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Merry goes places
  • Merry Goes Round
  • Merry Life

Merry goes places

A 290-day adventure by Merry Goes Round & Merry Read more
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  • Trip start
    July 15, 2016
  • Merry goes places

    Rolling siblings

    August 22, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    My brother Merten is visiting and we're rolling through northern California. First, we got to have the adventure of buying new skateboards. Merten got his deck at a skate shop in San Francisco, I got my longboard in Santa Cruz. Both shop owners were ultimate hippies who have been riding & selling boards for over 40 years. Thanks Barb and Bill for an authentic hippie shopping experience ;)

    Other than boarding, we're hanging out with our favorite friends Logan and Aria (pic 3&4), taking a surf lesson and spending a few days in lovely Yosemite valley! It's a time of laughing, crying and skating together!

    What a priceless time.    Read more

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    Half Dome mountaineers :)

    August 29, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    To this day, half dome is the most exciting and beautiful day hike I've done. The pictures don't really do it justice, but give an idea of the scale of this hiking adventure.

    Our day started early, hitting the trail before sunrise around 5am. The steep path leads along a river for the first few hours with 2 high waterfalls on the way. Although the water levels were low, the falls in this scenery are still breathtaking.

    Since we had been unlucky and didn't win the permit lottery four days in a row (you need a permit to do the last bit of the hike), we decided to just go and try to find groups with extra permits on the way. In hindsight, this was such a good way to do it! Not because you shouldn't get the permits in advance, but because it was another beautiful adventure on its own. We got to meet and speak with fellow hikers from all around the world and with all kinds of wonderful stories of their half dome experience. Meeting adventurers who have done other amazing trails was especially inspiring. One conversation lead me to plan a Himalaya trekking tour in the fall :)

    12 hours later, filled with images of Yosemite's incomparable beauty, we made it back, thankful we got to experience this special place on earth.    Read more

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    The beauty of Yosemite

    August 30, 2016 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Our few days in Yosemite seemed like a fairly significant time for both my brother and me personally. When trying to understand why, we realized it was not only the amazing beauty in the nature around us, but it was also in the people we met.
    Yosemite seems to pull in the best people from near and far! Kind individuals, hungry for a life full of adventure but also full of time to reflect and ask the right questions. So glad to have met you guys!!! And happy to have made a few joint travel plans for the future as well :)    Read more

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    Everybody loves smørebrød

    September 10, 2016 in Denmark ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    On my way to Germany, I got to hang out with my friend Johanne in Copenhagen for a few days.

    What a beautiful city and what a lovely time together even moreso! And we weren't lazy - on the day I arrived, we visited the original Lego store, a theme park, rock concert and a house music "concert". The rest of the long weekend, we explored the city by bike, skates, foot, longboard and boat. Copenhagen has a lot to offer in the summertime, and I had the perfect tour guide to show me her home town. One of the perks of hanging with a local is that they know where to eat the best authentic food. Thanks, Johanne, for introducing me to the best Smørebrød in the world :)Read more

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    Home sweet home

    October 4, 2016 in Germany ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    Two weddings brought me to Germany this September which allowed for three weeks with the amazing people I call my family & friends!

    And after all the dreaming and planning, I'm getting ready for my next trip: 3 months in South East Asia. I'm starting to feel ready for this next chapter and can't wait to share the stories here.Read more

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    A new chapter

    October 6, 2016 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    My first day as a backpacker since I got back from my Norway adventure! This time I get to share it all with for fellow adventurers :)

    We made it to Phnom Penh (or as we say, Ping Pong) via air and then to Kompot on Cambodia's adventurous highways. So far we've experienced kind locals, heat and rain, language barriers when it comes to ordering food, fantastic food, and valuable conversations.

