How to Build a Ger
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Beer for Breakfast
Life Tip: Drinking beer at seven in the morning might be a good idea when you are 20. At 30 this is not such a good idea. The hung over will occur right around lunch time and stay for the rest of the day. Some people say you just need to continue drinking, but this [...]
Riding a Motorbike in the Icy Rain
The first time we stop because the gear chain is loose. I climb off the motorbike, Basa does, too. He sits down behind the bike and pulls a wrench from his Deel, the traditional Mongolian coat. The colorful garment has no pockets, just a fabric belt that's wrapped around the waist. Basa keeps the tools [...]
Horse Trekking at Tsagaan Nuur
When Orkhon said, the way to the mineral springs would be difficult, he was not exaggerating. The term "rough terrain" has never been a better fit. We are in the mountains around the Tsagaan Nuur, the "White Lake" in the Arkhangai province, central Mongolia. Orkhon is the mountain guide of a three-day [...]
Wild Horses at Hustai National Park
The first horse I come across in Mongolia is lying on my plate. Oogi's sister has cooked a big lunch during the camping trip. Although it tasted good, eating horses was not the purpose of the trip. Actually, I wanted to sit on them, not chew on them. Apart from this, Ulan [...]
Olkhon, Lake Baikal
"You want to travel all alone? Wow, you are so brave. - That's what they said at home," says Johanna. Ruoyin and I are laughing: "Same here." The three of us met on the bus to Olkhon. This is the island in Lake Baikal - a hot tip by Sasha, my "couch [...]
Trainride from Moscow to Irkutsk
Our train stewardess is holding two bags under my nose, one has black instant coffee, the other one has coffee with milk powder and sugar. "With milk, but no sugar," I say in English. She looks at me confused. No one seems to order such a thing. She takes the initiative and [...]
Moscow
The driver repeats her sentence in Russian for the fifth time, I repeat mine in English for the fifth time: "How much does it cost to Yaroslavsky Station?" We don't understand each other. By her tone, I realize that she is getting angry. She opens the door and points her finger outside. This is how I get thrown out of a Moscow street car. "You can't get far with English in Russia", I heard this before. How bad it really is, however, you can only feel when you're actually there. Whether it's the street car driver, the cashier at the supermarket, the kiosk person or train station staff, they all speak Russian and Russian only. Somehow you can make it work anyway, you just shouldn't be under time [...]
Via Ferrata Rino Pisetta
When I clipped the first carabiner on the iron rope, a rain drop fell on my nose. A couple of seconds later, it started pouring down. "Oh, great!" - I got up early in the morning, I drove forty-five minutes by bus from Arco to Sarche and spent an hour (30 minutes ascent, [...]
Florida Keys
"If you need to throw up, please go to the back of the boat." These were the captain's words before we started the 4-hour trip by boat from Key West to the Dry Tortugas. The westernmost islands of the Florida Keys are famous for their wildlife and coral reefs. The name's origin: many [...]