Best of Asia

And so it’s already 2 and a half months in Asia… Wow.

We’ve taken 10 flights and a large number of buses, trams, trains, taxis, boats and ferries, subways,  bicycles, motorbikes, private cars… You name it.

And that was just a small portion of Asia!

Here are some of the questions we were asking ourselves before leaving, and which finally got an answer:

  • Will we get tired? Not nearly! We wished we had more time for this amazing part of the world – but possibly during dry season 🙂
    And we wished we had more time in total… I mean, come on, just one year, that’s nothing 😉
  • Was the planning right? Maybe we just wanted to see a bit too much, but so far it has worked out pretty well.
  • How much sports will we do? None ? Apart from the following:
    • High Jumping: When a 5-10 cm cockroach flew into Melina’s hair at about midnight – Jumping AND screaming, ok, screaming is not a sport 😉
    • Sprinting: 4x100m to and from the toilet after suffering from “Bali Belly” 🙂
    • Weight lifting: Our backpacks are quite heavy, and taxis are scaring in some parts of the world 😀

Well we walked a lot, that’s ok for now 🙂

 

Best of (funny) pictures:

Asian parking Ticket v.1:

P1040548 P1040549

The variant for smaller vehicles (Motorbikes) is a small half spring which is pushed one or more times into the unwelcome tyre(s)… the above picture shows the car of our hosts in Bangkok, and the “spring thing” happened to our rental motorbike in Bali when we just didn’t see the guy which was supposed to collect parking fees…. No excuses!

After all rules are rules….
P1040721 P1070143
It doesn’t seem to help though to have road signals or rules (which rules?).

Where would we end, if everyone did as he liked? In Vietnam, for instance…
P1070139

Another theory suggests it may just be a better way to cope with enormous amounts of traffic. Imagine all of these vehicles in one of our cities (chose one, it doesn’t matter), and imagine everyone stops at the red lights, lets the vehicle pass which comes from the right hand side, stops at pedestrian crossings etc. etc…..

P1060339 P1040336

… here everyone has a motorbike… or at least every family:
P1070152
You cannot drive a car in that traffic anyways… and if you do, it better be the most stylish car in the world…

P1040479 or P1030971 or
our favourite – easy, small but highly effective:
P1050226 everyone should have this on its rear window 🙂

 

As a tourist, there are not a lot of reasons for driving in such conditions, and in addition to that, public transport is incredibly cheap, and in some cases includes also your meals!

IMG_2392

Having something to eat during a long trip is vital, unless you have already had one of the many local specialties (here are our suggestions):

IMG_2368 Ouch! No one knows what happens to you if you eat them. Don’t know if anyone ever ordered them.
IMG_2678<- “BREAD FAST” … We find this one quite funny – too much imagination 🙂

IMG_2387

You can eat pretty much everything in Asia:
a mix of cultures
P1040673

with the “aid” of modern technology – or – how to confuse someone:
P1080373

Now that we are talking about technology – is there a plumber reading this blog??? If there is, can someone please please explain us why these do not exist in Europe?

IMG_2831

And there are many aspects to it: The water sprinkler which helps washing, or the toilet seat heating are not the key points here (It is still very nice to have and you get used to having it by the first week in Japan). Now look at the tap on top of the toilet. The simplest thing in the world: as soon as you finish using the toilet, the water tank of the toilet needs to be filled up again, right? Why not using this same water (before it fills the tank) to wash your hands since this is what anyone should do “after” anyways? In Japan, after you flush the toilet, water runs through the tap into the tank to fill it up for the next usage. While it does, you can use the same water to wash your hands.  If it is possible in Japan, why not in our countries??? Are we the only people who think this should be in every water toilet in the world? (In particular where water is scarce)

If anyone has an idea why we don’t have it please write a comment to this post…

Let’s change topic.

Asian fashion:
P1040230 or how tourist try to comply with local customs.

