Sonntag, 13. Mai 2012
Koh Phi Phi - Phuket - Bangkok
The bus ride and the ferry to the island Koh Phi Phi took ages but I finally got there in the afternoon. Kwang was already waiting for me, had organized a hotel and a plan for the next day! We pretty much got everything for free because her father has lots of nice friends, who own hotels etc. :)
After sleeping in the really nice big bed, we had breakfast on the beach, had a nice but VERY sweaty walk up to the view point and relaxed on the beach until we had to get on the ferry to Phuket.
Arriving in Phuket Kwang's family welcomed us and took us to Patong, which is a touristy but very nice area in Phuket. There we went to our hotel, had really nice buffet dinner and went to a Ladyboy-show afterwards! You really can't tell that all those "Ladys" are actually men!! It's amazing how they hide things ;)
Next day, Kwang and me went on a Raya-Princess-tour. They take you to two different islands near Phuket. First one was Coral Island, where we stopped for one hour to swim and have a look around. The second one was Raya island, where we had lunch, had some time on the beach and did snorkeling. Amazing place!! One of my favourite places...
In the evening Kwang, her family and me went out to have dinner, walked around at the city market and went back to our new hotel ;) Three nights, three different and nice hotels, and all for free :)) Lucky me again!
The next morning we took a plane to Bangkok, walked around China Town, had dinner at Kwang's aunts house and went back to the airport, from where I took my flight to London.
That was all about my two weeks in Thailand. Now only five more days in London and I am going to be back home again...:)
Montag, 7. Mai 2012
Thailand-The land of a 100 smiles
After one week in Thailand I am ready to write a little bit about my past week.
As I was thinking before, the culture shock hit me right at the airport, when I realized that I was going to travel around Thailand for two weeks...and the worst --> by myself! ALL ALONE in a totally different country! And Bangkok with its very busy and confusing atmosphere didn't help at all.
I was pretty much lost at the airport, since I had not booked a hostel and couldn't figure out how the taxis worked. At the end I figured it out and went to the one place I knew the name of...Khao San Road. That's in the touristic area of Bangkok! I found a room straight away and just went to bed ;)
The next day the world already looked a lot better. I found a hostel in a different and better area in Bangkok and met people there. Yey, finally not by myself anymore. It's a lot more fun and easier to wander around with someone else who doesn't have a clue eather :D
Josephine (from Germany) and me discovered a little bit of the city but couldn't help ending up in the hostel watching TV...its soo hot and very humid at the moment in Thailand that normal people can not stand being outside the whole day. Raintime should be coming up soon but probably not until I am leaving the country. At least I am getting a little bit of my tan back, which I surprisingly lost in New Zealand and Australia ;)
After a few days in Bangkok I booked a bus to Chaing Mai, which is the biggest and most important city in the north of Thailand. I had already heard a lot of it and got some advice where to stay and what to do.
The bus I took was amazingly comfotable, you had air-con, lunch included and a service lady who was giving you water and snacks! :) I guess a little more expensive than the shitty tourist buses but so much better!
In Chiang Mai I met some really fun and nice girls in my drom bedroom and spend the past four days with them. I did a Thai-cooking-course, a one day trek with elephant riding etc. and discovered the shopping-centres, markets and temples of Chiang Mai.
Yesterday I took a tourist bus back to Bangkok, from where I am going to take another bus to Koh Phi Phi Island. The bus ride was okay, but I hope I don't have to take another one in a while ;)
Since I have the whole day in Bangkok I decided to visit the Grand Palace, which is a very important Temple in Thailand and supposed to be very impressive. Before that one of the Tuk-Tuk-drivers convinced me to do a little sightseeing tour with him for free. Since I was too early for the palace anyways and didn't want to walk around in the heat I came with him. Of course non of the Tuk-Tuk-drivers would do a tour like that for nothing, you have to do something in return^^ He took me to some clothing or jewelery stores where I had to look around a little bit, pretend to be interested and eather buy something or not. If you buy something the Tuk-Tuk-driver gets two coupons and if you just look he gets one :D Weird but funny system. And if you want to get from A to B for cheap, a good possibility!
Now I am waiting in a free wifi café for my bus. It's too hot to walk around outside all day...
hasta luego amigos
P.s. Noch 10 Tage liebe Freunde aus Deutschland!!!
Montag, 30. April 2012
Pictures from everything and everywhere...
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| Footy game in Melbourne |
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| With Hugo's mum |
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| Botanic garden in Sydney |
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| Living on a boat in Brisbane :) |
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| Most eastern point of Australia in Byron Bay |
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| Kangaroo in real wild life ;) |
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| Australia... |
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| On a dirt road in the middle of no-where |
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| walking over the Harbour Bridge by night |
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| Blue Mountains with the "three sisters" on the left |
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| Tanita trying to avoid the mud :D |
Samstag, 28. April 2012
Last five days in Australia...
After Luke had droped me off in the city, I went to an internet café to see if my Cochsurfer had wrote me the directions to his house. A few minutes later he picked me up from the café and took me home, showed me my couch and introduced me to his housemate Courtney. Went a lot easier than I thought :)
They were both really nice so I felt comfortable straight away. I was really glad to have the last ten days with Luke over with and enjoyed my last days in Syndey.
I discovered a little bit more of Sydney, went out with Mark (my couchsurfer) and met other cool people. The last day Tanita finally arrived from Melbourne. We met up early and went with the train to the Blue Mountains. Its really easy going there with the train and takes only about 1 1/2 hours. The town "Katoomba" where you get off, is cute, really nice to walk around, shop a little secondhand and have lunch in one of its cute restaurants. The view from the several look-out-points is pretty amazing too. We were also very lucky with the weather and could enjoy the view with the sun even more :)
All in all a great last day in Australia!
And now I keep moving towards Thailand for two weeks. I am excited and of course a little nervous too. Its probably gonna be a little bit of a culture shock ;) but as I heard from everyone who has been there, an awesome experience.
See you later and as the australians say
"Cheers", Nina
10 days traveling apart from civilization...
I traveled with Luke ten days. There isn't that much exciting to tell you about those days. We spent hours and hours in every National Park in New South Whales, where Luke was looking for special plant-seeds. He owns a little Nursery, where he grows plants and all that. He also sells those seeds to customers in Japan, Germany etc. and I guess gets good money out of it, since he does this trip every year.
