The Story Continues ... 10.000 m Overhead

We are wowed to see our article featured in AirAsia's inflight magazine Travel3Sixty. With more than 16 million passengers carried in 2010 AirAsia is Asia's largest no-frills airline and pioneered low-cost travel in Asia. Craig had the chance to meet AirAsia's CEO and staff at a venue in KL. Enjoy reading:

Double Page in AirAsia's Travel3Sixty Inflight Magazine. 

Thumbing Asia from West to East

Saya Mat Salleh tapi Anak Malaysia. Ever since my exchange year in Shah Alam, Malaysia I can't wait to return to my second home: Reunite with my Malaysian (host) family, indulge some streetside Nasi Lemak and marvel at countless serendipities: From jaw-dropping scuba diving in Terengganu to colorful Deepavali celebrations in Kota Kinabalu AirAsia made a lot possible.

But this time I don't simply want to board an aircraft. I'm curious about 9500 kilometers land that seperate Germany from Malaysia. I want to go overland by thumbing up rides with people along the Silk Road. My brother joins me staging the next level of traveling:

We hitch-hike through Asia from West to East to meet people, see places and go beyond frontiers.

Our backpacks weigh a mere six kilograms each as we hit the road in Cologne, Germany. I'm nervous for the first time: Am I gonna make it on time? University starts in six weeks time but hitch-hiking is not predictable at all. Neither is our route predictable: What if we're not granted entry at a border… What if we get ill… Let's not think about it.

If you're hitch-hiking you have to be optimist.

In bustling Istanbul, Turkey we CouchSurf with a student of engineering. CouchSurfing is a cool way to explore a place from a different perspective other than the one offered by Lonely Planet. Instead of the must-sees Furkan shows us his favorite places and gives us insights into local secrets. We share the fun with friends all over the city from dusk till dawn.

Hitch-hiking in Turkey works really well. We meet people from all walks of life: Ferhat builds aquarium tunnels like the one in the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center (KLCC) or on Sentosa Island in Singapore. The ride is swift and comfortable - quite the contrary to our worst experience two days later...

No lights. Only the moon crescent high above us adumbrates the horizon. No sound. The desert swallows every little noise instantly. A Turkish truck driver has just dropped us in the middle of nowhere. My brother comments our situation with a grim sense of humor:

„We wanted adventure... Here you are!“

With my heart in my mouth I notice our water bottle is empty. 30 minutes of desperate thoughts later a truck comes closer. We vigorously wave our hands. The huge vehicle comes to a halt and a young driver smiles at us. Relieved we jump in.

20 kilometers further we reach our destination: The hillside village of Mardin. We don't know where to stay. A group of men invite us to have a Chai tea. They're so excited about our story that they arrange a hostel room for free. It‘s amazing how hospitable the people are – both in Turkey and in the next country Iran.

Fresh from my letter box.

The Urmia Lake is so salty that we float on the water surface. With these zero-g-forces my book doesn't get wet. The next day we venture into Teheran - a sprawling megalopolis of 20 million. The historic old town boasts a fascinating bazaar. We stroll along the carpet shops and enjoy the fragrance of oriental herbs in the next alley. The architecture is mind-blowing. Incomparable arcades and shimmering domes with fine mosaics of turquoise and yellow tiles. This poetry flows from its visual appearance into the verses of traditional songs that our host Razor sings in the truck leaving Teheran.

The sun is burning our skin. Hitch-hiking in the hottest desert on earth is something really nerve-wracking. As we look into the clear sky we see the vapor trail of an aircraft. For a moment we imagine the comfort of an air-conditioned AirAsia Airbus. Luckily it takes us less than a minute to get a lift with an old truck from World War Two. Some kilometers further down a tyre bursts.

Within days we swap dry desert for lush rainforest in India. Palm trees drift by and the head wind sweeps my hair as I smile at the dumbstruck farmer next to me. The beat of the engine makes any conversation impossible.

It's a lifetime dream: We're hitching a tractor.

At 5 mph we come closer and closer to the world famous Taj Mahal. Between masses of tourists we stand in awe.

On the fringe of seaside Surat Thani a Thai police man means me to get into the police car. After a short ride he points at the beach: "You can put up your hammock here. Good night!" With a freshly plucked coconut in my hands I enjoy the sunset on my 'private' beach. Minutes later the monsoon starts to pour. Thanks to my rainfly the hammock stays dry.

