Jordan III – Petra

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November 10. 2015

Mohamads friend doesn’t appear at the meeting point in the morning so I go to the restaurant where Mohamad is working and wait there for him to open. He doesn’t have a phone number of the guy so there is no other way than buying the full price ticket which costs nearly a weeks salary of a local (well not for local people as Arabs pay only 1 Dinar which is 50 times less than I have to pay). Many people told me I have to see Petra because its so amazing so what to do.

After the entrance there are guys with horses waiting for me “Horseride is included in the ticket, its 2 km to the canyon” they say first. When I stop it changes a little to “little Bakshish pay, we have to pay tax for the horse inside” – wtf? I negotiate 2 Dinar for the 2km horse ride and after less than 500m we are at the beginning of the canyon. What a fucking scam… I offer to pay one Dinar but the guy refuses to take it twice so I put it back in my pocket and walk off. Suddenly he changes his mind and says “Ok, ok 1 Dinar” but I ignore him. Until I reach the other side of the canyon the scammers have pissed me of enough to spoil my whole morning. I hardly ever experienced this in a Muslim country so I start asking the scammers “What you pray? Dinar hu akbar?” which seems to be insulting enough to make them turn away immediately.

At the treasury I drink a surprisingly “cheap” tea for “only” one Dinar (two days later I get salad, falafel, humus, bread and two tea for 3 Dinar in Amman). I calm down a little and remember my scammer tactics – I switch the language talking hindi from now and everybody who calls me friend gets a long and “intimidating” hug. Most people are scared off by this and many tourists who seem to be as pissed off as I am have a good laughter about it.

I continue my way and after a few hundred meters I turn left and climb the mountain to the high place of sacrifice where it seems to be quieter. As soon as I reach the top I get invited for tea and people become very friendly again. It seems very strange until I ask a girl who offers me tea what this is about. She tells me that she is Beduin and the people down are Locals from Wadi Musa. Now it makes sense that the hotel manager told me yesterday that the people in the Bedu village are “bad people”. Quite the opposite seems to be the case. I continue my way in between friendly Beduines, greedy locals and laughing (about my tactics) tourists. Some people have told me that I should take a 2 day ticket which costs only 10% more as Petra is impossible to see in one day. This reminded me of Angkor Wat where somebody could easily spend a week so I do the walk of around 10 – 15 kilometers including at least 2000 steps well before sunset. Less than 7 hours to see everything easily and after I got the feeling that unlike Angkor, Hampi, Taj Mahal or Northern lights Petra is totally overrated and overpriced. You’d better look at my pictures and enjoy a day somewhere else in Jordan with honest Muslim people than coming here to be scammed. After climbing up to the monastery I am totally exhausted. On the way back I hire a camel from a Beduin to take me most of the way for 6 Dinar which seems to be kind of ok compared to the 25 he asked at the beginning.

In the evening I get food at Mohamads place. He seems to be pretty sorry about my experience and tells me that he is experiencing pretty much the same as he is refugee from Syria. Wadi Musa people are lazy and greedy he tells me laughing and serves me the best lemon mint juice I ever had. When I leave later he refuses to take any money for what I consumed – only one Euro he takes as a good luck charm for his way to Europe. I get in the car and hit the road towards dead sea. The cloud base is around 1200m above sea level so I drive through really bad fog slowing me down to 40 km/h as the first half of the way is up to 1500m and freezing cold outside. Three hours later I arrive 400m below sea level and it is warm again. Its late already and I planned to sleep somewhere at the dead sea in the car. At the last village before dead sea (south of it) I pick up a hitchhiker – good chance to maybe get a private place to sleep for tonight I think. But there comes no village! We pass all dead sea until at the other side we approach the hotel area at the northern edge. He gets out at a 5* hotel and I turn around to go to a little tea stall by the road I had noticed a few kilometers earlier. Allahn, the owner is happy to welcome me and tries hard to teach me some more Arabic before both of us go to sleep around midnight. He sleeps inside the tea stall and I sleep like planned in the car.

