Riga!

Moor mit Dmitry

There’s a (new?) flixbus line going from Luzern to Florence and Rome. And even though it was a public holiday, ticket prices were really good. The occasion to see a different part of Italy.

I had talked to an Indian guy on couchsurfing who wanted to rent a scooter together and drive around Toscana. When we met, though, he was into a much longer tour – something like 6 hours driving time – and so I ended up going alone: to San Gimignano for icecream with some viewpoint stops on the way.

Florence was crazy full of people. We had homemade pasta for lunch, walked around the city and then bought a bottle of wine and went up to the Michelangelo viewpoint. With some couchsurfers, we had aperitivo and a few beers near the hostel. And we managed to get Bistecca alla Fiorentina just before going back home 🙂

Hiking in Switzerland @ Harder Kulm.

On the way back I flew from Monastir to Lyon, walked around there a bit, found a farmers market and then took the bus to Geneva and from there the train back home.

The actual desination, games in Monastir and tea in Tbolba 😉

Flights via Istanbul were cheap, so I made a stop there and had a beer with Asli

We ( 😀 ) were a bit late with buying bus tickets to go to the coast so all the VIP seats were sold out already, so we booked normal ones. And then VIP ones for the way back, on the most expensive bus, as it was the only one still available.

The bus looked better than expected, but it had neither a toilet nor AC, and definitely not enough legroom. Also, it seems everybody except me found it cold, so I wasn’t allowed to open the window much. The road got worse and worse and it was a really bumpy ride. During this night, I saw 3 trucks that had fallen over and were now lying somewhere on or next to the road! Checking google maps in the morning, we found out that we’d pass by near Watamu, so we asked to get off there already.
Later that day, we learnt that there had been a bus accident somewhere else in Kenya, with more than 30 people dead, and now night travel was banned all over the country. Luckily we had a few days for them to organize everything before we tried to get back 😉

We spent the next days mostly at the beach, day and night, and went to Gede one day, to see the ruins there. On the way, our Tuktuk driver said we should buy bananas to feed the monkeys there! So we did. And we managed to find a monkey that would actually jump on one’s shoulder and stay there while eating its banana 🙂

For the way back, the bus did not depart in the evening of the 3rd, but in the morning of the 4th. And not even on time, but more than an hour late. Great. The VIP seats were much nicer, the bus had working AC (now the only question is, if that’s connected to the price of the ticket, or if it’s just luck if it works or not), and the front of the bus was really much less bumpy, and this time I saw only one accident.

There were lots of warning signs everywhere that it may be dangerous to camp under a tree as branches might fall down. We had still put our tent under a tree for some shade.. and we survived 😉

Then we rented mountain bikes from the camp (seems the last two, as we were told a group of people had just left, half an hour ago) and went to look for a place to have breakfast. We found one, and had tea, chapati and eggs.

Arriving at the Hell’s Gate Entrance by bike, we just skipped the whole line of cars and went to the front. It was possible to pay using Mpesa, after asking we even got a map of the park, and then we were inside. It was a nice even way and we saw zebras and buffaloes on the way to the gorge.

There, we hadn’t wanted to take a guide, but the one guy told us he’s cheaper than anyone else and there is so much we would miss without him.. well… And he was probably really worth his money as I wouldn’t have believed the normal way to include so much climbing around over totally unmarked rocks.

After the hike through the gorge, we sat down for a while and watched the monkeys.

The last part of our bike tour ended up being much harder – going uphill for quite a while. Again and again. Back in town, we bought water, then some cold beer at our camp, and went to the neighbour camp to the swimming pool! It was great and refreshing but it got quite cold really soon and we left for a hot shower and then dinner.

The camp is right at the lake, during the day it’s possible to walk to the water, but at night there’s an electric fence to keep hippos and humans apart. It was fascinating to see them walk around there as soon as it was dark!