The next morning I‘m squashed between six Thai guys in the truck cabin. Every time I try my newly learned Thai phrases we burst into laughter. I'm distracted by a roadside stall: My favorite fruit Durian. Near Hat Yai I wave a Malaysian flag. My cardboard sign reads „Saya mahu balik kampung. Shah Alam.“ (Want to come back home. Shah Alam.).

At the well lit Petronas gas station a Malay family offers to give me a lift. Chatting with them I trip down the memory lane and I catch up with speaking Malaysian over a tasty Roti Canai.

Finally: As I approach Jalan Adang No. 75 my (host) brother Danial catches sight of me. He runs into the house and yells:

"Craig is back. Craig is bearded."

Terima kasih daun keladi semoga kita berjumpa lagi.


This is the original text that I submitted!
If you want to read on head to the original blog posts.
For the full magazine go to: AirAsia Travel3Sixty.

Taking and Giving

More than 7000 kilometers we enjoyed so much luck, love, fun and hospitality together with people from all walks of life. We want to show our appreciation by donating a part of our Germanwings gift to places in need:

The Horn of Africa is experiencing the biggest humanitarian crisis ever. More than 12 million people desperately need help. Water. Medicine. Vaccination. Food. Care. Safety.

"1 € can buy 1 week nutrition for 1 person."

Another cause we want to support is the protection of human rights. Every human on earth should enjoy all the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Amnesty can fight for the rights of people along our road, free human rights activists in Iran, insist on freedom of peaceful assembly in Malaysia, support the victims of Bhopal and give a voice to the Kurdish minority in Turkey.

"Human rights. We protect them. They protect us."

Thank You. Danke. teşekkürler.   शुक्रिया.   با تشکر از شما.   ขอบคุณคุณ.   terima kasih.

Bündnis Entwicklung Hilft
Konto 51 51
Bank für Sozialwirtschaft
BLZ 370 205 00
Kennwort: ARD/Ostafrika
www.entwicklung-hilft.de

Amnesty International

Konto 80 90 100

Bank für Sozialwirtschaft

BLZ 370 205 00

www.amnesty.de/

Patrol

I'm still nervous. Hitching at night isn't the wise thing to do but it's apparently close to impossible in Malaysia.

Anyways, I'm in a good spot: A brightly lit Petronas gas station in the outskirts of Jitra. After some minutes chatting with motorcyclists and Petronas staff I finally get a lift with two friendly Malay guys to Alor Star - Kedah's capital which is more of a provincial town. I'm enjoying our conversation in BM so much. This time it's much better than last year. I didn't forget too many words.

As we speed into Alor Star Dzivani offers to call my friend Bob. My Malaysian mummy gave me his number. I met him only once on a trip to Sibu island - if it's that person I'm thinking of. Yes it is: "Apa khabar Bob?" ("How're u bob?"). - "Khabar baik."

With Bob & Alor Star Police Patrol in Mamak Store.

Typical Malaysian Neighborhood

Bob introduces me to his colleges at Alor Star City Council. It's already 9 o'clock but they're still working.

I enjoy the atmosphere. Everybody is impressed by my Malay - except for me! I know I used to speak even better. Never mind. We go out for a police patrol on the night market. It's nothing really thrilling: Just check if the hawker have a license and so on. There are so many officers that I feel as if I had been introduced to half the Alor Star police personnel. We do one mor round then we go to a Mamak store. It's that special kind of restaurant that I like so much about Malaysia. Usually they're open 24 hours serving all the nice everyday dishes like Nasi Lemak (coconut steamed rice with spicy sambal and condiments), Nasi Khandar (rice with selection of curries), Roti Canai (calorie packed bred ;-)) … Terima Kasih Daun Keladi Semoga Kita Berjumpa Lagi Bob! It was a real fun time with you and your friends!

Pick Ups & Buddha

I'm looking for a coffee. The Seven Eleven only sell those cold canned coffees. I need a coffee that energizes me for this day. Krabi town looks like all towns on the Malay peninsula: Wide straight roads through between square shoplot blocks. One KFC. One McD. Many Seven Es.

Aaaaaah finally… there is a street stall. After the coffee I start thumbing. Difficult since it's rush hour. Most people want to go to work fast. A guy wants to help me and explains one of the modified pickup busses to help out. It's a short lift to the next junction. From here I get several short lifts with people that can't really speak English … always in pick-ups.