    After a long long day, we're completely happy and even more tired, eager to do more exploring. Tomorrow. For now it's bedtime :)    Read more

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    Scooterama

    October 7, 2016 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Today, we explored the country the authentic Cambodian way - on five Honda scooters, going through the small town and then into the rain forest at Bokor National Park. During a beautiful ride through the mountains, we quickly learned that it's called RAIN forest for a reason. After beautiful sunny weather for the first hour, we took multiple showers on the way up, getting soaked through and through. But the heat and surroundings made the adventure just that much better: temples, an abandoned French village in the fog, a pit stop and a hot noodle soup.

    It was the perfect day, yet one thing we all regret: Vanessa fell while riding her scooter in the afternoon and fractured her collar bone, which apparently can happen super quickly :( So Vanessa and Merten got to experience the excellent health care system in Cambodia, while James and I got to ride into the jungle one more to pick up Vanessa's bike. It got so foggy and cold, we decided we had earned a huge Cambodian buffet at a otherwise terrible and kitsch casino on top of the mountain.

    Vanessa is much better, but will have to rest her arm and shoulder for the next few weeks. Good thing we have a few days planned on a small island to just relax.    Read more

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    Diving in

    October 8, 2016 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Our third day in Cambodia was relaxing and exciting at the same time. We drove 3 hours west with views of the jungle and the ocean. When we got to our hotel, we decided to rent scooters and go to cascade waterfalls 45 minutes north of us. Trusting the usual navigation through Google maps, we found a route and headed out.

    This trip was really cool as we got to see much more authentic parts of the country. We saw the non-touristy parts of downtown, the freight harbor, and small industrial shops on a busy road along the water. There was soooo much to see and we were amidst people's every day life. Pulling cows with a moto (scooter), gutting a huge pile of fish on a shop's concrete floor, driving open fire street food carts with attached motos and playing volleyball in a factory backyard. We also are at a local restaurant with way too low bathroom ceilings for us :)

    Then the road took us into the jungle, which we loved. But we ended up turning around when the street lead into a small remote village and didn't continue. I guess you cannot always trust Google maps ;-) We didn't see the waterfalls, but had a fantastic day nonetheless.    Read more

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    A Big day for little Mary ;)

    October 9, 2016 in Cambodia ⋅ 🌬 28 °C

    We've had all kinds of weather today - pouring rain that hurts on your skin, bright sunshine and blue skies, steady refreshing drizzle, salty winds from the ocean, and quiet cloudy moments. We tried to make the best of each one and enjoyed the entire day with all its ups and downs.

    We made it to an island in the Gulf of Thailand, just an hour off the shore. By the city of Sihanouk, the water looks absolutely dirty and polluted, but here are beautiful beaches and thick jungle on the entire island. A fantastic end to a fantastic day was a late hike through the jungle to a beach on the opposite side of the island,. Here we saw glowing caterpillars in the dark on the forest floor, listened to the waves of "lazy beach", singing silly songs and my highlight so far: I climbed a palm tree and picked my very own coconut!!! With the help of Merten and Brian, I got up the first few feet til i could hold on to the leaves and then climbed up to pick the coconut which was about 15 feet high. Feeling proud and super happy to be here :)    Read more

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    Back on the trails

    October 10, 2016 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    I felt so blessed to be able to go back on a hiking trail today! A hiking Mareike is a happy Mareike :)

    We did a 4 hour trail to the very southern tip of Koh Rong Samloem. At the tip, after an hour through the jungle (we meet all sorts of freaky insects and frogs), there is a simple lighthouse which we climbed to get a view over the entire island. Such a good time!

