Pictures

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North Korea can be seen in the distance. In the picture I am in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. An important zone of the two conflicting parties, which do not really get along well for many years. The arrow points to the flag of North Korea and the circle squares the flag of South Korea.

Yes, the floor below me is transparent. And no, it’s not the fifth tallest building in the world, as Malaysia has completed the PNB 118 Tower, knocking the Lotte World Tower in Seoul off the rankings. “And what about the Goldin Finance 117 in China?” you ask? Yeah, it’s just not finished yet.

Songdo City is supposed to be the city of the future. Perfect urban planning and a waste disposal system à la pneumatic tube. On the right, you can see the completely artificial “Central Park”. By the way, the entire land of the city was completely filled up in the sea. On the left you can see a CCTV system. As soon as you press the button there, all the cameras are pointed at you and you are directly connected to an emergency service.

There is not much to write about. If you are ever in South Korea, go to this museum. A very beautiful and emotionally stirring museum, in which many interesting things are exhibited and the history of the war with North Korea is presented very understandably and interactively.

I just wanted to drink a typical Korean tea. And then I got this. I had to stifle my grin very hard when the waitress poured me the tea back and forth between the cups. I’ve never been that deep into the tea business, which is why I had to ask how I was drinking the tea now. Awkward.

While I was desperately wandering around the largest maze in the Netherlands, I met these two nice fellows. In the interest of the hedges, I asked them both what their secret is to still look so beautiful green at the end of October. They answered me with “Als je ons nog één keer aanraakt, zou je willen dat je nooit geboren was.”. I guess that means something like “The right nutrition is the key to success”.

For the way back from the island to Bangkok, I decided to take the ferry + bus + night train. For only 40€ I got the first class on the night train, in which I then stayed a little over 13 hours. In my small room with bed and sink, I partly regretted my choice the whole night. The train was just too jerky to sleep. But at least I can now tick off the experience “night train”.

Since in Thailand the nickname is more important than the real name anyway, I didn’t miss the chance to immortalize it in the sand. The failed proportions of the X and the Z are caused by the unfortunate incidence of the sun. On the right of me lay plastic garbage. Origin probably the sewage canal Chao Phraya.

It was pretty cool to explore the island with the scooter. However, the island is quite mountainous in some places, why my scooter has gone off sometimes. So not only did I sweat a lot due to the high temperatures, but I was also scared to be allowed to push my scooter right away on every incline. For only 6.75 € per day, the scooter but still more than worth it.

On Ko Samui was again every day action announced. In addition to a quad and jet ski tour, I visited a sanctuary for elephants on this day. There you could feed the elephants, touch them and go swimming with them. The elephants there were ridden by tourists at that time. But this is pretty uncool for the elephants, which is why they are then bought up and brought to appropriate sanctuaries.

I spent a week on a beach that could only be reached by boat. The seclusion did after 2 weeks Bangkok pretty good. Yes, ok. After 3 days I was already bored. But it was still nice. And monkeys could also be seen, as soon as you go a few meters into the jungle. But seemed quite annoyed by me and then also dropped their coconut contemptuously, then felt with rolling eyes away from me.

This building was the tallest building in Thailand until 2016. But the battle of the real estate companies for the highest building continues, of course, which is why it is now only the third highest building in Thailand. My landlady in Bangkok said that all you need is enough money to then have your own skyscraper built. Unthinkable in Germany. FFM only looks enviously.

I was able to spend this day with these cool people. In general, I plan to do more with locals to get to know the respective country from a different perspective. Besides, it’s just nice to do things with people from other countries, even if communication sometimes falters a bit.

Today I visited the Chinatown in Bangkok to be especially close to the Thai culture. Should probably be one of the largest Chinatowns in the world. Was actually also quite large and extensive. Even if I am open to new food, I have held back there very much. Just everything looked pretty… special.

First time long haul for me. That means bigger plane with more entertainment and food & drink! Haters would say it’s just reheated food. I still enjoyed having my grub brought to my seat at almost 10,000 meters. Besides, the seat next to me was free. On the connecting flight, unfortunately not, I had a will-you-not-have-next-to-you guy next to me.

In a manageable group, we made the Gamescom 2022 unsafe. Even though I’m not really a gamer and only play something in between every now and then, Gamescom is still a nice event. To avoid the usual crowds at Gamescom, we visited it on the business visitor day.

A buddy had given me a few recommendations for Croatia and this nature reserve incl. mountain was one of these. Even though I usually always shy away from running around shirtless, it had to be on this day to counteract the T-shirt tan. Arms black, upper body snow white.

Her name is Mali and she is still under one year old. Her beautiful name and her still young age do not justify the attempt to steal a french fry from me. I ordered and paid for the fries and they are not suitable for cows who think they have to stand in the sun for me.

After visiting the Leipzig Zoo, I just had to visit the Panorama Tower Restaurant. Enjoying my meal with this view was really a nice experience. Alone among older people with noble clothes and me in my Adidas shorts. Was just warm and a noble suit is not yet part of my wardrobe.

Made good use of the exchange rate and ordered premium sushi, which would have been way too expensive for me in Germany. This sushi was perfect and ranks right behind my favorite, the sushi from Henssler&Henssler.

Alright. Do I have now also my typical photo with the bastion. A Ukrainian woman was also there alone and asked if I could take a photo of her. She returned my favor and took a photo of me too. Дуже дякую.

First time at a festival. Cool setting and some good performances in parts. Was definitely worth an experience. When asked if I needed something to “pull”, I thought of weed and declined. Was only enlightened afterwards that coke was meant.