World trip - Anna & Bertram

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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
Scooter & surf on rest day No. 3
21 febbraio 2018, Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
The second day off the yoga training was also very nice and a bit adventurous - we rented a scooter to get around the island 🌴 and Bertram drove it like he hadn’t done anything else in his life ;-)

It was nice to explore the different corners of the island and the neighboring island Nusa Cenigan where we used the yellow suspension bridge to cross. We had a relaxed fresh mango-orange-lemon juice at a cliff bar before heading back to our area for an afternoon surf :-) bigger waves 🌊 which gave us the one or other crash but all friendly and fun.

We felt pretty exhausted though after the session - luckily, we had already scheduled a massage for the evening :-)))) it was fantastic! Bert had a back massge and head massage while I treated myself to a Balinese deep tissue massage 💆 💆‍♂️ wonderful!

The evening ended with another treat: Bertram found a really nice restaurant where we got a table at a top spot overlooking the entire bay.

But now, it will be yoga, yoga, yoga again... the assessment is coming closer.Leggi altro
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Rest days in paradise
1 marzo 2018, Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C
Hello again! :-) Not so many updates lately, as our daily routine is basically “get up at dark, yoga, more yoga, breathing exercises, meditation, get home in the dark” (Anna) and “get up to meet Anna for breakfast, surf, rest, sleep, meet Anna for dinner” (Bertram). :-)

But there are also rest days! The last one we spent slack lining, surfing, stand-up-paddling and enjoying some time out and about on the beach!Leggi altro
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Viaggiatore toll
04/03/18Risposta
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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
Getting ready for graduation + dinner
4 marzo 2018, Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
This day went by more quickly than anticipated - from 05:00 to 16:00 is was yoga asana practice - every student had to teach the entire group a small sequence of 10 minutes 😓 💦

Luckily my group’s turn was at 06:00 - so it was over and done with soon and we could enjoy everyone else’s practice :-) Great to see everyone’s different style!

The tide differences were again massive today - it’s crazy to see how quickly the sea moves in: when I watch the ocean in the morning, all ships lay on the reef - and then over the next couple of hours the high tide is swallowing everything until the afternoon/evening is low again :-) great for walks on the beach though!

The evening was a special one as we were invited to Bertram’s surf buddy Peter who has been living on Nusa Lembongan for 8 years - really interesting to hear his perspectives on island life, the waste war in Nusa Lembongan, and living “in paradise” - where it’s obviously nice with the beaches and the ocean, as well as the simplicity of life but also keeping in mind that one is missing out on a lot of other things like cultural performances, museums, connectivity to the rest of the world... Peter enjoys one of the nicer sunsets from his place in the island mountains overlooking the bay, though :-)))))

PS: best advertising for eating more as seen on Cenigan :-)Leggi altro
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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
Graduation day - what a beautiful one!
5 marzo 2018, Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
Today was the big day :-) Woop woop!

We had all spent so much time in assessments and practices that the last two days just flew by. After final assessments of breath work (pranayama) and meditation practice today, we gathered again at 2 pm for the ceremony. It was a wonderful ritual and our teachers as well as everybody in the room put so much love and emotions into it that it was just amazing.

Our teacher Thia played the harmonium and we sang mantras before the handing out of certificates started. So many lovely vibrations! Bertram was able and allowed to join as well and I am grateful that he came along to share this moment.

We stayed on afterwards right away, drinking coffee and sangria, talking with everybody, starting to say goodbye after almost a month spent together. Hopefully, we will be able to meet many of this great crowd again during our and their travels :-)

Thanks to everyone who was part of this very special training ❤️Leggi altro
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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
Time to say goodbye...and see you again
6 marzo 2018, Indonesia ⋅ 🌧 22 °C
Finally, the day had come when we had to say goodbye to Nusa Lembongan, the Santosha Yoga School, the Monkey Surf surf school - and everyone connected to these places and our great time here.

But we are obviously happy as our travels still entail three highlights and a lot of people asked us about our plans and, thus, we said over and over again what we were up to. Therefore, excitement for Kuala Lumpur, Laos, and Iran is on an all-time high :-)

I spent the morning with a last yoga practice and observed the beach dogs playing in the ocean. We then packed our backpacks again - first time in nearly 4 weeks :-) Our ferry left at 12:30 and we met a couple of familiar faces again. Nursula (now fellow yoga teacher 🧘🏼‍♀️ :-)) and her husband Ray even gifted us two hats against the heat - we looked more like Texans than Bali tourists ;-)

We spent 6 hours at the airport as the early ferry was the only one and we did not feel like hanging around any other random place before going to the airport to fly to Kuala Lumpur. The airport offered entertainment on a couple of levels: Bertram played in the children’s corner, we read about the dangers of drinking too little while using the bathroom (the airport nicely provides inform graphics), got to stock up our water supplies, ate at an Autogrill restaurant (almost like home in Europe ;-)), ...

