Last flight, last destination - MUC

... and there are no words to describe the feeling how it is to arrive after almost 5 months of travelling at Munich airport. Back home in Europe!

And we arrived in the middle of a snowstorm! Now we also know that we were wrong all along the trip... also our modern planes in Europe shake scaryly!!! A stormy welcome for an exciting new chapter of our life.


In 5 months we travelled 3 continents, through 13 countries, took 23 flights, passed 16 borders and got 31 new stamps in our passports. We slept almost 120 nights in hotel beds and ate more than 350 times in restaurants. Basic ones and fancy ones, good ones and bad ones. But always new, always exciting.

We have met amazing people all along the way, local ones and travellers, which we will never forget and will try to stay in contact. We saw wonderful places we want to return to and heard about amazing places we will visit the next time. And places we might not return to, but which will stay in our minds forever.

140 days of travelling, and we don't want to miss a second. Now it is time to settle - at least for a bit ;-) - dreaming about the places we have been to and secretly planning our next adventure... Tadjikistan, Pakistan, Tibet, Mustang, Mongolia, Russia, China (again and again...), New Zealand, Cook Islands, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Equador, Colombia, Brazil and and and...

There's a world and a lifetime of travelling ahead of us... and we can't wait to pack our backpacks again ;-)

Final days in Paradise ... cococnuts, golden beaches and Samba in Salvador

Our returning date is coming painfully nearer... especially as we - threatend by the thought of having to find a flat in 3 days - anticipated our final flight by more than a week!! (and were regretting it badly sitting on our Paradise beach in Brazil) But all TO DO's back home were popping up to frequently in our heads... So we decided to skip the trip to the very North (another reason to come back ;-) and to indulge into some last true vacation days. No 24hr night buses anymore, no crappy hotels, no cheap restaurants, just pure luxury...

And we found our paradise in Praia do Forte. A tiny beautiful beach resort north of Salvador de Bahia. The perfect place to chill out and sip our coconuts in the sun: golden beaches, forests of palm trees and turquoise water. In fact it is called the Polynesia of Brazil.

The cultre and the spirit in this part of Brazil is breathtaking. Samba everywhere, dark smiling people full of joy and life, boys practising Caporeia on the beach and the big mummies cooking huge pans of moqueca de camarao (a yummy type of curry with shrimps and coconut milk).

And then the city, Salvador. An incredible place. The old city with its colorful colonial buildings is a UNESCO heritage. The life takes place outside. At 7am the beaches in the city are full of people playing soccer, running, surfing, kitesurfing and you can watch them drinking your coconut until the sunset.
So we were intrigued by the thought of doing the same like the Italian owner of our fancy hotel... just leaving everything behind and open an hotel in Brazil (www.hotel-cocoon.com). But we skipped the idea (for now!!) - so eventually we jumped on our plane back to Sao Paolo and further on...

Enjoying Rain in Rio with Denis and his family...

Sun, samba and minimum 25 degrees... this is what Denis promised us when we come and visit him and his lovely family in Brazil, our last country before we were turning home. And this is what we needed after some freezing weeks in Argentina...

But he was wrong!! The day we arrived the sky turned black and it was raining for the first time after 3 months!! We couldn't believe it!!
But it didn't matter at all. We loved having an excuse to stay as long as we could with Denis, Cris, Caio and Bruno (and Ruby, the dog!!) in their cosy home, relaxing and chatting all day long. And it was a good excuse for the girls to go on extensive shopping trips into the spectacular malls and get hair and nails done... and for the guys to hang out in front of the TV watching soccer...

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We were lucky that there were some public holidays so Denis and Cris had time to show us their amazing city. We saw the famous "Zuckerhut" and the dungle like botanic gardens, had a (short and wet;-) stroll at Copacabana and drank fresh coconuts with the beautiful crowd at Ipanema beach (not wet!!). And after three vainly attempts to see Christo we gave in and took the cable car up into the clouds... and were rewarded with some minutes of great views on beautiful Rio!!

In the end we enjoyed it so much that we stayed a full week in Rio ... finally with bright sunshine and the whole family at the beach. What a life!!!!!

Mi Buenos Aires querido - with Tango and Boca Juniors

Have I mentioned that we love this city ;-) (Fabri ranks it short after Sydney and I might put it even before :-)) Together we have been here now 5 times and we can´t wait to go back already!

We enjoyed it to the max! This time we emerged into two of its most famous attractions: TANGO and SOCCER, the notorious Boca Juniors. The best of both worlds for both of us! I dragged Fabri to every Tango lesson and Milonga we could find in the few days and he dragged me into the midst of the crazy Fans of Boca Juniors in the famous yellow-blue stadium in La Boca.

We had a good time chilling out our our beautiful hotel in San Telmo (great recommendation: www.thefourhotel.com) , ate yummy parilla (meat, meat, meat) till the bellies were bursting and strolled through the city like the Portenos ...
We don´t know when we will come back ... but this was surely NOT our last time here :-)

Ice climbing at minus 5 degrees - exploring Patagonia

Patagonia was just amazing! Another highlight on our already pretty long list of beautiful places in this world.

We flew from Buenos Aires a few 1000km South to the - what we thought - end of the world, a village called El Calafate. Surprisingly we arrived in a pretty much developed little town with loads of cosy restaurants, alpine-style (Huetten look) accomodation and little shops full of Argentinian handcrafts. All of this set amid a stunning scenery. Next to the deep turquoise "lago Argentino", surrounded by white peaks (the Glacier national park). And with a true Antarctica feeling, caused by the freezing winds. Which meant that latest after 10min walking we had an excuse for being rescued by a yummy submarino (hot chocolate) or an Argentinean Mate tea in a sweet cafe.

But not only the scenery and the weather reminded us so much of home (we heard it is already snowing in Munich...)...
When waiting to go on a boat trip to see the famous glaciers up close, we met Matteo and his wife (being there on a honeymoon) .. a friend of us from the Bocconi MBA!! In a queue at the end of the world - unbelievable!!!! So we got a fresh update from home and chatted until late in the evening. It was great! And it made the pretty touristic boat ride a bit more fun...

