After this stormy damp and cold beginning of autumn and winter we will get on the plane on 7 January 2003 at 10:10 p.m. heading
for Krabi, in the south of Thailand. There we will start our tour with a period of relaxing. If we are sick of white sandy
beaches, palm trees with coconuts and pure water, lovely food (...hope we will get used to hot & spicy chilis), we will start
travelling north to learn more about the culture, landscape and people of Thailand.
At the border of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos we intend to enter Laos. Besides the wild nature, the peaceful people (this is
what travel guides promise) we are keen to experience the omnipresence of buddhistic way of life. We want to follow the Mekong
river southwards until the Cambodian border.
In Cambodia we would like to visit Ankor Wat and other cultural sights. In Cambodia there are also national parks with jungle
and secret beaches, i.e. near Sihanoukville at the Golf of Thailand.
Our next stop will be Vietnam. The Mekong delta and many mosquitos are waiting for us there. We will walk along the rice fields, visit historical places like Hue as well as the metropolis Ho Chi Minh City in the south and Hanoi in the north. I (Christine) am looking forward to enjoy the delicious Vietnamese food (we tried that sometimes in Frankfurt...mmh). Andreas is more keen to take part in a churrasco-party in Brasil or Argentina.
From Hanoi we will travel to Kathmandu – Nepal. A few days we will spend on sightseeing (Bhaktapur, Pashupatinath). We intend to do trekking in the Annapurna region afterwards.
From Kathmandu we will go to India by bus or train. We are anxious for the manifold impressions India has to offer. Actually our way should lead us through the rural regions until we’ll reach Agra (better known is the Taj Mahal located there) and Delhi. What we must see is Varanasi at the river Ganges, a holy city for pilgrims.
In Delhi we can again use our round-the-world ticket in order to go to San Francisco via Singapore. Stopovers of about a week are planned.
Afterwards we would like to visit San Jose (Costa Rica) to meet a friend of ours. During the rainy season we will explore the exotic plants and multicolored birds...and of course it will be time again for lying underneath a palm-tree.
In South America we’d like to visit Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia to go hiking and visit Machu Pichu. The next countries will be Chile and Argentina where we will follow the Pan-Americana southwards to Patagonia. Torres del Paine is one of the well known national parks we are going to visit. The last stop is supposed to be Brasil. In fact we planned to visit just the south of Brasil (Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Iguacu, Rio) but friends of us say we must not miss Salvador de Bahia. So maybe we need some more time... ;o)
Finally we would like to spend Christmas in Spain with relatives of Christine before we come back to good old Germany.