On our last morning, we packed our tent and went to the same cafe for breakfast. And just before us, some white woman walked in.. She offered us to share a table, right under the TV, then first turned the TV’s sound off as it annoyed her, and told us how she had been coming there for 6 weeks and the owners still didn’t understand how she wanted her breakfast 🙂

After a short stop in Nairobi, we started our camping trip to Maasai Mara.
Trying to find out how to do a Safari the cheap way had been surprisingly hard to find out, as almost all information is about those standard safari tours which include transport from Nairobi, staying at one of their camps and also the transport back in the end.
The first discovery was, that it’s possible to sleep in an actual tent (a tiny one like you would use to go camping.. without actual beds, chairs, bathroom inside) and at least the cheaper camps let you either pitch your own tent (starting around 7 USD / person / night) or rent out tents and camping equipment (again starting around 7 USD / night).

We ended up in Talek Bush Camp because Mostafa was on Couchsurfing, and because it was one of the cheapest options.
First the plan was for only the two of us, but we managed to find 3 more CS people who wanted to join and so we were 5 people. We met at 6 am in Nairobi where the Matatus to Narok leave from, to make sure we would be in Narok on time to catch the car to Talek.

Getting to Talek by public transport was easy enough – first a Matatu from Nairobi to Narok, and then another one from Narok to Talek along a very bumpy and dusty dirt road. For that second part of the trip, we somehow ended up on a private transport (thus quite expensive!) instead of the official Matatu mentioned in different online posts. The official one seems to depart at/around/a bit after noon and I have no idea how uncomfortable it may be 😉

 Another interesting discovery: prices seem to change depending on demand and as we went at Christmas, it was a lot more expensive than I had read online!

Our camp was just next to Talek “city” and the Talek Gate of Maasai Mara. We spent the first afternoon walking around the city and having beer at a bar. The next day was an all-day game drive in the park! We saw everything I wanted to see and even managed to see the sunset with giraffe silhouettes in the foreground.

For the way back to Narok, the camp organised us a private car (which ended up being cheaper than the shared one we came with), only that guy was late, had no idea of the way, and the car seemed to have no shock absorbers at all, so he drove unbelievably slowly and the way took us an eternity.
There is also a public option, which leaves at 4 or 5 am, but the others didn’t like that ;(

From Narok, we just took the next Matatu to Naivasha where we’re going to spend the next 2 nights. We arrived at Fisherman’s camp when it was already dark, but it was easy enough to mount the tent. And we skipped the tent pegs – we realised that we didn’t have any! I guess the backpacks are heavy enough to keep the tent from flying away.

This time my flight was departing from Zurich and going via Dubai. On the first flight I got a shitty middle seat, and the boarding card for the second part said “standby”, so upon arrival in Dubai, I went to a counter and asked for a seat – if possible emergency exit. And I really got it. Yea! That will be so much better!
I had about 5 hours in Dubai and thought that’s enough time to get out of the airport. The Emirates guy thought it’s not.. whatever 🙂

 I was going to meet a couchsurfer for breakfast: Harry picked me up from the airport and we drove to the British Embassy. There, we got to see the sunrise over the river, walked around a bit and then sat down for breakfast. The waiter asked if I’d like some shade – NO! 😀

We didn’t have much time, and I then took the metro back to the airport. The Emirates guy had recommended that: going by car may take an undefined amount of time, due to traffic, while the metro is more reliable. I made it – with a little ticket/fare/payment issue – then went shopping for cigarettes and vodka, and then sat down at the gate. Only to realise the gate had changed and the display already showed “last call”. I hurried to the correct gate, made it onto the bus.. and then that bus kept waiting for more and more people. While I only wanted to get on the plane to sleep!
Next stop – Nairobi!

The next day started with brunch at the cousin’s place – again bringing some groceries.