Jordan II – journey to Petra

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November 9. 2015

This night I sleep in a Beduin tent in Salems garden and I have to admit I haven’t slept so well for years. I had amazing lucid dreams a wake up full of power in the morning. We all have breakfast together and soon I hit the road towards the ancient town of Petra.

Soon I climb up a mountain to reach the cloud base at 1800 above sealevel while still on the road. Seems like no flying today again as the clouds grow higher and higher making enormous towers. Never mind, I pass the fog and soon reach the very touristic town of Petra. It feels like most of the people who come to Jordan only come to go to Petra. I find a Bank and a place to get coffee (the one with free wifi next door is still closed because it is too early. A hotel is quickly found and after the check in I make a little walk through town. Even though there is wifi in the hotel I stop again at the same restaurant which was closed in the morning. Looking back I think it took only seconds to make friends with Mohamad, a 25 year old computer engineer from Syria who is working as a waiter here. He wants to come to Europe next year so I discuss his plans with him and try to help him to figure out a better way than the Balkan route which I believe is the worst way he can possibly take.

Next the hotel manager takes me to a place where “all the French people fly” but the clouds are over developing again and I am a little concerned about the strong thermals I expect up there. As I prefer being a living coward instead of a dead hero I don’t even unpack my gear. The mountains are great here and it would be amazing to fly – but I am no Chrigel Maurer so we go back to the hotel.

The entrance ticket to Petra is more than 60 Euro for one day and I already think about leaving without seeing it but fortunately Mohamad has a friend who can help me to get in way cheaper. Coming back to the hotel I hear the Imam doing the prayer and it is the most beautiful one I have ever heard. I decide to go to the Mosque tomorrow morning to pray there with the locals and hear him singing. Am I slowly becoming a muslim?

In the afternoon it starts to rain in the desert – and people tell me how lucky I am to experience this. Why am I so lucky every time I come to the desert? First desert I ever visited was death valley and it rained – in Esfahan I even had snow, Rain in the Sahara and of course I’ve seen shitloads of rain in Rajasthan.

In the evening I get dinner at Mohamads place and guess what – he makes the best lemon mint juice I ever had. Asking him for the bill he tells me to pay as I like still giving me discount on my selfmade price….

Wadi Rum

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Jordan – another love story

Wadi Rum

November 7. 2015

After a very nice overnight flight (Good food, great service and never ending space for my legs in the second, older plane of turkish airlines) via Istanbul I arrive in Aqaba at the red sea at 3 in the morning. After spending the last year in south east asia I am incredibly surprised by the very relaxed all time smiling border police officers in Aqaba. Formalities are a question of a few minutes and when the last officer is checking my passport if I got all the stamps he is a little surprised by the load of visas in my passport and gives it back to me smiling before he has even found the stamp I just got.

A little before 4 o clock I stand in the front of an empty airport (totally empty – obviously our flight was the only one between midnight and 6.30 in the morning) thinking about what I will do the next two hours until the car rental opens. Suddenly a car comes around the corner and a guy jumps out asking if I am I. He tells me he had thought already that I will come on this plane and didn’t want me to wait for two more hours. Actually I ordered the car for 6 because I didn’t want him to stand up in the middle of the night only to give me the car….

Seems like I have to get used to Muslim hospitality once again. Half an hour later I have the car and the guy even changed some money for me. First I drive direction Saudi Arabian border to stop only a few kilometers before the border post to take a swim at the red sea. After putting my hands in the water I decide I will have the shower later and only wash my hands here. Its not really cold but the air is an hour before sunrise. I turn around, cancel sim card, money changer and barber and go directly to Wadi Rum which is less than an hour drive. The car rental guy told me it will not be possible to get anything out there and that I should be careful with the touts at the visitor center of Wadi Rum. He wanted to sell me the Wadi Rum tour very expensive (= official price) but I want to do it myself. The desert around Aqaba is stunning and just a little before Aqaba the sun rises. In a landscape of which beauty is impossible to describe.