Well, the first time I joined Luke on his search trip through a National Park. But after we got lost and walked for f*** five hours off track, through the bush (which is why my clothes have wholes now), I learned my lesson and never joined him again!! I prefered waiting by the car, listening to music and being bored, since there wasn't anything to do in the middel of a National Park :D
It wasn't all bad and boring though...I also had some highlights. I saw Kangaross, all kinds of lovely colorful birds and other exotic animals! The stars were pretty amazing too.
Short post for ten days, I know...but it wasn't as perfect as I thought it would be ;)
Gotta have some not so good experience, too!
Cheers, Nina
Montag, 23. April 2012
Australia
I had contacted my friend Hugo, who I met at the christmas party in Buenos Aires, before and he said he had a spare room for me and Tanita (friend from Germany). Since Tanita and I had different flights from Auckland, we met in the city and arrived at the Glen Iris station at 5pm, where Hugo was already waiting to pick us up.
He had bought us all tickets for the Footy game, Hawthorn vs. Collingwood, which is a pretty big deal in Australia. Footy is a mixture of Rugby and Soccer and is only being played in Australia.
After a quick rest and having a look on our awesome, big and comfortable bed, we took a train to the stadium, where we met a couple of Hugo's friends and later on his sister, Bridget, too.
Some people there were a little fanatic but fun to watch them being so into the game. Lots of people there were drinking beer and watching the game on the TV provided at the bar, because they weren't allowed to take alcohol up to their seats. They all payed for their seats but beer seemed to be very important to them;) I already realized that the australians really like drinking alcohol on my flight from Auckland to Melbourne. The guy next to me ordered one wine bottle after the other and didn't stop until he was pretty drunk :D I guess it was for free but on all of my flights I haven't seen anyone doing the same. And I have been on quite many flights...
Whatever, the game was fun and cool, since I have never been to a sportsevent with about 10000 people. Footy itself is quite interesting as well, because they don't throw the ball but kick it, which must be very hard considering the egg-spape of the ball. That's why some of the players didn't manage to get the ball in between the two sticks even though they were standing right in front of it...
The next days Tanita and I stayed with Hugo and his family. They were very welcoming, nice and funny too. We discovered Melbourne in those days and went to a place 1 1/2 hours from the city which had 20 thermes with different temperatures. Very nice and relaxing...
On Tuesday Tanita packed her stuff and caught a train to her new working place. Since the family had invited me to join them on their easter trip to Sydney (and that was exactly where I wanted to go), I stayed at their house until thursday, when we (Mum, dad, Bridget and me) headed off to Jinderbyne, a place in the mountains where Guy, their son, works and lives. We stayed there one night and took him with us the next morning. On our way to Sydney they even stopped in Canberra, the capital of Australia, for me. But to be honest that place isn't really exciting. There are some nice buildings but as everyone told me the city was only built to avoid having to make a decision between Melbourne and Sydney, which both wanted to become the capital.
In Sydney we stayed in the holiday house of the cousin, which was located on the north side of the City, in Mosman. It is a nice area and takes only 10-15 minutes into the city centre by ferry or bus.
That night we had japanese barbecue for dinner...I had calamari for the first time. It's not my favourite but it doesn't taste as gross as it looks either :D
Bridget, Guy and I went into the city, to Kings X to party a little but since we had "Good Friday" all clubs and bars were closed. We got home before 12pm but at least I drove over the Harbour Bridge and saw Syndey by night.
Next day we did a sightseeing tour through Sydney. The Opera house, Botanic garden, Contemporary Art Museum, the Rocks (the oldest neighbourhood) and Pitt Street, the shopping street.
On Sunday we had planed to go to the beach to swim and relax but because it rained we went to have coffee with some friends and went to the Manly beach later on, as the weather was getting better.
On Monday the Mylecharanes (familys name --> I know its weird) needed to go back home, so they droped me off at the bus station from where I took a bus to the city centre. I managed to find a hostel for one night. I didn't really know what I wanted to do next but I decided to take a bus to Brisbane after non of the hostels I had asked had work for me.
The next day at 5:30 pm my bus left Sydney and made it in 16 hours to Brisbane. I got there at 10 am and since my couchsurfer, James, had work, I hung around the city. Brisbane is a really nice and green city!
I met James later at Manly station, where he picked me up. The special thing about this couchsurfer was, that he is currently living on a boat. He is waiting for his working visa and stays on a house boat until it arrives. The boat wasn't so big but there was enough room and the couch turned into a bed :)
It was a different, new but very nice experience surfing on James' couch. I almost went with him on a trip to a close island the last weekend but I found a guy, Luke, on gumtree.com, who was going to Sydney and had a spare seat. I met him on Friday to see if I would want to travel with him and what exactly his plans were. He seemed harmless, a little different but harmless ;) and he wanted to take some east- and westroads and make his way down to Sydney within 10 days. His timing fitted mine pretty well, so I took advantage of that spare seat and went with him the next morning towards Byron Bay...
See ya guys later
He had bought us all tickets for the Footy game, Hawthorn vs. Collingwood, which is a pretty big deal in Australia. Footy is a mixture of Rugby and Soccer and is only being played in Australia.
After a quick rest and having a look on our awesome, big and comfortable bed, we took a train to the stadium, where we met a couple of Hugo's friends and later on his sister, Bridget, too.
Some people there were a little fanatic but fun to watch them being so into the game. Lots of people there were drinking beer and watching the game on the TV provided at the bar, because they weren't allowed to take alcohol up to their seats. They all payed for their seats but beer seemed to be very important to them;) I already realized that the australians really like drinking alcohol on my flight from Auckland to Melbourne. The guy next to me ordered one wine bottle after the other and didn't stop until he was pretty drunk :D I guess it was for free but on all of my flights I haven't seen anyone doing the same. And I have been on quite many flights...
Whatever, the game was fun and cool, since I have never been to a sportsevent with about 10000 people. Footy itself is quite interesting as well, because they don't throw the ball but kick it, which must be very hard considering the egg-spape of the ball. That's why some of the players didn't manage to get the ball in between the two sticks even though they were standing right in front of it...