Kuala Lumpur, here we’ll come!Leggi altro
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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
KL - Batu caves, mosque, night market
7 marzo 2018, Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C
Despite our late arrival in KL (around 1 am arrival at the hotel), we had a big day!

We met another German couple at the hotel and took an Uber to visit the impressive Hindu temple in the Batu Caves. We had to walk >250 steps in the hot, humid air. But the climb was absolutely worth it as the caves hosted a couple of Hindu shrines with some construction/renovation still ongoing. The sheer height of the ceilings is also simply impressive - 100m in the tallest part of the rock domes.

Afterwards we made our way to the central market and the Muslim center. We first visited the very interesting Museum of Islamic Art and liked especially the collection of old documents (religious - Quran - and non-religious such as maps, contracts, marriage certificates, astronomy, ...) We then visited the not-so-spectacular National Mosque - it’s very big but not very old or beautifully ornated. And I cold test my headscarf skills ;-)

Afterwards we headed home for a rest at the pool, went to a very nice massage parlor and had a foot reflexology massage before eating dinner at the night market - when the rain came pouring down suddenly. Luckily we were under a large umbrella ☔️Leggi altro
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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
KL - Petronas Towers, malls and food
8 marzo 2018, Malaysia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
The day started with a bit of yoga for Anna in the hotel. We then ventured out to a local cafe with a promising reputation. The coffee was great, but sadly no soy or coconut milk available, so it wasn’t all that great...

To make up for it, we walked towards the Petronas Twin towers, which are within walking distance of our hotel. On the wat we grabbed a Starbucks coffee and also visited the KLCC Park - as the name suggests, it is a city park near the Petronas Towers. What makes it special is that it is one of the few green patches in Kuala Lumpur - which is much less green than Singapore was. 🌳

The Petronas Towers were great! The visit takes about 45 minutes and we got to visit the sky bridge (170m above ground) that connects the two towers as well as the observation deck at the top (383m). We were lucky that there were no clouds today and so the views from the top were fantastic! 😎

On the way back to the hotel we stopped by in another mall for some Chinese street food for a late lunch. Tired from the day, we then went home for a nap in the afternoon 😴

Finally, in the evening we picked an Indian restaurant for dinner. The food was great, prepared right in front of us, but more spicy than we anticipated :-) But we were not deterred and continued our food experiments: after weeks of hearing about it, smelling it and seeing it being forbidden in public transport (due to its strong odor), we finally got ourselves some durian fruit!! It was nice, but didn’t really impress us too much. (And when you eat it, the smell really isn’t so nice :-)). But hey, at least now we know what all the fuss is about :-)Leggi altro
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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
Hello Laos!
9 marzo 2018, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
We said goodbye to hot and humid Kuala Lumpur and travelled to Luang Prabang in Laos today. Laos is very much a late addition to our journey: so many travellers had recommended Laos that we both felt we should add it to or journey.

And we are glad we did! :-) The approach with the airplane was already exciting -> flying in between hills and small mountains. The climate this time of year is also much more to our liking: cool nights, warm (but not hot) days of about 25° C.

After arriving and checking in at the hotel we took a walk exploring the neighbourhood, the night market (which was super calm and very nice to visit) and then had dinner in a teaching restaurant with delicious food :-)Leggi altro
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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
Waterfalls around Luang Prabang
11 marzo 2018, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
We hired a little scooter today to explore the areas surrounding Luang Prabang today. We were a hit apprehensive about renting a scooter at first after everything we had read about scams online. But in the end we paid the equivalent of 10 USD (half of what we had expect) and got ourselves a scooter for the day 🛵

Our first stop was at the Kuang Si waterfalls, along with a bear sanctuary. The bears were cute, but it is saddening to think about the torture they had to endure in their past -> wild bears are hunted and kept in cells where their biles are pierced so as to extract (“milk”) bile fluids from them which is then used in Chinese traditional medicine. It sounds insane and I wonder who would ever do that. But I guess there’s nothing people wouldn’t do if they think it makes them healthy.

The waterfalls themselves were truly beautiful. They impressed not so much by their height as by their intricacy. The water falls along multiple steps left and right and almost looks as if an outdoor artist sculpted them. We hiked a little to the top of the waterfall and then headed back home (having a nice late lunch on the way overlooking the Mekong river).

