Bangkok Prison Choir

As Phil is busy with his work I go explore Thailand's capital on my own. After having visited the megacities of Istanbul, Teheran and Mumbai - to name just a few - I can't really describe the size of Bangkok. Let's put it this way: It's really big! I leave the MTR station and stumble over a huge golden Buddhist pagoda. I don't have any guide. So how can I know it's the famous Golden Buddha temple. I love the decoration and architecture. No wonder Thailand is one of the premier tourist destinations in Asia.





Further down the road I take a glimpse of a backlane market. Obviously I try to find Durian - to no a avail. It's this thorny fruit that definitely makes me come more often to the Malay Peninsula. Anyways I will find the Queen of Fruits sooner than later.

The beauty of the Grand Palace wows me just as another pagoda next to it. At this point I notice that Bangkok is really full of tourists and western people. In the morning the metro was packed with business men from all over the world and now the tourists sometimes outnumber the Thais on the road - and not only in a small area. I love the road atmosphere and the food stalls along the way remind me of Malaysia. I'm getting closer!

Now I want to see at least once in my lifetime the world known Kao San Road - the Backpackers Mekka and site of many movie scenes such as 'Hangover'. It's not as bad as in India but still many people (surprisingly Indians!) here ...

... try to fool you. The most frank instance: "Hey there, you're lucky man!"

Trust me! You do not want to be the lucky man! Try to escape! Kao San in plain English: colorful advertisement illumination, Asia's Mallorca, reggae, beer flatrates, overpriced souvenirs, Indians (yes!) and Thai massage.



I head to the ferry pier to go back to the metro. The monsoon meets its name as the rain falls in sheets when I board the long-tail boat. It takes longer than expected. Back at Phil's office he's so kind to give me his emergency clothes to replace my wet summer outfit. We take a short walk to he Thailand cultural center - the venue for the Christian Prison Choir Bangkok. It's amazing that even the nice of the king - a member of the royal (!) family - is attending a choir of drug addicts and criminals, organized by a Christian missionary in a mostly Buddhist country!

The choir is awesome, the philharmonic orchestra interior majestic and the celebration of the royal family most authentic: All Thais are awestricken as the representative of the royal family enters the hall - of course ...

...he's not x-rayed and his bag not checked ;-)

In her speech  the show master emphasizes that the missionary did quite some good in recruiting inmates even if they could barely sing. I found the acoustic performance great, the dancing just fair. We blame on the lack of practice opportunities for men and women together. In contrast to Thailand's sexy image and also in contrast to the sexy Thai fashion style (Women go to work in hot pants!) the society is really conservative: I didn't see people kissing in public. I didn't even see couples holding hands or just any symbol of being couple!

Of course I don't know what's happening behind closed doors ;-)

Back to the concert: The show master underlines the importance of care for the inmates' children. The missionary is raising funds for a new building. Before going home we have a nice dinner together with two Thai friends. I'm doing badly at finishing up the extra spicy papaya salad. Phil's doing great at his Thai karaoke performance.

The restaurant is partying hard as he hits the beats of a traditional schmalzy song.

Colorful Nasik Ghats

The small town of Manmad owes its existence only to the important railway junction of the north-south and west-east lines. That's also the reason why we left the train here.

On the market a clever salesman wants to fool us offering his apples thrice as expensive as to his countrymen. We go for a papaya on the roadside. Passing men stare, girls in school uniform giggle and one homeless asks for a piece. We love to share it. It's way too big.



Today we want to make it to Nashik, 200 kms short of Mumbai. Our first lift is our second tractor. The farmer next to me almost faints as we try out our Hindi phrases with him. He puts on a perma-smile. Twenty kms off Manmad we get a lift with three men on their way to Mumbai. They barely speak English.

We have just checked our mails in Nashik. Now we want to find the much recommended washing places - the so called 'Ghats' - by the river. Indeed there seem to be many pilgrims around here. On our way we try (!) to use one of the public toilets. But, no way!

"It's too disgusting to use or even write about!"

The Ghats are fascinating. It looks, smells and sounds like a big carnival. Women wearing colorful sarees devote to their ritual bathing, a youth group dances around musicians and locals bargain in the market.