And how they should not be doing it: (see the background – the facial expression says it all)

IMG_2003

 

Flora and Fauna:

P1060472  P1050693 P1050454

Prices are set at random:
IMG_2698

If you know durian you know this sign, otherwise – durian is a fruit, and it is prohibited in some public transportation because of… bad smell … no joke:
P1030846

 

Construction – strictly with bamboo    P1050337

P1040042

To see one of our posts across south east asia you can browse the little map below:

loading map - please wait...

Singapore: 1.352083, 103.819836
Bali: -8.409518, 115.188916
Masterplan: 47.368650, 8.539183
Bangkok: 13.756331, 100.501765
Laos: 19.856270, 102.495496
Cambodia: 13.367097, 103.844813
Vietnam: 14.058324, 108.277199
Northern Thailand: 18.706064, 98.981716
Hong Kong: 22.396428, 114.109497
Japan: 36.204824, 138.252924
North and Western Australia: -17.951221, 122.244327
Red Center: -25.352594, 131.034361
Adelaide: -34.928499, 138.600746
Kangaroo Island: -35.775243, 137.214242
South Australia to Victoria: -37.828421, 140.780353
Great Ocean Road: -38.667284, 143.109283
Melbourne: -37.816279, 144.964246
Wilson Prom: -38.916667, 146.333333
Aussi Holiday: -37.400710, 149.683228
Canberra: -35.307500, 149.124417
Kangarooland: -35.636525, 150.303095
Sydney: -33.868820, 151.209296
blue mountains: -33.499997, 150.250000
fiji: -16.941574, 177.369643
Christchurch: -43.532054, 172.636225
southeast new zealand: -46.489978, 169.153926
fjordland: -45.606099, 167.360765
mount cook: -43.594975, 170.141788
Glaciers: -43.464480, 170.017588
Abel tasman: -40.934685, 172.972155
marlborough sounds: -41.290592, 174.001007
ferry to wellington: -41.286460, 174.776236
southwest northern island: -40.988056, 174.950989
Tongariro: -39.272709, 175.580228
Taupo - Napier - Opotiki: -39.492844, 176.912018
Rotorua: -38.175280, 176.337676
Hobbiton: -37.872194, 175.683210
Cathedral cove: -36.827535, 175.790346
Auckland: -36.848460, 174.763332
Tikehau: -15.103946, -148.186340
Tahiti: -17.581849, -149.614563
Bora bora: -16.520859, -151.704883
Easter Island: -27.152033, -109.425888
Santiago de Chile: -33.448890, -70.669265
valparaiso: -33.047238, -71.612688
Maipo Valley: -33.728990, -70.777804
Buenos Aires: -34.603684, -58.381559
Uruguay: -32.583849, -63.083496
Iguassu: -25.695259, -54.436666
Itaipu dam: -25.137097, -54.300615
Paraguay: -27.340970, -55.872345
Cordoba: -31.420083, -64.188776
Mendoza: -32.889459, -68.845839
around aconcagua: -32.653179, -70.010868
Tafi del valle: -26.851667, -65.709817
To cafayate: -26.282334, -65.949554
quebrada de cafayate: -26.072202, -65.975294
ruta 40: -25.686088, -66.055298
Quebrada de Humahuaca: -23.203963, -65.348609
Salta: -24.782127, -65.423198
San Pedro de Atacama: -22.908707, -68.199716
San pedro to uyuni: -21.453069, -67.258301
Potosi and Sucre: -19.572281, -65.755006
La Paz: -16.489689, -68.119294
Lake Titicaca: -16.056371, -69.136963
cuzco: -13.531950, -71.967463
Machu Picchu: -13.163141, -72.544963
Lima: -12.046374, -77.042793
Miami: 25.790654, -80.130045
oahu: 21.285002, -157.835698
big island: 19.639994, -155.996926
Maui: 20.938510, -156.296220
california: 34.420831, -119.698190
vancouver: 49.283932, -123.130302
Whistler to calgary: 50.116320, -122.957356
winnipeg: 49.899754, -97.137494
Toronto: 43.653226, -79.383184
London ON: 42.986950, -81.243177
Algonquin: 45.837159, -78.379124
Ottawa: 45.421530, -75.697193
Montreal: 45.501689, -73.567256
whitby: 43.897545, -78.942933