Intro
The time before our world trip was a very intense one.
Chris had a challenging job and a private project as a freelancer.
Job from 08:00-18:00, private project from 20:00-02:00. This during weeks...
We had little time for each other.
Finally day x came and we flew towards Vietnam...
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Vietnam
After a long flight, we arrived in Hanoi, a busy city.Life takes place completely on the street.
There is a lot of streetfood, even the locals cook directly on the streets.
We stayed a few days to acclimatize. Resting is rather difficult in Hanoi.
Then we traveled for weeks by train and bus down to Ho Chi Minh City.
At that time tourists were not allowed to drive motorcycles or cars.
On our way we passed famous places of the Vietnam War again and again.
The locals see this meanwhile rather relaxed. There is also a certain marketing of the whole thing.
For example, one can visit the underground tunnel systems that the Viet Cong used.
The tunnel systems are built so narrow that a normal western man does not fit through. See also "Tunnel Rats".
We traveled through many beautiful places, such as Huế, Da Nang and Hội An.
The people were friendly and helpful and the food was great!
Once we were invited to a local restaurant.
There were rather "local specialties" such as bugs, spiders and so on... We have then decided for crocodile, at least someone of us ;-)
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Cambodia
Cambodia was rather sad for us.There are still many disfigured people, including children, from leftover shells and bombs from the Vietnam War.
From our point of view a mess that would have to be completely cleaned up by the USA.
In Phnom Penh we were confronted with another sad story of humanity.
We visited the Killing Fields and learned a lot about the Khmer Rouge reign of terror.
From Phnom Penh we traveled to Siem Reap. On the way we crossed the Tonlé Sap, a huge lake.
In Siem Reap we visited the children's hospital of Dr. Beat Richner and were allowed to experience a performance of "Beatocello".
Dr. Beat Richner is a person who deeply impressed us, may his legacy live on forever.
If you are looking for a meaningful donation, this would be a good address!
The positiv highlight was the visit to Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world.
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Laos
"Where the Vietnamese sits, the Laotian lies".This was one of the first phrases we heard when we traveled to Laos.
And so it was, very relaxing in every way.
We spent some time in Luang Prabang, a city right on the Mekong River.
The nights were cold and the days very sunny and warm.
We always looked forward to breakfast right on the Mekong.
There were fresh juices and super tasty baguette bread, a relic of the French colonial rule.
From Luang Prabang we traveled several days on a simple boat down the Mekong to the Thai border.
We slept in little villages and had interesting contact with the locals.
During the nights the dogs and chickens kept us on our toes. Often it was impossible to sleep.
We liked Laos very much. The landscape is breathtaking!
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Thailand
In the north of Thailand we rented a car and traveled around the country, mostly direction south.We enjoyed the freedom and were glad not to be dependent on public transport.
In the north it was not easy to navigate.
Everything was written in Thai and we were often in untouristy areas.
We did not have a smartphone and the car did not have a navigation system.
A Thai never says "I don't know" to a question he can't answer.
This is common in many parts of the Asian culture.
Looking for a place to sleep, we often ended up being sent from one place in a village to the next.
Everyone assured us that this was certainly the way to go ;-).... Well, the village knew us with the time...
On the way towards Bangkok, we passed through a rather unknown national park.
There were many wild animals, especially monkeys. But the real monkeys were us...
There were no tourists and the locals were only interested in us.
We had to endure many photo shootings with people we saw for the first time...
After Bangkok it became "palmier" and we looked forward to the sea.
Often we stopped at beautiful places for a few days and enjoyed life.
The final time in Thailand we spent on the islands Ko Lanta and Ko Lipe from where we went by ship to Langkawi, Malaysia.
We love Thailand and have been there many times before and after our trip. The people are super nice, the food is bombastic and the nature is amazing!
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Malaysia
When we arrived on Langkawi, we didn't feel like squeezing into a bus with the other tourists.We rented directly a small motorcycle. Two of us with two big backpacks squeezed onto our vehicle.