We spent the afternoon looking at a little photo art gallery in Luang Prabang, booking our cooking class for Monday and drinking coffee by the river. The Mekong is amazingly beautiful and it is nice to see how it seems very unregulated. We’re both already looking forward to our 2 day boat ride up the river :-)

Dinner was had at a great restaurant (Bouang), where we sat outdoor and overlooked a (semi) pedestrian zone. We wandered over the night market on the way back, trying out new hats 🎩 :-)Leggi altro
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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
Palace, temples, monks, and Lao theater
11 marzo 2018, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
What a day! We were really busy today :-) we started out with visiting a couple of important buildings in Luang Prabang: the first was the former Royal Palace which is a nice wooden building with teak flooring and all sorts of items from the former king’s ruling time.
We then continued to visit a couple of the many temples around town. They are all very impressive from the outside with a lot of wood carvings, multiple roofs, and gold all over - the inside is mostly the altar with a lot of Buddhas :-)

During our lunch break on a park bench overlooking the Mekong, we met two monk novices who study at a temple school. One of them (the older one - 17 years) asked us whether he could practice his English with us - so nice! Bertram talked for a bit and exchanged contact details. In the afternoon we then decided to actually pay him a visit at his temple. We arrived just in time for the evening prayer and meditated with the monks for ca. 45 minutes (real meditation was probably less as the sitting position still becomes uncomfortable after some time... ;-))

The evening had another highlight coming. We went to the traditional Lao storytelling theater where an old man with a flute-like instrument and a young man with a drum performed storytelling for ~1 hour. Conveniently enough the young story teller performed his stories in English. We listened to a total of 6-8 stories which mostly represent Lao mythology to explain the existence of certain natural landscapes such as rivers, mountains, the hill in the city of Luang Prabang, etc. It was very entertaining and fun!

Now, however, it’s time for bed as we have a 6-hour Laocooking class tomorrow :-)Leggi altro
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Local food market and cooking class
12 marzo 2018, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
We got up early today to enjoy a 5 hour cooking class (including visit to the food market) with the staff of Tamarind restaurant. We had a such a great experience doing this in Cambodia that we were very keen to do it again in Laos. :-)

The food market was great. Everything is very much hands on - you can see and smell all the various herbs and vegetables. Fish are in various states of either being still alive in their water basins or being skinned and chopped into pieces by the sellers. The meat section is also more involved than what most western tourists would be used to from home: all different parts of the animals are on display (stomach or intestines, anyone?). When they are not busy selling their goods, the vendors are chopping apart animal pieces, shaving off fur from pigs faces or making jelly out of animal blood. 🐖 -> 🍖

The cooking lesson was fun and in a great setting (outdoors in a country villa). We cooked 5 different dishes and then enjoyed lunch together with the ~10 other attendees. We also met a very friendly German couple, Felix and Jessica, and passed on our enthusiasm for doing a world travel. ✈️

We very pretty tired after the cooking class so we went back to the hotel for a little rest. In the evening we checked out “Utopia”, a hip restaurant/cafe (where we also got shelter during heavy rain that passed over Luang Prabang for about an hour) and then walked back home :-)Leggi altro
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Viaggiatore ist die Küche in Laos auch sehr spicy ?
14/03/18Risposta
Viaggiatore Ja :-) Nach unseren ersten Erfahrungen fragen wir jetzt immer vorher, wie spicy es ist und überlegen dann immer, ob wir der Versicherung “only a little“ Glauben schenken sollen :-)
14/03/18Risposta
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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
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Slowboat travel on the Mekong river
13 marzo 2018, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C
We spent today travelling with a “slowboat” from Luang Prabang to Pak Beng. Tomorrow, we will continue on the Mekong river to Huay Xai, where we will do a three day hike with the Gibbon experience (you sleep over in tree houses and use zip line to get across the valleys - should be great :-)).

The slowboat is a quintessentially Laotian way you f travelling on the Mekong. We enjoyed the opportunity to relax on the boat (it has seats for maybe 40 people But was only half full), look at the stunning scenery rolling past and listening to our audiobooks.

We also met two fellow travellers - a married couple who originally come from India but have lived in Germany for the past 40 years. We were impressed how - despite their advanced age (70 and 60) they both set off on a 40 day journey through Cambodia, Lao, Vietnam and Thailand. We want to remain that adventurous when we’re that age!