    The weather was quite "moody" again, but we enjoyed both the rain and the dry. The rain made our trek into a fun apid riverbed, and while on top of the lighthouse, the weather was excellent and dry for the view. Later in the day, a highlight was a gigantic version of "pick up sticks" (we call it Mikado in German) we played out of a pile of long, thick sticks we found at the beach (about 2-3 meters each). We're quite sad we will be leaving the island tomorrow, but excited for our next adventure in Angkor Wat.    Read more

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    Water adventures

    October 11, 2016 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    Today we did what we could to enjoy the last day on the island (Koh Rohn Sanloem) and by the water: sea kayaking along the shore, snorkeling at a small beautiful reef, climbing a 3-level waterfall in the stream, and enjoying the big swing in front of our bungalow by the beach. We had such a good time here, we didn't want to leave. Even while waiting for the ferry to arrive at the pier, we decided to jump in a few more times :)

    The ferry ride back quickly turned into a rainy, windy ride. But as old sea bears (=German saying), we had no problems. Back on the mainland, were finished the night with Indian food, a walk through "Karaoke alley" (a road with 45+ karaoke bars filled with locals singing kitsch love songs), and a beer and authentic Khmer food with a young local restaurant owner. The dish: Cow tongue with vegetables, ants (yes, ants) and bugs. What an experience ;-)

    Ps: picture 4 shows us finishing the giant Mikado (pick a stick) game from yesterday    Read more

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    Exploring Siem Reap

    October 12, 2016 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Today, we made our way to Siem Reap in the north of the country. The city is fairly influenced by tourism, as the many temples in and around Angkor Wat are close by.

    We had a really fun day, feeling free and just exploring the city. We had a shopping challenge going: 3 out of every 4 purchases had to be bargains. I finally got new flip flops. And bargained them down in price, too :) We also explored the local markets and spoke to a bunch of locals, learning more and more about the culture and how people live.

    It felt like a nice, refreshing day! Now we're ready for temples and adventures in the jungle    Read more

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    Angkor Hot

    October 13, 2016 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    The day had finally come - for over 2 years now, Merten and I had been dreaming of seeing the temples around Angkor Wat. The world's most likable Tuktuk driver So took us around the major sites. Even in the early morning, it was already 40 degrees and just kept getting hotter with no rain in sight. So we renamed the temples Angkor Hot!

    We first explored the big temple, which is impressive and fun, but we felt like something was missing, like it wasn't quite what we had looked for. Still, it was amazing to see. Second, we went to Angkor Thom and really enjoyed it. The many towers with faces in the stone and it's more ruined and raw character made it feel like a giant adult playground, which of course we loved :) Third, we went to Ta Prohm, our absolute favorite of all the temples. Such a unique place, with giant trees growing out of ancient buildings, taking over and claiming back a once highly developed place. The best part was that we were all by ourselves here. I've never seen anything like it and the tree in picture 4 just caught my attention right away. I stood there for a few minutes, just in awe of the ruins, the tree with roots as big as regular trees and little green parrots in its top, singing with all the other jungle noises.
    This picture I took gives you a good idea of the temple: https://goo.gl/photos/MgPSpxALnNAaAmAu8

    When the sun set and we headed back into town, we couldn't believe the day wet just had. Unforgettable!    Read more

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    My friend the tree

    October 14, 2016 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Still overwhelmed by the beauty of Ta Prohm, we woke up at 4am to see sunrise over Angkor. Even though it was terribly early, and over 27 degrees C even before 5am, we were not the only ones here. We felt like pilgrims, moving towards the temple in huge crowds of people.

    After sunrise, we had some time to kill before an appointment at a zip line park at 9. We watched a kid monk on his way to work (pic 2) and explored more adventurous temples in the middle of the jungle. And everywhere we went, we tried to meet locals and learn about their life. For example, we meet two 2 year old kids, playing outside: holding two machetes, longer than their arms, and cutting off willow brakes for fun. Safety first is not a thing in Cambodia, it seems ;-)

    The zip line park was great fun! Up to 30 meters in the air, we slid from one tree to the next. On the way back, we were taught which ants can be eaten, but I was too scared to try one ;) We then spent the rest of the day exploring smaller temples, visiting the ones grown over by trees and surrounded by thick jungle, and falling in love with the place more minute by minute.

