Meeting with friends in Taipei

Dear friends and family,

so wonderfully small is the world that theoretically there is a high chance that you will know someone that knows someone who is currently nearby, even if you go to Taiwan and are stuck in a Taifun for five days. Thanks to Vicky, who the interested reader will certainly remember from the pictures of the Philippines and Singapore, I had a group of friends to hang out with as of day one. I met Karen and her friends to go to the National Palace Museum, where plenty of the Chinese History can be discovered and to a Japanese BBQ all you can eat place with Daniel and Jen. Since pretty much all of my five days in Taiwan were subject to the natural powers unleashed by the Taifun Morakat (remember, I did not even get to see the symphony of lights in HK because of it), I spend most of the rainy days inside reading my traveling literature. But when we did go out in the evenings, thanks to Karen, Daniel and Jen, I had a wonderful time.

Thanks a lot my friends,

Mat

Honkong with my friend Grace

Liebe Leser,

nach meiner Chinareise durch Guilin und Yangzhou, war ich auf Kurzbesuch in Hongkong, bei meiner Studienkollegin Grace. Es macht natürlich einen himmelweiten Unterschied, wenn man bei Locals einen authentischen Eindruck ins Leben der Menschen gewinnen kann. Daher habe ich nicht so viel Sightseeing unternommen wie zuvor, allerdings dafür mehr Zeit am Küchentisch in Diskussionen verbracht. Den Ausflug zur "Symphony of Light", dem Lichtspektakel im Hafen von Hongkong ist leider dem Taifun Morakat zum Opfer gefallen, denn an jenem Abend wurde die Show abgesagt. Der Ausflug zum Peak of Hongkong, dem höchsten Hügel, den sie weit und breit finden konnten war dafür deutlich schöner, sofern die Wolken einmal einen Blick gewährten.

Alles Liebe,

Euer Matti

Long Hair Ladies

Dear readers,

after the tour through the rice fields, our touri bus stopped at the river village of "the Long Hair Ladies". Without too much contact with the rest of the world, this indeginous group of people cut their hair only twice in their entire lifes. Believing that longer is better, they wait until their teens to cut their hair for the first time and I do not remember the other occasion, possibly when their husband dies...
But they wore nice local costumes, sang for us while we were shipped up and down the river and allowed me to hold their entire pride and social currency. That was a nice stop for the afternoon.

Have a nice day,

Mat

Guilin to Yangzhou - Li RIver Cruise

Dear readers,

one of the most appraised touristy spots in entire China is the Li River between Guilin and Yangzhou. Its amazing natural beauty, derived from the accumulation of natural peaks alongside the winding curves of the river makes a for a beatiful afternoon spend on a large touri boot. Heavily overpriced in comparison with other nice attractions, this cruise was worth the cash, as it brough us along so many picturesque spots. I caught only a few on camera, amongst them the hill of the many horses that you can see on the upper right. According to an old Chinese saying, themore horses you can see in/on it, the more intelligent you are. Hint: Horses can be black or white and looking in plenty of directions. I think there are supposed to be 13, but nobody could point them out to me. Good luck with finding your horse-IQ.

All the best,

Mat

Lily and the rice field terraces

Liebe Freunde,

wenn einer eine Reise tut, dann kann er was erleben, so wusste schon meine alte Deutschlehrerin (von wem sie das wohl hat?). Ich kann bestätigen, dass auch wenn man sich zunächst ein wenig vom Hostelpersonal überreden lassen muss, sich eine Reise auch dann lohnt, wenn man eigentlich so gar keine Lust mehr auf noch eine weitere Sehenswürdigkeit hat. So ging es mir an dem Abend zuvor, aber ich bin froh, dass ich mir die Reisfelder angeschaut habe und zudem eine so nette Person wie Lily kennenlernen durfte. Wenn ihr mal in der Gegend seid, lasst euch auch "überreden".

Alles Liebe,

Matthias

Guilin

Dear followers of my scribblings,

thanks for staying with me for so long already. Slowly catching up with my Asian tours, I share pictures from my Guilin trip with you today. Guilin is surrounded by natural beauty, lakes, rivers, peaks and also hosts a sizeable population of monkeys that are especially interested in you, if you carry bananas or other eatables as a snack with you. I especially liked the waterfalls in the famous and big park in the center of the city that was so famous that I cannot remember its name... what a pitty, for the picture only captures a fraction of its beauty.
I hope you enjoy,

Cheers,

Mat

Transrapid at 427 kmh

Liebe Freunde und Verwandte,

deutsche Technologie gibt es im Ausland fast öfter als daheim. Ich musste bis nach Shanghai reisen, um unsere Magnetschwebebahn life zu testen. Es war ein ruckelarmes, Geschwindigkeitserlebnis, welches mich deutlich weniger in den Sitz gepresst hat, als ich vermutet hätte. Die Spitze lag mit 427 kmh noch deutlich über der Geschwindigkeit im Tischpropeller, den ich im Sommer zuvor in der Schweiz geflogen bin.

Es grüßt euch geschwind,

Euer Matti