We rode off in shorts, t-shirts, flip-flops and, of course, without helmets. Envious looks of the tourists included, hehe...
Five minutes later we were stopped by the police, the looks of the passing tourists were now no longer so envious.
The policeman asked us with a horrified look what we were doing here. He was slightly sour and not up to jokes.
When he then took our passports and saw that we are Swiss, the tide turned.
"Oh Switzerland, a very nice clean country!" He then gave us tips, where it is particularly worthwhile to go and where we can sleep great.
That we didn't get an escort right away was actually surprising...
We spent some time on Langkawi and thought about how we would like to travel further.
We did not feel like the usual backpacker stream.
So we went to a port and hired on a small sailing ship.
The skipper's name was Adek, a Malay.
He just finished a regatta and wanted to leave for Singapore with a stop in Port Klang just outside Kuala Lumpur.
Adek took us with him and we spent 3 days together on the boat.
On the first day we got seasick because the sea was relatively rough due to the strong wind.
In the evening the seasickness subsided and we could enjoy our trip.
The nights on the open sea will remain in our memories forever. Pure freedom!
On land we traveled from Kuala Lumpur to Malacca City, the next adventure was waiting for us...
We wanted to get to know Malaysia even better, but didn't feel like using public transportation.
Rental cars were too expensive, so we decided to rent a small motorcycle again.
Two of us on the small motorcycle drove to the Cameron Highlands, a trip of more than 1'000km.
Partly on 5 lane highways, which was a bit too much. Allowed it is, it had at least others with small motorcycles.
When we gave the motorcycle back to the renter and he saw the mileage, he asked in amazement what we have done...
The population of Malaysia consists of different cultures and religions. Main population groups are beside the Malays, Chinese and Indians.
The food offer is accordingly varied.
Malaysia was a very cool country! People, cities, food, nature, everything super!
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Singapore
Singapore was very different from what we saw before on our trip.Everything was very clean, at least superficially.
For everything there were fines: Biking through the underpass SD 1'000, eating or drinking on the train SD 500, ...
We lived in the red light district because the hotels in the city center were too expensive for us.
The contrast could not have been greater.
Here, women whoring in indian costumes.
There, the clean cosmopolitan city visited by tourists.
All a bit fake...
The night before we left Singapore, the final of the Australien Open took place.
The legendary defeat of Roger Federer against Rafael Nadal in which bitter tears flowed...
Singapore was the end of our 3 month trip through Southeast Asia. From here we headed towards Melbourne, the venue of the Australian Open.
We were looking forward to the new chapter, but were also sad to leave Asia. Roger's tears somehow fit into this...
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Australia
In many parts of Asia we were the center of interest, because the people were simply not used to tourists.
So it was not unusual that several people sat opposite us at dinner and gaped at us or even touched us.
As we walked down the streets of Melbourne, suddenly no one was interested in us.
Everyone looked like us, we were "normal" again. We were happy about that and we enjoyed our new "freedom" ;-)
Melbourne is probably the most sportive city we discovered so far.
Everywhere people are active. Be it jogging, rowing, playing in one of the many beautiful parks, ...
On the first evening we ate Greek food and drank a bottle of red wine for the first time since months.
We were looking forward to our campervan and after a few days in Melbourne we started our journey...
Along the Great Ocean Road and further to Adelaide. From time to time we took hitchhikers with us.
We slept mostly in the campervan, somewhere... and cooked at one of the many public BBQ places.
After Adelaide we drove through the Barossa Valley and visited the winemakers.
We tasted and bought wines on site and slept elevated above the valley in our van.
One evening we got an unexpected visit from other campers. 2 guys who earned some extra money with the grape harvest.
It was a long night with lots of good conversation and alcohol. We played poker, the stakes were stones from the ground ...
Through the inland we went to the Blue Mountains National Park, a beautiful area!
In Sydney we returned our campervan and enjoyed the big city feeling before we moved on towards New Zealand.
We liked Australia very much. We have seen only a small part of the huge country and will definitely come back!
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New Zealand
The people in New Zealand are very similar to Australians.