    In the afternoon, we started a new game (and of course made it into a challenge ;) ): who can photo bomb more selfies in a certain amount of time! We ended up playing it for over an hour and put smiles on many faces, once they realized we had walked into their selfies, smiling and with a thumbs up right beside them! Especially Asians laughed and often wanted more pictures with us :)    Read more

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    Working girl

    October 15, 2016 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Today, I took a break to get a bunch of work done. I had been working in the evenings frequently, but needed a full day, so I stayed behind and the 4 others went on more adventures. It was very good to have a quiet day and to feel productive!

    In the evening, we went into the city to grab dinner and walked through town afterwards. We found a place that offered foot skin therapy - if you could bare the tickle!!! Terrible and really fun at the same time ;)    Read more

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    Yangon by night

    October 16, 2016 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Today was transit day, as our 10 days in Cambodia came to an end and we headed to Myanmar.

    We were lucky enough to arrive the evening of the annual full moon festival in Yangon, Myanmar's capital. It was basically a huge street fest with food stands, live bands and rides like this fascinating, unmotorized ferris wheel https://goo.gl/photos/wYrScTfvA9fmUrRr6. So we took advantage and met super welcoming locals, danced with Myanmar's rock music fans at a concert, and ended the night with a long walk through town to the huge Buddhist temple Shwedagon Pagoda.

    The country has given a great, authentic and un-touristy impression. It's friendly, chaotic, dirty, and absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to explore it further.    Read more

  • Merry goes places

    Express Sightseeing

    October 18, 2016 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    We had a short day to see Yangon today, so we chose to see Shwedagon Pagoda and a park nearby. The Pagoda is a giant, 2600 year old golden temple (but you cannot walk into it), surrounded by many other temples and shrines for the locals and Buddhist monks to come and offer fruit, flowers, etc. and to pray.

    The boys were all wearing shorts, which is not allowed in the temples, so the bought Logis, traditional skirts that the men wear.

    In the park, Merten once again turned into an attraction for the locals and we took selfies with them.

    I left in the afternoon to catch a 10 hour night bus to Kalaw, where I will be hiking for 3 days. The rest of the group is taking their own adventurers and we'll meet again in a few days :)    Read more

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    Trekking Kalaw to Inle Lake I

    October 18, 2016 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    After 10 hours in an amazingly comfortable night bus and at least 5 hours of sleep, I found my trekking group at Sam's Trekking Services with our guide Momo. Momo was born in the area and knows the places, plants, history and best trails by heart. He showed us all the plants being grown here, visits the local tribes and farmers on the way and interprets with the locals. We saw and trief green tea, papayas, tumeric, ginger, herbs and rice that the tribes grow here.

    The group is an interesting mix of French, Spanish and Israeli fellow hikers and we get along perfectly!

    After a short night and 24km of hiking, I'm in bed (=a blanket on the wooden floor of a family house) already before 9pm today ;)    Read more

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    Trekking Kalaw to Inle Lake II

    October 19, 2016 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Waterbuffalos have been a big theme of this trip! Back in California, I sing the waterbuffalo song with my friends Logan and Aria (5 and 7 years old :) ) all the time. In Cambodia, we saw many and here in Myanmar, there are even more waterbuffalos. Yesterday I saw so many, I asked our guide Momo if I could ride one. He said yes, but only a friendly one with its owner. So obviously, that was my prayer when I went to bed ;)

    I woke up at 6am and in front of our guest house was an extra friendly huge water buffalo, and the owner laughed at me - but let me ride it anyways. Yippee, what a moment!!!

    The hike today was absolutely beautiful! I picked pees, chilies, egg plant, ginger, citronella, tomatoes and elderflower on the side of the road. I'm also adopting to the culture and bought a bamboo rice picker's hat and tried their famous chewing tabacco, chili and a sauce rolled up in a betel leaf (which I spit out after 3 seconds, but at least I tried).    Read more

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    Trekking Kalaw to Inle Lake III

    October 20, 2016 in Myanmar ⋅ 🌧 12 °C

    Today was the final day of my three day hike as I reached Inle Lake. If it were up to me, I'd have kept going for a few more days! The simple life here has been very inspiring and I loved meeting new friends and learning about customs and nature.