Apart from Anna, who got up early to do some yoga before our 7am departure from the hotel, we didn’t move very much today. Still, getting up so early made us both tired and so we’re in bed before 10pm :-)Leggi altro
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Viaggiatore ist bald nicht zum Aushalten, so schön :-)
14/03/18Risposta
Viaggiatoresind zur Zeit sind so viele Touristen unterwegs ? ich habe Berichte gesehen, wo die Boote grenzwertig voll waren
14/03/18Risposta
ViaggiatoreNein, im Moment ist es herrlich leer - unsere Reiserichtung flussaufwärts hilft aber auch, weil die Mehrheit der Touristen offenbar andersherum vom Thailand nach Süden fährt :-) besser für uns :-)
14/03/18Risposta
Viaggiatore 👍
14/03/18Risposta
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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
Day two on the slowboat
14 marzo 2018, Laos ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C
Day two of our travel upstream towards Huay Xai was as peaceful and serene as yesterday. The boat was a bit different -> no moving seats meant that it was a bit more complicated to lie down or find any comfortable position to sleep in. We also noticed that it started to get cooler as we moved further north in Laos.
After we got off the boat we both did some yoga. After two days stuck sitting around really yearned for a bit more movement. Newly certified Anna created a session for Bertram and it was a great experience doing yoga on the terrace of our guesthouse overlooking the Mekong.

We’re now in Huay Xai, right on the Mekong river. Across the river is Thailand and about 50km further north is Myanmar. Those two countries are not on our list for this journey, but we’ve already decided to return so hopefully we’ll see them then :-)
Tomorrow we’ll start a three day hike/zip line adventure through one of Laos’ national parks. We’ll sleep in treehouses and hike as well as zip line through the Laotian forests. The guides that accompany us are supposedly former animal hunters who have found better (and more animal friendly) employment as “safari guides”. The organization is called “The Gibbon experience” and while we’re not sure we’ll actually get to see gibbons in the wild, we so hope to see and hear some interesting wildlife as we sleep high in the treehouses :-)Leggi altro
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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
Hanging out with the gibbons - day 1
15 marzo 2018, Laos ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C
We started the adventure that we have been looking forward to for quite some time: the Gibbon Experience. It’s a nature reserve which hosts gibbons - the cool twist to it is that tourists stay overnight in tree houses and use zip lines to cross valleys :-)

At the beginning the long zip line was a bit frightening - but being used to wearing harnesses and using carabiners we trusted the equipment soon and had so much fun! It took Bertram a bit more effort as his roller functioned less smoothly and he had to pull himself to the end quite often :-)

Our tree house was nested in a big tree, 30m above the ground :-) it even had two platforms! We are still wondering how the night in the jungle will be...Leggi altro
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More zip lining, hiking, and monkeys!
16 marzo 2018, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
Our second day in the jungle was great, too! We started rather late with a breakfast at 08:00. The jungle wakes up much earlier and as Bertram and me left the mosquito met halfway up, the light came into our eyes around 06:00. It was a good opportunity to enjoy listening to and observing nature.

We then had a short entertaining hike and zip line to our new tree house: it’s nested on a giant freestanding tree overlooking a valley, fantastic! We took lunch here and observed a monkey in a nearby tree before going for more hiking and zip lining. We also learned how to make hats from banana leaves - they were not the best option to take on the zip line ;-)

It was really nice to visit 2 more tree houses (of course by zip lining in :-)) and enjoy stunning views before heading back to “our” tree house for dinner and sleep. Again we enjoyed a cold shower in our bathroom where you can see the water falling down on the ground between your feet like rain 🌧 :-)

Now, it’s 21:00 - we have played our infamously famous dice game, so it’s time for bed!Leggi altro
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Viaggiatore tolles foto
18/03/18Risposta
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Last jungle day and back to Huay Xai
17 marzo 2018, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C
We got up a little earlier today - the guides said 07:30 but came to our tree house already at 06:45. So to make up for it, Bertram went to lie down again after breakfast :-)

Afterwards followed a mix of hiking and taking 7 zip lines (+4 repetition rides) to get us back to the village where we started two days ago. We had lots of fun and could also borrow the GoPro of someone in our group resulting in excellent footage in this post :-)

All in all, the Gibbon Experience was absolutely worth the large sum of money - and the rest of Laos is very cheap to compensate a bit... ;-)

We are now back in Huay Xai for dinner and the night but have already planned what to do next: 4 days in the town of Luang Namtha and the province of the same name for kayaking, hiking, and more jungle :-) flight is booked for Vientiane as well: Lao Airlines will hopefully take us there safely on 21.03.Leggi altro
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Viaggiatore oh, ein Gibbon :-)
18/03/18Risposta
Viaggiatore unglaublich !
18/03/18Risposta
Viaggiatore und wieder zurück :-)
18/03/18Risposta
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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
Next stop: Kayaking in Luang Namtha
19 marzo 2018, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C
After yesterday’s transfer from Huay Xai, we stayed on the main street and looked for a travel agency that would offer a 2-day kayak excursion into the Nam Ha National Park. We found one after 5 minutes and were convinced by their eco tourism concept - they support local guides with higher salaries and also share proceeds with the minority villages in the area by bringing tourists in for the night and dinner.