The next days Tanita and I stayed with Hugo and his family. They were very welcoming, nice and funny too. We discovered Melbourne in those days and went to a place 1 1/2 hours from the city which had 20 thermes with different temperatures. Very nice and relaxing...
On Tuesday Tanita packed her stuff and caught a train to her new working place. Since the family had invited me to join them on their easter trip to Sydney (and that was exactly where I wanted to go), I stayed at their house until thursday, when we (Mum, dad, Bridget and me) headed off to Jinderbyne, a place in the mountains where Guy, their son, works and lives. We stayed there one night and took him with us the next morning. On our way to Sydney they even stopped in Canberra, the capital of Australia, for me. But to be honest that place isn't really exciting. There are some nice buildings but as everyone told me the city was only built to avoid having to make a decision between Melbourne and Sydney, which both wanted to become the capital.
In Sydney we stayed in the holiday house of the cousin, which was located on the north side of the City, in Mosman. It is a nice area and takes only 10-15 minutes into the city centre by ferry or bus.
That night we had japanese barbecue for dinner...I had calamari for the first time. It's not my favourite but it doesn't taste as gross as it looks either :D
Bridget, Guy and I went into the city, to Kings X to party a little but since we had "Good Friday" all clubs and bars were closed. We got home before 12pm but at least I drove over the Harbour Bridge and saw Syndey by night.
Next day we did a sightseeing tour through Sydney. The Opera house, Botanic garden, Contemporary Art Museum, the Rocks (the oldest neighbourhood) and Pitt Street, the shopping street.
On Sunday we had planed to go to the beach to swim and relax but because it rained we went to have coffee with some friends and went to the Manly beach later on, as the weather was getting better.
On Monday the Mylecharanes (familys name --> I know its weird) needed to go back home, so they droped me off at the bus station from where I took a bus to the city centre. I managed to find a hostel for one night. I didn't really know what I wanted to do next but I decided to take a bus to Brisbane after non of the hostels I had asked had work for me.
The next day at 5:30 pm my bus left Sydney and made it in 16 hours to Brisbane. I got there at 10 am and since my couchsurfer, James, had work, I hung around the city. Brisbane is a really nice and green city!
I met James later at Manly station, where he picked me up. The special thing about this couchsurfer was, that he is currently living on a boat. He is waiting for his working visa and stays on a house boat until it arrives. The boat wasn't so big but there was enough room and the couch turned into a bed :)
It was a different, new but very nice experience surfing on James' couch. I almost went with him on a trip to a close island the last weekend but I found a guy, Luke, on gumtree.com, who was going to Sydney and had a spare seat. I met him on Friday to see if I would want to travel with him and what exactly his plans were. He seemed harmless, a little different but harmless ;) and he wanted to take some east- and westroads and make his way down to Sydney within 10 days. His timing fitted mine pretty well, so I took advantage of that spare seat and went with him the next morning towards Byron Bay...
See ya guys later
Montag, 16. April 2012
New Zealand with Jana, Tanita and Jan :)))
I arrived a few days later than the others did, so they had already rented a car and seen the bit that's left of Christchurch. There was a big earthquake in 2010 that destroyed a lot Of the inner city of Christchurch.
After the big long desired reunion we took off to the supermarket, got lots of food and headed south...
The first stop was Lake Tekapo where we climbed the Mount John and had a nice but freakin cold morning swim! Next big stop was Dunedin, where we got to see huge Albatrosses and Penguins. Making our way to the very south part of the Suth Island of New Zealand, we had lots of singing contests in the car, which was so crowded that things were falling on us, as soon as the driver had to stop or something. Since we did wild camping and therefor couldn't have a shower every morning we headed to pools once in a while, swam a little and had a half-an-hour-shower to keep ourselves more or less clean :D
In the very south we were able to see Dolpihns swimming and playing right next to us in the sea. Also, there was a sealion on the beach, who was really relaxed about all the people taking pictures of him...I think he enjoyed being the center of attention and not only the Dolphins :-P
Getting close to Milford-Sound, we booked a Kayaktour for a few hours the next day, hoping the weather would get better. Of course that didn't happen...it even got worse, so we ended up kayaking through pooring rain with thousands of Sandflys. Thinking positive, we made the most out of it and enjoyed the thousand waterfalls instead of just two and some sealions...
Last stop for the first week was Queenstown, which is one of the most popular cities in NZ. It is in a beautiful area and good to do activities like rafting, Paragliding etc.
We stayed in a hostel, which was sooo nice after sleeping in the car or tent the days before. We got to wash all our clothes and bought a whole day of internet ;)
After a couple of days in Queenstown, we made our way to Lake Wanaka, where did our once-in-a-lifetime-experience, Skydiving!!! You know, the thing where you jump out of an airplane :-P
I thoght I would be getting sick or something but I nothing like that happened...I even really enjoyed it!
Next big thing was the Tasman-Nationalpark near Nelson. We took a water taxi to Barks Bay and walked back by foot. It took us seven hours to do so, which was even faster than it says on the signs ;) The National park was really beautiful and since even the weather was good, we were in a very good mood and enjoyed the day!
On the north island our highlights were the hot water beach and Auckland. The hot water beach near Whaihi (or something like that) is really cool. At a certain time you just need to dig a whole in the sand and you get hot water after just a few cenitmeters.
The last days of our trip we enjoyed in Auckland, where organised everything and took all our flights back to Australia or for Jana to Germany.
That was my trip around NZ! It was amazing spending it with my sister and my two friends.
Next post will follow soon...hopefully :-P
Greetings, Nina
After the big long desired reunion we took off to the supermarket, got lots of food and headed south...
The first stop was Lake Tekapo where we climbed the Mount John and had a nice but freakin cold morning swim! Next big stop was Dunedin, where we got to see huge Albatrosses and Penguins. Making our way to the very south part of the Suth Island of New Zealand, we had lots of singing contests in the car, which was so crowded that things were falling on us, as soon as the driver had to stop or something. Since we did wild camping and therefor couldn't have a shower every morning we headed to pools once in a while, swam a little and had a half-an-hour-shower to keep ourselves more or less clean :D
In the very south we were able to see Dolpihns swimming and playing right next to us in the sea. Also, there was a sealion on the beach, who was really relaxed about all the people taking pictures of him...I think he enjoyed being the center of attention and not only the Dolphins :-P
Getting close to Milford-Sound, we booked a Kayaktour for a few hours the next day, hoping the weather would get better. Of course that didn't happen...it even got worse, so we ended up kayaking through pooring rain with thousands of Sandflys. Thinking positive, we made the most out of it and enjoyed the thousand waterfalls instead of just two and some sealions...