    The tour guide Momo has been fantastic! He grew up in one of the towns we passed through and knows plants, animals and of course the people here better than anyone. With all the things we got to eat off the trees and fields, freshly picked, I collected a little vegetable basket for the others who missed the trekking. Will be awesome to share it with them along with many stories!

    Crazy to say, but I will miss bucket showers, sleeping on the floor, eating simple meals of rice and vegetables, getting up at 6, and hiking in strong heat all day, sweating like a pig ;-)    Read more

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    The city of a thousand temples

    October 21, 2016 in Myanmar ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Bagan is a mind blowing place! Founded in the 9th century, the ancient city left behind over 2000 temples, small and big, shiny and simple, there are more temples than you could ever visit.

    To explore, we rented electro scooters and are driving from one temple to the next. People here, as pretty much all people we've meet in Myanmar so far, are extremely friendly. The temples are beautiful, ancient adult playgrounds and I'm having such a good time. When we got on top of a few temples with roofs to give a good view, I just couldn't believe my eyes!!!

    Another highlight of the day was meeting little Charlie (pic 4) and his siblings. I fell in love instantly and now can't help thinking I should take him with me on my travels :)    Read more

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    Templemania

    October 22, 2016 in Myanmar ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Our second day in Bagan was another fun day of riding scooters through the ancient temples, racing on the gravel roads and playing with the kids that try to sell postcards by the touristy areas.

    Since we wouldn't buy anything from the kids, as they should be in school, we just hang out, play games, talk or buy them food. They taught Merten a local song and Bibi, a 6 year old boy, gave me a pen tattoo (=drew a joker on my arm) :)

    For dinner, we brought some of the food ourselves and had the restaurant prepare an appetizer with the vegetables I had picked on my hike. They were a bit surprised but loved our story and made delicious fresh vegetables tempura!    Read more

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    One last adventure together

    October 23, 2016 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    We spent our last day together in Bagan, visiting a view point on top of a small mountain range, a jungle hike and a visit to a local market. It was a really beautiful time, although it got so hot we were all melting away. At the viewpoint, Merten was the main attraction for locals, who were taking pictures with him (pic 2). At the market, we talked to a lot of very kind locals. Once they found out it was going to be my birthday tomorrow (after Merten sang happy birthday for me with half the people at the market :-D ), I was given a handmade bamboo bowl, a Jade bead to make into a bracelet, and Tanaka, the traditional Myanmar sunscreen.

    Then we took a short flight to Yangon with the most oldschool airline - they separated the different flights by color coded stickers on the passengers and the boarding passes were hand written! We had a lovely dinner in the city and then cake at a tea house at midnight. We shared the giant cake with everyone there and enjoyed the company of new friends.

    What a good way to end 3 adventurous weeks together! I will miss the company but am looking excited towards the next weeks on my own.    Read more

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    A little scavenger hunt

    October 24, 2016 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Today, I took it easy to catch up on sleep, work and skype time with my loved ones.

    I did have one little adventure though: the charging cable for my phone broke and it's a type of cable which is not easily found just anywhere. So I went on a scavenger hunt of calling electronics shops, asking around, going to 2 shopping malls. I learned a lot about this city of 7 million people (which a taxi driver called a small city :) ), language barriers and wonderful, kind people. I ended up finding the cable at a little mobile shop on the side of the street and was so happy, the sales guy didn't know what was happening :-)

    The most fascinating thing to me are all the little street grocery places, that set up shop in the morning on the curb side and sell veggies, meat, nuts or fish, like in the one picture I took all day ;-)    Read more

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