The trip started off well with our two guides Thui (48) and Wath (21). Both were really funny and the young Wath spoke exceptionally well English. Before even starting the official tour, we went to Lao’s first-ever festival of minority people where some ~25 of the 49 minorities exhibited their traditional clothes, food, etc. It was so much fun to go there - and be the only tourists as this was from Lao people for Lao people :-)

We then took the tuk tuk for about an hour to the south into the Nam Ha National Park.

We then transferred onto the river and were given a good farewell by a group of curious children who were enthusiastic goodbye wavers :-)

The river was mostly calm and very beautiful. Anna sat in the front while Bertram steered in the back. We came to stop after 2.5 hours and made a jungle picnic. We even cooked soup in a bamboo and ate rattan (the stuff that furniture is made of), which is delicious if well cooked :-)

After 2 more hours we arrived at a small village of the Khamu minorities where we would spend the night. After rest and yoga we visited the village and went around. The town is quite simple, but it features rice storage facilities, a school and the house of the village chief. Everybody smiled and treated us with joy. :-) We didn’t really have the ability to converse with the locals, but our guide Wath told us lots about village life. The villagers chose to become an eco tourism village, meaning they actively decided to be visited by tourists. Our guide Wath reported that he had previously asked villagers about whether they thought they made a good choice and whether they are still happy to be visited. Apparently they are, saying that the money they receive from sleepover tourists (like us) is shared amongst all villagers and has raised living standards. For example, they have set up a fund from the earnings and now provide “mini loans” to villagers and are also able to pay for better health care and school supplies.

Dinner was again great - but for “dessert” we got a specialty: we sat with Thui and Wath by the fire when Wath got up to catch some frogs to barbecue :-) we both tried and they were quite tasty - no veganism in Laos 🇱🇦Leggi altro
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Great 2. day kayaking on Nam Ha river
20 marzo 2018, Laos ⋅ 🌙 24 °C
Day two on the river started leisurely. Anna did yoga again while Bertram froze a bit longer on the mattress in our eco lodge :-) (It was quite chilly during the night.)

Breakfast was quick and tasty: rice with eggs and tomato - Anna was joined by a group of apparently hungry village dogs...

We got going at ~09:30 and kayaked through some difficult sections. The water in dry season is quite low and we had to navigate with care in order not to sit on a rock :-) Today, we switched roles and Anna was the steering person in the back while Bertram maneuvered in the front. The new setup resulted in Bertram being attacked twice with Anna’s blade but we soon arranged ourselves :-)

On the way through the jungle we stopped at a second village where we went to also visit the school - consisting of 5 children only :-) It almost felt like a private lesson :-)

We had a great trip along the river and chose another nice picnic spot that also allowed bathing in a pool of deeper and more quiet water. The remaining section until the third village was easy and we even beat the guides in the final kayak race (maybe they let us win...)

Upon arrival we learned that our tuk tuk broke down. So we sat and waited (some sleeping in the kayak) for the new tuk tuk. When we finally drove back to Luang Namtha it became clear that this road had cost a lot of tuk tuks their lives: very steep, curvy, and with immense numbers of pot holes.

Back in Luang Namtha we first drank coffee, then got to the hotel and finally ate dinner at the open air night market.Leggi altro
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Viaggiatoreunglaublich, jetzt sind es nur noch 3 Wochen, bis Ihr wieder zurück seid :-)
21/03/18Risposta
ViaggiatoreAber wirklich! Dafür nochmal 3 Wochen etwas ganz anderes :-) bis bald!
21/03/18Risposta
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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
Transfer to Vientiane and surprise :-)
21 marzo 2018, Laos ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
We intended to go out this morning for breakfast at our habitual café in Luang Namtha - the Manikong Bakery :-) before we did so, however, Bertram read a curious email: „Your flight to Tehran will take off in almost 24h and is open for check-in“. Wait a sec - 24 hours?!?! We had both firmly believed that we were going to Iran in Friday, not on Thursday...