Pick-ups seem to be the no. 1 vehicle for southern Thailand. I enjoy the rides with Bon to Trang, with a group of female teachers to a private school half way to Phattalung, with two guys to the highway junction, with a couple to near Hat Yai and a salesman from Bangkok to Hat Yai city center.

These were the highlights: The couple Wit and bunya laughed as we found out that there where three different religions in the car. Some minutes later a member of the royal family was escorted passed us in a group of black Benz cars and police motos. Another surprising moment: As we go passed a temple on a road pass Ning lifts his hands from the steering wheel to honor the place with a 'Sawadee Gesture' - while driving!!!

Better I pray too: 6000++ kms without seat belt, on the back of pick-ups and high-speed mountain lifts deserves appreciation to any god: Be it Krishna, Buddha or Allah.

Pocket Money & Ignorant Policeman

My Hennessy in Krabi.

I have just hitchhiked a tourist bus. Since it's bound for Phuket they dropped me on the junction for Krabi.

It's darkening already as I stroll about the market and ask a pick-up owner to take me. He is shy and apparently not going really far. Others board the back of the pick-up. People run around the market to help me. Finally a woman approaches me and wants to give me money. First I decline but after the third 'no' it's better to accept. It happened so many times now, that people want to give me money for a bus. The people around stop a public bus and tell the driver to give me a lift. Well I'm fine with that because I can relax a bit.

In Krabi I get a lift with a local police officer in his private car. He doesn't care at all about traffic rules speeding passed red traffic lights and through low speed-zones. What ever … finally I have reached Krabi. It's full of tourists. I ask some about the nearby beach Ao Menang. A Dutch couple gives me some useful information but in the end I enjoy hanging out with four young Germans in the local street market.

As it starts raining I'm stuck in town. I use the free wifi in a bar to write some posts. At around 1 o'clock I set up my hammock in a small park by the seaside to catch up with sleep.

Durian finally!

Bar and his bro just dropped me at a gas station outside Chumpon. A rich guy accepts to bring me some kilometers further. But our ride comes to a complete stop as I see a pickup load of Durian at the road side: "Please stop here!" After the hassle of language barrier I finally hold my first Thai Durian in my hands - well not really, since the Queen of fruits is possibly not only the tastiest but also the most spiky fruit!

With Beer to Samut Sakhon

Beer and Craig.

No - U remember correctly - I don't like beer! But in his case I like beer!

"Getting out of Bangkok seems to be a suicidal idea for a hitchhiker."

The city is full of highways that are off your limits and BKK is full of taxis that make your task more difficult. Anyways if you use three different means of public transport you can easily get to he beginning of the Rama 2-highway bound for southern Thailand.

"I stood on the most stupid place a hitchhiker could go."

I toppled my own advice to others who want to try thumbing: I was barely visible for the fast cars and there was no real space to stop. But luckily Beer saw me and did a U-turn five kilometers down the highway to pick me up. Thanks beer! Yes! His name was Beer. A young tax officer from Bangkok. He took me 25 kilometers to Samut Nakhon and dropped me next to two police officers. Good to know: Don't try to thumb up rides next to police! I even saw one car escaping from the officers who had ordered him to stop. Wow!

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!

Kalanshnikov & Poetry

We're casting long shadows on the burning hot tar of the Teheran-Shiraz highway. A pick-up comes to a halt: An old man descends with his Kalanshnikov gun and crosses the road. Sadly no space for us in the pick-up.

Two minutes later a big Volvo-truck honks and comes to a stop. A young guy from the passenger side asks us where we go? My short "Shiraz" is answered with a "yeeeees". Surprisingly Ismail und Ibraim do fast during Ramadan unlike most people we have met in Iran. Still they offer us nuts and water. We talk about life and love, cars and countries, girls and gas. They desperately try to convince us of staying with them in Shiraz. We have to decline that offer as we have promised us to Mohamed - a friend of our Isfahan-CouchSurfer Mohsen. Thanks again here!

Over the course of the ride we also show pictures of our families and exchange phone numbers. Ismail asks for a German number. As Dario tells the numbers he types them into his phone. Dario emphasizes: "It's a German number!!!" Ismail smiles and calls the number.

