been to.
My Asia was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to.
My Asia was a hazardous motorbike ride.
My Asia was a great novel.
My Asia was a shitton of rice.
My Asia was a cheap drug.
My Asia was cruel poverty.
My Asia was a canceled flight.
My Asia was a rooster in the night bus.
My Asia was a real-life dragon.
My Asia was climbing way too high up.
My Asia was one hard bargain.
My Asia was an overcrowded bus ride.
My Asia was a ridiculously hot cilli sauce.
My Asia was an extended love affair.
My Asia was a mosquito bite.
My Asia was everything between -30m and +5450m.
My Asia was a Bintang Shirt.
My Asia was an elephant ride.
My Asia was facing real poverty.
My Asia was the wonderful people I met.
My Asia was 91 days of pure excitement.
My Asia will see me again.

[I just couldn't help it.]

Enjoy your day in paradise!

“Hello Mister, need transport?”
“No, thank you.”
“Hello Mister, taxi?”
“Nope.”
“Hello Mister, massage?”
“No.”
“Hello Mister, transport?”
“No.”
“Hello Mister, smoke weed?”
“Well … no.”
“Hello Mister, transport?”
“.”

To say the least, it can become a bit exhausting. Smile and wave, smile and wave. Don’t get me wrong, Indonesian people are generally really nice and generous (except in touristy centres like Bali where they are generally greedy and evil), but they just seem to be the worst organisers of mankind. On my four major attempts to travel somewhere in this enormously huge country, I’ve got delayed four times (two times over 24h). So if you plan to travel Indonesia a bit off the beaten path, bring patience. A lot.

Environmentally speaking, Indonesia is incredibly. I’ve seen active volcanoes (incredibly destructive), black beaches (incredibly secluded), tons of temples (incredibly massive), and real-life dragons (incredibly scary). Besides Java, Flores was an impressive place to visit, including the close-by islands of Komodo and Rinca. It just took three days to get there. Climbing Gurung Rinjani on Lombok failed, sadly, due to constantly bad weather; consider visiting during dry season, that might save you a bit of frustration. On the other hand, situations evolving out of totally unexpected (and at first glance disillusioning) occurrences are, sometimes, the best ones.

They make for those travel stories.

Singapore turned out as a welcome chance from backcountry-Asia (they have cheese there! Actually, walking through a grocery store makes you feel like being in a Wal Mart, just a bit smaller and without those people too fat to walk for themselves and thus much more likable). Better, Singapore is to be best described as one massive shopping mall, seriously impossible to escape those. A hyper-modern place with fascinating people from all over Asia. As a matter of fact, I had a security guard astonishing me with better English than some of my university professors back home. This place is future.

I also had a heard-warming couchsurfing experience once again (including a maid), cheers to the beautiful people. Have to note, though, not to put pork in a Muslim’s family freezer ever again. Ouch. Plus, those Singapurians mean what they put on their DO-NOT-DO-THAT-signs. E.g., eating and drinking in the subway (definitely including coconuts), do not attempt (500$ fine), no, do not. Singapore, the Fine City.

Alright indeed. And quite an acceptable place for (some not so white) Christmas. I just might get used to that. Life’s good.

Of course I got suck here and don’t dare to leave just yet. How could I, why should I? Also met up with my two lovely friends, Betty and Manu, which whom I plan to share some adventures from now on. And Christmas – uuh, it promises to be a nice one, considering the constant temperature of 29 degrees and the fact that a Mango Lassie on the beach checks in at about the same price as a bottle of water back home.

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

• Driving on a local bus in Nepal boosts you to the same Adrenaline level as B.A.S.E jumping
• I am too tall for this country
• Driving on a local bus in Nepal features about the same survival rate as B.A.S.E jumping
• You can bargain the price of a beer in about any given restaurant
• By far the most convenient (and adventurous) way to drive on a local Nepali bus is on its top
• There are a few things that are available everywhere literally everywhere in Nepal: Coca Cola & Sprite (sometimes Fanta), Mars & Snickers (sometimes Twix), and Pringles (mostly greed and red ones). Tabbed water does not count to those things.
• Left-hand traffic also accounts for people – and donkeys
• Never try to save a few rupees on toilet paper – the experience is just not worth it

And here I am, three weeks later. Each of those days here in Nepal featured such a vast amount of new and exciting impressions and experiences that I could write a blog post five to six pages long every day, still missing details. But because I’ve better things to do than writing blog posts and you with your busy life’s out there got better things to do than reading blog posts, here’s Nepal in a Nutshell.

To begin with, this is simply impossible. Nepal is one of the poorest and at the same time most astonishing and beautiful countries in the world. Everyone will tell you that, I can now approve. To study especially much of the countryside and beloved Nature, I’ve been on a trekking tour circling the Annapurna massive in central Nepal for the last 18 days. Without Internet, without a cell phone, and, sometimes, without electricity after all; utterly enjoyable.

The trek itself was not at all technically challenging, but carrying a 18kg rucksack for 250km and up a 5416m pass is a different story. But on the bright side, my pack got lighter and lighter every day as I kept using more and more toothpaste. I guess I could have packed lighter – so I carried my climbing shoes and chalk all the way for the sake of defining one (in numbers: 1) but world-class boulder problem at 3600m altitude (I propose V5/V6 – details and location on request). Furthermore, I found out the hard way that it actually gets painfully cold above 4000m. Anyway, the trek proved to be the perfect choice since I’ve witnessed a county so diverse that it was hard to believe that I am, somehow, still in Nepal. More, I felt like walking through four exceedingly different countries (with the common denominator that they served Dal Bhat in all of those countries) within just a few days: Starting deep in a rich, sub-tropical jungle, ascending to a desert surrounded by 7000m peaks, followed by a high alpine setting including snow showers, and finally strolling through rough Tibetan highlands with storm-like wind dusts.

Such a diversity is hard to grasp – if possible at all, only with a few days delay. Besides those almost unreal landscapes, the culture and people of Nepal deserve an equal share. To be honest, it takes its time to realize that you are actually trekking through a third-world country – and that that camera you just pointed to picture that cute little Nepali kid is probably worth more than this very kid will earn his or her entire life. I also started with the mission of not taking too many pictures – only the very picturesque moments should be covered. I kept to this mission – and ended up with 700 pictures. Here are some random four of them:

But as everything on this planet, also the Annapurna Circuit has its drawbacks: namely road construction. The plan to connect Manang to the main “highway” system destroys quite some otherwise peaceful trekking hours. So whoever is thinking of doing that trek should do it, well, now.

After all those days of walking and constantly moving on, I am now back to (well, relatively speaking) civilization in Pokhara where I’ll relax my tired feet and stuff my notoriously empty stomach – so if you’d excuse me, I’ll be lounging down at the lake, sipping on a Lassi and trying to delete at least 350 of those pictures. Ah, how peaceful a phenomena a lake.