Last stop for the first week was Queenstown, which is one of the most popular cities in NZ. It is in a beautiful area and good to do activities like rafting, Paragliding etc.
We stayed in a hostel, which was sooo nice after sleeping in the car or tent the days before. We got to wash all our clothes and bought a whole day of internet ;)
After a couple of days in Queenstown, we made our way to Lake Wanaka, where did our once-in-a-lifetime-experience, Skydiving!!! You know, the thing where you jump out of an airplane :-P
I thoght I would be getting sick or something but I nothing like that happened...I even really enjoyed it!
Next big thing was the Tasman-Nationalpark near Nelson. We took a water taxi to Barks Bay and walked back by foot. It took us seven hours to do so, which was even faster than it says on the signs ;) The National park was really beautiful and since even the weather was good, we were in a very good mood and enjoyed the day!
On the north island our highlights were the hot water beach and Auckland. The hot water beach near Whaihi (or something like that) is really cool. At a certain time you just need to dig a whole in the sand and you get hot water after just a few cenitmeters.
The last days of our trip we enjoyed in Auckland, where organised everything and took all our flights back to Australia or for Jana to Germany.
That was my trip around NZ! It was amazing spending it with my sister and my two friends.
Next post will follow soon...hopefully :-P
Greetings, Nina
Montag, 2. April 2012
Paraguay and my way back "home"...
From Ciudad del este in Paraguay we took a bus to Encarnacion. The bus was five hours long, there were like 40 degrees outside and we didn't have air conditioning!! At the end of the ride we didn't have any water left in our body...that's how much we were sweating.
We met two guys from Germany on the Terminal there. Alex and Enno had the same plans as we had, so we decided to just get a hostel together and go to the Trinidad ruins together the next day.
In the evening we met a nice paraguayan guy who offered to take us to the ruins, so we met him the next morning and went there.
The ruins are pretty old but still in good shape. We also took the oldest bus I have ever seen in my life. It looked and sounded like it would fall apart the very next minute.Haha.
The next day we took another bus to Paraguays capital Asuncion and arrived in our hostel in the night, after we walked around for an hour trying to find it :D
The next three days we stayed there and settled down a little...
I also finally found a bus back to Santiago :)
So on the 24th of January I arrived in Santiago after a nightbus to Cordoba in, where I spent the day doing some sightseeing, from there another nightbus to Mendoza and from there another one to Santiago.
I was glad to finally be back "home" and spent my final month there with doing another spanish course and lots of fun things with my friends!
That was the last post about Southamerica. I'm on my way to New Zealand now...at least in my blog! Actually, I am already in Melbourne in Sydney :D
Sorry about being so bad keeping you guys updated!
We met two guys from Germany on the Terminal there. Alex and Enno had the same plans as we had, so we decided to just get a hostel together and go to the Trinidad ruins together the next day.
In the evening we met a nice paraguayan guy who offered to take us to the ruins, so we met him the next morning and went there.
The ruins are pretty old but still in good shape. We also took the oldest bus I have ever seen in my life. It looked and sounded like it would fall apart the very next minute.Haha.
The next day we took another bus to Paraguays capital Asuncion and arrived in our hostel in the night, after we walked around for an hour trying to find it :D
The next three days we stayed there and settled down a little...
I also finally found a bus back to Santiago :)
So on the 24th of January I arrived in Santiago after a nightbus to Cordoba in, where I spent the day doing some sightseeing, from there another nightbus to Mendoza and from there another one to Santiago.
I was glad to finally be back "home" and spent my final month there with doing another spanish course and lots of fun things with my friends!
That was the last post about Southamerica. I'm on my way to New Zealand now...at least in my blog! Actually, I am already in Melbourne in Sydney :D
Sorry about being so bad keeping you guys updated!
Mittwoch, 28. März 2012
Foz de Iguazu
We took a 27 hour bus to make our way from Rio de Janeiro to Foz de Iguazu , which is right on the border of Argentina and Paraguay. In that area you can see the point where the borders of three countries (Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay) get together and of course some of the biggest waterfalls on earth!!
The bus ride was a night mare…it took five hours more than we thought, because it stopped every half an hour, even though there was no one getting on and no one getting off. Pretty annoying, but we got there at the end ;) We took a 27 hour bus to make our way from Rio de Janeiro to Foz de Iguazu , which is right on the border of Argentina and Paraguay. In that area you can see the point where the borders of three countries
Since we had to cross the borders (we had booked a hostel on the Argentinean side, which was supposed to be cheaper and better), we arrived another three hours later in our hostel. On the way there I also realized that I had forgotten my i-Pod and my earphones in the bus from Rio to Iguazu. And because it was Friday the 13th everything was just annoying and bad…even the weather was rainy and cold!
But however, the next day the sun was shining and because I am that lucky, I even got my i-Pod back, when I asked the bus-company I took the day before :) I really didn’t think they would find it and hand it to me (instead of just keeping it), so I was in a really good mood that day.
The waterfalls were amazingly beautiful and stunning. They are just huuuuge!!
The bus ride was a night mare…it took five hours more than we thought, because it stopped every half an hour, even though there was no one getting on and no one getting off. Pretty annoying, but we got there at the end ;) We took a 27 hour bus to make our way from Rio de Janeiro to Foz de Iguazu , which is right on the border of Argentina and Paraguay. In that area you can see the point where the borders of three countries
Since we had to cross the borders (we had booked a hostel on the Argentinean side, which was supposed to be cheaper and better), we arrived another three hours later in our hostel. On the way there I also realized that I had forgotten my i-Pod and my earphones in the bus from Rio to Iguazu. And because it was Friday the 13th everything was just annoying and bad…even the weather was rainy and cold!
But however, the next day the sun was shining and because I am that lucky, I even got my i-Pod back, when I asked the bus-company I took the day before :) I really didn’t think they would find it and hand it to me (instead of just keeping it), so I was in a really good mood that day.