Apart from the standard glacier tours, Patagonia is an amazing place to discover untouched nature and do all kinds of adventures you can think of. We climbed through the massive, deep blue ice of the Perito Moreno glacier (the bluer the ice, the older it is...). An unforgettable experience, getting into the crampons and walking over hidden rivers and waterfalls...

2 days of our (far too short) Patagonia trip we spent in El Chalten (an even tinier village 4hrs from Calafte) to hike through the mountains around the Fitz Roy range. It is all natural parks here (UNESCO proteced!) which are incredibly well maintained by a passionate crowd of locals (the walkways are better marked than in the Alps). Unfortunately both days were too stormy and cloudy to actually SEE the famous peaks, but it was worth it, just for the great treks. And with photoshop we can paste the peaks into the white spot (the clouds!) of our posing pictures at the "Miradores" (viewpoints) :-)

Our week down there was flying and - far too early - we had to go back to BsAs... although looking forward to get our bones warmed up a bit and chilling out for a week in one of our favorite cities :-)

Colonial charme, indio villages and breathtaking scenery - finally ...Argentina!

Salta, a beautiful colonial town in NW Argentina (up on the way to Bolivia) we didn´t want to leave. The city is big enough to provide all travellers´ amenities but also cosy so you feel straight at home. And the area around is beautiful to explore - we saw small Indio villages with little white-washed houses, the amazing 7-color rocks of the Quebrada de Humahuaca and the cool cactus forest up on 3000m. All done in a one-day trip, where we almost didn´t come back from ... we got completly stuck by heavy floodings (you could watch the water rising.. scary!) with our (not at all a 4WD) car. When we tried to turn back, the way was also blocked as a bridge collapsed and the water pushed up the asphalt. When the waterlevel fell to less than 1m eventually our driver was brave enough to drive us safely home :-)

Far too quick, another night bus ride was waiting for us - 22hrs to Buenos Aires. And it was by far the most uncomfortable bus trip we had during our whole journey. But arriving in Buenos Aires instantly made up for it!
Despite the whole city being booked out for the next month leaving us with some annoying search (and daily change!) of hotels, we both love that city. Summer is on its way and the whole city is full of lilac blossoming trees. We enjoyed 2 days of strolling around in the warm sun, shopping in posh Recoleta and cobble stoned Palermo Viejo (Tango shoes :-)), and of course eating excellent Parilla (Argentinian grilled meat) before we headed down to Patagonia. A last time into the cold... (at least we thought so!)

1000km nothing but sand.... but where is the next dentist??

Our first days in South America we walked around like Zombies... 7hrs jetlag, 2 nights without sleep, 20 degrees less and a Paradise lost. But South America charmed us straight aways with its relaxed Latino attitude, the colonial architecture and - of course - the great food!!

In Santiago de Chile we did not much more than strolling around the streets, hanging out in nice street cafes and eating Parilla at "Las Vacas Gordas"; Fabri's favorite restaurant! During one of our long coffeehouse breaks we met a lovely Dutch couple (Ivo & Loraine) who left us half of their European medicine against Fabri´s rising pain with a tooth (or so, we didn´t know). Drugged with antibiotics and painkillers we thought all was fine and took a 24hrs bus ride up North to the amazing Atacama desert.

1000km only sand and 50 years no rain (it´s the driest desert of the world!!) .. but nothing was fine - the drugs didn´t work! So instead of exploring amazing San Pedro de Atacama I spent my time trying to explain in rudimentary Spanish to the nurse, the pharmacist, the supermarket guy and whoever else sold drugs in that place, what we needed. After 4 days of experimenting with all kinds of medicine we gave up, and drove back to the last oasis town 2hrs away to finally see some doctors. In the end Fabri spent his birthday (!!!) getting a devitalization of a tooth. Poverino!

Besides checking out the Chilenean health system we thoroughly enjoyed the stunning landscape of the Atacama desert: the deep blue sky, the countless volcanos at the horizion, the turquoise lagunas with its pink flamingos and the bright white salt plateaus (reminded us a lot of Bolivia). And we enjoyed our little oasis, San Pedro, which is actually a great place to hang out. Cool restaurants with open roofs - to see the stars - and fireplaces (against the temperatures around 0 degrees at night). In San Pedro we also met up again with Ivo and Loraine and spent some cool evenings chatting around the fire into the night..

Due to the Doc hunt we spent almost a week up North before we took the bus over the Andes (5000m altitude, but after the Himalaya we hardly noticed..) on a stunningly beautiful ride into Argentina heading towards Salta.

Bora Bora - one week in Paradise ...

We wouldn´t have believed it if we hadn´t been there...
Remember the "kitsch" posters we had in our teenage rooms which made us dream of white beaches, crystal clear lagoons and coconut palm trees. It is all real!

But Tahiti and its islands is more than turquoise waters. Papeete, the capital, is a busy and modern city; not really beautiful, but with outstanding food (the French influence!), astonishingly good health services (which we had to test..) and amazingly friendly people... where else in the world a taxi driver would take you for free if you didn´t have enough cash, or a family would give you a pick up to the airport seeing you waiting for the bus and waving us goodbye like old friends...

In order not to completely blow up our travelling budget (everything costs a fortune here: a sandwich 15 EUR, 1 hr Internet 24 EUR, ...) we decided to shorten our stay in French Polynesia to 8 days and spend it mainly on one island - Bora Bora. It gets even more cheesy - we booked a full week all-inclusive at Club Med. Best decision ever!! We argued it with having chosen the best price/quality ratio but actually it was just heaven being pampered for one week with great food and drinks, sleeping in comfy beds in a luxurious room and having all the services you wish. Just felt a bit misplaced with our shabby travelling clothes between 90% of neatly dressed honeymooners ;-)

Both, Bora Bora and our Club were fantastic. The airport is on a little sandbank (Motu) in the middle of turquoise waters and you get welcomed with flowers and music. Club Med has a great location with a private motu in the middle of the lagoon and all water sport activities possible (great snorkeling, sailing, windsurfing etc) - all inclusive so you can imagine how much time Fabri spent NOT in the water!!
Besides this we met some really cool and lovely couples from all over the world. Even the pretty miserable weather (2.5 days of continuous rain...) couldn´t dampen our mood. Instead we indulged in excellent food (fish, fish, fish), won as many competitions as possible ;-)) and enjoyed the chats about home and the rest of the world with Elisa and Antonio (from Tuscany!!).