After re-reading and checking some email flight confirmations the result was still the same: we are flying to Tehran tomorrow :-) Luckily, we received a quick response from a Tehran hotel to host us from 22.03.-23.03. as our original hostel booking from 23.03. onwards could not be moved earlier... such a stressful morning in our calm traveller lives :-) As our friend Natascha said: “It’s time for you to come home, you are already starting to get lost...” She is right - but: 3 weeks + the newly won 1 day in Iran come first!

Our time in Vientiane was, thus, very limited. We strolled around the quarter and saw a couple of temples (as everywhere in Laos ;-)) and then only had time for a coffee (including Iran travel planning) and subsequent dinner at a very nice French-Lao fusion bistro with many nice dishes:
- duo of tofu salad (one crispy, one marinated)
- ravioli stuffed with camenbert and morning glory
- trio of Lao mushroom dishes
- duck breast with Lao fried vegetables 🌶🦆
- lemon tart 🍋

Now it’s time for bed as we need to go to the airport at 05:30 am :-O

******************************************************************

Note to everybody at home: we area bit unsure whether our mobile phone numbers will work in Iran. Best to send us an email or WhatsApp message which we can read once we have WiFi.Leggi altro
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Arrival in Tehran
22 marzo 2018, Iran ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
A day full of travel today, but with an exciting destination: Tehran!

We got up at 5:15am to make our way to the tiny international airport in Vientiane, Laos. After a short flight we arrived in Bangkok from where we flew on to Tehran. We had a 6 hour layover in Bangkok, which we used to call home, enjoy one last Starbucks coffee (since nobody ever understands “Bertram” when we order coffee, we now went for a new name) and relax in the lounge (we were happy to realise that our airline (Thai Airways) is a Star Alliance member and we could use their lounge for free). Anna also used the time to test out new hair-covering outfits for Iran.

Finally, after the six hour wait we boarded our plane to Tehran, an 8 hour flight from Bangkok. The plane was almost empty - there were maybe 30-40 people on board. No idea why: could have to do with the holiday season in Iran that had already started 3 days ago, or the route from Bangkok to Tehran is just not popular. Anyway, it was all the better for us :-)

We were a bit apprehensive about the immigration procedure in Iran, having read a lot about it. In the past, one had to get a visa in advance, which we didn’t. For our passports, Iran recently introduced visa on arrival, which means - as the name suggests - that we should be able to get the visa at the airport. But there’s no guarantee, of course. In the end, everything was very easy. Nobody asked us about our planned itinerary, nobody wanted to know why we visit (I guess tourist was obvious ;-)), and nobody wanted to know how long we would stay. We did have to wait 45 minutes, but other than that no problem. (We did bring print outs of the required proof of medical insurance, and that was also readily accepted.)

While waiting, we already noticed the famed friendliness of the Iranian people. As other locals would walk past us (as we waited) they greeted us and welcomed us to Iran. A bank serviceman chatted with us about football (he even knew Toni Polster from Austria!) and our travel itinerary. The only awkward moment (for us) was when he pointed out that the Germans and the Iranians both share the Arian culture. We smiled politely and chose not to discuss that much further...

Finally, before heading to the hotel, we changed some money. Iran is cut off from the international banking system, so our credit and debit cards will not work in this country. For foreigners, everything is pretty much cash only and you cannot withdraw more at ATMs. A rare money exchange-related surprise for us was that the exchange rate to the Euro and USD was about 30% better(!) than what we read in the lonely planet guide and even what we checked live online. (We got about 59k rial for a Euro whereas if you check online now, www.xe.com will give the exchange rate at around 46k rial for one Euro.) It seems that the Iranian rial massively lost value, maybe due to fear over a reintroduction of further sanctions? But why doesn’t it show on the online exchange rate?

Anyway, we arrived in the hotel tired, but also excited for the coming days and weeks. Tomorrow we’ll explore Tehran’s bazaar and find some more outfits for us. :-)Leggi altro
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First walk around Tehran
23 marzo 2018, Iran ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C
We had a nice first day in Tehran. After enjoying breakfast, we headed out by foot to take in some impressions of the city.

Our first target were two museums around the government, museum and university district. We first stopped at the massive entrance gate to these quarters. Due to the fact that the gate is dedicated to an army commander, painted machine guns features heavily on the decoration of the gate, which was a bit out of place for us...
Anyway, we then went to the Islamic Museum, which was very interesting. It features the artistic history of Iran since after the Muslim conquest of Persia (Iran) in 633-654 AD. We saw decorated paintings, scripture, glassware and pottery as well as carpets and clothing from all the ages of the Iranian Muslim past.