In the afternoon, we went to some maasai market for souvenir shopping and then walked around the city center. Some time in the afternoon the new president would be officially declared – so the city was exactly the right place to be.. 😉

Buying postcards was rather complicated. We were told the post office should have some. But at the counter where they’re usually available, we were told they are not here at the moment and we need to go to some other part of the office, outside and around the corner. And there really was some kind of shop that seemes to have glittery “happy birthday” cards with giraffes or whatever on them. The door was closed at the moment and a woman at another counter told us, they closed a bit early, at 4, because of the elections. And it wasn’t even 4 yet 🙂

Eventually, and totally by accident, we walked past some fancy hotel, asked about postcards and ended up in the hotel’s souvenir shop. Even better: they didn’t only sell postcards but also stamps.

We had a beer watching all the colourful matatus ignoring traffic rules, then had fish and ugali for dinner before going to a bar for karaoke. I was told it’s too dangerous for ME to walk back to the car.. so we ended up taking a taxi instead of walking.. 😉

On my last day, I spent more than 3 hours at the haidresser… it seemed like random women would stop by for a while and join braiding my hair.. there were about 4 of them in the 3 hours. one of them was eating a corn cob at the same time, taking a bite, then finishing a braid to take another bite. well, whatever 😉

The original plan was to couchsurf in this dangerous country with a nice kenyan girl, or maybe someone european.. Then I got a great message from a guy with no references at all. He had lived in Japan for a few years and still sounded nice after exchanging a few messages, so the decision was made :

On the way from Geneve to Nairobi I had 9 hours – over night – inside Jeddah airport.. Saudi Arabia seems to only let women into the country if they are accompanied by their father or husband. So I bought a sleeping bag to make that night in the world’s worst airport a bit more comfortable.
And the transit lounge positively surprised me: There was free food if you stayed more than 6h (bad airplane food, but well…), also hot water for tee or coffee, the bathroom was under water, but less disgusting than I expected. The tap didn’t work, but I still had a bottle of swiss tap water with me. And, there were power outlets, and free wifi (it didn’t let me connect in the evening but worked at about 5 am). There were some of the typical airport benches in the lounge, but all seats were occupied, and I anyways wanted to lie down. So I put my sleeping bag in a corner under a screen and tried to sleep. It was rather cold, and really noisy, but well..

Arriving in Kenya, I was the first one at passport check, the guy was happy with my online visa, and then I was in the country! I got past a row of people trying to sell me taxi rides and waited for Shem a bit away in front of a cafe.

After a short stop at home, in the afternoon, we went to the giraffe center to feed – and kiss – giraffes 🙂

The next day, we went to Nairobi National Park and did a little Safari…

..and then went to the aunt for lunch. I learnt that if you go to visit someone (relatives..), you should do some grocery shopping for them and bring e.g. flour, rice and juice. When we arrived there, everyone was busy cooking: after the “we’ll be there in 1 hour”-phone-call, they were now still preparing for that surprise visit 🙂

There’s a new Flixbus connection between Luzern and Italy (Como and Milan)! 🙂

 And tickets to Como are just around 10 eur. First all went fine, but then we ended up in a traffic jam and finally made it to the train station about 1h late.
After arriving, the first thing to do was eating Pizza!
The next day, we wanted to take the boat to Bellagio, but obviously some more people had that idea. So when we arrived just before it should depart, we found quite a long queue and the boat was already full, so they didn’t let more people in.
Instead, we sat down on the main square and thought about what to do.

We decided to take the cable car up to Brunate (no queue at all when we arrived! Yea!)

Looking towards Milano

And Como Cathedral from above

And then went to Bellagio the next day. We were careful to take an earlier boat and to arrive there early and we did end up being first in the queue 🙂

As the flight to Sofia was so much cheaper departing from Bergamo, I went there first. And because I like pizza, I decided instead of sleeping at the airport I could also spend the evening in Milan and then take the bus to the airport in the morning. I met Jose near the train station, we had some rather bad pizza, then did a little bit of sightseeing and had an after-midnight ice cream under an umbrella because it started raining.
In the hostel, I realised that I didn’t take my phone charging cable and I also forgot my earplugs. The phone made it until the morning to wake me up, but I anyways didn’t sleep much: the tram passed right below the window and some girl in the room started packing in the middle of the night!