Amidst this fireworks of impressions we get in touch with two local students, who want to practice their English - like all Indians we meet. They show us the way to the Mumbai highway. Since we had no way contacting our CouchSurfer we decided to try our luck hitching to Mumbai today. Oh my gosh: Hitchhiking in India once again!

Baklava

Getting up early is hard, you can be sure. At 8:00 we leave the house
with Mustafa and follow him to his work as a customs officer. After
dropping us at the tourist information office, a smart lady helps us
to plan our half day in Antep in perfect German.
It's almost 38 degree Celsius and our skin is burning. We asked the
locals, it will even get hotter during our journey to Iran. A castle,
nice parks and a "big bazar" is on our way and we enjoy the Anatolian
atmosphere.



At 11:30 Mustafa joins us and together we try our luck in a local
restaurant. The chickpeas, beans, bread and some ayran makes us enjoy
our stay even more!
Now its time for Craigs present: Mustafa drives to the most famous
Baklava factory of Antep! He talks a few words and some minutes later,
three big plates of different Baklava sorts are in front of us.
You can't describe how tasty they are! It's a mixture of pistachios
creme, glucose and caramel which form together the most delicious
dessert I've ever tasted!

Thank you Mustafa and Furkan for my birthday present.

And if that wouldn't be enough, Mustafa
gives us a present for our parents. Hopefully it will make it 3 weeks
through Iran and India =)

Burka meets bauchfrei

Um 14 Uhr wachen wir auf und haben erst mal ein tolles Frühstück zusammen in Furkans WG. Ein Bild sagt mehr als tausend Posts.



Furkan und Bekir geben uns noch ein paar Tıpps für die Stadt, dann brechen wir auf. Total demotiviert, da wir gestern alle wichtigen Sehenswürdigkeiten schon gesehen haben.

Seht euch Istanbul am Bosporus an: Ortaköy and Bebek wıth awesome Waffles. Don't miss them!

Wir erleben Istanbul als eine pulsierende Megalopolis. Hier treffen Tradition und Moderne aufeinander - ein toller Mix!

Istanbul's dark side^^

Arriving at Furkan's place, he tells us to relax first and we accept
thankfully.

With Furkan & Bekir on Istanbul Shopping Avenue

The sun is going down, as we head to Taksim, the central
"Independence" square in old Istanbul. From here it's tough to explain
everything: We have a fun time in nightly IST. Furkan introduces us to
many friends and we talk about politics, traveling and friendship!

Furkan gives us a thrilling "Japanese-style" sightseeing tour: The
whole city in 5 hours!

Best example: At the Muslima Mosque, we get an introduction into the
ritual washing: Hands, Arms, Mouth, Nose, Ears, Neck and Feets -
according to the grade of dirtiness.



At 2 o'clock we fall in bed like rocks - Iyi geceler Furkan!

CouchSurfing - Was ist das?

CouchSurfing ist die beste Möglichkeit Unterkunft an einem fremden Ort zu finden: Man verabredet sich mit einem Einheimischen und darf eine oder mit Glück auch mehrere Nächte auf seiner "Couch" verbringen!

Dabei trifft man immer interessante Leute, sieht spektakuläre Orte und kann eine Stadt von einer völlig anderen Seite sehen, als ein "normaler" Tourist.

Das liegt daran, dass ein Einheimischer seine Stadt ganz anders sieht, als der Reiseführer! Sie zeigen dir ihr Lieblingscafé, zeigen dir eine Underground-Disco oder führen dich zum Hintereingang einer Sehenswürdigkeit. Dadurch siehst du Dinge, die dir als normalerweise gar nichts aufgefallen wären und erkundest Orte mit einer anderen Perspektive

All das macht CouchSurfing so anders als normales Reisen!

Nun mal zum Ablauf:

Auf CouchSurfing.org müsst ihr euch zuerst registrieren und ein Profil anlegen. Am besten füllt ihr es gewissenhaft und sorgfältig aus, denn mit diesen Informationen präsentiert ihr euch euren zukünftigen Gastgebern!

