Der Bayrische Wald…

….hat auch Berge, aber nicht ganz so hohe. Dieses Jahr ging es mal nicht in die Alpen, sondern in den Süd-Osten Deutschlands, in den Bayrischen Wald. Dank des wunderbaren Herbstwetters konnten wir entgegen aller Erwartungen auch im Oktober bei herrlichem Sonnenschein Wandern gehen. Was könnte schöner sein?

Der Predigstuhl und der Knogl

 

Auf den Großen Arber

 

Alles steht Kopf und noch mehr

 

Glas und was es sonst noch gibt

 

 

…und zum Abschluss auf den Rachel

Summer in Scotland

Glasgow

After we arrived in Glasgow we took a little tour through the city center and had our first fresh beer from the tap. I don’t know why some people always complain about British beers…they are fantastic.

On our way to Inverness

The next 2 days we’ve been on the road through the Highlands to Inverness and past lovely Loch Lomond, stopped in Glencoe, had wonderful views of the Highlands and Ben Navis on the first day and followed the Caledonian Canal after a night in Onich up to Inverness , where all the adventure should start for us. Hiring a Houseboat for the first time.

Following the Caledonian Canal

It has been amazing how friendly and helpful all people have been on that tour. Since we didn’t had any experience in riding a boat, mooring and using the locks we depended on the first days on those people helping us to berth and getting everything right. Thank you so much you friendly people. So we went all way down to Fort Williams and back to Inverness, seeing Nessy many times on Loch Ness, at least it looked like.

Elgin, Aberdeen, Dundee and Perth

We really made it back from our boat trip and needed something else to do. So we followed the road again to Aberdeen and Perth. Dundee didn’t really like us. There was not much to see except a lot of water falling from the sky.

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is just a fantastic city. It’s location, the historic buildings and the Castle on the hill is so unique…and by the way, I love Scottish humour

The Negev Desert

Just back from Saigon my next flight has been to Tel Aviv again. The good thing was that I already got used to heat and the nice thing was, in Israel it was a dry heat without this humidity from Vietnam. From Tel Aviv it has been just a 2 hour drive south to the Negev Desert and there you can visit the ancient city of Shifta. I don’t have any idea what people wanted to do there but it is great to see this city with 2 Christian churches, a Mosque and a Synagogue within close proximity. See, this also works.

 

Vietnam in 20 days…

…has been just too short for visiting such a beautiful country. After visiting Lao and Cambodia I expected Vietnam being similar. But it was not like I expected. While Lao and Cambodia seem to have a large cultural Khmer and Thai influence, Vietnam seems to have a Chinese cultural background, what made it a complete differente experience. So we started our tour in…

HANOI

 Although Hanoi is starting to become a modern town like every other big city around the world it still has a wonderful Old Town, which seems to be unchanged over the last centuries. It is just enjoyable to stroll through the narrow streets and relax with one of the great Vietnamese beers.

 

HALONG BAY

What a scenery. The bay is covered with hundreds of boats, but they don’t ruin the views of those karst hills dropped into the sea.

 

HUE

The old city of the emporer still has some charm. The Palace of Hue has some similarity to the Forbidden City in Beijing, but is of course much smaller. To see all the temples and palaces might take forever, but to get an impression some hours spending there are a good starting point. And the market is just fantastic, just like all other Asian markets.

 

HOI AN AND MY SONG

I guess these places are as much touristic as Vietnam can get. I just loved it. The restaurants serve fantastic food, seeing all those people in the streets and just observing life is the best.

 

NHA TRANG

Been there, seen it, checked it…not again…thanks

 

SAIGON (HCMC)

Saigon has not the charm of Hanoi and seems to be much more westernized, but Cholon still has some unique Chinese flavour.

 

 

 

Senegal – Dakar, Saint Louis and more

Dakar – a new experience

A complete chaos. This was not what I expected. The traffic in Dakar is just hillarious. It takes hours to get from one end to the other end of this city even by taxi. Besides that there is not much to see here. The two „highlights“ are the Kermel Market and the Monument de la Renaissance Africaine. The rest is just feeling the vibe of Africa.

 

Ile de Goree

The history of slavery can be seen and experienced on this island, which is an UNESCO World Heritage. Nothing to be proud of.

But here in the Villa Castel we had the best breakfast in Senegal. It was worth staying overnight on the island.

Lac Rose

It shall be really healthy to swim in the water of that lake, that has the same level of salinity as the Dead Sea in Israel. But it is more floating than swimming and I can’t feel any improvement of my state of health.

 

Saint Louis

What a wonderfull town. Probably the most beautiful and interesting town in Senegal, nestled on a small island in the Senegal River. Saint Louis is the oldest French town on the African continent, founded in 1659 and has been the seat of the colonial government until it moved to Dakar in the early 20th century. But what is even more interesting to see nowadays is the fisher village on the Langue de Barbarie. This way of life may probably disappear within the next years, but for now it reminds us of the ancient life.

 

National Park Djoudji

Flying Pelicans…

 

 

Toubab Dialaw

Sobo Bade in Toubab Dialaw is a pitouresque little hotel, which had been designed in a somehow Gaudi-Style.  If you want to experience the real senegalese slowliness this is the place to go. Waiting for an hour in the restaurant for your meal is not uncommon, but the food is really good and if you stay there I guess you are not in a hurry.

 

The colors of the sky