The waterfalls were amazingly beautiful and stunning. They are just huuuuge!!
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| three-country-point |
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| argentinien side :) |
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| Monkey on the walking path |
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| Argentinien side |
We stayed there four days and made our way to Paraguay from there, which is only two hours (with all the borders) away...
See ya,
Nina
Montag, 12. März 2012
from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro...
A seven hour bus ride took us from Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro. We checked-in in our hostel at 11:30 pm and went straight to bed. We spent the next two days, walking around Rio, doing some sightseeing and relaxing on the beach :) Rio is just beautiful and the people too...its not like there are just models running around, they are just beautiful from the inside and and sooo happy! I really admire their culture of happiness!
Now some pictures:
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| Rio de Janeiro on a cloudy day |
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| M&N in Rio |
Sorry I don´t have much time left, uploading pictures always takes its time...
My next post is about the waterfalls in Iguazu ;)
Bye bye, Nina
Sonntag, 11. März 2012
visiting a friend in Cianorte...
A really long bus trip, the whole day and the night, took us from Porto Alegre to Curitiba and from there to Cianorte, where we arrived at 6 am. Since Martha and me arrived one day earlier than we had planed with our friend, Aline, before, and the communication wasn't perfect, we were as always stranded at the bus terminal :D We waited for two hours and started to look for an internet-café. Well, Cianorte is a relatively small city and in the south-american culture, cafés or internet-cafés won't open until 10 am!! We walked around for 1 1/2 hours asking people, in spanish (we tried to make it sound like portugese- which is really not too diferent from spanish), for internet-cafés or just WiFi...but they wouldn't get what we were trying to say :D First it was pretty frustrating but after a while it got kinda funny!! The weird thing is, that the word "internet" exists in portugese and is pronounced almost the same as they say it in english, german etc. Maybe they were scared of us strangers and stressed out as soon as they heard a different accent. Jajaja
In the end we found a café with WiFi and got help from the lady that owned it. She was so adorable...she even offered us to stay with her neighboor, have a shower and take a rest :) soo sweet!
Our friend picked us up half an hour later and went with us to her grandmas house, where we freshened up and had lunch. We met Aline in Santiago, in our spanish school "Tandem" and she invited us to visit her one day...so we took advantage of that right away :-P
Her parents and her live on the "campo", have cows, chickens etc. It is one of my favorite places in the world to relax and have some good quiet days without connection to the world outside. But see it yourself:
We spent four really relaxing but fun days with Aline. On a Saturday we took a night-bus to São Paulo, where we had friends we could stay with.
São Paulo is with ca. 18 million habitants one of the biggest cities in the world! And it's true...IT IS freakin' HUGE!! I think as we got into the city, we still drove more than an hour to get to one of the bus terminals. After taking the metro for another half hour, we got to the station where our friends mum was waiting for us.
She was so lovely. She took so good care of us, showed us the city (at least a part of it), cooked the best brasilian food ...
In the three days we had in São Paulo we saw a lot of the city, had some good time with the family of our friend and went to the MASP (Museum of Arts de São Paulo). They had paintings of Picasso, Matisse, Van Gogh, Rembrandt etc. there...really interesting, since I had all those painters in my last years of school and could totally remember what I had learned about them :D
That was all for now, gotta go...
Sorry for being so bad updating you guys!
Greetings, saludos, Grüße
Nina
In the end we found a café with WiFi and got help from the lady that owned it. She was so adorable...she even offered us to stay with her neighboor, have a shower and take a rest :) soo sweet!
Our friend picked us up half an hour later and went with us to her grandmas house, where we freshened up and had lunch. We met Aline in Santiago, in our spanish school "Tandem" and she invited us to visit her one day...so we took advantage of that right away :-P
Her parents and her live on the "campo", have cows, chickens etc. It is one of my favorite places in the world to relax and have some good quiet days without connection to the world outside. But see it yourself:
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| Litschis just hanging around there |
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| Muhmuhs |
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| Coconut-tree |
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| my friend, Aline |
We spent four really relaxing but fun days with Aline. On a Saturday we took a night-bus to São Paulo, where we had friends we could stay with.
São Paulo is with ca. 18 million habitants one of the biggest cities in the world! And it's true...IT IS freakin' HUGE!! I think as we got into the city, we still drove more than an hour to get to one of the bus terminals. After taking the metro for another half hour, we got to the station where our friends mum was waiting for us.
She was so lovely. She took so good care of us, showed us the city (at least a part of it), cooked the best brasilian food ...
In the three days we had in São Paulo we saw a lot of the city, had some good time with the family of our friend and went to the MASP (Museum of Arts de São Paulo). They had paintings of Picasso, Matisse, Van Gogh, Rembrandt etc. there...really interesting, since I had all those painters in my last years of school and could totally remember what I had learned about them :D
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| Sao Paulo center |
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That was all for now, gotta go...
Sorry for being so bad updating you guys!
Greetings, saludos, Grüße
Nina
Mittwoch, 15. Februar 2012
We stayed with Ronaldo, who stayed in Marthas house in the Netherlands in 2011. He lives in Gravatai, which is about half an hour from Porto Alegre. We slept in the house of his girlfriends family and were treated like princesses. Her mum made awesome food, we weren´t allowed to help with anything and the first evening Ronaldo, Leticia (his girlfriend) and some of their friends took us to this "Christmas "- city, which is a very popular place to go to in the south of Brasil. It was already way after Christmas but for the first time this Christmas feeling you normally have ( in Germany) came up. The whole city was lightened up with christmas decoration, you could hear christmas music out of every store and there was even a choir singing, of course, christmas songs.
One new experience Martha and me had, was eating chicken heart!! If think about it know, I think its really gross...but in reality it tasted just like some kind of meat ;) I wouldn´t eat it again though. Jajaja
New Years Eve we were invited to celebrate with friends of Ronaldo and Leticia. In general we had fun and enjoyed celebrating the New Year in Brasil with these lovely people, but I´m totally ready to celebrate 2013 with my family and friends ;)
The brasilians do have some weird but interesting New Years traditions though. They say you should eat lots of lentil soup, seven grapes and jump over seven waves to be lucky and get rich that year. Of course I did all three things...lets see how it works out. Logically I will get home with no money left but you never know what happens! HAHA
The day after New Years, Ronaldo and Leticia showed us the center of Porto Alegre. As you can see on the picture its really green. In times it rains a lot but that didn´t bother us. No big news from two girls coming from the Netherlands and Germany...