As one of the highlights, we visited on our last day (the only one with deep blue sky) the whole lagoon, where we saw the coral reef, dived with sharks (small black tip ones... still I was out of the water after 3 min ;-) played with sting rays and admired all the different shades of turquoise water. It was tough to leave when Paula - the Italian GO - waved us goodbye. And we were still dreaming of our Paradise on the flight towards Easter Islands ... continuing our journey on to our last exciting continent - South America!

New Zealand... hot pools, cold winds, All Blacks and fish´n´chips

The original plan was to spend only few days in Auckland as we thought we would run out of time, but we managed to squeeze in a good trip of the north island with Mike and Adrienne. The airport pick up was pure lux for us, as the arrival at a new airport is normally more complicated, with no accommodation booked and only a vague idea of where to go to. We headed for Auckland on the first day, getting a good feel of the beaches and great view from the top of the Sky Tower with Simone praying I won't decide to bungee jump from there !! We moved to the harbour where the America's Cup boats were anchored to remind us which country we were visiting!!

We then headed north to catch on yummy fish'n'chips which we enjoyed in the car (yes restaurants close at 8 pm and the outside temperature was far from tropical). Mike and Adrienne reminded us we should start thinking about buying a house in a nice location, when they showed us the piece of land where they are planning to build their nest... 40 metres from a beach and a golf course at the back would also be a location we would look forward to settle in!!!

It was rugby time and we (Mike especially) would have not taken any room without TV for the France-NZ game which was on at 8am in the morning. Clearly we booked the only motel without a TV and the owner did not really understand why we decided for another location just to watch a world cup quarter final... luckily Adrienne's cousins' husband was in the whereabouts (2hrs away) and generously offered a roof for the 4 of us and a supportive team to watch the rugby the next morning. Everyone knows what happened so it took a while to cheer up the Kiwis who were taking it on the referee and deciding to stay well far from French champagne for the next 4 years !!

The hot water beach was what we needed to cheer up and so we digged a nice pool by the beach where the hot water coming from underground was keeping us warm and relaxed. From there we headed to the thermal land around Rotorua where the volcanic activity is strong. Craters, fumaroles and lava alternate themselves to lakes of the most unnatural colour (yellow, orange, red, etc). It was a nice walk through the park before a fun afternoon on the luge, speeding down the mountain and having a great day... The girls would have never accepted our programme if we hadn't promised to take them to the Spa where hot mineral spring waters massaged our tired bodies.

The time we had in New Zealand was great and regretted not having longer to visit the south island, but at least we will have a good excuse to return.

3500km of breathtaking landscape - heading towards Victoria

The main reason to come all the way down here was to visit another couple of lovely friends, Nicki and John and their sweet little daughters Lily and Gemma in Melbourne. We spent a fabulous time at their (amazing!!!) house in one of the swankiest quarters in Melbourne (being painfully reminded that back home not even the tiniest apartment is waiting for us ;-)

From Sydney we took the small road along the amazing Australian coast through sweet fishing villages and beautiful national parks and after more than 1000km we arrived in Melbourne; all driven by the "speeding" Italian, who talked himself out of a (deserved!) ticket. But the police in this part of the world seems more relaxed. The (friendly smiling!) officer spent more time giving us tips where to eat and sleep than a lecture on Australian speed limits. Melbourne did not impress us for its sights, but we loved its many little streets with cool cafes, trendy shops, fresh markets ... which occupied more than one of our afternoons there.

We continued our journey along the Southern Australian coast - the famous Great Ocean Road. Originally built as a War Memorial (by the war veterans of WW1) it is a breathtaking windy street all along the coast. The now 7 (originally 12) Apostles was an impressive site particularly with its strong winds and massive waves which sometimes made us doubt the ground would still remain a safe place to take pictures from...

The last night before returning to Sydney we found ourselves in the midst of cheering Geelong, where the Cats (the local footy team) had just won the Grand Final (after 40 years!!), getting everybody on the streets. We just managed to get the last place in a 50´s hotel!!

1000km later and with 20 degrees more we thoroughly enjoyed our last days in Sydney before moving on with our journey to New Zealand.

Sydney - a place to stay!

Hard to say what it was... maybe our wonderful friends (and hosts!) and the views from their living room over Sydney harbour, the white sand beaches in the middle of the city, the relaxed, "no problems" lifestyle, the people running and surfing at 7am just 5min from their appartments, the rocky ferry rides every morning from Manly to Circular Quay or the deepblue sky with 30 degrees at the beginning of spring... whatever it was, we fell instantly and irreversibly in love with Sydney!!

After some exciting 2 months of pretty rough traveling through Asia we enjoyed the familiarity and amenities of this city to the max. We truly felt at home, staying at the amazing appartment of our lovely friends Claire and Steve. We could even cook there (Pasta, of course ;-) which was better for us than any restaurant!! Spending most of our time with friends and old work colleagues we realized how much we missed the chats and deep discussions with friends, a proper place to stay (not another hotel room!!) and how great the lifestyle (and work attitude!!) on this side of the world is...

Besides partying, chatting and great wining and dining we also took our chance to see and experience many of the famous sights of this city: Harbour bridge and Opera house, the surfers at Bondi beach, the great caffe latte in one of the million cafes downtown, Darling Harbour and the Fish Market, the Botanic Gardens, the luxury villas in Palm Beach... just to name a few. And, being Harry Potter aficionados, we obviously couldn't miss the chance to see the latest movie in 3D (!!) on the greates Imax screen (apparently) of the world.

