Back to normal - back in Germany
July 10, 2004
Dear all,
Unbelievable, but nevertheless true: A year has passed and we are back on German soil!
The journey was a great experience and we are still healthy and happy but had been looking forward to some cheese, bread and muesli with milk for a few months...
In order to readjust and write job applications, we have moved back into Christian’s student flat in Reutlingen where we will be able to stay until the end of September. You can reach us via email or using Christian's 'old' mobile number. If we have not been in contact since our return, we look forward to catching up with you soon!
P.S.: The remaining pictures from Thailand and Singapore can now be found in the Gallery.
June 18, 2004
We are currently on Koh Phangan, a relatively small island in the Gulf of Thailand where we are thoroughly enjoying our last weeks on the road. The starting monsoon season forces us to dash for our bungalow every other afternoon but the rest of the time the weather is just as one would want it to be during a beach holiday. A plane will take us to Singapore on June 25th, leaving ample time for a last minute shopping spree before stepping on home turf again on July 1st in Hamburg.
As we are spending the days looking for colourful fish through our snorkeling masks or flipping through pages of borrowed books and magazines, we will not bore you with another update. However, the website will be overhauled and our last pictures from Thailand and Singapore added at the beginning of July. Until then, enjoy the first blinks of summer and do not work too hard! We are looking forward to catching up with you.
May 28, 2004
After two more wonderful weeks in Cambodia, we have plunged back into Bangkok's city life.
This time, we will not post another update but rather let the pictures of the pre-Angkorian ruins at Sambor Prey Kuk, capital city of the ancient Kingdom of Chenla, and the grand Khmer capital of Angkor speak for themselves. Others have already perfected the architectural descriptions of both places and we trust your ability to find these sources in case you want to read up on their history. We were amazed to see what was constructed in the middle of the jungle and, taking time, nature and the destructiveness of the human species into account, how well it is still preserved. Cambodia, its people and its temple complexes are definitely worth a visit! Please visit the Gallery for armchair travelling.
May 16, 2004
Real Backpacking in Northeastern Cambodia
We spent a little over a week exploring the beauties of Cambodia's Northeast. Please read up on our adventures under Asia>Cambodia and get visual impressions in the Gallery.
May 2, 2004
"The Vietnamese and us"
The play script is now available at Asia>Vietnam and corresponding snapshots are to be viewed in the Gallery.
March 30, 2004
Highlights from our month in Laos can now be found under Asia>Laos and plenty of pictures have been uploaded into the Gallery.
March 3, 2004
A flu struck Christian and a further check-up for Anja held us in place longer than we planned. Now it feels good to be on the road again and we have entered Laos yesterday. Our travel log covering Khmer ruins and the days along the Mekong river can be found under Asia>Thailand and accompanying pictures as always in the Gallery.
February 12, 2004
It took us less than 48 hours to discover and enjoy the relatively clean city, yummy food and genuine friendliness of the Thai people. However, we are still fighting for sleep at the right time of night... Read up more under Asia>Thailand.
February 9, 2004
Since we landed in Germany just over a week ago, we have been busy unpacking and re-packing our backpacks, attending doctors’ appointments and catching up with friends and family. Both the tent and our cooking equipment will not accompany us to Asia as we are expecting to find cheap room rates, no campsites and foodstalls wherever we go. Instead, quite a few unread travel guides for Southeast Asia have joined the club. We are very much looking forward to the upcoming five months and would love to read up on some gossip from back home every once in a while. But please only send emails to *firstname*@12months.de – unfortunately, those ending with @km807.kasserver.com never make it into our inboxes...
We have also finally managed to write and upload the last missing African update from Burkina Faso: It can be found under Africa>Burkina Faso. Enjoy!
January 8, 2004
It took us about three days to narrate our Malian voyages and we were very happy that we were allowed to use Wilfrid’s and Hanita’s laptop to type them up. Thanks again! The four days with them in Kongoussi, two hours north of Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou, were very enjoyable and taught us much about life in Burkina. We will now head west to Dedougou and Nouna and try to catch a glimpse of the passing Paris-Dakar rallye drivers.
Read up on Bamako, Djenne, Dogon country and Timbuktu under Africa>Mali and examine our first impressions of Burkina Faso in the Gallery.
November 27, 2003
Greetings from Addis Ababa! Some pictures of our Ethiopian adventures have been uploaded and a written update will hopefully follow suit within the next 48 hours.