In Sofia, CS hangouts totally worked, I did some sightseeing with an Italian guy the first afternoon, then went back to the hostel and met a girl who was also travelling alone. We went out for a few beers, and the next day did first the free walking tour and later the free food tour. At night, we went to party in the club with the yellow rubber duck 😉

The next day, we went to Plovdiv by train and then back by bus to try both ways. Going, we had a funny conversation with a bulgarian woman in our compartment, talking a mix of english, polish, bulgarian and arabic!
Dinner was Kebap and after a few drinks it was time to sleep, my plane leaves at 7:25!

Departing on friday evening, after work from Zurich to Istanbul, we arrived around midnight and had to take a taxi to the city centre as there was no more public transport. However, it worked just fine, the taxi driver needed to make a few phone calls to find our hotel’s address, but he managed. And it was a lot cheaper than any pre-organised private transfer. Very good!
We put our stuff in the room and left again, there were lots of bars around the hotel and some were still open!
The next day started early not to miss breakfast on the roof top terrace, then we walked around, had some tea in a carpet shop, and went to the grand bazaar to buy a towel, lamps, perfume and a bracelet. We had some kind of wrap for lunch – the cheapest food we could find – then went to the hotel to leave our stuff there, and went to meet Marwa and her parents 🙂

We took the ferry to asia to have a coffee there, did a bosphorus cruise, went shopping in taksim and had lots of food before we had to already leave again.

We left in the evening from Zurich, had dinner somewhere near Stuttgart airport and then spent the night on a bench in the part of the airport that was recommended as “calm”. It was – until a group of people arrived and started to play ball!

From Palma airport, we took the bus into the city centre, had breakfast outside and then took the bus towards Santa Ponsa and our hotel. We were given a nice budget room with no balcony and no AC, just a fan. When we complained, we were told we would get a nicer one the next day, and we really did. It had a working AC and a balcony with sea view.
We rented scooters and drove around the island a bit, visited Valldemossa, then drove on a bit but soon decided to stop at the closest beach. We found a place on the map, but when we arrived we realised that we were still about 45 minutes hiking above the beach. Whatever, we parked the scooters and started 🙂

 Our beach was Foradada, we stayed a while and then left to hike back up.

On the way home, we stopped somewhere for dinner and had Paella, then bought something to drink in a supermarket in “Andratx” and finally arrived back at the hotel in the dark, thanks to google maps and after a bit of driving on the highway 😉

A sunset in Santa Ponsa:

Passing by Como …

we went to Italy for a few days. In Milan, after some sightseeing and shopping, we joined a Turkish Ramadan dinner and got
to share some traditional Turkish food…
The next morning, we continued to Venice and started with a little boat tour – we ended up taking it in the wrong direction
and thus made a big tour all around the city. But it was nice – and we had a roof above our heads while it rained.

Our hotel was on another island, weather was good again and so we went to the beach there for swimming. We had it almost
to ourselves!
Dinner was Pizza, then we had icecream, and tomorrow we will already go back to Switzerland.

Air France went on strike, and my flight was late. But not too much – I still had lots of time to hang around Paris airport,
waiting for the flight from Tunisia to arrive.
We saw a temporary art installation: the pyramid in front of the Louvre, if looked at from exactly the right point, perfectly fit
the Louvre building.

Later, we wanted to go up on the Eiffel tower and joined the queue. However, when we made it to the front, we learnt that it
was too late and it was no more possible to go all the way up. So we didn’t.
We came back the next morning to try, however, the top of the tower was completely hidden in the clouds. It sounded
useless to go up if it wasn’t possible to see anything but clouds.. so we didn’t.