Quite direct, very nice and have a good black humor.
It's important to Kiwis that the tourists feel comfortable and like the country.
They are very proud of their country, which is absolutely understandable from our point of view.
New Zealand is a paradise for outdoor and nature lovers!
After spending a few days in Auckland, we left with our campervan.
We visited the northernmost point, Cape Reigna, which should be the starting point of our long distance hike a few years later.
Free camping is not allowed in New Zealand, but we did it anyway...
One morning as we were sleeping somewhere in the forest in our campervan we were rudely awakened, there was a knock at our door.
With sleepy faces we opened the door. An angry man stood in front of us.
He was a farmer and we were sleeping on his land. He told us to fuck off and that he was coming to check in 10 minutes....
We excused ourselves, got up and ready to leave. As we were brushing our teeth the man came back.
He apologized for his rude behavior, gave us 2 apples and we were allowed to sleep the next night in a small house on his land.
When we saw the impressive area of Central Plateau we were hooked. We had to go hiking!
We decided to walk the Round the Mountain Track. The track leads around the active volcano Mount Ruapehu.
Our equipment was more geared towards beach life and accordingly it became adventurous....
The evening before our hike we bought the most necessary food and drinks in a small gas station store.
Since we didn't have a water filter with us, each of us carried six 1.5 liter bottles of water in addition to the food and some clothes. Yes, you read correctly ;-)...
The first hut consisted of a main hut and a small side hut. We decided for the side hut, there we were for us alone.
In retrospect it was clear why... There was no fireplace and the night was brutally cold.
Our silk sleeping bag was not quite right and we froze strongly. Sleep was not to be thought.
Since the hut warden told us that it would snow in 2 days, we decided to do 2 stages the next day and then take a day off.
As soon as it got light we started hiking. We were glad, so warmth came into our bodies.
After a long humid day we were very happy to see the hut. Beside us there were 2 hunters in the hut.
They were very worried about us and insisted on taking clothes from them.
Later we visited them at home and gave them back the freshly washed clothes ;-)
We could write so much more about the time in New Zealand, it was such a good one!
If we ever want to leave Switzerland to live in another country, New Zealand would definitely be an option.
Oh, one more thing we have to mention....
Since our flight to Hawaii left early in the morning, we slept in the campervan right at the airport.
While sleeping, Chris was babbling something about landing on the wrong island in Hawaii. Trix was slightly concerned...
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Hawaii
In an internet cafe on a rainy afternoon in New Zealand we organized our first weeks on Hawaii.
We booked a nice little cottage on the Big Island and a rental car directly at the airport in Honolulu.
When we were on approach to Hawaii, it became clear that Chris' dream the night before had become reality. We landed on the wrong island....
What? Honolulu, capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, is not on the Big Island?
Order of consideration: rental car on Oʻahu, overnight stay for the next weeks on Big Island, no connection flight....
We decided for the Big Island and had to rebook and cancel quite a few things on the spot.
Our decision was the right one!
We lived for some time in a cottage on the property of two older hippies.
They showed us beautiful places on the island and we had many interesting conversations.
Since we like to read Jon Krakauer's books very much, we were quickly on the subject.
We talked about the events of the tragedy on Mount Everest, which Jon Krakauer describes in his book Into Thin Air.
The two knew Scott Fischer from a mountain expedition they undertook in the US.
The life of Christopher McCandless ("Alexander Supertramp"), which is told in the book Into the Wild, was also a big topic.
Before their time in Hawaii, the two lived in Alaska. 2 years before Christopher McCandless they slept in the Magic Bus.
We learned many details and also about what the local people think of the tragedy. However, we keep these details to ourselves....
A friend who knew Chris from the time in San Diego came to visit us.
Together we crisscrossed the Big Island.
We spent our last days on Oʻahu before flying back to Switzerland.
We learned a lot about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II and visited the USS Arizona Memorial.
There is still oil leaking from one place, the Arizona Tears.
It was time and we were getting ready to head home to Switzerland.
Our trip around the world was over.