1.5 weeks in this amazing city were flying too fast, but we knew that we would return ... (after our trip to Melbourne ;-)

Snakes, spiders and leeches ... jungle trekking in Laos

Just imagine all the doggy animals you never wanted to meet live... we had them all!! After 24hrs of traveling by night buses and tuktuk we arrived in Muang Sing, a bigger village at the utmost corner of Laos (at the border to China and Myanmar)... and somehow we found ourselves arranging an an overnight trip into the jungle (5 days of beach .. and we needed some adventure again ;-). And it was a tough experience - but extremely rewarding...

Let's start with the tough part... Don't remember what was more disgusting, the leeches (Blutegel!!) slowly creeping up inside our pants sucking our blood, the large spiders sitting over our our heads in our little bamboo hut or the shouts of the guys "careful, big snake to your left in the bamboo trees"...
Compared to this, the living cockroaches (Kakerlaken) which our bus driver bought at the side of the street (a bus in Laos stops for that!) and placed them just in front of our nose were harmless (here they are considered a delicatessen, you can buy them fried on a stick everywhere!!!)

Besides these interesting encounters ;-) it was a truly amazing experience.
The landscape was stunningly beautiful, changing from neon green rice fields to dense jungle (our local guide cut our way free with a big Busch knife!!). The people are amazingly friendly and laid back (a scheduled tuktuk full of locals was waiting for us for 1.5hrs so we could reach the next city after our trekking tour - imagine this in Europe!!). But above all, we were deeply impressed by meeting the village people, who live in extremely basic conditions (more than 75% of the whole population have to life with less than 1 USD a day) and still seem to live a peaceful and happy life. This deep insight into a world as far as it can get from ours was just unique and left a lasting impression on us. And made us realize once more how privileged we are... and how little we actually have to complain or worry about...

After these intense days in Northern Laos we headed on a local bus south to the UNESCO World Heritage town of Luang Prabang. We instantly fell in love with this beautiful and still laid back town (they can't be bothered less by the crowds of tourists..) - young monks in bright orange robes walking the streets, cozy French bistros and architecture mixes with coconut palm trees and the Mekong river... and bright golden temples blinking at every corner. If we could have changed our (so-called "flexible") flight tickets, we would have stayed another week in this wonderful country. As BA is as inflexible as it can get ;-), the Southern part of Laos has to be explored on another trip.. we come back happily!!

A change in the plan - being seduced by white sand and turquoise waters

Finally, a break from backpacking! We really needed it ;-))) It started with a luxury flight on Thai (sometimes being Senator is really usefull ;-) to Bangkok, and my refusal to head to Laos on a night bus straight away. Did not take long to convince Fabri to change our travel plans and spend some days at the beach ;-)
And off we went on another night bus (even night buses are NOT backpacking here in Thailand, but luxury!) and got stranded at this beautiful beach on the north-eastern side of Koh Pagnang where we spent our first nights, travelling the island by boat, having candle-light dinners on the beach. Our last night we celebrated with a cool beer in our hands, lying in bathtub warm water and a stunning sunset on the other side of the island (Haad Salad beach)
Not much more to add on this adventure...

Ah, almost forgot. Work is everywhere! Bumped by accident into Carsten, a colleague of mine, visiting a palace in Bangkok. The world is just too small, unbelievable. And it seems we are having some cool project locations at the moment ;-))

5 days of relaxation, fresh coconuts and sand as fine as flour (type00!!) were just perfect. But we are not getting lazy! Another 12hrs in a night bus to the north of Laos are waiting in a few hours... and off we go to the next adventure ;-)

Explosion of colors and sounds ... partying with locals in Kathmandu

Spoiled by the excellent food (from Pizza nel forno a legna to Paneer Masala..), our cosy guesthouse (www.newachen.com), and the great company of our new friends we really got lazy the first days in Kathmandu... Just inhaled the city and its bright culture, enjoying all the backpacker amenities in Tahmel (Backpacker city in the center of Kathmandu) full of Trekking stores, internet cafes, comfort food and italian coffee and the UNESCO sites just in front of our hotel door...

Thanks to Gina and Vincent (the most passionate photographer ;-)) and their enthusiastic reports about the festivals, we eventually got up our asses (and me away from Harry Potter!!!) and visted some amazing festivals in and around Kathmandu. We saw Pilgrims taking a bath and burying their relatives in the local river (small though.. after having been to Varanasi), kids jumping in the pool of the most holy temple just around the corner of our hotel and got ourselves some wristbands full of good luck for the next year.

The most impressive event was the "cow festival" in Baktapur. The relatives of the recently passed away family members carry around a cart decrated with pictures, donations and a COW (holding on to the cow tail kind of helps to reincarnate better ...) in a huge noisy and colorful prozession through the whole city. And what a city - really spectacular! We felt like shifted a few centuries backwards. Kind of reminded us of an old Tuscan city with Asian touch.

3 days of continuous festivals and some temples and Durban squares later it was time to say goodbye to our friends and our interim home. Very sad! We celebrated our last evening altogehter being invited by our host family to a typical Newari Dinner and some funny rounds of "Cheating" game... where Fabri could finally take his revenge on us 3 ;-)

The gateway to hell ... 30km to move to another world

If we ever thought we did some adventurous off-road trips before our "roller coaster ride" to Kathmandu (e.g. the so-called most dangerous road of the world from La Paz down into the jungle...) we were DEFINITELY WRONG. During the 30km between Nayram (or as the Tibetans call it: "Gateway to hell") and Zhangmu (the Chinese border town) and the following 120km in Nepal we were probably closer to heaven than we wanted to be!!!!
For the road which goes from Tibet to Kathmandu dangerous is not the right adjective... it is as muddy and slippery as it can get, the width is a few cm more than one 4WD (with much road work going on on the Chinese side, and the poor workers sleeping there!!). It is taking you under waterfalls with no hard shoulder and through fast flowing rivers which go into nowhere ... always 10cm away from the border which drops a few 100m into the steep valley. Thanks god we didn't know that more than 30 people died on that road just a few days before, or we wouldn't have been so easy at driving down...