Apparently somebody has picked up. Ismail: "Salam! Germany?"

It's Moritz - Dario's friend - on the other end of the line. We start to laugh loudly: In the middle of the Iranian desert a truck driver calls a randomly chosen German telephone number. The line gets cut as we move around a big mountain. Some minutes later we alight on the fringe of Shiraz.
In the locally assembled Payand-pickup we speed to the meeting point: 'Hafazieh' - the tomb of a popular Iranian poet. Whatever page that you read in his books will give u a fortune - it is believed.
With a friend we have a dinner in a western-style eatery. We're looking forward to tomorrow: Mohamed invites us to play Futsal together.

Handsome IRAK

On the most adventuresome and dangerous leg of our trip we go deep into Southeast-anatolian territory: Kurdistan. Although people told us it is not wise to go there, we have an awesome time hitching with locals.

On a junction just meters off Iraqi territory.

Dunno what happened to this car.

For about 500 meters we are on Iraqi soil!!!
It is a once-in-a-lifetime-experience!



The landscape is jaw-dropping: Huge mountains, remote villages and goat herding.
At the border we are actually not allowed to take pictures. Anyways. Here for you:



More to come!

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 =)

Heroes of Cappadocia

Our second night in the hammocks is better, but still freezing. Tired,
we have a fast breakfast and pack our stuff.

After 10 minutes waiting for a lift, Craig runs to an oldtimer at the traffic light near us.

The four Dutch guys inside are fascinated by our journey and invite us
to get in, although there is no place left. We squash us between them and "join
the party".



For the third time we are asked, whether we are brothers or "warm brothers".
A village later, they drop us and we make a crazy picture together.
While driving away they shout: "You are heroes!"

Hitching an old Ford limousine with Dutch warm brothers.

It was just a short ride, we're still in Cappadocia. I will shorten
our next lifts, there is too much to tell about each of them:
- Mesut, a German-speaking guy on holidays
- Hahlet, quiet man without any English knowledge
- Kaimaluddin, a very friendly Teacher, who invited us to Lahmacun &
Ayran in Nidge
- Mahmut, sympatic Truck-driver, who invited us to Adana Kebab & Coke
(second Lunch) at a gas station
- Vali, who taught us some things about Turkey and Kurdistan
- Ghengis (Khan), open-minded, speaks English and helped us a lot,
especially with his Mercedes (~180 km/h)
- A truck driver, we forgot to ask for his name, told us to be carful in Iran

We get dropped at the fringe of Gaziantep. Luckily people are interested in people hiking along the expressway. They stop and offer their help:



On the way to the city centre we call Mustafa, our CouchSurfer in
Gaziantep and make a meeting point.

He picks us up and we are instantly amazed by his friendliness and way
of life. We arrive at his home at night, take a shower and offer him
fruits and nuts.

While watching RTL German Television (!), we talk about the idea of
CouchSurfing and he explains his new project, a
CouchSurfing/hitch-hiking tour through the United Kingdom. We wish him all the best for this project.

Luckily we can wash our clothes and can enjoy a good sleep.

Pod, Prison, Porsche & Permanent-Camper

Toothless Igor from Slovenia has just dropped us on the gas station Sinsheim. Now he accelerates his big truck and honks loudly to mean goodbye. Sadly we cannot keep in touch with him - he has no mail address.

A van stops next to us. As the window goes down a distinct we see some distinct facial expressions. Or as we say colocially in German: "Bewusstseinserweiternde Substanzen." it's two hippies. Apparently they've seen our card board: "We are going to Pakistan." - "Whaaaat?" -"No, only joking!" Unfortunately we quickly find out that our route diverges significantly. Going with them would be nuts. Anyways fun smalltalk.

After a short break, on our way to the gas pumps we spot a Porsche Panamera. The guy looks like he's originally from a southeast Asian country: Let's try!

The story is really thrilling: Some short introductory phrases - "I'm just out of prison" - "We need to go to India, Thailand ... You are from Asia, innit?" - "It's better for you if I don't take you with me." - "You must know: It'd be awesome to hitch a ride in a Prosche." - "Oh ... The Panamera. That's one of the cheapest of our cars." - "Please convince him of givin' us a lift, please!" - "It's better for u I don't take you!"

What an enthralling talk. We still can't figure out what he does and why he was in prison.

