…and I was always wondering why this white thingie with two wheels was standing in the entrance to my flat. Always thought this must be kind of fancy accessoire. Ha, but yesterday I found out I can actually use this thingie called bicycle ;-) [map style="width: 600px; height:300px; margin:10px 10px 10px 10px; border: 1px solid #ccc;" maptype="ROADMAP" gpx="http://www.ohlmeyer.de/wp-content/uploads/20120812.gpx"]
Ill in Debrecen
Another week of travelling in HU: On Monday morning I left cloudy rainy Kiel at 15C, jumped onto my plane and met Katja in Budapest (Side remark: Sunny 28C :-)). This looked like a promising week…until few hours later. The air conditioning in the office seem to have killed me. Since then I am struggling with a bad cold and fever. Nonetheless we had some good meetings in Budapest and moved onwards to Debrecen to have another series of meetings. I have to admit, by now, I really like the “big village” of Debrecen. They have beautiful restaurants, an interesting mix between hungarian provence and international students being around.
And I finally found a nice small and familiar place to stay in: Centrum Panzio! Compared to 5* Hotel Divinus which I used to stay in, this one gives much more value for much better price. It’s of course not some fancy, modern-lounge-style hotel like the Divinus but feels more like living in Debrecen. You have your own garden, a small apartment with its own veranda plus all that is needed to survive a few days (minibar, kitchenette, microwave, hotspot, etc). Really like it and will make it my preferred place to stay when back in Debrecen!
Kieler Woche 2012
“Ringing a ship’s bell (three double rings and one single ring), will be the start of the traditional opening ceremony of Kieler Woche on the Town Hall Stage at 7:30 pm on Saturday 16 June. More than three million visitors from all over the world will be diving into the colourful and multi-facetted life of Kieler Woche.” Link to Kieler Woche 2012 event database…
Four days in Nanjing
Sightseeing around Nánjīng being one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China and according to some people one of the most beautiful cities of mainland China.
Impressions From Shanghai
This city! “Too many people. Too many cars. You can not breathe,” says the old man. And this speed everywhere. The magnetic levitation! 431 kilometers per hour fast. The freeway! Eight lanes through the city. The houses, which grow to the sky and cover your daily life with dust. The underground…
…, where they jostle you at the counter before you pick your change. The buses, which you’ll never make, if you’re not trying to be the first to be inside. The pedestrian traffic lights, showing countdown which makes every old man rushing the street, and still, halfway, you’re surrounded by all kind of motors.
“But he can feel the new life around, says the old man. Oh, if he was only young! With spring-song voice he calls out his message: ”Tell those long-nosed foreigners, they should come, you have to move to Shanghai, you will not regret. You must.“”
Eating My Way Through Shanghai & Nanjing. Did I do anything else? Let me think *hmm*
- Sichuan Citizen in French Concession…
- An Fu Lu – best ever, rocksolid, cheap and original…
- Must do: Teppanyaki in Japanese restaurant…
- Great Nepalese food at “Nepali Kitchen”…
- “Kabb” in city center with western-style food for long-nose people…
- Burger restaurant with “Wall of champs” (600g in 20min) & best milkshakes in town…
- Marienbad right around the corner serving a nice Capucchino…
- Strange bar with all trying-to-be-cool people…
- Freaky bar around the corner with live bands…
- Cafe in backyard of French concession with strange austrian girl asking for lighter…
- Churrasco at braizilian restaurant (all you can eat, yeah)…
Nanjing…
- Hot Pot on first evening…
- …
- Giant chinese food and Elmar ordering nine dishes…
Waking up in Shanghai
...and suddenly I woke up in sunny Shanghai with that great view on Pudong's skyline.
Hungary again...
Nice impressive video about Debrecen...feeling quite familiar with some of the places by now :-). [pl_video type="vimeo" id="18297518"]
Back in town...
“Viel zu spät begreifen viele die versäumten Lebensziele:Freude, Schönheit der Natur, Gesundheit, Reisen und Kultur, Darum, Mensch, sei zeitig weise! Höchste Zeit ist’s! Reise, reise! ”
Paradise...
“Hab’ die ganze Welt geseh’n, von Singapur bis Aberdeen. Wenn ihr mich fragt, wo’s am schönsten war, dann sag ich: Sansibar!”
Off to Zanzibar
Starting last part of our trip: Going east... Finally we left our second home in Arusha with first bus in the morning (starting at 6:00 am *argh*) and headed east to Zanzibar. Since everything seemed to be somehow related to Mt Kilimanjaro, we decided to take the Kilimanjaro Express although Dar Express goes at similar schedule and same price which was 30.000 TSH.
Whole trip took about 10h for us from Arusha via Moshi to Dar with half an hour of break in between...not counting 1.5h unplanned stop right after having lunch where our bus driver had to repair the brakes *hehe*. Actually we hoped for last ferry to Zanzibar around 16:00 but this was out of sight after last stop.
Thanks to Alexia we already had a B&B recommendation in Dar es Salaam, the Jambo Inn Hotel which was reasonable, in direct walking distance to the ferry landing, has a restaurant and most imortant had a free room.