Besides that, the scenery was unbelievably beautiful with sudden deep green tropical forest (after weeks in deserts and high altitude areas a feast for our eyes!!) and humidity going up to 95%. Sleeping at the border was not what you call glamorous and we had to take a few beers (even went into a shabby discotheque to kill time!) before we dared to climb into our damp and dirty sheets.

Crossing the border to Nepal gave us straight away the feeling we were in a different world. The people (dark and colorfully dressed), the smell (spicy and sweet), the culture (Hindu, Buddhist), the chaos (dirty, noisy) and also the weather (monsoon every day a few hrs) - it couldn't be more different to Tibet.. The Indian influence is more than obvious. It exciting on a different way and not at last brings great dinners and relaxed traveling atmosphere.

The closest place to heaven - trekking to Qomolangma

Two days in Lhasa gave us time to catch up on mails and laundry as well as curing a toothache as Simone found herself loosing a filling. The local dentist had a airy clinic (it was more a shabby shop filled with Chinese getting hanging infusions and some deserted dentist chairs) by the road (it was literally ON the road!!), clients smoking inside and 20 Chinese trying to check what might be so wrong in the mouth of a European (they all stared into my open mouth!!!). With the help of Fabri's drawing skills we finally got around to explain we needed only a filling but the whole process kept both of us quite nervous.. in the end we got a good service and a tooth filling for only 5 Euros... not bad as a dentist rate !!!

Sipping our last coffee in the Summit cafe (the local Starbucks copy!!) was the last thing before getting into the 4WD to Kathmandu. The drive took us through some beautiful landscapes and we managed (again ;-) to visit fantastic Monasteries. In particular at Gyantse we took the picture of what we had seen only few months ago at Minimundus in Austria and got to understand better how the new Dalai Lama is selected at Shigatse. It's a pretty amazing process which involves identifying people with unique features...

The undoubted highlight of the trip was getting to Everest Base Camp (Qomolangma is its real Tibetan name..) . And YES!! We saw it in deep blue sky!!! (despite monsoon season). The drive was a proper off road trip with rivers to cross, muddy roads showing a deep valley on our side.. we were however very lucky to turn around the corner and get in front of us the majestic Mount Everest. The experience is really touching as you feel pretty small in comparison and the glaciers and surroundings make it a stunning view. Somehow it is difficult to explain, but once you see it, you want to get to the top and this is not something for everyone. We had an even colder night up there, but the day paid us back as we trekked on some off road paths to the Everest Base Camp (5.300m) to get a glimpse of the glacier at its bottom. Unfortunately the Chinese try to make everything difficult keeping people to the official path but we sneaked through the valley and got closer to the mountain - magic!!! (ok, we might be a bit H.Potter influenced these days ;-). On the last pass towards Kathmandu with another incredible view on the Himalaya range, we had time to tie some prayer flags to the pass and hopefully they will keep flying up there for a long time as one of the highlights of our trip...

Sky burials, steaming rivers and turquoise lakes ... exploring Tibets countryside

We enjoyed a couple of nice days out to Monasteries in the whereabouts of Lhasa and got better acclimatised with the altitude (3600m, now it even sounds low!). Somehow we managed to jump on a local bus to Ganden at 6am getting a seat in the corridor between all the pilgrims and even managing an hour sleep to arrive to a beautiful Monastery with a great Kora (the pilgrimage around the Monastery). Walking up a steep path (panting and struggling) we were rewarded with fantastic views over the valley. We even managed to join the monks for a cup of yak tea which serves them as lunch but is pretty difficult to drink for our taste (imagine salted brown water with butter mixed into it).

We then tried to organize few tours and even considered entering Potala... but both seemed a bit of a mission impossible. To enter what was the ex house of the Dalai Lama independent travelers have to give up a good night sleep to queue at 4am in order to get the permission to buy tickets for the following day. Not being early birds we opted for a walk around and taking (anyway the best) shots from outside and watching the monks at Sera monastery during their daily debating practise (it reminded us of our negotiation skills classes during the MBA ;-)

Eventually we met up with a nice (Mexican/Dutch) couple with whom we have been traveling since (Georgina and Vincent). We embarked on a nice trip around Lhasa to check few monasteries out off the beaten trek (as you would have got by now, a lot of sightseeing in Tibet revolves around Monasteries). On the occasion we got to witness a sky burial which is a unique way for the Tibetans to greet their loved ones for the last time.. Once they have been wrapped tight in sitting positions they are indeed carried on the shoulder of friends to get the last blessing and left to vultures and wild dogs.. very strange experience to even sleep near that site (we saw the prayers only which was more than enough for the girls..)

After a hot hot bath the next morning with some praying Tibetans in the local hot springs we headed towards Nam Tso (a bumpy but amazing 6hrs trip in our 4WD), the highest salt lake in the world. We spent freezing nights at 4800m and enjoyed fantastic views of the turquoise lake which you will see on flickr (click Tibet link). The night in between costed us wet clothes as our tend was not strong enough to keep the water outside and wild dogs tried to entertain us too long. It was anyway a great way to explore the areas around Lhasa on a 4WD and even challenge the locals on playing pool (loosing as you might guess, but the table was not what you might call a smooth surface!!)

Finally... arriving on the roof of the world!

On the morning of the 10th all the worries whether we would have entered Tibet cleared as we finally boarded the plane that would have taken to Lhasa. But what a plane ride... we got hit by a lightening (!!) and it felt as if the plane would touch the mountains ...
While landing we got a glimpse of the mountains growing over the clouds and we suddenly felt the altitude as breathing at 3600 metres can be hard. We got into Lhasa at the beginning of a week of festival and were welcomed by masses of pilgrims and monks wondering around the monasteries while praying. We checked into a nice hotel and nearly made it to the third floor, understanding we would need to acclimatise before heading on the sites. Walking along the Koras (the pilgrimage around the monastry) with the pilgrims and entering the monasteries during the festival somehow touched us quite deeply as people have such a strong belief in religion. We really enjoyed the sites and tried to get used to the (pretty strong) smell of the yak butter tea, which is rather dense (fat!!) and rather different (salty!) from our idea of tea.
We were lucky enough to attend a festival at Deprung monastery where a huge image of Buddha (Thanka) on a big cloth is revealed on a mountain while around 70 thousands people start throwing their white praying scarfs (and themselves) onto it.