Dabei müsst ihr auch direkt angeben, ob ihr selbst auch als Gastgeber eingetragen werden wollt. Das ist auf keinen Fall Pflicht und sollte gut bedacht werden, aber es ist natürlich eine nette Geste für viele andere CouchSurfer. Außerdem verpflichtet ihr euch mit einem Couch-Angebot zu nichts, ihr könnt immer noch eine Nachfrage ablehnen.

Hier mal einige Tipps, um CouchSurfing richtig zu genießen zu haben:

• Suche sorgfältig! Ein Hoster (= Gastgeber) sollte zu dir passen, sowie freundlich und offen wirken! Das sind die besten Vorraussetzungen für einen super Aufenthalt!
• Sei freundlich und weltoffen! Wenn dir ein Gastgeber etwas anbietet, sei es ein seltsamer Kuchen oder die Teilnahme an einem Rock-Festival, sei offen und sag' Ja!
• Surfe zusammen! In einer Gruppe hast du nicht nur mehr Spaß, sondern bist zudem sicherer unterwegs!
• Notruf absetzen! Solltest du einmal in einer Stadt "stranden", also nicht rechtzeitig einen Hoster gefunden haben, benutzt den Notruf-Button auf der Website! Dadurch werden alle CouchSurfer in deiner Nähe benachrichtigt und du findest sicher einen Platz zum Schlafen!

Mit diesem Wissen seid ihr bereit für euren ersten "Surf"!


Für mehr Informationen, besucht die offizielle Website, guckt euch dieses Video an oder fragt einfach uns :D


Grüße aus Köln und viel Glück beim Surfen!
Dario

Our Route - Built for Serendipities

We want to give everybody a short insight on our route. As you know hitchhiking is not something tightly scheduled or planned, so we might diverge from our track to other places and serendipities from time to time.

Our quest is really tough and we know that some will think: "What? - from Turkey to India in three weeks and then on to Malaysia?" Let's face it: We will be traveling in mostly developed countries so that the roads should be pretty ok and hitchhiking a fast means of transport. In big cities we try to find CouchSurfers. At sites of lush nature we camp.

Why are we forced to skip Pakistan and Myanmar? It's about political and infrastructural reasons and at the end of the day also our holiday time slot! The idea about this trip emerged six weeks before our departure: It's nuts to think you can get the visa from these four countries in this time frame. See our post on visas for more. Today the silkroad is possibly the toughest route you can travel - not in terms of transport but concerning the political circumstances. In plain English: 20 years ago, it would have been easier to travel this route. Over and over again Craig talked with the Pakistan embassy, scanned the Internet for advice and called people who managed to get an overland visa for Pakistan before. The result: If you have loads of time for organizing things (which we don't apparently) and if and only if you have connections with somebody at the Pakistan embassy you might be given a overland visa after weeks. Pakistan only issues visa if you can show a valid return air ticket. Another reason against Pakistan: it had meant five days of desert only! I think now you can understand why we skip Pakistan. Myanmar is another story. This country is essentially locked up for hitchhikers: No borders with Bangladesh or India. Once we have more time we'll come to these nice countries definitely!

"silkroad & highway, desert & rainforest, laid-back village & bustling Megalopolis."

Coming back to our route: We'll stay longer at special places and autostop approximately five hours on hitching days. We hit the road in Germany to thumb it to Stuttgart airport. But only in Istanbul the project really starts: After some days at the Bosporus (possibly Ankara) and camping around Cappadocia we'll enter Anatolia ;-) Then crossing the dusty Turkey-Iran border at Esendere moving towards Tabriz, Teheran and then the historic cities of Isfahan and Shiraz in a hot desert plain. From there - owed to above reasons - we'll catch a flight to Delhi. The route for the 1200++ kilometers to Mumbai is not fixed yet. From India Craig is going to skip Myanmar for Thailand. From there the last leg leads to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia through lush rainforests. With approximately 8500 km (shortest route) we're going to cover close to 70% of a true overland route.

"Surfing Iran, hitching Anatolia & camping jungle."

I hope that gives you an idea.

Keep thumbing ...