Ayuttaya-the former capital of Thailand

Our first journey within Thailand led us from Bangkok to Ayuttaya, the former capital. At 7 a.m. we took a train which only cost us 20 baht in third class (=40 euro cents) for a 1,5 hour ride. The trains here are like in a typical reportage about India. The trains are more than full so that the people even have to sit in the entrance area (doors being open throughout the ride) and in the train all kind of people want to sell food and other stuff like on a market. When we finally arrived we had to take a little ferry to Ayuttaya center because its an island which is surrounded by rivers (seem to be a little dangerous because we saw some aligator kind animals-however the Thais either do not know about them or are really into that re-incarnation stuff because they swim and bathe in there). Once we arrived safely we looked for a hostel and also found one which was really good. The first thing we did was eating breakfast which we didn't made to accomplish in Bangkok. After that we rented a bike with two girls we met and cycled over the island looking at ruins of temples, big elephants, and some temples from today hosting humangous golden buddhas. In the afternoon we took a boat trip on the rivers looking at some more temples (all looking similar) and visiting the night market - a place where you can buy foods and other stuff. It seems like the Thais always go out to eat because you find all sorts of stands selling different food looking either to be wanna eaten or to be not wanna eaten. After we walked home through the dark and dirty roads we had a beer or two and went very tired to bed...Sorry for the typing errors but the keyboards here look really wierd and different.

The first days - here we are

Hey everybody, this is my fist post from Thailand. Uli and I arrived safely here. We flew seperately and in Bangkok he was suddenly standing behind me at the baggage claim. So the meeting-at-the-airport-plan worked out well. Except for the breakfast, which was saussage with scrambled eggs, mushrooms and ketchup (yes, good guess, I flew with British Airways) the flight was good. I had a seat at the emergency exit, my own row, and thus a lot of sleep. The first shock came when we left the Terminal...Hot weather, really humid, and bad air. A cab took us to our hotel, which is really nice as you could see on the pics under the link below. We have not seen so much yet because we do not know where to go and also had some nice experience with Thai beer the first night. The next day, which is today, we did not get up until 2p.m. because of the jetlack (of course :-). Tomorrow we have to get up at 5:30h because we visit the floating markets. So far we
used tuc-tucs to move around-exciting but a little bit dangerous I suppose. These are small three-wheeled cabs, open at every side. Now imagen south asian traffic, moving through it with some 60 or 70 kilometers per hour, with a buddist driver, believing the issue of re-incarnation...Anyway, we two are well of and close to falling to bed. Hope to hear from you guys, yours Jan - One more thing: Happy Birthday for my little sweetheart Sara. She finally turned 20 today (do not know why, but she has been waiting for that moment forever...:-) Love you

Our first accommodation

Here it is, Uli´s and my first accommodation in Bangkok. We have booked the New Siam II in advance for the first two nights - that way, we can relax and get rid of the the jetlack without stress. It´s a new guesthouse which even has a swimming pool and own bathrooms for each room, some even having hot showers. Eventhough, Uli and I booked one of those hot shower rooms, I am not quite sure if this was way to clever: In Bangkok it is 36 degrees (celsius) hot and humidity amounts to almost 80 %...anyway, we hate cold showers. For more information and pics just go to http://www.newsiam.net/ns/newsiam2.php and have a look. And if anybody of you thinks that big cities are expensive to sleep at I can just reply: Not true. One night costs only 7,50 euros per person including the air-conditioning.

Reasons not to go...

Indeed, there are some reasons that make me feel that I do not want to go. First, there is my family in Falkensee (which is bordering Berlin-so yes, I am a real Berliner, do not worry :-) which I will not see for the next twelve months. On the other hand I can leave with knowing that they are supporting me in what I am doing. Next, there are those three girls on the left, embodying my last year in Freiburg. They are my appartment-mates, helping me, teasing me, and cleaning my dishes :-) Thanx for being there.

Another reason that really makes me want to stay is Sara-Lena, popping into my life when I was innocently working at Kaufland and my boss asking me to teach a beautiful girl how to use a cash register. I really have a great time with her and it makes me sad that I have to leave her behind. She`ll be in my heart - just look at the picture how cute she is :-) In this respect I want to greet my Kaufland- and L'Tur Crew. Good old times are gone but for sure, good, exciting new times will come

How it began...

In the summer of 2004 I finished the first part of my education in the field of tourism. My original plan was to work with a tour operator in the South of Chile. Yet things came differently. In March 2004 I was granted a scholar ship for further 1,5 years of education to finally graduate as a "Bachelor of Hospitality and Tourism Management". This is going to happen in two days when I hopefully will pass my final oral examen. During the last two years my ambitions grew to travel around the world, live and work in different cultures, get to meet people, and make use of the long-studied foreign languages English and Spanish. It seemed that everybody in my surrounding had already experienced such a journey and my interest grew and grew. After having listened to a bunch of friends, customers of the travel agency L`Tur I worked for, and other people I decided to book the "Round-the-world-ticket" in October 2005. Each month new routes, ideas, and plans were added and my final route turned out to be a lot different than the original one. My journey is now to start on May 8 with the first flight to Bangkok. In Bangkok I meet my friend Uli and we will continue through Thailand, Laos, some parts of Cambodia, Malaysia, and Singapur. After ten and a half weeks Uli flies back to Germany and I travel on to Bali (12 days), Australia (4 months), Newzealand (3 months), Mexiko (3 weeks), and to my final destination, the USA (4 weeks). More details are to follow - so keep on looking at my blog and enjoy following me throughout the next 365 days....