As we walked to 4500m (with lungs and heads aching ...) to visit the monastries we got great views of the valleys and praying flags flying so high. Tibet is really an incredible country, althouth the Chinese would not quite agree with the latter definition, with very nice simple people which touch you deeply inside...
and the food finally is not chinese only giving us the opportunity to enjoy spaghetti bolognese and tasty nepalese food..

Starbucks, Pizza Hut and faked Nike .. we are in Chengdu

As we were trying to find out which was the best way to get into Tibet we decided on flying rather than other long bus/train journeys as our backs had started acking a bit too much (although it was really tough to let go our dream of entering Tibet with the famous new train!!).

Chengdu is in the middle of China and the entry port to Tibet. We weren't expecting anything special, but as soon as we landed we bumped into a Starbucks ... and suddenly realised our breakfasts would have improved greatly !!! We also got the latest copy of Harry Potter and this was enough for us to spend few hours enjoying what we have been missing from home. The city afterall had also a nice quarter where the old chinese buildings had been restored to create a nice pedestrian area where to enjoy few drinks in the evening. A couple of dinners at Pizza Hut and some hours spent at a massage place were what we needed to recharge our batteries before flying to Tibet.

50 hrs bus ride through the desert...

Kashgar was what we expected Central Asia to look like... an old city with an arabic flair, old markets with local people eating on the street and the smoke permeating the streets !!! It was really nice to get the Silk road feeling we missed in Central Asia and also get into China again. The country is really moving forward... 5yrs ago it would have been a mission impossible to get anyone speaking English in 4star hotels.. this time we were given directions in the street..

we then decided to go for the desert experience and decided on 50 hrs bus ride to Urumqi stopping in Hoitan on the way, which will probably remain in our memory for the place where we actually saw the only silk factory... the trip from Hoitan to Urumqi was quite relaxing and we were lucky enough to get there during a storm and one of the 8days during the year when it rains !!! anyway the only glampses we got were really fascinating and getting off the bus to repair a broken light with sand getting in our mouth was somehow adventorous. From Urumqi we headed directly to Turpan where we embarked on a nice trip across the flaming mountaints and cool viniards. Interesting enough the grapes tasted delicious but no wine wine production.. We will also remember the trip for the people sleeping on the street. Everyone was just bringing the couch outside next to the road and sleep there.. not sure if this was related to security or other but it was rather odd to drive early in the morning through people just stretching as the sun started to rise...

Across the Pamirs and into China

We spent few nice nights in Osh before heading into China. The trip was really beautiful across the mountains in a 4 wheel drive that required cooling every 10 kilometers and a good stretch for our legs. We were welcome a couple of times by locals on the way who ran our way to offer some food and water. On the night we invited ourselves into the house of a nice family... they had planned to spend a quite evening by themselves when some strange foreigners knocked on the door asking for a place to sleep .. and so we got a space in their garden. The next day we got to China crossing the border very early in the morning. A couple of truck drivers felt a bit sorry for the long walk we had to make into china and gave us a lift all the way !!!

Walking back into Kyrgystan - and finally some pics!!

And off we went... yesterday we crossed borders again. This time on foot!! Much cooler than with a plane (and it "felt" safer ;-)

From Tashkent to Osh (Kyrgystan) we got driven through the (supposedly dangerous) Fergana Valley (it was just quiet and beautiful instead) by an Ex Football player of the Uzbekistan national team - I think he is trying for a career in Formular 1 now ;-) - so lots of interesting football talk during the 5hrs journey.
By the way ... finally WITH our luggage ;-)) Although one arrived soaking wet .. never BA again!, but at one point we were just happy to finally having fleeces, sleeping bag, etc!!

After searching for hrs for accomondation in Osh we finally got space at a beautiful guesthouse (Thanks Lisa!) reminding us of a typical B&B in the Alps, so we felt home straight away (no wonder, as it was run by an Austrian as we found out later ;-) They even had Nutella!!! (god, how desperate we were after just 3 weeks for something familiar...) and a slow (56kb) but FREE internet connection.

Staying up until 3am (short backflash from work ;-)) we uploaded finally some pictures on Flicker (just click right). So now you can get a slight impression how amazingly beautiful these countries are.

45 degrees in the shadow ... Bukhara

it is just so hot! unbelievable. Can't believe that one week ago I was sitting in a Shepard's yurt wearing all clothes I had in my backpack and dancing around trying to get my iced toes warm ;-)
The only option we had .. getting up again at 6am and doing all the sightseeing in pleasant 35 degrees and without tourists (nice side-effect for this quite touristy town). Unfortunately also the locals don't seem to be early birds, so it was almost a bit unreal. Nonetheless amazing ... Bukhara seems to be smaller than Samarkand and much more a desert city. Everything evolves around a 16th century "pool" which is the heart of the old city. From there you can walk through small golden streets with Medrassas and Mosques with their turquoise chapel and their deep blue mosaic portals around every corner. Just beautiful (we will upload pictures as soon as the internet cafes have connections over 128 kB ;-).
It still has the glamour of an old silk road city … although also here tourism is growing fast with carpet and handcraft shops around every corner and the typical "come Madam, good price, Italian, German?". And you have to bargain hard (but that I learned in China ;-)!
Definitely Uzbekistan is more touristy than anything we saw in Kyrgyzstan, which doesn’t mean it is easier to travel. For example the currency is just unbelievable! The highest available bank note is 1000 SOM, which is probably around 0,70 EUR, so changing 100 USD can end up in a pile of a few centimeters.. (credit cards are also almost unknown here..). Whenever you want to change money you have to go to the bank early in the morning because by the afternoon they run out of cash … But at least once in our lives we really feel RICH ;-)

Amazing beauty - Samarkand

Everything you saw or read about the Silk Road becomes real as soon as you enter Samarkand. Turquoise chapels and portals with azur blue tiles just everywhere. It is breathtaking!