After leaving Gravatai, we went north and stoped in Florianapolis for one day. It´s know for having some of the most beautiful beaches in Brasil, which really means something!!! Maybe you can´t tell from the picture but it really was one of the most beautiful beaches we had been to in Brasil.
Hasta el proximo "post"
Un abrazo
Montag, 13. Februar 2012
and I move on...
Very short post about our way from BsAs to Porto Alegre (Brasil):
We took a "Buquebus", thats the name of the ferry that crosses the river, to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay. We got there in the afternoon and had the whole day to see the city and chill at the beach, cause our couchsurfer had to work until 8pm...
In the end we missed the last bus to his house because we forgot about the time difference...stupid, I know :D From that moment everything totally got out of control and we ended up taking the last bus to Montevideo and sleep there in the terminal! At least we were lucky that the terminal didn't close over night^^
A little tired and sore from sleeping or trying to sleep on the seats in the terminal, we headed to the beach of Montevideo. A really nice and quiet beach...at least in the morning ;)
In the afternoon we walked through the city and had a cafe with a german tourist we met. He identified us as germans when he saw my "Deuter"-backpack :D
In the evening we had bought a bus ticket over night to Porto Alegre, where one of Marthas friends lived, with which we wanted to stay for a few days.
Yap, thats how we got there!
Hasta luego
We took a "Buquebus", thats the name of the ferry that crosses the river, to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay. We got there in the afternoon and had the whole day to see the city and chill at the beach, cause our couchsurfer had to work until 8pm...
In the end we missed the last bus to his house because we forgot about the time difference...stupid, I know :D From that moment everything totally got out of control and we ended up taking the last bus to Montevideo and sleep there in the terminal! At least we were lucky that the terminal didn't close over night^^
A little tired and sore from sleeping or trying to sleep on the seats in the terminal, we headed to the beach of Montevideo. A really nice and quiet beach...at least in the morning ;)
In the afternoon we walked through the city and had a cafe with a german tourist we met. He identified us as germans when he saw my "Deuter"-backpack :D
In the evening we had bought a bus ticket over night to Porto Alegre, where one of Marthas friends lived, with which we wanted to stay for a few days.
Yap, thats how we got there!
Hasta luego
Dienstag, 31. Januar 2012
Pictures
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| Roof patio of our hostel |
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| una ciudad muy linda^^ |
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| Wir sind die coolsten, sind die coolsten, wenn wir durch die City cruisen ;) |
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| barrio "La Boca" en BsAs - is famous for its very colorful houses |
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| "La Bomba" - awesome every-week-drum-show |
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| Theater "Colon" |
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| Colonia in Uruguay |
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| Montevideo - really nice city with nice beaches ;) |
Montag, 23. Januar 2012
Christmas in Buenos Aires with 35 degrees
The time in our hostel "Lime house" was really fun. It is located in the middle of the center on one of the main streets! We mostly spent our time in the hostel when it was too hot to go outside. We talked to people from all over the world, made friends with them, chilled in the lounge or on the roof patio or played pool! We also went out a couple of nights...at 12pm on Christmas Eve the whole hostel got together in the lounge/bar area and got a free drink. At 2am about twelve of us started to get ready to go to one of the most popular christmas parties in BsAs. The entrance was surprisingly very cheap, considering that everyone warned me before that going out in BsAs is really expensive^^
We could have even got in for free as we found out when we got there. We only had to tell them that we were friends with some guy (forgot his name) and the next minute we were in! Since we were still pretty early-for argentinien standards-the club was not very crowded. Still, the four different areas plus the terrasse right by the water got very busy after one hour. The party was awesome! It didn't feel like christmas at all though. We danced the whole night until seven o'clock in the morning, saw the sun rising while standing on the terrasse and met really nice people. Some of them I will probably see again in Australia or NZ ;)
After getting home we waited until the breakfast was done and decided after eating to just not sleep and instead cycle around the city with our rented bycicles. We got a special offer over the holiday weekend and got two days and a half for the price of one :)
Well, that was my very different Christmas 2011!!
More from BsAs later, hopefully this time told by pictures ;)
Un abrazo a todos que quieren :-P
Nina
We could have even got in for free as we found out when we got there. We only had to tell them that we were friends with some guy (forgot his name) and the next minute we were in! Since we were still pretty early-for argentinien standards-the club was not very crowded. Still, the four different areas plus the terrasse right by the water got very busy after one hour. The party was awesome! It didn't feel like christmas at all though. We danced the whole night until seven o'clock in the morning, saw the sun rising while standing on the terrasse and met really nice people. Some of them I will probably see again in Australia or NZ ;)
After getting home we waited until the breakfast was done and decided after eating to just not sleep and instead cycle around the city with our rented bycicles. We got a special offer over the holiday weekend and got two days and a half for the price of one :)
Well, that was my very different Christmas 2011!!
More from BsAs later, hopefully this time told by pictures ;)
Un abrazo a todos que quieren :-P
Nina
Donnerstag, 19. Januar 2012
Buenos Aires!!
Martha and me couchsurfed the first three days with Jorge, who lived with two friends in a house 20 minutes outside the city center, in a quiet and nice neighboorhood. After picking us up from the train station, he had to leave for his work. Thats how fast you get to a house of your own in BsAs ;) Pretty amazing how trustful the people on Couchsrufing are...
Since we didn't sleep in the night, we were really tired and slept the whole afternoon. The guys came home in evening and we talked a little with them. They seemed really nice, realxed and satisfied with their lives. They all played instruments and had this hippy-thing to be all relaxed about everything^^ Even after Jorge almost broke his butt while playing football (at work!!), he didn't complain and busied himself with playing on the guitar.
In the night a friend of him picked us up and took us to a Club/Bar/Restaurant, where we listened to live-music and drank something. Really nice night with good music.
The next day we went into the city and explored a little bit of the city center of BsAs. Its very green with lots of nice buildings. I really like the architecture of the buildings. Not like in Santiago, where most buildings got destroyed by earthquakes, some of the builings in BsAs are pretty old but really good taken care of.