We then went to the special exhibition, which featured loaned exhibits from the Louvre and also an interesting photo exhibition from an artist who took pictures of people looking at art in the Louvre. It was fun to see :-)
Finally, because it was right around the corner, we went to the National Museum of Iran which features pre-Islamic (i.e. pre-633 AD) artefacts. This did not grab our attention that much, maybe because we were tired but maybe also because looking at arrow-heads and flint-stones isn’t really that exciting (they kind of look the same all over the world to us...).

We then wandered on through some bazars and sat down for coffee and tea. The bazaars were not really all that busy today due to it being Friday (the Muslim equivalent to “our” Sunday). Most shops were closed, but it was still nice to walk along the paths and see the buildings :-)

In the evening we went to a great place in the north of central Tehran. The Tabi’at bridge is a three-storey foot bridge, designed to allow pedestrians to cross a major city highway. But it really is an outdoor-park for many Tehranis. It has food-stalls on one floor and a viewing area and promenade on the top level. We gad a great view over Tehran as the sun was setting. There were loads of people, some of whom chatted us up (wanting to know where we are from, how long we would visit Tehran and so on) and took pictures with us :-)
After that it was dinner in a very nice traditional restaurant and then back home with the metro :-)

PS: While walking through Tehran today and also during the conversations with the locals we both noticed how the preconceptions we had about Iran are mostly wrong or perhaps exaggerated. This is most noticeable in the female dress-code. While we read that it’s not all too strict here (you can show some hair), we noticed that most women actually have their hair about 2/3 uncovered. Many young Iranians also briefly remove their headscarfs before they take pictures of themselves and then put it back on.

We also had a longer conversation with the owner of our hotel (Fatima) who told us how she is regularly surprised that Westerners believe couples would have to be married to be allowed to sleep in the same room together. As she sees it, that’s just not the case and she doesn’t really care if people are married or not. We, too, thought that this was the case and apparently we were wrong. In the end, it seems (unsurprisingly) that Iranians are much like other people: they want to get on with their lives and not let politics or religion interfere too much with it. Let’s see how our journey will continue :-)Leggi altro
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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
Cinema, mosque and bazaar in Tehran
24 marzo 2018, Iran ⋅ 🌙 20 °C
The plan for today was quite straightforward: mosque, cinema museum and laundry. It turned out to be more than that :-)

We started day two in Tehran with a visit to the northernmost prt of town (even closer to Mount Tochal). The fact that it’s up on the hillside already makes it a more upmarket part of Tehran. Many embassies are also located here.

We decided to make our first visit to a mosque 🕌 While we stood outside, looking quite uncertain whether our dress code was good enough a and where to enter and all that, we were approached by a friendly gentleman who saw we were lost and explained to us how to proceed (where to get a loaner-chador for Anna, where to place our shoes, where the entrance is for males/females, etc.). He explained that he ran a carpet shop in the nearby bazaar and that he has many Austrian and German friends (and buyers) due to the fact that their embassies are close by. We were impressed that he knew the former (deceased) Austrian President and head of the chamber of commerce. Well, he invited us to come by which we said we would after our visit to the cinema museum...

Iran (and Tehran in particular) was an early leader in cinematography and there were hundreds of cinemas in Tehran before the Islamic revolution. (Now, there are still many cinemas, but the selection of films is much more limited, reducing the number of cinemas as a result).

After the museum, we went back to the bazaar, looking for our new friend. We asked someone for directions. It turned out, that someone was his son, and he took us to the carpet shop. :-) We then spent two hours learning all about his story as a carpet seller (he’s been doing it for 30 years) and how he came to have so many connections to Germany. Mahmud, the father, showed us pictures of himself with the head of the Austrian chamber of commerce, taken when they visited Iran some 15 years ago. We learnt a lot about carpet manufacturing and how he buys his carpets. (In case you’re wondering: yes, we did buy some quite cool carpets in the end :-)).

It was 5pm when we returned to the hostel. After laundry, we went out to a great restaurant/Cafe which was recommended to us. Great tasting, open-air dinner for two in a picturesque city garden for about 7 EUR - we loved it :-) Interesting side note: the waitress was much more comfortable speaking French with us than English. A nice reminder of where we started or trip 6 months ago :-) 🇫🇷Leggi altro
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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
Discovering Kashan: mosque, bazaar
25 marzo 2018, Iran ⋅ 🌙 26 °C
For Anna it was the second morning with yoga in the hostel corridor (after the curtain on the first floor it‘s okay not to wear the veil and behave like being “at home“).