In front the restaurant an easy-going guy says yes: Dario jumps in the back of the VW bus T3. Terk has a Nordic name, works as a teacher of geography and politics in Hamburg, drinks Club Mate (wantwantwant) and lives in the VW we are riding right now. After a while I get nervous as his navigation system proposes a faster route off the Autobahn. Before we  reach a parking we turn right on a provincial road: First problem!

Luckily non of us understands the navigation system which directs us back on the motorway.

Terk drops us only 2 kilometers before his exit on yet another gas station: Wunnenstein, 40 kilometers north of the Stuttgart airport. We're almost there.

Our Hennessys - Social Sponsoring

Finally the requests that we sent out to numerous outdoor companies for a social sponsoring arrangement bear fruit: The small private company Hennessy Hammocks do what their name says: Great hammocks!

As we planned our trip and after having pondered with friends about the accommodation gear we finally opted for the hammock solution in favor of traditional tents. Reasons are first and foremost weight and versatility. Other nice aspects are the small and flexible packing, the small footprint and thus minimized surface that we have to clean or dry after a night.

We just received the shipment and we tried our hands on it in the nearby park in Cologne.



The hammocks are simply perfect for our tour: Weighing a mere 700 g for the single Hyperlite and 1600 g for the Safari Deluxe which actually can sleep the two of us. We ordered the Hyperlite in the asym zip configuration (zip on one side) that hopefully allows for a more controllable exit. We decided to take the Safari Deluxe in the traditional velcro classic configuration (halfway velcro closure in the bottom) to make way for independent exit in the center. In an asym configuration sleeping two, one might face difficulties to exit through the side. We'll post more videos once we're in a more exotic environment and got used to the setup ;-)

We are really looking forward to use our Hennessys - the best tent in the world and possibly a really cool hitch-hikers companion or as they say:

"It's a hammock. It's a tent. It's a chair. It's a Super Shelter!"

8000+ kilometers of Thanks to Hennessy Hammocks!

Temperatures like East Anatolia. Chaos like India. Food like Malaysia. Fun like Leipzig!

We are having an awesome Asia dinner at Oststraße 56.

At 7 pm the first invitees - some fellow maths students - arrive escaping from studies just like me. As soon as there are enough people we start to prepare the dishes: Beni cuts mountains of carrots, Tito caringly peels potato after potato and Robert stirs the coconut rice. The air fills with the fragrances of the Orient.

Some friends chatter in my room with my favorite 'globetrotter'-playlist featuring songs from along our route and jazz, blues, guitar and hispanic music. Paqruete - an old flat share companion from France is having fun with Daniela, who will host Dario and me in Delhi thanks to her global studies year in India. There are friends from all walks of life. I love the buzz in our cozy flat share and apparently most of us do. But then: As I open my beloved anchovies pack the smell makes some escape the kitchen.

"Coconut rice, Durian & Rum soaked Banana Cake"

After roughly 90 mins of sizzling, chopping, simmering and crackling the dishes are ready. Quickly we set the 'garden', free the table of yesterday's beer bottles and clean the hammock.

Let's indulge!

For the dessert we have yummy hot banana cake - soaked with dark rum - with vanille ice cream. It's the most amazing treat I know! Only yesterday Mina and I tried to make it in memory of our trip to Centroamérica. Some also like the herbs liquor that we brought from Honduras.

"Global village at O56"

Now comes the best of all: The queen of fruits - the Durian. Some love it, some hate it! If you eat it in a Malaysian hotel you have to pay for three weeks because of the strong smell! The taste cannot be described - you have to try it yourself. Some Asian Food Shops in Germany sell it.

Yummy.

बॉन एपेतीत, selamat makan or Bon appetit!

Learn Farsi - Hitchhiking Phrasebook

To bypass language barriers we have already started learning the Persian language (Farsi). In the Kebab shop in his Leipzig house Craig managed to get some authentic lessons over his tasty kebab.

Click the following memo file links to hear Craig saying the German expression first, then the Farsi equivalent.

Hey there.

Good morning.

Where are you going? In which direction?

Can you give me a lift?

My name is Craig.

I'm from Germany.

See you!

We're looking forward to learn more Farsi, other languages and even foreign scriptures (Farsi, Hindi, Thai). Let's be polyglots!

آیا شما به فارسی سخن بگویند؟

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.

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