We sat on the main square staring at the Registan for hours, just not believing what we were seeing. And .. being stared at from the locals ;-) The kids are so sweet, eager to talk and practise the few senctences they know in English. Despite the place being pretty touristic (like all of Uzbekistan) the locals are still friendly and interested in us and not in our money.

Visiting the street of thumbs (see pic) we got to talk to one of the old local men (with the white beard) and he invited us for an icecream. Just like this. Such a pity we only could talk a few words with hand and feet...

Not only the city and its monuments were amazing - also our hotel was really beautiful. Set in a quiet courtyard with huge Mulberry trees and grapes so low that they were quasi hanging into our mouthes (like in "Schlaraffenland"). Thanks god the hotel was good then after 2 days I (Simone) became pretty sick. Fabri was running around to call a Doc and - due to communication problems - they were sending the emergency instead .. how embrassing ;-)) But after 2 days in bed, some strange pills (you don't want to know how they prescribe things here and how the pharmacies look like) and plain rice I was up and running again.

I still blame our - hillarious - visit to a locals restaurant in Shakrizabsz for this little incident. A strange town 2hrs south of Samarkand which was nothing special until we entered - dragged by a local woman - this restaurant where only smartly dressed up women were having lunch. We protested to sit down and eat ... also because I saw where they were taking the water from and after having a glimpse into their "kitchen", but no mercy ;-) When the women found out that we come from Italy she made the band put up Toto Cotugno with "Italiano vero" and we had to stand up and sing (in fact I gave the stage voluntarily to Fabri, as he is the REAL Italian ;-). Hillarious!!! Sweat was running down our legs and arms, and we gave the women there a real good laugh!
And .. we even got a goodbye present (a cloth for the running sweat ;-)) and - as said - I got a little other present, which made us stay a bit longer in Samarkand than planned. Anyway, there are worse places on earth to be stuck...

Looking for the Silk Road ... arrival in Tashkent

After long negotiation with BA we finally got the go ahead to purchase new clothes and backpack as they couldn't figure out when our belongings could have met again with us.... so another day of power shopping in Bishkek (what a vacation!!) If any of you will ever need tips on where to find (non-faked!!) clothes and equipment in Central Asia... just drop us a mail ;-)

Anyway we decided to try Uzbek airways to make up some time and flew on an old Tupulev to Tashkent (che paura!!! .. you could fold the seats..., the whole plane was min. 40 years old). At passport control we met with a nice couple of French guys who were traveling with their little girl of only 20 months (great!!). We checked in at the Gulnara Hotel and arranged for a bed on the floor for the first night, although much more comfortable then the beds we got used in Kyrgyzstan. As we didn't have any Uzbek money, our B&B host just lent us 20 USD in local currency to go out eating .. increadible the hospitality, also in this country!!
Dinner was at the taxi driver's will and we ended up far out off our Lonely planet map in a great place outside town where the waiters were maniacly running up and down to serve everyone in as little time as possible and the menu was russian only. So we pointed to some of the stuff which looked eatable on other's peoples plates and we ended up having just amazing good Shashlyk. The way back was a bit tricky with a driver who could not read the map and with us not speaking a word of Russian beside da and niet... but after more than an hour (for a 5km ride) we eventually found it.
The next two days were spent sightseeing the city with 45 degrees outside and long long long roads to walk by... We were expecting an "arabic-type" New Delhi, a huge mess, people dragging us everywhere selling staff in colorfull bazars ... instead the city is modern, with large streets, ordered traffic, people dressing smartly in western clothes. Big surprise! Especially having this romantic silk road picture inside. Frankly beside the bazar (tidy with numberd stalls!) and the beautiful mosque it didnt impress us too much. So we tried to get the admin things done as quickly as possible - Yes, unfortunately also in a long vacation there is so much tiring stuff to be sorted out, like onward visas, etc. - to go ahead to our next destination ... the longtime awaited Samarkand.

Experiencing the Shepard's life in Kochgor

One of the highlights of the country is the hiking in the mountains and have to say it was really beautiful. We got to Kochgor on a shared taxi with two nice French guys although the car required few pit stops on the way as the steep road was taking us to 2500 m. The city didn't really inspire us at the beginning and the evening thunderstorm was not putting us at ease with the 3 day trek we had booked !!!

After 2 days of shopping we had enough! Even without proper equipment (no sleeping bag, no warm clothes, ..)we decided to go up in the mountains as we planned to do (also giving BA 2 more possibilities to deliver our luggage). The further we got into the mountains the darker the clouds became.. puhh. After a short 3hrs bumpy ride we arrived at Kochgor, the base for the Kyrgyzstan community based tourism program. An organization which organizes wonderful trips into the mountains where you stay in the yurts of Shepards or sleep in private homes. It was a wonderful trip. We had to lovely guides Altynbek and Asim which "pushed" me up and down the high mountains - tough not only for me because I think they hadn't seen such an untrained slow trekker for a while ;-). So we negotiated a speed deal - (very) SLOW up, FAST down. The average satisfied all of us ;-)

After many many meters in hight and several rivers to cross by foot (the bridge was carried away by the strong rainfalls the days before) we finally arrived at the first Shepard's yurt for the night. Great people and a stunning location. The only thing ... it was FREEZING!! But this was sorted quickly with an enormous amount (also in kilos!) of blankets. Then, during the night we got woken up by the Shepard entering our tent an hanging a huge iron block in the middle of our tent. Patiently our guide answered my anxious questions .. it was to keep the tent down during the upcoming thunderstorm. Oh my god!!!! this thing was iron!! but thinking that this guy has much more experience than I how to survive up here in 3000m we finally fell asleep ;-)

The next day we had to climb up a bit higher and finally we arrived at the most beautiful turquoise lake Song-Koel where we spent another night, getting to know the shepards life, helping to cook pasta (Fabri was in his element) and having great discussions with our new Kyrg friends.