We then gathered yesterday’s laundry from the roof top and packed our backpacks to get ready for Kashan. Before, we visited the former US embassy which, unfortunately, was closed. So we only looked at the anti-US/Israel propaganda.

Afterwards we made our way to the southern bus terminal and had no trouble to find a bus to Kashan. In the bus, we met an Iranian who offered to drive us to our hotel. So nice! The hotel is a traditional house with mud walls, very authentic and nice. Also, it is pleasantly cool which helps in Kashan’s desert climate.

We went out in the late afternoon to visit the Agha Bozork Mosque 🕌. The site was beautiful and we were lucky to start a conversation with Fatima, a 21-year old student from Kashan. She showed us around the mosque (and was not discouraged by a somewhat grumpy and impolite Mullah who corrected her on some rather minor detail). We then walked with her to the bazaar and invited her to drink tea with us in a very nice former hammam-turned-tea house. The owner let us in for free as wanted to “honor the Iranian-German friendship”. 😄

The tea tasted excellent and was accompanied by a set of cookies, dates, candy sugar and cinnamon. We additionally ordered roasted eggplant spread and the next time we looked at our watch it was already 19:30! Time had flown by so quickly! 🙃 Before saying goodbye to Fatima, we still sneaked up on the roof of the bazaar which was really cool. It is also built with mud and has domes sticking out with small holes in the middle to let some air but no heat into the bazaar alley below...

As we were not really hungry anyways, we went home, picking up some oranges and apples at a food stall as a dinner substitute 🍊 🍎Leggi altro
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Persian gardens and traditional houses
26 marzo 2018, Iran ⋅ 🌙 26 °C
Our second day in Kashan was fantastic, too! We met two Spanish guys we got to know in the hostel in Teheran and went to the beautiful Fin gardens at the outskirts of Kashan. They are a typical example of Persian gardens with fountains and springs, trees and pavilion. While it was nice, it did not strike us as overly impressive. What was really nice, though, was the tea house in the gardens and the rose water/saffron ice cream :-)

The next stop (after a short rest in the hotel) was much more impressive: the ancient hammam Sultan Amir Ahmad and the traditional house of Abbasi. The hammam is, unfortunately, not in use any longer - as is true for nearly all hammams in Iran - but it’s still a great sight. It features beautiful tiles and painted ceilings. Also, a visit to the roof have us a better understanding of how the vaults are constructed and how the light is let in through small glass inlays in the cupulas.

The traditional Abbasian house was also mangnificent: >5,000 square meters :-) it took the owner - a rich glass merchant - 20 years to complete. We admired especially the well functioning ventilation system with the lowest levels being really cool and pleasant to stay in.

Dinner was another highlight: we went to another traditional house turned hotel and restaurant. After watching the sun set from the courtyard, we went into the cellar for a nice dinner.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to going to Esfahan - one of the top tourist attractions in Iran and certainly also buzzing with Iranian tourists during the ongoing No Ruz celebrations.Leggi altro
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World trip - Anna & Bertram Viaggiatore
New Iranian friends en route to Isfahan
27 marzo 2018, Iran ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
We left Kashan today to travel further south towards Isfahan - probably Iran’s number 1 tourist destination.

En route to Isfahan we decided to stop at Natanz. The guidebook mentioned it and we thought it’d be fun to stop in a little village (12k inhabitants) that probably not too many tourists visit.

Getting there was already a bit exciting: the big bus we were on simply dropped us on the side of the motorway. Luckily, there was a private driver who would take us into town for little money.

We then went to the main square in Natanz and immediately became the main village attraction for all the locals. Many people approached us and wanted to talk to us. We feel humbled that the Iranians take such interest in us! 🙏 We then went to have tea in the local tea house (we were invited by the waiter despite offering to pay 5 times). At the teahouse we met Ali and his family (Mohaddeseh, Lena and Leila). After chatting a bit, they invited us to their house. We spent the afternoon sipping tea, enjoying sweets and chatting about life in Iran and our experiences as visitors. Ali’s family actually lives in Tehran so we agreed to meet up again towards the end of our visit. After a heartfelt goodbye we continued our journey south towards Isfahan. (Ali negotiated the price for us - we ended up paying 1/3 of what the guidebook estimated :-)).

We were quite exhausted when we finally arrived in Isfahan. We still ventured out to see the main square and mosques and - wow! What a sight! It’s truly amazing!Leggi altro
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