The "teatro Colón" for example is one of the oldest theaters in Argentinia and looks amazing from the out-and inside. We even bought tickets for 10 Ar.$, which are like 2€, for a ballet on our last evening in BsAs. We only had standing places but it was amazing anyways...
Back to our couchsurfng experience again...Jorge and his housemates, which all work in the same place, took us to their office and Nico (the chef of the work) made us some nice food. By the way, their office is awesome!! Its a villa, located in a nice neighboorhood near their house, with a pool, a huge nice kitchen and a fire place in their huge garden. They all have a key for it and are allowed to go there whenever they want! Best work I have ever seen ;)
Teh next day it was raining so we spent our time helping Nico (Jorges housemate) cooking 120 Empanadas for his family christmas dinner and of course got some to eat in return. Sooo good!!
I the evening we packed and went to our hostel, which we had booked over christmas...
Since we didn't sleep in the night, we were really tired and slept the whole afternoon. The guys came home in evening and we talked a little with them. They seemed really nice, realxed and satisfied with their lives. They all played instruments and had this hippy-thing to be all relaxed about everything^^ Even after Jorge almost broke his butt while playing football (at work!!), he didn't complain and busied himself with playing on the guitar.
In the night a friend of him picked us up and took us to a Club/Bar/Restaurant, where we listened to live-music and drank something. Really nice night with good music.
The next day we went into the city and explored a little bit of the city center of BsAs. Its very green with lots of nice buildings. I really like the architecture of the buildings. Not like in Santiago, where most buildings got destroyed by earthquakes, some of the builings in BsAs are pretty old but really good taken care of.
The "teatro Colón" for example is one of the oldest theaters in Argentinia and looks amazing from the out-and inside. We even bought tickets for 10 Ar.$, which are like 2€, for a ballet on our last evening in BsAs. We only had standing places but it was amazing anyways...
Back to our couchsurfng experience again...Jorge and his housemates, which all work in the same place, took us to their office and Nico (the chef of the work) made us some nice food. By the way, their office is awesome!! Its a villa, located in a nice neighboorhood near their house, with a pool, a huge nice kitchen and a fire place in their huge garden. They all have a key for it and are allowed to go there whenever they want! Best work I have ever seen ;)
Teh next day it was raining so we spent our time helping Nico (Jorges housemate) cooking 120 Empanadas for his family christmas dinner and of course got some to eat in return. Sooo good!!
I the evening we packed and went to our hostel, which we had booked over christmas...
Donnerstag, 12. Januar 2012
Stay with Justo in Rosario
Justo lives together with his sister in an apartment a few blocks away from the big river. It's really nice there...Rosario in general is nice to stay in for a few days. There is this huge river, a little beach a little bit outside the center and a good shopping area.
The first day Justo showed us around the city and left us in the afternoon to study, since he had a big test a few days later...
Martha and me discovered a bit more of the city the next days, went out with Justo and got to know some of his friends, had a nice afternoon in the pool of his cousins apartment and went with him to the beach the last day.
All in all a very realxing and nice stay in Rosario.
Thank you Justo :)
The first day Justo showed us around the city and left us in the afternoon to study, since he had a big test a few days later...
Martha and me discovered a bit more of the city the next days, went out with Justo and got to know some of his friends, had a nice afternoon in the pool of his cousins apartment and went with him to the beach the last day.
All in all a very realxing and nice stay in Rosario.
Thank you Justo :)
Mittwoch, 11. Januar 2012
Getting from A to B takes a while in Argentinia
A very short post about the trip from Rio Gallegos to Rosario --> where Justo lives. For everyone who doesn't know him: In 2009 he was the exchange student from my best friends family for almost a year!
1. Bus from Rio Gallegos to Trelew, 12 hours
Arriving in Trelew we left our luggage in the terminal and took a bus to Gaimann, which is a small welsh town. People there still now a few words in welsh, there are typical welsh houses and you can visit some typical tea-houses. It was interesting for Martha to go there since she was born in Wales...it was pretty quiet but also kinda cute. All in all a nice way to kill time until your next overnight-bus leaves ;)
2. Bus from Trelew to Bahia Blanca, 14 hours
We stayed in Bahia Blanca for one night. After two days of sleeping-or at least trying to-in the bus it was really really nice sleeping in real bed again! The city is nice but one day is enough to see everything, so it worked out pretty well for us, since we bought our ticket to Buenos Aires (BsAs) that same night.
3. Train -yes, they do have trains in Argentinia- from Bahia Blanca to BsAs, 16 hours
The train was a lot better than we thought and were told! Everyone kept telling us we shouldn't take the train, because it would be too dangerous and uncomfortable but we really wanted to try it...so we bought the ticket, which was actually three times LESS expensive than the bus would have been. The only thing that is a little annoying is that the train takes a lot more time to get from A to B. Planned were 14 hours, but like always we got there two hours later. In BsAs we had to get from one Trainstation to the other one to buy our ticket to Rosario...the subway is pretty crowded and after being only in little cities the weeks before, we had to get used to the big city again.
4. Train from BsAs to Rosario, 7-8 hours
We were sooo bored, because this time it wasn't a night train and we didn't have anything to do...at the end we didn't die off it and made it to Rosario.
We had the address of Justos house and a map of Rosario so we walked there and were welcomed by Justo, who was actually looking for us at the station before ;)
That's how we got from A to B
See you later
1. Bus from Rio Gallegos to Trelew, 12 hours
Arriving in Trelew we left our luggage in the terminal and took a bus to Gaimann, which is a small welsh town. People there still now a few words in welsh, there are typical welsh houses and you can visit some typical tea-houses. It was interesting for Martha to go there since she was born in Wales...it was pretty quiet but also kinda cute. All in all a nice way to kill time until your next overnight-bus leaves ;)
2. Bus from Trelew to Bahia Blanca, 14 hours
We stayed in Bahia Blanca for one night. After two days of sleeping-or at least trying to-in the bus it was really really nice sleeping in real bed again! The city is nice but one day is enough to see everything, so it worked out pretty well for us, since we bought our ticket to Buenos Aires (BsAs) that same night.