Shopping in Bishkek

the city is not what i expected (middle east with a russian taste) but a fairly modern city, with a russian plan and a fairly european atmosphere. Everything works smoothly with no particular noises and smells, where we could happily buy new clothes while BA was safely keeping ours in London... so basically we shared few drinks with the people at the hostel to get an idea of where to go, had a nice breakfast at the expat cafe and wondered around... not much to add on the city beside it is really green with the classic concrete square and marble buildings once home to the soviet and now government houses... nice start would say

Actually we felt pretty "shocked" to get into such a well-organized European-style city. Basically we could not believe it as we were mentally prepared for a kind of adventurous survival trip straight from the beginning!
Better like this, as also our equipment was not yet prepared for the big adventures ;-)

The people are a big mix between Europeans, Russians, Arabs, Chinese and all the Local ethnical groups. European tourists don't immediately stand out as most of the people are white skin. The girls wear shorter skirts and deeper V-necks than you can think of and the guys have mobile phones which are at least 5 generations better than mine!! I was prepared to cover myself up to the nose and hide my belongings - no need for that. It is really incredible what a wrong picture we have in Europe of this region. Obviously there are things which are different to our world - it starts with the fastest internet connection being 256kb and ends with still arranging marriages (maybe not in Bishkek..).

a tough but warm welcome in Kyrgystan

So here we were at Munich airport finally having spent one day maniac shopping to get all the things we needed and sorting the final things out till 4 in the morning...
At the check in we had the first signs. We were not booked on the flight to Bishkek and our luggage started to get pinched with all sort of coloured tags... obviously they were sure everything would have arrived at destination... not so in Bishkek where after a long journey and a funny visa check we were to find a nice lady from British Airways to present us the claim form for the lost luggage... outside the hostel owner had been waiting for 4 hours ... but mostly we had finally got there and ready to shop again !!!
I got mad! After a tiring journey the only thing I wanted to do is to have a shower and creep into my new silk bed inlays to catch up with some sleep. Obviously shouting did not help so we left the airport with 2 little daypacks ... to find our driver standing there almost alone with his little "Welcome Fabrizio & Simone" sign. Incredible - I was really taken by this kind of hospitality. And this is actually what we experience day by day in Central Asia. The people here are just wonderful. Friendly, open, not intrusive at all but helpful and truly interested. Just amazing.

So we arrived in Bishkek - in a Mercedes from the 80ies with a ADAC sticker !!! By the way - I am sure that all cars which got stolen in Germany between 1970-90 arrived here. The mini-buses (actually one of the most efficient public transport systems we have experienced) have stickers like "Baeckerei ABC - taeglich frische Broetchen" etc! In our little hostel we were expected with a good breakfast and a lot of helpful information where we can go and shop for the stuff we needed. So we made our way straight into the soviet-style, but incredibly green city to check out the local department stores, evaluate the quality of the faked North Face gear and try on the latest trends of Tom Tailor and Betty Barclay ;-) (yes - these Germans are really everwhere... ;-)

Good-bye Milan

Fabri: After nearly 4 years of really good fun we left Milan... the day was really hectic as we had packed all our flat and basically our life in 48 boxes and had to pack for the following 5 months traveling around the world. It was not easy to remember in which box the nice shirt was and whether the jumper should have been part of my life for the following weeks or lie in a box... but in the end we made it !!! and in just over 20 minutes the moving company cleared the flat !!! We handed over the house keys to our nice landlady and drove to Modena for the last minute appointment with my dentist, thinking it would have been wise to clear all problems in Europe rather than in Asia... my mum also prepared the best dishes for us as we are going to miss the tortellini for a short while and will have probably to do with rice and veggies !!!!

Simone: ... very tough to leave I have to say. Even if I hated the traffic (especially after coming home from a nice seaside weekend), the inefficient logistics (especially on Monday mornings at 6 am at Malpensa airport!!) and the fact that I am so far from home - I so much loved it!
It is tough to do things for the "last time". having caffe and brioche at our favorite bar, having pizza at la Piccola Ischia with our friends and sleeping in the OWN bed for the last time for 5 months ;-) Thanks god we had to rush so much, that there was hardly any time to think. But as hard as it was to leave - I also felt incredibly excited then for me this meant after 14 years I would go back home .. and travelling!!

Heat and party in Basilicata

We just came back from our 4-day trip to one of the most unspoilt and undiscovered regions of Italy - Basilicata. Great landscape, fantastic food and wonderful people. Everybody seems to be completely at ease.
The old city and the houses are made of stones (partly in caves) which makes the atmosphere at night really emotional, as everything turns yellow with the street lights... Dining was really good, with fresh fish from the seaside and exceptional herbs from the mountains.. After few boiling days at the beach and in the countryside we were also in there for the local festival where a brown-hair marry is celebrated... better celebrated during the day and taken down to pieces at night as the tradition is to bring home a piece of wooden carriage the madonna is carried on!!! We would have also been brave enough to go for a piece, but it didn't make it to the square where we were waiting for ... in the end we had a great weekend and we look forward to go back !!!!

.. I think the guys would have never dared to jump in with the locals to fight for a piece of wood ;-) Better like that , otherwise we had to care about two wounded warriors !!

Back travelling ...

Just feels like yesterday when we were sitting in Jaisalmer, a remote "sandcastle" in India... And now a long awaited dream comes true!

Lot to do still, before our 5 months journey can start. Boxes all over the flat. Insurances and admin stuff to be sortet. An appartment to be closed and backpacks to be packed.

Our journey will start tonight, giving a great farewell to our beloved Italy. And we will celebrate our decision ... and a birthday ;-) on our flight down to Matera. Our first stop-over on our exciting journey back to Munich ...

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." Mark Twain

Follow us on our way back "home" - we will keep you updated!