At the visitor center a guy stops me to make me do a tour with him. Actually I need a coffee and more important a little rest as I didn’t sleep all night. I tell him I will go to the village first to get coffee and think about his offer. He goes to the village too and so we meet again at the entrance where he (Salem) invites me to his home. He seems to be a very nice guy and of course I accept. Little later I get to know his family and then take a great nap at his home. When I arrived there was no wind to fly at all so I drive a circle around the tiny village after waking up. Its only 10.30 and there are already dust devils in the desert – and its incredibly hot in the sun.

A little later Salem is back and we start our desert trip in his Nissan Pick up. The place here is of such an incredible beauty that pictures cant do it any justice. I believe my mouth is open all day and once again I have troubles holding back my tears of happiness when sitting next to Salem. He tries hard to find a place for me to fly but just as I unpack my wing on an amazing dune the wind gets stronger. An invisible dust devil takes my wing and fills it a little with sand before I put it together again. We have tea beneath a rock where we meet a friend of my guide. While I put together my wing trying to get out the sand he shoots a bird – the shot echoes I think more than a minute and two minutes later there are more friends of them coming just when we leave.

I already start thinking it was a mistake to take the paraglider with me. It’s the absolute perfect paradise here for rock climbing. Neverending rocks between boulders and up to several hundred meters high difficulty from very low up to over 10. Several shady and cool canyons making climbing enjoyable even in the heat of the day. This is honestly one of the best climbing areas I have ever seen and the most beautiful one too. And the best – its even less than an hour from the airport and the red sea. I already think about coming back – maybe just for a few days of climbing….

We visit some more amazing sights and then go to another village to get some food and the barber I was desperately asking for. The barber is amazing and when I ask him how much it costs he first says its for free for me… He did really a good job so I insist on paying being careful not to insult him. Next we get real local food: humus and falafel with kindofchapati – I love it. Having been a little careful in the morning I really start liking Salem when he drives through the desert like a rally pilot – our driving style is pretty similar and he takes me to an amazing place for sunset. Back in Wadi Rum we visit his brother Mohamed. I really enjoy the evening discussing and telling stories like old friends and even praying together. Their children are georgeous, and there tents/houses are supercosy and cool at day as well as warm in the night. I am invited to sleep at Salems place and I feel really sad that I will have to leave tomorrow morning.

I could write for hours now describing how much I fell in love with the place and the people here but I really suggest you to come here and experience this yourself. You can contact Salem any time and he will be very happy to show you the most beautiful places, climbing spots as well as best barbers and food. If you ever come here, and I hope you will, you’d better call Salem Domayan: 00962776445651

Flying high @ Castelluccio di Norcia & Lago di Garda (Italy)

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September 20. – September 27.

My flying school offers a flying trip to the flying mecca Castelluccio di Norcia. Tomas, a friend with whom I´ve been flying a lot and I decide to join. I have a little doubt because I am used to travel alone and going in a group of 9 (8 guys and Silvia, the girlfriend of Hans who is running the school). Its an incredible opportunity to experience one of the flying meccas in Europe. 9 people in the vw bus with all the luggage is thight from the beginning but the ride passes quickly over night and we arrive in Castelluccio Monday early morning. We are tired like hell but “fortunately the weather is shit and the wind to strong so we can rest most of the day.

Tuesday morning looks way better and we are out early morning. Clouds are covering the valley of Castellucio making it an amazing sight, the little village just sticking out of the sea of clouds in the morning. Soon the clouds rise and we can do our first real flight here. In the afternoon the conditions are even better – hardly any thermals but a nice laminar wind which is lifting us up the surrounding mountains making it harder to get down than up. Unfortunately I miss the top landing because of a wing collapse which cost me about 20m in height while approaching for landing. I turn around and land at the car ten minutes later – no second try to land up there…

In the afternoon we go soaring the exercise hill – a height difference of less than 70m between top and landing…. I ground handle my wing up the hill and then keep soaring in the laminar winds on the hill for nearly three quarters of an hour. Soaring, sometimes so close to the hill that I can even touch the ground if I stretch my arm is neverending fun – and even though its the most dangerous way to fly (if something happens ten meter above ground there is no chance to react or throw the reserve so you would fall on the ground like a rock) it feels way safer than hundreds of meters up. I love it and its the most fun flight I do in here.