3. Train -yes, they do have trains in Argentinia- from Bahia Blanca to BsAs, 16 hours
The train was a lot better than we thought and were told! Everyone kept telling us we shouldn't take the train, because it would be too dangerous and uncomfortable but we really wanted to try it...so we bought the ticket, which was actually three times LESS expensive than the bus would have been. The only thing that is a little annoying is that the train takes a lot more time to get from A to B. Planned were 14 hours, but like always we got there two hours later. In BsAs we had to get from one Trainstation to the other one to buy our ticket to Rosario...the subway is pretty crowded and after being only in little cities the weeks before, we had to get used to the big city again.
4. Train from BsAs to Rosario, 7-8 hours
We were sooo bored, because this time it wasn't a night train and we didn't have anything to do...at the end we didn't die off it and made it to Rosario.
We had the address of Justos house and a map of Rosario so we walked there and were welcomed by Justo, who was actually looking for us at the station before ;)
That's how we got from A to B
See you later
Freitag, 6. Januar 2012
Ushuaia - el fin del mundo
Very spontaneously Martha and me decided to take the chance and go with Gabriel and his Rugby team to Ushuaia, where the Rugby-fin del mundo-tournament took place.
We left Calafate at noon to take a bus to Rio Gallego, where we met up with the rest of the team. I knew from the first moment I saw them, that it's going to be a really fun long weekend...
Every guy of the team had a special nickname: there was "Gordo"(which means pretty much "Fatty"), another one was called "Negro" or "Samoha", and another one was called "Dreamer" (he liked day-dreaming a lot :-P ). I'm not going to tell you all of them, some of them are a little mean ;)
In total we took about ten hours to get to Ushuaia, which means also ten hours with a crazy Rugby team and no escaping. Martha and me knew they were talking about us but they talked to fast to understand everything, so we decided to talk about them in english and fight a little bit back. haha! It actually worked...they were really curious about what we were talking about.
We arrived in Ushuaia at 5am and got droped off (from our personal driver for the weekend) at the youthhostel we could stay for free. Since Martha and me were the only women, we had the whole women section for ourselfs. After getting a little bit of sleep, we went to the initiation into the Rugby tournament. Martha and me were far and wide the blondest girls there and accordingly got a lot of attention. Well, we are pretty used to it but it was a little different because we weren't only the only blond but also almost the only women :D
We spent the whole day until late afternoon there, watching our guys playing, taking photos and eating lunch with them. They succesfully lost every game that day :D but were still in a pretty good mood...so we went into the city, with our stinky guys, who hadn't even showered yet, and had a coffe. In the evening we had dinner with them and fled from them for a few hours to walk around the city a little bit ;)
The next morning we went back to the rugby field with the team (half of the them were still drunk from going out the day before) where they even more succesfully lost their last games :D poor guys! The team had a free pass for the national park, so we went there to see the official end of the world, where the roads end. Didn't look like the end of the world though...but it was beautiful anyways ;)
In the evening we all went to the goodbyeparty of the tournament, got home at 4:30am, packed our stuff and left immediatly.
The way back we had problems with our bus and got stuck in the middle of nowhere, where some guy had to take us until the border where we could take a different bus to get back to Rio Gallegos...I don't know why this always happens to Martha and me but that was the third time a car broke down while we were sitting in it! Jajaja!
Well, that's all about the trip to Ushuaia.
See you hopefully soon. Don't know when I will have the chance to write again.
Saludos,
Nina
We left Calafate at noon to take a bus to Rio Gallego, where we met up with the rest of the team. I knew from the first moment I saw them, that it's going to be a really fun long weekend...
Every guy of the team had a special nickname: there was "Gordo"(which means pretty much "Fatty"), another one was called "Negro" or "Samoha", and another one was called "Dreamer" (he liked day-dreaming a lot :-P ). I'm not going to tell you all of them, some of them are a little mean ;)
In total we took about ten hours to get to Ushuaia, which means also ten hours with a crazy Rugby team and no escaping. Martha and me knew they were talking about us but they talked to fast to understand everything, so we decided to talk about them in english and fight a little bit back. haha! It actually worked...they were really curious about what we were talking about.
We arrived in Ushuaia at 5am and got droped off (from our personal driver for the weekend) at the youthhostel we could stay for free. Since Martha and me were the only women, we had the whole women section for ourselfs. After getting a little bit of sleep, we went to the initiation into the Rugby tournament. Martha and me were far and wide the blondest girls there and accordingly got a lot of attention. Well, we are pretty used to it but it was a little different because we weren't only the only blond but also almost the only women :D
We spent the whole day until late afternoon there, watching our guys playing, taking photos and eating lunch with them. They succesfully lost every game that day :D but were still in a pretty good mood...so we went into the city, with our stinky guys, who hadn't even showered yet, and had a coffe. In the evening we had dinner with them and fled from them for a few hours to walk around the city a little bit ;)
The next morning we went back to the rugby field with the team (half of the them were still drunk from going out the day before) where they even more succesfully lost their last games :D poor guys! The team had a free pass for the national park, so we went there to see the official end of the world, where the roads end. Didn't look like the end of the world though...but it was beautiful anyways ;)
In the evening we all went to the goodbyeparty of the tournament, got home at 4:30am, packed our stuff and left immediatly.
The way back we had problems with our bus and got stuck in the middle of nowhere, where some guy had to take us until the border where we could take a different bus to get back to Rio Gallegos...I don't know why this always happens to Martha and me but that was the third time a car broke down while we were sitting in it! Jajaja!
Well, that's all about the trip to Ushuaia.
See you hopefully soon. Don't know when I will have the chance to write again.
Saludos,
Nina
more pictures...
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| Tango class (Gabriel and me, Martha and ?) |
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| our Rugby-team |
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| Ushuaia-el fin de mundo |
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| Party-marty with our Rugby players ;) |
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| Yo en el fin de mundo - where the road ends |
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| Parking skills in Ushuaia (probably too much Heineken;) |
Sonntag, 1. Januar 2012
Pictures from El Calafate
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| Gabriel´s sister dancing traditional argentinian | dances |
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| Glacier "Perito Moreno" (the last growing glacier in the world) |
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| awesome galcier bar |
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| Gabriel with Martha in our cool special clothes |
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