October 30, 2003
Over the past eight weeks we have covered some 13.500 km on South African and Namibian roads, saw beautiful landscapes, met incredibly hospitable people and gathered many memories. We will spend the rest of the afternoon trying to fit everything that has been in the car back into our backpacks. This weekend we will fly from Johannesburg via Dar es Salaam to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. Once there the internet connection might not be as fast as in South Africa, so please excuse any time lags – we will keep you updated as good as possible. So long for now. Latest South African update -> Africa>South Africa and all the pictures.
October 16, 2003
After a very enjoyable and relaxing week in Hout Bay on the Cape Peninsular we will now head on for the whales at Hermanus and the delights of the Garden Route. The update on how we made it from Swakopmund via Luederitz, Fish River Canyon and the Cederberg Region down to Cape Town has just been uploaded. Complementing pictures are also online - so enjoy Africa>South Africa and Africa>Namibia as well as Gallery.
October 10, 2003
Finally pictures from South Africa and Namibia... Another update will hopefully be available within the next days. So long, greetings from cloudy but very nice Cape Town, we're off exploring the city. view pictures
October 1, 2003
By now we have put over 6000km on the rental car, driving from Durban via the Drakensberg and Kimberley to the Namibian border and further on to Windhoek and the Etosha Pan National Park. After passing through the most inhospitable coastal region in the world - Skeleton Coast - we are currently enjoying the delights of city life in Swakopmund. So feel free to read up more under Africa>South Africa and Africa>Namibia.
September 14, 2003
Bringing to you stories from Jo'burg, Swaziland, Sodwana Bay and St. Lucia Wetland Park. We are currently in Durban, enjoying once more city-life. Read more under Africa>South Africa.
September 5, 2003
Coming back from Madagascar, South Africa awaited us with its highly developed charm and a reliably good internet connection. So now you can finally read up on hiking Mount Moulanje in Malawi under Africa>Tanzania (sorry, couldn't really change the country structure from here...) as well as our last four weeks spent in Madagascar. The last week of "holiday" on Ile Ste. Marie really made up for some painful taxi-brousse rides before!
August 25, 2003
The Madagasy internet connections are pretty slow and disappointingly expensive. The French keyboard layout does not make things any easier... So please bear with us for another two weeks until we reach Johannesburg. Madagascar is great, but travelling is really tough due to the lack of decent roads.
July, 30 2003
After an extensive as well as expensive Internet Cafe extravaganza in Johannesburg, we are now glad to show you some of our pictures from Tanzania and Malawi. Sorry, but the next written update will have to wait a bit longer... view pictures
July 24, 2003
Another update is now available ;) Have a look under Africa>Tanzania on how we made it down to Malawi.
July 15, 2003
Returning from Zanzibar Island we spent a day in Dar es Salaam and then ventured off for a six day safari through Lake Manyara National Park, Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (including the huge Ngorongoro Crater). Please read more under Africa>Tanzania where we finally managed to write an update.
June 30, 2003
Here we are now, our backpacks are packed and we'll board the first plane in four hours. Despite the fact that we had our doubts every now and then, all of the equipment does fit into the two backpacks! For the first time there were no discussions about what to take along to wear: per person three T-shirts, two long-sleeved shirts, two pairs of trousers, three pairs of underwear, three pairs of socks, one fleece shirt and a jacket. That is all that we could possibly fit in our luggage. On the other hand, our first aid kit is really impressive. We can cure just about any tropical disease. Should we ever get bored and find a cheap and fast internet connection, we might publish the complete pack list.
Please do not expect to receive many personal mails during the next 12 months. However, we would be honoured if you would log on to www.12months.de every once in a while. We will try to post our travellogue as often as we can.
June 22, 2003:
A month and a half later and four visas cover pages in our passports. We applied for all of those which we could get so far in advance. The others will be African adventures.
In only eight days we will board a plane in Frankfurt (ET 715 on June 30 at 14:45) which will take us via Addis Ababa and Nairobi to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania. Before that can happen, we still have to move out of our flat in Reutlingen, complete and test our equipment (one night in our tent on European soil including camping dinner, freshly filtered water and mosquitos...) and pack.
Early May 2003:
After two relaxing weeks in Ireland where we visited friends and did a bit of trekking and hiking, we're now back in business for the final preparations. So far we've got visas for Tansania and Madagascar, which leaves us with six to go over the upcoming eight weeks...
Early April 2003:
Well, with just about three months left we are currently in the planning and purchasing process, which involves far more time and unfortunately money than we expected earlier. The individual itineraries for each country are still to be made up and to be honest, the whole trip through parts of South-East Asia still remains more than just murky. Africa is coming along quite nicely and we are hoping to post some more information about those upcoming seven months soon.
Have a look around, enjoy your stay and please come back later.