The group is amazing – even though I find myself being rather alone sitting somewhere and watching the scenery than with them when we can´t fly my concerns prove to be nonsense. Even though we have a shared room for all of us everything works out way better than I had expected. Unfortunately the weather turns worse again after those amazing flights on Tuesday. Thursday afternoon when looking at the forecast in a little restaurant while drinking cappuccino I find out the weather is predicted to become even worse in the days to come.

Now that is one of the points why I love travelling alone so much. I would pack my stuff within seconds under these conditions. I show the forecast to hans and he makes an unsatisfied face. Until the evening we decide to leave and a little after midnight we are sitting in the bus heading to lake Garda. This group is amazing – most of them are no travellers at all but from me they all get the traveller honour medal. Awesome guys, with that decision you really surprised me – I wouldn’t have thought this quick decision is possible in a large group like this!
We arrive at lake Garda early next morning. The conditions are great, the landing area looks like a lost stamp between lake and bank and everybody is required to wear a life jacket as strong winds parallel to the lake make the landing a hard challenge on such a tiny piece of lawn. The view at the take off site is stunning – once started it takes about ten minutes until I am above the lake. Height difference between top and landing is about 1800m making these flights quite the opposite of soaring the practice hill in Castelluccio….. and even though its way saver because you have several hundred meters to react if something happens (and you would fall in the lake where safety boats are waiting) its quite scary.

Markus (Silvias son) and Jakob ( a great photographer and friend of Markus) are experienced Acrobatic pilots and show several fast descending techniques like big ears and steep spiral. Doing my first steep spirals is really spooky. In fact the wing is vertical and I am circling around it being exposed to quite a lot of G force. Tomas who is sports student and has a lot of experience in jumping out of planes and from rocks and bridges with parachutes and bungee ropes makes a very good progress while I try to get confident with the steep spirals – I have to admit I am a little jealous with him! On the other hands I am a little more relaxed and do not so many flights as he does – the landing area is nice to chill and take pictures and I don’t want to hurry all day long.

Evenings we spend at the very touristic Malcesine, very beautiful place, great food and way cheaper than Castelluccio. I love this place.
That was really an amazing trip and fortunately my concerns had been nonsense! Thank you, Hans, Silvia, Karl, Kurt, Wolfgang, Tomas, Markus and Jakob for this amazing trip!
Enjoy the pictures!

learning to fly

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Learning to fly!

Soon after coming back this year I am sitting at home being pretty bored…. I need a new challenge! In the recent years I met several people who are paragliding. I have already been fascinated by this sport since I saw people flying in the alps when I was a child plus one of my best friends has been doing it all his life. I asked him several times already to show me how to do it not knowing nothing about it. This time after seeing so many paragliders in Nepal I am kind of hooked. And, honestly, we all have been dreaming about to fly since we were children, haven’t we?

After doing a little research I find a flight school not too far away from my home. I call them and immediately like Hans, the owner of the school I am talking with. A few days later the weather seems to be perfect and I go to flying school for the first time. I spend a very exhausting day “ground handling” which means trying to control the paraglider standing above you in the wind – not even coming close to take off.

Second day I am way better, and try the first short flights at the practice hill. I never go higher than maybe 20m and don’t fly further than 200m but I love every second from take off to landing. When you start you lay down the glider behind you – then you pull the “A lines” to fill it with air and rise the wing above you – you break it so it will not overtake you then make a few steps down the hill to accelerate. Your feet lose ground and slowly you are lifted into the sky – its incredible!

After some more days at the practice hill I do my first altitude flight in Plankenstein with a height difference of 340m (which usually takes about 5 to 7 minutes). My first flight was in the evening with the air being very calm but enough remaining thermal to keep me up pretty long. I just fly into the setting sun and enjoy – this is definitely one of the best things I have ever done.

From now on I spend every second I can flying. Soon I learn how it is to fly rough conditions. In thermals rising me with more than 5 m/s I get my first front collapse. Still I am trying, everything is new and its very hard to control the glider. I have to think about every action I take and it reminds me a lot of learning to drive a car. You need to think about thing like clutch, gear, brake,…. Before you do something. Flying rough conditions is exhausting and scaring but I learn very quickly. I fly many different spots and soon experience conditions when it is harder to sink than to rise.

Hohe Wand in the south of Vienna is a place like this. It’s a 400m tall, several kilometers wide rock wall facing the flats to the southeast. Another place I fly a lot is Oetscher mountain in the Mountains of lower Austria. Another amazing place where one time I share a thermal with an eagle flying next to each other eye in eye for several minutes.
After around 80 flights I slowly get a feeling for the paraglider. Like when driving a car I do not feel so much separated from the glider anymore – we start becoming one step by step. I slowly start reacting without thinking and during my best flight yet I make 40km (circling and soaring in a laminar wind which blows up the hillside) for a little more than an hour and then land for a break on the spot where I started! And all this within less than 3.5 months after my first flight. By now I own my own wing of course and go flying pretty independent. Though its always scary to be the only one starting out I enjoy exactly these moments most: alone or together with a good friend up in the air and getting blown away up!

my flying school close to vienna

Good news

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Good morning!

First I have to say thank you to all of you! For the first time since I am running this blog I checked the statistics about a month ago. I was very surprised and happy when I found out that there are up to 100 different people are reading my blog every day! And up to nearly 3000 every month!

Well that surprised me…. mostly because the menue and the gallery were really shit to use….

This has been changed now as u can see. Now the menue is by regions and journeys so the usability will be way better now as I hope!Gallery is more convinient to view now too.

Picture give away
Being surprised by so many views I would love to know who you are! If you have a few minutes time please tell me where you are from, what your age is and what is your purpose of reading my adventures. You can either leave a comment here and send me a mail to the adress in the contact section. Amongst all answers I get I will raffle a high quality printed photography of my journeys. Free choice for the lucky winner!

statistics april

Home – Home

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In Pushkar time flies. I love this place and I love the people I meet here.

Way back to Delhi is not so nice because I suffer from the side effects of antibiotics I have to take because of a bad burn wound on my leg. (2 days after governmental hospital it looked a little like rotting off but my well known private doctor in Pushkar fixed it.)

Parvati whom I wanted to meet in Delhi unfortunately doesnt make it in time from Nepal. First 36 hours in Delhi I stay in bed to recover from the bus ride so I couldnt have done much anyway. Second day in Delhi I met my old friend Karan whom I met at Wagah border when my car was being seized – Karan is the KTM rider! We both where surprised about the other being in Delhi! Sometimes facebook is not that bad! We had a real nice time together even though i still was a little sick and way too soon I had to leave to the airport. Flight to Austria was ok and fortunately they even took my new guitar – for free in the hand luggage! I love Austrian Airlines!

Pushkar

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March 5. – march 10.

Pushkar has changed a lot in the last 2 years – though I am happy some things here did not and will not change so quickly. Enigma Café has become a supermarket! After only a few days I have a pretty fixed daily routine which starts with chai at honey dew at around 8.30, getting fresh rose buds next to share them in the market with people who are about to open there shops or just passing by. Its an incredible pleasure just to see so many people smiling every morning. When most of the roses are given away (I always save some for my room) I would have another chai and a little breakfast a ghopals chaishop at the mainsquare before eventually going to Sonu fruit shop to get one of those amazing mueslis.

By then its lunch time most of the days because I spend a lot of time meeting beautiful people. Pushkar seems to be full of brothers, sisters and twins in mind. I become furniture at honey dew from afternoon until late evening, watching the people on the street and having wonderful times with fellow travelers. For sunset I am mostly at Chandra ghat which is the more peaceful alternative to sunset ghat.

Doing meditation and making some music in the sunset at Pushkar lake feels so familiar like I have never done something else at sunset time in my life. I meet unique and very color- and powerful people in every age and from around the world every day making me feel a lot of love and sharing their smiles and their happiness. I fall in love all the time over and over again with nearly every person I see. I don’t know why and how, if it’s the place, the beautiful smiles or just me… I am in love! Pushkar sunset, surrounded by colors and feeling the gentle warmth of the sun on my skin – Nagara drums and Brahmin chanting mantras, incense smell and a well known and beloved place.

Going home

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March 3. & 4.

Bus is leaving early evening so I go to Rishikesh during the day making a little walk and doing a little shopping. After having just being arrived to India Rishikesh is a little too much of holy tourists for me but still I enjoy a lot. The landscape looks amazing with all the huge lakes on the street being left from the rain. After a beautiful day I take a Rickshaw back to Haridwar just to be in time to catch the bus home. And, comparing it to the sleeper bus I had from Laos to Vietnam I feel like in heaven with my very own and private double compartment under the roof of the bus. I have internet, an ashtray, food, water… all I need for a very long journey. I am busy eating, drinking and surfing until Delhi and then fall asleep.

When I wake up the next morning we have already passed Kishangarh and are of the highway. Short stop for toilet and breakfast and a little later we approach an amazing little town in Rajasthan in the desert. It is two days before the color play of the Holi Festival – most busy time around the year. Being a little worried about finding a place to sleep the second friend I stop at to say hello offers me one of the staff rooms in his hotel. Well not in his hotel – Doctor alone has move to a much bigger place at Jyoti Basti so I get a room at his old hotel where some of his long time customers stay. I know most of them for years and am very happy to get this room. I spend the day drinking chai with old friends who are very happy to see me again after two years.

I am at home again – my living room being the honey dew restaurant. 3 tables at 5 square meters, 2 ashtrays and no wifi but up to 20 people sharing the space and enjoying Nizams amazing food and hospitality. I enjoy the sunset at the lake and meeting so many people I haven’t seen for such a long time. Probably the best decision was to come here after the south east asia experience. Cant stop smiling here….

Rain

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March 1. & 2.

Again waking up is unpleasant – not because I am so done but because of the rain I hear on the roof. Today I wanted to go inside the park with my guide only who had promised to show me a bee eater colony (!) and a rock python. But in the heavy rain without a raincoat…. What to do. I inform the guide about my decision, turn around and keep sleeping until late morning. Tomorrow my visa is finished so that was not only the last chance but I have to get out of the country. I say good bye to everybody a little after lunchtime before a jeep takes me to the highway. Being a real local bus people are very kind and offer me a seat with a good view… of the rain.

Even though the border is just 140km away it takes more than 5 hours to get there and it is already dark when I arrive at the Nepalese border town. I take a room there, eat a lot and get information about the bus I have to take in india. There seem to be several buses leaving to Haridwar between 6.30am and 9am. Border procedure is supposed to take about an hour. I decide to try to be there as early as possible, get up at 5 and take a shared rickshaw to the Nepalese immigration checkpoint. The immigration officer obviously just woke up at the office and is very kind. I ask him about what happens if the visa is overstayed because I thought about staying a few more days in Bardiya. 30US$ plus 3$ per day… damn I should have done that!

The next shared rickshaw takes me to the Indian immigration passing a customs checkpoint where a drug (?) dog is standing on the road side in between millions of marijuana plants that grow there naturally. Unfortunately I don’t have the camera handy. Indian immigration officers are already drinking chai and reading newspaper when I arrive there. Stamp is done in between to sips of chai and then the call a cycle rickshaw for me to bring me to the bus stand. After all the hazzles and bribe extortions at south east asian borders I am really surprised.

20 minutes later I sit at a chai shop in india waiting for the bus. I am ripped of by the only money changer near or far and change just as much as I need. The bus comes very soon and the driver is very kind offering me the place right next to him with amazing view of the rain, enough space for my stuff and way more privacy than you could expect at an Indian local bus. 300km to Haridwar take us 9 hours.

When we arrive a little before sunset I take a room in a hotel I believe I have slept years ago already. Within half an hour I got money changed, a sim card for my phone and a bus ticket for the next evening. India really feels like home at the moment. I know exactly what to do to get what I need. I have amazing food one or two great chai at the road side and hear the sound of the trains horns at night. Tomorrow I will visit Rishikesh to buy one or two things and enjoy the amazing Ganges view there – for the evening I bought two bus tickets: upper floor sleeper bus which means a double bed for me with window on one and curtain on the other side. Full privacy and view AND I can smoke out of the window during the 15 hour journey.